Hard Crash - Christie Golden [14]
"What do you think, Geordi?" Gold asked, his calm voice breaking the horrified silence that filled the briefing room. "You've had some experience with Borg technology."
Geordi licked his lips. "I don't know, Captain. This technology is different from any Borg technology I've encountered before. Take a look at the delicacy of that cable, the seamless way the artificial has been integrated with the organic in the brain. Borg technology was always...." He searched for the right word. "Crude, but efficient. It got the job done, but not much more. This is almost elegant. Then again, if there's one thing you can count on with the Borg, it's that they're always improving. Upgrading."
"Assimilating," said Duffy, managing the complicated trick of putting a sneer of disgust and respect into the single word.
"Exactly," said La Forge.
"But it was my understanding that the Borg travel in groups--in a collective, or subdivisions, in a unimatrix. Never just alone like this," put in Gomez.
"Again," said Abramowitz, "that's always been true...so far. But don't forget the Borg queen. She is quite definitely an individual."
La Forge nodded agreement. "And there was an adolescent male Borg who came aboard the Enterprise several years ago who was able to understand the concept of the individual. We even named him. Called him Hugh. Got kinda fond of the guy, actually."
"I remember reading about that," said Abramowitz. "Because of his interaction with the Enterprise crew, he was unable to fully reintegrate into Borg society. He joined with others who split off from the Collective, right? What became of him?"
"We don't know," said Geordi. "I like to think that he's all right out there somewhere, but who knows with the Borg? They could have reassimilated him and studied this thing called individuality. They could have found a way to utilize it. When you think about it, the Borg are already a blending of organic being and machine. It's not that big a step to link an individual with a vessel to form a new collective of one unified mind--instead of a humanoid simply being implanted with cybernetics and linked together, li nk that mind directly with a personal, mobile machine. With a ship."
Carol sank back in her chair. "It does sound exactly like something the Borg would do."
"The ship's ability to withstand the crash also points to Borg technology," said P8 Blue. "It powered up well enough when it wanted to. Self-repair, just like a Borg cube."
"Let's think like the Borg for a moment," said Gold. "Not that it's a pleasant task. What would be the advantage to the Borg of forming such a collective? Tying only one mind to one machine? What's the point in that?"
"Easier maintenance," said Gomez at once. "One person, one ship. Elizabeth, it looked as though that pilot was able to disengage from the ship. Is that right?"
Lense nodded. "They could join, and I'd imagine they could separate. There was no indication that the pilot required any sustenance while joined. The entire digestive system had shrunk. I suspect the pilot didn't even eat as we understand the term, but got her nourishment somehow through her connection to the ship."
"Again, exactly like the Borg," said Gold, frowning. His bushy black eyebrows stuck out over his eyes like alarmed caterpillars. "She would regenerate. As long as the ship had power, she could live."
Lense nodded confirmation. "And yet, she died and the ship continued on. There was no trace of injury or illness, so there must have been some kind of malfunction which was localized and didn't spread to the ship."
"So," continued Gold. "Easier maintenance might be a reason. What else?"
"A single-person vessel could travel places that a more standard Borg ship couldn't," said Abramowitz, clearly warming to the subject. "It could scout out races for assimilation, then alert the more aggressive cube."
Bart felt cold. All this made terrible sense.
"There's your explanation as to why someone would attack Intar," said Corsi.