Survivors - Jean Lorrah [8]
Data recognized nothing about Nalavia to make humans consider her not beautiful. While height was impossible to judge in a viewscreen image, he could see that she was neither thin nor fat, and that her body was proportioned within the range generally considered pleasing. She had no scars, no squint, no frown lines to detract from her acceptibility, nor did she appear to be of that age after which, for reasons Data could not fathom, human men determined that women be accorded intellectual respect rather than physical admiration.
Judging by all known criteria, Data would have said that Nalavia was beautiful, yet he had discovered that humans perceived things he could not, and contradicted one another and even themselves so often that he had not yet been able to discover what factors unquestionably defined beauty.
The woman on the screen had black hair and pale skin. Her most distinctive feature was a pair of large round eyes of a strange green color-but then, Data could not be certain that its strangeness was not a result of the transmission. He had seen green eyes in humans before, and could not put a finger on what made this particular green seem … unnatural.
Deciding to consult Riker later, Data focused his attention on what the woman was saying.
“The planet Treva is experiencing grave political difficulties. The duly elected democratic government is threatened by self-appointed warlords seeking to destroy government by the people and reinstitute the ancient rule of the sword. They have killed three members of the Legislative Council, and threaten all of us.
“As President of Treva, I ask military aid of the United Federation of Planets. The Legislative Council desires membership in the Federation-but our efforts are thwarted by these attacks. In the name of the duly elected government of Treva, I request that you send a starship to put down this insurrection of warlords, so that Treva may take its place in the Federation.”
“Message ends,” Data reported.
Captain Picard said, “Obviously they have little notion on Treva of what the Federation is about. Lieutenant Yar, send a message to President Nalavia, acknowledging her request and informing her that it is being forwarded to both Starfleet Command and the Federation Council. Then make it so.”
“Aye, Captain,” the Security Chief replied with her usual efficiency, and Data read the outgoing messages on the periphery of his attention, as he did all data generated on the Enterprise bridge. His interest, though, was in the captain’s response.
Data turned so that he could see his commanding officer, who as usual had come forward from the command chair to view the message on the screen. It was one of those human idiosyncrasies that he noted without comprehending: there was nothing wrong with the Captain’s vision or hearing, and approaching the screen would not make him more imposing to a recorded image. Nalavia would, in fact, never see him at all; she would receive an audio message in Tasha Yar’s voice.
The android did not ponder the Captain’s habit now, though; he simply counted on it to bring Picard to his shoulder, so that he could ask, “Will the Federation send aid to Treva?”
“Would you, Commander?” Picard responded. The use of title rather than name told him the Captain saw this as a learning experience for him. The sudden swing from commanding officer to teacher could be aimed at anyone on the bridge, from William Riker to Wesley Crusher. Data never minded it, although he knew that some of the others occasionally did.
It took less than the time to tilt his head for him to realize, “There is insufficient information on which to base such a decision.”
“And from the information we do have, what do you think will happen?” the Captain pursued.
“A call for help cannot be ignored. The Council will wish more information,