Chapter
One
The
doors to Alan Kline's quarters opened with a hiss and the captain entered. Letting
out a sigh of relief, it was finally time for some rest after the long day that
had just gone by. He couldn't remember why he was so exhausted; so many things
had happened in the past twelve hours that it would be humanly impossible to
recall it all at once...
He
removed his uniform and put on some comfortable black clothes before heading to
the replicator to ask for a cup of coffee. Drinking it would be his last action
before going to bed...
He
settled down on the comfortable mattress and placed the now-empty cup on his
night table, then he asked the computer to switch off the lights and he buried
most of his body under the beige bed sheets...
His
eyes stared out the stars which could be seen out the window of his room from
where he lay. For a moment he just watched them as they lazily swept by the
window to disappear into the blackness of space...
Soon
enough, his eyes were closed and sleep took him...
But
his slumber was soon interrupted...
He
shrugged off the whispers at first, thinking that they were imaginary...But it
soon became evident that the whispers weren't going to leave, in fact, they
were getting louder...
His
eyes opened, he was still in his room, still alone in his room...But the
whispers could still be heard. What were they saying? He couldn't make out any
sound...Just the whispering...
A
few seconds thereafter, they stopped...Leaving the Captain in silence once
again...
He
frowned deeply, it was probably fatigue...He had worked hard all day and it had
already happened to him to have to deal with similar auditory hallucinations
because of a late-night party or other tiring event...
He
lay back down and tried to get back to sleep, but he had difficulty doing
so...It was if his mind was staying alert, like it was waiting for something,
for the whispers to return...
They
most certainly weren't going to come back, he knew it in his mind, and it was
as logical as a Vulcan statement...The whispers were caused by his tiredness...
Yet,
it still took him half-an-hour to finally relax and fall asleep...
* * *
Oh-four
hundred hours, Lieutenant Johnson was in command of the shift today. He didn't
particularly like being in command of the ship but he didn't dislike it and his
friend, lieutenant Dar, had asked with that look in his eyes...The look that
said: If you don't say yes I'm dead...So what could Johnson do?
Dar
was a nice person, an intelligent and funny Bolian
whom Johnson had known since his Academy days...However, Dar had always had the
capacity to make himself appear like a poor and mistreated puppy to earn the
favors of others...Johnson unfortunately was also...'under the spell'...So here
was Johnson, replacing Dar on the bridge...
His
attention was wandering, he quickly focused and asked: "Status," For
no reason.
"All
systems okay," Said an ensign seated at Ops. "Nothing out of the
ordinary, sir..."
Johnson
didn't know whether to be relieved or not, did he prefer being under fire or
bored? That was a difficult question which he asked himself in his mind
frequently...He had never found an answer, he wasn't even sure if there existed
a "right" answer to that question...
His
attention was wandering again...
Damn...He
massaged his temple with his right hand. Four 'o'clock in the morning wasn't a
good time to start asking questions about the meaning of the
universe...Especially if he was on duty...
"We're
approaching the Udus pulsar, sir." The conn
officer reported.
Thank
god for the Udus pulsar...He thought. "Thank
you, conn...Continue on patrol route."
"Continuing..."
The conn officer yawned.
Suddenly,
the turbolift doors at the back of the bridge swished open and Captain Kline
emerged from the lift.
Johnson
frowned upon seeing his commanding officer; it was not often that he saw Kline
in such...such a mess! He was obviously tired...His hair was messed up,
his eyes half-open. Even his uniform looked dusty, but Johnson assumed it was
just his imagination...
"Sir?" Johnson blinked quizzically at Kline.
"Morning,
Johnson..." Kline ran his right hand through his messed hair. "Anything to report?"
"Uh...Not really, sir. We're near the Udus pulsar..."
"Fascinating..."
Kline sighed. "Okay...Is it all right with you if I take the bridge?"
Johnson
blinked in surprise, but answered: "Uh...Sure, Captain..." The
lieutenant vacated the captain's chair to let his superior officer sit down.
"I'll just take Ops, then..."
"Nah..."
Kline waved his hand dismissively. "You're not obligated to stay on for
this shift, Johnson..."
Johnson
shrugged: "Well...technically..."
"So
you can go, right?" Kline gave a tired smile.
Johnson
nodded: "Uh, yes, sir...Thank you, sir."
As
he entered the turbolift, Johnson thought:
Dar's never going to believe this...
* * *
Lt.
Commander Sutter finished up her ponytail upon entering the bridge...She was as
surprised as the other senior bridge officers to find Captain Kline already
there, and looking pretty bad...
"Captain?" She said as she sat down into her seat
besides his.
"Good
morning, Commander." Kline said. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah..."
She frowned. "And how about you?"
He
smiled: "What do you think?"
"I'd
say you wrestled with a Klingon...no...Two Klingons
all night."
He
shrugged: "Nothing as fun as that...I'm just tired since yesterday...I'll
see the doctor about it when this shift is over."
She
nodded: "I see,"
"Oh,"
He snapped his fingers, remembering something. "Maybe you've noticed...we've
slowed down to impulse power. We're still in the vicinity of the Udus pulsar...Ops picked up some activity on the star's
surface and we're investigating."
He
passed her a report padd and she glanced at the info: "Looks like
nothing..." She said.
"It
probably is...But you're never too careful." He yawned.
* * *
The
doors to sickbay opened and Captain Kline walked in, glancing around the room
to attempt to locate doctor Tarses.
"Captain?" Lt. (jg)
Sharon Davies came towards him. "Can I help you?"
"Uh,
yes...I've been having some trouble sleeping and I was wondering if someone
could check up on me..."
"Doctor
Tarses is in the other area." Davies said, referring to the second part of
sickbay in which tests were made on materials with biohazard warnings and
similar dangerous chemicals. "They're running tests on the isolation
conduits..."
She
brought him to one of the bio-beds and sat him down on it; she pulled a medical
tricorder from her pocket and passed it over him. "You're right...You are
tired."
"But
I didn't need a doctor to tell me that." He smiled. "So what have you
got?"
"Hmm..."
She frowned at the readings. "Pretty much nothing..."
He
sighed: "Yeah...I guess I was hoping you had some miracle cure for my
insomnia...I guess I'm just working too hard."
"Agreed,"
She nodded. "Maybe you should take some time off, sir...Anyway I don't
think you'll be needed during our little 'patrol'..."
He
smiled: "You're probably right...I think I'll take the day off and see if
I'm up and running tomorrow. Thanks."
She
smiled back: "No problem, Captain."
* * *
The
barely audible steps of Alan Kline upon the green grass which stretched for
miles were one of the few sounds which could be heard...He was following a
stream of clear water which flowed with little sound. The sky was cloudless and
the sun shone brightly upon the plains, however the temperature was perfect and
the sun rays didn't blind...
Kline
had been happy to find an open spot in the holodeck reservation schedule, these
days, the crew of the Valiant had had more time for 'fun and games'
since missions were rare...Maybe that was what Kline was missing, the
missions...Maybe he needed to be in action to be relaxed...
A
crazy thought, he shrugged it off instantly...
He
slowed his pace and began taking long breaths through his nose and letting them
out through his mouth. His eyes were half-closed and kept a lazy watch on where
he was stepping although no watching was necessary...
He
was relaxed...
...
"Are
you here to help us?"
His
eyelids opened up in a flash, he was instantly alert.
"Who
the hell is there?" He demanded to the empty air.
Silence...
He
frowned, he was sure he had heard a voice...Someone speaking....
He
decided to run a test. He shut his eyelids again and let himself relax again...
Seconds
passed...Minutes...
"Please,
help us..."
He
didn't open his eyes this time...
"Who
are you?"
A
long moment passed and he repeated his question:
"Who
are you?" More forcefully.
"There
isn't much time...Please you must..."
In
mid-sentence the strange whispering voice stopped and the only sounds that
Kline could hear were the wind blowing and the stream flowing...
But
he had heard enough...