Deep inside the Great Library, amidst the ordered rows of data reels, was one particular computer terminal. The workspace around it was littered with a week's worth of hastily scribbled notes and intricately carved alien artifacts covered in samples of archaic text, and at the epicenter of this chaos was a blonde woman who looked like she hadn't slept in days.
Lieutenant Jo Schmidt sat in front of the holographic computer terminal deep inside the Great Library just as she had been doing for the last few weeks. Fortunately, the library builders had apparently wanted alien visitors to be able to share in the knowledge and so had specifically designed the library computer system to allow easy comprehension and translation of the information it contained, so Jo had programmed it for Standard English.
The ancient data ring she and Enki had found hidden in an unvisited corner of the library was playing for the forty-seventh time, and Jo was on the verge of understanding it. If she could just figure out the meanings of a few more key symbols... Wait a minute! Could it be?
She adjusted the display, experimentally shuffling around mathematical operators in the place of the stubbornly enigmatic alien symbols. Not quite... Maybe this way... Yes! She had it! Her ticket home!
"Enki!"
The native Kurnugian youth appeared at her elbow as if by magic. "Yes, Jo Schmidt?" he piped. He set down the stack of data rings he was carrying on the desktop beside the holographic display and turned to Jo expectantly.
"I figured it out!" she exclaimed. "I know how to work the Stairway To Heaven! It was so simple once I realized that the whole thing was based on basic four-dimensional geometry. We can all go home! Isn't that great?"
Enki's face lit up. "Many people will be very happy," he said.
That statement struck Jo as a little odd. "What about you, Enki? Doesn't that make you happy too?"
The boy shrugged. "This is my home," he said simply. "But I'm happy you will get to go home."
Jo hadn't thought about that. Of course many, if not most, of the Kurnugians would have been born on this planet, descendants of unlucky space travelers who had fallen through the Black Gate countless generations ago. How many of them would even know where their home planet was or even what it was called? Still, anyplace was better than here, wasn't it?
"Don't you want to leave here, Enki?"
The boy shrugged again. "I guess so. But where would I go? I don't know anyplace else."
Jo's heart went out in sympathy to the little urchin. She smiled and said, "You can come home with me. Would you like that?"
Enki's face lit up again. "Okay!" he replied cheerfully.
"Good!" said Jo, feeling a deep sense of satisfaction now that her little helper's welfare had been guaranteed. "We should let Ereshkigal know."
"I'll go find her," offered Enki quickly. "Here, you can read these so you don't get bored," he said, pointing at the stack of rings he had brought. Before Jo could reply, he was away, running to find Ereshkigal.
Jo chuckled to herself. "Kids."
She turned back to the holographic display showing the fully translated instructions for operating the Stairway To Heaven, thinking to go over things one more time just to make sure she had everything right before she presented her results to Ereshkigal, but realized how mind-numbingly tired she was of looking at schematics of 21-dimensional discontinuities and the mechanics of manipulating them.
The data rings Enki had left her caught her eye. They looked almost brand new -- no dust, scratches, or superimposed Sanskrit lettering atop the Ancient writing -- and that was unusual. Intrigued, Jo picked up the top ring and dropped it into the depression on the computer top.
A new holographic display sprang to life, and as it began cycling through the information it contained, Jo's eyes widened ever further the longer she watched. There were images of planets, stars, systems, sectors, star maps covering a particular spiral arm of a particular galaxy, all recognizable. There were images of starships, most with saucer-shaped hulls in front of twin cylinders, labeled with names like Constitution, Constellation, Ambassador, Galaxy, Sovereign, Intrepid... all recognizable. There were images of faces -- mostly human wearing familiar uniforms -- many of them familiar to Jo. The slideshow went on through topic after topic, archaeology to xenobiology, much of it familiar.
"Oh my..." whispered Jo as she watched the parade of images. "This is the entire Starfleet database... Star charts, ships, officers, everything... But how did--?" Then it came to her. "The computer system here must have downloaded it from the Longbow! when we entered orbit. She continued to watch the data scroll by for another few seconds, but then another thought struck her.
"I wonder who else's data got downloaded."
Popping the Starfleet data ring out of the player, she selected another one from the pile Enki had left her and slipped it into place. The holographic system whirred to life and a different set of data began playing. Again, Jo's eyes widened at what she was seeing.
She saw worlds beset by war. Entire continents were aflame with unquenchable fire. Bodies were everywhere, piled higher than buildings. The black sky above was filled with flashes of light that could only be ships in orbit rained down fiery death from above.
The scene changed. Armies marched across dusty plains beneath an otherworldly sky lit by purple and crimson auroras. The warriors were clad in plate armor and carried spears and shields, and in the vanguard was a horsed warrior. He was huge in girth, with bulging muscles rippling beneath his armor plates, and he held aloft a huge jewel that shone like the heart of a miniature sun. Tiny captions appeared superimposed on the image at various points. The flaming jewel was the 'Heart of Tiamat', and the enormous warrior was 'Nergal'.
The army crested a hill and looked down at the opposing army, and Jo gasped when she got a good look at them. They were not men, but hideous creatures straight from someone's twisted nightmare vision of hell itself. Grotesque parodies of men from the waist up except for their arms which ended in huge claws, they were enormous scorpions from the waist down, complete with deadly, barbed stinger tails.
Aqrabu!
But if Jo thought that the sight of an entire army of those hideous creatures was shocking, her jaw dropped in complete disbelief and denial when she saw who rode at the head of the Aqrabu army.
In a sudden near-panic, she snatched the data ring from the player and replaced it with another random ring from Enki's pile. Then she tucked the data ring containing the instructions for the Stairway To Heaven into her flightsuit and zipped up the front.
She was about to stand up from the computer console when a heavy blow fell on the back of her head, slamming her forward into the terminal. She groaned and tried to turn around, but another shattering blow from her unseen assailant struck, and darkness rushed up to swallow her.
Ereshkigal watched the young blonde genius slump across the computer terminal unconscious. There was a growing red stain discoloring the back of her head, but she didn't care. She had what she needed. Dropping the heavy, metal, bloodstained candleholder she held in her hand, she shoved Jo sideways, causing her to slide off her chair and crumple to the floor. Reaching down, the old woman unzipped the front of her flightsuit enough to retrieve the hidden data ring.
"Thank you, girl," she said softly while gazing down at the unmoving body of her victim. A pool of red was slowly growing under Jo's head. "You have no idea how long I've been looking for this, and now, thanks to your brilliant mind, I'll be able to return home and finish my work. I'm truly sorry you won't be able to share in the fruits of your discovery. Farewell."
Ereshkigal secreted the precious data ring in an inner pocket of her robes, then gathered the folds of her cloak about her and swept from the Library, never to return.
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