Survivors - Jean Lorrah [100]
“You said you accessed the computer. You did not say you sneaked about the Presidential palace-“
“Yes, Captain,” replied Data, “I … ‘snooped, sneaked, proceeded by stealth.’ Most intriguing. It appears I was wrong when I said it was a form of human behavior I was not designed to emulate. When the occasion required, I discovered that I can emulate it extremely well.”
“But if you already have all the information from Nalavia’s computer in your memory banks,” asked Riker, “what more is there?”
“I have a copy of the data. There is no way to tell from it whether any of that information has been changed. But that computer is more than nine years old, and uses a long-outdated system of data storage. It is physical, not virtual memory, and thus will contain all original data, even if it has been altered and written over. If Nalavia’s records are falsified, I will be able to trace it.”
Picard said, “Mr. Data, you had an opportunity to observe Nalavia closely. Do you think she could be an Orion?”
“Yes, sir,” he replied honestly. “There are certainly Orions operating in this sector, but by refraining from slave trading they avoid attracting the Federation’s attention. It is probable that Nalavia is not Trevan. Orions have been surgically altered before to pass as other species, in order to infiltrate the Federation. Nalavia is trying to prevent Treva from joining the Federation, while the Orions establish a foothold in this sector. The pattern fits … and explains both Nalavia’s sensuality and the artificial appearance of her eyes. Even with the natural green of her skin bleached out, the vivid blue eyes of Orion females might give rise to suspicion. But coloring them makes them appear unnatural.”
“Yes,” said Tasha. “Data is right. I’m sure Nalavia is an Orion.”
Data added, “She wanted no one on Treva-or Federation visitors-to find a clue to her origins. Hence no trade with the Orions, and no upgrading of equipment like the palace computer, which appears to be a very old Ferengi model.”
“If Nalavia is Orion,” said Picard, “we can certainly act to prevent a planet which has applied for Federation membership from being taken over by enemies of the Federation! Mr. Data, I want that evidence. Use the terminal here, and get on with it. We have a war to stop!”
“Yes, sir,” Data replied, sitting down at the Captain’s terminal as the others left the ready room.
But Tasha lingered after Picard and Riker had gone out to the bridge. “Data?” she said softly.
He looked up.
“I should have said it earlier. I … want to thank you,” she said.
“Thank me?”
“For making me arrest Dare. You were right. It was my duty, not yours, although I know you’d have done it if I hadn’t.”
“You are-” He stopped the automatic response midstream. “No. You are not welcome to the pain I caused you. Tasha, I hope I never again have to cause a friend such pain, but I am glad you understand I had no choice.”
“I understand,” she replied, and left him.
Data found the falsified entries easily: inserting a birth record required rearranging the file on all births that day; falsifying school records meant shifting names to insert Nalavia’s. Once Data retrieved the original files, which showed no trace of Nalavia’s existence, Starfleet Command quickly gave the go-ahead for interruption of all Trevan broadcasts with the information. From that point on, events on Treva became a mere “cleanup operation.”
At first people didn’t want to believe they had elected an alien to their highest office, but as they were thinking for themselves now, it didn’t take long for them to accept that the reason for Nalavia’s increasing cruelty could be that she was not one of them. She surrendered to Starfleet when Treva’s people stormed the Presidential palace. In sickbay, her identity as an Orion was quickly verified.
It appeared, once the storm had settled, that the Trevans were ready to appoint Rikan their new President-even make him king-but he insisted that they follow the constitution and set up elections. He left the