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Blind Chess	By : madradena Category: Star Trek > The Next Generation Views: 1334 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own ST:TNG, nor the characters. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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When all the shiny little particles integrated, they rematerialized and found themselves outside of a huge gate made of brick with two arches. There was a grate at the top of the arches made of wrought iron turned into intricate patterns. However, it was all very weathered: the bricks visible in the arches were plainly not meant to be seen, and the grate was rusty. There would have been some sort of a sign on top of the arches, but most of the letters were missing, so they had no idea where their good fortune (and Emma's note) had brought them. Looking through the gate though, it was plain that the place was a huge complex of buildings, and not only one house.
"Do you have any idea where we are? Looks like some factory or depot... or neither..." the Captain tried to guess, glancing to his sides to the members of his small team, but they all shook their heads.
"Should we go in?" Beverly asked looking inside the gates.
"Emma has given THESE specific coordinates." Data replied "I believe we should wait for her here."
Beverly winced "Knowing her special relationship towards numbers, she might have meant the other side of this... well, whatever this complex is."
The Captain nodded looking once again around "I'm also on the opinion that we should take a look around inside the gates. We can come back out once we found out what this place is."
They wordlessly acknowledged and filed through the gate to arrive at a huge artificial plain, made of concrete. There were buildings all around it, but it seemed time was not generous with them either and though it was plain that they were numbered for some reason, not one had any signs or labels that were clearly legible. All of them seemed uniformed, no windows, once painted white, but the paint had long come off at most places. They walked on slowly, looking around curiously trying to figure out where they were.
"Which way?" Beverly asked as they stopped in the middle of the plain.
"What is that?" Juliana pointed to the direction Data was looking.
"They seem to be cottages made of wood, Mother. I wonder what buildings of that kind are doing inside what seems to be a factory." Data answered - and Juliana noted relieved that he sounded a lot more calm than he had seemed at the residence.
"No, Data, I meant THAT... thing..." she pointed to the left from the cottages.
They followed where she was pointing and saw a container of some sort standing on very high and thin legs.
Data was the only one who recognized the structure "It is a water tower, Mother. Centuries ago, such structures provided storage of the necessary water supply for use in many applications. It is constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize the water supply system for the distribution of potable water. As the water falls from that height, it would be under the necessary pressure in the pipes required to travel great distances." he explained in detail as they started to walk again.
"I'd like to see these smaller houses." Captain Picard guided them towards the cottages "Maybe somebody might be living inside and could give us some information on what this place might be."
They walked another few minutes and arrived what seemed to be a tiny village of cottages. Data was reminded of one of the holodeck sets long gone with the Enterprise-D. It was the set created by Worf's son, Alexander, and the child showed it to him after he and Geordi tried to unsuccessfully interface his brain with the ship's computer, resulting all of the characters in Alexander's story look just like him! It was a baffling experience to meet so many of himself, even knowing that all were holodeck characters. But the set seemed to be the same: small houses, dirt roads, and a recreational facility with doors that neither reached the threshold nor the lintel. He was thinking about telling them his association but decided against it - he had been doing and saying quite enough silly, out-of-character things today, he didn't want to get anybody even more worried for him than they'd already been.
"I know I might sound crazy." Beverly started slowly on a small voice as they were walking among the small houses "But I feel as if we were walking in the ancient Wild West of the American continent of Earth!"
Data turned his head sharply to her - so he was NOT going crazy!
Picard looked at her quite uncomfortably "That's exactly what I wanted to say, Beverly."
"I'm glad, I'm not the only one feeling as if they were walking in some sort of a twisted dream." Juliana told them, and the fright was palpable from her slightly trembling voice.
Data finally looked at her and with his emotions now calmer, he had enough resources to conclude that his mother could use some reassurance. He put a soothing hand on her arm and gave her a small smile. She smiled back relieved and grateful for his concern. As he looked around however, he stopped short and cocked his head looking at the house next to them.
The others stopped too, and Picard looked at him questioningly "What is it, Data? You know, I was thinking, we should knock in and check whether anyone is home..."
"Nobody is home, Sir." Data cut him off tilting his head from side to side taking a step closer to the house.
"You sure?" Beverly asked "How can you tell?"
"I can tell, because this house is not fit for living." he turned to stand opposite them "To be accurate, this is NOT a house. It's a façade."
"A façade." Picard repeated with a stunned frown.
"Yes, Captain."
Beverly took out her tricorder and checked the buildings around them "No life signs reading, apart from our own, Captain. And the mass of the buildings seems to be a lot less than it should be, if there was ANYTHING inside, including walls!"
Juliana looked at them with confusion and fear written all over on her face "Why would anyone build a village of façade in the middle of a factory?" she asked on a small voice - the place became creepier with every passing moment.
"I do not know, Mother, but look there! There's another instance of a façade!" he pointed to their right. They took a few steps to get a better view on where he was pointing. The village ended nearby, only one or two houses away from where they had been standing. At the border, an enormous tank of water started and behind the water tank there was the blue sky - painted on a wall! It was just as weathered as the buildings, but in the bright light of the two full moon's of Epsilon Four, the pattern was clearly visible.
"Good god!" Beverly whispered putting a hand to her head "I know where we are!" she turned back to them astonished "Emma spoke about this place in her messages. But it was years and years ago, I couldn't remember till now!"
"Explain, Beverly!" Picard urged her.
"This is a film studio! A what's it's called... a studio lot! This is a place where they made movies in the 20th and 21st century. No wonder we don't recognize it with all our holo-movies made in holo-studios - god, they actually built these structures for the films to be used as sets!" she looked around amazed.
"The lengths the colony went to reproduce the 21st century is in itself astonishing!" Picard told them grumbling, but just couldn't keep the wryness out of his voice. What kind of a fanatic do you need to be to recreate even THIS?
"Why is it so worn and torn?" Juliana asked on a calmer voice now, with the creepiness explained, she was a little less frightened.
Beverly turned back to them to look at her "They invested a lot of money in making films in the first years of the colony, as Emma explained. But after a few years, the industry collapsed. In such a small colony, such a huge money- AND resource-consuming industry could never have survived too long. The lot was abandoned. The colony still have movie-theatres though, but they play old 20th, 21st century Earth movies."
"Like Casablanca." Data said silently, remembering Emma telling them about how she knew the film when they were still preparing for Dreamland - she'd gone to watch it with her husband.
Picard cleared his throat and took a small step forward "Now, that our shock wore off, let us make some progress, and let's try to figure out why Ms. Jones could have wanted to lead us to an abandoned studio lot, shall we?"
Emma was sitting at the kitchen table and devoured a huge bowl of hot soup.
"Careful. It's just come off the stove." Earl told her lowering his slender form into a chair next to her gingerly. She just waved his concern away with a mumble and some blowing on the spoonful of soup she was about to put into her mouth. He smiled at her watching as she was eating "You look as if you haven't had anything in the last two months. Do they not cook well on that fancy starship of yours?"
"Hmmm... not the way YOU cook!" Emma mumbled then looked at him "Tried to get the replicator to make some of your recipes. It asked for the exact molecular structure."
They chuckled, and Earl shrugged apologetically "Can't help you with that." he watched her on with a small smile.
"You could make a very good living from this, if you moved back to Earth." Emma mumbled to him absently as she consumed the last bit of her soup.
"You're forgetting that in the 24th century you don't need to make a living." Earl told her with a wry chuckle. Then as he caught her gaze he added on a low, gloomy voice "You still live here."
She sighed looking away and shrugged "Not that easy to bend your way of thinking after a decade." she looked back at him shrugging again "Sometimes I catch myself worrying about paying for food - then I realize, there're the replicators, if I'm hungry, and there's no money to pay with. Still a dazzling realization. Every freaking time, that is..."
Earl now sighed seemingly very disappointed "Why for heaven's sake did you come back here?" - she was there, she was out of here! And now...
"I couldn't help it, Earl, they made me to." Emma told him defensively.
"Made you to! Who? Who could have made you come back to the one place you have no business at anymore?" he asked, and she could see that even though, he was happy to see her, he was also upset about it. He did a lot to get her off of this planet, to help her get a chance at a new life. She knew he was disappointed that she was throwing that chance away by coming back.
She shook her head never raising her voice a bit "Earl. Who do you think did?"
He bowed his head "Don't tell me, that his hands reach even Starfleet." he told her on a low, shaken voice.
She didn't need to reply, and a heavy silence descended on them.
She finally reached out and took his hand into both of hers. His hand was thin and cold, and she tried to warm it gently in hers. He looked into her eyes gratefully, then she just bowed her head and watched their entwined hands, and entangled fingers as her thumb stroked the back of his hand.
His hand was so old - HE was so old! She felt her heart break under the thought because she knew his condition didn't have to be as fragile as it was, had he been on any other goddamn human colony! He was only 73, not a lot older than Data's mother. But in a colony reduced to the medical technology of the 21st century, his age meant that he WAS old.
She turned her gaze up to look into his eyes to stop herself from starting to cry and smiled wistfully "You know, I was thinking... now that Ed blackmailed me into coming here... there has to be a reason for that! Call me naive, but I want to make a difference! I want to change things here."
Earl shook his head not sharing her belief and enthusiasm at all "I've told you, Emma, the only difference you have to make is in your own life."
"I'm making a difference in my own life too! I'm gonna divorce Ed. That's also a reason I'm here. But not the only reason! I found friends whom I can trust now enough to know that they'd help me, help this colony. With their help, we might be enough to make that difference!" she told him with a belief she hadn't felt for a very-very long time.
He searched her eyes for a long moment with a small smile "I wonder what they've done to the sarcastic, disillusioned girl I said goodbye to two months ago." Emma smiled embarrassed - he was right, she did change. Data and Beverly changed her and the friendly acceptance she received from almost literally everyone on the Enterprise. As she mused, he went on watching her "Friends you say?... Your eyes shine with a different light now, little bird. Is there somebody you're singing to now?"
She met his gaze and giggled softly like a little girl then shrugged shyly "Well... to a very special someone. Someone who sings back to me too! The same timeless, irresistible melody."
"Am I going to meet that special someone?" he asked curiously squeezing her hand where it held onto his.
She nodded eagerly "Very soon! I left him a note to find me."
He chuckled at this a little sceptically "And is he gonna be able to find you?"
She nodded again confidently "He's very smart. He'll figure it out." she sighed "You'll see, he's just... He's amazing! The best person in the whole universe - well, maybe not counting you and Beverly." she stopped and studied his face for a long moment "You know... now that I come to think of it, he takes after you! A lot!"
He laughed a heart-felt laugh "Well, gals tend to choose guys who might take after their daddies - and since I've been pretty much your surrogate-dad ever since we've known each other, I'd suppose it's only natural." he smiled warmly "I'm really honored, little bird."
She smiled and sighed contentedly. She felt a warm glow descending on her heart: she was home, she was fed with her favorite soup, she was talking about her love to the man she'd always considered the father she never had - it was just perfect! She suddenly felt exhaustion catching up on her and yawned.
"Why don't you have a nap? Your room is still the same as it used to be." he smiled lovingly.
She shook her head "No, no, I'm fine. Besides, Data might get here any minute. I want to be up, when he does."
"Data..." he frowned repeating the name "That is one strange name, if I ever heard one."
"Yeah, well..." she grimaced a bit unsure "Maybe I should talk a little more about him, shouldn't I?"
He sighed thinking he realized what the trick was: "And what you're gonna tell me is that, he's a Klingon or some other such kind."
She chuckled as she tried to imagine Data as a Klingon - and fortunately failed "No, no, he's not an alien, he's an android."
He frowned puzzled "Android... as in..." he asked with a small shake of his head not completely sure, where he should be looking for the term in his memories of the 24th century. He hadn't heard it for a decade!
"Oh, he's... He's a... he's kind of a mechanical man. But he looks just like us. Well, normally, his colors are a little different. But right at the moment, you wouldn't be able to tell him apart from another human."
"I don't want to pretend that I understand." he replied squinting trying to follow her somewhat jumbled explanation "Did mechanical people become common in the 24th century?" he asked really surprised "I remember there were lots of robots, but they didn't really look anything like humans."
"No, no! He's one of a kind. He's not a robot, he's sentient - he's just like a human!" she shrugged finally realizing that she wouldn't be able to explain Data's nature to him in any way he would understand "Well, you'll see for yourself, when you meet him!"
"Okay, can't wait for it!" he said with a bit sceptical smile turning his palms up letting go of her hand briefly "Now, let's go back to the living room. You have plenty of stories to tell, I bet."
She smiled and nodded, but just as they got up from the table, the floor began to move under their feet. Seeing her losing her footing, he reached out to her to steady her. The tremor went away after a few seconds, and she looked at him a little frightened.
"You alright?" he asked smiling encouragingly and squeezed his embrace around her for a short moment.
"Yeah, just forgot what this was like." she smiled embarrassed, and he let her go. Tremors were part of their daily lives on Epsilon Four - it seemed that two months was enough for her to... well, to get unused to them.
Suddenly, the door swung open and a young man stepped in gasping "Earl. You have to come! It's Gary."
The elder man let out a frustrated long breath "What did he do THIS time?" he asked on a tense voice.
"There're some trespassers out in the lot. You know how jumpy Gary is nowadays, he... he shot one of them!"
"What?" Earl gaped.
"Earl!" she cut in, her voice full of dread as the realization hit her "Those will be my friends!"
Nothing more was said, all three of them rushed through the door.
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