5

Josefina Rikkilä squinted down at her tricorder. “Oh, wow,” she said.

“What’s that?” Doctor Crusher didn’t lift her gaze from her own work.

“Kota wasn’t always uninhabited, was it?” Rikkilä was examining a rock specimen, a chip off the wall of a nearby cave that had been collected a couple of weeks ago, according to the computer. “The scanners are picking up on a fossilized life-form in the rock.”

“Yeah, the planet is absolutely scattered with those fossils.”

Rikkilä jumped and whirled around to find one of the station officers—Lieutenant Amanda Malisson… or Malifoy? She was having trouble remembering everyone’s names. The away team had immediately dived into the backlog. That was how she wound up with this rock/fossil.

“There’s actually dozens of fossils in the rock,” Malisson went on. “They’re microscopic, though.”

Rikkilä returned to her sample. It didn’t look anything like her idea of a fossil: it was an utterly ordinary-seeming rock. Dark and smooth, the sides flattened and angular from where it had been splintered.

“We’ve been keeping track of how many we’ve managed to find,” Malisson added.

“We’re currently up in the five hundreds, I think.” A flash of cerulean popped up from behind a stack of storage cubes. It was Junipero Talma, a Bolian with dark stripes running across the crown of his head; like Ensign Muñoz, he was a xenobotanist.

“Got it,” Rikkilä said.

“Make sure you enter it into the database. Give it the next number.” Malisson turned to Crusher. “How about you, Doctor? What are you seeing?”

Crusher turned back to her station. She was running through a set of water samples taken from the beach. “The water’s filled with microscopic organisms—every sample shows evidence of them. We’ll need to run these all through the neutron processor, won’t we?”

Malisson frowned. “Where’s that sample from?”

Crusher checked her padd. “Location 2F.” She shook her head, laughing apologetically. “I’m afraid that doesn’t mean much to me.”

Malisson’s frown deepened. “2F,” she murmured. “Computer, where is 2F?”

The computer’s voice lilted through the cramped lab space. “Coordinates 34890 by 20980,” it said. “Known colloquially as Bluster Beach.”

“Bluster Beach?” Talma’s head popped back up. “That’s where we brought back the sand samples from, isn’t it?”

By now everyone else had stopped their work to listen in. Rikkilä snuck a glance over at Muñoz. He’d been cataloguing plant samples and was surrounded by small floating spheres, each with a preserved snip of a grass or a flower or a few tree leaves. He was not paying any attention to the samples now.

“Yeah, it was.” Malisson’s brow furrowed. “But there wouldn’t have been any organisms in the sand samples.”

“No.” Solanko’s voice boomed across the room. “I tested those myself. No sign of biological life, but the samples didn’t line up, remember?”

“That’s right.” Malisson’s whole face lit up. “I knew there was something off about those sand samples, but we’ve tested so much the last two days—”

“Understandable,” Solanko said. He stood up, towering over the station he’d been sitting at. “Doctor Crusher, do you mind if I have a look?”

“Not at all.” She slid away from the microscope and stepped up beside Rikkilä. The two of them pressed together between a lab table and Riker’s station. It really was a tight squeeze having seven people in the lab, but they had the converter running in the second lab, making the room far too noisy to get any work done.

Solanko peered down through the microscope. “Huh,” he said, after a moment.

“What are you seeing?” Talma picked his way through the maze of tables and equipment. “Do you want me to run a scan?”

“I can do it.” Solanko plucked up the slide and held it to the light. From where Rikkilä stood, it didn’t look like much, just a square of glass.

“What’s the significance of Bluster Beach?” Crusher asked.

Neither Malisson nor Talma answered; instead they both trailed behind Solanko as he slid the sample into one of the scanners. Blue light flared out through the lab. “Computer,” Solanko barked, “is there a match?”

Rikkilä peered across the room. Muñoz and Lieutenant Commander Data were both watching the blue lights rippling across the outer shell of the scanner.

“Sample contains standard organisms for—”

The computer was drowned out by all three of the Kota scientists letting out loud, disappointed groans.

“I do not understand,” Data said, eyes flicking between the scanner and the scientists. “Is that not the expected outcome for a sample of ocean water?”

“Exactly,” Solanko said. “Perfectly normal. Unlike the last batch from Bluster Beach.”

The lab filled with silence.

“These are the irregular testing results that were mentioned in the briefing,” Doctor Crusher said. “I remember a mention of several tests needing to be redone.”

Lieutenant Talma nodded. “The sand samples. We have a list of the five known microscopic organisms that live in the ocean. But in, maybe, one out of every hundred scans, they react oddly to our equipment.”

“Oddly?” Muñoz tilted his head. “In what way?”

“They register as rock,” Malisson sighed. “It reads to me like an error in the scanners, but I haven’t been able to determine the actual problem.”

“I thought it might be a new organism,” Talma said, “but I couldn’t find any evidence to support that.”

“I don’t think it is,” Malisson said. “I’m telling you, we need more samples of that sand. There’s something to it.”

“The water’s fine,” Lieutenant Talma said. “We’ve tested dozens of sand samples—”

“Yes, but that’s not water from the shore,” Malisson shot back. “The computer gave the coordinates 34890 by 20980. That’s farther out.”

Malisson gestured at the scanner. “We need to go pull those original sand samples out of storage, and collect some water right at the shore and—”

“I’m starting to see why they’re backlogged,” Commander Riker said quietly. Rikkilä whipped her head over at him, surprised, and he gave her a wink.

“Will, stop,” Crusher said.

The Kota science team had devolved into a full-on argument, their raised voices blending into one another. Across the room, Data and Muñoz exchanged confused glances.

“Perhaps we should remind them that there are refugees waiting for a place to call home?” Crusher asked Riker.

Before the commander could speak, Solanko roared out, “Enough!” His voice thundered through the lab and struck Talma and Malisson silent. “We have extra hands,” he said. “We’ll go down to the beach and collect more samples. I’ll take a big team, spread out.” He looked across the room. “Commander, with your approval?”

“Yes.” Riker nodded at the ensign. “Rikkilä, you and Muñoz will join them.”

“Absolutely, sir,” Rikkilä replied.

“Sir, with your permission, I’d like to accompany them as well.” Data stood up from his station. “I’m curious about these irregularities and might be able to offer assistance in identifying their cause.”

Riker grinned. “Guess it’s just me and you,” he said to Doctor Crusher.

“All right, team,” called out Solanko. “Grab your supplies. No time to waste.”

Rikkilä grabbed her tricorder and gave a final wave to Doctor Crusher. Solanko had thrown open the doors to a supply closet and was passing out sampling kits, reusable polysilk containers filled with all the tubes, stoppers, and biodegradable safety masks for each of the team.

Muñoz chuckled beside Rikkilä. “Burned through a ton of these back in the Academy.”

Rikkilä gave him a quick sideways glance. “Yeah,” she said, her tongue feeling heavy. “Me too.”

“The beach is about a twenty-minute walk from here,” Solanko said, looking over at Data, who had his sampling pack slung over his shoulder.

“Acceptable,” Data said.

There was no clear-cut path to the beach, and the six of them waded into the tall, silvery grass that rolled out endlessly from the station. It came up to Rikkilä’s hips and tickled against her hands, soft and feathery. She pulled out her tricorder and started scanning.

“The area is safe,” Data said.

Rikkilä looked up at him. “Sir?”

He pointed at the tricorder.

Rikkilä blushed. “I just wanted to see what the readings were.” She glanced over the results; they were the same as when she had first scanned the area, although the salinity in the air was increasing. “This is my first away mission,” she added after a pause.

“I see.” Data nodded. “You are excited.”

Rikkilä smiled at him. This was the first time she got to interact with the commander. “Exactly,” she said.

The wind picked up, blowing in a scent of salt and metal. The ensign turned back to her tricorder and watched the salinity and humidity levels go up and the barometric pressure go down.

They continued on, the wind sweeping around them. Eventually, Rikkilä heard a soft roaring, then a rustling noise that her friend Lorelei had once told her was the sound the stars made on long-range scans.

“Watch your step!” called out Solanko as the grass gave way to rolling sand dunes that dropped abruptly down to the beach.

Rikkilä drew in a deep breath; the beaches she had seen were nothing in comparison to this place. The water glittered a rich indigo underneath the violet sky, the waves glinting purple as they crested and broke against the shore. The sand appeared to be ground-up limestone and stretched out in either direction. Near the water was an outcropping of black rocks dotted with small, lavender tide pools that looked like jewels on a necklace.

“Wow,” breathed Muñoz. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

The ensign shook her head, the wind whipping the hair out of her regulation bun, flinging it into her eyes.

Data gazed out at the water, his expression implacable and calm.

The Kota team wasn’t impressed. Lieutenants Malisson and Talma were already sliding down the gentle slope of the dunes, arms out for balance.

“That’s the only way down,” Solanko said. “Be careful. First time Talma took a stab at it, he went tumbling straight into the water. It was high tide.”

And then Solanko took a running start at the dune slope, crouching a little as he surfed down to the waterline.

Rikkilä looked over at Data. “Sir, is that, uh, safe?”

Data said, “It appears that we do not have a choice.” He nodded. “I will go first.”

Rikkilä nodded and watched as Data skittered over the sand. He made it down safely, but he was both a superior officer and an android. She didn’t have quite the same faith in herself to make her way down the dune without landing face-first in the sand.

Rikkilä turned to Muñoz, but he was already sliding down the dune, his arms lifted over his head. He let out a loud whoop as the wind pushed his hair back from his face.

Rikkilä sighed.

“All right,” she said. “Here goes nothing.” She closed her tricorder and eased herself over the peak of the dune. At first she tried to walk, rather than slide, but the sand was too loose and silky, and before she fully understood what was happening, gravity had grabbed ahold of her. White sand flew up around her legs, sticking to the fabric of her uniform, and the lovely glistening beach was barreling right toward her.

When she hit solid ground, she immediately fell forward, scrambling over her feet.

But then a hand grabbed her arm, pulling her upright—Muñoz. He smiled at her. “Can’t wait to do that again,” he said.

“Sure,” Rikkilä said, who in fact hoped she never had to do it again.

Talma was already getting set up over by the tide pools, pulling out supplies from his sampling kit. Solanko waved over to Rikkilä and Muñoz. “One of you is going to grab samples of dry sand, the other wet. We need at minimum ten different samples from up and down the beach. Make sure you can get exact locations.”

Touching the tricorder reassuringly, Rikkilä snuck a glance over at Muñoz. He grinned back.

“Which one of you wants to get your feet wet?” Solanko asked.

“I’ll do it,” said Rikkilä.

“Great. Shoreline. I’ve got Talma sampling the tide pools.” He clapped his hands together and started walking past them. “And Commander! I’d love to have your insight…” His voice trailed out on the wind, as did Data’s answer. But a few moments later, Data was crouched over near the outcropping of rocks, studying a tide pool.

Rikkilä smirked at Muñoz. “Race you to see who finishes first?”

“You’re on.” Muñoz unfolded his testing kit. “Starting now.”

Rikkilä gave a shout of protest, yanked off her boots, and plunged into the lapping water. It splashed cold against her uniform as she fumbled with her testing kit, pulling out vials and stoppers. Muñoz was hunched over the dry sand.

It was easy work, gathering the samples, even though the waves sometimes splashed high as they rolled in, spritzing the ensign’s face with a shivery sea spray. Up close, the water was as clear as glass and it was easy to see the rippled sand that made up the seafloor. Sand was all that Rikkilä could see. No flutters of alien seaweed, no darting flashes of ocean life.

Rikkilä knew the water contained microscopic life—but even so, the beach felt barren. The rest of the planet bloomed with plants, but not the ocean.

The ensign frowned as she waded deeper into the water, crouching down to pull another sand sample. This strange, empty beach unsettled her. On every world she’d read about, areas such as this teemed with life. The ocean was like the galaxy in that way. It only seemed vast and empty on the surface.

Muñoz shouted something from the shore, jolting Rikkilä out of her thoughts. He waved his hands wildly at her. He was halfway down the beach. Well, she lost that contest. Good thing they didn’t wager anything.

She gave him a loser’s shrug, then turned back to the empty water. It couldn’t be poisonous; Solanko would never have sent her in without protection, and it supposedly contained invisible life. And yet it seemed as sterile as medical saline.

Muñoz yelled again, but when Rikkilä looked up, she couldn’t see him. In fact, she realized with a low dawning of dread, she didn’t see anyone. The beach was empty.

“Muñoz?” she called out, shoving the samples back into her kit. “Lieutenant Solanko?” She splashed back to the shore, the water cold and clammy against her skin. That was when she saw a streak of black and gold against the white expanse of the beach.

“Muñoz!” She plunged forward, her feet sinking into the sand. Muñoz had collapsed, his testing kit propped up beside him. He stirred, then rolled over, his eyes glossy.

“You were the only one I could see,” he mumbled.

Rikkilä knelt beside him, immediately pulled out her tricorder, and scanned him. His temperature was a little high, as was his blood pressure. “What happened? Talk to me, Muñoz.”

“I don’t know.” He pushed himself up to a sitting position and dug his palms into his forehead. “I was taking the samples, and then Lieutenant Talma ran by and said Lieutenant Solanko was sick. I didn’t think I’d heard him correctly.”

Rikkilä frowned down at the tricorder readings. None of her scans were picking up a source for Muñoz’s fever or elevated blood pressure.

“Where’s Commander Data?” Rikkilä asked.

“Talma said something about him going farther down the beach. He was hailing me—” Muñoz dropped his hand and squinted out at the water. “Then I started to feel dizzy. Everything was spinning—I couldn’t stand up straight. That’s when I called for you, the second time. You ignored me the first.”

Rikkilä jerked her head up. “I thought you were telling me you were done!”

Muñoz shook his head. “I’m…” He squeezed his eyes shut and lay down on the sand. “I don’t even know where they are.”

Rikkilä laid her hand on his shoulder. “We need to get you back to the station. All of us. Which direction did—”

Fatigue slammed into her, almost knocking the breath out of her lungs. She slumped, dropping the tricorder into the sand. Her limbs felt as if they weighed five hundred kilograms.

“Oh,” she said, bracing herself against the sand. “Oh, I feel—”

The beach was moving like ocean water, rippling up and down. Rikkilä pressed her hands into the sand, trying to steady herself.

“You feel it too,” Muñoz muttered.

Rikkilä dug her fingers deeper into the sand, as if she could push the beach into staying still. Her muscles ached. Distantly, she knew she needed to follow the medical procedures she had learned. Diagnose, make the patient comfortable and secure.

But she didn’t have a diagnosis. The tricorder couldn’t find anything wrong with Muñoz.

Rikkilä’s head hit the sand, the grains cool against her cheek. How did she get down here? She blinked and pushed herself back up. The effort exhausted her.

She slapped her combadge. “Rikkilä to Doctor Crusher. We have a medical emergency.”

Even that action was too much. As Doctor Crusher’s voice trickled out over the combadge, Rikkilä dropped back down in the sand, her eyes fixed on the purple waves crashing against the shore.