"IT WAS A wild-goose chase, Number One, but I have to admit I am not at all displeased at that."

In fact Captain Jean-Luc Picard looked more than just "not at all displeased." A slight smile gave his normally stern features a decidedly relaxed look as he settled his wiry frame into the comfort of the captain's chair. In the main viewer, the sparse stars of this remote section of the Orion Arm slid smoothly past as the Enterprise warped toward the nearest Starbase, hundreds of parsecs distant.

Seated at Picard's right, Commander William Riker smiled. "The Ferengi are not the most pleasant people to deal with, even under the best of circumstances."

Picard nodded, the shadow of a memory hardening his features briefly. "You're developing a gift for understatement, Number One. Personally, I would have no objections whatsoever to serving out the rest of my career without ever having to hear the name again."

"Look at it this way, sir," Riker said. "We didn't find any evidence that the Ferengi had been active in this sector, but we did discover two previously unknown class-M planets, both of which may be ready for Federation contact in a few generations."

"Yes, Captain," Lieutenant Commander Data volunteered helpfully from the forward station, "any mission that results in the discovery of more than three billion sentient beings could not be considered a 'wild-goose chase.' "

Riker smiled as he looked at the android. "I'm surprised you're familiar with that phrase, Mr. Data."

"On the contrary, Commander, I'm not. I was quite puzzled when the captain first made use of it. My information indicated that the Ferengi, though their values do not coincide with those of the Federation, could not be considered 'wild' in the sense of their being uncivilized, barbarous, or primitive. Nor are they of avian ancestry. I therefore concluded that the phrase must be a figure of human speech not included in my programming. However, the subsequent exchange between yourself and the captain has, I believe, enabled me to deduce the approximate meaning."

Riker laughed. "And that meaning is?"

Data pulled in his breath and straightened in his chair, as if he were a student who had been called upon to recite. "A project that fails because the information that caused the project to be initiated was false or misleading in some way," he said, finishing with a questioning glance at Picard.

"Very good, Mr. Data," the captain said with the ghost of a chuckle. "I've never heard it defined more precisely-particularly by someone who first heard the expression only minutes before."

"Thank you, sir, but I was designed to-"

Abruptly, Data fell silent, his luminous golden eyes widening imperceptibly as the displays on the panel before him flashed a tentative message. His fingers danced briefly across the panel, confirming and enhancing the information.

"Captain," he said, "scanners indicate the presence of an artifact of considerable mass, bearing zero-one-two, mark zero-zero-five."

"Another starship?" Picard responded. "Don't tell me it's Ferengi."

"The mass is consistent with that of a small starship, sir, but it is not under power."

"A derelict?" Picard sat up straighter and leaned forward slightly.

"Possible, sir, but at this distance-"

"Then we had better get closer. Mr. La Forge, alter course accordingly."

"Aye-aye, sir." Lieutenant Geordi La Forge, the slim, silvery Visor covering the blank whiteness of his sightless eyes, tapped in the changes unerringly.

"Mr. Data, put the object on the viewer, maximum magnification."

"Already done, sir, but at this distance it is impossible to discern any details."

Picard squinted at the viewer and the indistinct, featureless dot at its center. A flicker of impatience darted across his aquiline features, as it sometimes did on those rare occasions when he was forced to realize that, superb though the technology was that drove the Enterprise, it was still not quite magic. It had its limits, and the fact that he could issue an order did not mean that, when it was carried out, the results would be as perfect as he had hoped.

"Lieutenant Worf," Picard said, standing and turning toward the aft section of the bridge where the Klingon monitored the science stations, "any indications of life forms?"

"Nothing yet, sir. But-"

"I know, Lieutenant, 'but at this distance' there's no way of being positive."

"Yes, sir," Worf rumbled in agreement, "but what I was going to say was that, although the sensors can't yet detect any life forms, there are indications of a functioning power source aboard the vessel."

"Now we're getting somewhere," Picard said. "Lieutenant Yar, open hailing frequencies."

"Hailing frequencies open, sir," the blond security chief responded from the tactical station immediately above and behind the command area.

"Mr. La Forge, proceed on impulse power the last million kilometers. Do not approach closer than ten thousand kilometers without further orders."

"Aye-aye, sir, ten thousand kilometers."

"No response, sir," Yar announced as she leaned forward over the tactical console.

"Continue monitoring, Lieutenant, and transmit our own peaceful intentions, all languages, all frequencies."

"All languages, all frequencies, sir."

In the viewer, the central dot was beginning to grow. Picard and Commander Riker stepped forward, flanking Data and La Forge at the forward station, as if by moving closer, they could speed its growth.

The forward turbolift slid open and Counselor Deanna Troi emerged, her dark hair a mass of curls today instead of in the severe, pulled-back style she had been affecting recently. Joining them, she stood next to Picard.

"I sense anticipation in your thoughts, Jean-Luc," she said softly.

Picard indicated the viewer. "There's something out there," he said. "We'll see what in a few minutes."

She nodded, her eyes taking in the scene, then sliding subconsciously from the viewer to Riker-and quickly returning.

The dot continued to grow. Data was the first to speak, his precise voice reflecting the restrained blend of curiosity and puzzlement that gripped him whenever he encountered something new, something not included or explained in his phenomenally massive memory. "I can observe no obvious means of propulsion, Captain. Does it not seem peculiar that a vessel without a propulsion system should be found nearly a parsec from the nearest stellar system?"

Picard nodded, stepping closer to the holographic image.

"Propulsion systems are not necessarily always as obvious as a warp drive nacelle," Riker commented. "Our own impulse engines, for instance."

"Coming out of warp drive, sir," La Forge announced, and a moment later the image in the viewer shimmered and resolidified. The dot, now expanding rapidly, was beginning to show shape and detail even to eyes less sharp than Data's.

And there were indeed no propulsion units. When the image had first begun expanding, it had reminded Riker of a crude, blocky version of the saucer section of the Enterprise, detached and floating free, but now he could see it was actually rectangular, little more than a spacegoing box. Not only were there no propulsion units, there were no ports or openings of any kind, nor even a single marking that he could see.

"Sensors indicate total absence of life, Captain," Worf reported from the aft station, "and extreme age."

"How extreme, Lieutenant?" Picard asked, not turning from the viewer.

"At least ten thousand years, sir."

A faint shiver ran down Picard's spine. Despite his decades in space, he had yet to reach the point at which new discoveries, new indications of the true immensity and diversity of the universe could ever be considered routine. There were some starship captains, he knew, who claimed that after a hundred new star systems or a hundred new life forms there was nothing out there anymore that could give them the same high, the same tingling sense of wonder that their first voyage between the stars had given them. He was not one of them. He hoped he never would be. If that happened, it would be time to retire to a desk terminal somewhere, to turn his command over to someone who still felt a tingle of awe whenever he or she looked out at the billions of stars, the trillions of cubic parsecs still to be explored.

"And the functioning power source, Lieutenant Worf?"

"Standard antimatter, sir, and it appears to be supplying power to a number of individual devices."

"And the nature of those devices?"

"Unknown, sir. They are operating at an extremely low level, consuming very little power, as if they are not fully operational."

Picard frowned thoughtfully. "Possibly some form of hibernation device for passengers or crew? To travel between the stars in a sublight ship, the crew and passengers would almost certainly be kept in suspended animation."

Worf maintained his silence, but his sideways glance at Picard hinted that only humans, not Klingons, would require that kind of pampering.

For another minute, the image continued to grow, until it almost filled the screen.

"No sign of any drive, sir, even impulse," Data reported, "nor is there apparently any functioning attitude control. The vessel is drifting at a rate of approximately one arc second per minute. If not checked, it will make a complete rotation in three years, seventy-seven days, nine-"

"Thank you, Mr. Data," Picard interrupted, studying the image in the viewer. Even at this distance he could see no evidence of sensors, no external projections of any kind, nor any obvious openings.

"Ten thousand kilometers and holding, sir," La Forge announced.

"Still no life-form readings, Lieutenant Worf?"

"None, sir, of any level. If any beings were in hibernation, they're dead now."

"The vessel's proper motion with respect to the nearest stars, Mr. La Forge? Does its trajectory give any indication of its system of origin?"

"None, sir. Its linear motion is essentially zero with respect to the local stars."

Picard frowned.

"Internal structure and atmosphere, Mr. Data?"

"It is laid out essentially like a chessboard, sir, with extremely narrow corridors crisscrossing throughout the vessel. The antimatter power source is at the center, moderately shielded, surrounded by-"

"Moderately shielded, Mr. Data?"

"The shielding is a degree of magnitude less efficient than that of the Enterprise. The resultant radiation could, over the long term, prove detrimental to the health of any who occupy the vessel."

"It could have killed them? In their hibernation chambers?"

"In ten thousand years, it would be possible, sir."

"But it presents no danger to short-term occupants?"

"Such as ourselves, if we beam over to observe the vessel's interior firsthand? I believe not, sir."

"Very well, Mr. Data," Picard said, nodding minutely. "Continue. Are there any indications of living quarters?"

"No, sir. There is no area with an atmosphere anywhere within the vessel."

"This lack of atmosphere-by design or by mishap?"

"It is impossible to say, Captain, without inspecting the scene firsthand."

"Anything else?"

"Near the center, there is a second, lesser quantity of antimatter. Its shielding is even more inefficient than the other, but, because of its lesser mass, it presents no more of a radiation hazard than the larger mass."

Picard frowned. "A weapon, perhaps?"

"Possibly, Captain. It does bear a functional resemblance to our own photon torpedoes, but judging from its position near the center of this vessel, there would be no way of launching it."

"From what I've been told so far," Picard said, "there would be no way of launching anything from anywhere in this vessel except by transporter. You haven't found any openings yet, have you?"

"None, sir, but that doesn't mean-"

"I know. Tightly sealed doors or weapons tubes aren't detectable at this range. But even if there were launch tubes, a single weapon on an otherwise defenseless vessel doesn't make sense. Nor does the lack of propulsion. It couldn't run even if attacked."

"It might not have needed to, sir," Worf said. "I have been studying certain readings more closely, and I now feel they indicate the nonfunctional remnants of a primitive cloaking system."

Picard turned abruptly toward the science stations. "Nonfunctional? You're positive?"

"Positive, sir. The readings indicate that the entire final stage of the system-the stage that actually produces the cloaking effect-has either failed entirely or is missing altogether."

Picard turned to again scowl at the image-the puzzle-in the viewer. For several seconds, he was silent, a spark of hunger in his eyes. Finally, sighing mentally, he stepped back.

"Number One," he said abruptly, "assemble an away team to beam over."

Riker smiled. Picard knew he had seen the spark in his captain's eyes, the spark that said, if it weren't for the rules, Picard would lead that team himself.

"Right away, sir," Riker said, gesturing at La Forge and Yar as he moved briskly toward the forward turbolift.

Field-effect suits activated, Riker, La Forge, and Yar stood on the transporter circles. Riker signaled to Ensign Carpelli at the controls.

On the bridge, Picard stood just behind Lieutenant Commander Data, still at the forward station.

"Beaming over now, sir," Riker's voice informed him.

"Good luck, Number One," Picard said with a faint smile. "Keep in touch."

"We will, sir," Riker said. His voice faded on the last word as the transporters took hold.

For a moment there was only silence, and then Worf said: "Sensors indicate away team has arrived on alien vessel, Captain, in the targeted corridor."

A moment later, Riker's voice returned, only slightly fainter than when he had spoken from the transporter room, even though he was now ten thousand kilometers distant. "Deserted, as advertised, Captain," he said, and, a second later: "Tricorders confirm, no life forms on board, no atmosphere and no gravity. And no light except what we brought with us."

There was a brief silence, and then: "We're in a long corridor less than a meter wide. It's perfectly straight as far as I can see in either direction, but it looks more like an equipment access passageway, almost a crawl space, than a hallway. There are panels on the walls that look like-"

He broke off. "Lieutenant La Forge, why don't you take over the descriptive duties? I assume you're seeing a lot more than either Yar or myself."

"Probably, sir," La Forge admitted with a slight smile.

He was silent a moment then as he looked up and down the corridor, absorbing the jumble of wavelengths his Visor fed directly to the visual centers of his brain. To anyone accustomed to normal sight, it would have been sheer chaos, but years, of experience had enabled him to effortlessly select the images he wanted, to ignore the clutter of irrelevant wavelengths and their unwanted-for now-information. The selection process had become virtually automatic over the years, requiring no more concentration than would be required of a normally sighted person who wanted to locate a red flag among a hundred green, and then, a moment later, to pick out the only one that was circular, not square.

"The corridor goes approximately fifty meters in either direction," Geordi said. "There are a half dozen intersecting corridors at regular intervals, and at least a dozen doors-panels, really-on each side. But there are no markings of any kind, either on the panels or on the corridor walls. The doors are big enough for beings approximately our size or possibly slightly larger to pass through. The nearest panel-"

"Captain!" Worf broke in, his rumbling voice filled with urgency. "Bring them back, now!"

"What-"

"The device containing the secondary mass of antimatter has become activated! At the present rate, it will reach a critical stage in less than a minute. The explosion will surely destroy the entire vessel!"