***The Hills of Time***
***by George Pollock, Jr.***

***Chapter 10***
***Opening Statements***

   "Positronic interference?"
   LaForge nodded. "That's right, Captain. My diagnostics show that Data's 
circuits are being disrupted by stray positions. It's almost as if he's being 
rebooted every second."
   Picard looked at the android lying on the sickbay bed. Data's eyes were 
closed, but his head twitched regularly. As if he were having muscular 
seizures, the captain thought.
   My poor friend ...
   "That interference is interesting in itself," Dr. Crusher noted. She 
tapped a key on a PADD and showed it to Picard. "Geordi and I have been 
monitoring the incoming positrons. They're regular, Captain. One a second."
   Picard studied the tiny graph on the PADD. "Hmm ... Pulsar?"
   LaForge shook his head. "I don't think so. I checked with stellar 
cartography. No pulsars within maximum sensor sweeps, and none known in this 
part of the Gamma Quadrant, anyway. And an ordinary pulsar wouldn't get past 
our sensor frequencies."
   "If it is an ordinary pulsar. If it is a pulsar. And I would think that by 
this point in his career, there would be some record if Data knew that a 
pulsar would affect him. He's been near a few." The captain thought. "The 
positrons could have an artificial source, especially if they're occurring 
regularly. ... Geordi, can you ... track .. the positrons back toward their 
source?"
   "I'll do my best."
   "Then do it, and report to me." Picard looked down at the android. "We 
need Mr. Data ..."
   "Aye, sir." The engineer turned to go but faced Picard again. "One other 
thing, Captain ..."
   "Yes, Mr. LaForge?"
   "Well ... while Data is incapacitated, someone needs to care of ... um ... 
Spot ..."
   "Hmm ... indeed."
   "With your permission, I'd like to take that on duty ... after my primary 
ones, of course ... until further notice ..."
   Picard smiled. "Make it so, Geordi."
   With a return smile and a nod, LaForge departed sickbay.
   Crusher resumed scanning Data as Picard watched. "What's his condition?" 
the captain asked.
   "It's like he's comatose," she replied. "His positronic network can't 
maintain a coherent signal. Every time it forms, a stray positron disrupts 
it." She finished scanning and looked at Picard. "Jean-Luc, could the 
Dominion be doing this?"
   Picard took a breath. "Anything is possible. The question would be: What 
benefit would the Dominion gain by disabling Data?"
   "What you said -- we need Data. He's a vital member of this crew."
   "Indeed, he is. And I hold him in high esteem -- but, Beverly, we can 
function without him if we absolutely must. Slower, less efficiently, but 
Data's duties here can be fulfilled by others in this crew. If the Founders 
wanted to sabotage the Enterprise, disabling Data wouldn't achieve that 
alone." 
   They looked back down at their twitching comrade. Picard sighed. "Can you 
or Geordi find some way to block the stray positrons, so they wouldn't affect 
Data?"
   Crusher thought. "Seems like blocking specific positrons in the general 
environment would be like trying to block specific molecules in a breath of 
air, Captain: How do you do it?"
   Picard nodded resignedly. "I see ... Then ... I will defer to your medical 
judgment, of course ..."
   "Yes ...?"
   "I don't want anyone else who comes to sickbay to see him like this. He 
deserves better."
   "I'd agree."
   "In that case ... unless you see the need to keep him ... active ... can 
you ... shut him down ...?"
   Crusher nodded. "I can still monitor his positronic network. His motor 
systems don't have to be on for that." At that, the doctor reached down and 
felt just under Data's left armpit. An instant later, her fingertips seemed 
to sink into his body.
   And with a click, Data stopped moving.
   For a moment, the only sounds were tiny beeps as instruments registered 
the incoming positrons. Picard nodded. "Take care of him, Doctor. I'll have 
Geordi relay any findings to you."
   "Thank you, Captain."
   He surveyed Data a final time. "Sleep as best you can, Mr. Data," he said 
quietly. "We'll be back for you."

*******

   "The Wastes. Of course."
   Odo's sarcasm made LaForge turn around from the science station on the 
bridge.
   "You don't sound surprised, Constable," the engineer said.
   The changeling sighed. "That the positrons are coming from the belt? No. 
If the Dominion were setting a trap for us in this sector, the Wastes would 
be the perfect place for it. As I said at the briefing."
   Worf, standing next to him, grunted. "It is a conceivable tactic -- if 
disingenuous."
   Nearby, Picard nodded. "Make us follow the positrons in ... much like 
laying a trail of bread crumbs to trap a bird ..."
   "And I'd like to think," LaForge said, "that we're a shade smarter than 
most birds."
   Odo crossed his arms, then rubbed his chin with one hand. "I'd hope so, 
too ... but the whole scenario puzzles me somewhat ..."
   Picard raised an eyebrow. "Constable?"
   "Captain, the very idea of such an obvious trap ... well ... it doesn't 
seem like my people's style. These are the beings who made me think that 
Chancellor Gowran of the Klingon Empire was replaced by a changling   -- when 
he wasn't. That was the point: get the Federation to suspect -- and possibly 
kill -- its ally's leader. That's how the Founders work. They're that subtle. 
They don't ..." He paused, thinking how to phrase it. "They don't ... just 
lay a trail of bread crumbs ..."
   Worf was unimpressed. "A trap, even one that is not subtle, will work -- 
if you succeed in getting your enemies to walk into it."
   Picard considered. "I understand your point, Constable. ... Mr. La Forge, 
what is the heading of the positronic emissions?"
   The engineer consulted the readout. "Dead ahead, sir. We'll be coming up 
alongside the coordinates of the emissions within 12 hours. They'll be off 
our port side, just inside the belt."
   "Any sign of Dominion activity? Warp signatures? Subspace anomalies?"
   LaForge studied the sensor readings. "Based on what we have on record of 
Dominion technology ... nothing."
   Odo sighed. "Of course, if they're using technology we don't know about 
..."
   The captain nodded. "Then we might be in for a lesson. But I intend to 
survive any such lesson, if it comes to that." He paused. "If we can revive 
Mr. Data -- if we can shut off the positrons -- without endangering the ship 
or crew, I'd like to try. But if that's not possible," he continued, looking 
at the three others in turn, "then we will proceed without Mr. Data's 
services. Is that clear?"
   Odo, LaForge and Worf nodded. 
   "Good." Picard looked back at Geordi. "We do have one advantage over most 
birds, Mr. LaForge: We can choose to walk away from the bread crumbs ..."

*******

   "Shields up!"
   Worf nodded at tactical. "Shields up, Commander." He checked the readouts. 
"No sign of Dominion activity, Captain."
   Riker turned in his bridge chair to face Picard. "We're here. Now what?"
   From his command chair, the captain studied the main screen. It was filled 
with the thickest asteroid field Picard had ever seen. The detrius of an 
entire quadrant, he thought. Debris that, even as he watched, slowly moved 
across the screen. Proceeding steadily and oblivious to the mere mortals who 
watched it.
   As it had for time unthinkable, Picard thought.
   "The Wastes," Odo noted from the chair opposite Riker's.
   "Are you sure," Picard asked LaForge, "that this is the area?"
   Geordi checked the sensors again. "No doubt about it. The positrons are 
coming from just within this area. In fact ..." The engineer tapped some 
keypads at the science station. On the main screen, a grid appeared over the 
image of the Wastes. Coordinates appeared in an upper right grid square that 
started flashing. Information began streaming onto the screen. "... They're 
coming from that sector there ..."
   "Magnify," Picard said.
   Instantly, the flashing grid square fluidly filled the screen. At first, 
there appeared to be nothing more than the fragments and ice they had been 
looking at before. Nothing but masses of brown and black and white, aimlessly 
drifting.
   Picard looked at Riker. 
   Riker was succinct. He shrugged.
   Picard looked back at the brown.
   And the black.
   And the white.
   And the black.
   And the brown.
   And beyond that ...
   Off to one side ...
   Behind a fragment ...
   The white.
   And ...
   Blue.
   And ...
   Yellow.
   "Hold on ...," the captain whispered.
   White ...
   Blue...
   Yellow...
   Picard leaned forward in his chair. "Mr. LaForge, magnify grid six beta." 
Instantly, a brown fragment filled most of the screen. Broken. Rough. 
Fractured.
   But at the left edge of the screen ...
   Just behind the fragment ...
   Something white. 
   And blue.
   Angular.
   Picard squinted.
   The blue-and-white object seemed to have a spot of yellow on its side.
   "Magnify grid two alpha," Picard said quietly.
   The blue-and-white object splashed across the screen.
   A ship.
   "Red alert!" Riker shouted. Immediately, the red warning bars started to 
flash. The alert klaxon sounded. The lights dimmed.
   Odo noted that everyone on the bridge tensed noticeably. Even him.
   Picard kept his eyes on the screen. "Mr. Worf, any match on that vessel?"
   Worf watched a flurry of images pass on the tactical screen. "Negative, 
Captain. It doesn't conform to any known Dominion design. Or to any design 
known."
   Picard looked at Odo. "Does it remind of ... anything ... you remember 
from the Great Link, Constable?"
   The changeling studied the ship. "No, Captain ... I'm afraid not ..."
   Silence filled the bridge for an instant. On the screen, more of the 
slowly turning ship appeared from behind the fragment.
   "Sensors are registering a slight energy output, Captain," LaForge 
reported. "That's ... the source of the positrons ..."
   Picard turned toward the engineer. "Any life signs, Mr. LaForge?"
   LaForge shook his head. "None that I can make out from here. That might be 
interference from the debris between us. But I am picking up ... what looks 
like ..." 
   And he fell silent, watching the sensor output.
   Riker waited, then spoke. "Mr. LaForge, report."
   Geordi turned to the trio in the center of the bridge. "... Traces of 
humanoid DNA ... Incomplete readings, but a double-helix signature is clearly 
present ... somewhere ... on that ship ..."
   All eyes returned to the main screen. More of the ship, spinning slowly, 
was being revealed. "Looks like it was in a bad fight," Riker noted. "... And 
like something blew out one end ... Been beaten up pretty badly, too ..."
   "That might be the result of bumping into the debris, Number One," Picard 
suggested. "Does it seem ... lopsided ... to you ...?"
   "Lopsided, sir?"
   "It seems ... asymmetrical. As if part of it is missing. It seems to have 
a winglike structure on one side ... but not on the other ..."
   "For all we know," Odo said quietly from behind them, "that's how it was 
meant to be."
   Picard nodded. "True. Open a channel, Mr. Worf."
   Worf tapped his panel. "Channel open, sir."
   Picard addressed the screen. "This is the Federation starship Enterprise, 
Jean-Luc Picard in command. To the spacecraft in the debris field near us: 
Our intentions are peaceful. Please identify yourself."
   Nothing.
   "This is the Federation starship Enterprise. We mean you no harm. You are 
emitting a positronic stream that is harmful to a member of our crew. Please 
cease immediately. We are open to negotiation. Please respond."
   Nothing from the screen.
   Again.
   Only a slowly tilting, badly battered spaceship.
   A blue-and-white spaceship.
   And on the side ...
   Faintly ...
   An inverted yellow triangle.
   With a thick black border.
   Cut off at the corners.
   Leaving an irregular hexagon.

*******

   "I'd like to volunteer for this away mission, Captain."
   Picard studied Odo from across his desk in his ready room. "Commander 
Riker, Doctor Crusher and Lieutenant Commander Worf are quite sufficient, 
Constable. They've been on more away missions than I can count."
   "But none is a changeling, Captain."
   "True. Your point?"
   Odo took a breath. Or so it seemed. He didn't need to. Just a reflex -- a 
result of taking humanoid form. "If this is a Dominion trap," he started, 
"then the first individual going aboard that ship, ideally, should be someone 
the Jem' Hadar would be loath to harm."
   "Such as ... a Founder."
   "Or ... one of their kind. And if there are Founders aboard, they would at 
least ... ask ... what I'm doing there ... That  would buy the others on the 
team some time ... and put as few as necessary at risk."
   The captain nodded. "But I am not certain, Constable," he said, "that I 
can afford to risk you.  Remember, you're the guarantee of this ship's safety 
on this mission."
   Odo smiled. "I'm sure the Enterprise can take care of itself for the short 
while I'd be gone, Captain. That's why I'd suggest going in Worf's place: If 
the ship is attacked while the away team is in the Wastes, you'll need him on 
the bridge at tactical. I'm ... just a police officer."
    Picard sighed. "More than that ... from what Ben Sisko tells me ..." He 
thought in silence. "Very well. You may go in Worf's place. But you'll follow 
Commander Riker's orders to the letter, and at the first sign of trouble, you 
all leave and return to the ship. The two others know that already. Is that 
understood?"
   "Yes, Captain."
   Picard consulted the clock on his desktop terminal. "Report to the 
conference lounge in five minutes for briefing. The shuttlecraft with the 
away team leaves in 20 minutes."
   Odo tipped his head in acknowledgment. "I'll be there. But ... if I may 
ask, Captain: Why a shuttlecraft? The white ship seems to be within 
transporter range."
   "It is. But there's so much debris in the belt, transporting is too risky. 
And the Enterprise is too big to maneuver through the debris. Nor would I 
want to: It would be a tactical mistake to enter such tight space."
   "I agree," the changeling said. "For that matter ... I've been wondering 
how a ship as big as that white one got into the Wastes in the first place 
..."

*******

   "You sure you won't need a suit?"
   Odo nodded. "Quite sure, Commander. My people can exist in our natural 
state in nearly absolute zero for a short time. Long enough for what we'll 
need, anyway."
  Riker, in a white environment suit without its helmet, adjusted the 
shuttlecraft's course slightly.  "Hope you're right." Then he smiled. "Don't 
want to have to cart you home frozen, Constable."
   Odo rolled his eyes. "Ha, ha ...," he deadpanned.
   Crusher tugged at the gloves of her suit. "You're lucky," she said. "These 
aren't the most comfortable things in the world."
   "More comfortable than you'd be out there without it, Bev," Riker noted. A 
sensor beeped. "Get ready. It's coming up," he said.
   Crusher and Odo watched through the forward windows. The view was filled 
with a haze of spatial debris, and a planetary fragment slowly passed off to 
the right. Riker let the shuttlecraft hug the fragment's surface, delicately 
adjusting the navigation controls.
   Then, like a white, angular star, the ship arose over the horizon.
   Battered and bent. Torn and sheared. 
   Scorched.
   And sad.
   "Poor thing ...," Crusher whispered.
   "Big thing," Riker added, checking the sensor readout. "About 280 meters 
long. Size of an Intrepid-class starship."
   As the shuttlecraft neared the vessel, the damage became more apparent. 
"Captain was right," Riker conceded. "Looks like some structure had been 
attached on one side at one time. You can see where struts have been ripped 
apart. Maybe it was another wing ..."
   Crusher checked the readouts. "The positronic signals are getting 
stronger, Will." She pointed in their direction of travel. "Head for that 
end."
   Outside, a badly scarred inverted yellow triangle, trimmed in black, 
passed by on the ship's flank. "Huh," Odo said thoughtfully. "Almost looks 
like the center of a target ..."
   The narrower end of the spacecraft was coming into view. "Definitely the 
source coming up," the doctor said. "Can you get closer?"
   "I'll try," Riker said. Gently, he tapped the control panel. Gradually, 
the distance between the shuttlecraft and the ship diminished. 
   "Any signs we're not welcome?" Odo asked.
   The commander checked the sensors. "No signs of activity with Dominion 
signatures. But I'd still be wary."
   The changeling nodded. "Oh, I am, Commander."
   "What's that?" Crushed asked suddenly, pointing out the window.
   The others looked out. At the very end of the ship, like a crag on a 
cliff, was a boxy structure with wraparound windows.
   "Hundred-eighty-degree viewing," Riker said quietly. "Bridge, you think?"
   "Whatever it is," the doctor replied, "it's where the positrons are coming 
from. No doubt about it."
   The shuttlecraft circled around the end of the vessel, turning to face the 
windows on the boxy structure. The three aboard peered into the darkened 
portals.
   "See anything?" Riker asked. Odo and Crusher shook their heads. "All 
right," the commander sighed. He tapped the sensor controls and waited. 
Slowly, a diagram appeared piece by piece on the screen. "OK. We've got a 
large room. No gravity. Temperature near absolute. Hmm ..."
   Crusher waited. "Will?"
   "Seems ... there's a breathable atmosphere inside. But not much. We'll 
still need our suits." He looked at the doctor. "And ... there's some of the 
DNA that Geordi detected ..."
   "Well, then," Odo said, "shall we?"
   Riker got out of the pilot's chair and opened a storage bin. He handed the 
constable a phaser, wrist beacon, tricorder and communicator. Odo then 
stepped onto one of the shuttle's small transporter pads.
   "All right," Riker said. "Remember the plan: Keep the communicator on at 
all times. If you meet some unfriendlies, just yell. We'll try to pull you 
out as fast as possible."
   Odo nodded. "Understood, Commander."
   "If you don't encounter any trouble, call us when you've found the source 
of the positrons. We'll beam over then."
   "Right. Should I resolve now?"
   The commander nodded curtly.
   And with that, the tall humanoid male on the transporter pad started to 
melt.
   Back in her chair, Crusher watched as the changeling lost his humanoid 
features, rounding and streamlining into an upright mass of iridescent brown 
gelatinous material. The equipment that Riker had given Odo sank quickly into 
the slightly swaying being.
   "Constable," Riker called, seemingly into the air, "communicator check. 
Can you hear me?"
   The brown mass undulated silently.
   And so the doctor jumped slightly when the voice came over the speaker: 
"Loud and clear, Commander."
   "And we can hear you. Good luck. Energizing."
   From the transporter, Odo watched Beverly Crusher at the other end of the 
cabin.
   Why is it, he thought ...
   That I'm always thinking about a redhead ...
   When these things happen to me ...?
   Any answers he might have come up with were lost in the blue shimmer of 
the transporter beam.

*******

   "Not ... good ..."
   From within himself, Odo heard Riker's voice: "Report, Constable."
   The changeling floated in the weightlessness of the darkened room. A 
tendril was wrapped around a fallen beam to anchor him. Another tendril held 
the wrist beacon, which shot a shaft of white light into the dark.
   Illuminating what Odo had found.
   Illuminating what had Odo concerned.
   "Constable!" Riker said again.
   Odo started. "Odo here," he answered. "Transport complete. No contact with 
enemy. "
   "Good. What's it like over there?"  
   "Cold ... dark ... Debris floating in zero-G ...
   "Commander ... 
   "I'm looking at what appears to be ... a humanoid female, ... heavily 
bundled and draped with blankets. She's heavily covered with frost ... 
   "And it appears ...
   "That she's been tied down in a chair ..."
   Silence over the com. Then, "Tied down?"
   "Affirmative. The restraints are tied over her arms."
   Crusher's voice now: "Is she ... alive ...?"
   Odo scanned the figure. "No life signs detected, Doctor ... But this isn't 
a medical tricorder."
   "Understood," she replied.
   "Odo, what about the positrons?" Riker asked. "Any evidence of their 
source?"
   "Scanning," the changeling said. "You wouldn't believe how dark it is in 
here ..."
   Odo extended another tendril to find a handhold. He noted the shuttlecraft 
floating outside the windows at one end of the room. But no light came from 
there; the wrist beacon was the only light source. 
   The tiny screen on the tricorder pulsed with the positronic energy he 
sought. He moved slowly through the thin air as he tried to home in on the 
source of the readings.
   The wrist beacon played over a white weirdness of frost. Yes, the room 
seemed to have been a control center, maybe even a bridge. But like the 
exterior of the ship, it appeared to have gone through a bad fight and lost. 
Frosted debris floated past him like fish in a tank. When it touched him, he 
almost-absent-mindedly formed a hole in his body and let the rubbish through.
   The positrons were close. Odo found himself heading for what appeared to 
be a bank of work stations along one wall. From the signals, he noted, he 
should be almost on top of the source now ...
   Her.
   Odo stopped abruptly. Instantly, the phaser oozed from his body onto a 
tendril. It whined as he powered up the setting.
   And aimed.
   She didn't move.
   She didn't blink.
   She didn't breathe.
   Odo waited silently. Gradually, a tendril brought around the tricorder. He 
checked it again.
   No doubt about it.
   Her.
   "Commander," Odo said, "I've found the source of the positrons ..."
   Riker responded from within: "What is it?"
   Odo studied the tricorder, then looked back at her. "It appears to be ... 
an android ... with female features ... She's sitting motionless at a work 
station of some sort ... No sign that she's aware of me ... Along with the 
positrons, there seems to be a weak field around her ... Looks close to our 
sensor frequencies, but I can't confirm that ... No other energy readings ..."
   The constable looked closer. "And ... she's ... tied to her chair, too ..."
   A silence for a moment. Then, "Scan again for Dominion signatures, 
Constable."
   Odo checked. "Negative readings, Commander."
   "All right. We'll beam over now."
   "Right."
   Odo shone the wrist beacon over the frosted entity again. She was sitting 
perfectly erect, facing directly ahead with closed eyes. 
   And her hands were stuck in her pants pockets.
   Then, in the strangeness of the beacon, he noticed that her white-coated 
hair had an inner glow, like a colored light seen through frosted glass.
    An inner light ...
    Of lavender ...

*******

   PRESENCE.
   SCANNING.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   BIOLOGICAL.
   CHECKING PARAMETERS.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   WARNING.
   WARNING.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   PRESENCE IS WITHIN ENEMY PARAMETERS (+/- 2 PERCENT).
   RECOMMENDED ACTION:
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   CONTINUE SLEEP MODE.
   MONITOR PRESENCE.
   INTERNAL-POWER STARTUP ON STANDBY .
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   SCANNING.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...

   *******

   "A hundred and 17 medical tricorders on the ship, and I grab the dud ..."
   And with that, Dr. Crusher slapped the precision, high-tech medical 
tricorder on its side. Twice.
   "What's wrong?" Riker asked, looking over.
   Crusher turned to him, her face eerily lit from below in her environment 
suit's helmet. "I can't get it to reset. I try to scan her, but the readings 
won't return to baseline. Look." She held out the tricorder. "See how the 
readings are hovering just a tiny bit above zero? They stay there. Damned 
annoying ...."
   Riker looked back down at the bundled figure in the chair. From beneath 
her hood's opening, the woman's closed-eyed face was white with frost. As if 
she were a delicate, detailed snow sculpture.
   She looks so peaceful, he thought. 
   As if all her cares had been taken away.
   Of course, she had been tied down in a chair. That might not be a nice 
story there ...
   "And when I turned it on," Crusher continued, "I got a beep. It never 
beeps when you turn it on. Thought it was a cardiac reading, but it was 
incomplete." She sighed. "The captain isn't going to like an incomplete 
report ..."
   "Have another?" Riker asked.
   "No. The away-team med kit has only one."
   "You might bring a spare next time, Bev."
   "Hmm ..."
   The commander studied the woman in the chair. "Why do you think she was 
tied down?"
   The doctor thought. "So she wouldn't float away?"
   "Then why restrain her arms?"
   Crusher was silent. Then, "So they wouldn't float around? Hell, I don't 
know, Will. ... I'm almost afraid to ask ..."
   Riker nodded. "Me, too ..."
   Odo's voice came over Riker's com. "Commander, our little problem is over 
here."
   The first officer walked across the darkened room. At the end of a flare 
of white light, Odo in his natural state floated in the zero-G.
   At the other end of the beam, what appeared to be a young woman sat, 
covered in frost.
   Odo handed Riker the tricorder, which the human checked. "She's our 
target, all right," Riker said. "But what do we do now?"
   He swore that next to him, the slowly undulating brown mass shrugged. 
   But he wasn't sure.
   Finally ...
   Slowly ...
   Tentatively ...
   Riker reached out.
   And after an instant's pause ...
   He touched her shoulder.
   And ...
   A beep.
   Riker and Odo turned suddenly.
   To see Crusher looking at the medical tricorder.
   In wide-eyed amazement ...

*******

   PRESENCE.
   SCANNING.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   BIOLOGICAL.
   CHECKING PARAMETERS.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   ALERT.
   ALERT.
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   PRESENCE IS WITHIN SOLNOID PARAMETERS (+/- 0.03 PERCENT).
   RECOMMENDED ACTION:
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   Zeep ...
   INITIALIZE INTERNAL-POWER STARTUP ...

*******

   "OH, MY GOD!! WILL!"
   Riker looked in silence at the doctor, now clearly stunned by something.
   "IT'S A HEARTBEAT!"
   Crusher indicated the frozen woman in the chair next to her. "The beeps!! 
They're half a heartbeat!!"
   The man turned toward the brown mass near him. He swore that the mass 
looked just as shocked. 
   But he wasn't sure.
   The doctor spoke quietly. "Commander, this woman is alive!"
   
*******

   INITIALIZING MICRO-FUSION REACTOR.
   ...
   SELF-DIAGNOSTIC IN PROGRESS:
   ...
   POSITRONIC NET NOMINAL.
   ...
   REBOOTING MOTOR DRIVES.
   ...
   INITIALIZING OPTICAL INPUT.
   ...
   INITIALIZING VOCAL SYNTHESIZER. (MIGHT REQUIRE SEVERAL TRIES.)
   ...
   INITIALIZING CENTRAL DATABASE.
   ...
   INITIALIZING AUTONOMOUS A.I.  ...
   ...
   ...
   ...

*******

   "Aaaaaa ... eeeee ..."
   Riker, Odo and Crusher froze. 
   Not from the cold.
   "Aaaaaa ... eeeee ..."
   From behind Riker and Odo, the sound ...
   ... Of frost rubbing against frost ...
   The three looked toward her.
   The woman.
   The android.
   Her eyes ...
   ... opened ...
   ... slowly ...
   Just within hearing, frost crunched as her eyelids moved.
   Revealing ...
   ... gold-colored eyes.
   And again ...
   As her jaw moved painfully slowly ...
   "Aaaaaa ... eeeee ..."
   Then, for an instant, just enough silence.
   In which Riker whispered, "Constable ... change to humanoid form ... now 
..."
   He drew his phaser.
   And aimed.

*******

   VOCAL SYNTHESIZER AT 50 PERCENT NOMINAL.
   ...
   60 PERCENT.
   ...
   70 PERCENT.
   ...
   80 PERCENT.
   ...
   90 PERCENT.
   ...
   VOCAL SYNTHESIZER NOMINAL.
   ...
   ...
   ...

*******

   "Caaaaaaa ... teeeeeee ...
   "Caaaaaaa ... teeeeeee ..."
   Odo assumed final humanoid details and joined Riker in aiming a phaser. 
"Commander," the changeling said quietly, "I can survive in this form at this 
temperature only a short while."
   Riker nodded. "Understood. Doctor, can you scan ...?"
   Crusher approached slowly with the medical tricorder. "Mostly mechanical, 
Commander ... but there are ... hmm ... that's strange ..."
   Riker's gaze and aim never left the frost-covered entity. "What?"
   "There seems to be ... organic readings ... from within ... her ..."
   "Is that possible?" Odo asked.
   The doctor studied the readings. "Apparently, for her, it is ..."
   The sharp crack of fractured frost snapped through the darkness. 
   The woman's head was moving. Slowly. As it did, they heard the grinding of 
ice crystals.
   "Caaaa ... teeee ...," she said again. "Caa ... tee ..."
   Finally, her golden gaze fell on the three others.
   "Caa-tee," she repeated. But this time, it came quickly. "Caa-tee. 
Caa-tee. Catee. Catee. Catee. Catee. Catee.
   "Catty."
   And then, on her frosty face ...
   Suddenly ...
   Instantly ...
   Surprise.
   As if ...
   ... she had just realized something ...
   "Catty," she said again. "Catty."
   And then, she blinked. And looked at the three others as if she were 
seeing them for the first time.
   Which she was.
   "Mmmmmyyyy ... naaaaammmme ...," she said arduously, "iiiiissss ... Catty 
..."
   The others didn't react.
   The woman studied them for a moment. As if she were pondering what to say 
next.
   "I ... aaaamm ... a ..." She stopped. "Ffffrrriennnndd ..."
   Odo and Riker  traded glances. Neither relaxed their grip on their 
phasers. The woman turned her head slightly, then slowly twisted her torso. 
As if she were trying to look around us, Riker thought.
   The woman stared in Crusher's direction. 
   But she's not looking at me, the doctor thought.
   She looking ... past me ...
   "Hellllpp ... herrr," the woman said.
   Her right arm started to move. Riker and Odo tensed and re-aimed.
   From a pants pocket, a hand appeared. Pale white with a hint of blue. As 
the three watched, it moved slowly away from her body.
   Her arm lifted and started to extend. The fingers curled with a crinkling 
sound, as if they were wrapped in crisp paper.
   Finally, she was pointing.
   Toward the other frozen woman tied to a chair.
   No slurring this time. Clear. Clean.
   "Help ... her."
   It was Riker who finally answered. 
   "We ... will," he said. He looked at her over his phaser. "We are ... 
friends, too ..."

*******

   MICRO-FUSION REACTOR AT 100 PERCENT.
   ...
   ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL.
   ...
   SHUTTING DOWN DUTONIUM EMITTER.
   ...
   POSITRONIC PULSE OFFLINE.
   ...
   SWITCHING TO AUTONOMOUS A.I.
   ...
   CENTRAL-DATABASE AUTOMATIC DATA-SEARCH PROGRAM ONLINE.
   ...
   ...
   ...
   ...   
   ...
   HOLY CRAP!! 
   WHO ARE THESE CLOWNS?!!
   ...
   ...
   ...

******* 
   "Over here, Commander."
   LaForge looked around as he entered sickbay, then saw Nurse Ogawa 
motioning him toward a diagnostic bed. "When did they stop?" he asked quickly.
   "Just a few moments ago," Ogawa replied. "I called as soon as they did."
   "Let me see the scans."
   The nurse headed the engineer a tricorder, and LaForge checked the 
readings. "They're gone, all right. Any idea how it happened?"
   She shook her head. "No. I was in the office, completing a report, when I 
heard the beeps stop. When I got here, the readings said the positrons had 
gone."
   LaForge sighed, then regarded his friend lying on the bed.
   Data. 
   "Well," he said quietly, "there's only one way to find out ..."
   He reached under the android's left armpit and pressed. They heard a click.
   Data's eyes opened. 
   They scanned around, then found the two people looking down at him.
   "Hello, Geordi," he said nonchalantly. "Hello, nurse."
   "Hey," LaForge said. "How are you?"
   Data considered the question. "I am fine. I appear to be in sickbay."
   "Right the first time," Ogawa said, starting to smile.
   "Data," LaForge said, "you've had a bit of trouble. What ... do you 
remember last ...?"
   The android blinked. "I remember ... Spot."
   The engineer chuckled. "Anything else? Anything out of the ordinary?"
   Data lowered his eyes and recalled. He looked back up at his friend.
   "I also remember ... a lavender cat ... with ... gold-colored eyes ..."
   Nurse Alyssa Ogawa's years of medical training took over like a reflex. 
She gave Data a concerned look.
   She asked the appropriate diagnostic followup: 
   "Are you sure you're OK ...?"
   
TO BE CONTINUED