Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [6]
“G-got it,” Barclay mumbled.
Duffy bounced on his heels once, and under Geordi’s stern look, settled. “Understood.” And then the blood
flow to his cheeks increased considerably, a fact La Forge was easily able to discern with the VISOR; he turned around to see the cause. Data.
“What is happening in this neck of the woods?” Data asked.
“I, uh, I’ve got a holodeck glitch to check out,” Barclay said, and ducked away around the warp core before Geordi could so much as lift a hand to slow him; his gesture hung, incomplete, in midair, until he let his hand fall back to his side and shrugged at Duffy.
“You, too,” he said. “Dismissed.”
“Yes, sir,” Duffy said, with perhaps a tad more volume than he might have used.
Geordi waved him off with a sigh, watching as he bolted after Barclay. “What’s up, Data?”
“Skulduggery, from the looks of it,” Data responded in his most conversational tone.
“How’s that?” Geordi asked, surprised … and thinking he wasn’t much cut out for skulduggery. Not if even Data could discern the human signs of it.
“Do not be alarmed, Geordi. Whatever it is, I am sure your intentions are honorable. I have no plans to stick my nose into it.”
“Well… thank you,” Geordi said, full of caution. “Is there … anything else going on?”
“Such as what?”
“You just don’t… seem yourself.”
“If I wished, I could quite accurately reproduce the voice and speech patterns of anyone on the ship,” Data said. “But since I am not doing that, I am not sure who you might think I seem like.”
Geordi looked at him a moment, then nodded slowly. “That’s more like it,” he said. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Ah. You are wondering why I am here.”
No beating around the bush with Data. “You could say that.”
“The science officer on the Curie is providing me with constantly updated data about the state of Ntig nano’s star. I plan to tie the input into the bridge science station, and need to make sure you had no plans to use that station during our time here.”
“Well, since I’m not going to be here…” Geordi said, and let the words speak for themselves. He didn’t mention the probe work; those could be run straight from engineering, or patched through one of the auxiliary bridge stations.
“Excellent,” Data said. “See you later, alligator.”
Geordi looked at Data’s briskly retreating back with a frown that hovered between puzzled and concerned. “In a while, crocodile,” he heard himself mutter.
Great. Whatever was going on with Data, it seemed to be infectious.
Riker strode into Ten-Forward with more than the usual amount of purpose in his gait. He’d read Nadann lesson’s lengthy report on Tsoran customs twice, and the extra file on the Fandrean preserve—the Legacy, they called it-one more time. The Legacy didn’t concern him, despite its arborata, cartigas, ski ks and giant ictaya; he hadn’t been invited on the kaphoora, only to play chauffeur. And while the notion of a token hunt didn’t faze him, the company of this particular hunt put him off entirely.
Meanwhile, Akarr was tucked away in a guest suite somewhere, the shuttles wouldn’t be ready until late enough to delay departure for the next duty cycle, and Riker… Riker was off-duty with a vengeance.
He eyed both the bar and the empty table in the back, and opted for the bar. Back tables were for brooding, and he wasn’t interested in brooding. He wanted to contemplate precision phaser practice. Perhaps drilling a new belly button for Akarr.
Or maybe an initial belly button, if the Tsoran didn’t yet have one.
“I think I have just the thing for you,” Guinan said, appearing at the bar in that way she had of just suddenly being there. She held a tall, violent-looking drink, a murky concoction of barely compatible liquids swirling around to produce a sticky foam. “To judge by your expression, it suits your mood, don’t you think?”
Riker gave it a dubious look. “I, ahh, think I’ll stick to something more basic. Whiskey, double, neat.”
“Whiskey it is.” The tall glass disappeared, and in moments a stout tumbler with the air bubbles of hand blown glass sat before