The away team followed Seru’nai through the winding, narrow tunnels that took them deep below the settlement. Back and forth they switched, as if walking a trail that had been cut into the side of a cliff face. There were no light shafts down here, just small clusters of the glowing amber stones. The air around them was cold and damp, and the effort of the march caused their breath to rise in front of them in small wisps.

“We must be hundreds of feet under the surface of the planet now,” Craig said, huffing slightly.

“The Stone lies very deep below the surface,” Seru’nai replied softly over their shoulder.

Not soon after, however, the ground levelled out abruptly, and they came to a stop. Just past Seru’nai’s slender frame, there looked to be a wall of solid rock that was draped with a curtain of softly glowing lichen. Tanna noticed that woven into the wall of greenery, which by rights should not have grown so far away from the sun, were small, rough stones that were the same hue as the ones that sat braided above her ear.

She then noticed that she could hear the beads over her ear, resonating softly, though they seemed suddenly very loud in the silence of the tunnel. Placing a hand on Craig’s shoulder, she moved to the front of the group, stopping to stand beside Seru’nai.

“The Stone lies just beyond this wall, doesn’t it?” She asked, turning to look at the Palrillian’s brilliant, reflective eyes. In the dim light, the glowing, lightning bolt-shaped lines along their temples and arms seemed intensely bright, as if drawing some kind of power from their proximity to the Stone.

Seru’nai nodded. “The beads in your hair…” they said, reaching a partially webbed hand up to touch them softly, “were an interesting choice by the girl who gave them to you. They come only from this place and are considered very sacred.”

Tanna chuckled nervously. “No pressure, right?”

Seru’nai stepped gracefully towards the wall and placed a hand on the damp stone buried beneath the lichen. They straightened up, closed their eyes, and began to sing. It was a slow, hauntingly beautiful melody, harmonized in both high and low notes by their unique vocal cords.

The shards of stone in the lichen began to pulse softly in time, dimming and brightening in an intricate pattern that left the away team feeling mesmerized. From beyond the wall, a resonant undertone began to build, becoming so loud that it started to shake dust from the rocky ceiling down onto the heads of the trio.

“Is the tunnel going to survive this?” Craig had to lean in close to T’Luni’s ear and nearly shout to be heard over the immense vibration.

T’Luni whipped out her tricorder and began scanning. “The tunnel’s structural integrity has not degraded further than a fraction of a percent,” she called back to him, “It may be a scare tactic, but I believe we are in no harm.”

Suddenly, the resonance stopped. Seru’nai’s song ended on a long, harmonized note, then they too became quiet.

“The Stone is ready for you.” They said, placing a hand on Tanna’s metallic shoulder.

Tanna looked up at them, startled. “Me?” She looked back at T’Luni. “What about her? You said when we showed up, she’s more in tune or whatever. Shouldn’t she do it?”

Seru’nai shook their head. “T’Luni does not wear the sacred stones, nor is she clad in the garments of the Stone’s chosen people.”

Tanna became suddenly aware once again of what she was wearing. The long, flowing fabric was alive with colour, the once subtle patterns now shimmering brightly as if lit from behind by blue fire. She was aware of her bare feet touching the cold stone of the tunnel floor, and of the cold air around her, yet she was not the least bit chilled by it. Most of all, however, she was aware that the beads over her ear were still resonating faintly and radiating a gentle warmth.

Then, she felt something. Felt something. Right there, alongside her feelings of apprehension, there was a welcoming feeling of serene calm, like something was trying to give her the impression that everything would be okay if she would only step through the curtain of lichen ahead of her.

“Okay, that’s really weird,” she said softly. “Why do I have two sets of feelings?”

Seru’nai’s eyes lit up with joy and excitement. “The Stone is speaking to you!” they said, their voice raised high with pleasure. “You must accept its call, and enter the Place Where the Stone Rests.”

“Okay,” she said, shaking her hands at her sides, “Apparently, I’m just the chosen one now. No biggie.” She wondered quickly what Abigail might have said about the whole thing, then shook the thought from her mind. That was not a distraction she either wanted or needed at the moment.

“Are…” she began, her mouth suddenly very dry. “Are you coming with me?”

Seru’nai again shook their head. “We cannot join you. This journey is for you to take alone.” They held out their hand in invitation, beckoning Tanna to step through the mossy curtain.

Tanna took a deep, centring breath. Her resolve stiffened as she decided to accept the alien feelings of calm that were gently invading her mind. If it had wanted to hurt them, surely it could have just caved the tunnel in, right? She turned back to her crewmates once again with a small wave and said, “See you on the other side,” before turning, closing her eyes, and striding purposefully towards the wall of lichen.

The first thing she noticed as she emerged on the other side was just how warm it was. The cool, damp air of the tunnel had been replaced with a kind of calm, inviting warmth, like she was sitting in front of a fire with a thick blanket and a fuzzy sweater. The next thing she noticed was that even with her eyes still closed, the cave, or wherever she currently was, was incredibly bright. Not quite daylight, but a very persistent yellow-orange glow.

She slowly opened her eyes, allowing them time to adjust to the brightness, but as soon as she lifted her lids, the light began to diminish, enough to be comfortable, anyway. She gasped audibly and took a step backwards as she finally saw the source of the light.

She was standing on the outer edge of a large circular cave of impossibly smooth, shiny granite walls. In the middle of the cave was a massive boulder of dark, moss-covered stone. All over its surface, the light was issuing forth from a labyrinth of deep fissures, not unlike the ridges of a brain, she noted.

Where the boulder met the ground, there were long, snakelike tendrils radiating in every direction, crawling up the walls and disappearing into precise holes in the wall, all the way up to the very top. These were alight with the same warm glow as the stone, the light pulsing ever so softly along their length.

She noticed a circle of differently coloured rock set into the floor, about half the distance from her current position to the Stone. It was completely free of the tendrils, and there was etched into it a spiralling image that matched the ones on her garment, which still glowed with blue fire.

Tanna was struck then by an overwhelming urge to sit upon that stone, which she decided to obey without hesitation. In a fashion much like the one she had used to play Echo Circles just a few hours earlier, she began a delicate dance, crossing the floor in a graceful, leaping dance to avoid stepping on any of the glowing tendrils at her feet. She felt a deep gratitude then, along with a pleasure, as if the pattern of her movements had been both recognized and enjoyed by the Stone.

“Okay,” she said quietly to herself, “I guess it like the way I dance.”

When she was safely in the circle, she sat down with a twirling flourish she hoped the Stone would enjoy, and crossed her legs in front of her, though she nearly jumped back to her feet when she noticed one of the tendrils inching towards her hand. It recoiled just as quickly, with a pulse of light, and she got the distinct impression that the connection she felt was a two-way street, and the Stone was reacting to her own fear.

She took a steadying breath and extended a hand back out towards the tendril. It inched forward at the same pace, hesitant but steady.

“It’s alright,” she said aloud. “I’m scared, I know. But I want this. I want you to show me. I trust you.”

The Stone’s tendril wound its way slowly up her arm, followed by a second one along her other arm. She sat motionless as they moved into place, the feelings shared by the Stone growing stronger and stronger. Up across her prosthetic one went, to the base of her neck. The tendrils paused for a moment as they felt the string of beads at the end of the braid, and she was overcome with feelings of trust and elation. They moved on, coming to rest on her temples. Tanna felt her eyelids getting heavy, and she let them slide closed.

The rush of emotions she felt over the next few minutes made her nauseous. At the very edge of perception, she was given glimpses of the Stone’s history. Flashes of something that weren’t quite pictures, tied intrinsically to the emotions of the being. Feelings of discovery, as the Stone awakened many millennia ago, then to a deep love and adoration for the Palrillian people who evolved, living on the surface in peaceful harmony.

There was a sudden shift, as Tanna was overcome with seething hatred and insurmountable fear when the Hunters arrived and enslaved the people. She was overcome with grief as the Stone watched its people being stolen, beaten and murdered. Feelings of resolve and protection as the group of escaped survivors huddled under an outcropping of rock.

She felt the Stone open the tunnels to them, creating the network within which the ancestors of these beings would thrive, but there was a lingering fear of the Hunters that still prowled the surface. Then there was a feeling of duty, as if the Stone had resolved to trap these monstrous beings on the surface of the planet, and she caught a glimpse of the ground below the ship yawning open to swallow it whole, buried for all time.

Eventually, the feelings of fear subsided, and love poured back in. She felt the Stone deepen its connection to the Palrillian people, and they, in turn, loved it back. It believed the hunters were all gone, but kept its constant vigil over its people in case they ever thought to return. Generations had passed since then, countless generations, but still, they never returned to the surface.

Tanna came to suddenly, as the tendrils pulled themselves free of her body. She was breathing heavily, and her brow was beaded with sweat. She wiped streams of tears off her cheeks, and slowly, she stood. She could still feel it, though the feelings had become muted once again. Overcome by a boldness she didn’t know she had, she stepped towards the Stone until she was just a foot or two from it. With a trembling hand, she reached out and placed her hand on it.

There was a deep, resonant sound that vibrated her to her very core, and she knew it loved her as it did the rest of the Palrillians. “Thank you,” she said quietly, laying her body against the warm surface of the Stone. “I am glad to know these people are safe with you. We will leave, and if I have anything to say about it, none of our people will come here again.”

There was a feeling of remorseful understanding, and she turned to go, dancing her way across the tendrils to the cave’s opening.

Craig, T’Luni and Seru’nai were still waiting on the other side when Tanna re-emerged from the lichen. She saw a wave of relief wash over her Lieutenant Commander’s face, and even T’Luni’s eyes, betraying her Vulcan discipline, told Tanna she was glad to see her return safely.

“Sir,” Tanna said respectfully, “We need to leave these people in peace.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Lieutenant,” Craig replied, beaming. “Let’s go home.”