Immortal Coil - Jeffrey Lang [56]
Data looked up from the display just as the stream of information ceased. The gray light from the screen cast heavy shadows across his features and made his golden skin appear dour and sickly. “Yes, Commander. Quite a bit, in fact. Apparently I was only partly correct about Professor Vaslovik. For reasons that are still unclear to me, he was planning to abduct the holotronic android from the moment he agreed to join the project. However, while he was, in fact, responsible for the android’s disappearance, and the purging of the project records, he was not responsible for the explosion in the lab or for Commander Maddox’s subsequent injury. If anything, I believe he may have saved the commander’s life.
“The logs show that Vaslovik became aware some time ago that the project had come under the scrutiny of persons unknown. The indications were subtle: Some of the datafiles in the lab were being accessed and sensor ghosts kept showing up on the security system. Unfortunately, whoever was doing this left no trail. The biosensors turned up nothing.
“Vaslovik was reluctant to reveal his suspicions to Commander Maddox and Lieutenant Barclay, fearing what their unknown intruders might do if he tipped his hand too soon. Instead, he finalized his preparations to abscond with the android, creating the forgery to leave in its place. It seems he originally hoped to do a more complete job on the forgery in order to make it appear to the Institute as if the project simply failed. But when the planet’s climate control system went offline, Vaslovik knew that some manner of assault was imminent, and implemented his escape plan before the forgery was ready to withstand close inspection. Like his adversaries, he was able to use the sudden confusion during the storm to mask his activities, and got away with the real android before they or anyone else arrived on the scene.”
“So there’s an unknown third party involved in all this,” McAdams said. “Is there any clue in there at all as to who it might be, what their motives were or where Vaslovik took the real android?”
“No,” Data said to all three questions. “However, there is a clear indication here that after Vaslovik saw to Commander Maddox’s safety, he used a device to deliberately induce the commander’s coma, as insurance against Maddox revealing whatever he’d seen that night in the lab.”
“It’s beginning to feel like we’re taking two steps backward for every one we take forward,” Riker said irritably. “How the hell are we supposed to—”
But Riker never finished the thought. There was a crash somewhere behind him, and suddenly Data was moving, drawing his phaser and lunging toward him, moving with the effortless speed that Riker knew was always at his disposal, but which he rarely used. Riker didn’t have time to turn or duck, barely had time to draw a breath, before he felt Data’s hand on his shoulder, shoving him down. The impact wrenched his arm, but despite the sudden, sharp pain, he managed to draw his phaser as he rolled across the floor. Data, he knew, was obviously reacting to a threat that had just entered the lab.
Skidding to a halt against Barclay’s legs, Riker lifted the phaser high, sighting on the first thing he focused on—Data’s head—then immediately shifted his attention to the two huge humanoids that were standing over him.
Two and a half meters tall, the beings were bone-white and hairless, with pale eyes staring out from deep sockets. Silver robes hung from shoulders that were at least a meter wide. Apparently, they had been lurking inside the spaceship bay, near enough to the away team to remain hidden from view if they flattened themselves against the dark viewports. The lab was strewn with black glass from their explosive entrance into the lab.
That would explain why McAdams and I didn’t see them. But why the hell didn’t they register on the tricorders? And what do they want?
Riker could see that Data was trying different settings on his phaser to no avail; the weapon wouldn’t fire. Then, almost as if taking a toy