Death in Winter - Michael Jan Friedman [105]
But the engineer wouldn’t pry. If the captain wanted a sympathetic ear, he knew where he could find one.
“Take all the time you need,” Geordi said. “I’ll let you know if anything cries out for your attention.”
Picard nodded. “Thank you, Commander. Carry on.” He glanced at Worf. “Both of you.” Then he left them standing there in the corridor and went on alone in the direction of his quarters.
Geordi watched him go for a moment. Then he turned to Worf. “More than a little shaken up.”
Worf’s brow creased with concern. “I will keep an eye on him, in case he needs assistance.”
The engineer nodded. But he had a feeling this was something Picard would have to work out on his own.
*
Picard spent his first two days back by himself, doing his best to shake his malaise. But it was not an easy task.
On the third day, he finally said to hell with it and shoved his personal problem aside. He had a duty to his ship and crew, after all. It is time, he thought as he left his quarters, that I acted like it.
But en route to the turbolift, something strange happened. The captain was wondering about the placement of an EPS relay when, out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a woman in a pale blue lab coat.
By the time he turned his head, she had gone down a perpendicular corridor. However, he had seen enough of her to be certain.
It was Beverly.
She was there on the Enterprise. But for what reason? And how was it possible he had not known of her arrival?
Hastening down the corridor, Picard peered around the bend of the perpendicular passage and caught sight of her again. But as he did, his heart sank in his chest.
It was a woman, all right. And she was indeed wearing a pale blue lab coat. But her hair was decidedly more blond than red. And now that he got a good look at her, she wasn’t as tall as Beverly either.
Just another new person in the science section, Picard thought as he went on to the turbolift. One whose name I will learn in time. But definitely not the woman he had believed her to be.
In the lift compartment, he encountered a couple of new engineers and made small talk. Then he got out and crossed the bridge, which was still a mess of circuitry, to his ready room.
As the captain went inside, he wondered how he could have been so stupid. Beverly was elsewhere, either on a starbase or a ship or perhaps back at Starfleet Medical. But she was not on the Enterprise and might never set foot there again.
And the sooner I get used to it, the better.
Circumnavigating his desk, Picard took a seat and looked around the room. Something is different, he decided. Then he realized what it was: a new carpet. The same color as the old one, but cozier somehow. More cheerful.
The place was shaping up, he conceded. And the rest of the ship along with it. Before long, Enterprise would leave drydock and do what she was meant to do: plumb the mysteries of a vast and still largely unexplored galaxy.
The captain smiled a little at the thought. There were still adventures ahead. A great many of them. All he had to do was put the past behind him and look to the future.
As he had done as a boy, when he looked at the stars and yearned to be among them. As he had done as a young second officer, bringing a battered Stargazer back to Earth.
As he would do again and again, for as long as the fleet had need of him.
Just then, he heard a familiar voice over the ship’s intercom: “Commander Worf to Captain Picard.”
The captain looked up. “Picard here.”
“Sir,” said Worf, “the new chief medical officer has arrived.”
Picard was taken aback. Had Worf alerted him to the imminence of this person’s arrival? Probably-and he had been so distracted, he had failed to pay attention.
I am not ready, he thought. However, he would have to meet the fellow sooner or later. “Send him to my ready room.”
“You mean… send her to your ready room.”
Picard sighed. It would have to be a woman, wouldn’t it? “Yes, of course. Send her.”
Suddenly, he didn’t feel comfortable behind his desk. He yielded to a need to get up, to stretch his legs, and wound up