“Why aren’t you doing something?”

Cuzar looked at Helanoman with unconcealed contempt. She always feared some loss of power, but had hoped it was through democratic means, not a coup. Her desktop screens flashed with information showing the devastating results of the earthquake. In all her life, she had never experienced one, never had to govern through one—she knew of the term only from the cultural information exchange they had had with the Federation.

The man who would be her successor looked equally inexperienced. And Cuzar was sure that he had not availed himself of the Federation database that would have at least given him a name for the phenomenon that racked their world.

“I can’t stop the planet from shaking,” he shouted at her. “What would you have me do?”

“Help the people,” she said quietly, refusing to let her emotions escalate this into a screaming match. “Dispatch your troops to render aid, fly out medics, see what supplies are needed. If we’ve lost power, as I fear, you’ll need engineers.”

“I should risk more lives?” He seemed out of his element, capable of fighting wars but not governing, and this, strangely, brought her a sense of satisfaction.

“It’s over,” she pointed out. “Go help the people you are trying to preserve from alien contamination.”

Helanoman glared at her and then removed his portable communications device from the ornate belt he wore. Quickly, he barked orders that were almost word for word what the regent had suggested. She smiled but remained still at the desk, studying the telemetry reports. A flashing light to her left caught her attention.

“The da Vinci is trying to make contact.”

“Ignore them,” the security officer demanded.

“Hard to negotiate with them when you won’t talk to them.” She folded her hands and watched him, feeling more serene by the moment.

“I have a planetary crisis to tend to, the Federation can wait.” He paced a bit, barked some more orders to his troops, and then walked behind Cuzar, and she instinctively flinched. He chuckled mirthlessly and leaned over her right shoulder, looking at the screens. His fingers tapped with nervous energy against the desktop, and although this was annoying, it quietly pleased the woman. If he wanted to run a planet, so be it. There’s more to it than private rooms and having people curry favor. He’ll learn, she thought.

Her thoughts darkened. But will he learn before another quake occurs?

Instantaneous was not fast enough for Corsi. She desperately wanted to free her colleagues and get them off the planet. Bad enough a coup broke out, but severe tremors were another thing. People she could beat; entire planets were something else. Even for her.

The transporter beam released her and the phaser rifle was already swiveling back and forth, seeking the first target. Corsi took aim at three figures near her colleagues, thumbed an adjustment to widen the beam, and then pulled the trigger. The bright amber beam was filtered through the dust still hanging thickly in the air and it looked odd to the security chief.

As the figures dropped, she waved to Gomez and then pivoted to her right, taking aim at approaching Onlith followers. Two quick shots dropped the nearest attackers and she grunted in disbelief at how poorly armed they were.

“Where’s Hawkins?” she shouted above the noise.

“Behind you,” he replied, strolling with a big grin on his face and his left arm cradling the combadges, his own phaser gripped in his right hand.

“Status,” she demanded.

“You stunned the last of the followers. No one is seriously hurt although they did manage to destroy the artifact before Commander Gomez could suss it out.”

Corsi looked at Hawkins and was surprised by how calm he seemed, and how in control of the situation he was. No doubt, had she not beamed down, he would have been able to take out the poorer-trained threat. “So, are you saying you didn’t need any help?”

“Not especially, but it’s awfully nice to have you here,” he said, still smiling. When he saw her we-are-not-amused expression, the corners of his mouth dropped.

“If it’s all the same to you, I’ll remain here just in case.”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way, Commander.”

The two walked to where Gomez, Abramowitz, and Faulwell were dusting themselves off. Corsi thought it a futile gesture given how much dust lingered in the air. She didn’t bother, although she cradled the rifle so as to minimize contact with the air.

“Is anyone seriously hurt?” she asked to be safe.

“Scrapes, but nothing that requires Dr. Lense,” Gomez replied.

Faulwell turned to Abramowitz and asked, “Now where were we?”

“Your humming,” she said.

“His humming?” Corsi asked, wondering what kind of work was being done.

“Tone Deaf over here was humming as he reviewed the scans of the artifact. The sound, while annoying at first, got me to thinking. If we can’t match the symbols to letters, it might be tones.”

Faulwell snapped his fingers and brightened. “Sure, several known languages are musical, not verbal as we know it. In fact, certain regions of the galaxy have more language written in musical scales than in cuneiform. Why didn’t I see that?”

“Perhaps the Onlith holding weapons on us?” Gomez offered.

“Or the earthquake,” Hawkins suggested.

“My friends,” Faulwell said with a combined snarl and grin. Quickly, he reopened his tricorder and called up the images he had been studying. Corsi, just mildly curious, peered over a shoulder to see what the artifact had looked like.

“Damnedest notes I’ve ever seen,” she muttered.

“That’s because they weren’t written by Earth composers,” Faulwell said absently. He hummed various notes, thumbing his tricorder to begin recording his voice. The pitch rose and fell and in a short time, Corsi came to a conclusion.

Faulwell was indeed tone-deaf.

She gestured for Hawkins to follow her, and together they began moving the still stunned Onlith bodies into one place. One of the Evorans offered to help, but given the size difference, Corsi shook him off.

“Stay here and keep an eye on them,” she ordered Hawkins.

“I don’t think they’re smart enough to try again, but one never knows with fanatics,” he said.

“Is that what they are?”

“The Onlith seem to believe the planet’s destiny is to stay isolated,” he explained. “So they mounted a coup and forced the planet to cut ties with the Federation. They won’t even consider the alien nature of that doohickey.”

Corsi nodded and Hawkins seemed glad she didn’t ask any follow-up questions. Without knowing more about the artifact or the details of the coup, they were all uncomfortable with the situation. It remained too volatile for Corsi’s liking and she couldn’t figure out the best way to be prepared for what might come next. All of her training told her to be ready, to stay several steps ahead of her opponent and to know the opponent as well as he knows himself. In this case, she could not do either and it grated against her.

P8 Blue was using the sensors at one of their most powerful settings to study the spot where her colleagues were. Rarely had she needed to so often refine the controls, adjusting the sensors to screen out anomalous elements. It was slow-going work, learning a planet’s geology at the same time as tracing the exact nature of the unearthed piping.

It was important work, and she liked being able to make a contribution to the mission, but still she disliked the pace.

However, several hours after starting the scans, the Nasat thought she had enough information to make a proper report to the captain. Gold had not allowed himself to sleep, but had taken a few minutes to retrieve some food from the mess. No sooner had he entered the bridge, causing McAllan to dutifully call out his presence, than Blue gestured to get his attention.

“What do you have, Blue?” He was holding a plate full of fruit in one hand and a glass of something dark in the other. The fruit was ripe and fresh, and the very smell of it almost made Blue ill, but she managed to control her reaction.

“Sir, the pipe work Commander Gomez found seems to be part of a network. From what I can tell, it extends under the entire planet.”

Gold put down his plate and studied the schematic on the screen closest to the science station the Nasat was using. “Are you saying it’s under every continent and ocean?”

“Yes. The metallurgical analysis is incomplete but I have to agree that it is not of Evoran origin.”

The two studied the slowly revolving image of the planet and saw the complete network, like an ill-shaped spider’s web, ring the world. Gold asked about the slowly changing colors of the web.

“It seems the network is giving off a very steady form of low-level harmonic vibrations. The color shift shows the change in frequency.”

“What are the harmonics’ purpose?” Gold took a bite from the banana and continued to stare at the screen.

“Captain, there are nodes like the one the away team was examining throughout Evora. They seem to be located where the tectonic plates meet or overlap. This entire network seems designed to prevent earthquakes from occurring.”

“And when the Onlith destroyed the node, the next thing you had there was an earthquake.”

Blue nodded vigorously and added, “With one node out of commission, the others are trying to compensate, hence the change in frequency.”

“Keep checking the plates,” Gold ordered. “Figure out if the node needs to be replaced and if not, what happens next.”

“Yes, sir,” Blue said, chiming with her dedication. “My geology’s a bit rusty, but I should be able to figure it out.”

“How long have you been up here without a break? Maybe you should have some food—that’s always good for the soul.”

Chiming with amusement, Blue said, “I’d better not, sir. Remember what happened the last time I ate on the bridge?”

Gold wrinkled his nose, which indicated to Blue that he did remember. Humans had such sensitive olfactory senses—couldn’t even bear a small rotting greela. Since that unfortunate incident, after which half the bridge crew grew ill, she ate by herself.

She turned back to the problem at hand, while Gold took his fruit back to the command chair.

Five minutes after he settled in his chair after getting Blue’s report, Gold got a signal from the capitol. Helanoman’s unpleasant visage graced the main viewer shortly thereafter.

“What does your Federation have to say?”

Well, he wasn’t wasting any time. The man looked more intense than usual, and maybe a little stressed.

“First, how is the regent?”

“Unharmed. Now tell me.”

“Second, you do know there was an earthquake on your world.”

“Of course I know that.”

“Do you require assistance?”

“Not from you! For all I know, it was your people that triggered the tremor to spread fear and dissent.”

“I doubt you needed any help from us to do that.”

The mild rebuke startled the Evoran for a moment but he quickly recovered, resuming his bluster. “Maybe it was the artifact that caused the problem. Uninvited alien interference that could bring about our own destruction.”

“Want to hear another interpretation?”

“Not from you.”

“Very well. No, I have not heard back from my government.” Gold was beginning to enjoying playing with the man, clearly out of his element as a planetary leader. He could only imagine what Cuzar thought listening to this buffoon.

“You may still leave.”

“Not before we see to it your world is spared further trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t want to hear it before.”

“Hear what?”

Oh, this was getting too easy for the captain. “The truth.”

“And I am to believe this truth?”

“Truth is truth, Helanoman,” Gold said, taking on the tone of a teacher. “The sun rises in the morning. That is the truth. Your very world is in grave danger. That too is the truth.”

Helanoman let out a guttural noise and cut the signal.

Gold leaned back and smiled. He knew the Evoran would be calling back, but he hoped it was before the planet was in more trouble.

Blue stepped forward. “Sir, left alone, that network would have kept working, untouched by anyone. However, destroying the node has exposed the system’s age—it cannot compensate to prevent another quake.”

“Is one building up?”

“The aftershocks of the first quake will begin any moment,” she said sadly.

“They’ll be bad, eh?”

“Yes, sir, and I suspect numerous. The planet has not been allowed to naturally adjust itself for millennia. It may be just getting started.”

“And if we replace the node?”

“We put the world back to sleep.”

Without hesitation, he signaled Gomez and briefed her. As tersely as possible, Gold covered the situation and finished with, “You may have as little as thirty minutes before the aftershocks. Are you free to work?”

“Hawkins is watching the troublemakers,” his first officer replied. “Have Pattie send me her research and I’ll tell you what supplies will be needed. Better start with a portable replicator so I can make my own magic.”

“Good luck, Gomez,” Gold said gravely.

“You know what he was trying to tell you,” Cuzar said.

“What? That aliens shoved their technology under the ground to save us?”

“Something like that, yes,” she replied. She needed to stay calm to avoid inciting him further. He wasn’t stupid, she knew, but already she could tell that the strain was getting to him, because if Gold’s truth was accurate, then the core beliefs Helanoman held were being shaken. Perhaps worse than the quake.

“Everything was fine until the starship arrived,” he said, more to himself than anyone.

“Not really, and you know it,” she said. “They arrived because of what we found. It was here first.”

“Not before us!” he yelled and clenched his hands, trembling to avoid striking her. He was struggling with his control of the planet and of himself. She needed to guide him carefully before she or he got hurt.

“It was our people who discovered the thing and it was our people who dated it to before our race existed on the planet. Not the Federation.”

“A trick,” he said, sounding firm despite the preposterousness of the statement. “Cleverly planted to force us to be more closely linked to them. No doubt that insane old woman Rugan was part of the conspiracy.”

Cuzar sighed and settled back. She had pushed him far enough. She then began asking about the relief and repair efforts, focusing him on concrete, productive issues. He began to calm down and she sighed in relief, but knew the situation was far from settled.