Immortal Coil - Jeffrey Lang [14]
The party was composed largely of young cadets, crewmen who were not familiar with some of Data’s idiosyncrasies and were already unnerved by the prospect of fighting Borg drones hand to hand. There just hadn’t been enough time to explain things to either the cadets or Data, so Picard had taken the easy way and ordered Data to deactivate the emotion chip, a case of putting the ship’s safety before the well-being of one member of the crew. It was the kind of call Picard hated to make, but which he knew he always must.
“I may have done you an injustice that day, Data,” Picard said. “If you truly want to understand what it means to be human, you will have to learn to transcend these periods of your life, find ways to cope, to draw strength from inner resources. Hemingway wrote, ‘The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.’ “
“I have noted,” Data said, “that the rest of the thought is frequently omitted when it is quoted: ‘But those that it will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure that it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.’ ” Data fell silent, letting the lines sink in. Finally, he concluded, “But Hemingway knew nothing of artificial life forms.”
“No, he didn’t,” Picard agreed. “But I believe he understood that the human heart has a remarkable capacity for healing. This is another aspect of humanity you have yet to experience, Data. I do not wish to usurp Counselor Troi’s role, but I believe she would tell you to give yourself time to heal.”
Picard thought he saw some of the lines lift from around Data’s eyes and mouth until, finally, he nodded and said, “All right, Captain. I will give myself time.” Then, with a trace of bitterness Picard had never heard in his voice before, Data said, “I have a great deal of it at my disposal.”
Picard tried to smile, found that he could not. “Good,” he said uncertainly. “Very good.” He settled back into the couch, then remembered his tea and reached for it. “This strikes me as the right moment to return to matters of duty and tell you about a message that I received shortly before you called me. It is, in an odd way, tangentially related to what we have been discussing. Admiral Haftel of the Daystrom Institute Annex on Galor IV contacted me a short while ago with some unhappy news. Apparently Commander Bruce Maddox has been under his command there for the past two years, on special assignment. Two weeks ago, there was an incident at Maddox’s lab, and the commander was caught in a partial building collapse. The admiral was reluctant to go into detail, but ordered us to divert immediately to Galor IV.”
“Commander Maddox is alive?” Data asked.
“Yes,” Picard said, “but there would appear to be complications. The admiral asked that Dr. Crusher accompany us as well.”
“I see,” Data said. “Did the admiral say why he required the Enterprise, specifically?”
“No, that’s part of the puzzle,” Picard said. “I checked, and there are several other starships nearer to Galor IV that could divert there if the admiral required general assistance. But he wanted us.”
“Intriguing,” Data said. “Then … a mystery.”
“So it would appear.” Picard smiled and said, “The game is afoot.”
But Data, lost in thought, did not smile at Picard’s joke. He was too busy trying to determine whether the peculiar sensation that he had just felt run down his back was, in fact, a shiver.
Chapter Five
Captain’s Log, Stardate 51407.6: We have arrived at Galor IV and are preparing to beam down to meet with Admiral Haftel. While I have some concerns about Data’s emotional state, I believe the best course is to involve him in this investigation. Counselor Troi will accompany us to monitor Data’s condition.
THE AWAY TEAM HAD BEEN ASSEMBLED in Transporter Room One for ten minutes awaiting a “go” signal from Dr. Crusher. A routine diagnostic had shown