Seekers

by Dayton Ward

  “Dear god,” Terrell said, gripping his phaser rifle though aiming it at nothing, as no targets presented themselves. Ahead of them, an uneven wall of rock was growing, tracing the exterior curvature of the deflector shields and now beginning—at least in some areas—to block out the forest behind it. Looking to either side of her position, Stano beheld the effect in the first stages of crawling up other sections of the shield bubble. The crescendo of colliding energies was increasing, and she was certain she heard a low rumbling or cracking sound as the drones’ weapons continued to fuel the petrification effect.

  “Skipper!” yelled Ilucci. “There’s no way our shields can take much more of this!”

  20

  Nimur rose from the soil, her body already shaking off the effects of the fire lances. She had barely managed to force her way through their unseen obstacle before their weapons found her, uniting in their quest to defeat her. Despite her rapid recovery, there could be no denying that the sky people’s weapons were formidable. It was only through chance and her strengthening body that she had not been left helpless and at their mercy long enough for them to kill her, but the moment was past, and she was whole once more.

  Her efforts, along with those of her fellow Changed, had not been wasted. Nimur was now within the barrier, and without its interference she was better able to sense the thoughts of those who hid behind its protection. Sky people and Tomol alike were here, and seeing her own people aligning themselves with these insolent strangers ignited her anger anew.

  You will pay.

  But now there was something else demanding to be heard, a rush of sound permeating the air and even the ground beneath her feet. What dark magic might this be? All around her, beyond the confines of the barrier that had tested her, Nimur saw a wall of stone growing as if from nothing at all, encircling the clearing in which the sky-ship rested. It reminded her of what she had seen at the crater where the other ship had fallen from the stars. The searing fires of the Endless had come again, dispatched by the wordstone that continued in its mission to keep the Tomol servile and stagnant for reasons only the Shepherds understood. Nimur realized that if she remained here, she would be trapped within the stone, in the eternal grasp of the Endless. But could she escape? It had taken the combined efforts of Kintaren and the others to help push her through the sky people’s invisible wall. How could she get back without that aid?

  Wait. Of course!

  What of the Tomol she had detected here, those who had allied themselves with the sky people? She pushed her thoughts outward, searching for the familiar sensations that had caught her attention at the start of the attack. Yes, they were here, and within two of them she felt the spark she now knew so well. It lay within each of them, all but dormant yet perceptible to her. Reaching into their minds, she found that small shard of warmth and drew it outward, basking in the glow they offered as they grew stronger.

  Accept the gift that has been kept from you.

  Then, one of the minds reached out to touch hers, and Nimur was startled to discover that the probing carried with it wisps of intimate association. The consciousness extending itself toward her carried with it all the closeness of hands on her bare skin, hands she knew as well as her own.

  Kerlo?

  Nimur? No! What have you done?

  What is necessary. Soon you will understand.

  She felt his resistance as well as his fear, but by now it was too late. The ember she had found within him had grown to the point that extinguishing it was impossible. It already was flowing through him, and she sensed him growing stronger, but so too was something else. Even as Kerlo submitted himself to the Change, the wrath of the Endless was continuing its unrelenting advance, pushing inward on the sky people and their ship. It seemed as though the Shepherds and their metal birds were determined to claim victory today. She heard their incessant buzzing as they attempted to cast her into the clutches of the Endless.

  I will not yield.

  Movement in the distance caught her eye, and Nimur saw Kintaren leaping over the stone wall and landing on the grass well within the boundary of the unseen wall. Had it fallen? Whatever the cause, Nimur was buoyed by the arrival of her sister. Now inside the shield they thought would protect them, the sky people would be at their mercy.

  Kintaren, running across the open expanse of broken terrain, was caught by the beams of four fire lances, all joining to strike her chest. She staggered in the face of the attack before falling just as Nimur herself had done, sagging to the ground.

  No!

  Leaping into the air, Nimur felt her body transforming again. The wings returned, sprouting from her back as bone and muscle stretched and twisted to assume the new shapes. Beneath her feet the ground fell away as she took to flight, extending her newly formed claws as she darted to where Kintaren lay. Even if they failed to destroy the sky people today, Nimur would not leave her sister behind.

  All around her, the shriek of the metal birds filled the air, and she felt them drawing closer, hunting her.

  I will not yield!

  * * *

  All around the Sagittarius, the wall of rock continued to grow, layering itself atop the curved barrier of the ship’s deflector shields. The field cracked and flashed in protest from the force of whatever was being thrown against it by the Preserver drones, and the clash of energies was thunderous even where Stano hunkered next to Terrell in their hole. Stano guessed that the petrification effect had risen at least ten meters above the ground on all sides, forming a solid dome around the ship.

  “Those damned things are going to bury us,” snapped Terrell. Then he flinched as the area of deflector shield twenty meters above their heads cracked and popped. “Some days, I really miss ships that can’t land.” Into his communicator, he said, “Master Chief! Can the ship’s phasers punch through this stuff?”

  His voice sounding harried, Ilucci replied, “It’s taking everything we’ve got just to keep the shields up! One crisis at a time, please!”

  An earsplitting buzz pierced the air, loud enough to make Stano wince, and she heard Ilucci unleashing a string of profanity celebrating at least a half dozen languages from his position atop the Sagittarius’s primary hull. All around them, intense bursts of harsh white energy heralded the loss of the deflector shields, and Stano looked up to see the chief engineer waving his arms.

  “That’s it!” he shouted. “The generators reset to prevent an overload. Two minutes to get the shields back.”

  Terrell, dividing his attention between Ilucci and their now exposed perimeter, grunted in irritation. “Shit. This’ll be over in two minutes.”

  “Look!” shouted Theriault.

  Stano was still wondering how the fossilization effect had not already washed over them but instead seemed to have halted, but she pushed aside such thoughts at the sight of a single figure leaping over the edge of the rock barrier. It dropped to the ground inside the shield perimeter, landing on the grass with a grace that in almost any other circumstance she might find beautiful. It pushed off from its touchdown point and lunged forward, aiming for the Sagittarius.

  “Get it!” Terrell snapped as he and Stano maneuvered their phaser rifles into position to take a shot. All of Lerax’s planning with respect to fields of fire was abandoned as everyone with a sight line on the approaching creature took aim at it. Stano and Terrell fired at the same time, with Lerax and Theriault joining in as four phaser beams struck the Changed in the upper torso. It remained standing for several seconds before collapsing backward onto the ground.

  “That’s how we do that,” Terrell said, but his victory was short-lived as Stano detected other movement in the area. Bringing her phaser rifle back to her shoulder, she turned and searched for the new threat.

  “There!” she shouted, in time for Terrell, Lerax, and Theriault to see another Changed, this one sprouting wings as it transformed into one of the fl
ying creatures that had attacked them earlier. With a great leap, it left the ground, wings stretched out and back as it rose into the air, only to be caught in the sweep of the drone’s energy beam. The creature’s body halted in flight, encased in a calcified cocoon and suspended three or four meters above the ground atop a column of rock.

  “Son of a bitch,” Stano said, scarcely daring to believe what had just transpired.

  “Better him than us,” Terrell countered. He said nothing else, and the only thing Stano could hear was the sound of the captain’s accelerated breathing. Then it dawned on her that no other sounds seemed to be intruding on her. After the cacophony that had dominated the previous several minutes, the near silence was startling.

  Theriault said, “I’ll be damned. It stopped. Another couple of minutes, and we’d have been trapped beneath that stuff.”

  “Small favors,” Terrell replied, raising his phaser rifle as though taking aim at the drone.

  “Don’t!” Stano warned, waving her free hand. “Everything we’ve seen says they don’t care about us, but that doesn’t mean you want to piss them off.”

  Terrell nodded, lowering his weapon. “Good point.” He reached for his communicator. “Terrell to all hands. Do not fire on the drone. I repeat: Do not fire on the drone. Stay alert in case any of the Tomol managed to slip through.” He and Stano watched the device hovering just beyond the highest point of the wall its weapons had created. After a moment, it banked and fell out of sight, the hum of its engine or whatever powered it fading to nothingness.

  “Okay, now what?” Terrell asked, though Stano got the sense he was talking to no one in particular. “Did they get all of the Changed this time? Lerax, what’s the story?”

  Still with Theriault in their defensive position to Stano’s right, the Edoan said, “Scanning now, Captain. The Changed life signs we detected earlier are stationary. I believe all but one of them were caught by the preservation effect. As for the remaining Changed, it appears to be making a hasty retreat.”

  “I’ll want visual confirmation on the ones that got caught, and keep your eyes on that last one, in case it decides to double back,” Terrell replied, scrambling out of the hole and making his way toward the one occupied by Sorak and Hesh. “Commander? How are you two?”

  The Vulcan replied, “The effects I was feeling have dissipated, Captain. I no longer sense whatever dampening signal the drones were broadcasting, and the psionic assault we experienced earlier also has ceased.”

  “Thank the drones for that,” Stano said as she moved to stand beside Terrell.

  The captain added, “I want Babitz to give you both a once-over as soon as possible, just to be on the safe side.”

  “Understood,” Sorak replied. “It was, however, a most interesting sensation. I would be curious to learn how the drones were able to combat the Changed ­Tomol’s telepathic attacks, and whether it means they also have the power to counter the other telekinetic abilities we have witnessed.”

  Stano said, “He’s got a point. It’d be nice to know what other tricks the Preservers have—or had—up their sleeves.”

  “We can worry about all of that after we get the ship fixed and out of here.” Terrell gestured toward the rock barrier that had sprung up around the Sagittarius. “I don’t want to be here if any more Changed decide to attack us again, particularly if the drones come back and finish what they started. Vanessa, keep a security detail watching the perimeter just in case, but everybody else is on working detail until we’re airborne.” He eyed Stano. “That means your people, too, Commander. We’re stuck with each other for the time being.”

  Offering identical crisp nods, Stano and Theriault responded in unison, “Aye, sir.”

  “Master Chief!” Terrell shouted, directing his attention to Ilucci and Commander Yataro atop the ship’s saucer section. “Let’s get on the rest of the repairs. I think it’s safe to say we’ve overstayed our welcome.”

  Ilucci looked up from the work he and Yataro were doing. “On it, Skipper!”

  Weapons fire from somewhere close interrupted the exchange, making Stano cringe as she whirled toward the sound and raised her phaser rifle. Searching for whatever new threat might be nearby, she saw two members of Lerax’s security detail firing their phasers at a running figure she recognized as Kerlo. The Tomol had dropped his lance and was sprinting away from the ship across the open ground, dodging and weaving as though anticipating the phaser beams approaching him from behind.

  “What the hell?” Stano shouted. She started to move toward the security officers only to hear additional phaser fire from elsewhere around the perimeter. Members of her landing party and the Sagittarius crew were calling out warnings or pleas for help, all of it emphasized by the whine of weapons discharges.

  Behind her, she heard Lerax say, “Kerlo! He’s undergone the initial stages of the Change.”

  “We’ve got to stop him,” Terrell snapped. “The drones might sense him in here and come back. If that happens, we’re screwed.”

  Dropping to one knee, Stano sighted down the length of her phaser rifle and took aim at the fleeing Kerlo, but before she could fire, the Tomol had reached the newly formed rock barrier surrounding the Sagittarius. The wall at this point had risen only a few meters, which Kerlo cleared with an effortless leap, dropping out of sight. It took Terrell an additional minute to verify that another of his companions had likewise made a similar escape.

  “It looks like two of them made the change,” said the voice of Ensign Zane, one of Lerax’s security officers, over Stano’s communicator. “They killed the others. It happened so fast, Commander. I don’t get it.”

  “What the hell was that about?” Terrell asked, turning to Stano and Theriault. “They flipped at the same damned time?”

  Theriault said, “It had to be Nimur, Skipper. Tormog told us he saw her trigger the Change in other Tomol.”

  “Neat trick,” Terrell said.

  Stano gestured toward the stone barrier. “If Nimur’s somewhere out there, buried in the rock, that might be enough to throw off the rest of the Tomol who’ve Changed, at least for a little while. It could be a chance for us to regroup.” It was not much of a plan, she knew, but at the moment it was all they had, and she was certain that whatever reprieve she and her companions had been granted would at best be fleeting. “We could use the Masao to track Kerlo and the others. If we could get to them quickly, we might be able to subdue them before they get too powerful or—worse—trigger the Change in other Tomol.” There were hundreds of Tomol in the village, many of them perhaps still oblivious to the most recent developments involving Nimur and her followers.

  “We don’t even know how many Changed there might be now,” Terrell said. “Besides, anybody willing to bet that any of them can’t do what Nimur was able to do? Or maybe they can’t right now, but what about after they continue to evolve?”

  Theriault asked, “So what’s the plan, Skipper?”

  “Same as before,” Terrell replied. “Patch up the ship and get the hell out of here.”

  21

  “Nurse Amos, a moment, please?”

  The young lieutenant had returned to her desk in the examination room of the Endeavour sickbay, and Leone waved her over to where he was working at the medical section’s lab table. He tried not to shake his head in bemusement as Amos smiled before setting aside her work and walking—no, bounding—across the office space separating the lab from the patient treatment area.

  Where the hell does she get all that energy?

  Not for the first time, he pondered the unassailable fact that Holly Amos, regardless of the situation or even the time of day, seemed to have no shortage of enthusiasm or spring in her step. Upon her arrival aboard ship during its recent extensive repairs, resupply, and crew rotation at Starbase 12 prior to setting out on its new mission into the Taurus Reach, the nurse had demonstrated the
usual overflowing eagerness befitting young Starfleet personnel embarking on their first assignment. At first, Leone had taken it in stride, chalking up her personality to youthful exuberance that would temper in time. Even Captain Khatami had mentioned it, teasing him that she would be a good influence in sickbay, a counter to his usual somber and even sardonic demeanor.

  Because I’m just not cheerful enough all by myself.

  “Hi!” Amos said as she approached the lab table, her smile wide and her teeth almost bright enough to act as an independent light source. Then, as though realizing that she might be overdoing things even by her standards, her expression turned serious. “I mean, yes, Doctor? You wanted to see me?”

  “Um, hi,” Leone said, unable to completely suppress a reflexive sneer. He nodded in the general direction of the sickbay’s patient ward. “How’s our guest?”

  Turning her head fast enough that the dark locks of her regulation bob hairstyle looked as though they might separate from her head, the nurse looked at their young Tomol charge, resting quietly. “Seta? I think she’s holding up well enough. She’s a really tough kid. Between what’s happened on her planet and everything she’s trying to understand up here, she seems to be handling it.” She frowned. “A lot better than I would’ve been able to do at her age.”

  “Now, that I find hard to believe,” Leone said.

  Amos smiled. “I had a pretty hectic childhood, Doctor. Starfleet brat, getting dragged to eleven different starbases and planet-based duty assignments before I graduated high school, but that’s nothing compared to what she’s dealing with.”

  Tapping a control on the terminal interface, Leone instructed the computer to carry out the next step in the testing he was conducting. “You’ve been talking?” he asked, moving away from the workstation.