"I thought you'd given up the peroheen," Egin said.

"So did I. But special occasions call for special measures, eh?" He held the bottle of purple liquid up, offering to share that as well as the window.

Egin hesitated, then shrugged. "Oh, why not?" He accepted the bottle, and took a swig.

"So," Jevlin said after a silent pause, "what do you think is going to happen?"

"I honestly don't know. What do you think?"

"You're asking me?" Jevlin took the bottle back and helped himself to a thoughtful sip. "I'm just a star sailor. What do I know about momentous decisions? That's your department, eh?"

Egin's expression softened into an ironic smile. "No, not really. I know you and the captain think I'm a pompous fool. And you're right. Sometimes I am. But not so much the fool that I don't know why I'm the First Valend-because I happened to survive."

Jevlin chuckled. "Is that wine, or truth serum?"

"Do you know what I like the most about being First Valend?"

"No ... what?"

"That it makes my grandson proud of me. If that planet out there does turn out to be our new home-or some other planet does-what I would most like to do is tell stories to the children."

"Stories?" Jevlin said with a quizzical squint.

"Yes. Tell them what Tenira was like. Somebody has to do that, to keep the past alive-the good things, especially. G.o.d knows we've seen enough of the bad. There aren't that many of us left who remember the old days, Jevlin."

Jevlin pursed his lips and let out a contemplative belch. "You mean, like you and me. Hmm. I guess you're right about that. Hmm. Y'know, we're agreeing more'n we used to."

"So we are," Egin said with a nod. "Miracles do happen."

"I suppose."

"Now it's your turn, Jevlin."

"My turn for what?"

Egin held the bottle high. "Truth serum."

"Oh." Jevlin's brow scrunched into a grudging frown. "Fair is fair, I suppose. Well ... when you mentioned your grandson, I was thinking at least you've got a family. It's been many a year since I sat down with kin. They're all gone now. I don't really have anyone to tell my stories to."

"They don't have to be told to blood kin, Jevlin. Most anyone would listen. I'll wager you've got some interesting tales to tell."

"Mmm ... I'm not so sure about that."

"We'll have to let our audience judge, once we've got someplace to call home. Thanks for the wine."

"Don't mention it ... especially to Cap'n Arit. I'd hate to disillusion her about my willpower."

Chapter Fifteen.

"I DON'T KNOW how you do it, Captain," Riker said as they sat side by side at the heart of the Enterprise bridge.

"What is that, Number One?"

"I don't know how you wait so patiently at times like this."

Picard's eyes twinkled with a glint of amus.e.m.e.nt. "Didn't some elderly schoolmistress ever tell you in your youth that patience is a virtue?"

"I do recall one teacher using those very words, sir," Riker said with a sly smile. "Elizabeth Fallon ... and she was anything but elderly."

"I take it the seed of her suggestion did not take root?"

"Not exactly. If anything, she made me more impatient."

"How so?"

Riker stretched his long legs. "I was fourteen ... she was twenty-five ... and I couldn't wait until I was old enough to go out with women like her."

Picard chuckled, but the quiet moment was cut short by Worf's rumbling voice from the tactical station behind them. "We are ready, sir."

Geordi La Forge stood at the Klingon's shoulder. "It's the planetary equivalent of tapping 'em on the shoulder, Captain. No damage potential to the planet or anything down there."

"Phasers set for wide beam dispersion," Worf said, "random targeting at five-second intervals, power levels at point-five percent-"

"And shields at maximum power," Geordi added.

"Very well, gentlemen," Picard said, leaning back in the command seat. "Initiate firing sequence."

Geordi returned to his engineering alcove and Worf keyed the computer to follow the preprogrammed sequence.

From her bridge aboard the Glin-Kale, Captain Arit watched in thoughtful silence as a pair of phaser beams lanced out from the Enterprise saucer section, aimed at the planet surface below, specifically the region around the missing shuttle's last campsite. For five seconds at a time, each beam struck a spot on Domarus, then bounced harmlessly to new coordinates.

Jevlin stood alongside the operations console at Arit's left and peered over the shoulder of Mahdolin, the young woman still on watch at that post. Together, they watched sensor reports on what the Enterprise was doing.

"I can spit with more power than they're using, Cap'n," the old first officer said disdainfully.

"That's the idea," Arit said, her eyes never wavering from the main viewscreen. "If there is anything down there, Picard doesn't want this to look like an attack."

"More like a tickle," Mahdolin muttered.

"Mind your post," Arit said.

"Yes, Captain."

"I agree with the girl," said Jevlin. "I don't know what Picard thinks this is going to accomplish."

Arit leaned forward, elbows propped on her knees. "We'll soon find out."

The gentle volley lasted one minute, then ceased. Picard stood and turned toward Geordi's monitoring station. "Any results, Mr. La Forge?"

The chief engineer shook his head. "Negative, Captain. No response at all. Should we advance to level two?"

"No need for haste," said Picard. "Why don't we see what happens if we repeat phase one."

Worf restarted the computer-controlled cycle of phaser firings, and the captain watched on the viewer as crisp bolts of energy shot from his starship down to the planet. Picard knew the low intensity of these brief phaser bursts would barely ruffle the long hilltop gra.s.s bowing before a Domaran breeze. Unfortunately, he could not know whether this theoretical sentient life for which they searched would notice.

"Ahh," Picard murmured, interrupting his own musing. "What do you make of that, Will?"

Riker got to his feet and joined Picard beneath the bridge's central dome as they watched the viewscreen with growing interest. In the midst of this second volley, they saw the sudden formation of what appeared to be a force field just above the Domaran surface. Patches of pulsing energy bloomed at the point of phaser impact, intercepted the phaser beams as they sliced through the planet's atmosphere, then converted them into haphazard knots of energy which simply reflected back out into s.p.a.ce before dissipating into an iridescent mist.

"Maybe we are getting somebody's attention down there after all," Riker said as the computer completed the programmed firing sequence. "Geordi, a.n.a.lysis?"

La Forge referred to his instrument readouts. "Visually, the effect looks a little different, but the fingerprint of the structural particle pattern is virtually identical to the chromatic energy pulses we've been encountering all along."

"Good ... very good indeed," Picard said. "Then this response we have just seen may very well be coming from the same source as the chromatic energy phenomenon."

"Well, I'll be darned," Geordi said out loud, though his tone made it clear he was talking to himself as he skimmed some new data printing out on his screen.

Riker looked over to him. "Geordi, what is it?"

"Whatever formed that reflective force shield wound up absorbing sixty percent of the energy in those phaser beams."

Picard and Riker both circled up the deck ramp and approached La Forge's engineering console. "Absorbing?" Picard repeated. "Wouldn't it be normal for a large percentage of the phaser energy to be lost in such a process of reflection?"

"Yes, sir, except."

"Except what?" Riker wanted to know.

Creases of amazement crossed Geordi's forehead. "For the first twenty seconds of the shield's reaction, it actually managed to reflect all of our phaser energy- one hundred percent-which is more than a little unusual. Then, within one second, the percentage of reflected energy dropped right down to forty percent, with no variability after that for as long as our firing continued."

Captain Picard frowned. "Where did the missing sixty percent go?"

"I'd say it went right into whatever was creating the force shield."

"Lieutenant Worf," Riker said, turning to the security chief, "what readings are you getting from that force shield now that we've stopped firing?"

Worf's shoulders hunched as he checked and rechecked the ship's sensors. "No readings at all, Commander ... as if the shield no longer exists."

"Are there any power readings from any kind of local generator," Riker asked, "or any power source that might be producing this shield?"

"Negative. There are no power readings now of any sort."

"What about before we started firing?" said Riker.

"Nothing, sir-before or after our firing sequence."

"Only during," Riker said. "This is d.a.m.ned strange, Captain. There's no previous sign of this kind of power generation-then this force shield just pops into existence out of nowwhere-still without a detectable source of power."

"Strange indeed," Picard agreed with a thoughtful grunt as he considered these latest observations. Something down on Domarus had managed to project an effective force shield-and proceeded to absorb the Enterprise's phaser energy. Interesting, but by no means conclusive. And the results of this initial experiment had failed to produce any progress toward Picard's main goals-establishing communication with any Domaran life-forms, and rescuing the missing away team and shuttle.

The captain let out a determined breath. "Mr. La Forge, Mr. Worf-advance to level two."

"Aye, sir," Geordi replied. "Five percent phaser power, ten seconds per target coordinate."

"Ready, Captain," Worf said.

Picard nodded as he and Riker returned to their seats. "Fire."

Again, the ship's phaser banks cut loose. This time, the protective shield hugging the planet appeared almost immediately. The results were the same- phaser energy deflected without harm. This time, though, with the increased intensity of the incoming weapon beams, the rebounding energy mist reached considerably farther out into s.p.a.ce.

Picard and Riker both noted that response. "If full-power weaponry were fired at this protective barrier," Picard said, "I wonder if the reflection would endanger the attacking vessel?"

"I was just wondering the same thing," Riker said. "That would make this-whatever it is-a pretty effective pa.s.sive defense system. Let's hope we don't have to find out how effective."

"Captain," Geordi said, "this time, it absorbed seventy percent of our phaser energy."

"Hmm. Where is all this absorbed energy going?"

"Good question, sir," Geordi agreed.

"See if you can find an answer to it."

"I'm already working on it, Captain."

The light show in the cavern continued unabated, now filling a sizable volume from floor to ceiling. Wesley, Gina and Ken had fanned out with activated tricorders, scanning and recording everything from different angles.

Then the sounds began-feeble and distant at first, like far-off wind chimes jangled by some faint zephyr, then swelling in amplitude. Data wandered a few steps closer, staring up at the wheel of whirling colors and glittering sparks.

"Counselor," he called back, "are you sensing anything from the chromatic energy ma.s.s?"

"Yes, I am. In fact, it's rather overwhelming," she said, wincing a bit, as if trying to fend off a storm of voices shouting in her ear.

A concerned expression clouded the android's face and he came over to her. "Are you all right, Counselor?"

"Yes, Data, I'm fine," she smiled as she gave him a rea.s.suring squeeze on his arm. "It's like ... well, imagine being at a crowded, noisy party with music and dancing and a thousand people trying to talk all at once."

Data nodded. "Ah. I have been at such gatherings. The decibel level can reach a magnitude potentially damaging to human hearing."

"Fortunately, I have built-in filtering abilities that protect my empathic 'hearing' from that sort of risk. But that doesn't prevent it from being somewhat unsettling."

"Still, we must be careful."

"I will be."