Boogeymen - Mel Gilden [45]
“Aye, Captain.” They waited while Riker called the bridge and repeated the captain’s instructions into his communicator. Mr. Worf acknowledged.
When Riker was done, Picard said, “How did the Boogeyman program get into the system?”
La Forge sat down, the energy he had shown during his presentation suddenly gone. He said, “My theory, sir, is that when it spread to the holodeck computer, somehow the virus and the Boogeymen got hooked together.”
Riker said, “And then the virus program hauled the Boogeymen everywhere it went.”
“That’s the way I see it.” La Forge was almost apologizing.
Picard thought about what La Forge had just said. It was all very neat. All very logical. It was probably correct as well. “This is my doing, then,” he said.
“Well, sir—”
“When I forced the Boogeyman program to disappear, it was not overwritten, as Mr. Data and I thought. It simply went somewhere else.”
Dr. Crusher moved as if to put her hand on Picard’s, but took it back without touching him. She said, “You didn’t know, sir.”
“Mr. Crusher didn’t know. I didn’t know.” He shook his head and then smiled as if he had just begun to understand some cosmic joke. “Overloading the computer seemed like a good idea at the time. Which is the best defense any of us can ever give when caught making a mistake of this magnitude.”
“We have to answer two questions, then,” Riker said. “First, where did the virus program come from? And second, how do we get rid of the virus-Boogeyman combination?”
Good old Riker, trying to distract him from blaming himself for something no one could have known.
“I have a theory about the first question, too,” La Forge said, sounding somewhat embarrassed. He’d had a difficult day, Picard thought. First accusing his captain of scuttling his own ship—if only accidentally —and now accusing one of the captain’s friends of helping the process along.
“Go on, Mr. La Forge,” Picard said, smiling his most encouraging smile.
La Forge said, “I think we can take it as given that Data has the same virus as the satellite computer system; he was infected when he plugged in to be diagnosed.”
Everyone nodded.
“And after the flu symptoms, what is the most obvious characteristic of Data’s condition?”
“He’s forgotten Professor Baldwin,” Wesley said.
“But,” Dr. Crusher said, “that happened when he plugged into the holo-computer—which the Boogeymen controlled.”
“Right,” said La Forge, “but I believe the two events are connected.”
“How?” said Picard.
“Okay,” said La Forge, molding the explanation in the air. “Imagine we have these two programs. At the time Data plugged into the holo-computer, he was contaminated by the virus, which caused him to forget Professor Baldwin.”
Dr. Crusher did not look happy, but she nodded along with everyone else.
“Now, as the virus spread through the system, it dragged the Boogeyman program along with it. The Boogeyman program, being more aggressive than the virus, reproduced itself faster, became stronger, and was able to afflict Data with something that looks like the flu.”
“Let me see if I have this straight,” Dr. Crusher said. “Wesley programs the holodeck computer with Boogeymen. Somebody infects the computer system with a virus that erases references to Professor Baldwin. When it infects the holodeck computer, the virus somehow gets connected with the Boogeyman program.”
“Right so far,” La Forge said.
“When the captain distracted the holodeck computer by filling the recreation deck with holo-people, the Boogeyman-virus combination was squeezed into the system, and from there it was able to spread.”
“Right again.”
“All of which means what?” Dr. Crusher said.
Riker smiled in appreciation. “You don’t have a devious enough mind, Doctor. If all reference to Professor Baldwin has been erased, the chances are good that he is the one who designed the virus.”
La Forge, having recovered most of his equilibrium, said, “You see what I mean about parallax, Captain? Data’s problems give us insight into the ship’s problems.