Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [59]
Something was wrong with that reference-but he didn’t care. He felt himself smiling, then grinning, as he looked at his hands and feet, felt the bristle of beard when he rubbed his chin, stumbled into the bathroom and found a human face surrounded by rumpled hair staring back at him from the mirror. It took him quite some time to prepare for the day. Shaving was more complicated than it looked, but 163 despite Geordi’s contention that it should be regarded as “a human art form,” Data adjusted the shaver until it gave him a clean, comfortable, and completely automatic shave. so.
When he was finished with his preparations, he was the image of a proper Starfleet officer: face cleanly shaven, hair neatly in place and treated to stay that way, uniform unwrinkled, and boots shined.
With practice, he hoped to get his morning routine down to a few minutes. Only then, with a brief moment’s panic, did he think to check the time with the computer. To his relief, he was not due on the bridge for almost seven hours; he would have time to help Dare and his gang as he had promised, and keep his appointment with the former Starfleet Security Officer on the holodeck.
Mystery had been in his quarters last night-unless that had been a dream. Odd… he did not recall anything else that might be a dream; hours had simply passed without his being aware of them. There was no sign of the cat now; perhaps she had learned to make automatic doors open for her.
Meanwhile, Data was hungry. He had forgotten to eat again before going to bed. Instead of using the food console, though, he decided to brave TenForward.
The smell of coffee drifted through the lounge. As an android, Data had not drunk coffee or tea; they contained no nutrients, and his organic fluids had had no use for stimulants.
However, the aroma was very pleasant, so Data sat down at the bar and asked Guinan to pour him a cup.
She looked at him with her enigmatic smile and slight 164 slow shake of her head. “So you got what you wished for. That can be very dangerous, Data.”
“I know,” he replied. “I am trying to . .
. ease into the human condition” Both smile and head shake became broader. “It doesn’t work that way, my friend. We’re all thrust into the world, willing or not, kicking and screaming. From then on, we must make the best of it.”
“I seem to have no choice but to do likewise,” he said, and took a sip of his coffee. It was so bitter he could hardly swallow it. “Gah!” he said involuntarily, and stared at the steaming liquid.
“How can something that smells so good taste so terrible?
I had the impression that people found it pleasurable.”
“Many do. It’s an acquired taste, Data, but there is no need for you to acquire it today. If you want a hot drink, try some tea-and I suggest milk and sugar in it at first.”
“I will try it. Have you any suggestions for breakfast?” “What a challenge,” Guinan said. “Both balanced and palatable to someone just experiencing true tastes for the first time.” She gave him juice, a small portion of a warm grain porridge, and a delicious spiced meat on flaky pastry.
Data ate it all, and found the tea with which she followed it up far more palatable than the coffee.
“Thank you,” he said. “There are so many choices, and little of my previous experience seems to carry over.”
“Yes,” she agreed, “but you really have no more choices than before. They are merely different.”
“Perhaps,” he said. Even when he had attempted to resign from Starfleet to avoid Bruce Maddox’s experiment, Data had perceived only limited possibilities. Leaving Starfleet had appeared to negate far more than half his options.
Now … the possibilities were endless. He could continue his career, join Dare or other adventurers, or decide to live on a planet somewhere. As with Pris last night, Data found himself intense ly aware of Guinan as female. For the first time it dawned on him that he had an entirely new option: within Starfleet or without, he could form or join a family unit. I am no longer merely mechanically functional. I am capable of fathering