Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [4]
Wesley teased Mystery with the ribbon from one of the presents until the cat grew tired of the game and disappeared as enigmatically as she had come.
Pulaski, Worf, and Geordi got into a heated debate over the book Data had given Worf: a copy of Moby Dick complete with nineteenth-century woodcut illustrations. Data knew the adventurestrevenge format would appeal to the Klingon, and looked forward to discussing its literary merits with him. Right now, though, Worf had other things on his mind. Never one to forget his duty, the Security Officer broke off his conversation with Geordi and Pulaski to remind Wesley, “We leave orbit at 0600 hours. You’ll need a full night’s sleep if we are to trust ru tii nwite” “Come on, Worf-it’s a party, was Wesley protested, thus proving to everyone there that he must be tired indeed.
Worf rose to his feet.
Wesley was weary enough to complain, “Most of the crew are taking shoreddleave on the Starbase-lots of them won’t come back till the last minute. I could’ve gone-was Worf stalked toward the boy, a low growl sounding in his throat. Wesley scrambled to his feet, picking up the startube. “Okay, okay-I’m going. Portal! Good night, everyone. Thanks, Data!” and he darted out the nearest holodeck door.
Worf paused a moment, staring after him, then turned to the others. “Perhaps this night I ought literally to tuck him in. You have provided our charge with a most fascinating toy, Data.” He, too, made his farewells, and one by one the others left until only Kate Pulaski remained, carefully picking up the bellflower.
“It cannot break,” Data assured her. “Shall I carry it to your quarters for you?”
“Thank you,” she replied. “It’s incredible how you can put together something as complex as this, and that gadget for Wesley, in a few hours. The people in Ship’s Supplies can’t turn the designs for my new medical equipment into reality when they’ve had them for nearly a month now!” “Do you wish me to see if I can help them, Doctor?” Data offered.
“No-That was a vpecom not a hint-It’s not your jnh, and the people in Supplies need to Icarn to do it.”
Then, as they walked through the nearly-deserted corridors, she turned back to an earlier topic of conversation. “Did you really think I didn’t consider you a person, Data?” “I did not think about it.”
“Don’t give me that. I’ve seen you react to some of the things I say. I’m a blunt woman; I generally speak my mind without thinking much about it first.” She sighed uncharacteristically. “You fascinate me, Data. You are so much more than the sum total of circuits, sensors, organic fluids, and heuristic algorithms. I want to understand you as you, not some imitation humanoid.”
“I am an imitation humanoid.”
“Nonsense!” she flashed. “The humanoid shape is one of the most versatile; otherwise, so many species would not have evolved along the same pattern. You were obviously intended to be as versatile as possible, hence your form.” They stopped before Pulaski’s door, and she took the bellflower from him. “Data,” she said, “I wish I could wave a magic wand and turn you human for a few days. You need to find out that there’s nothing so special about us, so you can get on with being you. was With that, she stepped into her quarters, leaving Data standing by himself in the corridor. Data did not sleep. The extra free time it gave him allowed him to assuage his voracious curiosity with the computer or on the holodeck. There was never “nothing to do” for Data.
Yet this night he found himself feeling alone.
THE NEXT DAY, the U.s.s. Enterprise left Starbase 173 with new orders: update sector maps of an area of Federation space Starfleet Command now planned to open to civilian traffic. It was far off the usual routes, but led to some of the oldest starbases still functioning com^th responsible for monitoring the RomuIan Neutral Zone.
In his seat at the bridge Ops console, Data diverted his attention from the primary systems monitor to run a brief check on recent Starfleet reports of the area they planned to survey. He noted recurring