By the Book (9 page)

She set the padd in the middle of the table, keeping her hand on it so no one called up her gaming notes.

"The piece of the Universal Translator is in the basement of this building," she said, pointing to a four-block-large building in the center of the map. Then she pointed to a building near the edge of the city. "You are here, on the fifth floor."

"Wow, you've really put some work into this," Mayweather said.

"I had to," Cutler said, "to stay ahead of you three."

Novakovich laughed. "And to make sure she made up the rules before we questioned her on them. Right?"

"Exactly," Cutler said. "Someone has to establish what is going on, and since I built this world, I get to be the one that does it."

"Don't you wish it was that easy in real life?" Anderson asked, staring at the map.

"Sometimes it is," Cutler said.

"I don't think so," Mayweather said, all amusement gone from his face. "Captain Archer is making up the rules as he goes along, and I'll bet he didn't think today was easy."

"I didn't say it was always easy," Cutler said. She didn't envy the captain. She was glad to be a mere ensign, working on her science projects. "I can't imagine his job ever is."

"Why's that?" Anderson asked.

"Being that we are the first Earth starship out here," Cutler said, "I think he is forced to make up the rules. In much the same fashion that I made up the rules to this game. I had a basic idea how it was supposed to work and we've been winging it ever since."

"That sounds exactly right," Mayweather said.

Novakovich shook his head. "At least Captain Archer isn't running into Martians with pointed teeth and sharp knives."

"After seeing the Fazi High Council," Mayweather said, "I'd bet the captain would love a nasty green Martian."

"Sharp little pointy teeth sound like they're easier to deal with than someone else's rules," Novakovich said.

Anderson looked at Cutler. "I'm not so sure," Anderson said. "I have a feeling we might regret having this conversation."

Cutler just smiled. "Shall we continue?" she asked.

Archer stood at the science station beside his chief of security, Lieutenant Reed, and stared at the screen before him. T'Pol sat in front of them, manipulating the images. She had already seen them.

The rest of the bridge crew worked at their stations. Hoshi had her earpieces on and seemed to be listening intently. Trip had brought her food twice and had tried to talk her into going to her quarters to rest, but she had refused. She wanted to get as many answers as she could in the time Archer had given her.

Archer was beginning to get the sense that the rest of the crew thought the twenty-four-hour window was too short. But as he had said to T'Pol, he wasn't going to orbit this planet forever. There were other planets to discover, other places to see. He just wanted to make this first contact right before moving on.

It hadn't seemed like a lot to ask.

He focused on the images before him. Reed had taken the shuttlepod over the southern continent immediately after Archer had given him permission. He had already analyzed the images, then had shown them to T'Pol. Now they were sharing the information with Archer.

When he had said he wanted to be included in the loop, he hadn't meant that the crew would loop around him last. He'd tell them that, after they finished looking at the southern continent.

He could see why it had disturbed Reed. Even from afar, the primitive look of the structures felt deceptive-almost like a primitive village designed for tourists. But he hadn't been able to put his finger on why the villages disturbed him either, not until he'd seen Reed's low-flying imagery.

"The building construction is much more sophisticated than we had first thought," Reed said. "It is far above any primitive level."

He pointed to three different areas on the continent. Archer pushed a few buttons himself to bring one of the images in closer. The building he was looking at seemed simple enough-a hut with a single door. But unlike most primitive dwellings, where the marks of construction were clear, he couldn't tell how this building had been put together or even how long ago.

Simple and sophisticated. It sent a shiver down his back and he didn't know why.

"How far above primitive is it?" Archer asked. Architecture was not his strong suit.

"I'd say a great deal above." Reed glanced at T'Pol for confirmation.

"This is the design and architecture of an older race, not a primitive one," she said.

"Were there any signals when you flew over?" Archer asked. "Did they try to contact you?"

"There wasn't even a sign that they cared." Reed crossed his arms and frowned. "Here's the thing: On the surface I found no energy signatures at all. However, when I altered our scanners to look for underground energy sources, here's what I found."

He brought up another image. It showed no sign of energy being used on land, or under the land, but offshore, under the water, there was a lot. Along a small area of coastline, there were so many indications of energy signatures coming from under the water, it looked like a city lit up at night.

Archer peered at the image. In its own way, it was beautiful. He touched a finger to the screen as if he were checking to see if the image would vanish. It didn't, of course.

"There's no mistake?" Archer said. "This wasn't the result of faulty equipment?"

"No," Reed said. "I double-and triple-checked. When I scanned for large energy signatures of the type typically found underground-"

"In Earth cultures," T'Pol added, mostly to herself.

"- I got these readings. Now look at this. This one's even more interesting."

Reed pulled the image back to show the energy signatures around the entire continent. "We took this from low orbit," he said.

It was as if the landmass were surrounded by a halo. "Amazing," Archer said. "What do you make of all this?"

"If these readings are accurate," T'Pol said, "and since we have no reason to doubt them, we must assume they are, then we can reliably state that the culture on the southern continent is a predominantly water-based civilization that is quite advanced. It may be as advanced as the Fazi."

"From what I can tell," Reed said, "they show no interest in building anything for mobility. I saw no vehicles, no carts. The roads appear to be designed for walking only."

"On land," T'Pol said.

"None of the energy signatures we gathered from under water were moving either."

T'Pol nodded.

Archer stared at the low-orbit image of the southern continent showing energy readings surrounding it. He found this fascinating, even more fascinating than the Fazi.

The Fazi, if truth be told, unnerved him a little. He disliked their fanatical adherence to structure and organization. He frowned slightly. He hadn't been willing to think about his discomfort with the Fazi until now, until the Enterprise had discovered a puzzle in the southern continent.

Had the Vulcans been this uncomfortable when they'd come to Earth? It was clear that the Vulcans disapproved of many human traits, much in the same way Archer disapproved of the Fazi need for structure. Was this part of first contact as well, learning to step over your own likes and dislikes to see a culture for what it was, not what you wanted it to be?

"Captain?" Reed asked.

Archer had been so lost in thought he wasn't sure what Reed was asking him. "Hmm?" he said.

"I asked if it makes a difference that this culture is more advanced than we originally suspected."

Good question. Archer didn't have an answer for it. As if he didn't have enough trouble with trying to figure out how to communicate with the Fazi, now he had another race to interact with.

"It makes a difference," Archer said, "although I'm not sure exactly what kind of difference it makes."

Water-based culture. How difficult would that be to communicate with? He turned toward Hoshi, but she was still absorbed in her work with the Fazi language.

He sighed. He didn't want to interrupt her, at least not yet.

"So now what do you suggest?" Archer asked Reed and T'Pol.

"Do not try to contact them," T'Pol said.

"I agree," Reed said. "Allow me to do more study and I'll see what I can find out."

Archer nodded, then glanced at Hoshi again. She hadn't even noticed the work going on at the science station. He wondered if she was even aware of the bridge at all.

"I wouldn't know how to even go about contacting them," Archer said to Reed. "Do you?"

"I have no idea whatsoever, sir," Reed said.

T'Pol said nothing. Archer wondered if she had an idea-if Vulcans had contacted water-based civilizations before-but he didn't ask. She'd volunteer the information if she had to.

"Well, keep investigating in any way you can next to trying to talk to one of them. And be cautious."

"Yes, sir," Reed said.

T'Pol raised a single eyebrow as she looked at Archer. He could have sworn he surprised her. He even surprised himself. Be cautious. Where had that come from?

Where had any of this come from? Going slow, taking his time, studying his options, had never been a strength of his. From the looks of how the exploration of this planet was going, he had better learn how to do it.

Although he didn't have to like it.

Once again, the game had become her world. Ruined buildings, green Martian hordes, and her favorite-the flying Martian lizards-were all there waiting, waiting for her players to stumble onto them. Waiting to challenge the entire group.

The three men had been studying the map of the ancient city for at least an hour, discussing their options, asking her sideways questions that she wasn't answering, shaking their heads. At one point, each player had gotten up, circled the table, hands behind his back, like those ancient generals she'd studied in school. Then they would sit back down and argue a bit more.

Of course, they were now the only people in the mess. Everyone else had left. She would have thought that she would force them to play by reminding them that Mayweather's Unk character was nominally their leader, judging by his charisma score, but she didn't. She found the arguments as fascinating as the game.

However, if the men took much longer she was going to have a horde of Martians come into the building below and force them into a decision. But she didn't tell them that.

"Let's take the right sky bridge." Anderson drew his finger along what he thought would be the best route to the prize. "This way we only have to cross five sky bridges."

"I didn't even see that," Novakovich said, "and I thought I'd studied the map from all angles."

Cutler thought he had too-and some of them were angles she hadn't even thought of.

"All right," Mayweather said. He picked up the supply and weapons list she had made for them. "We have rope. Let's tie ourselves together for this first crossing, just in case this sky bridge has rotted out."

Cutler hid her surprise. Mayweather was ahead of her again. There were rotted sky bridges in this city, although this wasn't one of them.

Mayweather looked at her and smiled, but she kept her face as blank as she could. She was getting better at hiding information from them. Thank heavens. She thought the first part of the game had been too easy, partly because the players had read the answers to their questions on her face.

"Okay, we're tied," Novakovich said. "Mayweather, I think Unk should go first, since he's the weakest. That way Rust and Dr. Mean are here to pull him up."

"Got it," Mayweather said. "Setting out across the bridge."

Cutler picked up the cup of bolts and handed it to Mayweather. "Let's see if Unk gets across."

Mayweather dumped out the cup onto the towel, four red bolts up.

"He made it," Cutler said. She didn't tell them that to make it all he had to do was show anything better than two red bolts on this first bridge. That number would go up as they crossed more bridges.

Anderson's Dr. Mean followed and made it safely with six red bolts. Novakovich's Rust brought up the rear, also safely, with three red bolts.

"So which way next?" Cutler asked. "You have two sky bridges or you could go up or down inside the building."

"Since we're still tied together," Anderson said, "let's head across another sky bridge, see if we can get closer to the center of this city."

The other two agreed and they repeated the process. This time Cutler knew they had to have four or more red bolts to make it safely. All three did.

"The sky bridges in this building are two floors in either direction." Cutler pointed at the map. "The one headed toward the center is two floors up. The other two are down."

"Up," Novakovich said.

"We're trapping ourselves higher in a tall building," Mayweather said. "Are we sure we want to do that?"

"Are there any signs of Martians living in this building?" Anderson asked.

Cutler shook her head. "No Martian nests within two floors, however, most of the windows have been broken out, and there are signs of large birds living here. Most people call them flying lizards because of their long, sharp claws and scales on their tails."

She barely hid her delight. She'd worked hard on the flying lizards. She'd be happy when they got into play.

"How large are they?" Mayweather asked.

"Large enough to use a Martian as a midnight snack," Cutler said. "Ugly green Martian is one of their favorite foods."

"I still say we go up," Novakovich said.

"Man, you're a glutton for punishment," Mayweather said, but he didn't disagree with Novakovich's decision.

"Okay, we're untied," Anderson said. "Let's do it."

Cutler shook the cup of bolts and tipped it out onto the towel. Six red. "No problem making it to the next sky bridge."

"Okay, let's get tied back up," Anderson said.

"This sky bridge has piles of garbage in places across from it," Cutler said. "And most of the windows are broken out. The Martian wind is pretty strong and you can see some of the flying lizards circling in the distance on updrafts."