The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [10]
“The south seems perfectly habitable,” Data pointed out. “Indeed, it may be more habitable than the north. The industrial pollution index in the northern hemisphere is an average eight point one. They are doing little to prevent or mitigate the poisoning of their environment.”
“Perhaps the problem is cultural,” Troi hazarded. “The Nem Ma’ak Bratunans remain in the north because they choose to.”
“That seems an unlikely matter of choice,” Picard said. “No, Counselor, there is something going on here that I simply do not trust.” He smiled ruefully. “This is hardly a normal first-contact situation.”
Data nodded in agreement.
“Data—”
“Yes, Captain?”
“Data, please don’t take this the wrong way, but you have been nodding and shaking your head a great deal of late. Is there something wrong?”
“Ah,” Data said, nodding. “No, sir, there is nothing wrong with me. I am practicing my incidental capital motions. I have noted that humans tend to confirm whatever it is they are saying by nodding or shaking their heads, as if they are agreeing with themselves. Since I always agree with myself, I feel I must nod and shake my head more than, say, you or Counselor Troi might.”
Picard nodded. “You nod and shake very well indeed, Mr. Data,” he said agreeably. “You may stop now.”
The android blinked. “Yes, Captain. Thank you for your concern, sir.”
Worf spoke up. “Captain, the Enterprise is relaying a digest of telemetry analyses during the last hour. One moment, please.” The Klingon extracted an isolinear optical chip from a reader and handed it to Troi, who was sitting just behind him.
“Thank you both,” Picard said, taking the chip from Troi. Seating himself at the shuttlecraft’s compact science station, he inserted the chip into the reader there and watched silently as text and graphics began to flow across the screen.
“Now this is very interesting,” Picard said, almost to himself. “Come here and have a look.” The captain returned the display to the beginning of the bioscan telemetry analysis as Troi and Data crouched behind him, reading over his shoulders.
Data took in the contents of the display at once. “Remarkable, sir,” he said.
“Wait a minute,” Troi complained. “I’m still reading—oh! I see now. Well, this may explain something, but I’m not sure what.” She sighed.
“You know that every indigenous lifeform on a given planet can be shown to be related to every other on that planet through analysis of its DNA. There are basic patterns that repeat from species to species all the way up and down the evolutionary tree. The principle is well established. We have found that the DNA of a Nem Ma’ak Bratunan humanoid is not related to that of the majority of lifeforms here. In other words, the people of Nem Ma’ak Bratuna are not native to this planet. Their species could not have evolved here.”
“It could also mean that most forms of life on this world except for the humanoid population and its related parasites and symbiotes did not evolve here,” Data added, “but that is not very likely.”
“Thank you, Mr. Data,” the captain said distractedly as he read further into the summary. He was looking for something, and he found it quickly. “Now here,” he said to the others, pointing at the display. “That’s what linguistics got from their local broadcasts.”
Troi read aloud from the screen. “The star we are calling 30453 FAS is called Ma’ak Indawe by the people here. The name translates roughly as ‘Stronghold.’”
“‘Stronghold,’ Captain?” Worf added from his station. “They must expect a battle.”
Picard nodded. “A culture at this apparent sociological level most commonly calls its star ‘the Sun,’ if it doesn’t go and name it after a mythic figure of some sort—a favorite god or goddess, perhaps. ‘Stronghold’ does not fit that pattern at all. And look here: The name of the planet, Nem Ma’ak Bratuna, is derived from the name of the star and carries a more refined meaning—’The Last Stand.’”
“‘The Last Stand’?” Troi wondered. “What does that mean?”
“The name denotes a refuge