It’s all here, at our fingertips,Marcus mused as she studied the image. It wants to tell us everything; we simply don’t understand what it’s trying to say. Ming, I really wish you were here to help me with this.
As quickly as it had blossomed, her excitement at what she was seeing began to fade. It was difficult to maintain such enthusiasm these days, and Marcus still felt pangs of grief whenever her thoughts turned to Xiong. His conspicuous absence, both from the Vault and from anything having to do with the covert facility’s primary mission, continued to be felt by the rest of the staff. In many ways that Marcus had only just begun to understand, Ming Xiong was the heart of his project. The rest of the team fed off his passion, his unbridled zest for learning everything the Taurus Reach had to offer. Now that he was gone, a pall had fallen over the entire effort, which already was showing signs of distraction and even disenchantment once the true nature of what they sought had become known.
There was also the guilt, from which Marcus had been unable to shake or absolve herself. It emanated from the knowledge that she had lobbied so hard for Xiong to be sent on the mission that had gotten him killed or perhaps captured by the Klingons, which might well be a fate worse than death. Admiral Nogura did not see it that way, but she knew from experience that the station commander was doing what all effective leaders did: accepting the responsibility, for better or worse, arising from decisions made even at the behest of others. While she could admire Nogura’s unflagging devotion to duty, she did not think it fair for him to take the blame for acting in good faith based on what should have been sound counsel from a trusted advisor.
You let ambition get in the way of prudence,she chided herself. Again. What the hell kind of scientist does that?Glancing at the wall to the left of her desk, she saw the picture mounted there in an antique wooden frame, depicting her and her son, David, smiling for the photographer. What the hell kind of parent does that?How, then, in years to come, when he was old enough to ask her about the work she did, would she justify her impulsiveness, well intentioned though it might have been?
She had taken great pains to present to David the virtue of patience and considering all of the angles of a problem and the ramifications of possible solutions before taking any kind of action. The boy’s father, while intelligent, could also be stubborn and impulsive, sometimes choosing a less-than-ideal course of action based on incomplete understanding of a situation. While instinct and even luck had sometimes aided him by filling in the gaps resulting from such an approach, Marcus knew that it was not the wisest manner in which to resolve an issue. She feared the day would come when he was wrong. Likewise, she did not want David mimicking that behavior, especially at such an early age. Would he understand and use that knowledge as he grew older to avoid making similar mistakes of his own?
The beeping of her desktop intercom drew her attention, and she reached for the control. “Marcus here.”
“Dr. Marcus, this is Dr. Gek,”said the voice of Varech jav Gek, a civilian Tellarite scientist assigned to the Vault. “We’ve got something out here that I think you’re going to want to see.”
“What is it?” she asked, reaching up to rub her eyes, which felt as if they were being polished with sandpaper.
Gek replied, “It’s easier if we just show you, Doctor.”
Marcus sighed in minor annoyance and said, “On my way.”
She exited her office and moved toward the Vault’s central laboratory workspace. Glancing toward a wall chronometer, she realized that this was the time normally scheduled for the current shift’s meal break, so the area was largely deserted. Dr. Gek appeared to have the run of the place, moving between workstations with the speed and agility of someone half his size. The Tellarite was dressed in a dark blue jumpsuit typical of a member of the Vault team, over which he wore a standard-issue white lab coat. Standing to one side of Gek’s worktable was Nezrene, working again with the piece of Shedai technology brought back from Erilon. One of the Tholian’s appendages rested on the section of polished onyx, which had been configured such that the energy it received and any electronic impulses it generated were recorded by the Vault’s self-contained main computer. Marcus saw that the console was active, flashing its streams of indecipherable text and graphics.
Upon seeing her, Gek smiled, his entire face seeming to expand. “Dr. Marcus, I think we’ve made an interesting discovery.” Unlike most Tellarites she had encountered in her travels, Gek was almost insufferably jovial. His knowledge and expertise were almost as formidable as his unrestrained exuberance, which could become annoying at times. She had tried to talk to the doctor about his behavior once or twice but had finally relented upon realizing that Gek’s resilient good cheer was a good counterbalance to the rest of the team’s notable melancholy.
Reaching the work area, Marcus crossed her arms as she regarded Gek. “Something with the Shedai artifact?”
The Tellarite nodded, his excitement such that Marcus worried that his head might just separate from his neck. “Indeed. We believe this equipment has picked up a signal broadcast from a similar device.”
Marcus blinked several times as she processed that statement. Feeling her pulse quicken, she stepped closer. “Are you serious?”
“Absolutely,” he replied, motioning for her to step closer to one of the lab’s computer workstations. “It’s nothing that was aimed at us. At least, I don’t think it was. Rather, it seems to have been an omnidirectional signal, lasting twenty-seven-point-four seconds. The computer’s working on plotting its origin point, but according to Nezrene, it’s definitely Shedai.”
Turning to the Tholian, Marcus asked, “You’re sure of this?”
Nezrene emitted a warbled string of animated chitters, after which the translation device in her environment suit said, “Yes, Doctor. This equipment reacted to the signal and attempted to generate what I believe to be a preprogrammed response to receiving contact. Naturally, it was unable to do so, as it is not tied into any sort of communications equipment but only a passive feed from the station’s sensor array.”
“Do you have any idea what the signal is trying to accomplish?” Marcus asked.
The Tholian replied, “I believe it is a form of hailing message, designed to attract the attention of Conduits on other Shedai worlds. Since the Conduits remain inactive, it is unlikely that the location originating the broadcast will receive a reply.”
“What about the individual Shedai that are supposedly out there?” Marcus asked, remembering what she had read from Ensign Theriault’s report of the Jinoteur incident. “Isn’t it possible that they might pick up on this, too?”
After a moment, Nezrene said, “It is very possible, Doctor, but their ability to respond would depend on whatever resources they have available to them. Without the Conduits, such resources would be extremely limited.”