What's Past_ Many Splendors (Book 6) - Keith R.A. DeCandido [8]
Lian shrugged. “So write to the journal and complain.”
Walking over to the replicator, Sonya shuddered and said, “Oh, I can’t do that.” To the replicator, she added, “Hot chocolate, please.”
“Why can’t you?”
“I’m just a Starfleet ensign—when I wrote the paper I just was a third-year cadet. Dr. Xe’r’b’w’r’s’o is the leading authority on subspace at Thelian University—I couldn’t just write in and say she’s an idiot. I mean, sure, in our cabin, that’s one thing, but I can’t write a letter.” She looked at Lian. “Can I?”
Shaking her head, Lian said, “I don’t understand you, Sonya. You’re one of the brightest people I’ve ever met, and you push yourself to be better than the best—but you refuse to realize it.”
Sonya almost shrunk in her chair. “I’m not anything special.”
“Yes, you are.” She held up a hand. “Forget it, I’m tired of beating my head against that particular wall. I have to go. Soon-Tek and I are having breakfast.”
Staring at Lian’s now-empty bowl of oatmeal, Sonya asked, “So why did you just eat oatmeal?”
“Because he wants to have a Vulcan breakfast. Vulcan food makes me gag, but he likes it, so I agreed, and stocked up on oatmeal first.” She smiled. “Hey, listen, what’re you doing after your shift?”
“I’ve got to finish this journal, and then there’s the paper I promised to JAWM that I really need to finish. And I may wind up pulling a double, if the wunderkind’s team asks for another sensor recalibration.”
“Oh God, another one?” Lian rose from the table and laughed. “How many different ways can they scan these planets?”
“I’m starting to think it’s infinite.” The young “acting ensign”—Wesley Crusher—had been put in charge of a team of Enterprise science officers to determine why all the planets in the Selcundi Drema sector suffered from horrendous geological instability. The team hadn’t made much progress, but it wasn’t for lack of finding new and more interesting ways of scanning a planet’s surface over the past several weeks.
“In any event,” Lian said, “me and some others have been getting together in Ten-Forward to chat and gossip and such. It’s myself, Costa, Van Mayter, and Allenby.”
Sonya vaguely recognized the other names—the first two were engineers, and Allenby was a shuttle pilot, maybe—but said only, “I don’t have time, Lian, honest. There’s just so much to do.”
Lian walked over to the replicator to recycle the oatmeal bowl. Shaking her head, she said, “Sonya, one of these days you need to relax. Maybe go on a date yourself. What about that Duffy guy?”
Sonya blinked. She’d hardly thought about Duffy since the Iconian mess, and hadn’t seen him except to pass in the corridor once or twice. “I don’t know.”
“Well, you should still come to Ten-Forward. For one thing,” she said with a feral grin, “I’ve gotten some really good gossip. Do you know that Data’s been talking to some girl on one of the Dreman planets?”
Sonya looked askance at Lian. “That’s crazy. Isn’t that a Prime Directive violation? Data isn’t capable of that, is he?”
Lian shrugged. “He’s sentient, remember? To my mind, that makes him capable of anything.”
Now it was Sonya’s turn to grin. “Weren’t you the one saying he was just an android?”
“Maybe I was wrong.” Lian went to the door. “I’ve got to get to breakfast. If you change your mind, we’ll be in Ten-Forward, at the corner table, at 1930.” With that, she left.
Sighing, Sonya finished reading the doctor’s article. When she was done, she thought on Lian’s words. Perhaps she should write the letter; perhaps she did need to slow down; and perhaps she should see how Kieran Duffy spent his off-duty time.
The computer startled her out of her reverie. “Ensign Gomez, you have received a communiqué from Belinda Gomez on Earth.”
Getting up and stretching, Sonya said, “Put it on the screen.” She turned to face the wall with the