Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #5: Atlantis Station

by V. E. Mitchell

Leilani gave them a moment to look around. They were in a large entry hall with a high ceiling. Brightly colored posters and displays covered every inch of wall space. A scale model of the island filled the center of the room.

  “This is our main display area,” Leilani said. “The Isla del Fuego Visitors Center receives over fifty thousand visitors a year. Of course,” she paused, smiling, “most of them don’t get the tour you’re about to get.”

  “They probably don’t have to write a paper, either,” Todd said to Lissa under his breath.

  Leilani focused an even wider smile on Todd, and his cheeks grew hot from embarrassment. Todd hadn’t intended his comment for anyone but Lissa. “Actually, many of them do. Most of our visitors are students on class field trips. Isla del Fuego provides a unique opportunity to study the formation of an island and to observe how plant and animal populations evolve over time. Students in geology, biology, botany, ecology, and oceanography all gain valuable insights from, the work we do on Isla del Fuego.”

  She studied the group. “Does anyone have any questions?” When no one did, she continued, “In that case, I’ll give you your communicators and we can begin your tour.”

  Leilani went to a console near the door. Geordi was the first person in line. She took a communicator from the drawer and touched it to a sensor pad. After telling the computer how long he would be on the island, she gave the communicator to him.

  While he waited for the others, Geordi examined the model of the island. Isla del Fuego was a single volcano, a massive pile of rock built up from the ocean floor nearly three miles below. Most such volcanoes never reached sea level. Of those that did, many did not survive the ceaseless battering of the ocean’s waves. Within a few years, the new islands were worn down below sea level and never seen again.

  Against the odds, Isla del Fuego had grown into permanent land. The island had an oval shape, with the summit of the mountain to the west. The field where they had landed was the largest patch of level ground on the island, and most of Atlantis Station had been built in the area. A few structures were located elsewhere on the island.

  The model was incredible. With all the details it showed, Geordi could have spent the rest of the day studying it. Suddenly he felt very small and unimportant. The universe held so many surprises and promised so many exciting adventures that he would need dozens of lifetimes to explore all the possibilities. How could he ever learn enough to get through his Academy classes and become a Starfleet officer?

  Leilani stepped in front of the model. “Let me introduce you to Isla del Fuego, the Island of Fire. Most of you have seen our display. This is an accurate scale model of the island, showing every lava flow and volcanic vent. Our people work very hard to keep it up-to-date.”

  “How difficult can that be? Mountains aren’t like cities. People don’t rebuild them every week.” Lissa’s puzzled tone reminded Geordi that she came from Holloway Base. Built on an airless moon, the landscape outside the base’s dome was sterile and unchanging.

  Leilani explained, “Isla del Fuego is on the most active part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The sea floor here spreads at the rate of two to three centimeters per year.”

  She paused, grinning. “That doesn’t sound fast, but it’s enough. As the ridge pulls apart, hot rock from deep inside the earth fills the gap. Some of that rock piled up here until it formed this island.”

  “Anyone who has taken a beginning geology class knows that.” T’Varien’s tone implied that the information was so basic that every grade-school child knew it. On Vulcan, they probably do, Geordi thought. His sister Ariana had gone to school with a Vulcan girl for a while, and T’Loura had been several years younger than her classmates.

  Leilani’s face flushed with anger, but her voice remained calm. “That’s true. However, people often have trouble connecting what they learn in class with the world around them. It’s especially difficult in geology, where the things we study are so large.”

  T’Varien flipped her bangs out of her eyes. “Can we not assume that everyone has heard this elementary lecture and proceed to something interesting?”

  Geordi tried to remember enough from his geology class to ask an intelligent question. While he was thinking, help came from an unexpected source.

  “Please continue with lecture, Honorable Leilani,” Yoshi said. “Humble students should show more patience in learning history of island.”

  “‘Honorable Leilani’?” Todd whispered.

  Geordi shrugged. Yoshi’s manners were excessive, but he was glad no one else heard Todd. Finally, he thought of a question. “How often has the volcano erupted?”

  “There have been ten major eruptions since Isla del Fuego rose from the ocean 215 years ago.” Leilani flashed Geordi a grateful smile. “In between major eruptions, the volcano shows occasional activity at the summit. You’re in luck. Two lava fountains started erupting last night.”

  “Will it be possible for us to see them?” Judging from Ven’s tone, he really wanted to see the volcano erupt. That surprised Geordi. The Andorian didn’t seem interested in the sciences. From what Geordi had seen, Ven preferred to order his classmates around. He clearly saw himself as a future starship captain. However, Geordi didn’t want to serve under him. Ven was too sure of his own abilities and too quick to condemn others.

  Leilani nodded yes to Ven’s question. “We’ll fly around the mountain and see the fire fountains. Before that, though, we’ll tour the station’s research labs. I think you’ll enjoy seeing how we study the inside of the volcano.”

  With that, she started down the corridor. Geordi and his classmates fell in line behind her.

  The deep imaging lab was an engineer’s dream. The gleaming consoles, flashing monitors, and complex equipment begged for someone to put them through their paces. Geordi stood in the door admiring everything; He wished he had a week to learn how each device worked.

  It wasn’t the first time he’d had a clear picture of where he wanted to go in Starfleet. Like most cadets, Geordi was overwhelmed by the range of specialties Starfleet offered him. But he knew what he wanted—he wanted to be the person who made everything work.

  Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge. Yes, it had a nice ring to it. Someday that was who he was going to be. However, he realized, someday was a long way off. At the moment, he’d better pass this class.

  “And this screen tells us what’s happening inside the volcano,” Leilani was saying. “The colors show the temperature of the rocks below the surface.”

  Geordi moved closer to the monitor. It showed a cut-away view of the mountain. A vertical strip of bright yellow ran from the bottom of the screen to the mouth of the volcano. It could have been a picture straight from his geology text.

  Leilani pointed to several consoles on the far wall. “The best way for you to understand this is to analyze the problem. These work stations receive data from our sensor arrays on the mountain.

  “For the next hour, you will be a science team exploring a new planet. Your mission is to study this volcano and prepare a report for your captain. Each of you should prepare your own analysis in addition to the group report.” Leilani grinned at them. “Good luck,” she said as she left the room.

  CHAPTER

  3

  It was almost too good to be true, Geordi thought as he slid into his seat. He had half an hour to collect information from the most advanced sensor array on Earth before the cadets would prepare the group report. With that much time, he should have no trouble writing an individual report that would make up the points he had lost earlier.

  He began with the temperature data. Sensors reported how hot the rocks were, starting at the Earth’s surface and going deep underground.

  Geordi arranged his information into vertical slices through the volcano. Each showed patches of hotter rock near the surface. When he arranged the profiles into a three-dimensional grid, he found the column of molten rock that Leilani had showed them. However, his screen displayed more det
ails.

  Several fingers of molten rock poked from the center column in various directions. The two largest branches were near the top of the mountain. One seemed to be moving upward as he watched. Geordi rotated the picture, trying to decide if he was imagining the movement.

  He was so busy that, at first, Geordi didn’t realize his chair was shaking. When he looked around, he saw that both clones were holding onto the counter’s edge. An earthquake? Geordi wondered, as the shaking stopped. He’d heard about them, but he’d never been in one.

  Curious, he asked the computer for information about earthquakes and Isla del Fuego. It gave him three screens of topics to choose from. Too much data, he thought. Which information would let him predict what the volcano would do?

  “Computer,” he ordered, “display all earthquakes for the previous month, coded by intensity.” A bright fuzzy patch of dots appeared on the screen. Most were yellow or white, but scattered dots of other colors showed the larger earthquakes. Geordi couldn’t see any pattern.

  “Computer, display earthquakes according to time and date. Compression factor, 1.5 million.” The pixels of light blinked on and off in rapid succession. Geordi still couldn’t see any pattern. The points were too random. “Computer, have the locations of the earthquakes changed during the last month?”

  “Analysis shows a 1.735% upward drift. The level of uncertainty is 5%, and the correlation coefficients are highly variable.”

  Geordi nodded. Measuring precise locations through many kilometers of rock was still not an exact science. “Computer, overlay earthquake locations with heat distribution profile.”

  The picture formed on his screen. The earthquake data mapped out a circular area about two kilometers beneath the ocean’s floor. Geordi’s heat profiles stopped four kilometers above it. “Computer, extend heat flow data to ten kilometers depth.”

  The central column extended downward. When it reached the earthquake zone, the bright yellow stripe expanded into a large bubble. Most of the earthquakes were taking place around its edges.

  What do they called that? Geordi frowned, trying to remember. Magma chamber? Yes, that’s what the geologists called that feature. Magma was their word for molten rock beneath the Earth’s surface. A magma chamber was where the liquid rock collected. Motions in the molten rock often caused earthquakes in the solid rock around the magma chamber.

  Could the volcano on Isla del Fuego be getting ready to erupt? Geordi wondered. What information would help him predict what would happen? The computer listed magnetic surveys, electrical surveys, records of how much the mountain was tilting, and chemical analyses of the gases being released from the volcano.

  It was far too much information for one person to analyze in the time he had. With a slow grin, Geordi realized the reason for this exercise. With limited time for any mission, everyone had to work together to complete an assignment. Here they were doing the same project. However, on a normal mission, each person would study one aspect of the problem—one person observing the volcano, another collecting plant specimens, a third looking for sea life. Teamwork would give them more data than any single person could collect.

  “It is now time for us to prepare our group report,” T’Varien announced. She was acting as chief scientist for the exercise. Stopping beside Geordi, she looked at the information on his screen. “You have a great deal of data here, but it is meaningless without informed interpretations.”

  Geordi clenched his hand. Responding to the criticism would only get him into trouble. “It looks like the volcano is getting ready to erupt. With more time, I could predict when.”

  “Leilani already told us there were fire fountains on the summit.” T’Varien’s tone made Geordi feel like a four-year-old, and not a very smart one at that. “Why do you think your data shows anything more will happen?”

  Geordi repeated her question to himself. Why did he think the volcano was going to erupt “soon”? His evidence wasn’t conclusive, and “soon,” in geological terms, might not be for fifty years. Still, there was something he couldn’t quite spot, even with the extra powers of his VISOR. Some piece of evidence was teasing him for attention. He frowned, remembering how hot the top of the mountain had looked when they landed. Was that what was bothering him?

  T’Varien moved on to the Stenarios clones. “You forgot to check how the temperature profiles vary over time,” she told Amray. “If you had, you would know that these results are worthless.”

  “My screen shows that information,” Amril said.

  “It made more sense to create the profiles on my screen—” Amray said. Her olive-skinned finger traced the curves on the display.

  “—while we ran the analyses on my machine,” Amril continued, finishing her sister’s sentence without missing a beat. She pointed to the matching curves on her screen.

  “We agree with Cadet La Forge’s suggestion—”

  “—that the volcano will erupt soon.”

  “Perhaps within the next two weeks.”

  “That is absolute nonsense.” Ven joined the argument, his antennae quivering with irritation. “The Academy would never send us on this trip if there was the slightest danger of an eruption.”

  Geordi frowned, looking for the flaw in Ven’s logic. “Why wouldn’t they send us anyway? Especially if they knew something unusual might happen. I mean, when we’re officers, we’ll have to deal with the unexpected all the time.”

  “And, of course, someone who cannot deal with the expected and make it to our shuttle on time can be trusted to deal with the unexpected.” Ven’s soft, hissing voice made his words sound even more threatening. “If you want an excuse to return to the Academy, I am sure the mail shuttle can take you back to dry land.”

  “I wasn’t looking for an excuse to get out of the trip.” From the look on Ven’s face, Geordi didn’t think the Andorian believed him. He turned back to his screen, fighting to keep from continuing the argument.

  “All natural phenomena show wide random variations. It is normal for this volcano to occasionally display readings similar to the ones the sensors are reporting. Does anyone else disagree with the contents of our final report?” T’Varien asked. “Or does everyone understand the error the—other—members of the class made when they assumed high readings meant the volcano was about to erupt?”

  Who gave you permission to ignore us? Geordi thought. He glanced toward the clones, but both Amril and Amray were staring at their displays. Amril was drumming her fingers on the control pad, her dark eyes filled with doubt. Amray was as rigid as a pillar of rock.

  Amril was thinking about changing her report to match T’Varien’s conclusions, Geordi realized. It would look strange if they signed their names to the group’s report, saying the volcano was behaving normally, but turned in individual reports that reached the opposite conclusion. Lieutenant Muldov would certainly question their work.

  Geordi reached for his control pad, then dropped his hand to his lap. “No,” he whispered. “I know I’m right.” A fair group report should reflect the work of each team member. The least he could do was be honest and turn in the work he had done.

  “She shouldn’t have dismissed our work. This type of problem—” Amril whispered to him.

  Amray nodded and finished Amril’s thought. “—has too many variables for anyone to be absolutely sure of the answers.”

  Geordi grinned at them, glad for their support. Even so, he was relieved when Leilani returned. He logged his work into the main computer and left the lab. With the report on file, he wouldn’t be tempted to give in to group pressure and change it later.

  CHAPTER

  4

  Outside, an airbus was waiting for them. On its side was a bright red logo—the outline of a volcano with the words “Isla del Fuego” in a circle around it. The cadets climbed into the bus and found seats.

  Geordi sat in the front, behind Leilani. A glance at the controls told him that the trip was directed by the computer. The guide coul
d pause the program to let them spend more time somewhere. Beyond that, they would see the same sights as every other visitor to the island.

  Disappointed, Geordi fastened his safety harness. He wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but he wanted their visit to the volcano to be special. Knowing they were getting a standard tour was a letdown.

  He looked out the window, adjusting his VISOR to allow for the bright sun. The blocky, angular ends of the lava flows took on sharp edges and deep shadows. The sunlit surfaces read over fifty degrees hotter than the deep cracks between the boulders.

  Leilani tapped the control pad and the bus shivered to life. It rose into the air, circling the station. They turned, heading up the mountain. Leilani pointed toward the jagged boulders that Geordi had been looking at.

  “The rough, blocky rock you see is called aa. That’s a Hawaiian word. It’s spelled with two a’s, and you say both of them. Ah-ah.” She gave them a well-timed grin. “That’s the only easy thing about this stuff.”

  “It looks just like the rocks back home,” Lissa said. “Can’t you boulder-surf those hills?”

  Leilani shook her head. “The gravity here on Earth is over ten times what it is on Holloway Base. When you jump, you don’t move nearly as far.”

  T’Varien looked toward Lissa. “The rocks will pick up speed much faster than you are used to. If you do not keep out of the way, they will run you down.”

  “That’s a good point,” Leilani said. “Every time you go to a new environment, things change. Even the most basic things, like how high you can jump or how fast a rock will roll down a hill. New places are dangerous when you assume they are like places you already know.”

  Geordi gazed at the broken-up rocks and reflected on what a good point Leilani had made. If you lived long enough on a planet, you quit thinking about the gravity, and how long the days were, and how hot the summer was. Sometimes it wasn’t easy to adjust to the changes. Both his parents were in Starfleet, and he’d moved around a lot when he was a kid. He’d never gotten used to some of the places they’d lived.