Metamorphosis - Jean Lorrah [90]
DATA AND THRALEN redoubled their efforts to decipher the mystery of the Konor, working at the computer complex in Data’s quarters. They were poring over all the information on the Samdians when Data’s intercom buzzed. It was Pris Shenkley. “Would you like to have dinner together, Data?”
With a start, he realized he was hungry-he and Thralen had been working for hours without a break, but he couldn’t stop now. “The captain gave me an assignment, Pris. I’ll be busy all evening.”
“I understand, was she replied easily. “Why don’t you call me when you’re free. his “Uh-I don’t know when that will be, Pris.”
“Hey, was she said, “7’m a pro too, you know.
Just remember when you have a break, I il like to spend more time with you. was “I’ll remember,” Data assured her. It was the truth: he certainly would remember. But not for the right reasons.
Data couldn’t fathom why something he could only identify as conscience prodded him each time he recalled the events of last night. Ethically, he had done nothing wrong: two consenting adults with no beliefs opposing intimacy, and no ties to anyone who might be hurt by their actions, had shared a most enjoyable experience. So why the nagging doubts?
Perhaps they had to do with his right to involve anyone in his life when his future was so uncertain. If he performed his duties during the present crisis with no further lapses, he would probably look forward with pleasure to seeing Pris again.
Meanwhile, he had more urgent things to occupy his mind. Data and Thralen took a break only long enough to order food from the dispenser, and took it back to the computer screens.
“We are overlooking something,” Thralen said. “I don’t find that difficult to believe,” Data replied, “but what is it? These records are extremely sketchy. The Samdians have been isolationist up to now.”
“There must be another approach,” Thralen said, his antennae extending and retracting in frustration.
“We need to know why Jokarn suddenly began attacking Dacket.”
“The call for help said the Konor had taken Jokarn,” Data pointed out. “From what we saw earlier, they appear to be natives of Jokarn.
Why would they say that they had taken their own planet?” “The people of Dacket may have put it that way in an attempt to guarantee our coming to aid them,” Thralen said. “But there is nothing here to indicate that the Samdians possess ESP.
Yet what else could account for what we witnessed?
The people of Jokarn must have recently developed telepathy. Yet … telepaths are normally nonaggressive.”
“What if not all of them developed it?” Data asked. “The name “Konor’ does not appear in the historical information on the Samdians.
Could the powers of a few have frightened the people of Jokarn?
Galactic history certainly provides enough instances of people with new powers being persecuted. Could the Jokarn have hurt them so badly that they were driven to revenge on all Samdian non-telepaths?”
“Possibly,” Thralen agreed. “Giving a group of people a new name is a way of distancing them, “making them less than yourself so you can mistreat, even kill them.”
“Let’s find out,” Data said. “Computer: language banks. Morphemic structure of the Samdian language.”
“Working.”
“What is the historical meaning of the word “Konor”?” The computer took several seconds to access the information before reporting, “It is an archaic word, believed to derive from the language of the ancestors of those who colonized the Samdian planets. In that language its base meaning is “human.”” “That can’t be right,” Data said.
“Provide context,” Thralen prompted.
“People: sentient, sapient organic beings.
Persons, as opposed to animals.”
That was why Data had heard it as “human,” the generic term for “p” as used casually by the more specifically human people he had spent most of his life among. Still, Data found himself frowning.
“Why would the Samdians call the Konor that? It must be the Konor’s own word for themselves.”
Thralen nodded. “But just “p”’ is strange.
Computer: analyze by connotation. Does the word “konor’ have