By the Book (19 page)

A puddle of slime dotted the floor where the alien had been on its back. The stench, though, seemed to be receding. Maybe the smell had a defensive purpose, designed to keep away land-based predators when the alien slept.

When this was all over, Archer would have to ask Cutler about that.

The alien continued to inspect the shield. After a moment, it scuttled backward. It moved amazingly fast for something so tall and bulky.

"Why-is the device-needed?" the alien asked again.

"Because," Archer said, "the energy in your thoughts is dangerous to my kind."

The alien scuttled even farther backward and bumped against the wall. For a moment, Archer wondered if it was hurt. Then it bobbed slightly.

"The crewman-who landed?" the alien asked. "And the other-two?"

The reaction had been shock and concern. Archer felt a pleasant shock of surprise.

"They are alive and recovering," Archer said.

"They were-damaged?"

So he had interpreted the reaction correctly.

"Yes," Archer said. "But they will be all right."

The alien bobbled as if it were still in the water. It didn't speak for a long time, and Archer wondered if he should fill the silence. He still felt somewhat burned for his encounter with the Fazi.

"We had-no wish-to harm," the alien said.

"We know that," Archer said, relieved that the alien had spoken. "Neither did we. I must apologize for taking you from your homeworld. It was not our intent. We were only trying to rescue our crewman."

"It was not our intent-to harm him," the alien said again. It seemed to be quite distressed.

"We understand that," Archer said, thinking that perhaps a different word would make the alien realize that they were not going to retaliate for the harm. "There is no need to apologize."

"We tracked your-ship- as it entered the system," the Hipon said. "We were pleased-when you came-to contact us."

"We were not sure how to," Archer said, not showing he was stunned that they had been tracked coming into this system. Clearly the Hipon were more advanced than they had thought. "It was not until this accident that we began to understand the nature of your form of communication."

"And the danger-of it," the Hipon said.

"Yes, exactly," Archer said.

"Your translation device-is impressive," the Hipon said. "But I must ask-why you came-to this planet?"

"We are from the planet Earth," Archer said. "We are simple explorers, hoping to meet new races and forge friendships."

"With the ability-to create this starship-and this communication device-I would not consider-your race simple."

"Thank you," Archer said.

The alien crossed two of its legs and rubbed them together. Archer braced himself. He wasn't sure what would happen or what the alien was trying to do.

Then it bobbled again.

"Captain-I must do-the proper thing."

"All right," Archer said, not knowing what the proper thing was in this circumstance or even if what was proper for the alien was proper for him.

"Excuse me-please- Captain."

With that the alien seemed to fold up slightly, bringing its legs slightly under its body.

The intercom rattled as it came on. The sound made Archer jump. He hadn't expected it.

"Captain," T'Pol said, "there is a high psionic energy beam being sent from our ship to the surface of the planet."

Archer wished he could see the readings, but he didn't want to move, didn't want to startle the alien in any way. "Are any members of the crew in the way of it?"

"No, sir. It doesn't appear to be having an effect on the crew," T'Pol said.

"What about the ship?" He had visions of the ship itself buckling under the weight of the beam.

"No, sir."

"The shipboard computers?"

"We could run diagnostics, sir, but so far, we've found no problems."

The alien hadn't moved. It seemed oblivious of him, but Archer couldn't really tell. The creature didn't have a humanoid face that he could guess at reading.

"Do you believe we are in any danger from this beam?" Archer asked.

"No," T'Pol said.

"Can you pinpoint where the beam is coming from?" Archer asked, as if he didn't know. He did. It was coming from the only strong psionic source on the ship-the alien in front of him.

"Yes, sir. It is coming from the alcove."

Archer smiled. "Just as I suspected."

He glanced at the motionless alien. So the proper thing had something to do with communication to its planet. He wondered what kind of message the creature was sending.

He hoped he would find out soon. "Continue monitoring and keep me informed if anything else changes."

"Yes, sir," T'Pol said.

The alien remained motionless. Archer wondered if the translation device could be moved so that he could eavesdrop on the conversation.

The intercom thumped again. He would have to have Trip check what was causing that.

"Sir," T'Pol said, "the psionic beam to the surface has stopped."

At that moment the alien unfolded its legs and stood, facing Captain Archer.

"Captain-I have joined with-my people-and they have given me permission-to represent the Hipon race-in opening talks with-humans- please accept-our welcome."

Archer was stunned. He hadn't expected that, but he supposed it made sense. He bowed slightly. "We are honored. Thank you."

Finally, it looked as if a first contact might just work out as he had hoped.

And then the intercom interrupted him a third time.

"Captain," T'Pol said, "a Fazi representative has just gotten in contact with us. Their desire is to set up another meeting."

The Hipon scampered closer to the shield. Archer had to force himself to remain still. He had an instinctual response to get away from giant spiderlike creatures, a response he was going to have to quell if he was going to continue talking with the Hipon.

"You are attempting-to contact-the Fazi as well?" the Hipon asked.

"We are," Archer said.

"Excuse me-Captain," the alien said. "I must-again- communicate-with my people."

Again the alien brought its legs up under it and seemed to just disappear inside itself.

Oh, just great. Now the mention of the Fazi had angered the Hipon, just like a mention of the Hipon had angered the Fazi. What was going on with this planet? Archer turned to the com panel behind him on the wall. "Tell the Fazi that I would be glad to speak with them at a time convenient for their leaders."

"Understood," T'Pol said.

A moment later the alien unfolded its legs and again faced Archer. Archer would have been just as happy if the alien had faced the translator box, but didn't say anything.

"Captain-my people do not believe-that extensive contact-with the Fazi-at this time-would be-appropriate."

"I have a Vulcan officer that believes the same thing," Archer said, both surprised and not surprised. There was clearly something going on between these two races.

"Vulcan?"

"Another race who are friends of Earth," Archer said. "More technologically advanced, however. They tend to not let us forget it."

He wondered what T'Pol thought of that description.

"Understood," the alien said.

Really? Archer wondered. Did the Hipon understand? Or was that just the translator finding an approximation?

He shook off the thought. If he went down that road, he would not be able to continue this discussion.

"Why don't your people want us to contact the Fazi?" Archer asked.

The alien bobbled. Archer wondered if it did that when it communicated with its own kind as well or if that was some kind of polite custom, like a bow or a curtsy.

"Humans-" the Hipon said, "- are more advanced-than the Fazi-as are we."

"I understand that," Archer said.

"We have followed-the Fazi development-for two thousand-of this planet's cycles-and fear-they are not ready-for more advanced knowledge."

"So your people colonized this planet?" Archer asked.

"Yes."

"And the Fazi are native to it?"

"Yes-they had not even-built their first-tool- when we arrived. It took-our scientists-ten cycles-to realize the Fazi-were sentient."

"So you have been watching the Fazi advance and grow as a culture ever since?"

"Yes."

"Did you help them advance?" He was asking this for historical and informational purposes, yes, but he also wanted T'Pol to hear the conversation.

"It was-long a subject-of debate-among our people. We did-nothing at first-then our leaders decided-to elevate them-we soon discovered-contact between our races-is fatal to the Fazi."

"For the same reason it was almost to us," Archer said.

"We understand that-now- with your help."

Now it made sense why the Fazi refused to even mention the Hipon. It would be like living with a cancer that didn't bother you, but you couldn't do anything about. You just wouldn't talk about it. He couldn't imagine growing up in a culture that simply ignored a large hunk of its own planet.

"We have managed-over time-to feed information-slowly to the-Fazi and we feel-that is the best-course of action."

"Sounds like what the Vulcans did to us over the past one hundred of our years," Archer said.

"It would seem-your Vulcans-made the correct-decision."

So much for proving a point to T'Pol. There was no chance Archer was going to accept that idea, but he didn't say anything to the Hipon. No point in getting into an argument on first contact. He had had enough of those with T'Pol.

So, as he had said to T'Pol a number of times, he repeated to the Hipon. "I will take your learned opinion into high consideration. I hope our limited contact with the Fazi will not damage our relations with the Hipon."

"It will not-and we can offer-much information-about the Fazi race."

Archer nodded. "Thank you. I hope my people and your people have many years of exchanging information about many topics."

"As do we-Captain," the Hipon said.

Archer rode the lift, feeling both giddy and unsettled by his encounter with the Hipon. He was thrilled that he had been able to communicate with a race that neither the humans nor the Vulcans had spoken to before. He felt like he and the Hipon had reached the beginnings of an understanding.

His crew had enabled it to happen. They'd figured out how the Hipon communicated, why that communication was dangerous to humans, and how to translate the Hipon psionic waves into words that he could understand.

He had the same giddy feeling when he learned he was going to captain the Enterprise. The same sense of excitement and challenge, mixed with the knowledge that he couldn't do this alone. And yet, he and his crew were alone. They had discovered the problem on their own and solved it on their own.

They would report to Starfleet, through his logs and their records, and they would move on to new adventures.

The very thought of those adventures thrilled him too.

But the Hipon's comments about the Fazi had unsettled him. Did all technologically advanced species believe that more primitive species were inferior? Did they all believe that a less advanced culture would take the same technology that had made one culture great and abuse it? Was this the common thread throughout the universe?

If so, he didn't like it much.

The lift door opened to the bridge. He loved its platinum tones, the way the lights made it look like an expensive vehicle, the smoothness with which it ran. His primary crew was on the bridge, making sure this fine vehicle ran in perfect condition.

Hoshi was at her station, resting the side of her head on one hand while she pushed buttons with the other. She looked exhausted, and Archer knew that he should send her to her quarters. She had done great work these past few days. She always did.

Mayweather sat at the helm, keeping the ship on course. He looked tired too, but Archer wagered that had as much to do with the game the entire ship was talking about than the past few days. Except for the trips to the surface, Mayweather really hadn't been involved in all the goings-on.

That would change.

The rest of the crew seemed to be hard at work. No one noticed him standing in the lift door. No one except T'Pol.

She walked toward him, her dark eyes flashing. "The Hipon representative is, of course, correct."

She wasn't even going to wait until he got to the captain's chair. She had done a great job too, but the I-told-you-sos seemed more important to her than ship unity. Archer would have to consult a dictionary. Was a sense of superiority an emotion?

"Let's take it to the ready room," he said, and led the way across the bridge. T'Pol had no choice but to follow.

He didn't much like the idea that the Vulcan policy might be correct. The idea that it had been right to withhold information from Earth for the past one hundred years galled him. His father had died before seeing deep space and his dream come true because of that policy. Now another race besides the Vulcans was advocating he do the same with the Fazi. And that wasn't sitting well with him.

As he passed behind the command chair, he glanced at the big screen. The Fazi planet dominated, as it had for the past several days. At the moment, the southern continent, home of the Hipon, was out of sight.

As if it didn't exist.

Around him the bridge was quiet except for the faint beeps of sensors breaking the cold quiet. His staff leaned toward their stations, trying to be invisible. They'd heard enough arguments between their captain and T'Pol to last the rest of the voyage.

They didn't need to hear another one.

He stepped inside the ready room and waited near the framed artwork. Normally he enjoyed looking at the scenes, but at this moment, he didn't want to be distracted.

As T'Pol stepped inside, he said, "You are on my ship. You will follow my people's protocols. Do you understand that?"

"It is my understanding," T'Pol said as the ready room door hissed shut behind her, "that your people are allowed to freely give their opinions."

"When asked," he said. "They're not supposed to question my decision making in front of the rest of the crew."