The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [173]
Then the grille buckled, and Spot was so surprised that she almost fell back out of the gap. Recovering, she pushed her way through. There was a horrible moment when she thought she might get stuck, but she stretched herself out and felt her ribs bend uncomfortably, and then she was through. She straightened and stretched and flexed her tail, then examined her surroundings.
She was in a crawl space that was much like any other. Blinking indicator lights here and there cast very faint colors onto the conduits and pipes that filled the space. A hint of a breeze wafted through the crawl space, bringing with it the scents of the materials the environment was made of. Those scents, she was already familiar with. It was that other scent that she wanted to know about, the one that had passed by the vent so recently.
La Forge found Worf hunched over a prune juice in the crew’s lounge, which Captain Riker had dubbed “The Happy Bottom Riding Club” just prior to his departure. The fact that Worf detested the name and refused to use it had become no small source of amusement to the engineer.
Geordi picked up a drink from the bar and sat opposite Worf. “I checked out the transporters,” Geordi began. “Level-three diagnostics and a trawl through the transporter logs show no malfunctions or anomalous transports. However Gregory’s trunk got into the corridor on Deck 6, it wasn’t beamed there.”
“That suggests a thief.” Worf almost spat the word.
“Maybe.”
“I will begin checking, beginning with the new arrivals.”
“It’s your department, not mine. I wish—” Geordi fell silent. “Never mind.”
“What?”
“I was just going to say I wish Data were here. He could think faster than any of us.”
“I must agree.” Worf’s fist tightened around his glass. “His death has robbed us of a fine officer.” He paused. “As well as a friend.”
“It’s…’Ironic’ would be the wrong word, I guess, but…”
“But?”
“Data always wanted to be human. Be…alive. And in the end, like all human life…” Geordi didn’t finish his sentence but just spread his hands. “I guess none of us were expecting it.”
Worf thought about it. What La Forge said was true. Data had always sought to be human. In the struggle against the Praetor Shinzon he had died. “Death is the inevitable conclusion of life.”
“He always thought there was a possibility that he could eventually cease functioning, but I know I always expected him to outlive all of us.”
“As did I,” Worf admitted. He sipped at his prune juice, and both men fell silent. “He sacrificed his life to defeat an enemy,” Worf rumbled at last. “Data sought to share the life of a human, but—” He smiled, showing teeth. “He died like a Klingon.” Worf gazed into his juice. “I do not know if Data would have thought about the possibility, but I am sure there is a place for him in Sto-Vo-Kor.”
Geordi pursed his lips. “I never thought of it that way, but I guess there’s not much that would surprise me anymore.” He cheered up, with a little visible effort. “Which reminds me, Worf, how are you and Spot getting along?”
This was the last subject Worf wanted to discuss right now. “She is…under control.” Geordi laughed. “She is as soft as a tribble and does not understand her place! But she will adapt.”
“And so will you, once she gets you trained.” Worf only glared in reply. “Hey, you’ve already switched from calling her ‘it’ to ‘she.’ “
“At least I could always tell the creature was female,” Worf said pointedly.
Geordi laughed again. “Yeah, that you could. I’ve never been than much of a cat person either.” He turned as someone approached, and Worf did likewise. It was one of Geordi’s engineering crew. “Commander, do you have a moment?” Worf considered simply saying no but realized the woman was speaking