“How the hell the Edrehmaia substance manages to store that energy, among many, many other things,” O’Donnell replied.
“Forgive me, Captain, but our only contacts with that substance have been disastrous.”
“You’ve read Vincent’s report?”
“And Patel’s,” Fife added. “The so-called station they entered and became trapped within appeared to be a library of the experiments conducted by several species within the connected biodomes. It also contained experimental subjects and access to a deeper cavern that appears to have been adapted from the planet’s original design by Species 001—whoever they were—to facilitate their experiments. That cavern contained vast quantities of the Edrehmaia substance as well as several pieces of technology that appeared to maintain the surface biodomes.”
“I should have known you’d be able to pass a test on the material,” O’Donnell noted with a grin.
“I will admit to a certain morbid curiosity on the subject, once the Galen was destroyed,” Fife allowed. “I hoped their analysis might contain some clue that could help me make sense of it all.”
“And did you find one?”
“I believe so, sir,” Fife replied. “As best I can tell, we have found ourselves in the center of a confluence of several poor decisions made by multiple species less advanced than these Edrehmaia. Unfortunately, we were the ones with the misfortune to attract their attention. The result was the loss of several dozen crew members and our dedicated medical vessel.”
“Poor decisions?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You consider our predecessors’ curiosity about the Edrehmaia substance and their choice to construct the stations and the biodomes in order to study it a poor decision? How the hell else would they, or anyone, learn from what the Edrehmaia left behind?”
It had been some time since Fife had found himself on the opposing side of an argument with O’Donnell. As these scenarios usually ended badly for him, he chose his next words carefully.
“Curiosity in the face of advanced technology is not a sin,” Fife began. “However, there must be times when the concurrent risks outweigh the potential benefits of satisfying that curiosity. When we found these biodomes, they had been abandoned for thousands of years. Clearly whoever constructed them did not find what they were seeking. Patel’s report of her conversation with an interlocutor constructed from her DNA indicated as much. Their work was left unfinished. While I am as awed by the work of Starfleet’s Corps of Engineers as anyone, I doubt even they could have constructed the systems we found on that planet in another thousand years. The technology is simply beyond our current understanding of the universe. Our questions will not be answered by additional blundering around in the darkness of our own impotence. Indeed, it is likely that further attempts to understand the Edrehmaia and their technology might cause them to return again and destroy the rest of the fleet.” Fife met his captain’s eyes without flinching. “I am not certain what you are contemplating, but if it includes attempting to enter that station, you will do so over my strenuous objections.”
O’Donnell sat back, considering his XO. He absently began to scratch the back of his head where tufts of dark hair met the edge of his balding pate.
“Had Zephram Cochrane been your superior officer, would you have objected to him strapping himself to a modified nuclear warhead and flinging himself into space to test the possibility of warp flight?” O’Donnell finally asked.
Fife did him the courtesy of seriously considering the question.
“Probably,” he finally agreed.
“Then can we agree that your tolerance for risk might be set a little low?”
“Not in this case.”
“I see,” O’Donnell said.
Fife waited as the seconds built to an uncomfortable silence. “You’re going down there again anyway, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Yes,” O’Donnell replied. “And to be clear, I’m not insensitive to the risks.”
“But you just can’t help yourself?”
“We’re talking about constructing life at the quantum level,” O’Donnell replied. “We’re talking about interplays of matter and energy heretofore unimagined by humanity. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least attempt to analyze it further.”
“Of course you could,” Fife said without a trace of sarcasm.
Fife had never been adept at conveying his emotions. His vocabulary in this regard was simply limited by both lack of experience and desire. But that statement was as close as he had ventured toward admitting how much he had come to care for and rely upon his captain.
The corners of O’Donnell’s lips tugged gently upward, a sign that he understood the concern, even though he would never acknowledge it directly. “We will only have this one chance, Atlee, to view the universe through the eyes of gods.”
Fife was taken aback. O’Donnell was many things, but he had never been confused with a religious man.
“Intelligent life exists on a continuum,” O’Donnell continued. “I didn’t know, until we discovered this world, how far humanity had yet to go or how mortified I could be by our ignorance. It’s simply intolerable. I am awed by the accomplishments of the Edrehmaia and I am completely unworthy of standing in their presence. But with every fiber of my being, I wish to be. I do not, for one moment, credit their skill to supernatural causes. Every bit of magic we have seen in our travels, including the abilities of species like the Q, is based upon natural laws. It must be, even if we have not yet grasped the pertinent calculations. It turns out humanity has spent too much time in the children’s section of the universal library, and I’m not content to allow that state of affairs to continue indefinitely. Why are we here, Atlee, if not to transcend ourselves? And how are we to do so if
