Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [115]
From the opposite direction, there came a splashing and scraping. The woman started working her way over the rocks toward the sound, a difficult process. But soon she would be far enough away-A man came around some. rocks. Both he and the woman stopped, looking at one another. The woman was small, with dark hair and eyes. The man was tall, with lighter brown hair. Like the woman, he was somewhat the worse for his journey; but he smiled when he saw her.
The woman spoke. “You are the one from afar the gods promised as a companion on my journey.
My name is Thelia.”
The man’s smile widened. “And you are the one promised me-by our parents, and now by the gods. I am Sharn.”
“Sharn!” she exclaimed. “I should have known it would be you. Surely together we will succeed in our Quest.”
The man took her hand. “I saw a spring of water 319 back there. We’ll need to fill our water bags before we try to find our way up the mountain.”
But they would not have to climb it, Data saw: the cave opening Geordi had discovered was now clearly visible; the two Elysians would easily find it when they returned from the spring.
It was balm to Data’s conscience, if not his curiosity, when the two disappeared from sight and hearing. He hit his combadge. “One to beam up.”
Geordi had lingered in the transporter room, waiting for his friend. “Darnmit, Data,” he said, “how many times do you have to be reminded you’re not indestructible! What if there’d been another power surge while we were beaming you?”
“I think,” said Data, not knowing why he felt certain of something on such slight evidence, “you would have been warned, as you were of the last one.”
“You think that Red Alert was deliberately triggered? By whom?” “Elysia’s “gods.” i just saw them in action.”
“What?”
“No, I did not see the gods themselves,” he explained, “but I saw their response to people they had invited. When two Elysians came ashore for one of their Quests, that cave entrance you detected was suddenly visible.” “You’re sure they didn’t see you?”
“I am certain. But Geordi-the two events suggest a pattern. They did not want us on the island, so we could not see the cave. But apparently we are not unwelcome on Elysia, as they have started to warn us of those dangerous power surges.”
“Intriguing, as you always say.” Geordi was rubbing his hands. “You’d better go tell the captain your 320 theory. I think I should let one of the doctors check some of these cuts.” “Let me see,” Data responded automatically, and Geordi held out his hands. They were cut and bleeding from climbing over the sharp rock formations on the sacred island. “They should be cleaned and medicated against infection,” he agreed.
“Which will hurt even more,” Geordi complained. He shook his head. “I don’t know why you’d ever want to be human, Data. We get hurt awfully easilyespecially compared to you.”
“I do not want to be physically human,” Data replied. “It is just that I wonder if it will ever be possible for me to understand the human spirit … the human soul.”
“Either way, Data,” Geordi replied, “the only way you’ll ever understand is to understand human pain comand my friend, that’s something you should pray you never have to experience.”
THE ENTERPRISE SPENT three more frustrating days trying to solve the puzzle of Elysia’s dangerous power surges and their relationship, if any, to the elusive “gods.” Then they were called on an emergency mission to the Samdian Sector, where the local populace were being attacked by beings known as Konor, and another ship was assigned to verify that the space lane past Elysia was safe to travel.
Within an hour of setting out, Data was deep into a fruitless search through every cross-reference he could think offor records of the Konor. And an hour after that, he was certain he had left no potential source unsearched. He found nothing: the Konor were new to this part of the galaxy, and until the Enterprise reached the Samdian Sector