The Eyes of the Beholders - A. C. Crispin [28]
By the time the captain reached the bridge, the Klingon officer had managed to amplify the weak signal. “Onscreen, Lieutenant,” the commanding officer ordered.
“Sir, there is no visual. Just audio, Captain.”
Picard raised his eyebrows in surprise but nodded. “Very well, Mister Worf. Play the audio portion.”
“Yes, Captain.” The head of security touched a control, and a whine overlaid with the crackle of static filled the air. Worf winced and made an adjustment in the volume control.
A voice, so hoarse and gasping that for a moment Riker had trouble identifying it as human, emerged: “… invaded … can’t identify …” A rattle of static, then: “… symptoms vary … eight suicides, three murders … helpless against it …” The voice was gabbling now, nearly sobbing: “oh, God, the dreams are killing us! Please, help—but … oh, God, you can’t! Don’t! Stay away! No more deaths, please …”
The message trailed off into inarticulate sobs, then static reigned once more.
“Is that all, Lieutenant?” Picard asked. Riker, who was gripping the back of his seat as he stood beside it, experienced a moment of shock that the captain could sound so calm, then he noticed the tension in the way the captain held his shoulders, the tightness of the older man’s jaw muscles. It got to him, too, the commander realized. He’s just got too much control to show it.
On the other hand, Wesley Crusher, who was on duty at the conn station, looked pale and shaken. Riker didn’t blame the young man. There had been such terrible despair, such agony in that hoarse, pleading voice.
The captain raised his voice slightly. “Doctor Crusher, please report to the conference room.” He stood up. “Commander Riker, Lieutenant Worf, Counselor, Mister Crusher … please assemble.” He turned to the android. “Mister Data, you have the conn.”
When they were all seated around the long, polished table, Picard ordered the message to be played twice-more, then he gazed at them, his eyes grave. “Opinions, please?”
“They spoke of invasion,” Worf said. “We must be ready to do battle against an alien force.”
Doctor Crusher shook her head. “I don’t agree. It sounded more to me as though they had contracted some kind of unknown plague. You could call that an invasion. Remember, the man spoke of symptoms.”
“I agree that we are dealing with some type of medical problem as opposed to a military force,” Counselor Troi said. “Could it be some kind of plague that infects people’s minds? He spoke of dreams killing them …”
Wesley Crusher looked skeptical but interested. It was obvious that the youth’s agile brain had seized the idea and was running with it. “Some kind of illness that induces lethal dreaming?” he asked slowly. “Is that possible?”
“Nightmares can be extremely stressful to the body,” Crusher said. “They cause the heartbeat to accelerate, adrenaline to be secreted, and blood pressure to rise.”
“I can certainly attest to that,” Riker said. “When I was bitten by that alien bug and the medical staff had to use nightmares to kill it in my cells, I felt as though I’d gone twenty rounds in an anbo jyutsu match with the galactic champion! Every muscle in my body was sore, and I was exhausted.”
“But can dreams kill?” Picard asked slowly.
“Under the right circumstances, possibly,” Crusher replied slowly. “An individual with a weak heart or one who is suffering from some debilitating illness might be so shocked by a terrible nightmare that he or she could expire from the strain …”
“But from that transmission, it seems clear that all the crew was affected,” Riker said. “It’s hard to believe that they all had bad hearts. Besides, that wouldn’t account for the suicides or murders he spoke of.”
“Dreams are tied in with the unconscious mind,” Counselor Troi put in. “Perhaps they are experiencing soom kind of alien mental invasion that is compelling them to kill themselves or each other. This mental invasion could be expressing itself also in bad dreams.”
“That is possible,” the captain said slowly. “It has happened before.”
Riker glanced around the table and saw that everyone