The Sky's The Limit Part 20

"I hope so," she said. "I'll go talk to Taurik now-that is," she said, turning to Will, "if you'll take a rain check on that hot chocolate you were going to ply me with to calm my nerves."

"Hey, I never said-"

"It doesn't take an empath, Will," she reminded him impishly.

By the end of dinner, Deanna's head was swimming with more new terminology than she'd learned in an entire semester of astrophysics at the academy. No matter how many times she reminded herself that a commanding officer couldn't be an expert in every field, she couldn't help wondering if Doctor Aaron, or even Taurik, doubted her ability to lead this mission. The young Vulcan had apparently used the few hours after Deanna approached him to brush up on recent papers on planetary rings, and he had asked Doctor Aaron several intelligent questions, while Deanna's own contributions to the discussion had been few and far between.

Outside the conference room, she pulled Geordi aside and quietly asked him to meet her an hour before her team's departure the next morning to go over the equipment they'd installed in the runabout that afternoon.

The group broke up, and Deanna and Data walked to the senior crew quarters together. At the door to his quarters, Data invited her in for some hot chocolate, and she accepted, although she wondered if everyone on board thought she needed to be soothed. She sat down next to Data, whom she noticed had replicated a cup for himself, no doubt in an effort to be companionable.

She took a tentative sip, but the sweet beverage was still too hot. She blew on it, and over the rim of the cup her eyes wandered to the corner by the door, where an easel held an unfinished painting of a red-orange planet circled by yellow and gold rings.

"Data, I didn't know you were painting again!" Deanna said. "I thought you'd given up. What made you change your mind?"

"I recently discovered an obscure aphorism regarding Pablo Pica.s.so, which states, 'If Pica.s.so could, then I can.' It is unclear to what the original speaker may have been referring, but it did cause me to reconsider. If Pica.s.so could find ways to express himself within his inherent limitations, then perhaps I can learn to better express myself within mine. Human artists do not have perfect motor control, yet many of them can produce photorealistic art. If I keep trying, perhaps I can learn to produce art that is not merely a comingling of other artists' styles."

"I'm proud of you, Data," said Deanna. "It's not easy to keep at something you find frustrating."

"Technically I am not frustrated, Counselor," Data said. "But I understand what you mean."

A small furry form demanded Deanna's attention by rubbing against her legs. "And h.e.l.lo to you, Spot," she greeted the android's cat. "Data, may I ask you something?"

"Please, Counselor," he said.

"I was wondering about your first command," she said, absently stroking the fur between Spot's alert ears.

"I see," said Data. "As you may recall, my first command of a stars.h.i.+p occurred on Stardate 45020.4, when we enacted the blockade to prevent the Romulans from supporting the Duras family in their attempt to overthrow the Klingon government. However, if you are referring to my first away team command, that occurred-"

"Data," she said. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but actually I meant the experience of your first command. Not the physical details, but what it was like for you personally. Did you find the crew resistant to the idea of you as a commander?"

"Not particularly on my first away team command. My crew members were accustomed to my position among the senior bridge staff and were comfortable with my ability to command. However, my experience aboard the Sutherland was more challenging. I experienced a great deal of resistance from Lieutenant Commander Hobson, who was a.s.signed as my first officer. He questioned several of my orders and delayed their implementation, but ultimately he obeyed and we were able to reveal the Romulan presence."

"How did you get him to obey your orders?" asked Deanna.

"I am afraid I had to resort to a rather...emotional tactic."

"What do you mean?"

"I raised my voice."

Deanna laughed. "Data! You mean you yelled at him?"

"It was effective, Counselor. Mister Hobson seemed to believe that I was merely an automaton, offering dispa.s.sionate advice that he could choose to follow or not. When I raised my voice, however, he seemed to understand that I expected to be obeyed and that there would be consequences if he did not comply. After the crisis was over, he apologized for his behavior."

"You made a good decision, Data. You showed good judgment of human nature."

"Thank you, Counselor. If I may inquire, did you ask because you are apprehensive about leading tomorrow's away mission?"

"A little, Data, although I would appreciate it if you would keep that between us."

"Ah," he said. "Counselor-patient confidentiality. Only this time, I am the counselor."

She smiled again. "Exactly."

"If it is any comfort, Counselor, I have full confidence in your ability to command."

"Thank you, Data. That means a lot to me."

Unable to move, Data could do nothing but examine the disconnected thoughts that seemed to flit in and out of his consciousness of their own accord. Images appeared in his mind's eye, superimposed on the unchanging scene before him.

His head felt heavier than it should, an anomaly in the low gravity. He gradually became aware that he was wearing a helmet, but it was not supplying oxygen. Though he did not need to breathe, his respiratory system served to regulate his body temperature.

Perhaps he was also wearing a s.p.a.ce suit. But no-his head had fallen forward when he was being dragged, and he had seen no s.p.a.ce suit encasing his own body.

He wondered what would happen to him in a vacuum. He thought perhaps he had been in one before, but he could not recall specifics, so he did not know what to expect. Freezing or overheating, hot or cold-the contingencies were too much to process.

He thought again of the face. He felt certain that the mouth had formed words, and he replayed the image over and over, striving to understand what she had said.

"Have you ever been this close to a ring system, Commander Troi?" asked Doctor Aaron. He had come up to look through the forward viewport as they approached the moonlet. Currently Beta was about halfway between its original position and that of Ennis.

"Not quite," she said, smiling. Even from this distance, the rings were incredible.

"Why don't we go to Beta's original position and retrace her tracks from there?" suggested Aaron. "We might find something on the sensors that will give us an idea of what went wrong. And I think you'll enjoy the view."

"That sounds wonderful," Deanna said. It wasn't entirely necessary, but the mapping would take only a day, and the Enterprise would be gone for the better part of two. "Ensign, lay in a course at half impulse, keeping us at this alt.i.tude above the ring plane."

"Aye, Commander," said Taurik. "I recommend activating the navigational deflector array. It's not required at low impulse speeds, but it may be prudent since we'll be encountering relatively dense concentrations of microparticles."

Deanna fought off a flash of annoyance and told Taurik to proceed. She always felt particular pressure not to show irritation, as though her position as s.h.i.+p's counselor should preclude her from that emotion. Besides, she was more annoyed at herself than at Taurik. She should have thought of the deflector array.

Fortunately, the vista opening up in front of the runabout soon distracted her. Ring E, the outermost of the well-defined rings, spread in a tawny plain in front of and slightly below them. Smooth at first, it quickly began to display topography that made Deanna think of small hills and valleys.

"This is my favorite part, Commander," Aaron said. "When you fly toward a ring, there's a moment that I've always wanted to catch-the moment when it stops being solid and becomes a necklace. One second it's whole and the next it's in pieces, and it happens while you blink. I'm not sure which is more beautiful."

Deanna glanced at the scientist's profile and could see his rapt expression even from that angle. She turned back to the viewport and gasped with delight. It was true-the ring had transitioned, instantly it seemed, from a continuous plane to a lovely jumble. For a moment she was disoriented-she was flying not over a planetary structure but rather into a microscopic fractal that rushed to meet her. The distant but direct sunlight, coupled with that reflected from Heaven's atmosphere, made itself apparent in the form of a billion pinp.r.i.c.ks of light, seemingly caught by and then released from every single ice crystal inhabiting the rings.

Doctor Aaron radiated joy. "It's incredible, isn't it?" he said. Deanna could only nod, her eyes still feasting on the panorama before her. Then he turned to her and grinned. "And now we get to do it all over again with Ring D."

After another visual feast, this one with hues of orange and rust-streaked amber, Deanna reluctantly focused her attention on the work ahead of them. "Doctor Aaron, how would you like to proceed?" she said.

"I'd like to duplicate the path that Beta took, including the deviations, and measure the gravitational overlaps of the planet, the rings, and all of Heaven's moons, even the most distant ones that we a.s.sume have no significant gravitational impact on the rings. Shall we say one-quarter impulse? It will be slow, but we have the time and we can take multiple readings as we go."

Deanna nodded to Taurik, who turned to lay in the course. A moment later, the Colorado pulled slowly away from its position over the gap that Beta had left.

A little under two hours later, Taurik "parked" the runabout above Beta and addressed Doctor Aaron. "Sir, what do you consider the ideal alt.i.tude for the gravimetric scans?"

"I'd like to get as close as possible," Aaron replied. "Beta's shape is slightly irregular, and we don't know how uniform its internal composition is, so it's possible that small localized differences could affect its gravitational fields. Something has been causing problems, and I haven't seen anything yet that seems to account for it."

Data nodded. "I concur. The closer we are, the higher the sensor resolution will be. Even if we cannot determine what went wrong previously, high-resolution scans will allow us to better recalculate the thrust vectors. Doctor, will ten meters be sufficient?"

Aaron a.s.sented, and Deanna ordered Taurik to maintain that relative alt.i.tude, compensating for elevational changes in the topography.

"Course laid in, Commander," said Taurik.

"Let's begin," said Deanna. A soft, steady ping filled the cabin for a few seconds, until Data muted it with a keyed command. On one of the side monitors, the computer began to construct a three-dimensional representation of the surface below them.

"How long will this take, Data?" asked Deanna.

"This particular swath will take approximately two hours to complete," said the android. "We will need to map two more swaths around the long axis and then take measurements around the short axis. I estimate we will be finished in eight hours and forty-seven minutes."

"Commander," said Taurik from the pilot's seat, "Captain Picard is hailing us."

"On screen," said Deanna, and moved to the s.p.a.ce behind the two command stations.

Picard's expectant face filled the portside comm screen. "Commander," he said. "We've just arrived at Chandra. I trust things are going smoothly so far?"

"Yes, Captain. We just started the detailed mapping, and we plan to retrieve one of the thruster units for a.n.a.lysis."

"Well, don't let me keep you," said Picard. "I'll check in with you in the morning, and we'll rendezvous back at Ennis no later than twenty-one hundred tomorrow. Call us if you have any problems."

"Aye, sir," Deanna said.

She put her hand on Data's shoulder. "Data, what's the best way to retrieve a thruster? Can we transport one aboard without interfering with the mapping?"

"Yes, Commander," said Data. "Doctor Aaron, if you will pull up your schematic showing the thruster locations and ensure that they are turned off, I will beam the nearest unit into the isolation chamber."

Aaron nodded and tapped the aft starboard console.

"The thruster is aboard," announced Data moments later.

"Data, why don't you-" Deanna started to say, when an explosion rocked the rear of the runabout. All of them except Data cried out as they were thrown off balance. Data and Taurik were pitched forward over their consoles while Deanna and Doctor Aaron both lost their footing.

"Report!" cried Deanna, as she pulled herself up and along the bulkhead toward the forward viewport. Through it, she glimpsed stars moving in a disorienting, circular motion, then an alarming view of Beta, which was far too close.

"Commander, it appears that an explosion near aft starboard has caused us to start spinning. Attempting to stabilize," said Data, his fingers dancing over his console.

By this time Taurik was scanning his own instruments. "One of the aft thrusters is malfunctioning."

An alarm klaxon began to blare. "Warning," said the dispa.s.sionate voice of the computer. "Collision alert. Warn-" The alarm cut out as abruptly as it had begun.

"Computer, s.h.i.+elds," said Deanna.

"s.h.i.+eld generator is off-line," said the computer. "Backup generator is operational. s.h.i.+elds at 80 percent."

"Reroute power to the backup generator-" The runabout lurched sideways and Deanna staggered.

"The aft port impulse engine is firing intermittently," Data said. "It fired near the top of our spin and almost sent us into the moonlet. An impact may still occur if we cannot get the thruster under control."

"Can you cut off its fuel supply?" Deanna asked.

Another lurch.

"Negative, Commander," said Data. "The computer is unable to reestablish communications with that engine. Some of the relays must have been damaged in the explosion. I am attempting to compensate by reversing forward engines-"

He was interrupted when the collision alarm sounded again. Through the viewport, Deanna saw Beta rus.h.i.+ng up to meet them as the runabout dove at a steep angle.

"Brace for impact," Data called over the sound of the klaxon.

Time seemed to slow as the nose of the runabout burrowed into the moonlet's surface, sending debris flying. As Deanna pitched forward into the back of Data's seat, momentum lifted the back of the runabout, throwing it into a clumsy end-over-end somersault that took it back off the surface. The runabout rotated completely, throwing her against the ceiling, before coming back down hard and skidding sideways across Beta's surface until it was stopped by a ridge that was more solid than it looked. The sudden stop slammed Deanna into the bulkhead across from the station where Doctor Aaron had been monitoring the sensor readings.

Confusion. Concern.

Deanna groaned as the emergency lighting kicked on, illuminating the runabout's interior with a red glow, and felt the back of her head. No blood, and her vision didn't seem to be blurred, so she probably didn't have a concussion.

Gingerly, she pulled herself up, using the bulkhead for support. A dazed Taurik was checking his limbs for injury, but Data, still wedged in his seat, was motionless, and Doctor Aaron lay unmoving on the floor at the back of the cabin.

"Are you hurt, Ensign?" Deanna asked Taurik.

"I do not think so, Commander," he answered, in spite of a small cut on his forehead.

"Check Data. I'll check Doctor Aaron," she said, staggering. Without the minimal protection that the pilot seats had afforded Data and Taurik, the scientist had been thrown about as much as she had. He lay on his back, one arm thrown over his face as if to protect himself. As she made her way toward him, Deanna stopped to pull an emergency medkit from the port wall.

"Doctor Aaron?" said Deanna when she reached him. She gently moved his arm away from his face in case it interfered with his breathing.

Except he wasn't. His head lolled at an alarming angle, and his sightless eyes stared at nothing. She didn't need the tricorder to tell her he was dead, but she ran it over him anyway.

"Commander," said Taurik from the front of the runabout. "Lieutenant Commander Data is injured. It's possible that a power surge disrupted his systems. His station is severely damaged as well."

Deanna took a last look at Doctor Aaron and pa.s.sed her hand over his eyes to close them. With a slight limp, she pulled a blanket from a storage cabinet and laid it over the scientist, then went back up front, where Taurik was examining Data. Deanna shuddered. In spite of their unusual yellow color, the android's sightless eyes looked just like Doctor Aaron's.

Deanna pushed Data's shoulders forward and felt along his back.

"Commander?" said Taurik.

"He has an off switch. I'm going to try to restart him," Deanna said. "I expect you to keep that information confidential."

"Yes, ma'am."

Deanna's fingers found the switch and depressed it. She counted to five and pushed it again.

Nothing.

She turned Data off again. "Ensign, use the tricorder and tell me if you detect any energy readings when I flip the switch again. Ready...now."

Taurik studied the tricorder. "There was a definite surge in energy levels, Commander. I believe that his brain is still generating a positronic field. It's possible that the damage is keeping his brain from communicating with the rest of his body."

"Almost like a stroke," Deanna mused. "I wonder if he can hear us."