Map to the Stars

"Run it again."

The starfield appeared – brilliant pinpricks of constellations, on a massive black oval in the midday sky.  Skinoki's landscape sprawled all around, marked by the machine underneath.

In Planetary Sciences, Siobhan Science, chin upraised, watched the holographic panorama.

A blonde, lavender Cygnian appeared at her elbow:

"Petty Officer Science.  What are you searching for?"

Science shook her head and reached up.  Holocontrols appeared at her hand.  "There's something familiar about this."  She adjusted the feed for library computer interfacing and applied a photocom enhancement overlay.

"Lieutenant Libra expects a report in less than one ship-hour."

"I know.  I'll see it soon."

M'D'li might have assisted.  Perhaps he was running his own simulations elsewhere, on a holodeck, with Commander Hendriksson, as they were known to associate.  But the young Wrnlaxi was eager, undisciplined... and in the eyes of some science personnel on this ship, reckless.  His actions on Skinoki demonstrated a readiness to jump into potential danger with little thought for safety.  That was Science, in her teens – apt to plunge the deepest tomb, brave the perilous unknown, wanting to touch the strange and the new instantly, rather than study it from afar.  That made her choose a career after her name.  It was the difference between astronomers and astronauts: Astronomers studied.  Astronauts touched.  M'D'li was something of the latter.  Science had become akin to the former.  Starfleet officers were both – but they had to be careful... thorough... patient.  Rushing in led to many deaths in exploration's early years, and these days, still did.

Ironically, she had no time for patience.  Libra – and in turn Captain April – awaited a report, as Elleda'Atu reminded.  Science settled for incorporating whatever M'D'li found; computers automatically absorbed the results of any process within the ship's confines.

What could it be?  A code?  A map?  There was something very vital about this knowledge, in a scientific data sense, that they didn't have about this place, about the machine or temple or structure on the planet and what it represented.

Centuries of exploration, and Starfleet expertise, coupled with faster-than-light computer processors and analysis, paved the way to an early conclusion: It was a code.  It was a map.  It was these things, and more.  But one important detail remained missing... elusive.

The memory of Red's gentle ministrations told her that; she imagined him saying it.

Stumped, she called up her old professor on Deneva, looking for the enlightenment typical analysis denied.  Fortunately, Y-Red Fælo had a different perception of time; a twenty-year gap in communication did not faze him.

"Red, I need your help."

"Siobhan."  In the holoscreen, the Çibir spread cranial fins, a gesture of smiling.  "You were my brightest student.  What could you need?"

"I'm feeding you a data transmission."  She sent everything on Skinoki so far.  He had Starfleet clearance, alpha-2; allowed, and trusted.

"Simil exto."  His snout crinkled, staring into the invisible data, absorbing it through a complant.

"It's so very vital that I know what this is.  I feel like my mind is incomplete.  Help me to discover it."

"My dear, you must learn not to see with these."  He jabbed holographic fingers at her eyes; she blinked instinctively.  "Sight restricts us.  Everything that we know, the universe, for us, begins and ends here."  He repeated the motion at his own eyes.  "But it is more than mere photons.  It is more than the visible spectrum, no matter how good your eyes are.  Ask yourself how can you see without eyes, or light.  Once you know the answer, you will be that much closer to asking the proper questions."

Perhaps a way existed.  Once she asked the question, what was the machine's purpose?, what did it need to be?, she thought, Become the machine.

An outdoor scene filled the Arcadia's briefing room – a holopartial locale on Skinoki's surface.  Earlier, M'D'li and Ensign Lokken encountered some sort of alien planetarium.  The large dark circle of the starfield covered the ceiling, blotting sunlight.  Constellations within seemed unremarkable, to the incognizant.

It seemed overly complicated.  Stephen April sat at one end of the table, listening to the science people assure him that it wasn't.  In his mind, the strange machines on the planet's surface, built into ancient temple structures, seemed to have been built for one purpose: To confuse the hell out of anyone who tried to figure them out.

The away team had returned, their data gathered, collated, compiled, analyzed, redistributed and re-analyzed.  (Analyzing: What science people did best.)  Projections and simulations led to conclusions.  With Starfleet expertise and the lightning-quick process of computer analysis, the results were in.  Those concerned – Berkowitz, Lokken, M'D'li, a few others – manned the briefing room table.  M'D'li, unable to sit, crouched on his tail near the middle, biomechanical arms folded on the table's surface.

April sighed.  The others present in the briefing room – science people, mostly – had been bandying theories and experiences from Skinoki, attempting to summarize everything learned so far... together, raising question after question, without supplying clear answers, easy to understand.

Questions, questions, questions.  April didn't want questions: He wanted answers.  Questions in his mind included: Did it mean anything?  Would this information change the Federation?  Did it have personal impact for the people on this ship?  Or was it just another interesting puzzle, a relic of a long-gone race?

Probably the latter.  Information had been discovered–something for scientists to debate and analyze both on the ship and abroad; more to add to the Federation's already sizable database.  While it might lead to something personal for one or two people, it apparently amounted to nothing overall.  This ship's mission was to investigate new places and gather such data, but it wasn't always exciting... at least not as much for some as for others.

Siobhan Science, present outside of the temple when animals converged ["Skinoki"], stood at the table's other end, supplying some of the answers – starting with one simple conclusion:

"It's a map."

"A map," April said.  Sounded simple.

"More accurately, an isomorphic pattern representing a heuristic algorithm, which in turn represents specific molecular bonds."

'Simple' didn't remain simple for long.

Science indicated the starfield.  Certain stars had been highlighted, noticeably brighter than the rest.  "Subspatial imaging reveals that each of these stars possess some unusual property in their chemical composition, corresponding to a set of complex formulae.  To understand, we need explanation of the phenomena the away team experienced upon activating the machine, which Commander Berkowitz—"  She acknowledged the XO sitting to April's left.  "—has likened to a 'Möbius strip' form of dimensional displacement."  Science turned to April.  "Captain, you're familiar with dancing."

April blinked, surprised.  "I know a few steps."

"If you're familiar with dance steps... well, look at this analysis."  Without a word, Science called up a new holo: Two nondescript dancing partners, a man and a woman, in motion.  Each step and pivot of their bodies – hands, feet, toes, heels, heads, hips – produced an arrow-shaped point, as they moved over an invisible floor.  Repeating from the start, there was a slight difference in their placement; the dance was not perfectly symmetrical.  The arrows twisted and stretched, connecting with the equivalent point in the repeat, and then again, then again.

"Imagine the partners as planets, or stars," Science said.  "Each point generated through spatial displacement, seen here, is one instance of the machine paradigm – out of sync with the rest, but connected.  The movement of the machines, in their respective locations, functions in the same way.  The away team experienced no temporal shifts, and sensors detected none.  There was no time-travel involved; we're certain.  The machine's effects are virtual.  A virtual Möbius strip, in effect – the machine trying to impart information which none of our brains are equipped to process.  The result is that they each saw only part of it.  No true change in the environment; only in the away team's perceptions.  But now that we have the collated results, we can see what it says, the machine's purpose.  This is why I use a dance comparison.  I believe that the ancient nomads who created the structure engaged in a form of dance.  As the partners trade space and move together to create the dance, the nomads used the machine to convey information in the same way.  They were putting on a show, for a very select audience... at the same time, making a map for others to follow."

April placed a hand to his chin and nodded thoughtfully, trying not to look lost.  "Go on."

The holofield shifted to favor the ground area, from the structure originally investigated to the second 18.5 kilometers southwest.  "This structure isn't unique.  Starfleet has found similars on other planets across the quadrant, in most cases their purpose unknown.  I learned of them at college on Deneva.  But the Skinoki mission's given us a breakthrough.  I don't think the nomads actually built the temple itself.  Sensor dating reveals a primitive, pre-existing structure modified using unknown technology, then they added the second structure."

"Who were they?" Berkowitz asked.

"We may never know exactly," Science said.  "They could be extinct by now.  At best, the ruins they left behind give us clues to what kind of species they were.  We've interfaced with the Federation Science Directorate; the results are back.  The two stars, 55 Cancri A and 16 Cygni B, don't literally orbit a common center.  There's a planetoid at the coordinates specified between them, however.  One of these machines was discovered there over a century ago; it was dormant, and no one knew what to make of it at the time.  But once we fed in the Skinoki data, it activated.  The Directorate's findings support the emergent theory.  Together, they form a map of rare composition, made up of knotanes – molecular knots, analogous to macroscopic knots.  These nomads apparently wanted only species of a certain chemical makeup to be able to visit and decode their ruins, which is why it activated for M'D'li.  They may have been reptilian; perhaps even offshoots of the Wrnlaxi.  The knotane Commander Berkowitz saw isn't the same as what the others saw.  Each knotane contained vital portions of the map, while missing others.

"The missing portions are molecules, clues to what the map indicates.  Berkowitz saw two missing in her knotane, corresponding to 55 Cancri A and 16 Cygni B.  Only one molecule was missing from M'D'li and Lokken's version of the knotane.  It corresponds to a central point between those stars.  Together they form a molecular chain, which is itself another clue, a marker to the next point on the map.  I thought it might ultimately describe their path – indicate where they went, or what happened to them.  But it appears that they didn't think in such linear terms.  It's not a map along a path.  It's a dance step."

"A dance step," April repeated.

"Apparently these ancient nomads divided into different groups – at least two, maybe more.  They kept in mutual contact over long distances by manipulating and modifying these structures wherever they went, usually utilizing pre-existing structures.  They would cross the same path several times; revisit previously visited planets.  Each time, they made a new modification.  The interrelationship between these knotanes, indicated by the missing molecules, is a move or a countermove in an intricate dance of information... like a game.  They traded modifications for each other to find and make new modifications in response."  Science licked her lips.  "Our brains can't process all of the information the machine was putting out – we're restricted to light, which we're able or not able to see.  They couldn't see each other, and the machine's harmonics created a virtual Möbius strip of the senses.  They weren't truly separated.  The machine simply made them believe that they were."

"It was all in their minds."

"Essentially.  These ancient nomads shared knowledge by betaheuristic stimuli through shared isomorphic receptors.  Since our eyes and our brains aren't built for this type of vision, we were only getting part of the picture.  M'D'li's reptilian brain processed some of it, but not all, just as a human brain sees another part of it.  It's like... slices of a pie, but each slice overlaps another."  She activated a holographic pie-chart.  "For our purposes, it's represented here as a two-dimensional pie chart, but each slice actually overlaps another in the same space.  Each portion of the away team who got separated saw one slice in the pie, which corresponds to a machine configuration.  It's not so difficult to grasp, when you consider that how we view the world around us depends totally on our senses and our limitations.  But having collated the data through analytical algorithms, we have a more complete picture."

To his amazement, April got it.  Most of it.  "So... it's waiting for us to make a modification.  To take the next step."  Science nodded.  "Can we do it from here, remotely?"

"It responds only to direct input.  The designers wanted to make sure others came into direct contact."

"Is there any danger to us if we do so?"

"None within our estimates, Captain."

April contemplated for a beat.  "So what does this mean to us, Miss Science?"

"This is an important find, for xenoarchaeology and the history of the quadrant.  Now that we know what to look for, our ships can investigate these other sites.  Sir, there is one more thing: The genetic clues give us the ability to reconstitute their forms.  I'm not suggesting literally re-creating them, but we can fashion a holographic equivalent on board, let it run it through independent processing, and see where it leads.  We'll learn more about them, determine where else they've been... maybe what finally happened to them."

"That won't subvert computer resources..."

"It won't, sir."  Hafez sat forward, on the left side of the table beside Berkowitz.  "I've projected simulations with the science department's input; normal resource allocation is all that's required.  With the upgrades from Starbase 514, our system will handle it easily."

"Do we need anything else from the planet?"

"We've copied everything into memory," Hafez said.  "We're good to go in Ops."

"Science?  Medical?"  April looked around the table.  The others responded positively.  "All right.  Use Holodeck One, since that's closest to Sciences.  In the meantime..."  He looked to Berkowitz.  "Commander.  Do you know how to dance?"

Berkowitz glanced at M'D'li and Lokken, then back to the captain.  "I think we can learn."

"Take a small team back down and... take the next step."

"Yes, sir."

"And make it snappy.  I'm anxious to break orbit.  Once you're back, we'll get underway."

"Understood, sir."  She signaled M'D'li, Lokken, Science and Ordalani, keeping it minimal.  This time, she would ensure that they stayed together.

"You're all dismissed."  April pushed out of his chair, heading for the bridge.

Another day at the office, he thought.  Time to move on.  With the Skinoki environment, those portions of it which concerned them, along with the functional projections of that alien temple-machine, copied into the ship's memory, they could continue analyzing it in simulation.

One likelihood stood out, blatantly obvious: The 'machine' seemed designed to be activated by M'D'li... someone of his kind.  Possibly an early version of the Wrnlaxi, whose ancestors were nomads.  He wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that they had created it.