The Eyes of the Beholders - A. C. Crispin [48]
“I’ve wondered the same thing,” Wes said. “But we don’t know anything about what these people looked like, so how could I identify living quarters?”
“Is there anything you can identify as furniture? Any repetition of shapes that would indicate the equivalent of beds, or storage compartments, or chairs … tables … anything like that?”
“Not a thing. There are some objects in some of the rooms, but each object is totally different from all the others. And I would estimate that seventy percent of the chambers are empty.”
“Any signs of weapons?”
“Nothing that I can identify as being a weapon or a guidance system,” Wesley said. “No radiation that’s detectable by our sensors.”
“Well, that’s comforting,” Geordi said. “Maybe we will be able to blast the thing to smithereens and get the hell out of here.”
“It would be a shame to destroy the artifact,” Data said.
“Why?” Wesley asked. “It’s dangerous.”
“Yes, but it, and the ships it has trapped, constitute an invaluable historical and archeological treasure,” Data replied. “Scientists could learn much about the history of our galaxy from studying—”
The android broke off as the computer suddenly beeped. “Requested analysis of data complete,” the neutral female-sounding voice announced.
“Go ahead,” Geordi commanded.
“Comparison of energy field wavelengths with brain patterns generated by known intelligent species are as follows,” began the computer. “Andorian: point four-two correlation. Betazoid:…”
The results of the computer’s search were intriguing, Geordi thought several minutes later. Only one kind of known being had a high correlation rate: Medusans.
“Medusans!” La Forge muttered. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they might be related to the builders of the artifact. God knows they’re so alien that we can’t even stand to look at them—just like normal humans can’t stomach looking at the artifact.”
“Did the Medusans ever have colonies or anything?” Wesley wanted to know.
“None recorded,” Data said. “Frankly, I find it doubtful that the Medusans themselves actually built the artifact. I believe rather that the unknown creators of the artifact had mental processes that were similar to the way Medusan brains function.”
“That makes sense,” Geordi said thoughtfully. Then the engineer sighed. “Listen, finding a race that might be distant kin to the Medusans is all very interesting, but it doesn’t help us break free from this space Sargasso.”
“Right,” Wesley agreed. “But this might!” He pointed to a readout. “They’ve got an oxy-nitro atmosphere over there!”
“You’re kidding!” Geordi said, then he whistled softly. “Weirder and weirder, huh, Data?”
“I do not believe this finding is as extraordinary as you seem to believe, Geordi,” the android said. “After all, the Medusans are oxygen-nitrogen breathers, are they not? Then why should you be surprised to discover that the artifact’s creators were also?”
Wesley shrugged, smiling wryly at the engineer. “He’s got a point.”
“But discovering that there are chambers over there and that we could breathe the air without suits gives me an idea,” La Forge said. “Maybe we could beam over a landing party and find the controls for the tractor field and shut them down! Then we could get out of here, and that thing wouldn’t be able to capture any more ships.”
“I don’t know,” Wes said. “If just looking at the artifact is disorienting, what would exploring its interior be like?”
“If it’s anything like the outside, pretty damn strange,” Geordi conceded. “But it would be worth the risk, if we could break free. Is there room in any of those chambers to beam over a landing party?”
“Most of them are fairly small, but there are several that are almost the size of a small shuttlecraft deck,” the teenager replied.
“Good. Materializing inside a bulkhead is not my idea of a good time.”
“Is there any indication of machinery