Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [0]
Data had to fight for his very existence in that episode; the experience has lingering aftereffects.
“No, sir … I never wanted to compound one … illusion … with another. It might be real to Q, perhaps even to you, sir. But it would never be so to me. Was it not one of the captain’s favorite authors who wrote, “This above all: to thine own self be true’? Sorry, Commander. I must decline.” comLieutenant Commander Data, to Commander Riker’s offer of humanity, “Hide and.q” “You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.” comCommander Spock, “Amok Time” “Legends … are the spice of the universe, Mr. Data, because they have a way of sometimes coming true.” comCaptain Jean-Luc Picard, “Haven” THE U.s.s. ENOUGH-RERPR-TSEvery swung in orbit about Starbase 173, with only a skeleton crew on duty. On the holodeck, a party marked the homecoming of Lt. Commander Data-a celebration as intense and cheerful as if it had been months or years that he had been separated from their ranks, instead of less than seventy-two hours.
The holodeck was set to duplicate parkland on an Earthlike planet; one entered by crossing stepping stones over a stream, leading to a path through a patch of woods. Beyond that there were open lawns with blue sky, green grass, and a fresh breeze stirring the trees dotted here and there in the landscape.
From a distance, as if a band were playing somewhere just out of sight, music drifted pleasantly, not loud enough to interfere with conversation.
Of the participants, however, the one least cheered by the music and laughter was the guest of honor. Data smiled, and tried to keep up conversation with his friends, but there were some who knew him too well to miss noticing that at least a part of his good cheer was artificial. As artificial as I am, he thought as he deliberately turned to answer a question from Wesley Crusher, just to avoid addressing the concern radiating from Geordi La Forge.
“How does this work?” Wesley asked excitedly, peering into the startube that Data had just presented to him. From their acting ensign, the question did not mean “How do I start it?” or even “How do I change the display?” but “What is the principle behind its operation?”
“I suggest you examine it at leisure and when you have figured it out, explain it to me,” Data replied, never forgetting his responsibility for Wesley’s education.
The boy grinned. “I’ll figure it out. Did you build this, Data?” “No, I used the matter transformer.”
“But did you design it? I’ve never seen anything like it,” Wesley added, holding the tube to his eye and twisting its rings to bring various starfields into focus. “It’s as if it knows the direction I turn it, and actually shows me stars too far away to be seen with our instruments!” Dr.
Kate Pulaski came up to them as Wesley spoke. She gave a puzzled frown. “Surely it’s a trick-a hand-held instrument that could read distant stars would be invaluable.”
“It is up to Wesley to determine how-or whether comx does what it appears to do,” Data replied.
“Ah-another lesson,” the doctor said.
“Data’s lessons are fun,” Wesley said, grinning. 2 “Technological, you mean,” Pulaski said.
“I’m not certain you’re getting the well-rounded education you ought to have, Wesley.”
“I take history and music and literature classes,” the boy protested. “I just like science better, that’s all.”
Data took the opportunity to offer Dr.
Pulaski the gift he had chosen for her, carefully wrapped in soft paper. When he had recently resigned, his post, in an attempt to thwart Commander Bruce Maddox’s plan to take him apart, his friends had given him a “goingaway party,” complete with a present from each of them. When he had returned so soon, he had pondered what to do about those presents.
It seemed inappropriate to keep them, since he had not gone away, and yet impolite to return them. So he had settled on