Chapter 7 - "To The Moon, Alice!"
Mei-Wan held on tight to the arms of her seat. The science shuttle she rode in, Maxwell, descended through the outer atmosphere of Hel'yra, buffeted about by fierce winds.
"It's not so bad once we get below ten thousand meters," shouted their pilot, Ensign Merkas Elba, over the roar of the shuttle's passage through the air.
The shuttle lurched up about a meter, making Mei-Wan glad she'd strapped herself in. She closed her eyes and kept hoping it would end.
Ensign Elba gave a loud shout through the next several bounces they endured.
Mei-Wan opened her eyes enough to glare at the excited pilot.
Elba tried to smile. "Sorry, ma'am. A pilot usually doesn't get to fly through something like this these days what with the inertial dampers and all," he said.
"And why aren't they functioning?" she asked.
"Something to do with the radiation and particle fields surrounding the planet."
Mei-Wan turned to look at her Archaeology Section and saw they were having just as little fun as she was. Ensign Natalie Fowler, a recent Academy graduate, kept her hand over her mouth and seemed near vomiting at any moment. Ensigns Todd Duarte and Jalel Nelith weren't much better off than Fowler, but Ensign Zaldul Uduff and Lieutenant junior grade Sunita Mahajan actually appeared to be enjoying the ride.
Suddenly the torrent of noise and motion ceased and Mei-Wan looked out the forward window of the shuttle. The atmosphere was a pale yellow mixture of sky and wispy clouds that didn't lend itself to beauty or grace-- it just was. The view tilted down and ahead in the midst of a flat plain surrounded by mountains they finally saw what appeared to be a half buried sphere with thirteen columns around its circumference. The surface of the structure showed no discernable detail at the distance they viewed it from, but the six Starfleet shuttles on the ground nearby gave it a scale larger than seemed possible. Mei-Wan guessed it had to be at least two kilometers or more in diameter.
Ensign Elba turned back to Mei-Wan. "We'll be landing in about a minute. You can start getting your gear together."
Mei-Wan unfastened her seat restraints. "Let's get ready."
A cloud of dust formed about the shuttle as it touched down and came to a rest a good thousand feet away from the mammoth building. A moment later the door to the shuttle yawned open and Mei-Wan led her team out across the tired soil toward the gargantuan structure ahead. All of them wore back packs and dark glasses to shield their eyes from the glaring light of Hel'yra's sun.
Ensign Duarte already had his tricorder out. "Definitely not natural, but no indications of seams or welds."
Mei-Wan nodded. "And that would indicate?"
Jalel Nelith, a native of Arcturus Four, jumped right in. "That the culture that produced it was at least an eight on the Masters Industrial Scale."
"Would you agree with that assessment, Ensign Fowler?" Mei-Wan asked.
Fowler excited by her first Away Mission had been taking in every detail since landing. "No, ma'am. This is a Class G world and since it's unlikely that whoever built the structure originated from this planet or this solar system, the culture that produced it is more likely at nine or above on the Master's Scale."
Mei-Wan smiled at Fowler. The young Ensign had developed a habit of trying to please her the last several weeks. Mei-Wan knew it was just the typical admiration new Academy grads tended to have for their Section Commanders. In time it would pass. "Excellent observations."
She addressed all five members of her team. "Remember, archaeology isn't just about figuring out what you have in front of you, but putting it in a context. Everything you find has a story to tell. Our job is to put the pieces of that story together."
Mei-Wan led her team through the wide entrance of the structure. Each of them removed their dark glasses once the walls shielded them from the light of the sun.
Duarte stepped closer to the wall and ran his tricorder over it. He frowned and did the scan again. "It's metallic, but the alloy is a strange combination. Iron, nickel, and some refined metal I can't make out. The tricorder says its atomic number is three hundred and one, but there's no such element."
Sunita Mahajan leaned toward Duarte to look at his tricorder display. "There is now."
Mei-Wan pulled out her own tricorder and scanned the wall. Her scan confirmed Duarte's. She looked up the nearly hundred foot high wall as it disappeared up into the darkness. Mei-Wan turned her tricorder upward and it showed only smooth walls all the way up, no other structure. Her comm badge bleated and she tapped it.
Zachary's throaty voice spoke over it. "Lieutenant McCall could you bring your team into the central chamber please?"
"We're on our way," she answered.
***
Inside a large two hundred foot wide circular chamber, nearly fifty science department officers busied themselves scanning everything in sight. Three of them worked setting up the last of twenty spot lights which gave the only illumination present in the chamber. Duncan Zachary stood with his hands on his hips looking up at the sixty foot high ceiling. He lowered his view as Mei-Wan and her archaeology crew entered the chamber.
"Nice of you to join the rest of us, Lieutenant McCall."
Mei-Wan did her best not to react to him. "Quite a structure."
Zachary smiled. "I hope you'll be able to provide us with observations a little more informative than that, Lieutenant."
He walked over to a section of the wall. Zachary waved Mei-Wan over and she reluctantly followed him as did Fowler. He stood in front of a piece of the wall which angled out from ten feet up and stopped two feet from the floor.
"This is the only section that doesn't fit the general pattern," Zachary stated.
Mei-Wan scanned the angled section with her tricorder for half a minute. "No discernable interior structure."
Zachary forced a smile and a nasal laugh. "So you don't think it's an ice cream dispenser, huh?"
The display on the tricorder caught her attention. "That's very interesting."
"You find something?" Zachary asked.
Mei-Wan pulled her back pack off and rummaged around in it. She pulled out a small three inch long tube and activated a switch on its side. Mei-Wan pointed the small device at the angled section of wall and a barely perceptible group of strange glyphs appeared on the surface.
"What the hell?" Zachary asked as he leaned nearer to the glowing four inch high characters.
"This is an ultraviolet lamp I always bring along. A lot of times a UV source will add just enough energy to a control device to illuminate a display without activating the device," Mei-Wan explained.
A crowd of twenty gathered around them watching the glowing purple alien letters. Fowler had her tricorder out making a visual record of the find.
Zachary frowned. "So, what language is it?"
Mei-Wan thought a moment. "Nothing I can place, but we are a long way from home."
Sunita Mahajan ran a comparison through her tricorder. "I can't find anything in the standard references that even comes close to a match."
Mei-Wan stared at it a moment, knowing her lamp wouldn't last too much longer. "There's something familiar about it, but I can't place it."
Zachary took a step back and turned to a Vulcan lieutenant. "Toras, bring that power supply over here and let's try starting it up."
Mei-Wan shut her lamp off and spun around to Zachary. "What are you doing?"
Zachary snickered. "I thought we'd all just stand around and stare at it a couple of days and see if it turned on by itself."
"I wouldn't suggest activating this."
Zachary looked up a moment and seemed to be in an internal dialogue that amused him. He finally turned to Mei-Wan. "Let's see, I've got three rank pins in my collar and you've got two. Three of a kind beats a pair."
He turned to several other officers and ordered them to clear out the supply cases in front of the wall panel.
Mei-Wan walked up to him. "Sir, I would like to remind you that we have no idea what this device does nor do we know if our power systems are compatible with it. If you overload it we may lose information from a civilization millions of years old."
Zachary was about to respond when Fowler interrupted. "Billions of years old."
Zachary and Mei-Wan both turned to Fowler. Zachary smiled and shook his head. "You need to keep your ensigns on a tighter leash before they make fools of themselves and you, McCall. There's no way this can be billions of years old. The star itself is only about one billion years old."
Fowler took a step closer to Zachary. "You're wrong, sir. The metal in the walls is over four billion years old, possibly as old as five billion."
Mei-Wan checked the data on Fowler's tricorder. "She's right, sir."
Zachary let his head drop and stood still in that position for several moments. "Astrophysics has already analyzed the star and determined its age to be just under a billion years. That means the planet can only be that old." He walked away.
"Go ask one of the geologists if they've dated any of the soil samples yet and see if it agrees with what you've got," Mei-Wan said softly to Fowler.
Fowler nodded and went to the other side of the chamber where the Geology Team had set up their equipment. Mei-Wan stepped up to Zachary.
"Commander, I really think you should reconsider connecting one of our power cells to that device."
Zachary didn't even look at her. "The issue is settled, Lieutenant."
Mei-Wan groaned on the way back to her Archaeology Team as Lieutenant Toras and three others began attaching devices to the wall panel.
Duarte grinned. "Maybe we should run back to the shuttle and take off before they activate the thing."
Uduff's eyes went wide. "You really think it might be dangerous?"
Mahajan frowned. "Only to the unimaginable information that might be lost."
Fowler walked up to them. The young Ensign spoke softly. "The Geology Team has been trying to figure out how to give Zachary their results without him screaming at them. They date the planet at nearly six billion years."
Mei-Wan tried to suppress the anger she felt at Zachary. It was bad enough he had the interpersonal skills of a drunken Klingon, but to have something from a civilization that existed nearly four billion years ago was the find of a lifetime. Mei-Wan knew of only one other discovery that old. That discovery had been made by the man who inspired her at the age of ten to become an archaeologist. She could not believe that Zachary's idiocy might rob her, humanity, and the Federation of another such discovery.
Toras turned to Zachary and indicated he was ready. The Science Officer turned to look at Mei-Wan and smiled.
"Go ahead," he ordered.
"Activate your tricorders," Mei-Wan whispered to her section.
As the Archaeology Team obeyed Mei-Wan's order, Toras threw a switch on the power cell and the text on the wall panel began to glow a bright red. Everyone waited for almost a minute, but nothing else happened. Mei-Wan allowed herself to grin. Perhaps all was not lost.
Zachary walked up to the panel and looked at the glowing text. He cautiously brought his hand near it. At the moment his outstretched palm was an inch away from the glowing runes the chamber filled with light from above. Everyone covered their eyes, except for the Archaeology Team.
"Spread out and record whatever happens," Mei-Wan told them.
In the very middle of the chamber a three foot wide section of the floor rose about six inches and began to glow. Fowler saw it first.
"Over there!" she shouted.
A moment later a column of energy flared up from the circular pedestal and a figure began to take shape. A wave of energy surged across it and a humanoid figure appeared standing on the platform. The figure was obviously female and semi-transparent, indicating it was probably a holographic projection.
The figure smiled and spoke in an alien language. Sunita worked her tricorder. "I can't get a translation," she said.
Mei-Wan stared at the apparition before them. If took several moments for her mind to accept what she saw. She knew what species the figure was. She had seen it once before in a recording which had been discovered to exist in the combined genetic material of various humanoid species in the general area of the Federation.
"I can't believe it," she said.
"You know this species?" Zachary asked.
Mei-Wan turned to him. "She's an ancestor of every single one of us in this chamber-- Human, Vulcan, Andorian. She's one of the Ancient Progenitors-- the original humanoids."
***
Jack hated this. If the transporters worked he could avoid it all together, but instead he was on a shuttle soaring through the turbulent atmosphere of Hel'yra and it was not a nice ride. He looked over at Hank Evans who had insisted on coming along and Jack had agreed to let pilot the shuttle. Hank was having a good time.
"You know Jack, you really need to find a way to enjoy turbulence. I can't think of another command pilot in all of Starfleet who hates it as much as you do," Evans said.
"Just fly the shuttle, Hank."
Evans galnced over at him and smiled. "Why are you going down to the surface? Why not send Negev instead?"
Jack closed his eyes even though he knew it wouldn't help. "Starfleet has a standing order that if anything concerning a race called the Ancient Progenitors is discovered the commanding officer on hand is to personally investigate and report back to the Chief of Operations."
Evans shook his head. "Never heard of them."
"Not surprising. There's only been one piece of evidence of their existence."
Evans touched several controls and the turbulence diminished. "So who or what are they the progenitors of?"
Jack grinned. "You, me, and every other humanoid life form in the Galaxy."
"Sounds like a fairy tale."
"After today, it may become an accepted fact," Jack said.
***
Inside the chamber, the holographic recording of the alien humanoid was still speaking while Mei-Wan and her team stood, tricorders in hand recording every word and phrase.
"Time?" Mei-Wan asked.
Mahajan looked at her wrist chronometer. "Almost forty minutes."
Duarte sighed. "What could she possible be going on about for this long?"
Fowler smiled. "The extent of their scientific knowledge?"
Uduff grinned. "Could be a personal diary and she's relating all the juicy details of her date the night before."
Mei-Wan shook her head. "Let's hope there's a little more to it than that."
Mahajan touched a control on her tricorder. "Still not able to get a translation." She turned to Mei-Wan. "You say you've seen a recording of this species before, Lieutenant?"
Mei-Wan nodded. "After Professor Richard Galen's expedition ended in his death, the results were brought back to Earth. I was lucky my last year at the Academy to be a part of a team that worked on the recording found within the combined DNA of several species."
"I heard a Federation starship, the Klingons, Cardassians, and Romulans all found it," Nelith said.
"True, but it was Galen's research that led them to it."
"But you said you could translate that first recording." Fowler said.
"Yes, but that message was intended to be understood by a multitude of species billions of years after it was recorded."
Duarte laughed. "So they dumbed that message down so we could understand it."
"Not the nicest way to put it, but probably accurate," Mei-Wan said. "This was intended for their own kind and from the looks of it may take some time to translate."
Fowler watched the humanoid female as she spoke in her indecipherable language. "She seems sad."
Mei-Wan stopped to actually watch the ancient speaker. It was true, she did look sad, but there was something else, something in her deep set eyes. Mei-Wan thought it seemed almost a cold determination-- a sureness of purpose.
Fowler nudged her arm and Mei-Wan looked up and saw that Jack and Hank had entered the chamber. She handed her tricorder to Fowler.
"Keep recording."
She walked over to Jack who was talking to Zachary.
"So that's our mother?" the captain of the Chamberlain asked.
Zachary tilted his head to one side and opened his mouth, but didn't speak until a few seconds later. "That's one point of view... sir."
"It just happens to be the accurate one," Mei-Wan interjected.
Zachary rolled his eyes, but bit his tongue.
Jack only glanced at his wife. "Any luck at translating the language yet?"
Zachary looked at Mei-Wan. "Lieutenant?"
She turned to Jack. "Not yet. The language has an incredibly complex structure. We may need to contact various linguistic experts throughout the Federation to get anywhere with it."
Jack nodded and took several steps forward to get a view of the recording as it continued to play. "To think that she lived before life existed on Earth, maybe even before the Earth itself had formed."
Mei-Wan smiled as she watched the sense of wonder coming over Jack. She knew it was part of who he was, but she didn't see it that often. Captain Jack McCall was the one who was usually on deck.
"What about the rest of this place? Any chance there's more to it than just a recording?" Jack asked.
"I would think there has to be, but it may take some time to find it without destroying the place in the process," Mei-Wan said. "We should keep the site intact as much as possible and leave it to a trained team from the Federation Archaeological Council."
Zachary rolled his eyes. "I disagree. My Science Department can do the necessary work and discover whatever there is to find here, Captain. We did after all, find the recording on our own."
Mei-Wan couldn't remain silent any longer. "That was dumb luck. You could have just as easily destroyed the entire holographic system and lost that recording forever."
Both Jack and Zachary turned to Mei-Wan. Hank Evans stood back a distance and smiled.
"You're out of line, Lieutenant," Jack said.
Zachary stood waiting for Mei-Wan's reaction as she turned to Jack.
"I apologize for my bluntness, sir, but in my opinion, Lieutenant Commander Zachary was far too reckless with this site which may turn out to be the greatest scientific discovery in the history of civilization," Mei-Wan said.
Jack considered Mei-Wan's words and turned to Zachary. "She does have a point, Mr. Zachary. We need to take the utmost care with anything we find here. My orders are to preserve any artifacts or technology that may have come from the Ancient Progenitors."
Zachary nodded and smiled. "Now that we know what we're dealing with, sir, I think we can investigate this structure without putting any artifacts at risk."
Mei-Wan tried hard to contain her building frustration. She knew Zachary couldn't care less about anything here. "I still disagree, sir. We should leave it to an expert team that can take the time to do it right."
Jack thought for almost a minute before finally turning to Zachary. "Complete your survey, Mr. Zachary and make a very thorough examination of everything you find, but be sure to do it as carefully as possible."
"You can't leave this to him, Jack!" Mei-Wan said loud enough to be heard by everyone in the chamber.
Jack looked sternly at his wife. "Lieutenant, the decision has been made. Both you and Mr. Zachary have your orders. I suggest you carry them out."
"This is too important to be just a question of orders and protocol! Within this structure may be the secrets of a technology we can't even begin to imagine! Perhaps cures to disease, or even the secret of immortality! This is not a simple survey mission anymore!"
All eyes in the chamber focused on the confrontation between captain and lieutenant, husband and wife. Jack took a step toward Mei-Wan. "Mr. Evans, if Lieutenant McCall says one more word you are to return her to the Chamberlain and confine her to quarters where she will stay pending a full disciplinary hearing," he said loud enough for everyone to hear.
Hank walked up to Mei-Wan and spoke softly. "Go outside and take a few minutes to cool off, Mei."
Mei-Wan was about to scream at Hank, but caught the pleading look in his eyes. Instead she stormed away out the entrance of the chamber.
Jack turned to Zachary who wore a smile. "Carry on with your survey, Mr. Zachary."
"Aye, sir," Zachary said and walked off.
Hank looked at Jack and shook his head. "I'm glad I don't have to live in your quarters tonight."
"You have any other helpful comments, Hank?"
***
Mei-Wan stood outside the structure with her dark glasses on and arms folded across her chest. She could not believe Jack had threatened her with a disciplinary hearing. Mei-Wan heard footsteps and turned to see him walking out of the structure into the hot and dry noon air.
"Don't start, Mei."
"You just made the biggest mistake of your entire career, Jack."
"Just because you don't like Zachary isn't an excuse. You're letting your personal feelings cloud your judgement."
"No, I'm letting the fact that Duncan Zachary is at best an incompetent influence me. You can't risk him destroying artifacts of this magnitude!"
Jack walked past her and leaned against one of the columns that stood away from the main structure. "I think he understands what I expect of him."
Mei-Wan rolled her eyes and stood defiantly a short distance away from Jack. "I don't think you understand what might be in there."
Jack looked sternly at her. "I don't think you understand the concept of the chain of command."
"How can you be so blind?"
Jack's anger started to finally boil. "Mei, Starfleet has standing orders regarding any discovery of artifacts or technology relating to the Ancient Progenitors. I am to investigate and prevent those artifacts from falling into other hands."
"Fine. Then why not wait for the Archaeological Council to send a full expedition?"
"We don't have time for that. I need to know in the next forty-eight hours what we've got here."
"What's the hurry?" she asked.
"I have to know if there's something here that the Chamberlain would need to guard so that it remains in Federation custody."
"You're worried about someone else coming across it and hauling it off?"
"Yes," he stated.
Mei-Wan smiled. "Jack, we're probably the first living things on this planet in more than four billion years. I doubt anyone else is going to stumble across it in the next few months."
Jack shook his head. "I don’t have that luxury."
"Of course you do. Outside the nebula, no one can even detect this planet."
"We have a spy aboard, Mei," Jack said.
Mei-Wan took a step back. "What?"
"Ever since we left the shipyard someone has been sending coded transmissions from the Chamberlain. So far, after five weeks of searching we haven't come up with a single useful lead as to who's doing it. I have to assume it's a spy who by now knows about what's down here."
Mei-Wan hesitated, unsure what to say. She hadn't considered there might be something like this behind Jack's decision. "Alright, but why can't we send a message back to Starfleet and have the proper team on its way while we stay and protect the site?"
"Because I need to know as soon as possible if there is anything of value here. If there is then I can decide to either stay to protect it, or to destroy it from orbit."
Mei-Wan gasped at the meaning of Jack's words. She could not imagine destroying this place. "You can't do that, Jack."
"I may have no other choice. Starfleet's orders about the Ancient Progenitors are quite clear," he replied.
"Just don't leave the survey to Zachary," Mei-Wan said. "He has no conception of the importance of this discovery. I don't know if he's even capable of understanding it."
"Mei, all of you in the Science Department haven't given Zachary half the chance he's entitled to as your department head. All you've done is set yourselves up in an 'us versus him' situation and elevate any eccentricity to the level of bizarre behavior."
"Jack, he is bizarre. There are times I wonder if he's in the same space-time continuum as the rest of us."
"Maybe he has a right to act a little strange. You've been very willing to accept some fairly odd behavior on my part because you know what I've been through. Did you ever ask yourself what Zachary went through during the war?"
Mei-Wan shook her head. "No, I haven't, but whatever it might be doesn't excuse his condescending attitude and his demeaning treatment of his subordinates."
"Zachary and his wife were assigned to Starbase 343. She was the Dock Master's executive officer. A group of Danoran Renegades attacked the Spacedock and took about two hundred hostages, Zachary, his wife, and daughter included. When the Renegades demands weren't met they started executing the children."
"I didn't know."
"Duncan Zachary watched helplessly as they fired a plasma weapon and split his seven year old daughter's head in half."
Mei-Wan closed her eyes as Jack continued. "I think he's got a right to act a little strange, Mei."
***
Inside the central chamber of the structure Zachary and his crew moved large pieces of equipment around the wall panel. Mei-Wan walked up to her team. The holographic recording was gone.
"It ended?" Mei-Wan asked.
Fowler nodded. "About five minutes ago." She watched Mei-Wan a moment. "You okay, Lieutenant?"
"I'm fine."
Fowler and the others started unpacking the rest of their gear.
Mei-Wan walked over to Zachary.
"Good of you to rejoin us, Lieutenant," he said.
Mei-Wan forced a pleasant look onto her face. "What would you like us to do, sir?"
"Go through the standard tests and examinations. I'd like you to prepare the report to the Archaeological Council. I've told everyone to forward their materials to you so you can compile all the relevant data for the report. I'd also like you to be the first to examine any new chambers or devices we find."
Mei-Wan was surprised by Zachary's seeming reversal. Maybe Jack had a point.
"Sir, I'd like to apologize for my earlier outburst. I shouldn't have let my strong feelings over our disagreement become a personal issue. In looking back at my behavior over the last month I can see that perhaps I could have been more supportive of you and your command of the Science Department. I will do my best to be more supportive from now on."
Zachary took a single step nearer to her and lowered his voice. "So, he told you about my daughter."
Mei-Wan tried hard not to react.
Zachary's head moved back and forth for several seconds and an angry smile came to his face as he spoke with a throaty voice. "I don't want your pity, Lieutenant. And I certainly don't care what you think about me. You just stay in your place and do your job and I'll tolerate you in my department."
He turned and left Mei-Wan standing alone in the middle of the chamber.
