Star Trek The Next Generation - 47 - Into the Nebula by Star Trek

Author:Star Trek
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780671894535
Publisher: Star Trek
Published: 1995-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Data was at the ops console two hours later when another energy surge, the first in more than a day, was detected, this one relatively weak, more like the ones from the mine than the ones from space. The source was neither in space nor anywhere near either of the areas on Krantin where previous surges had been detected. Instead, it was in the vicinity of, if not actually within, the city. Data quickly noted the precise time and the necessarily imprecise location, then notified the captain in his ready room.

Summoning an ensign to take the console, Data strode from the bridge as Picard entered. Minutes later, as he entered his quarters, he noted that Spot, while not hiding, still appeared uneasy, her eyes following him as he crossed the room to the viewscreen on his desk.

“Computer, display on split screen the record of activity in these quarters and the quarters of Ensign Thompson for the period between twelve and ten minutes prior to the time of this command.”

The screen sprang instantly to life, divided precisely down the middle. On the left, Spot lay curled on the heavily cushioned back of the couch, obviously one of her favorite spots, as indicated by the deep indentation she was half submerged in. On the right half of the screen, Fido, with markings similar to Spot’s but with hair twice as long, was stalking one of the lifelike mouse automatons that Data had designed and distributed to all interested cat owners on the Enterprise.

On both screens, time displays silently counted down the minutes and seconds.

At minus eleven minutes ten seconds, Spot’s eyes snapped open, followed a fraction of a second later by her tail stiffening and bristling. At eleven minutes nine seconds, Fido lurched to a halt in his pursuit of the mouse.

At eleven minutes eight seconds, both let out a brief teeth-baring hiss and darted looks in all directions. The tails remained bushed out for several seconds before beginning to subside, first on Fido, then Spot. Both remained alert, even wary, for more than three minutes. Spot, still watching Data from her perch on the couch back, had laid her ears back as her own image had hissed at her from the screen but otherwise remained comparatively undisturbed.

“Replay at one-tenth speed the period from eleven minutes twelve seconds to eleven minutes,” Data said.

When he was through, Data was satisfied that the phenomenon he had suspected since the day before had been confirmed. Not only that, the computer records had pinned down some of the key parameters. Spot’s first reaction to the energy surge was three-point-one seconds before the Enterprise sensors had first detected it. With Fido in frantic motion, it was harder to pinpoint the precise time of his reaction, but it was at least two-point-two seconds before the sensors. Not surprisingly, their reactions to the energy surge from the city were substantially less severe than Spot’s earlier reaction to the much more powerful energy surge from space.

As with every piece of information he encountered, Data filed these for future reference.

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