"Captain, no! You can't!?"581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvoxTPRZNk
Johansen and Rush were still in the transporter room, the rest of the away team grouped around them. Rita Baldwin at the transporter console had no idea what was going on, and so simply stood to one side.
"A challenge had been issued and accepted," replied Rush evenly. "This is a matter of justice. You said it yourself, Commander. We have to abide by local customs. The Prime Directive...."
".....isn't the issue here, sir! Captain, can we continue this discussion in your ready room?"
"No." He turned to Baldwin. "Prepare to beam me back down."
"Yes, sir." She stepped toward the console.
"Belay that," snapped Johansen.
"Yes, ma'am." She stepped back from the console.
"Either you arguing for a concept and a belief, Commander, or you were arguing for an individual," said Rush firmly. "It can't be that something which applies to Turhi or to Thul does not apply to me."
"You're this vessel's captain," Johansen said.
"What better reason, then. I should exemplify the rule; not be the exception top it."
"If I might interject...." began Turhi.
"No!" both Rush and Johansen said.
"....or not," Turhi finished.
"Captain, the legality of this is questionable at best," continued Shelby. "At the very least, let's consult with Fleet Central over the legal issued raised. You said yourself that..."
"On the first leg of our mission, you want me to drop everything and notify Fleet so they can tell me what to do. That, Commander, sounds like an excellent way to erode confidence in this vessel's ability to get the job done."
"To freely speak ask permission I," Thul said.
"No!" both Rush and Johansen said.
"Fine. I didn't really want it."
"Permission to return to the bridge," Greer said quickly. "I don't think I'm serving much of a function here."
"We'll be right behind you," said Johansen.
"No, 'we' will not," Rush informed her. "Baldwin, beam me back down."
Baldwin took a step toward the console but eyed Johansen warily. And Johansen turned to Rush and said, "Captain, please----five minutes of your time."
He eyed her a moment. "Two. All of you out. Thul, you look like you've been through a meat grinder. Get down to life station."
The others needed no further urging to vacate the transporter room, leaving Rush and Johansen alone.
"Nick, I know what this is about. It's just the two of us now, you don't have to pretend. You, of all people, can't tell me that all of a sudden you've grown an inviolable conscience when it comes to the Prime Directive."
"And you, of all people, can't tell me that all of a sudden, you don't give a damn about it."
"What I give a damn about is you, and what you're trying to prove, for no reason. This isn't about justice or the Prime Directive. This is about you needing to test yourself, push yourself. Prove to yourself that you're not the man you were. But you don't have to do that! It doesn't matter who you think you were. What matters is who you are now: Captain Nicholas Rush of the starship Universe. And a Fleet captain simply doesn't needlessly throw himself into the heart of danger. Let Bioldyon rant and rave. Let him nurse his grudge. It doesn't matter. What matters is that you have a responsibility to this ship, to this crew, to...."
"To you?" he asked quietly.
There was none of the anger in her voice, none of the edge that he had come to expect. Just a simple, soft, "I'd---like to think so."
he turned away from her, oddly finding himself unable to look at her. "Before I knew you---I knew you," he said.
"I---don't understand."
"I---had a vision of you. It's not something I really need to go into now. I saw you, that's all, years before we actually encountered each other. I'd be lying if I said I fell in love with you at that moment. I didn't even know you. But I knew you were my future. Just as I know that this is my future. I have to do this, Jonny. I have no choice."
"Yes, you do. And so do I. As first officer, I have a right to stop you from subjecting yourself to unnecessary risk."
"Which means this goes to the core of what is considered 'unnecessary.'" He paused a moment and then turned back to her, crossing the distance between them so that they were eye to eye. "There's a man down there demanding justice. There's only one person in this galaxy who can give it to him. I have to do this. If you claim to understand me at all----then you'll understand that. And understand this: I want you to stay here. To stay out of this. Do not interfere at any point. These are my direct orders to you."
Johansen, for once in her life at a loss for words, sighed, and then traced the line of his scar with her finger. "Be careful, for God's sake," she said.
"I'm not quite sure that I believe in God enough to be careful for his sake," said Rush reasonably. "But, if you wish---I'll be careful for yours."
Soleta had set up a separate research station in her quarters. She found that, while her science station on the bridge was perfectly adequate for the on-the-fly research, something that required more detailed analysis likewise required relatively calm and even private surroundings. They were not entirely private at the moment, thought, for Vanessa James with her, studying results from their scientific foray onto the planet's surface.
"You're right about these ground samples," James was saying. "I'm comparing them to the results of the tests you did from ten years ago. It's similar to planting fields on Earth that have not made proper use of crop rotation. The ground has nutrients which are depleted by planting of the same crop. Centauri Prime itself had a sort of 'energy nutrient,' for want of a better word. And the nutrients have all been drained. Except...."
Soleta leaned back from starting for what seemed like an eternity. "Except----you're coming to the same conclusion I am. That the demands placed upon it by the Centauri themselves should not have been sufficient to deplete it."
"Exactly. I mean, this is all guesswork, to some extent. We weren't able to monitor the Centauri on a year-to-year basis, or make constant samples of the ground. All the things that would have led to a more concrete assessment. But as near as I can tell, there's something here that just doesn't parse. And then there's that weird seismic anomaly I was picking up."
Soleta nodded and switched the data over to the readings that James had picked up with her sensor web array. She watched as the blips indicating the seismic tracks arched across the screen.
"What in the world could be causing that kind of----of weird pulsation?" asked James. "It's not like any kind of seismic disturbance that I've ever see..."
"Wait a minute," said Soleta. "Wait---wait a minute. Maybe we've been looking at this wrong. Computer: Attach sound attribution to seismic track. Feed available readings at continuous loop and accelerate by ninety percent."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkBGbKi3uua
"Nature of sound to be attributed?" the computer inquired.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFe7rdqZvdF
"You want it to sound like something?" asked James, clearly confused. "Like what? Bells, whistles, breaking glass....?"581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ0Flh66CR1
"Heartbeat," said Soleta. "Humanoid heartbeat."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlMx4XlP4DN
Immediately the sound echoed within the room......quick, steady, and rapid.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKiAYBGjwL
"You've got to be kidding," James said slowly.581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM64BWVcHFZ
"Whenever you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Your words, as I recall."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEvlV3CxT4
"But this is impossible, too! You're saying that the seismic pulse we picked up...."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLo09yJy4sW
".....is just that, yes. A pulse."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYcC32uaTYu
"Aw, come on! You're not telling me the planet's alive?!"581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkFAMOgqDWs
"No, I'm not. Nor do I think it to be. But what I think is that there is something alive beneath the surface. Something huge. That's what's causing the quakes, which are occurring with greater frequency and intensity all the time. My guess is that the energy of the planet was 'seeded' somehow, like a farmer, planting some kind of living crop. But the energy is all gone, and whatever was inside is presumably fully developed....and trying to get out. And when it does, whoever is still on that planet is going to die."581Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHKch4YbHI
