Partly Cloudy

Matthew Cross, Lee Carter and Jo Schmidt suffered another cold and wet lake crossing after their explorations of the cargo ship *Lurry* were completed, but their misery didn't end there. By the time their feet once again touched shore, the bruised and sullen storm clouds overhead had completely obscured the light of day, and a steady rain had begun falling, and continued for most of the five-mile hike back to the spot where their ships had landed.

When the trio topped the last low rise, the sunlight angled down through openings in the clouds in glorious pillars of silver making the valley below look like some kind of faerie wonderland, but that only served to darken their sodden moods. What they found when they arrived at the glade made matters all the worse.

Dexter and Alex were dry.

"Looks like you spent the afternoon in the Cat's Eye where it was nice and warm instead of trying to fix the engines," accused Jo with uncharacteristic grumpiness.

Alex looked surprised and a little insulted. "No, we were out here the whole time, but the engines are definitely a no-go."

Now it was Jo's turn to look surprised. "Didn't it rain here? The ground is wet... Why are you two dry?"

Alex shrugged. "We were sitting under that tree, and the leaves protected us. Then the sun came out and warmed us up again."

"And I suppose the breeze even fluffed up your hair after it had gotten damp."

Alex shrugged again and smiled. "I guess this place just likes us," she said.

"Yeah, well in that case it hates us!" replied Jo, shaking the water from her short blonde locks like a wet dog. At her sides, Cross and Carter flinched at the unwelcome spray of water.

"You mentioned about the engines, Ensign," said the Captain after flashing Jo a dirty look. "What did you find?"

"There's a dampening field in operation here, sir," replied Alex.

"We weren't able to locate the source," added Dexter. "All the systems on all our ships are dead."

"Not *all* our ships, Ensign Gray," said Carter. "The stasis system on the cargo drone is still running, and not only that, but it looks like someone has been tampering with it. The bio-material is in a state of flux right now. If we don't get ourselves and the drones off this planet, the entire shipment of plant and animal specimens will thaw and be released into the wild here and the Polon Colony will have to wait another year to get another biodiversity shipment."

"Something really weird is going on here," said Jo.

Cross looked unhappy at the news. "We'll have to find the dampening field generator and shut it off if we ever want to leave this planet." He looked at the sky. "It'll be dark in an hour, so we'll save that for tomorrow. Let's set up camp over by those trees. We've got enough daylight left to get the survival gear out of the *Crockett*."

Night time had swept across the land with unexpected swiftness, but the Banshees' glade was lit by the soft glow of countless radiation clouds that stretched through this part of the Briar Patch like so many orange and yellow party streamers. The sheltering branches of the fruit trees were also lit from below by a dancing campfire, yet the scene was anything but warm and inviting. A spooky aura permeated the entire campsite, though no one could put their finger on what exactly was amiss. Perhaps it was the relentless silence that held this planet in its thrall and pounded on their ears, or maybe it was the way the tree branches seemed to literally cringe away from the fire. Maybe it was the uncomfortable expressions on the faces of Alex and Dexter as they fidgeted, constantly looked over their shoulders, and furtively darted their eyes around in the evening's darkness.

"Will you two cut that out!" exclaimed Jo when she finally couldn't stand it any longer. "You're driving me crazy!

"I think we should move the campfire farther away from the trees," said Dexter.

Alex nodded in agreement.

"Why?" asked Carter. "We just got it set up here. Besides, the trees will provide a little shelter if it rains again."

"The trees don't like the open flames," replied Alex nervously.

Carter and Jo looked at each other quizzically for a moment, then turned back to Alex. "What makes you think that?" asked Carter.

"Uh..." Alex grew more nervous. "Why do I think that?"

"That's what I just said."

"Right. You just said that."

"Right. So why do we have to move the camp?"

"Why do we have to move the camp?"

"Stop repeating everything I say."

"Am I repeating everything you say?"

"Yes, you're repeating everything I say."

"So you're saying I'm repeating everything you say."

Carter frowned. "Now you're just stalling."

"What makes you think I'm stalling?" asked Alex innocently.

"Because you always repeat everything I say when you're stalling."

"I repeat what you say when I'm stalling?"

*"Alex!"*

Carter's outburst caused Alex to flinch, but it also effectively derailed the never-ending cycle of evasion. The young woman suddenly looked helpless and guilt-ridden, and Carter suddenly became very much more worried that something was genuinely wrong here.

Captain Cross noticed too. Up until now he'd been studiously ignoring the ladies' latest leap into linguistic ludicrousness, but now he became very interested in the conversation. He stepped over beside Carter. "Is there something you need to tell us, Ensign?" he asked, though by his tone it was clear his question was intended as nothing less than a direct order.

"Uh, well...," stammered Alex. She looked to Dexter for aid, which the young man dutifully provided.

"It's just a feeling we're getting," he explained lamely.

Cross looked pained. "I think you two had better start from the very beginning," he said, but at Alex's and Dexter's stricken looks, added, "after we move the camp away from the trees."

After the campfire and all their equipment had been moved far enough away from the trees to satisfy Dexter's and Alex's strange anxiety attacks, Captain Cross made them give a full, official report of everything that had happened to them that afternoon while he, Carter, and Jo were away reconnoitering the drowned cargo ship.

Alex and Dexter took turns finishing each other's sentences as they related events as they had experienced them. From the conveniently malfunctioning PADD when Alex had been at a loss explain what was wrong with their ships to their sudden detection of the dampening field when Jo had been unable to detect one before, from the way the terrible rainstorm had mostly bypassed them to how the leaves of the trees had deflected what little rain did fall, from the sun and warm breeze drying them afterwards to the fruit falling from the trees practically begging to be eaten, they left out no detail. The other three listened with disbelieving ears as the two youngest Banshees spun a tale of wonder and magic more befitting cheesy sci-fi fanfic than real life.

When they were finished, they sat and waited expectantly for a reply from anyone, but it was minutes in coming.

Finally Jo looked up thoughtfully and asked the group in general, "Ever hear of the Gaia Hypothesis?"

Carter's forehead creased in concentration. "That was one of those pseudo-scientific fringe theories from the mid-twentieth century, wasn't it?" she asked. "It said that the Earth was actually a living entity in itself, or some other such nonsense. Named after the Greek Earth goddess."

Jo wrinkled her nose at Carter's attempt. "Not quite, but thanks for playing," she replied, to Carter's vexation. "The *real* hypothesis put forth by a scientist named James Lovelock suggested that the physical and chemical condition of the surface, atmosphere and oceans of a planet are actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself. That's in contrast to the conventional theory which held that life adapts to planetary conditions as it and they evolved their separate ways.

"It was actually the detractors of the Gaia Hypothesis who misunderstood and came up with the idea that the Earth was a living, teleological being, that it acted with an intelligent purpose. Unfortunately, this was the version that captured the public's attention, which is why we think of it as a fringe, crackpot idea."

Captain Cross had had enough of Jo's overly complicated lectures, and cut her off before she could further perpetrate her sesquipedalian elucidation. "What's your point, Lieutenant?"

For a split second, Jo's face registered irritation at being denied the opportunity to show off in front of everyone, but she automatically acquiesced. She was used to not being understood, so she spelled it out as plain as she could. "I think maybe the fringe crackpots were right, sir!"

Carter sputtered in derision. "Give me a break! Planets are not living entities," she stated defiantly. "There has to be some other explanation." She searched her memory. "Maybe… maybe this is another Amusement Park Planet like the one discovered 120 years ago by the *USS Enterprise*."

Behind the group, a sudden breeze sighed through the tree branches and hissed across the grass. For a second, Carter would have sworn she heard whispering voices in the air. A shiver ran up her spine. She pulled her thermal blanket closer about her shoulders and leaned in towards the fire a few more inches, instinctively seeking refuge in the glowing embers.

Jo shook her head. "No, I thought of that." She hefted her tricorder. "I'm not reading any power generation whatsoever either above ground or below like there is on the Amusement Park Planet. Plus, the things that happened to Alex and Dexter are unlike what you'd expect on the Amusement Park Planet. There, objects are manufactured in huge underground manufactories in response to thoughts picked up by a network of aboveground receivers, whether good or bad, for better or for worse. If you accidentally think of a Capellan powercat, that's too damn bad. You're about to get fried by a manufactured android replica of a Capellan powercat. Here, it's more like nature itself is deliberately trying to make life as pleasant and comfortable as possible for Alex and Dex."

The cold wind around the group picked up velocity and began whipping the branches of the trees back and forth. The formerly placid copse that had so gently sheltered Alex and Dex that afternoon was transformed into a threatening tangle of sharp angles and flailing lashes. The campfire that had been innocuously minding its own business until now cracking and popping cheerily inside its ring of small rocks turned into a raving, flaming monster, driven by the wind, clearly intent on lashing out and singeing everything within reach of its darting orange fingers.

Strangely though, the wind was having little effect on Alex and Dexter. The powerful gusts were literally going *around* them, leaving the two youths in a cocoon of calm air.

"So you're saying that the reason we were drawn off course and forced to land here is because this planet wanted us here for some reason? " said Cross. "Why? And what does this all have to do with you two?" he asked of Alex and Dexter.

"We don't know, Captain," replied Ensign Gray helplessly. "All I know is that we--" he looked to Alex for confirmation and received it "--we feel at home here. I can't really explain it." The howling wind reached a hand into his bubble of calm air and playfully tousled his hair.

"Well, I can't say I feel the same, Ensign," said Lee Carter. "In fact, I'm starting to feel genuinely *un-*welcome!"

The sonorous rumbling of distant thunder reached their ears, and overhead, dark clouds were quickly closing off the starry skies. A particularly violent gust of wind tore the thermal blanket from Carter's fingers and carried it away into the impenetrable night. A brilliant flash of lightning split the sky in half and hit the ground less than a hundred yards from where they were.

"Back to the ships!" shouted Cross, but he needn't have wasted his breath -- the others were already running.

Cross stopped just underneath the leading edge of the *Crockett's* port engine pod intending to make sure everyone got inside safely. "We'll ride out the storm inside the ship!" he shouted to be heard above the screaming wind and the crashing thunder.

Carter and Schmidt flew past him on their way to the Cat's Eye's underbelly hatch, but when he turned to see about hurrying the other two along, he saw that they had stopped running and were just standing there, still ten feet short of safety. A bolt of lightning struck the ground between the *Crockett* and the nearest Banshee starfighter, charging the air with 1.21 gigawatts of static electricity. Every hair on Cross' body stood on end, but Dalton and Gray seemed unfazed by the near-miss.

"Come on!" shouted Cross. "What the hell are you waiting for?!?"

Hearing the Captain's shout, Carter and Jo turned to see what was going on. Seeing that their two youngest team members were still out in the storm for some reason, they hopped off the ladder leading up into the ship and ran back to rejoin Cross.

"What's going on?" shouted Carter, but before anyone could answer, another blinding lightning bolt shot from the black and angry clouds, and this time it didn't miss.

The searing bolt struck Ensigns Dalton and Gray, and they disappeared from view in a flash of blinding light.