Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [45]
“I did not frighten that creature who tried to carry me off,” he pointed out, grateful that his speech circuits no longer created perceptible pauses.
Nor did he frighten Thelia, although he wondered if he might not frighten himself if he could see the damage. From his eyebrows down, the front of his body had escaped the firestorm, so that skin remained in place. From his eyebrows back over the whole of his skull, though, and down his back to his waist, skin and hair that had been burned and fused had fallen away, leaving his skeletal structure, neural net, sensor mesh, and insulation exposed.
From his waist halfway to his knees, his sides and back had been protected by Theliars pack and water bag. That skin and uniform remained intact, but the insides of his legs showed from there down to where his feet disappeared into the protection of his boots.
The top part of the front of his uniform still hung loose. Data was not sure he could have torn that strong synthetic when he had his full strength; he certainly could not now, so he wrapped what was left of his sleeves around his waist to tie at the back.
The fronts of his trouser legs flapped loosely as he and Thelia started out once more on the clearly marked trail. “We must be more careful what we say,” Thelia remarked. “Why?” Data asked..
“The gods are listening. You said you could not get to this side of the lake unless they sent something to carry you. Next time, ask for a boat. Or a bridge.”
“I shall keep that in mind,” he replied.
As he labored to climb a hill that would ordinarily have taken no effort, Thelia looked at him with concern again. “Data, do you feel pain?”
“Not exactly. To inform me of a malfunction, my sensors create signals which cannot be ignored. The sensations are extremely unpleasant until repairs are set in motion. Once that is done, there is no further need for unpleasant sensations, and so they cease.”
“People feel pain all through the healing process.
Yet you wish to be human.”
“Not in that sense.”
“But you said you were willing to give up your strength, your special senses, to be human, Data. The gods were obviously listening to you. Isn’t that what they are testing now?”
“So it appears,” he was forced to agree.
“Thelia, your gods do not seem to be bound by the laws I comprehend. You are correct: I shall tell them of my wish to know what it is to be human. The worst that can happen is that they will be unable or unwilling to grant it.”
They hiked over the top of a rise, and saw the trail ahead disappear into the mouth of a cave. “How much farther?” Thelia asked. “What more can they ask of us, Data?”
“I think,” he replied, “we must leave that up to the gods.”
Inside the cave the climb became steeper yet.
Data tried to help Thelia, but had not enough strength.
They struggled on, Data hampered by his own weight as he labored up the steep slope.
His sensors might be unreliable, but they had to be very near the top of the mountain now.
At last they reached the top of a rock formation, and faced a level cavern out of which led … seven archways.
“I do not know,” Thelia replied. “We have never been given so many choices before.”
They moved closer. Through the first archway they could see a patch of woods with a small stream running through it, and stepping stones on which to cross the stream.
“Water,” Thelia remarked.
“No,” Data said, putting a hand on her arm.
“You were not to enter your home when it appeared before. That is my home,” for he recognized his own favorite holodeck recreation of a nature park on Earth. “Your land is lovely,” Thelia said.
“But you are right; we must not go that way.”
Their other choices were less obviously right or wrong: more rocky passageways, desert scenery, frozen caverns, two closed doors … and a mirror.
Thelia gasped. “I have never seen such a huge looking-glass!” Data was more startled to see what a ragamuffin pair they looked. Thelia was scratched, bruised, sunburned, her hair trailing wild wisps from the sensible braid she had started with, her shirt torn, face dirty, eyes