Ghost of a Chance (14 page)

“They have delegates who convene to form a governing council, which makes the laws and supports several regional chiefs,” Tuvok said. “Nan Loteth, I believe, is one of the delegates.”

“It reminds me of the Five Nations,” Janeway said.

Tuvok looked at her. “I do not believe I am familiar.”

“The Iroquois Confederation,” Janeway said. “A self-governing Native American coalition of sorts. It guaranteed peace and cooperation over an entire region. The framers of the early American Constitution drew heavily upon the Indians’ ideas.”

“I’ll bet Chakotay would have gotten a kick out of this conversation,” Kim said.

“When we see him, we’ll tell him about it,” Janeway answered.

“In the meantime, we have to find a way to make that possible.

The Televek are the key. I’d like to go poke around their cruiser, see what kind of shape it’s in, maybe get some idea just what they’re up to.”

“I can tell you that.” Nan Loteth had apparently heard much of their conversation.

“Then tell us,” Janeway prodded, “please.”

“They want to steal the spirits of our ancestors. They have come for the Jun-Tath.”

Tuvok cocked his head. “How do you know that?”

“I saw it in a vision. The spirits themselves have shown me.

That is the most important reason for your being here, I think.

You are not here for us alone. You are to help us save the Jun-Tath from the demons.”

“But how could anyone steal a ghost?” Kim wondered.

“May I remind you, Ensign,” Tuvok said, “that these particular ghosts show up on our tricorders, and that their EM signatures are virtually identical to those of the unidentified underground power source?”

“A source they seem inclined to cluster about, and which the Televek cruiser is presently practically on top of,” Janeway added.

“So,” Kim said, attempting to catch up, “you’re saying that if the ghosts are somehow connected with the energy source, and if the Televek are after that source, then in effect they are after the ghosts.”

“A logical assumption,” Tuvok agreed.

Janeway nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. Which is why we need to learn more about their plan and its progress so far.”

She faced Nan Loteth. “You must take us to the Televek demons’ sky-boat,” she said, “as soon as possible.”

“Very well,” came the Drenarian’s answer, followed by a shrug.

“But first you will eat.”

They arrived just then at a merchant’s stall. A tarp covered a street-facing table full of foods. A young female Drenarian stood on the other side, smiling. Janeway was handed something that reminded her very much of a sweet potato. She started to peel it, but the young woman minding the booth told her to leave the skin on.

“Its slight bitterness counters the sweetness,” the woman explained.

Then she handed over a bowl of brownish sauce thick with floating herbs, and waved them toward it. The captain dipped the tuber into the sauce and took a cautious bite, remembering the water. She was pleasantly surprised.

“Ah, good!” the Drenarian woman said when she saw Janeway’s smile.

She then gave the captain a small loaf of very dark bread into which large chunks of sweet fruit had been baked.

“Kim, remind me to have Neelix talk to these people,” Janeway said, talking with her mouth full. Ensign Kim seemed to understand completely.

As she was washing the meal down with a sharp but palatable milky juice, a third tremor, much more violent than the others, rumbled up through the rock beneath their feet. It shook the landscape and rattled the booth’s sturdy table, then rattled Janeway’s teeth. This quake was felt more than seen. It was not as severe as the first one, but the tremors seemed to be coming closer together now. She put the empty juice cup down and turned to her host.

“These earthquakes represent a great danger,” she told him, thinking it time. “They’re the result of a larger problem, one you may not be entirely aware of. Your world is apparently reforming itself, shifting internally due to forces we have not yet studied completely.

We do believe this planet may eventually tear itself apart, and you with it, perhaps in a matter of weeks, or even days.”

Nan Loteth’s expression was grave, but he did not look shocked, and his nod told Janeway that she had underestimated him again.

“Something is wrong,” he agreed. “Very wrong. The earthquakes and the volcanoes to the south, they are not right, not normal.

There have been no stories of such disturbances for many, many generations. We have waited for the Jun-Tath to tell us what is happening and what to do, but they have not done so.”

“How long has this activity been occurring?” Tuvok asked the Drenarian, already taking tricorder readings of the current tremor.

“For one full year, since the night of the third crescent.”

Tuvok nodded. “And how many quakes were as severe as the one in which the captain was injured yesterday?”

“Many. I don’t know the number, but they come more often now.

We used to think the mountains would grow quiet again, and the earth would be still. Now many fear it will only grow worse, as you say.”

He looked toward the east, to the angry, darkened sky.

“You mentioned a date,” Janeway said, following his gaze, her thoughts just beginning to turn fully around. “The third crescent.”

“A religious event of some kind?” Kim suggested.

“Perhaps,” Nan Loteth said.

“You mean you don’t know?” Janeway asked.

Nan Loteth looked skyward once more. “I know only what I have seen through my glass. The third crescent is like the other two, but smaller, and not so full of holes.”

“Curious,” Tuvok said.

Kim was still looking at the Drenarian. “What is?”

“The third moon,” Janeway said, nodding to herself as she followed the Drenarian’s gaze to the curved, pale sliver of light that continued to rise above the hills. “You’re saying the earthquakes began when the third moon arrived.”

“Soon after, yes,” Nan Loteth replied.

“One year ago?” Tuvok asked.

“Yes. And I do not think they will stop until the wandering moon goes away again.”

Captain Janeway stood stunned by the realization, something she should have seen from the start. She could see, looking at him, that even Tuvok was embarrassed by his own lack of perception in this matter.

Suddenly, however, the truth seemed obvious to both of them.

The two larger moons followed similar orbits around the planet, almost trailing each other across the sky when observed from the planet’s surface, though in fact one had a much smaller orbit than the other, allowing it to appear to overtake the more distant moon from time to time. The third, slightly smaller, moon was at odds with the others, and no doubt with the planet itself.

When the brown dwarf star passed by the Drenar system it had certainly dislodged a number of planetary bodies, including Drenar’s new third moon, which likely had been orbiting one of the system’s large, outer gas giants at the time. Drenar Four had captured the moon as it traveled sunward, and the opposing tidal forces that had resulted from the pull of the three moons amounted to a celestial tug-of-war. A war the planet was about to lose.

If all three moons came close to lining up, as it now appeared they might, it would be a noteworthy event to say the least.

“The question is, how long have we got?” Kim wondered, seeing the implications clearly enough himself.

Tuvok stood with his tricorder open, playing at its small controls with deft fingers. “I am attempting to form an extrapolation,” he said in answer.

“Please do,” Janeway told him, content to wait. His knowledge in many areas was equal to her own, but being a Vulcan, he was unquestionably quicker. As the moments ticked past, however, she began to wonder.

Finally, with Kim looking strained, she said, “Is there a problem, Tuvok?”

“Yes, Captain. The patterns of magma movement beneath the crust have been occurring on a tremendous scale. However, their patterns are entirely unpredictable. In addition, the destabilization is increasing exponentially. There is no doubt that the planet will ultimately be destroyed by this process, probably in a matter of weeks, perhaps as few as two or three.

But…”

Tuvok looked at Janeway and softly sighed, indicating that a bit of guesswork was involved in what was to come next. With Tuvok, however, you could dismiss nothing. He seldom went out on a limb, and when he did it was a short, stout one.

“Go on,” she said.

“Considering the strength and frequency of the quakes, I believe it is possible that the planet’s crust might rupture in a catastrophic manner much sooner than that—during the next full tide, to be precise, when the pull from the moons reaches maximum intensity. At that time, the combined fracturing and consequent erupting would reach a scale that could easily render the planet uninhabitable.”

“They do look as if they’re close to lining up, don’t they?” Kim said, staring up at the night sky. Janeway nodded. The third crescent moon had risen higher now, and the first two moons were clearly drifting toward a common destination as well. Their projected orbits were easy enough to determine; even at a glance the prospects didn’t look good.

“It is true, I think,” Nan Loteth said, apparently grasping most of what they were saying. “The twin moons have always crossed once a year, and this year the crescent moon seems determined to join them.”

“How long, Tuvok?” Janeway asked. She stood in front of him, holding her breath as he continued to work with the tricorder.

“Again, it is difficult to say. I will have to make some additional calculations. However, at present I estimate the next full lunar alignment will occur in…” Tuvok worked the keypad again, then shook his head.

“What is it?” Janeway asked.

“I wanted to be certain, Captain. The alignment should occur in approximately twenty-nine hours, seventeen minutes.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Janeway said. She let her breath out, and felt an uncertain amount of her limited strength seep out with it.

“That doesn’t leave us much time.”

“Captain,” Kim said. He had flipped open his own tricorder upon hearing this last from Tuvok, and was busy scanning, apparently hopeful. “I’ve been monitoring the levels of magnetic interference, and I’m detecting the largest drop yet in this area. We might be able to get through to Voyager now.”

“You are welcome to try, Mr. Kim,” she said.

The ensign tapped at his comm badge. “Away team to Voyager. Kim to Voyager.”

“Go ahead,” a voice replied through the comm, though it was garbled and unidentifiable. Still, all three away team officers heard it clearly enough.

Janeway instantly tapped her own badge. “This is the captain.”

“Rollins here, Captain. Are you all right?”

She could barely make out the words, could only hope that Rollins was having better luck on his end.

“Yes, we’re fine,” she said.

“We can’t get to you,” Rollins said. “A planetary defense system is keeping everyone out.”

“What kind of system?” Tuvok inquired.

“Not now, Tuvok,” the captain said. “Mr. Rollins, you have to listen to me carefully.”

Quickly she told Rollins about the third moon and the coming lunar alignment, and what that apparently meant. “These people may only have a day,” she said.

“Not to mention us,” Kim added.

“Yes,” Janeway acknowledged. “And it looks as though I was right about that second Televek cruiser.”

She paused, getting the feeling that she was talking to herself.

“Voyager?”

Nothing. Kim and Tuvok tried as well but got the same results.

“We’ve lost the signal again, Captain,” Kim said apologetically, as if it were his fault.

“Damn! I wonder if they got any of that?” Janeway asked, not expecting an answer.

“It would appear there is little Voyager can do, even if they have received some of the information,” Tuvok remarked. “At least for the time being.”

“What was all that about a defense system?” Kim asked. “The only trouble we ran into was the Televek.”

“It’s possible that’s exactly what our mysterious underground power source is doing here, and the transient energy readings we’re picking up in the hills,” Janeway said. “Though if that’s the case, the defensive system doesn’t seem to be working.”

“Did the entity that visited you aboard Voyager seem like part of any defense system?” Tuvok asked.

“Not exactly, and if it is, it doesn’t seem capable of defending these people against the Televek ship that landed. Still, the ghosts must be connected in some way.”

They stood near the edge of the city now, looking down a wide, smooth promenade illuminated by starlight and moonbeams. Nan Loteth cleared his throat, the first time Janeway had heard him do that. She wondered if he’d picked the habit up from one of them.

“So what do we do now?” Kim asked gingerly.

“In the absence of alternatives, I recommend we follow our plan to investigate the Televek presence here,” Tuvok said.

“The temple of Jaalett is nearly half a day’s walk along this road,” Nan Loteth said. “If we leave tonight, we will be there before morning.”

“We’ll go there soon, but not right now,” Janeway said. Then she faced Nan Loteth. “First, I’d like to get back to our shuttlecraft and make another attempt to get our communications equipment working so we can contact our friends in our other sky-boat. They need to know about the moons, and especially about that Televek ship near your temple. Our friends may be in more danger than we are. There’s no telling what our friend Gantel and his advocates are doing.”

Nan Loteth nodded vigorously. “I will send men from the village with you. I have been told that the demons have visited your sky-boat already and may still be there. You will need good warriors to protect you.”

“That makes sense; the demons must have witnessed our landing,” Janeway said. “But you must listen to me, Nan Loteth. I don’t want any more of your people getting killed. Don’t worry about us. We can protect ourselves. We will go alone, for now. When we return, you may take us to your temple so that we can see the demon ship for ourselves.”