Chapter Seven

CAPTAIN PICARD GAZED OUT the window at a sight that might have inspired Scheherazade and the authors of One Thousand and One Arabian Nights. The sky between two immense yellow prisms was dotted with what appeared to be flying carpets, undulating slowly in the breeze. The Yilterns were obviously aware of the shuttlecraft, but they had no desire to get too close or to race the visitors as had the Frills. Instead, these undulating flyers-each of whom was a composite of hundreds of smaller batlike beings-were content to swoop about like manta rays at play.

“Pretty, aren’t they?” asked Keefe Nordine behind him.

“Yes,” agreed Picard with a satisfied smile. “I saw one of them in the hall of the Exalted Ones, but I

haven’t seen them since. Do they ever break apart from that composite form?”

“Into individual animals?” asked Nordine. “Only when they die and when they mate. Or so I’ve heard.”

“That is my information, too,” answered Data. “Each one of the larger forms is a brood of siblings, consisting of up to three hundred individuals, sharing a hive-mind. When they find another composite Yiltern to mate with, then all the individual creatures must mate individually with their counterparts. It is quite a spectacle, according to reports.”

“Then why isn’t the planet overrun with Yilterns?” asked Picard. “If they have broods of three hundred.”

“Only a small percentage of each brood are fertile,” answered Data, “and each of these must trust to chance to find a fertile counterpart, further reducing the odds. Even for the ones who reproduce, not all of their eggs survive. It is analogous to thousands of human sperm being required to fertilize a single egg.”

Keefe Nordine stared wistfully out the window. “They were born together, and most of them will die together. If you look closely, you might find an old one with only a few individuals left. There!”

Following his outstretched finger, Picard located a small Yiltern, which he had initially mistaken for a youngster. The composite form of the Yiltern was a unique creature-it was born full-size and shrank dramatically as it got older.

“They fill in to keep a tight formation,” said Nordine. “But when more than half of them are dead, the others just sort of split apart and die. Then the Yiltern is no more.”

Picard nodded solemnly, thinking it would be like a starship losing half its crew. It would be disheartening to try to continue under such conditions. He was anxious to learn more about these fantastic creatures, and he wished he had more time to study them. Unfortunately, the team’s success depended upon getting in and out of here as quickly as possible.

“We are approaching an opening in the crystal,” said Data, pointing the nose of the shuttlecraft toward a jagged crevice at the very tip of a dark-amber prism. “Is that the cave you described?”

“Yes!” answered the young man excitedly. “Only it’s not really a cave. It takes them centuries, but the Yilterns pick away at a crystal until they open a hole to the marrow. The liquid escapes and condenses on the walls of the cavern they’ve made, and they bring in lichen from other caves, which they cultivate. That’s all they eat. I guess one of the hollowed-out crystals lasts them thousands of years; then they abandon it when it goes dry.”

The captain peered more closely, and he thought he saw metal scaffolding erected around the edge of the crevice. “Has somebody helped them drill these holes?”

Nordine smiled. “I told you, they’ll make use of alien equipment if they have it. I think this is their main cavern-it was the last time I was here. This whole area is full of their caves, both current and abandoned.”

“I do not believe we should fly inside the prism,” said Data, “although the opening is large enough.”

“How extensive are the caves inside?” asked the captain.

Nordine answered, “They can go back a long way before they connect with the marrow.”

“We can use the jetpacks,” suggested Data.

Nordine clapped his hands together. “Hey, great! They’ll love that.”

“One jetpack,” corrected the captain. “You wear it, Data, and you can tow Mr. Nordine and myself on a rope. I don’t want to disrupt their living space any more than we have to.”

“They won’t mind,” said Nordine with a smile. “Let’s not forget the goodies to trade.”

“Surplus items.” Picard pointed to a cache of small electronic devices in a net bag.

“I hope that will be enough,” said the young passenger.

When they neared the opening in the tip of the amber crystal, Data brought the shuttlecraft to a full stop. As soon as the thrusters shut off, they were surrounded by Yilterns flowing all around them, like leaves caught in a dust devil. Several of the remarkable creatures roosted right on the shuttlecraft, and tiny skittering sounds could be heard through the hull.

Data turned his head, looking mildly concerned. “I hope they will not damage the shuttlecraft.”

“I think they’re inspecting it,” said Nordine, grabbing the bag of trading items. “They’re really curious critters.”

A few minutes later, Data had a small, self-contained jetpack strapped to his back and a length of rope trailing from his waist. Picard had looped himself next in line about four meters behind the android, and Nordine was last on the line about four meters behind Picard.

The captain was more than willing to let the young man take charge of their trading objects.

When they opened the hatch, the Yilterns moved politely away from the craft, not fleeing but undulating slowly like great gray waves rolling off an embankment. When the creatures moved vertically, they looked like shower curtains instead of carpets, rippling gracefully along unseen rails. Picard couldn’t help but be reminded of schools of fish he had seen move in perfect formation, each individual keeping its place in the filmy curtain.

“I am ready,” said Data, unimpressed by the extraordinary life flowing all around him.

‘Take us in,” ordered Picard. “Slowly.”

Using very short bursts from his jetpack, the android moved slowly toward the gaping crevice, pulling the two humans and the bag of goods after him. Not only had scaffolding and solar panels been erected around the opening, but there was also a sort of miniature laser drill that stood poised to cut the crevice even wider. Picard frowned, because he didn’t have anything in his bag quite as efficient as that drill.

Before he could contemplate this further, their momentum carried them inside the crystal and they were surrounded on all sides by shifting, golden sunlight refracted through the amber crystal. However, it seemed darker than it should be-darker than it had been inside any of the other hollow crystals they had visited-and Picard soon understood why. All along the damp walls grew a crusty white lichen, which seemed to glimmer like spun sugar. Although it was beautiful in itself, the

lichen cut down on the amount of light reaching the cavern.

As they floated deeper, they disturbed several creatures feeding, who simply peeled off the walls and rippled away. In the shadowy golden half-light Picard saw what he thought were nets, like the ones he had seen in the Elaysian enclaves. Upon closer inspection, he was surprised to find that these nets were wires connected to the hulks of various machines. He was further startled when one of the machines lit up as he passed and an electronic eye regarded him coldly. Despite his certainty that he was inside a large prism, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had entered an alien spacecraft.

The captain noticed a clammy moisture on his face and hands, which he attributed to the condensing marrow of the crystal. The passageway widened to include even more mismatched equipment from various sources, some of it operational. He began to wonder how the Yilterns had gotten the machines in here, when he realized that even the smallest flying creatures could easily move heavy equipment in low gravity.

“Captain,” said Data, his voice echoing in the hollow chamber. “I believe we have reached the center.”

Data cut the small thrusters on his jetpack, and the three visitors floated into a vast, dimly lit cavern, where dozens-perhaps hundreds-of Yilterns clung to the walls, unmoving. The central feature of the cavern was a jutting chunk of crystal that was capped, like an oil well, with intricate dials, wheels, and nozzles sticking from it. Every few seconds a gust of atomized liquid burst from the capped crystal like a geyser, spewing moisture into the air. So far this was the only place Pi-card had seen on Gemworld where moisture was not trapped but was allowed some natural evaporation and condensation.

It was eerie inside the clammy cave, with thousands of batlike creatures hanging silently overhead and rows of monitors and discarded equipment blinking enigmatically. The captain wondered how long it would be before their presence was acknowledged and someone came to ask them what they wanted…. Perhaps the Yilterns already knew what they wanted.

“We’ll have to be patient,” Keefe Nordine cautioned him.

“Understood,” said the captain. “But my patience has a limit.”

Suddenly a complex computer console blinked on, and a scratchy, artificial voice sounded.

“Welcome visitors. Please state your business. Are you here to trade?”

“No, not exactly,” answered Picard. “We’re here to discuss the dimensional rift and what has to be done to stop it.”

“Please type your response,” said the scratchy voice.

Data at once took over the console, rapidly learning its functions. The captain noticed a bundle of wires stretching upward from the terminal to the highest reaches of the cavern, where more lights glowed intermittently. The way the lights blinked on and off, he had the feeling that several Yilterns were hovering over them.

“I have asked if the senior engineer is present,” explained the android.

Picard nodded. “Good thinking.”

“Leave it to an android to cut right to the chase,” said Nordine. “But you should know that they don’t respond well to high-pressure sales tactics.”

Like a parachute dropping slowly through the atmosphere, a large Yiltern floated toward them from above. The edges of the creature fluttered as if caught in the wind, and Picard marveled to see they were really tiny wings, flapping as fast as a hummingbird’s wings. The creature seemed to be making for the terminal, and Data moved back to allow it access.

Like a blanket, the Yiltern completely covered the computer console. Picard pressed closer, and saw that what looked like a seamless blanket was in reality a teeming mass of tiny batlike animals. They swarmed over the terminal, pressing membranes and switches, and the artificial voice responded. “He is coming.”

Undulating like a wave, the Yiltern picked itself up from the console and flew over their heads, settling on the bag of trade goods. In a flash, the net bag was completely engulfed by the squirming mass of tiny beings.

“That’s a good sign,” said Nordine. “They’re inspecting the merchandise.”

“Captain,” said Data, pointing back toward the entrance of the cave.

Picard turned around in time to see a small Yiltern come undulating slowly toward them, towing what appeared to be a clump of gaily colored ribbons. The fact that this being was small meant that it was old and probably highly respected. Picard hoped it was the senior engineer.

The small being stopped at the bag full of trade goods, and the first creature peeled off and backed

away. The smaller Yiltern let go of its cargo, and the clump of ribbons floated in the air while it inspected the bagful of trade goods.

Trying not to appear too curious, Picard edged closer to the creature. He really wanted to see what was in that gaily wrapped package more than he wanted to see the Yiltern. Something shiny caught his eyes, and he thought he saw the glimmer of a facet in the midst of all those ribbons. He realized that each ribbon might be carried in the mouth of an individual, so that all of them would share in the transportation of this valuable object. With sadness, he realized there were many more ribbons than individual beings left in the aged Yiltern.

As if sensing that the visitor had gotten too close to the prize, the small Yiltern suddenly peeled away from the bag, snatched the clump of ribbons, and flew upward into the shadows.

Until that moment, Picard hadn’t realized the composite beings could move so quickly.

“Have I offended it?” he asked Nordine.

The young man shrugged. “I don’t know. But maybe you showed too much interest.”

Shadows flitted across the ceiling of the vast cavern, and it was evident that some kind of discussion was taking place above their heads. Once again, Picard fought the temptation to be demanding. When in Rome, he kept telling himself, do as the Romans do.

Finally the Yilterns settled back onto their roosts and the disconcerting shadows stopped moving overhead. The computer terminal blinked awake, and the artificial voice said, “You want something of great value.”

Picard pointed to the keyboard. “Data, tell them how important this is. But briefly.”

The android fell upon the keyboard and typed briskly. When he was done, there was a faint chirping sound from somewhere in the amber shadows, and the geyser spewed a cloud of clammy mist.

The voice said dully, “We know. Still you want something of great value.”

Picard mustered a smile. “As you can see, we have brought with us various items from our ship. We’ll be happy to leave these with you as a token of-“

“We want the shuttlecraft.”

Picard stopped in midsentence, realizing that they couldn’t hear him anyway. His lips thinned, and he looked at Data, who immediately rechecked the computer.

“Their request is broken down in greater detail on this screen,” reported the android. “They do require the shuttlecraft. In addition, they have accounted for most of our on-board inventory, which they are also claiming as collateral.”

“Collateral?” asked Picard. “Does that mean we’ll get it back if we return the crystal?”

“Unknown, sir.”

“I suggest you take this deal, Captain,” said Nordine. “For something of value they want something of value. That’s the way they look at things.”

The captain frowned and pointed at Data. “They don’t get all of it. We keep the jetpacks, our two phaser pistols, and our tricorders-whatever we can carry.”

“Yes, sir,” answered Data, leaning over the terminal. “I will tell them we need basic items for survival.”

“Boy, Captain, you drive a hard bargain,” said Nordine with a grin.

Picard scowled. “Just be thankful they didn’t ask for you.”

When the comm signal sounded, Deanna Troi stopped floating leisurely in the cabin of her shuttlecraft and pushed herself into her seat. She checked the chronometer to make sure it wasn’t time for another checkin, and it wasn’t This had to be an emergency.

“Away Team Two,” she answered. ‘Troi here.”

“Picard here,” came a gruff response. “We’ve been successful, but we had to give up our shuttlecraft as part of the bargain.”

Melora Pazlar snorted a laugh, but she kept her eyes on the nourishment strand they’d been following for hours. Troi gathered that the Elaysian had half-expected something like that would happen.

“Understood, sir,” answered Deanna. “Do you want us to come and get you?”

“No, we’ll contact the Enterprise for another shuttle. Your first priority is to get the key from the Lipuls. Take down our coordinates. If you finish quickly, you can come get us, and I’ll cancel the other shuttle. We’ve got our jetpacks, so we’re still mobile, but slow. I wanted you to know that we can’t be of much assistance to you.”

“Understood, sir.”

“Team One out.”

Troi flicked off the signal and leaned back in her seat. The concerned face of Reg Barclay floated overhead. “What does that mean? Are they stranded?”

“Apparently so. It just means we’re on our own.” Troi glanced at Pazlar. “What are you smiling about?”

“Outsiders often get out-bargained by the Yilterns,” she answered. “They’re the closest thing we have to Ferengi.”

“Why didn’t you warn the captain?” asked Troi.

“He has his guide, Mr. Nordine,” she answered brusquely. “Just be glad you have me.”

“We are glad,” said Reg sincerely.

“How much farther?” asked Troi, losing a bit of her infinite patience.

“Until this strand reaches the engineer’s base prism,” answered Pazlar. “It should be soon. I just didn’t want to lose it.”

Reg moved closer to Melora. “Is that strand the only way the Lipuls have to get to and from the shell?”

“Right,” she answered. To her credit, Melora had stopped looking lovesick the moment she put her hands on the controls of the shuttlecraft. If she had any interest in Reg, it was only as a somewhat talkative passenger in her shuttlecraft.

She peered intently out the window, as if they were about to encounter something significant.

“These are the right coordinates,” said Melora. “Commander Troi, put the sensors on that pale blue crystal at ten o’clock. See if there are any life-signs.”

“Okay.” For the sixth time in their journey, Troi ran a scan of a large old-growth prism.

This one was a dull icy blue, although it was striated with disturbing blotches of black mutant crystal. Deanna didn’t know why, but she had envisioned something grander. This didn’t look like the kind of prism where a senior engineer would live. It seemed old, cracked, diseased-far past its prime-although it was still gargantuan.

“No life-signs yet,” she reported after surveying the readings.

“Hmmm,” grumbled Pazlar. “That’s odd. Look… the strand ends here.”

Sure enough, it was plain to see as they circled the old blue monolith that the nourishment strand they had been following for the better part of a day did indeed go no farther. After an impossibly long chain of prisms, the strand nourished this last monolith, and the cluster it was part of, then ended in a severed stump.

“So it’s got to be here?” asked Troi.

Melora scowled. “If it’s not here, then where is it? Lipuls can’t fly. They have to swim.”

“Did we pass it by … somewhere?” asked Reg with concern.

“Let’s stop and look with tricorders,” said Pazlar. “If that’s okay with you, Commander?”

Troi nodded. “Go ahead.”

For the first time, she had to consider a possibility that seemed absurd-that they wouldn’t be able to secure the Lipuls’ crystal because they couldn’t find the Lipul. Until now, Troi hadn’t realized how insane it was to look for a single Lipul in a haystack of giant prisms.

But if they had miscalculated, or if the senior engineer were trying to stay hidden from them, they might be in for a long, tough search. Lipuls lived isolated lives. There was no enclave in which to seek them.

Pulling horizontally alongside the giant blue prism, the shuttlecraft fired thrusters and came to a stop about ten meters from the nearest facet. Up close, Deanna could see what awful damage the mutant crystal was wreaking on this once-proud monolith. It looked blighted and dry, as if the life had been sucked out of it.

Melora popped the hatch and was the first one out, tricorder in hand. She moved effortlessly in the low gravity, letting her billowy white gown catch the breeze and propel her slowly to the edge of the prism. Deanna waited until Reg had a chance to push off the shuttle and drift after her, and she noted that he was moving more gracefully in low gravity. She made sure the shuttle’s communications were patched into her combadge, then she grabbed her own tricorder and flew out the hatch.

Troi caught up with her companions at the blue wall of the monolith. Faintly through the thick crystal, they could see bubbles moving the length of the prism.

“If there’s no gravity,” said Reg, “what causes the current to move in the crystals?”

“Transpiration,” answered Melora, not taking her eyes off her tricorder. “It’s the same thing that makes water flow up a tree trunk on Earth. A liquid just naturally seeks dryness. The bubbles move with changes in the pressure.”

Barclay stared at his tricorder. “Thoron radiation is awfully high here. Do you read that?”

“Yes,” said Melora, her forehead ridges deepening. “If it gets much higher, we’ll have to put on the suits.”

Deanna was frowning as grimly as Melora, as she pushed herself away from the giant blue prism. She wanted to see the entire prism, because she had a sickening feeling that they were going to spend hoursperhaps days-searching this thing with tricorders. That would be slow, tedious, and probably fruitless.

With relative ease, Troi reached the shuttlecraft and was about to push off again, when she saw a shadow moving along the length of the pale blue monolith. At least it appeared to be a shadow, although nothing large was moving in the sky. What could cast a moving shadow? As the Betazoid looked more closely, she realized that it was in reality a dark mass, like a clot, moving inside the crystal. It was in the marrow stream.

“Pazlar. Look at this.” Deanna motioned for the others to join her, while never taking her eyes off the slow-moving clot. Both Melora and Reg tagged up on the crystal and pushed off, with Melora reaching the shuttlecraft a moment before Reg. The Elaysian held out her hand and caught the lanky lieutenant, bringing him safely to a rung on the hatch.

Now all three of them could see the black bruise beneath the translucent crystal, and could also see that it was moving closer to them. The Elaysian gasped aloud. “Just like in my dream! It’s my dream!”

Troi wasn’t entirely sure what she meant, and she reacted slowly when Melora ducked into the shuttlecraft and emerged a moment later. She didn’t realize that Pazlar was holding one of their two phaser pistols until she aimed it at the oncoming apparition and fired.

“Pazlar! Don’t!” shouted Troi.

But it was too late. With her phaser set to full, the wild-eyed Elaysian was drilling a burning red hole in the crystal just ahead of the shadow. Deanna reached for Melora, and so did Reg, but neither one of them wanted to grab a phaser spitting a red beam at full intensity. They were helpless to stop her as she opened a hole in the path of the dark clot.

Smoke, powder, and chips of crystal flew everywhere until she had finally drilled straight into the marrow. Milky liquid spewed out like a geyser, and the black mass kept coming at its inexorable pace.

“That’s enough!” shouted Troi.

Pazlar lowered the weapon and motioned to the shuttlecraft. “Get inside! Now!”

The hole was widening under the pressure of the escaping liquid, and the blue facet was beginning to crack. Getting inside the shuttlecraft seemed like a very good idea. Both Barclay and Troi moved like Elaysians as they grabbed the struts and rungs and hauled themselves inside. Melora gave them a final shove, sending them to the rear of the craft, then she hurriedly shut the hatch behind her.

“Putting up shields,” said Pazlar, working the instrument panel.

Troi wanted to chew her out for her rash action, but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sight of the icy blue surface breaking apart and spewing liquid that was becoming increasingly darker, and flecked with black and brown globs. Swiftly, the discolored clot surged toward the opening and the prism erupted with a vicious gush, pouring outward what looked like all the filth and wretchedness of the universe.

Deanna felt herself getting light-headed, and she struggled to maintain her consciousness. <p>

am in control! she told herself. My mind belongs to me!

As the torrent of mutant marrow sizzled against their shields, all three of them cringed.

Troi tried to tell herself that this wasn’t the enemy, this was just his waste product, just his weaponry. If she couldn’t face this, she couldn’t face any of it-she was useless.

With an effort Troi breathed calmly and evenly, trying to remember her yoga training. This will pass. My inner strength will guide me. Although it seemed to take a lifetime, the dark sludge finally stopped spewing from the wound in the great prism, and Deanna felt the cloud lift from her mind.

She looked up, to see that they were surrounded by globules of murky liquid floating listlessly all around the shuttlecraft. More discharge oozed from the hole in the crystal facet, but the pressure had equalized.

“Pazlar, you are relieved of duty,” she said calmly.

“But I had to! Didn’t you see it-” The Elaysian continued to protest loudly, but Deanna ignored her.

“Barclay, get on the sensors.”

“Y-Yes, sir!” responded the lieutenant, hopping into the copilot’s seat. “W-What are we looking for?”

“A Lipul-anything organic … the crystal key.”

Melora regarded her intently. “There wasn’t time to get your permission. I had to act. You wouldn’t have destroyed the crystal-it had to be me.”

“We’ll discuss this later,” snapped Troi. “And if you don’t shut up I’ll have you thrown into the brig when we get back to the Enterprise.”

Pazlar flew to the rear of the cabin and curled in a corner, sulking.

“I… um, I think I found something,” reported Barclay. “It’s something organic.”

Deanna hovered over his shoulder, looking down at the tiled windows, which rapidly pinpointed the object

on the sensors. They continued to zoom in until a grainy image formed amid the murky liquid floating near the prism.

“Increase magnification,” said Troi.

Barclay obeyed, and the image jumped to a larger size and took over the screen. It still looked like just another globule, until Reg clarified the resolution. Troi felt Melora Pazlar hovering over her shoulder, but she didn’t tell the Elaysian to go away. She deserved to see the image that was forming on the screen.

Floating amidst the marrow from the crystal was a shriveled corpse about the size and shape of a jellyfish.