Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [72]
Accepting her rationale, he said, “I am tired, something I do not yet know how to cope with.”
“Try getting some sleep,” she suggested, apparently not at all perturbed. “There’s always tomorrow, Data comseveral tms for you and me to get to know one another better, you know. Captain Picard has agreed to let us ride along to Dacket.”
“Yes, I know,” he said. “Then you will excuse me?” “Certainly,” she replied. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“I will look forward to it,” Data replied, honesty compelling him to admit to himself that he spoke the truth, even though some confused emotion suggested it was wrong to be attracted to Pris. Logically, he did not know why it should seem wrong, but many aspects of human emotion had always been a mystery to him. Perhaps it would be best to avoid women for the time being, at least until he had completed his requalification.
He returned to his quarters, but although he was physically tired after the long and active day, he did not feel ready to sleep. Something led him to the shelves behind his computer console, where he displayed those objects that had somehow acquired importance to him.
He picked up the crystal hologram base and set it on his desk, hesitated, then turned it on. The image of Tasha stood before him. Dark emotions churned within him, more intense than any he had known as an android when Dare had reentered Tasha’s life; his sorrow at her death; his guilt when he had revealed the secret Tasha had asked him to keep, in order to preserve his own life. Captain Picard had said Tasha would understand, and Data was sure he was right-yet he still felt as if he had betrayed her trust.
Someone triggered Data’s door signal. Without thinking, he called, “Come.” The doors slid open. Someone walked across the room toward him, and halted abruptly.
Data looked up, to find Darryl Adin staring at the figure of Tasha, his expression a painful mixture of surprise and sorrow. Then his eyes narrowed. “What are you doing with Tasha’s image, Data?”
“We were … friends,” Data replied hesitantly, but his voice betrayed him.
Dare’s gaze moved upward from the holographic figure to Data’s face. “Oh, my God,” he said in a voice devoid of inflection. “You were in love with her.”
DATA sAT FROZEN, unable to confirm or deny what Dare had said. He didn’t know if he had loved Tasha, knew no more now what love was than he had known as an android.
He saw a flicker of raw anger deep in the mercenary’s eyes, and prepared to be thrown across the room.
But it didn’t happen. Instead, he watched as Dare’s anger faded and was replaced by sadness.
“I’m sorry, Data,” Dare said; his voice roughedged. “Dammit, I knew you were capable of friendship, loyalty, sympathy-I should have realized it when you brought me Tasha’s farewell: you under, stood what I was going through because you suffered the same loss.”
“We were never-was Data began. But Dare did not deserve a lie. “You were the one Tasha loved,” he said truthfully.
Dare came to Data’s side of the desk, looking at the image of Tasha. He said nothing for a few moments, 201 then reached out and turned off the display. Without looking at Data, he said, voice tightly controlled, “If Tasha were still alive, you and I would be rivals. Especially now.”
“I told you-was Data tried to reassure him, but Dare interrupted him. “It’s ironic: because the woman we both loved is dead, instead of rivals we are closer friends. I should have realized it when you said you needed my companionship as much as I did yours when you brought me her farewell.” Data breathed a sigh of intense relief. “I am glad you see it that way.” “As you have always done,” said Dare, giving Data his rare sincere smile. “I wonder-will you be able to remain so selfless as a human? You risked your life to clear me of treason and murder. No one would have known the difference if you had done nothing, and I would have been out of Tasha’s life again, for good.”
“Had I been human, I could not have done it,” Data pointed out. “Only a positronic brain could interface with a starbase computer and