STAR TREK - The Fourth Law

Chapter 6

One of the science officers of the USS Siegfried selected from the wreckage of the space base the parts pertaining to the storage of data. The boxes were structures designed to withstand explosions, but still something was lost. They should record all events related to the structure of the base, production and consumption of energy, drive of machines, rate of spatial radiation, internal and external thermal variations, in addition to the diary of the base commander. Such devices were designed in such a way that they recorded information even during the complete destruction of the base, which would provide essential data on what had happened to Sat-Omega.

It was not difficult for the officer to find what he wanted because the devices emitted a kind of high-frequency radiation, easily detectable even in the midst of a cloud of quarkionic particles.

He teleported the boxes to an isolated laboratory chamber, an area whose walls were made of a transparent tantalum crystal structure. It was resistant and prevented the passage of particles or electromagnetic emissions of medium and high energy.

The boxes were, in fact, two cylinders somewhat twisted by the explosion. There were no cables or other mechanical connection to the outside. All the data they received to store came in the form of subspace waves emitted by thousands of sensors installed in the base. To access the information contained therein, the science officer would have to dismantle the devices and do the reading with a suitable instrument.

There was a mechanical arm inside the chamber, and it was used to open the data box. Despite the difficulty, the officer managed to find the crystal where the information was stored. After confirming that the radiation levels were safe, he made the mechanical arm bring the transparent piece to a chamber window. The officer reached out to pick it up, and as he felt the smooth, extremely cool surface of the crystal, a small mechanical claw stuck its sharp tips into his fingers. The officer had an involuntary reflex to withdraw his hand immediately. Unwittingly, he brought out a kind of mechanical spider out of the containment area. It was hanging on the robot arm, ready to contact some human from that spacecraft, inject a multiplication probe into it, and assimilate.

In desperation, the officer tried to wrest that mixture of organic creature and machine, but could not. The mechanical spider's needle was threaded into the officer's wrist, and the pain of feeling something running through his arm was terrible. It burned and weakened. His only salvation, he thought, was surrender. However, he was not sure that was really his thought. The voices he heard were confused at first, but then they became clear. The pain was irrelevant, and his life up to that point had been very close to what he had just gained.

When the science officer stood again, he was a Borg aboard the USS Siegfried.

***

Each crewmember of Siegfried had his basic vital functions monitored by a device attached to the uniform, which served as a communicator. And Captain Rast was given information on the state of health of all his men. He knew when the science officer had an abnormal acceleration of the heart beats. Soon after, the signals ceased for some unknown reason, like a disconnection of the device. It was not death, because if it was the captain would know.

Rast excused the guests and called the officer by the communicator:

"Mr. Edison, what's going on?"

There was no response. Jean-Luc Picard, curious, asked:

"Is there a problem, Captain?"

"I've lost all communication with my science officer. I just sent a medical team to the analysis sector."

"Is that where the Sat-Omega base data boxes were teleported?" asked Picard.

"Exactly," said thedroid.