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she asked.
    On the screen he had put a map of the main northern continent where the Fazi capital was. It seemed to have been built in the center of the landmass and other, lesser cities radiated out from it. That pattern was what first caught Reed's eye.
    He backed up the image and made a blinking dot appear on the Fazi council chambers. "This," he said, "is the center of their universe."
    "Seems that way." Hoshi leaned in and stared at his screen.
    "Using the council chambers as the center," Reed said, "I ran radiant lines, like spokes on a wheel, outward every ten degrees. Thirty-six lines. Do you see?"
    He tapped on his control board and the blue lines appeared, moving out from the council chamber location.
    "I have stopped them at the edge of the continent, but this still works if you take them all the way around."
    "Okay." Hoshi glanced at her station. He could feel her impatience to return to the linguistic challenge.
    "Next," he said, "I added circles around the center, moving out one degree at a time."
    Reed punched another key and red circles appeared on the map, growing larger and larger as they moved outward.
    "Now," he said, "let's superimpose a map of the Fazi roads and cities on my wheel diagram."
    Leaving the blue and red lines, he placed the Fazi cities and major roads over the lines.
    "Oh, my..." Hoshi said.
    "Startling, isn't it?" Reed said. "All major roads, without exception, are on one of those lines. One would think there would be at least one deviation."
    "One would think," Hoshi said, her ear catching his accent and repeating it slightly. She probably wasn't even aware she had done it.
    Reed traced a line with his finger, amazed at the feat of construction and control this meant. "All cities are built at the corners, with the exact centers of the cities being the point of intersection. This is, without a doubt, the most amazing feat of construction I have ever seen, or even imagined."
    "If their cities are this regimented," Hoshi said, "imagine their lives."
    "Yes, well," Reed said, and didn't continue. He had been imagining it. He liked order in his life-a great deal of it, actually-but not as much as this map indicated. He also liked unpredictability and adventure, or he would never have joined the Enterprise crew.
    "Why would any civilization develop this kind of phobia about control and order?" Hoshi asked.
    "I have no idea," Reed said. "It is clear, however, that this entire civilization was carefully built or, perhaps we should say, rebuilt since we do not know the history of this place."
    "It's the same with their language. Why that much structure? What would cause this?"
    "I believe we must discover the answer to that question before Captain Archer can go meet them."
    Hoshi frowned. "I doubt he's going to wait that long."
    "I know he's not," Reed said. He looked back at the lines, and shuddered.

SEVEN
    Through the mess hall windows, the planet still loomed, but even when Cutler glanced up, she no longer saw it. The mess itself, with its dark walls and bright lighting, almost seemed invisible.
    Instead, in her mind's eye, she saw the ruined Martian city she had invented, the destroyed transport vehicles lining the road, and the buildings crumbling around her. She could almost smell the red dust and feel the blistering heat. Humid heat, she figured, because of the canals.
    It seemed like Mayweather, Anderson, and Novakovich could see the landscape as well. They were all leaning forward, calling out their actions as if they were actually taking them. The battle between their three intrepid explorer characters and the evil remnants of the Martian civilization loomed.
    "The Martians are coming! The Martians are coming!" Mayweather shouted, managing to keep his expression serious while he leaned back in his chair.
    "Pull back to cover," Novakovich said, just as he would have if he were really on the planet. "What kind of cover do we have available?"
    "There's a building open on your right," Cutler