Nightshade - Laurell K. Hamilton [70]
‘Doc, did you see that?”
She nodded, slowly. “I think so.”
‘I feel better,” Veleck said. “More relaxed.”
‘I’m glad, Veleck,” Geordi said slowly.
A smaller, paler blue version of Veleck lumbered into the engine room. “Chief Engineer, the captain wishes to speak with you.”
‘Thank you, Engineer Bebit. Stay with our guests until my return.”
‘Yes, Chief Engineer.” The younger Milgian’s voice had almost a lilt to it compared to any Geordi had heard before. It sounded almost eager.
Bebit turned to them once Veleck was gone and said, “How may I serve you?”
What did they have to lose? Geordi explained what the doctor had discovered and what they wanted to do with the engine.
‘Veleck is correct. The engines would not understand you. Neither he nor I could speak with the engines for you.”
Geordi sighed. The tension at base of his neck knotted tighter.
Were they going to lose this one? Was the first contact with the Milgians going to be the destruction of one of their ships and the loss of dozens of lives?
‘But you might attempt to speak with the engines directly,” Bebit said.
Geordi stared at him. “You mean I can talk to the engines, personally?”
‘I do not see why not,” Bebit said. “It is true that no non-Milgian has ever tried but the principle should cross such boundaries.”
‘How do I do it?”
‘Wait a minute, Geordi,” Dr. Crusher said. She stepped closer to Bebit. “Is there any danger to Lieutenant La Forge?”
‘Danger?” Bebit questioned. “I do not think so.”
‘Geordi, these engines are alive. I don’t think it will be like pushing a button.”
‘Whatever it is, Doctor, I’m willing to do it.” Geordi turned back to the smaller alien. Smaller was relative though. He still towered over the two humans. “Show me how to talk to the engines, Bebit.”
Bebit walked toward a corner of the smooth wall, if this flowing place had corners. He passed his hand over the wall and a small panel pulsed red and hot. “You must let the engine taste you. Then it will recognize you, and you may talk to it.”
‘Taste me?” Geordi said. “I don’t understand, Bebit.”
‘Place your… hand on this place and the engine will… sample you. It will recognize your,” he seemed to be trying to think of a better phrase, “your cell structure.”
‘Doctor?”
‘The engines are made up of bits and pieces of the cell structure of the Milgians. I’ve even found what amounts to DNA that would match Veleck.”
‘Is your cell structure in the engines, too, Bebit?” Geordi asked.
Bebit’s face grew very hot and shifted. It took Geordi a moment to realize he might be smiling. “Yes, all engineers are pieces of the engines. Exactly.” He was like a proud parent whose slow child had finally grasped some elementary topic.
Geordi didn’t care if the Milgians thought he was slow. He just wanted this to work. “Show me how to let the engines taste me.”
‘Geordi.”
‘No, Doc, we’re out of time.”
She nodded, reluctantly. “All right, but I’ll monitor you.”
‘Glad of it.” Geordi smiled to show he was okay, but frankly the thought of something as alien as these engines “tasting” him was frightening and exciting at the same time.
‘Just place your hand on this panel, like so,” Bebit said. He pressed his own blue hand flat on the panel. It pulsed once almost too bright for Geordi to look at.
‘Geordi, my instruments say that Bebit’s hand became a part of that panel for an instant. They merged.” Crusher looked at him. “Your cell structure won’t merge painlessly with that panel.”
Geordi flexed his shoulders trying to loosen the tension between them.
‘I’m going to try, Doctor.”
Crusher put her head to one side, her mouth making that lopsided motion that always meant she was not happy. “All right, you have to try, but I’ll scan you while you do it. If it starts to damage you, I’m breaking the connection.”
‘You’re the doctor.”
‘It’d be nice if you remembered that more often,” she said.
Geordi smiled, then