The Devil's Heart - Carmen Carter [35]
“By combining the three different techniques,” the android continued, as he concluded the final step of the third measurement, “I should be able to determine the age of the stone to a value of plus or minus one hundred years.”
The results of the calculation were not what he had expected.
“Is something wrong, Data?” asked the captain, stepping closer to the equipment. “What have you found?”
“Preliminary dating analysis indicates the object is remarkably young, falling in a range between eight hundred and one thousand years old. This would fall far short of the reputed age of the Ko N’ya.”
Picard was silent for a moment, then said, “I suggest you run the dating analysis again.”
“Certainly, Captain. As you wish.”
Data reached out to reconfigure the equipment for a repetition of the dating scans.
“What else did you find?” asked Picard.
“Meir-Delaplace analysis indicates the rock was formed from a mixture of a common crystalline form of silicon dioxide and a metamorphic sandstone—” “Data!” Evidently this answer did not please the captain either. “T’Sara did not spend over a hundred years of her life looking for a rock. It may look like rock, but it is … well, more than that. According to her theory this relic possesses unusual and puzzling features. For instance, what about the warmth?”
Data assumed a slightly puzzled frown as a visual adjunct to his reply. “I record no difference between the temperature of the object and that of the ship’s interior.”
“But when I held it before I could feel the warmth.” Picard shoved aside the equipment array to seize the rock. “I can feel it now.”
“Indeed?” Data double-checked his instrument readout, but there was no indication of a scientific basis for the captain’s perception. “Perhaps you could hold the stone while the analysis is in progress?”
“Certainly, if that’s what it takes to prove my point.”
Before Data could activate the appropriate equipment, they were interrupted by an intercom call.
“Riker to Captain Picard.”
“Picard here.”
“We’re being hailed by Starbase 193.
Commander Miyakawa requests a conference with you concerning your mission progress.”
“I’ll conduct it in my ready room, Number One.” With a sigh of exasperation, Picard sketched a parting wave to Data.
“You’ll have to carry on without me.”
“Captain?”
“Yes?”
“I would like to continue my analysis of the … object.” Data pointed to the stone still cradled in the crook of Picard’s arm.
Picard stopped in mid-stride. “Oh, yes, of course.”
Data retrieved the specimen from the captain, then stood in place holding the stone in his hands.
It never warmed to his touch.
“Qu`e pasa, Picard?” Estrella Miyakawa still rolled the r in his name, but her Mexican accent had been muted over the years.
He studied her image on the desk monitor and noted a few streaks of white in her straight black hair; otherwise, time had touched her very lightly.
“Estoy bien,” answered Picard. She had taught him what little Spanish he knew in exchange for tutoring her in calculus; he never mastered the language, and she failed the Academy course.
“So why have you been sending me mission reports that could be written on the head of a pin?”
Age had not softened her blunt manner.
“Perhaps I erred on the side of succinctness,” said Picard, displaying his most genial, diplomatic smile.
She laughed in his face. “Captain, you’ve cut me out of the information loop since your departure from Atropos, and I want to know why.”
“Commander, my last report on the Ferengi distress—” “Did not contain one word about the destruction of the Orion ship Dark Runner.”
“How did you hear of that?” asked Picard.
“News travels fast in this sector. Although, as a Federation official, I was probably the last person on the starbase to find out. Any idea why they were fighting, or are you going to keep that to yourself as well?”
He sighed at the increasing tone of bitterness