“If nothing else, it suggests that the Edrehmaia were the ones who put the patches in place,” Selah said.
“I’d go a little further than that,” Glenn said. “It also might indicate an ongoing concern for our continued survival.”
Kim crossed to Drur. “Hey, Mike, how are you doing?”
Mike? Glenn thought. When she saw the ensign’s shoulders straighten a little and his almost buoyant “Hi, Harry” in response, she decided something had changed for the young operations ensign who rarely said more than a few sentences per duty shift, despite her best efforts over the last year to draw him out of his shell. Well done, Mister Kim.
The scratching sound came again as Kim said, “Have you made any progress adapting the comm array to respond to the Edrehmaia?”
“We can match the invisible spectrum emissions through the deflector array, but I had to isolate a third of our running lights to emit the visible signals,” Drur replied.
Kim smiled broadly. “That’s excellent. I think we should give it a try, don’t you?”
“Mister Kim?” Glenn said.
“Sorry, Captain. Once we figured out how the aliens were communicating with us, I asked Drur to find a way to use our systems to respond as closely as we could in their language.”
“And you’re ready to try and speak to them?”
“It’s worth a shot,” Kim replied.
“What exactly are you planning to say?”
“I thought I might just try to say, ‘Hello, I’m Harry Kim.’ ”
Glenn sat back in her chair. “Okay. Sounds harmless enough.”
“I’ve broken down our genomes into discrete packets of data,” Drur said.
“Great. Transmit mine, then list all subspace frequencies using their numerical bases. Once that’s done, transmit my name in Federation Standard across all bands.”
“Do we even know if they are monitoring subspace?” Glenn asked.
“We don’t, but if they aren’t, this is going to be a very short conversation,” Kim replied. “We only have a few terms of their ‘language’ to work with. We’re going to have to expand that by teaching them ours to establish communication with them. I’m hoping they will recognize our normal comm frequencies.”
“Well, what are you waiting for, Ensign Drur?” Glenn asked with a smile.
“Ready?” Kim asked of Drur.
“Transmitting now,” the ensign replied.
The only response to the initial transmission was that the sound of the alien moving across their hull ceased. After a few more moments, Kim said, “Send it again.”
Drur did as he had been ordered.
“Sirs, sensors are tracking movement,” Selah noted.
“Where is it going?” Glenn demanded.
The answer came seconds later as the main viewscreen suddenly lit up with a barrage of flashing lights. Both Kim and Drur studied the ops console as it translated the response.
“The alien has dislodged itself from the hull and is holding position directly ahead approximately a hundred kilometers from the ship,” Selah reported.
“Do we have any idea what it’s saying?” Glenn asked when no immediate response seemed to be forthcoming.
Kim shook his head. “It’s a transmission we have received before. It appears to be part of the alien genome.”
“But that could be significant, sir,” Drur said. “This is the first contact we have had with a single Edrehmaia. This could be its individual genome.”
“Any response on subspace?” Kim asked.
“No, sir,” Drur replied, clearly unhappy with that result.
Kim thought for a moment. “Now send the captain’s genome, followed by her name,” Kim suggested.
Drur did and the same light show was repeated seconds later.
“Same transmission, sir.”
“Okay, at least we have its attention,” Kim said.
“So how do we take the next step?” Glenn asked. “All we are doing now is sharing information we both already know.”
Kim began to pace the bridge. “The key to communication is a common language. With the Protectors, we were eventually able to create a language consisting of our sensor logs. They used images from our own experience to convey their thoughts and feelings. It wasn’t an exact science, but it did the job well enough. I wonder what Doctor Sharak would make of this,” he added.
“Why Sharak?” Glenn asked, intrigued.
“He was the first to make the connection between the data purges and the Protectors. Given that his language is metaphoric, it wasn’t as much of a conceptual leap as it would have been for any of us.”
“Okay, so what would we say is the basis for the Edrehmaia’s language?” Glenn asked.
“Genetics,” Selah suggested.
“Chemistry,” Kim offered.
“Math,” Drur said.
Glenn nodded. “Is it possible for you to translate our entire scientific database into their language and transmit it?” she asked.
Drur shrugged. “The algorithm is the same.”
“It’s worth a try,” Kim said. “We need to add a few more words to our language.”
“Do it, Ensign,” Glenn ordered.
As he did so, Kim said, “I wonder if they will respond in kind.”
“Can our translation matrix handle that much data?” Glenn asked.
“I doubt it.”
“Let’s not decide the worst will happen before it does,” Glenn suggested.
“Transmission sent,” Drur confirmed from ops.
“Given the sheer tonnage of data we’re sending, it might be…” Glenn said, but as she did, a single flash of white light emanated from the Edrehmaia.
“Captain, in addition to the standard emission, I am receiving a response on all subspace bands.”
“What is it?” Kim asked before Glenn had the chance.
“Two words, sir. DEFINE SET.”
Glenn and Kim exchanged a puzzled glance.
“What does that mean?” Glenn asked.
“It could mean a lot of things,” Kim replied. “But let’s go with the most obvious. Drur, respond with each of our crew members’ genomes and names.”
“Shouldn’t we include our standard friendship greeting?” Glenn asked.
“As soon as you can give me the mathematical equivalent of ‘we come in peace,’ sure,” Kim said.
Another series of flashing lights all over the spectrum came a few moments later.
“Mike?” Glenn hazarded.
Drur was staring quizzically at his display. “The subspace response is longer. EVALUATION OF CURRENT INPUTS INDETERMINATE.”
“Sounds like an arcane way of saying ‘I don’t understand,’ ” Glenn said. “What was the rest?”
“It’s another genome, Captain. One of ours, almost.”
“Almost?”
“It contains a few additional base
