Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [128]
“When you must lieea”…she had said, “keep it simple. Don’t make up involved stories.
Often part of the truth-that which pleases your listener—will satisfy him, and you won’t actually have to lie at all.”
Data had depended heavily on that advice ever since, and now found it working once again with the Konor.
None of the people they passed along the way ‘questioned them, though only the guards at the door and Chief O’Brien knew the plan. The transporter chief played his role well, questioning Data’s intent to beam down with the prisoner, but backing off when told it was “Captain’s orders.”
They materialized in the same square where the away team had been attacked, but this time Data’s companion led the way up the steps to the building which housed the Konor Council of Elders. Data easily proved his ability to communicate, although he kept his statements brief. It was getting no easier to concentrate through the excruciating pain which he must not allow to be broadcast with his words.
Luckily, the Council members were as easy to convince as the first Konor had been.
We are not alone! exclaimed their leader, who
was hardly an “elder” in the usual sense. In fact, none of the Council appeared to be much beyond middle age.
Before someone they regarded as an equal, the Konor spoke—or rather mentally projected-freely. They wanted to know all about Data, his people, what planet he came from. He gave them as few facts as possible, “letting slip” that he had a brother whose whereabouts were unknown so as to allow them to assume he came from what they would consider a normal family. For the most part he countered their questions with questions of his own, and learned that the discovery of a Konor of a race far different from theirs only confirmed their beliefs.
Unsurprisingly, the Konor “revelations” were rooted in beliefs shared by all the Samdians. They knew little of other cultures, because of their isolationist political and economic policies, but they were aware that the galaxy held many beings physically different from themselves yet with intelligence equal to their own.
When the Konor developed their unique mental broadcasting, they were naturally drawn to those they could communicate with. Thralen had surmised correctly: As the numbers of Konor grew, the ordinary Samdians began first to be uneasy about them, then to fear them. Prejudice spread.
Tolerance dropped to nil, however, when the Konor declared new interpretations of certain passages in Samdian teachings: intelligence and self-awareness were not enough. The ordinary Samdians were wrong in believing they had souls; the true Konor had come into existence among them only now, displaying absolute 358 proof of their ensoulment to Konor and Ikonor alike. It was difficult, they agreed, to realize that people one loved were mere soulless beings-but that was the test Providence placed upon them. Data’s presence was proof that they were rightly interpreting what Providence required of them. He must display his ability publicly, and be welcomed into their company before the multitudes.
As that was exactly what Data wanted, he was perfectly willing to comply. Unfortunately, it would take several hours to spread the word, so that as many Konor as possible could gather to witness the ceremony. Forced to respond “soul to soul” to a barrage of questions and comments, he found the constant bursts of pain becoming intolerable. He might be able to contain his reactions, as a human could not, but despite the assurance of his diagnostics that his systems were thus far undamaged, he felt as if his circuits were burning out, one by one.
The agonizing sensations slowed Data’s conscious thinking. It was not until he was invited to a feast in celebration of his arrival that he found a way to obtain a few hours of relief: No-I must rather fast and meditate. Is there a place I can be alone?