Dark Mirror - Diane Duane [110]
“But I think that trend, too, is on the point of breaking now. Certainly you’ve unsettled it. She doesn’t know how to read your sparing her son. She thinks maybe some spark of that old friendship with Jack Crusher is alive in you still—so all her thoughts are shaken and changed, and everything becomes unstable again, dangerously so.”
She looked at him for a moment.
“Well, Counselor. Go on.”
“I would think you would welcome an end to all this instability. It would be simple enough. Simply declare your liaison with her at an end and start another one that’s more to your advantage.”
She was quite close now. Though she had made no move to touch him and had her arms behind her back in a position matching his, the air of almost stifling intimacy between them was quite palpable. Picard kept the poetry going and said, “And you would be that liaison, of course.”
“I don’t think you would find it unpleasant. Ask Commander Riker—if you need to.” She rolled her eyes and gave a little scornful laugh. “It’s not in his nature to keep quiet about something he’s enjoying.”
“I wonder how you bear that, considering that you are generally of more … delicate sensibilities.” This was straightforward flattery, but he let it come out, needing time to consider the ramifications of all this.
She raised her eyebrows. “It is flattery,” she said, startling him a little, “but accepted for the moment.”
A lucky guess? Picard thought. Or is she genuinely hearing something? “It’s an interesting prospect,” Picard said, meanwhile thinking loudly, His counsellors are rogues, Perdie! ar While men of honest mind are banned ar to creak upon the Gallows Tree, ar or squeal in prisons overmanned. “I should warn you,” he said, “that the doctor probably will not take kindly to such a turn of events. If you should find yourself suddenly needing medical care …”
The counselor smiled at him. “Should we agree on this, the only one needing medical care will be the doctor … and by the time it arrives, it will be a little too late. I have friends in sickbay as well.”
She took a turn away from him for a moment. “It would work out very well; we could command the ship together. You, the brains; I, the eyes.”
“And what would Commander Riker be?”
The counselor simply laughed. “We’ll have to look lower for a part for him. … All he thinks about are power and his lusts, but men of that kind have things they’re useful for.”
“Of course. And there are other kinds of men … useful for other things, I take it?” He bent closer to her face.
“So I’ve heard.” For a moment they breathed practically into each other’s lips—then Picard straightened a little bit, daring to push the moment no further. There was always the chance that something of his jerry-rigged shielding would slip, should the body become more interested than it already was.
“Counselor, you’ve given me a great deal to think about.”
“So what will you do?”
“I will consider your proposal”—he was tempted to say proposition, but restrained himself —”and get back to you with an answer in good time.”
The first spark of anger showed in those eyes. “Surely, it would be more to your advantage”—she leaned on the word—his!-every to a choice now, so that I can begin acting in a way that won’t be prejudicial. Your time is very short. If you have an ally, it will be possible to make more of it.”
He drew himself up quite straight. “Counselor, I will not be pushed or rushed. I will give you my answer in good time, in due course—and not before.”
She frowned at him. “One