Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [79]
“And quetzi ramekins,” Data added.
Pris turned to stare at him with a surprised smile. “Marallel fowl with sennabar sauce.”
“Aldebaran wine,” he suggested.
Pris giggled. “I think the champagne will be enough. I don’t want to get drunk, Data, just … friendly. Let’s have some freshly baked bread-I love the variety you can order here on the Enterprise. Our food synthesizers are very good, but nothing compared to these.”
They ate, talked of inconsequentials, and laughed a good deal more than Data had thought possible over things that were not to his knowledge funny. But he felt good, successful, even triumphant with his restoration to active duty. Everything smelled and tasted wonderful, and Pris was so lively, so beautiful-After they had eaten, they moved to the couch with one last glass of champagne. Pris sat close to Data, and it seemed the most natural thing in the world to put his arm around her. In response, she snuggled up against him. It felt good. He breathed in the clean sweet scent of her hair, and beneath it the lovely aroma of woman.
Pheromones, something from his android past analyzed.
Shut up, Data told the analytic response.
I’m human and I’m off duty. I have a right to enjoy myself For a while they continued to talk and sip champagne. Then Pris sat up, set the glasses aside, and came back into Data’s arms in a position from which it was very easy to touch her lips with his. So he did. He remembered Geordi’s advice: let the woman show you what she wants.
That was nothing new; as an android he had never initiated such a situation. Then he didn’t need advice from anyone as Pris got up and led him from his workroom toward the bedroom.
The next morning Data was wakened by his door signal. He started out of an unsettling dream, but its content disappeared the moment he came fully awake, leaving him with only the sense that it had been unpleasant indeed. “Wha-his Who’s there?” he asked, fumbling for his robe. “It’s Wesley. We have a lesson, remember?”
Data remembered-but how could it be so late?
Covering himself, he went into the outer room, saying, “Come in, Wesley.” As the boy entered, he continued, “I am sorry. I seem to have … overslept.”
Wesley stared first at Data’s disheveled appearance, then past him at the worktable still covered with the lace tablecloth and place settings for two. “You had a rate last night!” he said as if surprised. Then he blushed. “Well, why shouldn’t you? I’m sorry, Data-I just never thought of you as … well, I’m growing up, too. I understand what it’s like to notice girls. Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate in my classes, when certain girls sit next to me.” “I know exactly what you mean,” Data said, clearing the evidence of last night’s carousal into the recycler. Now he understood why Pris had insisted on leaving several hours ago. Embarrassed as he was, it would have been far worse if Pris were still here.
Data put Wesley to work at the computer, reviewing the Samdian-Konor situation. That took long enough for Data to set his quarters to rights and prepare for the day.
When he returned to the computer, Wesley looked up. “It’s all one giant dead end.”
“Any ideas for getting out of it?” Data asked.
“I don’t know. It isn’t like an equation in quantum mechanics. That I could solve. This is … trying to prove a negative, which is impossible.”
Data frowned. “Who is trying to prove a negative?” “The Konor. They’ve covered their trail so completely, it’s as if they don’t exist. Data, have you tried the starscope you gave me on this problem?” “It cannot do anything the ship’s computers cannot.”
“I know. I figured out how it accesses the star maps. I meant, have you had the computer check the charts from the Samdian System outward to the limits of explored space? I don’t see any record of it here.”
“It’s not feasible. Such a task would tie up the computer for-was He drew an utter blank.
It would be an impossible amount of time, but Data could not say if it were days or months. His mind could