A sense of detail and windows to boot, thought La Forge. Whoever built this place cared about the environment they lived in.

Suddenly, for a split second, he thought he saw a quick blip of energy run through the outer wall, near the floor. Just a blip on the edge of his vision and then it was gone. It was the kind of shadow image his VISOR occasionally picked up on the ship-a stray signal from some piece of equipment. In a place this big, that kind of thing was sure to happen.

Riker took a deep breath. "The air is a little stale, but not bad. And the place looks clean. I was expecting several thousand years' worth of dust."

Barclay spoke up immediately, "Perhaps the airfiltration system continued to function after the inhabitants left."

The first officer gazed directly at Barclay, and the lieutenant seemed to shrink. "You think so, Mr. Barclay?" asked Riker.

"Ah, yes, sir, it's a possibility, sir," Barclay replied.

Geordi could see heat rush to the lieutenant's face. Barclay was blushing, probably sorry he'd opened his mouth in the first place. Riker, whether he noticed or not, headed mercifully for the exit-an archway much like the one they'd entered by.

"I'd say it was a good possibility, Lieutenant," the first officer tossed back as he led the team out into the corridor. Barclay and his light source brought up the rear.

This corridor looked much like the place they had come from, smallish and comfortable. The ceiling was a couple of inches higher than Riker's head and wide enough for two people to walk side by side. The walls were again molded and gently curved into the distance. From the angle of the curve, Geordi guessed the corridor ran the entire outer edge of the station.

He took some tricorder readings. "I'm picking up chambers and windows as well as hatches and airlocks all along the outer wall of the station," he said. "This place is laid out very efficiently."

"Not the kind of thing you throw away," Riker commented. "Where could everybody have gone?"

"Commander," Geordi said, "if the station is really a large subs.p.a.ce field coil, it's possible that it could move the ma.s.s of the entire station. A major malfunction could have transported this place from light-years away."

The first officer was interested. "You're saying that the station may have left its masters behind?"

The engineer shrugged. "This early in the game, anything is possible."

Once again, Riker took the lead, heading down the corridor. "Let's see if we can pry some of those secrets out of her."

Geordi could see that Barclay was studying what seemed to be a small access tunnel, possibly a meter and a half high and just wide enough for one person. "Anything interesting, Reg?"

"There's a lot of circuitry packed into here," the lieutenant replied.

La Forge nodded. "I'll give you a hand."

Riker was already heading for the next archway, barely visible in the distance. "I'm going to take a look around down there," he said.

By the time Geordi reached Barclay, the lieutenant was already crouched in front of the tunnel, shining his handlamp down its length.

"There's another chamber further on," Barclay said, crawling into the opening.

Taking a quick reading on his tricorder, Geordi confirmed that the tunnel was as innocuous as it seemed. He ducked his head inside tentatively. After a moment, he crawled after the lieutenant. "I'm right behind you, Reg."

Barclay was taking the short, dark trip in stride. "No fear of cramped, dark places?" Geordi called ahead.

"No, sir," came the other man's reply. "My cousins and I used to explore caves near our grandfather's house." His voice echoed along the tunnel.

"I didn't figure you for a spelunker, Reg." Geordi smiled at the image of a fearless Barclay making his way through dangerous caverns.

The lieutenant shrugged. "The dark never bothered me, sir. And I'm not claustrophobic. I thought it was kind of exciting, unknown and mysterious. My grandfather thought the caves were a good test of character." Barclay seemed to think carefully for a moment before he continued. "He always maintained that there were two kinds of people."

"Just two?" Geordi asked.

"Yes, sir," Barclay replied. "He said some people are made of steel and some are made of clay, some bend and some fall apart. Sooner or later, you find out what you are. And he thought caves were a good place to find out what you were made of."

For a moment, Geordi was taken aback. This was not the Reginald Barclay he knew, shy and unsteady. The lieutenant was opening up about his personal life for the first time since they had met.

"Did he ever tell you what you were, Reg?"

Barclay stopped for a moment and turned in the tunnel to look at Geordi directly. He seemed to be considering the question. "Yes, sir. He said I was an unsaturated hydrocarbon polymer resin."

"But that's ... rubber?" Geordi replied, dumb-founded.

The other man nodded. "That's right."

"Your grandfather had a strange sense of humor," La Forge remarked.

"Yes," Barclay said, his face a mask. "Funny, but I don't miss it," he added with a nervous grin.

Well, well, Geordi thought. Old Barclay has a sense of humor. I didn't think he could surprise me anymore.

Suddenly, the lieutenant was up and out of the tunnel. Geordi followed closely, glad to give his knees a break. As Barclay swept the room with the handlamp, Geordi scanned it with his VISOR and took a quick reading with his tricorder.

This was definitely some type of control center. The room had no windows, but there was a great deal of circuitry running into the panel and monitor on the far wall. And the circuitry seemed remarkably intact, considering its age.

Geordi's observations were cut short when he heard a sound on his left. Seeing motion, he jumped-and then chided himself when he realized it was Commander Riker's familiar form standing in front of another access tunnel.

The exec nodded by way of a greeting as he dusted himself off. "Fancy meeting you here."

La Forge smiled. "For a second there, I thought you were the landlord."

Riker grinned. "No. But let's hope that if they do come home, and find us here, they're in a good mood."

Taking a few steps toward the entrance, Geordi leaned in to quietly address the first officer. "Sir, it seems safe in here, and we don't have time for much more than a quick look around. I was thinking that maybe the captain would appreciate a chance to see this firsthand. And if it is Iconian ..."

Riker gave the suggestion a moment's sober consideration. "Let's ask him."

Not more than a second or two after the captain had materialized on the alien station, his communicator chirped.

"Picard here," he responded.

As he had expected, it was Riker. The captain and the first officer had transported to and from the ship and station simultaneously.

"Just wanted to make sure you arrived safely, sir. I'll be on the bridge if you need me."

"Thank you, Number One. Picard out."

"What do you think, Captain?"

Picard turned and saw it was Geordi who'd asked the question.

For a long moment, the captain did nothing but study his surroundings. The alien station was surprisingly ... comfortable. The walls displayed soothing earth tones, though he didn't doubt they were made of sophisticated alloys and polymers.

Each bulkhead was made of rectangular panels whose edges were molded with a simple but elegant design. The ceilings stood a comfortable two and a half meters high, and the small chamber they occupied was so pleasing as to almost seem quaint.

s.p.a.ce stations were all too often coldly functional, or intimidatingly open and airless, or dark and forbidding as he had seen in Carda.s.sian design. But the effect here was like no other station he had ever visited. It was almost like an old-fashioned front parlor.

"Cozy, huh?" Geordi asked.

"Yes, quite pleasant," Picard answered. "The builders seemed to be at least partly guided by aesthetics."

"Wait'll you see the control center," said the engineer. "Come with me, sir."

The captain did as La Forge requested, trailing the younger man out into the corridor, to what appeared to be an access tunnel. Hunkering down, Geordi crept inside, and Picard again followed suit.

The chamber on the other end was a flurry of activity. Barclay, O'Connor, and Varley had set up all kinds of diagnostic equipment, in an effort to understand the station better. They all nodded respectfully as the captain entered.

"As you were," said Picard. He turned to a bulkhead full of differently shaped monitors and what looked like computer controls.

"Whoever constructed this place was pretty advanced," Geordi said. "Not only did they create a sophisticated set of instruments-and some of this stuff, I can't even guess at-but they really built it to last."

The captain noted the single operating monitor, which was displaying a starfield. "A portion of the equipment is still functional, I understand?"

Geordi ran his hands over the controls with what seemed like reverence to Picard. "Yes, but it shouldn't be. This monitor started functioning shortly after we arrived."

Watching closely, the captain saw the scene on the screen shift abruptly. "What's causing the changes?" he asked.

The engineer shook his head. "They're random, as nearly as I can tell. I can't make heads or tails of the controls, and I can't find any correlation between the controls and the monitor."

"Incredible," Picard observed, watching as the scene changed again.

"If we had more time," said Geordi, "I'd love to hook some of this stuff up to a portable generator."

The captain nodded. "With luck, we will have that time after the summit."

"I hope so, sir. For now, all I can do is continue the two-credit tour." With a wave for his commanding officer to follow, La Forge got down on his knees and led the way back out through the access tunnel. Once they were outside in the corridor again, he stood and dusted off the legs of his uniform. "You know," he commented, "it almost seems too good to be true. A fully functional station, completely empty, just waiting for us to poke around."

As they walked, Picard listened to the slight echo of their footsteps. The sound seemed to travel ahead of them down the gently curving corridor, which was lit by a succession of portable light sources.

"We're getting some interesting energy readings from the area closest to the core," Geordi noted, "but for now, we're just studying what we've found in this section of the outer edge."

Picard grunted. "I suspect our hosts will be an interesting people to get to know."

The engineer started to say something, then cut off his own response. He turned quickly to catch a glimpse of something behind the captain.

"Commander?" Picard asked.

La Forge frowned. "I thought I saw something for a moment, sir. A slight electromagnetic blip. And it wasn't the first time, either." He tapped his communicator. "Reg, were you running any scans just now?"

"Yes, sir," came Barclay's reply.

"Rerun your recordings from the last two minutes. Look for microsurges of power."

Silence for a moment, and then Barclay said, "Nothing. Sorry, sir. I'll, ah, keep my eyes open."

"Thanks, Reg. La Forge out."

Picard watched as his officer scanned the corridor with his VISOR. "Anything, Commander?"

"Nothing now, sir. But I was sure I saw something."

"The station still has active power reserves?" the captain asked.

"Yes, though after all this time, it shouldn't be possible. At least, not according to any technology I understand ..." Geordi let the statement hang in the air.

This time, even Picard saw it. A quick flash of energy between the panels on the outer wall. He noticed that the engineer was looking at the same spot.

"Bingo," said La Forge.

"Sir," came Barclay's voice from the commander's communicator. "I just recorded one of those surges."

Abruptly, Riker's voice sounded, too-this time, from Picard's communicator. "Captain, is anyone running experiments over there? We're reading some small power spikes."

"That was not us," Picard replied. "The station seems to have some active power stores."

"Geordi," asked the first officer, "do you see anything that looks like an operational security system?"

The engineer checked his tricorder again and looked around. "I don't think so," he replied. "But it's hard to say for sure."

Riker's voice was calm and even, but Picard could hear the slight edge of concern. "Captain, I recommend returning the away team to the Enterprise. We'll have plenty of time to sort this out after the summit."

"Agreed, Number One. Commander La Forge and I will collect the others and the equipment as soon as possible."

"We'll lock on transporters in the meantime-just in case. Riker out."

Picard gestured in the direction of the chamber in which he had originally materialized, which was also the direction of the control center. Geordi took the lead. Before the engineer had gone very far, he'd activated his communicator.

"All away-team personnel report to the beamdown site. Bring your equipment. We're going back to the ship."

Walking briskly along the corridor, the captain felt as well as saw another crackle of energy. This one seemed to run through both the floor and ceiling. Without asking La Forge, Picard knew that it was a substantial surge. There was a smell of burnt ... dust ... in the air.

Accelerating his pace, the captain noted how his previously pleasant surroundings suddenly seemed quite alien. His instincts were strongly suggesting that he get his people back to the Enterprise.

As Picard pa.s.sed the tunnel that led to the control center, he bent to get an idea of how well the engineers were coming along. La Forge stopped, too.

"Need any help?" the younger man called.

Inside the tunnel, Varley and O'Connor were crawling out of the control center, pulling their equipment after them. Barclay wasn't far behind.