Gulliver's Fugitives - Keith Sharee [64]
When Chops’ band played there she made sure all lyrics of food remained uncensored in their songs. Some members of the audience attacked the band and the Vulcan keyboardist had to use the nerve-pinch to defend Chops. The band were all arrested and taken to trial, where the Tellarite drummer defiantly answered all questions with luscious descriptions of gourmet dishes, and even smuggled in a sandwich which he produced and tried to eat while on the witness stand. The Federation had a difficult time negotiating the band’s release.
Chops hadn’t laughed when she told the story. She said that censorship just as ridiculous had been applied to artists, writers, and rock musicians in the twentieth century and that some of them had even been targeted for death because of it.
Now, as Geordi watched the frenetic movements of her hands, he knew no one on the ship could build the Cyclops-buster faster than Chops, but he doubted it would be fast enough. A call from Wentz, on the bridge, supplied confirmation.
“The one-eyes almost got into Impulse a minute ago. I think it’s the same pair that got into Warp Engineering, the same locksmith and escort. We can tell by the dents; the soldier-escort has had dents since Worf tried to ambush them.”
“You’re telling me Worf actually laid hands on it, Lieutenant?”
“Don’t know, sir. He hasn’t been awake to tell us. But it looks like they’re about to make another try and I think this time they’ll get in.”
“Have you tried fluctuating the temperature around them?”
“As much as we were able. Didn’t bother them a bit.”
“Try cycling power through the life support grid around them, set up a magnetic field.”
Geordi went back to work on a damaged console while he simultaneously controlled the engines. The myriad pains and tensions in his sleep-deprived body had achieved an ever-changing complexity that rivaled the engines themselves. His command was turning into a battle with his own biology.
“Wentz to Lieutenant La Forge.”
She sounded excited.
“La Forge here.”
“We’re being hailed from the planet’s surface—it’s Captain Picard, sir!”
“Send it down to my screen here—but I want you and the bridge crew to see it, too.”
Geordi went over to his monitor. Picard’s face was already there.
“Lieutenant La Forge!”
“Captain, sir! Are you all right?”
“Yes, I’ve been treated well since I’ve been on the planet’s surface. I’ve been talking with Crichton and he now sees this was all a misunderstanding. We’re close to an agreement on finishing our search for the Huxley.”
“Well, why, then, are his one-eyes still trying to sabotage our ship?”
“Apparently he can’t communicate with them from the surface. They have their own on-board command and control systems. You know, it’s like the missiles used on Earth during the Post-Atomic Horror—fire and forget. But don’t worry. I’m going to tell you how you can neutralize the one-eyes. How much damage have they done so far?”
“Just a moment sir, I’ll check the current status.”
Geordi switched to a private channel.
“Computer, tell me if that’s really Captain Picard.”
“Working … positive on all parameters.”
Geordi still didn’t like it. He decided to be safely nonspecific. The real Picard would understand.
He switched back to the outside channel.
“Captain, we’re still afloat, but we’re going to need a lot of time in drydock when this is finished. We’d love any tips for stopping those little vandals.”
“What you have to do right away, Lieutenant, is change the beam-collimation on your phasers. Use the Rollins Collimation Standard. Otherwise, in present configuration, the phasers’ energy would cause the one-eyes to explode. Rollins Collimation will allow the phasers to destroy the one-eyes without the explosions.”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“We’ll jump on it.”
Geordi was really sweating over whether it would be prudent to ask the next question. But Picard anticipated it.
“The away team you sent, Geordi, they’re all