Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [30]
‘Agreed.” Riker smiled, “Make it so.”
Data raised one pale eyebrow. “Dr. Crusher and Commander La Forge, this is Commander Data. Please meet me in Transporter Room Three. We will be looking at injuries and malfunctioning engines. Please pack accordingly.”
Geordi’s voice came out of empty air. “On my way, Data.”
‘I’ll need ten minutes to gather materials,” Dr. Beverly Crusher said, her voice spilling out of nowhere.
‘That will be acceptable, Doctor. Data out.” He turned without another word and left the bridge.
Riker began giving orders to prepare for fifty rescuees. He trusted Crusher to have left the medical preparations for the injured in good hands. A good leader was often only as good as his crew. Riker trusted everyone to do their job.
Watching the viewscreen, he wondered what the alien vessel looked like inside. He hoped there would be time later to view the ship personally, if they could keep it from blowing up. A big if.
Data, Geordi, and Dr. Crusher appeared in a large smooth hallway. The walls were the same gray-silver of the outside of the ship and perfectly smooth, rising perhaps five meters to a peaked ceiling. The shape echoed the outline of the ship.
Captain Diric was waiting for them. His squarish bulk nearly filled the broad corridor. The Milgian looked like he was formed from a child’s building blocks and moved forward in slow, ponderous movements, reminiscent of his slow, crawling speech.
Geordi wondered what they sounded like to the Milgian. Were their voices incredibly fast and high-pitched? How alien were they to the aliens?
Data stepped forward. “I am Lieutenant Commander Data of the Starship Enterprise. We have come to give aid.”
‘Most welcome,” Diric said, each word said as if in slow motion.
Geordi fought an urge to shake his head, as if he could speed up the words by giving his ears a good kick.
‘Our medical facilities are this way.” As he turned, the robes over his squarish body showed burn marks.
Dr. Crusher went forward, nearly touching the alien captain. “Are you injured, Captain?”
‘A little,” he said. He turned his head toward Crusher. It was unsettling to see his head turn when it looked like he had no neck at all.
‘May I help you?”
‘No, a small injury is nothing when my ship is dying.”
‘Please, you are in pain.”
‘No, if I have allowed my ship to die, then I must suffer with it.”
‘But I may be able to heal you?” Crusher said.
‘No, thank you.”
‘Surely you would be better able to guide your ship and help your crew if you were completely healed,” Crusher said, softly.
Geordi resisted an urge to applaud, good thinking on the doctor’s part.
Diric seemed to think about this for a minute, then made a small movement with his spadelike hands. “No, thank you.” He moved off down the passageway.
Data followed him.
Crusher didn’t move for a moment. The look on her face was one of exasperation. “I never…” She seemed at a loss for words.
Geordi patted her shoulder. “You tried.”
‘I just hope that all Milgians aren’t so stubborn. It could make being a doctor obsolete.”
He smiled. “You know the old Earth custom. The captain goes down with the ship.”
She nodded. “I’m not going to stand by while lives are lost needlessly. I don’t care if it is their way.” There was a set to her face, a grim determination in her green eyes, that made Geordi very glad she wasn’t after him.
They hurried to catch up with the slow moving Captain Diric and Data. The two were walking in absolute silence. Perhaps Milgians didn’t feel anymore need for small talk than the android did.
Diric paused beside a piece of corridor that seemed to bulge outward just a bit. He passed a hand in front of it, and the wall opened, peeling back like a curtain. He lumbered inside, and they followed.
The room was uniformly dark. After the silver brightness of the hallway, it seemed dingy. Milgians of all sizes lay on the floor with sheets over them. Geordi had assumed that all the Milgian would be the same blue shade as the captain, but