Still, M’Umbha had not known how to answer the query. Though she did not fully understand the origin of the phenomenon, she knew it was connected to Nyota’s efforts to communicate with some unseen intelligence out in the universe. The last thing she wanted the elephants to think was that her own daughter had brought down this threat upon them. Certainly there was no way Nyota could have known her efforts would provoke this.

She would not say, then, that humans had caused this crisis. But some intelligence, some technology out there, probably had. Someone had caused this through conscious action, probably with no awareness of the damage they were inflicting upon others in the pursuit of their own goals. That would be very familiar to the elephants. Would they care about the distinction between human and nonhuman civilizations?

Instead of dwelling on such questions, M’Umbha thought about her family. She thought of Malcolm volunteering to leave his cozy research hospital, working tirelessly out in space to heal the victims of the flares. She thought of Omar back home in Nairobi, no doubt sitting with their neighbors and cooking for them and telling silly jokes and anecdotes to keep them calm as they waited for a disaster they could not hide from. Most of all, she thought of Nyota bravely rushing forth on the Enterprise to take responsibility for the consequences of her past, and to try to save everyone—the elephants included—from having that pain brought down upon them.

This is what Uhuras do, she thought. We connect people. We build bonds of understanding. M’Umbha knew that somehow, somewhere out there, her daughter was doing just that—trying to make the connection that would let the flares’ creators understand the harm they did, and convince them to stop.

After a time, she finally gave the matriarch her answer, knowing she would not have forgotten the question. “This is a pain that humans are doing their very best to prevent. My own daughter, Nyota, is leading them in that fight. So I believe they will succeed.”

The matriarch flicked her ears skeptically. Nothing can convince a storm not to strike.

M’Umbha smiled. “You don’t know my daughter like I do.”

U.S.S. Enterprise

It had been several minutes now since any microflares had shot through the communications lab. Apparently the restored verteron field, in combination with Reliant’s field in the vanguard, had given Uhura and Shastri the grace period they needed to finalize their preparations. Nonetheless, their headaches and the lingering ringing in their ears helped them keep the urgency of the situation in mind.

Finally, Uhura leaned back from the main console, turning her head to give its display screens one more going over. “I think that’s it. We’re ready to transmit.”

“Great!” Shastri paused, then turned to her. “So why aren’t we?”