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"Bottom of the Ninth"
Rating: PG World of Wow (4) Archer watched Hoshi lean over her monitor, entranced by what she was watching. “You’re not watching a movie again, are you, Lieutenant?” Archer asked, looking back at the PADD in his hand. He mentally scolded himself for even thinking about scolding her because he was working on a word search. Somewhere on the planet below were three away teams investigating the planet. Of course, they were on the dark side right now as the planet rotated through its thirty-seven hour cycle. Archer looked up again when he realized Hoshi hadn’t answered him. “Lieutenant Sato?” Travis, the only other crewman on the bridge, looked up at Hoshi. She still didn’t answer. “Hoshi!” Hoshi sat up straight, looking at him. Archer recognized that bedazzled, thrilled look in her eyes. Something he knew no movie would ever do to her. “What is it?” Archer asked. Hoshi turned away without a word, tapping two controls. She looked up at the view screen. Archer and Travis looked up. It zoomed in several times until it was focused on an ocean coast, thousands of kilometers from the three away teams. And bobbing on the ocean were boats. But these were unlike any boats they had ever seen. They were made of a clear substance and the purple waters of the ocean were reflected, sparking up at the spying visual sensor, beckoning them to come look. “Are there any bio-signs?” Archer asked. “Only animal, still. No signs of technology anywhere. But look at this. This is what really caught my attention.” Hoshi changed the view screen to show an alpine mountaintop. It was clearly a clear structure on the mountaintop with jets of fire flaming through points on it, but from their angle, they couldn’t tell what it was. “What are they? Can you tell?” Hoshi looked at a monitor, working the controls. She turned back to Archer. “Glass.” Archer looked at her. “Glass?” Hoshi nodded. “The ships and that are made of glass. And there appears to be a road. Here’s the part that goes through the plains up to the mountain top.” Hoshi showed him the road. It was a road made of large flagstones, each placed with precision and the width of two shuttle pods. Archer caught sight of something sparkling and pointed at it. “What’s that? Sparking in the grass?” Hoshi zoomed in on it. Among the amber and green colored grass, stood grass and flowers made of glass, rising to the same height as the grass around it and sparkling in the sunlight. “I have to see this,” Archer said. “May I go, sir?” Hoshi asked. Archer looked at her. He smiled. “Yes. Hail the crew and tell Trip to come back with his team. I’ll pull someone so you can go.” Hoshi beamed, turning to obey her order. # Hoshi leaned forward on the raft, watching the ships coming near. She was aware that T’Pol was pressing in close, just as fascinated and curious about the ships as Hoshi. Trip sat at the back of the raft, steering it. Across from them Archer, Porthos, Ensign Cutler and Phlox were approaching another of the boats. There were five and as the group grew closer, they could see that the five were actually tinted in light shades of blues and reds. Their masts were made of beaded glass and had been made so they looked like a breeze was rippling across them. “They look like old Schooners,” Trip mused. “The skill and time required for these sculptures must have been enormous,” T’Pol said. Trip sidled the raft up to one of the boats and the three stared up the hull to the deck above. T’Pol forgot the scanner in her hand that was aimed at the ship. This was beyond any piece of art she had ever seen and even she couldn’t hide her astonishment. “Should we go aboard?” Hoshi asked. “No. That’s where a ladder’d be if there was one. Even if there were one, I wouldn’t want to be on a boat of glass. It is glass, isn’t it T’Pol?” T’Pol looked down at her scanner to check her readings. Hoshi stretched out her hand, running it along the hull. “It’s pitted.” “Like a windshield,” Trip said. Hoshi looked back. He was running his hand along the hull too. “Like a windshield, sir?” “Yeah. You know how windshields get after a few years of having gravel tossed at ‘em.” Hoshi nodded, looking up the hull again. “It’s beautiful. The pictures I got from Enterprise showed the decks were highly detailed.” “It is made of silicon only. There is no other mixture to the sculptures. The tethers holding them to the ocean floor are made of titanium and roughly weigh (2 tons). It must have taken a great deal of manpower to anchor these ships to the floor. Trip’s communicator beeped. He pulled it out, flicking it open. “Yeah?” “Can you believe these things?” Archer asked. “They are amazing, Cap’n! Huge!” “We confirmed this one is all glass with titanium anchors.” “T’Pol did too. Guess it really is a sculpture they don’t want going anywhere.” “Let’s head back to the beach, where the river comes out. I want to see what those plaques or whatever they are, say.” Trip turned away from the ships toward the beach. Hoshi turned so she could watch them until they landed again on the beach. She jumped out of the boat into the water and trotted over to the river outlet. She stopped short, staring. Standing on either side of the outlet stood statues that looked like totem poles and stood at least 20 feet high. They were made of a variety of colored glass and had writing etched in columns along the sides. Hoshi walked up, running her fingers down the etching. “What’s it say?” Trip asked, walking up behind her. “I dunno yet. I’m still admiring.” Trip smiled, looking up. “Looks like they could have had some influence from our culture here. Look at that one at the top there, T’Pol. It looks like an eagle, but just a little different.” “The beak is curved more.” “That looks like a black bear right there,” Archer said, pointing at one. Cutler and Phlox joined the three, talking about the totem pole. No one saw Hoshi disappear into the forest nearby, following a footpath. Archer turned to talk to her. “Hoshi?” Archer called. “In here, sir!” Hoshi called back. “In where?” “Follow the footpath behind the totem pole.” They walked behind the totem pole, finding the footpath. It led them through lush plant life. Clearly it was trimmed regularly, but not as regularly as it should be. They came to the end that stopped at a glass door with a titanium doorknob and hinges. The five entered, finding the building inside as big as a shuttle bay hanger and decorated with a variety of glass sculptures. Hoshi stood at a terminal, looking over the controls on it. “What does it say?” Archer asked. He stopped to admire a sculpture of snaking navy blue glass that ended in white tulips. “This is a museum!” Hoshi laughed, tapping a control. “You should not—” T’Pol began. They turned when a holograph of an alien appeared in the center of the room. She was roughly Hoshi’s height, dressed in vibrant colored clothes and had flaming red and velvet black hair. Her eyes were also black and red and wider than normal. She smiled and began speaking. Hoshi walked up to the holograph, listening intensely. “Hoshi—” Archer started. “Shh. I’m trying to listen.” Archer smiled, pulling his hands behind his back. He waited. The holograph bowed and disappeared. Hoshi spun around, grinning. “We’re in a museum!” “We assessed that much, Lieutenant,” T’Pol said. “No, no. This planet, this area, is a museum! This race — she didn’t say what they were called — they had this sculptor that discovered a new material for sculpting, glass. His name was Charula Darguit and he passed his work down to his son. His son decided he wanted to display his work, and his father’s work, in a fashion that was unique to their sculptures, so the two raised enough money to buy a large section of this planet, from the beach where the ships are anchored, to the peak of Alpine Arium.” Hoshi pointed to the peak that they had been able to see from the beach. “That was nearly 80, 465 kilometers and was sectioned into a game reserve. The aliens are planning to colonize the planet over the next five hundred years. They said that if you have means to travel on the river, travel up the river to the dock, about 40 kilometers up the river. From there you can travel up the road to the star on Alpine Arium and witness the beauty and unique sculptures of Charula and Vasmies Darguit.” Archer looked down. The five looked at him, waiting for his decision. Archer pulled his communicator out and opened it. “Archer to Luke.” “Go ahead, sir.” “Luke, we’ve come across a museum of sorts. Looks like we’re going on a really long hike from the beach to the top of the mountain.” Luke didn’t answer. “Luke?” “You’re going from the beach to the mountain top? Did I hear you correctly?” “You did.” “Sir, that’s going to take you two weeks, maybe three.” “Try a month. Make sure all repairs and research is finished, then give crew shore leave. I’ll contact you when we need supplies replenished. Archer out.” Archer looked at them. “We’ll camp on the beach tonight and get started in the morning.” Hoshi grinned. “And I won’t complain about sleeping on the ground!” “Better not because you’re stuck here now,” Archer told her as he walked past her. # EIGHTEEN DAYS Archer crouched down, looking into the house. Before him stretched out a miniature replica of the sculptor’s home town. The detail of the town was amazing. Archer looked across the town at Trip. He was reclined against a rock, his ball cap pulled down to shade his eyes. He had his sketchpad resting on his legs and was caught up in drawing. Archer stood and walked around the town. He sat down next to Trip, looking across the prairies and sculptures around them. Large trees grew along the road, most likely planted years ago, offering shade from the warm afternoon sun. Archer heard Hoshi and Cutler somewhere to his right, had lost sight of T’Pol an hour ago, and could see Phlox leaning against a tree down the road, most likely napping. “At this rate, it’s going to be two months before we get to the mountain top.” Archer looked up at the mountain that rose before them. Trip smiled. “Don’t bother me none.” Archer looked at him. “You’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?” “I haven’t had a chance to mosey through an art museum since… Well, hell, the last art museum I moseyed through was on the Hishalt’s home world. Took me two days to get through it and even then I wasn’t done.” Archer looked over Trip’s arm and smiled. He was sketching Phlox and his tree. Archer shook his head, looking away. “What?” “Nothing.” “What?” Archer looked at him. “A year ago I would have wondered who you were and what you’d done with Trip if you’d said that about an art museum.” “A year ago you didn’t know I painted and drew.” “A year ago I didn’t know you were my resident Picasso.” Trip laughed. “Picasso didn’t draw realism.” “Oh, sorry. My lack of artistic education is showing again!” The two men laughed. “Rembrandt is who I like to paint and draw like. Although, I think Van Gogh has influenced me some.” Trip looked up, looking at the sculptures. “Never got into sculpting though, but I think glass would be fun.” “And hot.” Trip laughed, looking at Archer. “You are just full of wit and come backs today, aren’t you?” “Fresh air,” Archer inhaled a deep breath. “No captain duties. Watching Porthos wake Phlox up…” Archer motioned at Phlox. Trip looked back. Porthos had appeared from somewhere and was licking Phlox’s face. Phlox slowly woke up, smiling and petting the dog. Porthos laid down on Phlox’s lap and they both fell asleep again. “Now that’s a picture!” Archer laughed. Archer looked back, watching T’Pol walk up. She stopped to crouch down and admire it. Archer looked away. T’Pol walked up to Trip and sat down on his other side, leaning against his arm. Trip wrapped his arm around her. She moved close to him, propping her legs so he could use both of their laps as a table, and watched his sketching take shape before her eyes. Archer smiled, laying his head back against the rock. # ONE MONTH, THREE WEEKS, ONE DAY The air above timberline was bitter cold and crisp. Snowfields around them sparkled like diamonds, but had melted away from the road. Ahead the road lead them to the star that had jets of flames licked out from it, but whatever fed the flames was silent. The only noise was their shoes crunching on the gravel on the stones of the road. The six stopped before it, gathering around the glass brick before it. “What’s it say?” Archer asked. Puffs of mist floated from his lips into the silent air around them. Hoshi brushed dirt from the brick. “Some of these words can’t be translated directly, I have to use words that I think they mean in our language, sir.” “That’s okay. The general meaning is just as good.” Hoshi read out loud. “If you have traveled from the ships to the star, you know what it means to travel from earth to heaven. You have passed our gardens, our animals, and everything this planet has to offer. Go forth and tell others of the beauty that is not only that of an artist’s hand, but of nature. Learn to live in harmony with all around you like we have built here. Learn to see the world with a beauty that can only be given to you by nature. Be peaceful and safe gentle traveler.” Hoshi stared at the words, laying her hand on the brick. She heard Archer’s communicator beep. “Luke,” Archer said. “Go ahead, sir.” “Prepare to beam six back to the shuttle pod.” “Aye, sir.” “Beam Hoshi last.” When she was left alone on the mountaintop, she looked up at the star. It was made of glass icicles and looked too delicate to withstand a harsh winter on the mountaintop. Hoshi pulled off a glove and reached out, touching one of the icicles. It tinkled softly against another icicle, gently breaking the silence of the mountaintop. Hoshi smiled, hugging her arms over her chest, and then she was transported. |
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