Boogeymen - Mel Gilden [34]
Though Picard understood the need for a place like the rec deck, all that open space seemed a little unnatural on a starship. He touched a companel, got the twinkle, and said, “This is, er, Mr. Picard. Captain Crusher orders the presence of all personnel on the recreation deck. Secure your positions and come immediately.”
A moment later the computer said, “Mr. Picard is not in the chain of command and therefore cannot give such an order.”
“Why—” Picard began angrily, then realized that huffing and puffing at the companel would do him no good. He took a few deep breaths and said, “Mr. Data, perhaps you can do better.”
“Yes, sir.” Data touched the companel.
“Identify Lieutenant Commander Data,” the computer said.
Data repeated Picard’s order word for word.
The computer said, “Requesting the presence of all on-duty personnel is against regulations.”
To Picard, Data said, “At any one time at least a third of the crew is off duty. I think that will be enough for our purposes.”
“Very well.”
“Computer,” Data said. “Working.”
“Captain Crusher orders the presence of all off-duty personnel on the recreation deck. Immediately.”
A moment later they heard the computer’s voice echoing throughout the ship. It came from every companel, from the insignia of every off-duty crew member. Picard admired the computer’s attempt to continue the illusion that this was the real Enterprise. The computer could, of course, have just made them come. Or even just made them suddenly appear. Or maybe it couldn’t, Picard thought. After all, wasn’t finding out things like that a point of this exercise?
Crew members arrived singly and in twos, threes, and larger groups. Though Vulcans had been serving with humans on starships for many years and members of other races had followed, Starfleet had found through hard experience that the crews of starships were generally happier if all the members came from the same race. This wasn’t a value judgment—Starfleet never tried to decide if one race was better than another, but it was certain that they were all different.
Though it carried a primarily human crew, the Enterprise had a tradition of leavening the mix with nonhumans. Worf was a Klingon, of course—unthinkable on a Federation vessel till just recently—and Troi was half Betazoid. But there were a few Vulcans on the Enterprise too, most of them in the science sections. Also some Benzites with their smoking gas feeders around their necks.
That seemed like a lot of nonhumans when Picard saw them all together, but they actually accounted for much less than one percent of the crew.
Picard and Data stood to one side, watching them arrive. The first few crew members seemed to move normally, though Data said he could detect a slowdown. After the first ten or so entered the rec deck, Picard leaned over to Data and said, “Yes, I see.” Even with his merely human senses, he could not help noticing that the gathering crew members were moving as if they were underwater. As more of them arrived, the ones already there slowed even more. They stood around like cadets at their first Academy dance.
“Becoming very creaky, aren’t they? Almost painful to watch.”
“They are not real,” Data said.
“No. But they seem—”
There was a loud pop, and a bright flash filled the room. Picard lowered his arm from his eyes. Through his blinking he saw that they were once again on a blank holodeck.
“Real or simulation?” Picard said.
“Captain!” a voice cried.
He spun around and saw Wesley walking toward him and Data from a far corner.
Picard shook hands warmly with Wesley and said, “Mr. Crusher, it is good to see you again. Where have you been?”
“In my cabin, sir. Or in a simulation of my cabin, anyway. Three Boogeymen were guarding me, but I don’t know what they wanted. They didn’t know what they wanted. They knew they’d won the game, but they didn’t know what to do next.”
“Indeed,” said Data. “The captain and