The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [124]
“Patient?” Data laughed. “If you had any idea how patient I have had to be to function while surrounded by people who think thousands of times more slowly than I do—”
Geordi thrust a hand in his direction. “There. You see? This is the sort of thing Sofia’s talking about. You keep reminding us how much smarter than us you are.”
“That is no more true now than it was before I installed the chip.”
“But you were never so damn smug about it before.”
“Why do people keep saying that?” Data shouted, surprised by the fierceness of his outburst. But hearing the accusation from his own best friend, the person he thought would be on his side, was the last blow he could withstand. “All I am trying to do is help people! To share the benefit of my knowledge, just as I always have! And yet every time I have tried to give that help to Borges and her teammates, I have been met with resentment and hostility for my efforts. And now you turn on me as well? Et tu, Geordi?”
“Well, maybe the problem is with you, did you ever think of that? Your positronic brain works so much faster than our lowly human ones, yet that possibility never occurred to you? The reason so many people are calling you a condescending show-off is because you are.”
“That is not true! How can you say that? I thought you were my friend!”
His voice had grown louder with each sentence as the buildup of pain, betrayal, and bitterness burst free. With the final word, he smashed his hand down on the console, crumpling it. Geordi took a step back and was holding his hands out in what he no doubt imagined to be a calming gesture. “Just take it easy, Data. Maybe we should take a break, okay?”
“Stop pretending, Geordi! You despise me! You all do! Get out! Get out!” The outburst was as much a warning as anything else. He could feel rage overpowering him, filling him with a need to strike out at something. And his efforts to control it were failing.
“…As Geordi and the others fled, I gave in to the rage and directed it against the contents of the lab itself.” Data gave his head a small, uncertain shake. “Afterward, I found I did not feel better. Merely…empty. And extremely guilty,” he added, looking up at Deanna. “I could have harmed my best friend.”
“But you didn’t,” she assured him. “Even when your anger and pain overwhelmed you, you still instinctively chose to direct your anger away from people and toward inanimate objects. And you were so concerned for the safety of others that you requested confinement to quarters before it could even be ordered. And that’s why I’m convinced it isn’t necessary. You wouldn’t hurt any living thing out of anger. It’s just not in you.”
“But I did harm my friendship with Geordi. He may never trust me again.”
“I’m sure you can rebuild that trust. But it will take effort on both your parts. You now know Geordi feels that you’ve been treating him with less respect than he deserves.”
Data shook his head. “I think as highly of Geordi as I ever have. I am simply having difficulty managing my impatience. Under the circumstances, surely you can see why that impatience is understandable.”
“I can,” she said. “But you need to see why it’s understandable that others would feel slighted by it, whether you intend it that way or not. Accommodation has to go both ways.”
He sighed. “I thought that having emotions would make it easier to understand humanity. Instead, it has left me more confused than ever.”
“Welcome to the humanoid condition,” Deanna said with a smile. “Let me put it this way. You’ve always been smarter and faster than the rest of us, and you’ve always liked to give detailed lectures and explanations about the things you know. But when you were emotionless, it was simply a matter-of-fact presentation, and people could see that. So they didn’t take it personally. Now, though, they can perceive you as an emotional being. So when you make a point of emphasizing your knowledge and intelligence, or hastening to