Once again, my thanks to Seth Roark for permission to use his character O'Rourke from his series Star Trek: The Lionhearted.
After showing the story to Seth, he presented me with an additional scene which I felt really added to O'Rourke's character, and to the piece as a whole.
I hope you enjoy it.
"Games People Play"
written by
Michael Gray
with
Seth Roark
Natalie Fowler made her way through the busy entrance of the nightclub, doing her best to scan the room. But as she suspected, finding her contact wouldn't be that easy.
Whoever it is probably has burrowed themselves away in some dark corner.
She frowned.
I know this sounded fun when I first got the orders, but now I'm not so sure.
Natalie found a path through the boisterous crowd and in a stroke of luck, discovered there was an open booth not far away. She only had to get there before anyone else did.
“Hey, sweetheart...” some male voice to her right called out.
“Not tonight,” was her reply without as much as a glance to the recipient.
She got to the booth and quickly fell into it. There were only two seats, the other was across the small table she now rested her arms on.
Natalie caught the attention of a waitress, but just as the young woman strolled up to Natalie's table, a man, looking about thirty-five, intercepted her.
“Bring us two of what I had earlier,” he told the waitress as he slipped a small piece of metal into her palm.
The waitress smiled and hurried off to fetch the drinks.
“I don't remember asking anyone to join me,” Natalie said, as he sat across from her.
“And I don't remember your orders saying anything about coming here in your Starfleet uniform.”
He is cute, Natalie thought. But cute only gets you so far.
“Well, I've never done this sort of thing before, so don't complain if I don't know the rules.”
He smiled, but only briefly. “Rule number one is, you do as I say when I say.”
She laughed. “You're the strong, cro-magnon type, aren't you?”
“This isn't some game, Ms. Fowler.”
“Then I'm not interested.”
He leaned back in his seat, doing his best to restrain a growing mad.
But Natalie was enjoying herself too much to stop now. “You should lighten up.”
“My line of work doesn't usually allow for that,” he replied as the waitress dropped off their drinks and beat a hasty exit.
Natalie held the glass in her hands. She had learned a long time ago that accepting a drink from a strange man was one thing, actually drinking it was never a good idea.
“I'm here for the adventure,” she said. “So the moment you start talking about rules, I become disinterested.” Natalie leaned forward. “You don't want me to be disinterested, do you?”
He grinned and took a long drink from his glass.
***
“Where do we go from here?” Oswald Farber asked.
Zaylie Burton grabbed him by the shoulders and pointed him ninety degrees to the left. “Your quarters are down that way.”
“But why am I all the way down there and you three are together the other way?”
“Because someone heard what a dick you can be?” Gulshan Dandapani asked with a huge grin on his face.
“Go to hell.”
Moani Amina shook her head. “I'll walk with you, Ozzy.”
Farber cast a frown at Gulshan. “At least one of my friends cares about me.”
“Or maybe she just realizes this is the only way to shut you up,” Gulshan replied.
But Moani had Farber out of sight down the other corridor before he could reply.
“That was a little harsh, wasn't it?” Zaylie asked as she and Gulshan made their way to their own quarters.
“We're talking about Ozzy.”
“As much as I think he's a jackass at times...”
“Only at times?”
Zaylie chuckled. “Okay, maybe most of the time.”
“He's getting on my nerves.”
“How did you survive being his roommate for four years if you can't handle traveling in a shuttle with him?”
Gulshan stopped at the door to his quarters. “I could always leave our room back at the Academy.”
The door to Zaylie's quarters slid open. “Dinner at 1800?”
“Can we ditch Ozzy?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
Zaylie dropped her bag at the foot of the bed. The room was what she had come to expect: neat to excess and everything in its proper place--- a standard set of junior officer quarters aboard a Starfleet vessel.
This particular ship was the USS Patmos, a Nebula class, and just about as roomy as a Galaxy class ship Zaylie had been on once.
The hotels, Zaylie thought with a smile. That was what one of her Academy instructors had called them.
She stopped at the window, watching as the stars streaked past.
She whispered to herself, “Hopefully, we can have a quiet journey this time.”
***
Natalie rang the water out of her hair, letting it drip down her back. She took a long breath of the moisture laden air into her lungs. Opening her eyes, she exhaled with a smile.
It felt good to have the day's dirt and grime off her body.
She stepped out of the shower stall into the cramped room that had served as quarters, mess hall, and general hang out for the last three weeks. What it lacked in space, it made up for in its ability to provide the illusion she wasn't on a world more dead than any she'd ever seen.
I hate this hell hole.
But... she was doing real archaeology, and on her on terms.
Her attention was drawn to the sound of breathing behind her.
“So, you going to just sit there and stare at my ass?” she asked, drying herself off with a towel.
“I could think of a lot less pleasant things to stare at,” her male companion replied.
“You've done just about everything imaginable with this body of mine, but for some reason you sit there like a starving dog every time I walk around this place without clothes,” she said, turning to him.
O'Rourke smiled, taking in every inch of her. “Blame it on four billion years of evolution.”
“Always some cosmic force... never a choice of your own.”
“Didn't say that.”
She walked over to the chair he was sitting in, putting her arms around his neck. “So, what would you choose right now?”
He took a long breath. “That we get back to work.”
Natalie frowned. “I've been out there for six hours today.”
“I just got through the last six feet of stone, and the life support system is up and running,” he said. “We can get into the central chamber now.”
She rolled her eyes and walked back over to her bunk. “It'll wait.”
“There's a starship entering the sector. We may have to accelerate our schedule.”
Natalie started to dress. “Why? Shouldn't we ask them for help?”
“If my bosses had wanted regular Starfleet involved, they wouldn't have sent us.”
“I am regular Starfleet if you remember,” she said with a grin.
“Not any more,” O'Rourke countered. “And don't forget your orders on this. No one outside of Starfleet Intel is to be told the true nature of our mission here.”
“Yeah, yeah...” She buckled her pants. “I'll be ready in five minutes.”
“Good.” He stood, looked at her a moment, then left the room.
“It's a good thing the sex has been incredible,” she said with a sigh. “Otherwise I'd space the bastard the first chance I got.”
***
Gulshan watched the scanner displays at Science Station Two with rapt attention, looking for any anomalies in the local hydrogen density. While the task at hand was anything but exciting, the fact he was on the bridge of the Patmos, and actually filling a duty shift was thrilling as hell for someone who had spent the last four years stuck in Academy lecture halls.
This was the real thing.
That can't be right...
His hand played across the controls, running back the readings he'd just seen, but not believed.
It was subtle, and so insignificant that the computer hadn't sounded an alarm for the ship's navigational deflectors to take this aberration into account.
But it was there, and he'd read it right.
Despite knowing it might result in him being banished from the bridge for further duty while he and his companions were aboard for the next two weeks, the decision was an easy one for Gulshan. He was after all, a Starfleet officer.
“Commander...” he began, turning to the Patmos' Operations Officer, Rachel Stoddard who presently sat in the center seat. “I've detected a weak wavefront in the local subspace.”
Stoddard, a stunning woman with blond hair who always seemed to attract the attention of every hetero male on board no matter the species, turned and strode towards Gulshan at the science station. “Anything we have to worry about?”
Gulshan turned back to the display as she stood at his left. “It will require adjustment to our navigational deflectors and possibly to our warp field.”
“What's the source?”
Gulshan had already acquired that piece of data. “Allatu Five-C, some fifty light years ahead.”
“C?” she asked.
“It's a moon orbiting the remains of a gas giant in a now dead star system.”
“How dead?”
His fingers tapped on the controls. “Very. A survey mission in 2247 estimated the star had gone nova nearly three billion years ago.”
“Then what's causing the subspace wavefront?”
Gulshan smiled. “Only one way to find out.”
Stoddard spun about. “Helm, set a course for the Allatu system. Mr. Dandapani has a mystery to solve.”
***
Fifteen minutes later, in the main conference room, Gulshan stood next to a large display explaining to the Captain and XO what he'd found.
“Based on the precise pattern of the wavefront, it seems likely its source is technological in origin.”
“Any idea what kind of technology we're talking about?” asked Vorxar a Tellerite and the ship's executive officer.
“At present all I can determine is that it generates a substantial subspace field,” Gulshan said. “It could be anything from a power generator to warp drive system, or something we've never encountered.”
Stoddard who sat just to the left of Gulshan, turned to Captain Mer Nol, a Bajoran. “Sir, the moon this thing is on is supposed to be long dead. It could be a piece of old technology which has activated for some reason. At the very least it is a navigation hazard which should be investigated.”
“I agree,” Mer nodded. He then grinned. “In fact, I think this is a good assignment for our group of ensigns to investigate.”
Gulshan smiled. “Thank you, sir.”
“We'll drop out of warp just outside the system, and you can take a runabout.” He turned back to Stoddard. “You will be in charge, Commander.”
***
“So why are we being dragged off on this... whatever it is?” Oswald Farber asked as he pulled a case out of storage. “I was supposed to have dinner with a very pretty lieutenant this evening.”
“Don't worry, Ozzy,” Zaylie began, as she took the equipment case from Farber. “We've got two more weeks on this ship. You'll get your chance to bed whoever you want...” She smiled. “Out of the few who might be willing.”
“Few?” Gulshan laughed. “I think you're overestimating his opportunities.”
“Very funny,” Farber said with a frown. “You'll see.”
“I've heard that before.” Gulshan said.
“Are we going or not?” Moani asked. She looked lost somewhere between angry and sad.
“Sure,” Gulshan replied, leading the others to the hanger deck.
***
Stoddard sat in the pilot's seat, controlling the runabout's path through space. The ensigns occupied four other stations in the small craft's control room.
“We'll arrive at Allatu Five-C in two hours.” She stood from her chair and turned to Oswald. “Mr. Farber, in addition to being an engineer, I believe you are a command pilot certified on all shuttles and small craft are you not?”
He stood. “Yes, ma'am.”
“Then take the conn,” Stoddard said, walking to the door at the rear of the room. “I'm going to take a nap.” She grinned as she left the control room. “Try not to crash into anything.”
Farber took the pilot's seat. “Why didn't she ask you?” he asked turning to Zaylie.
“Maybe she doesn't go for the obvious choices,” Zaylie responded, looking over the navigational sensors at her station. “Why do we have to travel at full impulse and not warp?”
“Subspace interference,” Gulshan replied.
“So what is it you've gotten us into this time?” Moani asked with a frown.
Gulshan turned in his seat to face the others. “There's a power source on that moon. It's likely very old which in my book makes it interesting.”
“How old?” Zaylie asked.
“No way of knowing until we get there, but I'm hoping it's something from the Ancient Progenitors.”
“Really?!” Farber's eyes widened in a surprising burst of interest. “Look, that girl I mentioned I was having dinner with... she's really into the Ancient Progenitors. So could you give me a quick overview of who they were, what they did? You know, the basics.”
Gulshan shook his head. “You want to know this not for the sake of knowing, otherwise you'd have paid attention in the Galactic History course at the Academy, but just so you can improve your chances at getting into this lieutenant's pants?”
Farber smiled. “I'm an engineer. What the hell do I need to know about old aliens for?”
“Maybe the fact they're responsible for all the humanoid life in this galaxy, maybe...” He sighed. “What's the point?”
“Is that who they were? Jenny mentioned that, I think,” Farber said. “She also went on about some guy named Forcas. Was he their leader or something?”
Gulshan turned back to his science station. “No. He's just some religious zealot running around telling everyone how important the Ancient Progenitors are.”
“Sort of like you?” Farber asked with a grin.
“Nothing like me.”
“I doubt we'll find anything interesting,” Moani said, sighing heavily. “It'll just be a dead moon.”
“There have been a lot of interesting archaeological discoveries during the last year,” Gulshan said. “A Preserver obelisk was found in the Kel-j'na Region; the three hundred year old dead body of a killer whale was dug up on Earth's Moon, and an old temple on Arnash Four has a map that doesn't correspond to any star positions in their world's sky. Inside the temple, a book sits on a stand, and on its pages are differential equations. This from a people who never discovered complex mathematics or space travel, and who died out mysteriously some five thousand years ago.”
“So?” Farber asked.
“It just goes to show that you never know what you'll find when you go digging around on some unknown world.”
***
“Have you accessed the memory core yet?”
“I told you it was going to take some time,” Natalie replied. Sitting on the rocky floor of the musty chamber, her eyes remained fixed on the scanner she operated.
O'Rourke kneeled next to her. “There's a Starfleet runabout on it's way to this moon. I can cloak us in the ship, but not this device you've found.”
“They probably already know it's here anyway,” she said. “It's been sending out subspace wavefronts for the last six hours.”
“Damn it,” O'Rourke murmured. He sat silent for several seconds. “Okay, then we'll have to use our cover story.”
“Mineral prospectors?” Natalie laughed. “I don't think that's going to work. Not since I've got this thing running.”
Suddenly Natalie Fowler felt herself spin about, everything about her a blur. A fraction of a second later, a hand clamped onto her neck, applying just enough pressure to keep her from speaking, but just a fraction less than what was needed to crush her windpipe.
Looking into O'Rourke's eyes, she saw it. Not anger or frustration, but purpose.
“They cannot learn what is on the recording. I will not allow that... even if I have to kill you, and everyone on that ship.” He took a long breath. “Do you understand me?”
She moved her head as much as she could to acknowledge what he said.
Then he released her.
“You son of a bitch,” she forced out as her lungs took in their full measure once again.
“Don't mistake the tenderness we've shared for something which would prevent me from doing my job. Even my life is expendable here.”
“Recording? How do you know what's in this device?”
“Because it's exactly like the last five I dug up on god forsaken worlds just like this moon,” he replied.
“Why bring me into this? You had to have an archaeologist with you those previous times. Why not use them?”
O'Rourke nodded. “I would have, but she's dead.”
He stood and walked away from her. “Get this running so I can access the holographic matrix.”
For the first time in her life, Natalie Fowler was truly afraid, not only of the man she'd been sharing a bed with, but of the secrets which drove him.
Secrets she didn't want to know.
***
“Nice place,” Stoddard said, standing behind Farber who piloted the ship.
Out the front viewport, they all watched the barren landscape of the moon sail above them, the ash colored surface illuminated only by the runabout's searchlight.
“It looks like something out of a nightmare,” Moani murmured.
“There are indications it once held an atmosphere,” Dulshan told them. He made an adjustment to his scanners. “There are fossilized plants in the top meter of soil.”
“Then it used to be Class-M?” Zaylie asked.
“It certainly isn't any more,” Farber said with a frown.
“There's an energy field fifty kilometers ahead,” Dulshan said, glancing at the scanner readout. “It seems to be a standard Federation atmospheric restraining field.”
“Federation?” Moani beamed. “Then why don't we contact them?”
“Not so fast,” Stoddard ordered. “The Orion Syndicate has been reported to have mining operations in this sector. It would be just like them to be using Fed tech to conceal their activities.”
“But if it is, we could outrun them,” Farber replied.
“Without warp? I doubt it,” Zaylie said. “If they have fighter craft, we'd be dead in seconds.”
Stoddard turned to Gulshan. “Anything else?”
“There's a large chamber with a Class-M environment, and...” His panel beeped. “Two lifeforms.”
“Species?”
“Both human.”
Stoddard frowned. “Set a course out of here, just in case,” she told Farber. Then she turned to Moani. “Contact them.”
***
“As I told you over the com, Commander, we're really too busy,” O'Rourke said. “And you're interrupting our work.”
“Your work is disrupting warp travel in this sector,” Gulshan replied.
O'Rourke turned to him and smiled. “And why am I listening to you... Ensign?”
“Because he happens to be right,” Stoddard countered with a smirk. “Look, we're not here to...”
Natalie Fowler entered the outer chamber where the runabout now sat idle.
Dulshan immediately recognized her. “Lieutenant Fowler?”
Natalie's eyes widened.
O'Rourke let out a long breath and shook his head.
“You know her?” Stoddard asked.
“Yes, he knows me,” Natalie replied. “He and his three friends were midshipmen aboard the Chamberlain where I was assigned.”
“McCall's ship, right?”
Natalie nodded.
Stoddard smiled and turned back to O'Rourke. “So, tell me again how you're mineral prospectors.”
***
“Sorry,” Dulshan said.
Natalie forced a smile onto her face as she stood with the four ensigns watching Stoddard and O'Rourke argue just out of earshot.
“Not your fault,” she said. “I told him that story wasn't going to work.”
“So what are you doing here?” he asked.
“Can't tell you.”
“I find it hard to believe that any archaeologist would want to keep their work secret.”
“It's not my choice.”
Gulshan looked into the large cavern beyond them. He noticed both Zaylie and Farber had quietly activated their tricorders while he distracted Fowler. “Of course all of this raises the question of how you even knew there might be something here.”
Fowler smiled. “Yes, that is a very good question.”
The ground shook beneath them, groaning as if some chthonian horror had awakened from an ancient slumber.
“What the hell?” Natalie asked, spinning about.
Zaylie now held her tricorder in the open. “That subspace field has expanded in range and intensity.”
Natalie ran out of the chamber, the others following.
O'Rourke and Stoddard ran after them.
“Hey!” O'Rourke shouted.
In the main chamber, a glowing sphere hovered a few feet above the ground.
“If that's a subspace bubble, we've got about five seconds to get out of here,” Farber told them as they all came to a stop ten feet from the sphere.
“It's not,” Zaylie said. “Its energy density is too low.”
Dulshan now had his own tricorder out, scanning the entire chamber. “There's a projector in here.” He turned to Natalie. “But I think you knew that.”
She only smiled and pulled out her own scanning device, larger and more ornate than a standard tricorder.
O'Rourke and Stoddard joined the other five.
“Please tell me this isn't some bomb you've activated,” Stoddard said.
The sphere collapsed upon itself in a flash of light.
“Radiation?” O'Rourke asked.
“Nothing serious,” Natalie replied.
In place of the sphere a form began to coalesce.
Floating in the air, a gossamer winged cross between an insect and a bat hovered over the ground, its wings beating to a steady rhythm.
“Interesting,” Zaylie said. “I'm reading substance to this thing.”
The spindly creature stared at them intently with two black orbs on its wide, triangular head.
“It's only a hologram,” Dulshan said. “Probably just a recording left for someone who is long gone.”
“But what time period does it come from?” Zaylie asked.
“Hello,” the creature said.
“Is that someone's tricorder translating?” Moani asked, her voice unsteady.
Everyone shook their heads.
“I'm not so sure this is a hologram,” Farber said. “Do you see how it's eyes go from each of us? This thing is here.”
“No,” the creature said. “I am a projection, but one which is able to interact with you.”
“A very complex computer interface,” Stoddard said, walking next to Zaylie to get a better look at the readings on the ensign's tricorder.
The creature's coal black eyes settled on Natalie Fowler. “Do you have a question for me?”
“I...” She looked at her tricorder. “You're part of a computer program?”
“If that is the only way you can understand me, yes.” It looked about the chamber. “Did the Vedala send you?”
O'Rourke stepped forward. “That's it!” He turned to Stoddard and the four ensigns. “All of you, get out of here!”
“No way,” Zaylie murmured.
He pulled a small silver weapon and pointed it at them. “Get out, now!”
“Be silent!” the creature bellowed.
O'Rourke spun about to the floating phantom. “I don't think so.”
The creature's eyes bore in on him. “I will decide who stays and who goes!”
An energy field surrounded O'Rourke and a moment later he was gone.
Natalie stepped up with her tricorder. “A transporter?”
“He is safe,” the creature said. “Though that is more than any of you deserve.”
“We haven't done anything!” Moani said, taking a step back.
“You devastated life throughout this galaxy,” it replied. “This world is but one example.”
“This moon?” Farber asked. “It's dead. No one lives here.”
“Before your kind drove them away, this was the homeworld of the Hyandufla. A proud people. A good and peaceful people.”
“We had nothing to do with that!” Dulshan pleaded.
“You are what you were created to be. How can you be anything else?”
“We've made a lot of accomplishments,” Dulshan replied.
“Your kind waged a genocidal war across this galaxy, seeding as many worlds as they could with their genetic code.”
“The Ancient Progenitors,” Zaylie said. “That who this being thinks we are.”
“On most of the worlds they seeded, they...”
The creature faded away.
“What the hell happened?” Farber asked.
Natalie stood smiling. “I shut it off.”
“How?!” Farber demanded.
Natalie held up her scanning device. “I'd been working on taking control of the system from the moment it activated. Now the real work can start.”
O'Rourke appeared is a swirl of light that quickly faded. “I assume you gained access,” he said to Natalie.
She nodded.
“And now you five will leave.”
“With a discovery like this in front of us? This thing has knowledge about events billions of years in the past,” Dulshan said.
O'Rourke sauntered up to Stoddard. “Commander, I think you know what this is.”
He held up a small thin rectangle with a picture of him and a symbol with numbers under it.
Stoddard nodded. “Damn.”
“What?” Dulshan asked.
“Starfleet Special Operations,” Stoddard said. “And he's got Gamma-Ultra clearance.”
“Which means?”
“It means, Ensign,” O'Rourke said with a smile. “That you do whatever the hell I tell you.”
“We're going,” Stoddard said, heading toward the chamber entrance.
“Leave all your tricorders,” O'Rourke said.
“No,” Dulshan argued. “We have a responsibility to show this information to the galaxy.”
“He has jurisdiction here, Mr. Dandapani,” Stoddard lowered her head, frowning. “He gets to decide that.”
“It's wrong,” Zaylie countered, tossing her tricorder to the ground. “And everyone here knows it.”
“There are a lot of things wrong in this universe,” O'Rourke said. “But my actions probably saved a trillion lives.”
“At the expense of the truth.”
“One day you'll learn the truth isn't nearly as important as you think,” he said.
“Let's get out of here,” Stoddard ordered.
The other ensigns tossed their tricorders to the ground as well.
Dulshan stopped to look at Natalie. “I can understand someone like him doing this, but you? You're a scientist... at least you used to be.”
He followed the others out of the chamber.
Farber fell back to talk to Dulshan. “It could have been worse.”
“How so?”
“He could have mind wiped us.”
Dulshan shook his head. “Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better.”
O'Rourke watched as Natalie examined the device. “So you have access?”
“Yes, yes,” she said, exasperated with his constant nagging. “I frankly don't see the point. This thing's data matrix is way beyond anything the Federation has.”
O'Rourke smiled. “You shouldn't limit your thinking to only the Federation.”
She spun around. “You have a way of examining its programming?”
“More than that... we can alter it.”
Natalie shook her head. “But why? If you change it we'll lose all the information that...”
He nodded his head.
She stood to face him. “Then why not just destroy it, or take it to some hidden location?”
“Because there are certain people who are meant to find it after our judicious editing.”
She couldn't believe it. He was actually suggesting they modify a precious artifact, a window into the history of the galaxy.
“But why?! What possible reason could there be to do that?! It's a violation of everything...”
“Yes, I'm sure it is. But in this job, you get used to that.” He pulled out a small square device a few inches wide and dark gray in color. “Because sometimes the facts aren't always true, and sometimes ignorance truly is bliss... especially when those who live in Utopia can't handle how things really are.”
“I don't believe that. We make our own reality. It's up to us to make the world a better place.”
O'Rourke stared at Natalie with the look of a predator. “Maybe for your sake, you should believe differently.”
O'Rourke strolled back to the smaller chamber where the intruding runabout was just taking off.
There were too many god damn complications here--- that commander who'd probably gossip about her run in with Special Operations over drinks every chance she got, and a group of newly commissioned ensigns stumbling across this site who knew Fowler... and who were headed to McCall's gigantic arse ship.
Damn it all to hell. What a mess.
And then there was Fowler. It had been a long time since he'd let himself feel for someone, and the last time had ended in disaster on Naussica. She'd been an archaeologist as well.
“Probably shouldn't have slept with her kid,” he heard Deict's voice in his head.
But he'd been alone a long time, and she'd gotten under his skin.
He considered arranging an accident for the runabout. Naussican raiders, Orion slavers, rouge albino Klingons... this was an unsafe stretch of space.
No. Not this time.
This was someone else's operation. O'Rourke was just the instrument. Let them suffer the stain to their soul. His was dark enough.
He walked back to the main chamber and watched Fowler who was hard at work.
If only...
She glanced at him and let a momentary smile cross her face before returning to her work.
No.
In a few days he'd drop her off on Eta Serpentis Five and that would be that.
It was better this way. His life wasn't meant for that kind of game.
***
Dulshan sat at the dining table in the small common area aboard the runabout as they cruised back to the Patmos. Farber came in and flopped into a chair at the opposite side of the table.
“Cheer up, Dulshan,” Farber said.
“About what?” He glared at his former roommate. “A great discovery, an important one, and it's lost. Starfleet Intel will use it for their own twisted ends.”
“Probably so, but then isn't that the case with all scientific discoveries?”
“No. Some of us explore simply to learn.”
Farber nodded.
“What the hell are you so happy about?” Dulshan asked.
“We got out of there alive.”
“Great. We lose out on a complete transformation of all we believe about ourselves and you can only think of your base instincts... in this case, survival.”
“My base instincts come in handy a lot of the time,” Farber replied.
“Tell that to Zaylie.”
Farber frowned. “Well... it's just going to take a little longer with her.”
Dulshan laughed. “Dream on.”
“Dreams are what keep us going.”
“Well mine just evaporated,” Dulshan said. “So if you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone.”
Farber put his boot clad feet on the table. “Do you remember when I got in trouble for trying to sneak a peek into one of the girls' dormitories at the Academy?”
“I remember how no one wanted to believe I, being your roommate, wasn't involved.”
“I convinced them, didn't I?”
Dulshan's scowl softened. “Yes, you did.”
“Anyway, I had this really great system,” Farber continued. “I had this special tricorder I'd put together that would scan the dorm, looking for open windows, and record everything. The plan was to later go through it all and find any images of girls in... well,” he grinned. “Let's say less than full attire.”
“Fortunately for the ladies involved, you got caught and if I remember, had your tricorder confiscated and destroyed, along with six months of counseling.”
“True,” Farber let that hang in the air a moment. “But you see, I knew there was a good chance I'd get caught. After all, being on top of the library like that was less than optimal and I figured one of the guys I'd had helping me would rat me out.”
“But you did it anyway.”
“Well, like I said, I knew it was a strong possibility.” He pulled out a small blue chip and set it on the table. “But since I'd gone to all that trouble, I wasn't going to miss out on the payoff. I had a chip like this attached to the tricorder, copying all the data without leaving any sign in the tricorder's memory that a copy was being made.”
Dulshan leaned forward and picked the chip up. “And this was connected to your tricorder today?!”
Farber stood. “Just goes to show how a degenerate mind can come in handy sometimes.”
Farber headed for the door.
“Hey, Ozzy,” Dulshan said, looking at the chip in his hand.
“Yeah?”
“I don't say this enough, but... thank you.”
Farber smiled. “Tell me, why's this so important to you?”
“I had always seen the Ancient Progenitors as benignly spreading humanoid life across the galaxy for a positive, but unknown purpose.” Dulshan turned the chip over, examining the smooth, but ornate surface. “There have been a few reports which suggested otherwise, but for the most part that's what we've all believed about our Progenitors. That hologram told a different story, one which says our origins are a result of genocide on a galactic scale. I think someone doesn't want us to know that, and that's why that intel officer was there--- to kept the truth from us... all of us.”
“So you're saying every humanoid is here as a result of genocide?” Farber asked.
“The hologram we saw today certainly believed it,” Duslshan said, letting the impact of that idea settle into his mind, flowering into a million implications he didn't like. “At the very least we should examine it and put it to the test, not hide it.”
Farber walked out of the room, leaving Dulshan to contemplate how best to release this treasure upon the galaxy.
* * *
Dark Horizon Story and Characters Copyright ©2010 Michael Gray
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