The Eyes of the Beholders - A. C. Crispin [85]
Riker stepped forward. “Sir, you’re not planning to approach him, are you?”
Picard did not respond, only motioned to O’Brien. The transporter chief quickly released the lock, and the portal slid aside. Riker made a move as if to block the captain, then, as Picard shook his head warningly, with a “Don’t argue with me, Number One” look in his eye, he reluctantly stepped aside.
The captain walked quietly into the room, then stopped a few steps past the threshold to stare at the crouching figure that was his android third-in-command. “Commander Data,” he said quietly.
A soprano screech filled the room, and Data thrashed awkwardly, trying unsuccessfully to squirm away.
Picard took a step toward the android.
“Sir,” whispered Riker urgently, “let me. The risk should be mine.”
Picard ignored him. “Data,” said the commanding officer quietly, “this is the captain. You know who I am.”
The android rumbled in a warning tone and flailed his arms defensively. Picard took another step. “Sir,” said Riker urgently, “don’t you think it would be better to—”
“No, Number One, I don’t,” Picard interrupted, not turning his head. “Commander Data is inside there, even if his normal mind is not the dominant one at the moment. He will not hurt me, I know it. I trust him, and I trust Doctor Soong’s programming. Data is incapable of harming a human being, no matter what his provocation.”
“Doctor Soong programmed Lore, too, sir,” Riker reminded the captain. “And Lore was only too willing to cause the deaths of all of us.”
“Data is … Data, Commander. I trust him.” He took another slow, easy step.
“Enough to stake your life, sir?” Riker whispered tensely. “Remember how strong he is.”
“Data will not hurt me, Number One.” Picard eased forward again. By now he’d nearly reached the transporter platform, where the keening, rumbling android still thrashed and jerked convulsively.
He continued to move forward, talking softly, soothingly. Data crouched lower, drawing into a ball, still flailing occasionally, but mostly seeming to withdraw. The sounds he made grew softer.
Geordi held his breath as the captain stepped slowly up onto the transporter platform, then across it. Data screeched and moved, making pushing motions with his hands, but he never touched the captain.
“Steady now, Data,” Picard whispered as he leaned over, his hand going out to brush past the android’s side.
A second later, Data slumped bonelessly.
La Forge let out his breath in a long sigh of relief.
An hour later, the chief engineer turned to Beverly Crusher within the crowded sickbay. “Tell Selar that I’m ready if she is.”
Moments later, the two completed their final systems checks. Geordi tapped his communicator. “La Forge here. You asked me to let you know when we were ready to make the attempt, Captain.”
“I am on my way,” replied the captain.
By the time Picard and Riker arrived, accompanied by Wesley Crusher, Geordi’s hands were sweating. Gazing down at his friend’s slack features, he prayed silently that soon they would be animated again with that air of innocent wonder that was uniquely Data’s. If anything goes wrong, he silently promised his friend, I swear to you that I’ll see that your book gets published, if it takes me two years’ pay to convince somebody to do it, Data. But I sure hope that won’t be necessary.
Picard nodded at him. “Go ahead, Mister La Forge.”
Behind his back, Geordi crossed the fingers of his left hand, and inside his boots he crossed his toes. Then, with a right hand that shook slightly no matter how he tried to steady it, he reached over and tapped the switch.
Data’s golden eyes flew open. Slowly he looked around him at the circle of faces: Doctor Crusher, Selar, Riker, Picard, Wesley, and finally Geordi himself. “Geordi,” he said distinctly, “you were right. It was beautiful.”
“Data!” La Forge exclaimed jubilantly. He threw an arm around Wesley Crusher’s shoulders and hugged the younger man, who was grinning like a fool. After a few moments of muted but sincere celebration (mindful of the crowded