Q & A - Keith R. A. DeCandido [39]
“That is the second time you have referred to Commander Data in the present tense.” T’Lana reached for her padd, wiped the journal from its display, and called up the files she’d had in standby.
Frowning, La Forge said, “I beg your pardon?”
“You said that Data is supposed to be first officer now, and that Data is the one who picked Commander Kadohata.” In truth, La Forge used a contraction the second time that could have been an abbreviation of “Data was,” but she wanted to get La Forge to examine his own word choices.
“That’s crazy,” La Forge said. “Data’s dead. He blew up with the Scimitar. Hell, I was the last one to see him alive when he left the Enterprise for the last time.”
“Yes, as you were on”—she looked down at the padd—”stardate 43872.”
“That was fourteen years ago,” La Forge said, sounding confused. Before T’Lana could explain, he said, “Look, I know that Data’s death was horribly unfair and that he should’ve outlived all of us by several centuries. I also know that if he hadn’t done what he did, he’d probably still be dead—and so would the rest of us. Shinzon was about to turn us all into space dust, and Data’s the one who kept that from happening. I know that. And I saw the Scimitar explode with him in it.”
“Yes, just as, on stardate 43872, you saw the Shuttlecraft Pike explode with Data in it.”
La Forge’s artificial eyes widened. “What?”
“Commander Data was transferring hytritium from the trading vessel Jovis to the EnterpriseD via that shuttle. On the final transfer, the Pike was destroyed with Data inside—your sensor analysis revealed sufficient material to account for Data’s remains in the explosion. You mourned his passing—until it was revealed that Data was alive, kidnapped by the Jovis’s shipmaster in an elaborate ruse.”
“I know all that. I was there. But I’m not too clear on what this has to do with anything.”
T’Lana regarded the chief engineer. Taking great care with her tone, she said, “I find that fascinating, Geordi, because I saw the connection as soon as I read Data’s service record. For that matter, you yourself were reported killed in a transporter accident on stardate 45902, along with another officer. Data held a funeral service for you. On stardate 47135, Captain Picard was reported dead of a phaser blast on Dessica II, complete with eyewitness accounts and DNA evidence. In all three cases, the evidence of the person’s death was as clear as it was with Data on the Scimitar—indeed, one might say more so.”
Standing up suddenly, La Forge turned his back on T’Lana and stared out the port. “So you’re saying that I…that I’m expecting Data to be alive? That’s crazy.”
“Is it? Leaving aside the three cases I mentioned, how often have members of this crew faced certain death and survived?”
La Forge sighed and started pacing across the office. “Look, I don’t deny that we’ve been lucky more than once. But not everyone was. Tasha Yar died, and she stayed that way. Just a couple of weeks ago, Sara Nave and Lio Battaglia were killed by the Borg. I still have nightmares about Helga Van Mayter. She fell through a bulkhead that phased out of existence for half a second, then re-formed around her—it was one of the ugliest deaths I’ve ever seen. Counselor, I know precisely how permanent death is, and—”
T’Lana waited as the silence stretched out. Finally she asked, “And?”
“Nothing.” La Forge sat back down. “Look, I realize you may see a connection, but it’s not there. I’m not expecting Data to come back. I mean, yeah, every once in a while I walk onto the bridge, and I expect to see him sitting there at ops, or I’m waiting for him to come down to engineering, but we worked together for fifteen years! He is my best friend.”
“And you don’t wish to say good-bye to him—as evidenced by your once again using the present tense.”
“He’s still my friend. The fact that he’s dead doesn’t change that.” La Forge shook his head. “Counselor, he…he was Data. He was stronger than any of us, smarter than any of us, gentler than any of us. He should’ve lived long enough to see the end of the universe.