Stardate 2271.3.23: 0200h
De Mattio performs several routine tests on the belt, and is perplexed. The properties of the metal alloy seem to be constant and pervasive. Further study might yield more information, but so far she cannot find any ways of getting around its "sensor invisibility."
Still, she does makes some headway. Reattaching the Romulan's deflector shield device to the belt, she sees that it too becomes invisible to scans, but reappears after it is removed. She tries putting the belt on, and scans herself with a tricorder: no life signs, no molecular readings, not even a heat signature. All molecular and biological signature readings she can think of are invisible. She removes the belt and rescans herself, finding that all of her signs are perfectly normal. It seems the this metal acts as some sort of conductor, pouring its ability into the objects it touches.
Testing her black hole theory, she takes the belt to the Physics Lab and tries blasting it with radion particles, measuring their movement around the object. She finds no distortion in the normal path of the particles, but notices that the ones which strike the belt seem to be absorbed into its frozen space-time. Borrowing from old sonar technology, she discovers that she can send out some radions and determine where the belt is in the room by whether the rays bounce back after striking a surface. Granted, it's not much to go on, but it's a start.
Suddenly, as de Mattio is busy pacing the Physics Lab, gesticulating to herself while deep in thought, something happens…
Meanwhile…
U.S.S. Janus, Deck 6: Brig
Stardate 2271.3.23: 0200h
The two ensigns Abbot and Nalia make their way to the brig. This part of the deck is still a mess, and they have to step over a some debris here and there. The brig itself is a wreck, with only two of the cells still working. The pirates and archaeologists are placed in one and the Romulan Carlax is placed in the other, at the far end of the corridor.
They find Hardy in conversation with the Romulan captive through the cell's deflector screen. Whatever they're talking about, Hardy seems a bit ambivalent about it. Laurel is sitting at the other end of the corridor, at a piece of duranium debris that the two have turned into a makeshift game table. He tries to keep his partner from noticing him cheating at their card game.
Not long after, Nadix scuttles gracefully into the brig. The ensigns all guiltily shuffle away from the Romulan, who seems perturbed at the Edosian's arrival. He has the female archaeologist removed first, and questions her privately in one of the empty, non-working cells. As they talk, the lights along the corridor occasionally blink out for a minute or two at a time. Some of the other brig cells randomly power back up sporadically before shutting off again.
The ensigns have difficulty not eavesdropping in on the interrogation.
"I hadn't meant for any of this to happen," the archaeologist Dr. Leigh Moore pleads. "James and I were only interested in the history we could uncover at the Slaver site. At least… I thought we were. We knew we'd have to cut a few corners, but now I'm starting to feel that James is… well, I look at him and I just don't know him anymore!"
Wiping tears from her eyes, she agrees to cooperate fully, and gives her story. "We had been monitoring the planet from a distance for some time, and a month ago we made planetfall with the Romulans. Our pilots had to pull a real stunt getting us into orbit using warp energy only, since the beacon would trace our impulse power and set off the alarm. On that trip we found the belt you took from Carlax. It confirmed our suspicions about the site, but then the Romulans found out about the Rod of Life and approached the Coxans without asking us about it first, so we had no choice but to play along. As soon as I saw the Rod I knew it had to be the key to the whole thing—I mean that literally, it's the key to the front door. If my research is correct then outpost can only be accessed by using a special device, and I'm positive that's what the Rod is."
She explains in detail how Coxan life revolves around their veneration for the Rod of Life. It sits charging on its pedestal, never to be removed, and every year the priest activates it to make the crops grow and heal those who are sick. Their legends are full of blights that swept across the world, and they are convinced that without the Rod of Life they would die as a race. Their legends also speak of a very sacred site, "the Forbidden Temple," entrance to the underworld—the "City of Devils." It is believed to be a dangerous place that sucks the very life out those who approach, and so it is a capital offense to travel there—its location deep in the jungle is kept secret by the village priests, who suffer eternal damnation if they ever reveal it to anyone.
"Well? Isn't it obvious? The Temple must be the Slaver outpost! I don't know about any life-draining qualities, but that sort of superstition always crops up in these legends. So you can see our dilemma with the villagers. They can't take us to the outpost without suffering eternal damnation, and we can't get the key without bringing upon the end of the world." She adds in a whisper, "During that trip one of the village priest's assistants went missing, and we found him dead three days later. There's no doubt in my mind the Romulans engineered that, probably trying to torture it out of him. If it weren't for the orbital monitor I'm sure they'd have killed the whole village by now, the brutes."
"We returned two days ago, but our ship was caught in some strange energy field that threatened to destroy our warp drives. We had to switch to impulse power and hope for the best. I had uncovered a prophecy of theirs where the gods are supposed to invade the City of Devils and bring in a new era of peace. We've been trying to use that as a… well, a selling point. But it hasn't worked quite as we'd hoped, and there are still many villagers who want nothing to do with it. that's why that poor young girl ran off with the Rod just when you arrived, to keep it out of our hands. Oh, I feel terrible!"
…As interrogation continues, the ensigns gossip among themselves and try to steal bits of conversation with a real live Romulan. When suddenly…
