StarDate: 43613.2

We have been stationed at the planet Negeb and have sent two away teams to the surface in hopes of finding some clue to the history of the Healer race. These two teams have returned and have joined me in the observation lounge to discuss their findings.

"So what did your team find, Number One? Anything?" Captain Picard asked.

"Not much, Captain. We did find out by talking to some of the neighbors and other people that knew the Healer that she didn't like being different so she stayed to herself most of the time and had very few close friends. However, the people who lived in the home now gave us this and said that it was left in the house when they moved in," Will pulled out a small football shaped object. It was metallic in appearance and had an odd design cut out at the top. "We don't really know if it means anything, but we thought we'd hold on to it anyways."

Alexis picked up the object off of the table and began to examine it. Even though she knew she had never seen it before, she knew that it was significant. She didn't know what it was or what it was for but her instincts told her this was important to her past. She set the object back on the table and looked back up at the Captain to find him staring at her, again.

Ever since she had come aboard, she had caught Captain Picard studying her when he thought she wasn't looking. It was very unnerving. She knew that Counselor Troi had noticed it too, and Alexis planned on asking her what she thought about it. Now, though, the Captain just looked away and pretended to be very interested in Commander Riker's apology for not having anymore information.

Jean-Luc then pointedly turned to Alexis and asked her what her team had found. She pulled out the journal that the sister on the planet had given her. It was falling apart but it should have not even existed by the dates that were in it. Many of the entries were far too old for this book to have survived as long as it had, making it a phony, but from what she had seen of it, it was a very good phony.

"This is a journal that the sister of the other Healer gave me. She said that he was carrying it when he appeared at their home. As you can see from the outer appearance, it is a very old book. However, the dates of the entries are too old for this book to even exist anymore so I don't know. I would like to take some time to examine it and do some research on it," Alexis said, passing the book around for everyone to look at it.

When Will Riker got it, he read the first page out loud. "Roswell, NM? How in the world did this get way out here from Earth? It could be a fake."

"Yes, that's why I want to do some research on it. I'd like to find out if this Elizabeth Parker was a real person and if she really lived around the time of these dates. Then maybe I can determine from there that it really is a fake, like I believe that it is," Alexis addressed the group.

Captain Picard took the journal from his first officer and examined it. "It does look interesting in any case." He looked back at the group and handed the book back to Alexis. "Make it so. Number One, I'd like for you to talk to these two Healers and tell them what we found out; see if it triggers anymore memories or something they may have forgotten to tell us. Then research the other known Healers in the galaxy and see what you can find out. Dr. Pickerd, do your research on this Elizabeth Parker as well as Roswell, NM. Even if it is a fake, whoever wrote this book was interested in Roswell, NM and was somehow important to the young Healer's past. Find out what if you can. Everyone else, help them out anyway you can. Dismissed."

As everyone started filtering out of the room, Deanna Troi walked over to the Captain. He was always difficult to get to open up and express his feelings, but that never discouraged Deanna from trying and often, her determination had paid off.

"Captain, may I talk with you for a moment?" she asked. She tried to study his feelings. There was a lot of mixed emotions running through him. She sensed love, sadness, nostalgia, loss, regret, and many more feelings. Always there was strength in him; never had he shown weakness in all the years she had known him.

"What is it, Counselor, I need to review the away teams' reports," he said, knowing what was coming.

Deanna decided to try to be subtle. "I just wanted to ask you about Dr. Pickerd. She's so young for her rank and to have the record she does. What do you think about her?"

"She seems amiable enough. She is very thorough. The crew already seems to like her. I don't know her well enough to say much else about her. She does her job and that's what counts I guess," he answered. His feelings were different from his words, however.

This didn't sound like the Captain Picard Deanna knew. Doing your job was just the beginning in his opinion usually. She could tell something was wrong. Was it best just to come right out and ask about it or be subtle? She couldn't always tell which was the best approach with the Captain.

She decided to be more direct. "That's not exactly what I meant. I've caught you staring at her several times just during this meeting. She noticed it too and I think you're making her nervous. Is something wrong, Captain?"

Jean-Luc looked at the woman standing in front of him. He had confided in her before and had felt better. Her deep black eyes and her beautiful face always had on a concerned and loving expression. He knew that the other members of the crew trusted in her and she made them feel better just by being there to listen. He was grateful to have Deanna Troi serving under him especially as Counselor.

In a moment he made his decision. "I don't mean to be rude or to make her uneasy. She just reminds me of someone I knew a number of years ago."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Deanna asked. She knew he had decided to do just that but she wanted to make sure he knew that's what he wanted to do.

"Yes, but not right now. I'll try and talk to you later today or maybe tomorrow. Make me an appointment in your busy schedule."

"That won't be a problem, Captain. You just tell me when you're ready to talk. May I go now?"

"Yes, that will be all, Counselor."

As she headed for the door and was on her way out, he called out, "And, Deanna," she stopped and turned to him, "Thank you." She nodded and left the room.

* * * * * * * * * * *

"Data, would you mind helping me with some research?" Alexis Pickerd said, catching up to Commander Data as he headed down the corridor.

"Not at all, Doctor. How can I help you?" he asked.

"I was wondering if we can go to a console to work on researching some things on Roswell, New Mexico. If you're too busy right now, I can wait."

"No, I can help you now. Come with me to my quarters; I have a console there," Data said.

She followed him until they reached his quarters. She noticed upon entering that he must love to paint but the fact that he had a console in his quarters told her that he worked all the time. She started to ask him about this but instead decided to wait until later.

"Where should we start?" Data asked her, sitting down to his console.

She pulled up a chair beside him. "Well, let's start with Roswell. Pull up all books in the computer's system on it. How many are there?"

"372," he answered. "Plus five poems, three songs, and four movies."

"Ok, now narrow that down by eliminating the fiction. How many are we at now?" Alexis asked. Data pushed some buttons. "117," he returned.

"Ok, now sort those, putting the ones from the 20th and the 21st centuries on top. Don't eliminate the others, just put those on top. How many of those are there?"

"65. What would you like to eliminate next?" Data asked, poised to respond.

"Nothing, Data. Could you do me a favor later? Could you give me a small disk with the titles of all of these books, the ones from the 20th and 21st centuries first, along with a brief summary of each one? I wouldn't ask just anyone this favor but I know that you can do it in very little time. Would you mind?" Alexis asked.

"No, but I can do it right now and it will only take me 2.47 minutes to go through each of them. Can you give me those two minutes?"

Alexis stared at the android in amazement. She had read about Data and had been fascinated. He was the only one of his kind known and his desire to be more human had touched her. She was so happy when she learned that she would be serving on the Enterprise with him.

"Sure go ahead, and then if you don't mind, I have one more search I'd like put on that same disk. I want to review all of this stuff later in my quarters where I can think," she replied.

Data started moving at lightning speed through the books with one hand while transferring his summaries with the other. Alexis watched him in awe. She could tell that he was holding back, he could have gone faster but the computer wouldn't have been able to keep up with him.

"Finished with .05 minutes to go," Data said looking at Alexis. "What else did you want to research?"

It took Alexis a minute to gather her thoughts. "Uh, oh yeah, Elizabeth Parker. Can you look and see if there was an Elizabeth Parker born in or around Roswell, NM in the latter half of the 20th century?"

Data pushed a couple of buttons. "There are two Elizabeth Parkers born around Roswell, NM. One was born in the year 1983 and the other was born in 1978. Which one would you like me to pull up?"

Alexis thought for a minute. "The one born in 1983," she answered, "and just put everything about her life on that disk."

Data finished it up and handed the disk to Alexis. "If you need anymore help, please, let me know. Do not worry if it is late in the evening, I do not sleep."

"Uh, thanks, Data, I will," Alexis said. She left his quarters and started off to talk to Counselor Troi.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Deanna was sitting on her couch in her quarters listening to some of her favorite music and sipping on a Betazed tea. She heard the chimes from the computer signaling that someone was at the door. She knew who it had to be.

"Enter," she called.

Captain Picard walked in and took in her tea and music. "I'm sorry, you're trying to relax; I'll just come back later."

"No, Captain, it's alright. Please come in and sit down. I know you want to talk and this is a good time to do so," Deanna said. She was not letting him get off that easily.

The Captain sat down in a chair opposite of the Counselor and began to tell her what was bothering him.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Alexis lounged in her quarters trying to read over the material that Data had put on the disk about Roswell. The book titles and summaries were just not that interesting to her right now. She found out a little bit about it and some of what she found amused her. According to most of the books, the small town was a tourist attraction and a center of controversy regarding something that supposedly happened in the year 1947. Something crashed just outside of this small town and many people at that time believed that it was an alien vessel. It was thought that the government of the then United States of America was trying to cover this up with telling people that it was just a weather balloon and many people did not believe this. The whole town of Roswell became a tourist attraction dedicated to aliens. There was a UFO museum built and everything was named and built for the belief in the aliens.

This amused Alexis greatly for there was no way that this could have been anything other than a weather balloon. Earth's history notes the first extraterrestrial encounter was at the first contact after what they called World War 3 on April 5th, 2063 and that was with the Vulcans. This Elizabeth Parker would have been 80 years old, if she was real and she survived the war.

Alexis was still thinking this over when one of the other books caught her attention. It mentioned the Crashdown Café! She couldn't believe her eyes. Then she thought about it and decided that whoever wrote that book could be basing it on real facts. Many authors did that; they took someone real in history and where they lived and they wrote fiction about them. Making it sound real.

The summary mentioned nothing else about the Café so she kept reading down the list. Finally, another book captured her attention and held it. This was big! The title was "When Teenagers Disappear: The Story of the Lost Teens of Roswell". The summary spoke of eight teens who had disappeared. What had caught her attention were the names: Liz Parker, Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Alex Whitman, Maria DeLuca, Michael Guerin, Tess Harding, and Kyle Valenti. These were the names she saw mentioned in the journal! This was indeed a brief summary of the book. All it mentioned were the ages of all those who disappeared. Liz was the oldest when she disappeared and that was right after she graduated from the University of New Mexico. All of the others had disappeared a few years earlier. However, these were noted to be a group of friends that were usually seen together. It was strange that she didn't disappear at the same time as the rest of them did.