Strange New Worlds 2016 (3 page)

“Geez, Harry. What do you know about him?”

“It’s for the best. Like I said, in my line of work—”

“ ‘You learn not to ask too many questions,’ ” Eve mimicked. “Yeah, yeah, I know.
But you could’ve at least gotten better directions than ‘walk north until you run
into me,’ especially when we can’t see anything through this fog. The tricorder still
isn’t picking up any—” Suddenly, the status display on the tricorder went blank and
all the indicators stopped blinking. Eve stared at the dead hunk of junk. Had the
damn thing finally conked out? She slapped the side of it with her hand, for no reason
other than that’s what everyone did with malfunctioning equipment.

“What’s wrong?”

“Your tricorder is—” The wail of the crystals turned into a full-blown scream. A strong
burst of wind struck Eve. She shivered against its chill and felt her flesh prickle.

“
WHAT IS YOUR PETITION
?” a resonant voice called through the fog. It seemed to come from all around. Eve
looked in every direction, but could find no body to put to the voice. The wind became
even stronger.

“Petition?” Eve yelled into the growing cyclone. “We have no petition. We came here
because we were summoned here.” The wind at once subsided, and the crystals quieted
enough that she could hear footsteps coming toward them from the other side of the
rock they’d been walking around.

“Maybe we should find another route. I don’t think I like this one,” said Harry. She
felt him pulling away. She quickly turned and grabbed his arm before he could take
off back the way they’d come.

“You’re not going anywhere,” she hissed through gritted teeth. Right as she turned
back in the direction of the footsteps, a tall and lanky figure appeared around the
bend of rock. He was humanoid, although his skin was considerably paler and oilier
than the skin of any human Eve had met. He had a shock of gray hair that erupted from
the sides of his head. The top was mostly bald. He wore a green-and-black robe. His
eyes were fierce and wild, like eons had passed since they’d last seen civilization.

“Welcome,” the figure said, this time without the godlike echo of his last statement.
“You must be Harcourt Fenton Mudd.” He gave Harry a broad smile.

“I-I-I am,” said Harry, his voice rising a full octave on the last word. His body
was pressed so tightly against the rock face, he seemed to want to disappear into
it. “But you may call me Harry.”

“Very good,” the green-and-black figure said, and then turned toward Eve. “And you
are?”

“Eve McHuron. I have the item you seek. Harry was a little sketchy on details, though.
Do you have a name?”

“I am Portal 57. You may deliver the item to me.” He reached out his gloved hand from
beneath his robe, his palm open and waiting.

Odd
name
, thought Eve. It sounded more like a place. “Before I can give you the item, Mister . . .
um . . . 57, I need to know more about your intentions. The Genesis device is very
dangerous.”

Harry was suddenly pressed against her back, breathing into her ear. “What are you
doing? Just give the nice man the data crystal so he can pay us, and we can be on
our way.”

“I need to be certain what he’s using it for. Why else do you think I came?”

“A perfectly reasonable request, Eve McHuron,” Portal said. “Follow me.” He turned
and began walking back the way he’d come. Eve and Harry followed.

Portal led them up to a cliff face that extended at least fifteen meters high. He
stopped and looked up as if their journey would continue up and over. Eve could find
no steps or ladders, and the surface of the rock was far too sheer to climb without
equipment. She was about to suggest finding an alternate route when Portal walked
straight into the mass of rock and disappeared. Eve and Harry exchanged looks of shock.

A disembodied voice drifted out from the cliff face. “Are you coming?”

Eve stepped through the wall just as Portal had done and emerged into a cavernous
room that extended up almost as high as the cliff face. The first thing that caught
her eye was a large holographic display of a star, glowing with a green hue. It must’ve
had a circumference of ten meters. The room itself was filled with computer terminals
and lab equipment. It was all situated on metal platforms layered against the cavern
wall. The platforms were connected by a system of stairs and ramps. Against the back
wall, Eve spotted a symbol or insignia of some kind emblazoned on the rock—an image
of a green flame. Much to her surprise, it looked familiar, but she couldn’t place
it. There were smaller doors against the back wall, and Eve could only wonder where
they led. She moved to walk farther inside, but Portal’s arm shot out from under his
robe with preternatural quickness, blocking her path.

“I’m afraid I can let you go no farther,” explained Portal. “I hope what I have shown
you is sufficient to allay your fears.”

“Of course it is,” Harry said nervously. “There’s the star, and there’s all the research
equipment. What more could you ask for? Their word is good as gold as far as I’m concerned.”

Eve had to admit, all of this was impressive. Harry was right for once: Aside from
actually visiting their system and seeing their star-gone-nova in person, what more
could
she ask for? Still, she couldn’t help the bad feeling swimming around in her gut.
Something about the green flame symbol . . .

“Well?” Portal prompted. Eve reached into her breast pocket, took out the data crystal,
and thrust it toward Portal, who, with another burst of inhuman speed, swiped it from
her grasp. It disappeared beneath the folds of his robe. She then gave him the encryption
code. “Return to your ship. When we confirm you’ve delivered what we asked for, payment
will be delivered.” Before either Eve or Harry could speak, Portal had disappeared
into the shadows of the room.

“I guess that’s that,” said Harry. “Best be on our way.”

As they passed through the holographic veneer of rock and started back the way they’d
come, Eve knew beyond any doubt that she’d made a mistake. She suddenly wished she’d
never agreed to this. She wanted to be back at her company, working alongside her
team. It was hard, relentless, and deadly work. Eve often joked that the only thing
more difficult than extracting dilithium was finding people willing to do it. Other
governments came by the labor through less-than-reputable means. The Klingons used
prisoners, the Rura Penthe penal colony being the most famous example. It was rumored
the Breen used slaves. Yet, despite the difficulty and risks that had ultimately killed
her husband, she found it fulfilling. She was making a difference, a good one. She
wasn’t handing over the most dangerous weapon ever developed to a person she didn’t
even know.

After they’d gone past the rock where they’d encountered Portal, Eve lifted the tricorder
and, on a whim, decided to test it again. It came back to life with the rhythmic chirping
and blinking of its scans. It wasn’t broken. It had simply stopped working moments
before encountering Portal.

Remembering the green flame icon she’d seen on the wall, she used the tricorder to
access the computer on Harry’s craft. By the time they’d reached the
Stella
Signata
, she’d found the information she was seeking. It wasn’t good . . .

“Harry,” she said as he started up the landing ramp. She stayed at the bottom. “We
have to go back and take Genesis from Portal.” Harry came to a dead stop halfway up
the ramp. Wearing a look of profound bewilderment, he turned slowly to face her.

“I’m sorry, Evey. But could you repeat that? It sure sounded like you said, ‘We have
to go back and take Genesis from Portal.’ There’s no way you would say such a thing,
because it would definitely interfere with his plans to pay me.” Harry’s voice had
settled into a growl of disgust by the time he’d finished speaking.

“Remember the green flame icon on the wall? It’s from the Tkon Empire—an ancient and
powerful civilization that collapsed after the sun in their home system went nova.”

Harry walked back down, shaking his head in disbelief along the way. “Are you suggesting
Portal is from the Tkon Empire? That’s preposterous. The Tkon Empire existed over . . .
over . . .” His eyes rolled up into his head as he sought a figure in vain. “The point
is, they existed a very long time ago.”

“Six hundred thousand years,” said Eve.

“Exactly. Not even the Genesis device can save an empire that’s been dead for six
hundred millennia.”

“You know as well as I do time travel is possible. It’s dangerous, but when you’re
desperate, you do dangerous things.” Eve winced at her words. They hit too close to
home.

“Am I supposed to believe this Portal person has been here all this time, waiting
for the right piece of technology to come along?” Harry rolled his eyes. “I’ve never
met anyone who lived six hundred thousand years, and I’ve met my share of humanoid
life forms.”

“I don’t think he’s humanoid. I think he just looks that way.” Still, Eve had to admit
Harry’s point. How would a being secluded on this planet, even an immortal one, find
his way to knowledge of Genesis? He would almost certainly need help.

“Let’s say you’re right,” he said. “So what if he’s trying to save his long-dead empire?
How does that affect us now?”

“Think about it, Harry. The Tkon Empire was one of the most advanced civilizations
our galaxy has ever seen. If they don’t collapse when they’re supposed to, it could
change the course of history. The Federation might never exist.
You
might never exist.”

Harry stared at her, realization then fear passing across his eyes. While empathy
wasn’t his strong suit, self-preservation most certainly was. “Even if we wanted to,
how could we stop him now?”

“I have a code that will corrupt all data contained within the storage crystal, even
after it’s been downloaded. Unfortunately, we’ll have to do it from inside the facility.”

“From inside?” Harry said in disbelief. “How do you plan on doing that?”

“I’ll have to figure it out once I get there.”

Harry gave an incredulous laugh. “Well, don’t expect me to follow you. Portal didn’t
strike me as the sort who would respond well to being reneged on.”

Eve nodded. “Fine. I wasn’t expecting you to come anyway.”

“What?” Harry asked in shock.

“I need you to stay behind. The tricorder stopped working the moment we got near Portal.
You’ll have to be my eyes and ears from here.”

Harry was silent for a long moment, and Eve could see the gears turning behind his
eyes. “If you have to do this, could you make sure he’s paid me first before you wipe
out the data?”

Equipped with another data crystal containing the code, a communicator, and an old
type-2 phaser she took with her whenever she ventured far from home, Eve stood before
the fake cliff face, trying to determine where the hologram ended and the real cliff
began. As she walked, her hand moved through the illusion of rock like it was passing
through a thick fog.

“Ouch,” she yelped as her palm struck something cold and hard. She removed her hand
and began shaking and flexing it. She cursed herself both for walking too fast and
for making such a loud noise. Her eyes darted every which way, looking for movement.
All was still and quiet. She lifted the communicator to her lips and whispered, “Are
you picking up any life signs, Harry?”

“No,” came the hoarse reply. “But my scans can’t penetrate the rock. I don’t know
what’s going on inside.”

“Understood,” Eve replied. It was now or never. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath,
and stepped into the rock face.

When she emerged on the other side, before she opened her eyes, she heard a familiar
voice, one from many years ago. It echoed through the cavernous room as if on loud
speaker. It wasn’t talking to her, though. It wasn’t even aware of her. She opened
her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d managed to conceal herself against the
wall and underneath the shadow of one of the platforms above.

In the middle of the room, where the holographic star had once stood, was a new image
and the source of the familiar voice: James T. Kirk. Standing on the bridge of the
Enterprise
in his admiral’s uniform, he was giving an overview of the Genesis project and discussing
the destroyed Genesis planet. His image wasn’t the only one. It was sharing the holographic
display with image records of experiments, results, formulas, equations, and enough
classified Starfleet material to make a room full of admirals blush. Staring her in
the face was the sum total of everything Genesis—all the contents of the data crystal,
which was sitting below the holographic display inside a data reader. She couldn’t
believe her luck. Would it really be that easy?

She looked around the cavern. There was no sign of Portal. She took a hesitant step
forward, out of the shadow. She looked around again. Still nothing other than the
thrumming and blinking of machinery. She took another step forward and then another,
until she was walking at a brisk pace toward the data reader where light beams were
scanning the data crystal and transferring its information to the holographic emitters.
It would be a simple matter to lift the old crystal from the circular pedestal and
replace it with the new one, which would corrupt any Genesis data once it was scanned.