Ghost Ship - Diane Carey [38]
“Picard out. Counselor, do you have anything, anything more concrete to say?”
Troi sighed. “I’ve been trying to isolate the impressions, to see if they’re only memories of lifeforms or actual life essences, but so far I have no specifics to offer.”
“It’s you I’m worried about,” Crusher told her.
Troi’s mouth bowed. “You’re kind. But if I can’t use my abilities to the good of the ship-“
“You know what I’m talking about,” the doctor interrupted. “The inherent danger of telepathy. If other telepaths are more overbearing than you are, the force of their minds could damage you, Deanna. And I can’t put a bandage on your mind.”
“I’ve tried to close my mind, but they batter through my barriers-“
“Are you telling me these things could present an actual danger to you?” Picard suddenly roared.
Startled, Troi clamped her mouth shut and stared at the whole prospect. She hadn’t yet heard it put into words, and it didn’t sound very good.
“This whole business worries me,” Crusher said. “After what Wesley described to me, I’d have suggested a mass delusion if it hadn’t come over the computer screen. That element adds a frightening scientific reality to all this. Oh … Captain, Wesley asked that I apologize to you on his behalf.”
Picard puzzled this for a moment, then asked, “Whatever for?”
Crusher blinked. “I don’t know. I thought you did.”
After a moment he shook his head. “Don’t recall anything particular, doctor.”
She shrugged, embarrassed. “I see. Then the apology is mine. Wesley’s at that age where he thinks all adults are prejudiced against children.”
Picard cocked his hand toward her and mused, “Of course we are. They’re children. They have to grow out of it. No one expects any more, or any less. When they’re adults, they won’t be children anymore. And there’ll be new prejudices for them to ford.”
“You mean like those against superior officers?”
“Yes.” He chuckled, his mouth lengthening into a melancholy grin. The change in mood cleared his head, and he found the difficult situation a little easier to accept.
Troi turned to gaze out the viewport, waiting for the moment to end. And those against telepaths. To offer unclarity in place of another unclarity-to replace ignorance with ambiguity-is this my only service?
“If these beings are prisoners,” Picard mused, “then they become my responsibility as well. I wonder if I have the right to decide on their behalf. We’re going to have to increase our efforts to communicate with them somehow.”
Troi looked at him, her fears returning. “But that requires power, sir. The entity could focus on it and destroy us.”
Crusher spoke up. “And there’s something else.” The captain tried not to sound weary. “Yes, doctor?”
She dropped her gaze to the desktop for a moment. When she looked up again, she met Jean-Luc Picard’s eyes squarely. “What do we do if they simply will not negotiate with us?” she asked. “You know what they say about the road to hell.”
“Curious that Counselor Troi would have been focused upon by an electromagnetic disturbance.”
“Keep your mind on your work,” Riker grumbled at the android’s comment. Irritation skittered through him as his hand hovered an inch from the intercom, an inch from calling sickbay. There was Data, a few steps away. Still walking around after that attack. Just shook it off. And Deanna was in sickbay, fighting for control of her mind.
Data looked up from the readout screen. “My mind is always on my work, Commander. You see, I have a multiphase memory core which allows me to-“
“I don’t care,” Riker heard himself bite back. “I’m really not interested.”
Data’s brows poked up over his nose. “Perhaps if I explained on a simpler level-“
His back cramping, Riker straightened and glared into Data’s yellow eyes. “Would you mind?”
“Not at all, sir,” the android responded amicably. “The concept behind my special multiphase brain capacity is-“
“That’s not what I meant!”
“Isn’t it, sir? It is what you said.”
Geordi reached over and tugged on the android’s sleeve. “Don’t push the issue, Data. Mr. Riker wants reports