Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [84]
reported: The Konor defeated the populace, and then took their homes and lands.
The level of technology was quite high—powered vehicles sped through the air and along well-designed highways. There was no evidence of radiation, not surprising if the Konor were seeking planets to colonize. But there was still something missing! Data was becoming thoroughly annoyed at what he now recognized as a “mental block,” until the scan crossed over into the territory the Konor had not yet reached, and the missing element suddenly leaped into prominence on his screen.
“Communications!” he exclaimed.
“What was that, Mr. Data?” asked the captain.
Data swiveled his chair around. “Captain, throughout the lands held by the Konor I can detect no use of long-distance communication. No radio on any frequency, no wires carrying electronic messages, nothing.”
“You can’t coordinate a planetwide assault without communications,” Riker said.
“I know, sir, but at least we now know why the Konor do not respond to our attempts to communicate with them: whatever means they use is so incompatible with ours that our sensors do not detect it. It is therefore reasonable to assume that they never received the messages sent by either the Samdians or the Federation. It is even possible that they misunderstood attempts to surrender.”
“That is true,” Worf said. “Tichelon said his people laid down their weapons. There is a Klingon form of challenge in which the challenger lays a weapon down and backs away, daring the one he challenges to reach 233 for it. If the Konor could not understand the Samdians” words, they could misinterpret the gesture as a similar challenge.”
“Thank you, gentlemen,” said Picard. “Data, optimize those scans so we can get a good look at the Konor. If we watch them, perhaps we can determine how they communicate. If we can talk with them, there may be hope of ending this conflict.”
Once again the captain called for the skills of Thralen, the Theskian sociologist, taking Riker, Data, Geordi, and Worf into his ready room to study the enhanced scans of the cities the Konor held. “There are many ways of communicating besides the words and gestures we are accustomed to,” Thralen said. “I take it we have eliminated sound on all frequencies?”
“Detectors find no sound-transmission equipment operating,” Data assured him.
“Samdian telecommunications devices are still in place, but inoperative. If the Konor use a visual code, such as heliograph or semaphore, our energy scans would not necessarily detect them.”
“Visual symbols are the second most common means of communication among intelligent species,” Thralen continued. “If we can see these people at their day-to-day activities, we will quickly see any evidence of a visual language. You remember studying the Verwar, Mr. Data.”
“The … Verwar?” Data had no memory of that name. “The classic example of visual language: they communicate by color change. They do not have eyes as we have, but visual sensors in many areas of their 234 bodies so that their range is as complete as our range of hearing.” His antennae swiveled to demonstrate.
Data, however, was staring at the tabletop in shock.
He had majored in exobiology at the Academy, Thralen said casually that the Verwar were a “classic example,” and yet Data had no memory of ever having heard of them! How could he perform efficiently at navigation and Ops, and then discover such a formidable memory gap in his own specialty? Data dragged his attention back to the display Geordi was working on. Large pixels vaguely sketched what might be a street scene in a city, but there were no details until Geordi carefully focused it. The pixels divided and subdivided until the image resolved into a clear picture, and began to move. It was indeed a street in a neat, clean city. People were walking and riding in vehicles-people who must be the Konor. After