Alphabet Stories: Star Trek Maze - Katarzyna Marcinkowska

The away team's orders were clear. They were to beam down to the planet's surface and observe. The reason for their current mission were the confusing signals received from this remote system. Starfleet's Social Science Department had been unable to determine these people's level of development. No contact with the natives was to be made at that time.

The First Officer looked around. It was a difficult task at best, since everything was drowned in thick, damp fog. He could barely make out some hills in the distance. He waved his hand in that direction and the team started moving. The sky seemed to hang low over them, heavy shades of green. The air was so soggy it felt like breathing some heavy liquid. The officers kept stumbling on their way, tired after only a few steps with the ground invisible under the hazy cover. The colours were so vague it almost looked like some cheap, swampy horror setting.

Finally, the First Officer signalled the team to stop. They had stayed closely together, afraid of losing sight of one another. Now, some of them actually bumped into the others. The mist was getting even thicker. Commander pointed ahead at what looked like a bunch of primitive, straw-made huts on the foothill. They weren't supposed to be talking, unless in danger. He signalled for the group to split up and attempt to get closer. He was among the first to reach the outskirt of the alien settlement.

As he sneaked closer, he saw a couple of silhouettes, bending over a huge, grey stone. He didn't dare to creep up to them, he simply stayed some ten metres away, glued to a trunk, peering through the fog. One of the figures straightened up and the officer realized it had to be more than three metres high. It wasn't humanoid. The shape was roughly oval with several tentacle-like limbs. He couldn't exactly make out how many there were, since the creature moved them all around frantically. The lower part of its body was barely visible above the clouds of fog which now took an unhealthy, somewhat sulphuric shade of yellow. The commander had an impression that the alien creature was in constant movement, as if billowing gently in the mist. From the distance, he couldn't see anything more. He decided to manoeuvre around the pair of aliens to get closer to their huts, still only barely visible.

It was a bumpy road, if a road it was at all. The officer stumbled upon some bulges he couldn't see but continued his struggle towards the settlement. Suddenly, everything was gone. Literally. He blinked several times as he found himself in the middle of. nowhere. An empty plane  stretched around him into infinity. In the distance, he saw the other members of the away team. As they came to him, he touched his commbadge and called for their ship to beam them back.

'It was absolutely amazing,' the young lieutenant recalled his first away mission excitedly. His colleagues surrounded the table in the lounge, all eyes turned to him.
'We beamed down right into the middle of that alien city,' he continued animatedly. 
'There were all these shapes and colours. I could hardly recognize anything even though the air was crystal clear. In fact, it felt like walking in the early spring morning back on Earth. You know, everything's so fresh and. spanking new!' Everybody nodded their understanding, so the lieutenant continued: 
'There wasn't anything wrong with my seeing, it's just that these. things were so completely alien. Some of them were moving with different speed and in different directions, some  seemed to be hanging over us, totally motionless. It took me a while to find some point of reference. Imagine a caveman who suddenly finds himself in the middle of a fast lane. The gliders, seemingly streaming in every direction all around him, would make a similar impression on him. I guess that's where we ended up. On some highway of theirs. And then the commander signalled us to head towards the tallest building. We split and took various routes to avoid these vehicles or whatever-they-were. I tripped a few times before I realized the ground was uneven.'

'I'm looking forward to reading your report, commander,' the captain nodded and the commander was dismissed. He went to his quarters to relax after the mission but something was still bugging him.
'Lieutenant Marks, report!' He summoned through his commbadge.
'On my way, sir,' replied a somewhat surprised voice. After all, it wasn't a common practice to call up a meeting in officers' private quarters. And certainly not immediately after the mission was completed. They needed some time to refresh and prepare their reports. However, you do not argue with your first officer. Being in Starfleet, you simply obey the orders.

'Commander?' Lieutenant Marks came to attention in front of his superior officer. He did bring a padd with him, however his report was not yet ready. It couldn't be after only half an hour. Surely, the commander would understand that.
'At ease, Lieutenant,' he waved his hand absent-mindedly, without even looking at Marks. He was reclining in his chair, apparently deep in thoughts. After a rather lengthy silence, he finally acknowledged Marks' presence:
'So, what do you make of it?'
Marks was stunned. It wasn't what he had expected. Apparently, the commander expected an informal chat instead of the official report. He really didn't know how to handle this. Babbling about his experience with friends was one thing, but offering his opinion to a superior officer in such an impromptu manner was something entirely different. He would have certainly preferred to have some time to think things over first.  He stammered:
'I. I'm not sure what you mean. sir?'
The commander looked up at him. He noticed how tense the young man was, so he tried a little smile:
'I just meant to ask you how you feel about our mission. I'm still wondering what these two aliens were doing there. I wish I had been able to get closer.' That startled Marks even more.
'What aliens, sir? I never saw anyone. Just these colourful vehicles all around us.'
'Wait a minute, what vehicles?!'

After a few hours, the captain was as puzzled as the rest of his officers. The away team consisted of four people and now he had four entirely different reports in front of him. It seemed as though each of them had beamed down to another planet. Nothing was consistent.
'Could it have been some kind of holodeck, lieutenant?' The captain tried the most obvious solution without much hope.
'Negative, captain,' came the expected reply. 
'None of our tricorders have detected any holographic emissions. Neither have we detected any power sources able to sustain holoemitters of any kind. This is probably the one thing we all agree on. It must have been real. All of it.'
'How is it possible that four people, gathered in the very same spot, at the very same time, saw and experienced absolutely different realities?'
'Perhaps we're missing something, captain,' the first officer said thoughtfully.
'Yes, commander?'
'Well, we got so used to subspace communication and warp travels and all that technology, that we might well be missing the most basic explanation. We only scanned for physical manifestations of this reality. How about the. spiritual side of things?' The captain looked perplexed.
'I'm not sure I follow you, commander,' he finally said. The commander looked around, deep in thought.
'Can you give me two hours, sir? I might just be able to solve our mystery.'

He beamed down to the planet's surface again. Although he had double checked the coordinates, to make sure he'd end up exactly where they had been before, everything looked different. Instead of in the middle of a murky swamp, he found himself inside a modern building. He was standing in some wide, long corridor. The white walls appeared endless. There were numerous doors on either side, all looking exactly the same. He wasn't surprised. This time, he didn't bring a tricorder or any high-tech device. He thought he'd come with an open mind, instead.

He looked around but there was no clue as to where he should be heading so he shrugged and just opened the first door on his left. It lead to an identical corridor with more walls and doors.
*Hmm,* he thought. *The basic idea must have been good, but this is getting me nowhere.*

He went  back and just sat down on the floor. He went back and just sat down on the floor. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on one thought. After a few moments there appeared a staircase in the opposite wall. He still had his eyes closed so he never witnessed the actual materialization of a hole in the wall and the stairs leading down, which appeared one step at a time as if descending endlessly into nothingness.

He opened his eyes when everything was ready. He smiled smugly to himself and got up when his commbadge chirped. He wasn't allowed to go without it, even though he'd made the request. Now he was irritated.
'What is it?' He asked impatiently.
'How are you doing, commander?' The voice was slightly distorted but he recognized his captain.
'Just give me another half an hour, sir,' he replied. 'I think I'm on the right track.' He deactivated the commbadge as if afraid it might interfere. Nothing changed, though, so he proceeded down the stairs. They were wide and comfortable so he began descending quite quickly. He was getting a little anxious as they appeared to lead down endlessly. He finally started to run, jumping two or three steps at once. After twenty minutes, which seemed like hours to him, he finally reached the bottom.

He was still struggling for breath, while looking around. He was now in some  well lit chamber of an alien design. There were images on the walls he couldn't recognize, as well as some strangely shaped items all around. He couldn't even begin to guess whether they were pieces of common furniture or some alien art creations displayed in a museum. They colours of the place made him dizzy. He sat down on the floor and closed his eyes again.

*What do you want from us?* He heard the voice in his head so he never bothered to open his eyes. He simply concentrated on answering it in his mind.
*We are peaceful explorers,* he decided to express the essence as concisely as possible.
*Why are you interfering with our education?* That was so unexpected, the commander almost opened his eyes. He stopped himself at the last moment, afraid to lose the concentration. He just closed his eyelids tightly and asked:
*How do you mean?*
*We are training our young here. Why did you come?*
*We were trying to make contact with you. Is this all real?*
*It is to you. Our schools employ projections of different realities for our young to study. The transmissions must be within your range of perception. We had never a encountered species like yours before.*
*We never meant to interfere. is there a way we could. see you? We'd like to talk.*
*'m afraid that's impossible. We exist in another dimension. We haven't found the way to your universe. What you see around you are simply our. educational programmes.*
*How are we communicating now? Telepathically?* The commander thought he heard something like  a laughter but he wasn't sure.
*You are communicating telepathically. I am using something you'd call a. computer. The frequency of the . electromagnetic waves of your brain intervenes with our technology.*
*So, is this the only way we can reach you? How about what I see around me. Can you show me your actual environment using these transmissions?*
*All you have seen is our environment. Or at least its manifestation in three dimensional space. You cannot perceive the whole spectrum, I'm afraid.*

The commander remained silent for a long while. Here he was, in contact with a life form so different from what he was used to, one would assume no communication was possible. And yet they were able to exchange their basic thoughts and goals. Perhaps, one day the means of more direct contact would  be established and they could get to know each other closer.

'How did you come up with telepathy, commander? I've never thought you have  such abilities' The captain didn't seem satisfied with the final report. He had many more questions.
'Well, sir, since we failed to establish contact by means of our technology, I assumed there was something else involved. Initially, I thought they were telepaths, hence the idea. It turned out that they too use technology. Only it is incompatible with ours.'
'It's compatible with our brains, though.'
'True. Interesting, isn't it? It's like nothing we've encountered before. I only wish we could get closer, know them better. They seem an interesting species. Perhaps in time.'
The captain and his first officer remained silent for a long while, both thinking about all the wonders of the universe that still lay ahead of them