Chapter Five:
"Captain, we're entering sector zero-two-three now," Berlitz said three days after receiving
Admiral Wilson's orders. "We'll arrive at the designated coordinates in three and a half minutes.
Our star maps indicate that the closest star is three-quarters of a light year away from the
anomaly--four planets, none Class-M or showing any signs of life."
"Thank you, lieutenant," Riker replied from his command chair. "Come within ten-thousand
kilometers of the coordinates of the reported anomaly and come to an all-stop."
"Aye, sir."
After the ship came to a complete stop, Berlitz said, "Sensors are picking up a small
discrepancy just ahead, no more than a few kilometers in width."
"On screen," Riker ordered.
Berlitz complied. The screen filled with empty space--no visible anomaly appeared. Riker
stared at the image for a long moment, half-expecting something to present itself. But what
exactly? The officers at conn turned expectantly toward him. They were awaiting his orders.
Riker glanced from his first officer to his tactical officer.
"Mr. Worf," he finally said, "Launch two probes, one heading zero-four-five-mark-zero, the
other one-eight-zero-mark-zero."
"Aye, sir. Launching first probe," the Klingon replied as he worked the console. A second
later, they watched the probe shoot across the viewscreen. "Probe successfully launched. .
.launching second probe." The second probe shot across the screen in the opposite direction.
After both probes vanished from the viewscreen, Riker said, "I'll be in my ready room," and
stood up, leaving the bridge.
*****
The first probe came back two hours later, providing evidence of a rather small collapsed
wormhole. Just as Guinan had predicted. The information from the probe showed that the
wormhole had only been about five meters in diameter. Why had a craft roughly the size of the
Enterprise attempted to enter it? And even more puzzling, how could the collapse of such a
small wormhole cause the implosion of a starship?
The second probe returned thirty minutes after the first, rife with data about another,
unexpected, anomaly about two light years from their present location. They were now faced
with the problem of deciphering it. Data brought the information up on the viewscreen at the
science station, while Riker peered over his shoulder. "Can you make any sense of it?" the
captain asked, trying not to sound impatient.
After several seconds of racing his fingers across the console, the android answered, "It is
another wormhole of some kind. It is much larger than the first, approximately eight hundred
and thirty kilometers in diameter and it is unlike any anomaly Starfleet has ever encountered. It
consists mostly of linked neutrino particles."
"But where does it lead to?"
Data looked away from the screen, fixing the captain with an apologetic expression. "I do not
yet know, sir." He returned to his study. "I will continue analyzing the data from the probe. I
will let you know as soon as I learn something of significance--" he glanced at Riker again,
"--sir."
Riker grinned apologetically in sudden realization. "In other words, stop hovering over your
shoulder like an expectant parent." Sometimes, it was still difficult to get used to Data with
emotions.
"Yes, captain," the android replied, furrowing his brow. "It does make me a little nervous. I
can work at top speed without anyone hovering over me."
"Understood." Riker moved away from his first officer to stand between Mylanos and Berlitz
and to stare at the viewscreen. The black space hid the anomaly that had snatched and spit out
the alien ship like so much chewed fat.
"Sir," Berlitz asked, swiveling in her chair, "is anything wrong?"
"No, I just hate waiting."
*****
Inside her quarters, Troi paced nervously like a pent-up house cat. Occasionally, she paused
to glance out the viewwindow at the darkness she knew contained a wormhole. She felt the baby
stirring inside her, equally agitated. Something wasn't right here. If only she could figure out
what, she could work at dealing with her emotions. Trying to replay Guinan's words of
reassurance in her head, she worked at calming herself. Fretting was not good for her and it
certainly was not good for the baby.
She had been boxing and carrying items over to their new quarters all day and had been
working with a sense of euphoria until only a short while ago. She wanted to finish the move by
tomorrow, wanted to have the nursery to cling to. Returning to the task, she vowed not to look
out the viewwindow again. Picking up an empty box, she began carefully placing decorative
items from a small shelf inside it. She had not realized how much she had accumulated during
the past several months.
The door swished open to admit Worf, home for dinner. Was it that late already?
Setting the box down, she met him halfway. After a kiss and a hug, she asked, "How was your
day?" She tried not to tremble as she spoke, but knew he could tell something was wrong.
"Are you sensing anything?" Worf asked.
"I'm not sure what it is," she replied, rubbing her belly to calm her child. "Just an
overwhelming agitation over being within ten thousand kilometers of the wormhole. Something
isn't right about it.
I know this probably sounds absurd given the number of anomalies we've encountered in the
past, but I haven't felt this out of control since the time I was stripped of my empathic abilities."
"Maybe if you tried to rest. You have been working too hard on the move. Let it wait a
couple of days. We still have five months before the baby's arrival."
She needed someone's reassuring touch every bit as much as their unborn baby. "I am
tired, but. . .how can I relax knowing there is something, or someone out there. I don't even
know if they're in trouble, or in pain. All I sense is total confusion. It's frustrating!"
"I will get you a hot chocolate. You just lie down and I will bring it to you. Then after you
finish drinking it, I will give you a massage."
"Thanks," she said, a warmth coming over her. Worf's massages usually turned passionate,
and Deanna thought she needed that right now. "You're so wonderful to me." She kissed him,
her lips lingering over his, before sauntering off into their bedroom. Unfastening her uniform,
she let it fall to the floor and began running her fingers along her arms, neck, and chest in
anticipation of her husband's arrival. Slowly, she removed her bra and panties in an erotic dance.
Soon her pregnancy would be showing and fancy maneuvers would become more difficult. After
discarding her undergarments, she rested naked on the bed, hoping Worf would hurry with that
hot chocolate and his implied promise.
When he did step through the door, the steaming cup nearly slipped from his grasp, Deanna
could clearly see the growing bulge underneath his uniform. She was pleased. He came to her,
offering the hot chocolate and a grin that showed his desire to devour her. Accepting the drink,
she took one sip before setting it on the endtable. Then as casual as she could muster, she rolled
onto her stomach and exclaimed, "Oh, my butt is so stiff!"
He took the bait, firmly grasping the thick muscles of her behind and kneading them. She
moaned with pleasure, and his fingers moved downward to her thighs. Spreading her legs, she
welcomed his exploration to delve into the depths of her wet center.
Again, he complied, and she began rocking back and forth matching his rhythm until she came
close to climaxing. Withdrawing from him, she flipped on to her back. She tugged at his
uniform, inviting him to take it off. And as he unzipped it, she fondled his member,
bringing it to full attention.
"I want you," she said with a deep exhale.
He nibbled at her ear and neck as he shrugged enough out of his uniform to offer himself
completely to her. Squeezing his member gently, she guided it toward hers. They both moaned
as soft skin made contact with soft skin. It did not take long for them to discover tonight's
rhythm and explode in each other's arms.
Once her breathing had steadied close to normal, Deanna reached for her chocolate. It was no
longer steaming, but still soothingly warm. As she sipped at it, she laid comfortably in the
crook of her husband's arm.
Probably, she would have happily fallen asleep in that position if it weren't for the sudden urge to
gaze out the viewwindow. In that moment as she stared into the darkness of space, she thought
about Beverly and shivered.
"Deanna," her husband said, "what is it? Should I page Dr. Selar?"
"No. Just hold me tighter, please." She clutched at his arm, desperately trying to hold onto
the secureness he offered her. "I wanted to ask Beverly to be our baby's godmother. I know I
have you and Alexander and our other friend, but Beverly's absence sometimes makes me feel so
utterly alone."
"Yes. I understand how you feel," Worf responded. "I am missing Captain Picard as well."
She continued to stare out the viewwindow, but she didn't see the blackness. Instead, she
remembered all the times she'd spent with her good friend Beverly, exercising, treating patients,
talking. . .Not even chocolate could help her relax anymore.
*****
"Captain," his first officer said, stepping into Riker's ready room.
Riker looked away from the small viewscreen he'd been working from and almost would swear
he could see exhaustion on his first officer's face. If the android required sleep, Riker would
have ordered him to take a nap. "I believe I have extrapolated all pertinent data from the probe. I
have found no evidence that links the wormhole to the destruction of the unknown alien starship.
Which leads me to conclude, that some other force, possibly even purposely, destroyed that craft.
Unfortunately, the nature of the wormhole still remains a mystery."
No, not exhaustion, Riker realized. Worry, concern. "How would you suggest we proceed?"
He suppressed a yawn, discovering that he was actually the one getting tired. How many hours
straight had he been on duty?
"The next logical step would be to travel to the second wormhole and send someone through
it."
"Someone! Who do you have in mind?"
"I volunteer myself, sir. I am the logical choice, given my move analytical skills."
"Data, give me one good reason why I should allow you to risk your life. Neither our ship,
nor its crew is in danger as long as we maintain a reasonable distance from the wormhole. We
can send additional probes through the larger wormhole and see what information they provide
before I consider risking my first officer's life."
" I understand your concern, sir. However, if additional probes provide no further insight into
its nature, we must consider Admiral Wilson's wishes. Did he not order us hope to attempt to
decipher the nature of these wormholes by any means possible?" Riker hated it when Data spoke
rhetorically. "The probes were returned to us undamaged."
"The alien craft was destroyed by one of these anomalies and most likely so was the
Stargazer. What are the odds that the larger wormhole will collapse if someone attempts to enter
it?"
"Probability, unknown," Data admitted glumly. "Might I suggest, sir, that a natural
phenomenon may not have caused the wormhole to collapse and
subsequently the destruction of those ships, but rather it was caused by another ship or fleet of
ships. Maybe they felt threatened by someone discovering their quick mode of travel. I have
found no evidence that supports the theory that the third wormhole is volatile. Assuming this
wormhole is artificially created for the purpose of travel, I am willing to conjecture that no harm
would come to me or anyone else who attempted to enter the wormhole."
"We don't know that it is an artificially created2 wormhole."
"This end of the smaller wormhole has remained at the same location, since it was discovered
a week ago by the Lexington."
Data paused and Riker suspected that he was thinking about another wormhole they had
encountered several years ago. This wormhole had been stable on one end and as jumpy as a bug
in a frying pan on the other. The android's brow creased in contemplation. "We may be
encountering another phenomenon like the Barzon wormhole. If so, I will likely have enough
opportunity to reenter the wormhole from the other side and return before it collapses." Data
pressed his hands on the captain's desk and leaned forward. Silently, he counted to ten in a dozen
languages, trying to silence his fear. It was moments like this one that he strongly considered
switching his emotions chip off, but he would be denying the human experience by doing so.
"Captain, I am willing to take that risk. I am the best choice for this mission, because I have
better reflexes than any other member of this crew; I could anticipate a potential collapse far
quicker. "
Riker sighed heavily and leaned back against his chair. "All right. If the next set of probes fail
to offer what we need, I'll grant your request. But I want every precaution taken before you enter
this wormhole. Let's make sure we can maintain audio contact. We'll set launch for oh-nine
hundred hours. Right now, I think I better get to bed before I fall asleep at my desk."
His first officer chuckled. "That would be most advisable, sir."
