The Devil's Heart - Carmen Carter [34]
“Good morning, Jean-Luc.”
He squinted in the bright light of the corridor.
“Sorry, I was up late writing reports for Admiral Matasu, not to mention the Vulcan Science Academy. Then I had the strangest dream …”
“I’ll take a rain check on breakfast.”
“No, please come in.” Picard moved aside to let her pass through the doorway. “I want to tell you ab out my dream.”
She set about ordering tea and biscuits from the replicator while Picard changed into his uniform in the bedroom. By the time the coffee table was set, he had emerged a transformed man, dapper and alert.
“That’s the Heart?” asked Crusher when she saw the object the captain carried with him. She had heard a secondhand recounting of the discovery from Worf late last night when she tended a gash in his hand.
“Yes, this is T’Sara’s Ko N’ya.”
Picard settled down on the sofa beside the doctor. “They were both in my dream.”
“Tell me.” Crusher sipped her tea and listened to Picard recount his version of the Vulcan’s death. As he talked he rolled the stone over and over in his hands as if searching for a chink in its rough surface, a key to the interior.
“So, Detective Hill,” she said when he had reached the end of the tale, “your subconscious thinks a band of Orions killed T’Sara?”
He glanced up from his study of the Heart. “I realize it’s not such a startling conclusion given the evidence.”
“Well, you’ve got a fifty-fifty chance of being right,” said Crusher. From here, the gem that had built empires looked like an ordinary rock.
“But whether it was the Orions or the Ferengi, there aren’t any criminals left alive to bring to justice.”
“Yet there’s at least one accessory lurking on Starbase 193. We’re due to arrive there soon, and I hope the element of surprise will give us an advantage in—” “How could so many people die fighting each other for that thing!”
His eyebrows shot upward at her outburst.
“It’s just so … drab,” said Crusher. “I expected something more dramatic.”
“A faceted ruby the size of a watermelon?”
“Something like that,” she admitted with a laugh.
“If this is the Heart, I’m afraid its only value lies in its historic significance.”
She leaned over the table and dropped her voice to a whisper. “But what about its powers over Darkness?”
Picard smiled somewhat sheepishly. “Oh, I grant the legends are grandly melodramatic … still, it is a rather curious object.”
“In what way?”
He started to speak, then hesitated, then began again. “Perhaps its my overactive imagination at work, but I can feel a heightened quality about it.
Nothing I can put into words.” He shrugged away his inability to explain. “Perhaps Data will be able to quantify its properties.”
“This should provide material for an impressive article for the next archaeological symposium. Not bad for an amateur.” But she could tell from his lack of reaction that Picard wasn’t listening to her anymore.
Propelled by an inner train of thought, the captain suddenly bolted from the table and was halfway across the cabin before he remembered he had company. “Oh, my apologies, Beverly.
It’s just that Data is expecting me to bring the Heart to his laboratory.”
“But, Jean-Luc, you haven’t eaten a thing.”
Even his teacup had gone untouched.
“I’m not hungry. No, really, I’m not.”
“Well, I am. Do you mind if I stay here long enough to finish my biscuit?”
He had the good grace to flush. “Please make yourself at home.” Stopping in the doorway, Picard called back, “I’ll make it up to you. Why don’t we have dinner tomorrow night?”
“Yes, I’d like—” Then he was gone.
“This may take some time,” said Data as he carefully placed the stone in the center of a small metallic stage.
“Actually,” said Picard, craning his neck to follow Data’s movements, “I’d like to stay and watch.”
“As you wish, sir.” The weight of the specimen triggered a ripple of electronic chirps across a control console; Data quickly tapped a series of minor adjustments to the estimated calibration figures he had entered earlier.
After he positioned the first equipment array over the stage, Data provided