I reported what we'd found. As I spoke, my voice transmitting back to the shuttle where it was boosted up to the Enterprise, I felt detached from myself, standing outside of my own body, even outside of the flyer, watching my lips move, listening to my voice relating everything we had seen. Watching the others watching me.
When I finished, there was only a faint background hissing and occasional crackling from the communications equipment. No questions, no requests for clarification. Finally, after several minutes of uncomfortable quiet, Jean-Luc spoke.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡotQuwJnWWx
"We need to discuss this further here," he said, his tone tired and unsure. "For now, though, we don't think you should stay there. Proceed to the next site tomorrow. If it is decided that further investigation is needed, you can return."
"But we need to bury them!" Father O'Heron said. Even her voice sounded unsure and lost.
"Negative," Jean-Luc replied. "The numbers----the local terrain----it's a logistical nightmare, and it would take you days, if not weeks. No, it's impossible. Continue on to the next site tomorrow."
"But the babies," she said, imploring. "At least let us bury the babies---they---their faces----Please. Let us bury the babies!"
There was another long wait, several almost unbearable minutes during which we all sat in silence, none of us looking at any of the others. When our wait finally ended, it was the bishop's voice we heard.
"All right, Father O'Heron. Although the captain is reluctant, I have insisted. You may bury the babies."586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡifpvZDW4KD
"Thank you, Eminence."
There were a few more exchanges, formalities, and then we terminated the linkup. We were so very much alone, the four of us in the flyer surrounded by jungle and darkness and death.
The next day we buried the babies' skeletons, a gruesome task. I see no reason to recount it in detail. While clearing an area for the grave, Cree went a little insane. She widened the beam of her stone burner and notched it up to maximum power, then burned and burned her way through the vegetation all around the area, far more than necessary, sending up clouds of choking black smoke that did not dissipate for hours. No one tried to stop her, no one tried to calm her down.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUcuu9N75Sk
That night I sat with Father O'Heron outside the flyer, in front of a contained fire she had started with one of the stone burners. Neither one of us spoke. The light from the flare did not penetrate very far into either the jungle or the night, and despite the crackling orange flames, I felt that both were closing in on us, and that there was no escape.
We left at dawn for the next site. I was glad to be leaving all of that behind us, but now I was afraid of what else we'd find.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdCTEWtFSZt
We flew far to the north of the continent, leaving the steaming jungles behind. Near a high mountain lake we found a single dwelling surrounded by a circular, water-filled ditch. The rotting remains of a crude boat were scattered between the dwelling and the lakeshore.
The air was cold and smelled painfully clean. With fallen logs from the nearby woods, we laid a bridge across the ditch. The dwelling was a single room, with handmade wooden furniture, shelves with plates and cups and utensils, cooking equipment, and an unusual apparatus that we guessed was a stove. On the bed, beneath the tattered remnants of a blanket, was the skeleton of a man who, I'd like to think, died peacefully in his sleep.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1kGriVgwvR
Everything was quiet and peaceful, with neither signs of violence, nor signs of madness. There was a palpable sense of relief, although no one expressed it aloud. We buried his remains beside the dwelling and returned to the flyer.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXu3pz7XRwu
After the sun went down and we'd eaten, we got the linkup with the Executive Council. They had finally made their decision.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMi9xk8euMD
"Without a doubt, something strange has happened here," Jean-Luc said, speaking over the linkup as if he were making a political speech. "But it is far in the past. In the end, it has no relevance to us or our mission. There is nothing here for us, so it is time that we leave."
Yes, he was making a political speech, one with little more substantive content than the transmission that had brought us here.
We were ordered to cancel our trip to the final site and start back for the shuttle at first light the next day; then we would take off the day after that to rejoin the Enterprise. The ship would remain in orbit for several more days to allow the harvesters to maximize our stores, and then we would set course for some other godforsaken star, some other godforsaken planet.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcHH03KL4QI
Father O'Heron began to protest, but the bishop immediately cut her off, stating that this was the Church's considered position s well, and that there would be no further debate. I could see she was angry, but she said no more.
When the conversation ended and the linkup was shut down, Father O'Heron and I took a walk along the lake. The evening air was cold, and I could smell moisture slowly rising form the black, still water. There was no moon, but the stars provided plenty of light.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡchYfMEpKI0
Father O'Heron gazed out ahead of us, but I had the feeling she wasn't really looking at anything. I remained silent, waiting for her.
We had been walking for ten or fifteen minutes when she stopped, turned to me, and angrily said, "I can't believe we're being ordered back to the Enterprise. We owe these people so much."
"What do you mean?"
"We owe it to them to stay here and make a real effort to learn what happened to them. Something terrible occurred here. There are more dead on this planet, in places we haven't seen yet----I'm almost certain of that. To just leave it all behind, as if these people never existed----we owe them more than that. We owe them more than just a partial burial."
"It'll never happen," I said. "You heard them tonight, the way they said it. They don't want to stay any longer than they have to."
"Why? Where are we going to in such a hurry? There's nothing out there that can't wait a few weeks, or even months. We've been wandering aimlessly for all these years----here we've encountered something real. We should be staying, not leaving."
"Probably all this scares them. It scares me. They don't want to know what happened. And with no one left alive here, they'll resist any arguments and any protests."
She sighed heavily. "Oh, I know that," she said. "But what about those people on the ship who would want to stay here? Those who would like to make their own settlements, start new lives, perhaps be willing to make the time and effort to give the dead the respect they deserve and try to learn what happened."
"Maybe everyone would be too frightened. Maybe no one would want to stay."
"Don't be so disingenuous, Pavel. We both know there are many people on the Enterprise who'd give anything to be able to do just that."
I wondered again what she was telling me. Was she saying she knew about the insurrection? I couldn't tell.
"They can make that request to the Executive Council or Planning Committee if they really want to," I said. "Anyone can."
She shook her head at me. "Everyone knows how the vote would go. The downsiders get no vote themselves. The Enterprise is run by an oligarchy, and the request would be denied. And you know it, Pavel. It's an unjust system, and you know that too." Her voice grew sad. "Anyone who wants to stay here should be allowed to do so. If God can grant human beings free will, the ability and the freedom and responsibility to make their own decisions with their lives, the least that those in authority on this ship can do is grant the same thing for their fellow humans."586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO6uhmPWz0J
I had my own skeptic's thoughts about God and free will, but that was a discussion for another time. The idea of human beings in power acting out of anything except self-interest, however, was absurd to me. "Are you being naïve?" I asked her.
"No, Pavel. I know what the reality is. I'm only expressing my belief in what should be, my belief in what's right. I know the difference, and it saddens me."
With that, she resumed walking again, and I continued with her. We did not talk, but my thoughts were running madly, and I realized I had begun to rethink my feelings about the mutiny. Father O'Heron's words resonated with me, and I couldn't shake the growing feeling that she was right. Not for the first time, I thought to myself that in so many ways she was remarkable.
When we arrived at our original landing site the next day, I stepped out of the flyer, looking for Deanna Troi. She was standing no more than twenty meters away, staring at me. It was only at that moment that I realized my decision had finally, firmly been made. I nodded at her, twice to make sure she understood. She did, for she nodded sharply at me in return, and walked back to the shuttle.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeBSxfMjF8L
Tomorrow, I thought to myself, tomorrow it begins.586Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUe1SgBOITk
