Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [32]
Everywhere were flowing lines, arches, metal formed into shapes delicate as lace. Geordi saw them through a colored prism of structural details. But he had a sense of the wide open beauty of it. It was one of those times when he wished he could simply see.
And just as Dr. Crusher had never seen cell structures like those of the Milgians, La Forge had never seen any metal like this. He wasn’t even sure it was metal. But it couldn’t be anything else.
Geordi searched the vast space for the engines, but there were no heat patterns that he could detect. The room was cold, empty. All right, if there wasn’t any infrared radiation, there would be some sort of wave particles. Engines had to run on something.
Geordi turned in a slow circle, concentrating. His VISOR responded to his efforts. Bands of color, cell structure, stress points flared along the metal. He could see the metal flowing in upon itself, forming strong melded joints that were flawless. But there were always stress fractures, blemishes where metal was joined. Even metal that had been forged into a single piece showed signs of imperfection to his VISOR. Geordi lived in a world where he could see all the flaws, and there were no flaws in this metal.
Geordi ran his hand down one curved beam. The surface was like cool, metallic silk. It had almost a furlike quality, a texture that wasn’t visible to his VISOR, but his hand picked it up. The metal wasn’t metal at all. Exactly what it was, Geordi didn’t have a clue.
A small Milgian moved out from behind a particularly thick band of “metal.” To Geordi’s eyes he was simply a hodge-podge of temperature variants and strange shifting auras. All races had shifting patterns, but the Milgians were scintillating, a constant wave of colors that nearly made La Forge dizzy.
He turned away from the Milgian, to look once more at the metal structures. There were no moving parts, no heat, no fusion, no anything that he could understand. For all Geordi knew, the Milgians were lying, and this whole place was a recreation area. Maybe that was it. Maybe this wasn’t engineering at all, and they hadn’t been prepared for his VISOR seeing through the ruse.
He shook his head. No, he just had to accept that he was in the presence of technology so different from his own that he didn’t even know where the engines were. Suddenly, he was beginning to wonder if he would be any help at all.
The Milgian that walked toward them was much smaller than the captain. He was a dark rich blue, like a sky before night fall. Black streaks decorated the tough outer skin of his body.
‘This is Chief Engineer Veleck,” Captain Diric said. “These are two Federation officers, Chief Engineer La Forge and Lt. Commander Data. They have come to help our ship.”
It was only with the Milgian nearly standing in front of La Forge that he was able to see the scarlet lines on his wounded body.
‘You’re injured. Dr. Crusher would be happy to help you.”
Veleck made a small motion with his hands, Geordi assumed it was his version of a shrug. “I am chief engineer. If I cannot heal my engines, then I cannot allow myself to be healed. Is this not your way, as well?” There was the faintest edge of question to the low voice.
‘Well, no,” Geordi said. “Don’t you think you could perform your duties better if you were completely well?”
‘My engines are dying, I will die with them.” There was no hint of reproach, or doubt, or even fear. Fatalism at its best crept through the Milgian’s voice.
‘If you could show us your engines, perhaps we could help heal you both,” Data said.
‘Quite right, Lt. Commander,” Captain Diric said. “Veleck, show them what they request. I will refuse no help.”
The captain’s voice said plainly that he didn’t believe the two men could help. Geordi stared up at the supposed engines and wasn’t sure either. However, Data moved forward smoothly, with no doubts. He wasn’t programmed for them.
Geordi took a deep breath. He knew Data couldn’t feel uncertainty, but somehow just following his friend’s confident walk made him feel better. If there was a way