Worf stood on the steps and scowled suspiciously down at the thick vegetation. Troi threw back her head and laughed. Breck’s laughter joined with hers, flying higher and higher like birds.
Chapter Twenty
GEORDI PASSED HIS HANDS just above the panel, and the lights pulsed, following his fingers. But it wasn’t just the lights that followed his hands. The intelligence that made up the engines followed Geordi’s movements. It flowed under his hands like a dog sniffing at him, or a cat rubbing against his ankles. The engine was curious about him. It was studying him as hard as he was studying it.
Geordi had never experienced anything like talking to the Milgian engine. It was as if his hands could touch all the way through the outer metal skin and go inside. His thoughts could travel down the conduits. When he wanted to change direction he had only to wish to move. The engine welcomed him, drew him inside. Geordi could feel its eager energy flowing and pulling at his mind. Was this how Troi felt when she entered the thoughts of another person?
It was wonderful. The engine explained what it was, but the explanation was too amazing for Geordi to understand completely. The technology of combining living tissue with mechanics was not cybernetics or robotics. The melding of the parts was complete. It was a single organism, not pieces stitched together.
It was a united system, a whole, like his own body. You could no more isolate a single system than he could have taken out his own respiratory system without affecting the rest of his body.
“What have you found out?” Dr. Crusher’s words made him jump. His heart was suddenly pounding in his throat.
“Beverly, I forgot you were there. I forgot anything was there but the engine.”
She gave a rueful smile. “I noticed.”
He smiled back. “Sorry, it’s just I’m an engineer and I’ve never felt anything like this. It’s like my mind is the tool and is all I need to do anything. The engine even wants to help. It’s incredible.”
“I understand the enthusiasm, Geordi, but we don’t have much time. Have you found the problem?”
“Not yet. The engine isn’t aware of any critical mistakes or breakdowns, but it believes me when I tell it something is wrong. It’s helping me search.”
“Very cooperative,” Crusher said.
“It’s not just helpful; it’s curious. Don’t tell Data, but it reminds me of him. That abstract interest in anything different. The engine isn’t scared or worried; it’s just curious.”
Crusher cocked her head to one side. “It does sound like Data.”
“Though it’s not anywhere near as intelligent. In fact it seems limited in its reasoning skills. It takes orders mostly, but it thinks about the orders and can question them.”
“Does it learn from the answers?” Crusher asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Is there any way for me to talk to it through you? Once you find the problem, it may take both of us to fix it.”
Geordi turned to Veleck who had been standing like a bright blue statue for some time. He had made no comment, helpful or otherwise. But there was a great deal of heat fluctuation coming from him. If he had been human, Geordi might have said he was under stress.
“What do you think, Veleck? Could Dr. Crusher talk to the engines too?”
He shifted his square bulk slightly. “She would have to be tasted, and that causes injuries to your outer skin. And there would be the danger, again, of having the engines react badly. We would run the risk of explosion happening now.”
Geordi tried to think of a diplomatic way to say what he wanted to say. “The engines don’t have a problem with Dr. Crusher joining with them.”
“They are not intelligent enough to realize the danger,” Veleck responded.
Geordi was beginning to think that Veleck was simply afraid of new ideas. Or maybe he just didn’t want to share his engines. Whichever it was, Geordi was running out of time to be polite.
“Is there any way for the doctor to communicate through me then, rather than the engines?”
Veleck was silent for a moment. “There is a link-up that we have used in the past. It has only been used between Milgians, never aliens like yourselves.”
“Let’s try it,” Geordi said.
“Is the doctor willing to take the risk?”
“Risk?” Crusher asked.
“It may harm as the tasting harmed.”
Geordi and Crusher exchanged glances. She raised an eyebrow. “I’m game if you are.”
“Tell us how to link-up,” Geordi said.
Nearly an hour later Geordi and Beverly were standing in front of the lighted panel. Veleck had explained that the link-up was a microprocessor combined with microorganisms. Both were necessary to allow them to speak with the engine in combination. But the link-up itself looked like nothing more than a thin wire. It had been rigged to hang on the side of Geordi’s skull. The biggest problem had been that the wire had to be placed inside the skin, like a needle. But it was a needle meant to pierce the much heavier skin of the Milgians. The challenge had been to insert it with a minimum of discomfort and not to pierce Geordi’s skull.
The needle lay just below the surface. He could feel it when he moved, the wire tugging and rolling the thin needle. It was an eerie sensation but not really painful. Dr. Crusher had given him a localized anesthetic to remove any real pain.
The wire was very long and trailed from his head to Crusher’s face, disappearing under her thick red hair.
“Ready, Beverly?”
Her green eyes were a little wide, but she gave a slight nod.
“Okay.” He passed his hands over the control panel. The sensation of falling was doubled. It was as if he were not only falling forward into the panel but backward through the wire into Crusher’s head.
She gasped, and the sound vibrated through the wire link. “Geordi, what’s happening?”
“The images are the engine’s internal functions.”
“No, its blood vessels. It’s breathing,” her voice was an awestruck whisper.
Suddenly, Geordi had the feeling of the entire engine as a giant organism. He saw it not as an intelligent machine but as a living creature with mechanical additions. He realized that he was seeing it as Dr. Crusher was seeing it. It was as if all the systems of the machine were suddenly clearly parts of a life-support system. What he’d thought was a power source was a heart. Everything was the same and different, a melding of machine and life that was truly both.
Geordi didn’t need eyes to see this. It was behind his eyes, inside his head where the visuals were coming through. He spoke very softly, unwilling to disturb the link. “What do you think, Doctor?”
“It’s amazing.” Her voice was as soft as his own. The link felt fragile. Whether it was or not, Geordi couldn’t say.
“You are in link-up?” Veleck’s voice was jarring. Geordi and Crusher turned as a unit, startled.
“Yes,” Geordi said. “We’re both inside the engine.”
“Good. I will stay with you to make sure there are no ill effects. If you feel any discomfort, you must say so and I will break the link. It was not designed for aliens.”
“We know that, Veleck, but thanks for your concern,” Geordi said.
The big alien gave a massive shrug, that poured a flush of heat through his body. “I simply do not wish you to risk yourselves in a futile effort.”
“If we can save everyone on board this ship, we don’t believe it will be futile,” Crusher said.
“As you like,” Veleck said.
Crusher made a humph sound. Geordi had to agree. The Milgian’s pessimism was getting on his nerves. It made him want to prove Veleck wrong—not exactly a diplomatic attitude.
Turning back to the control panel, he was aware of Veleck like a frowning mountain to his left, but Geordi had no trouble blocking him out. The link with Crusher and the computer was overwhelming. The world narrowed down to pulsing energy fields. Liquid coolant shooting through artificial vei
ns. The multicolored lights brightening and dimming as the engine “breathed.”
“There, stop.” Crusher’s voice was soft, inside his head, or so it seemed.
“What?” he asked.
“There.” His eyes saw her hand move, but it was like seeing something from the corner of your eyes. All his real attention was inside the engine, only part of him was aware of Crusher’s physical form. She was pointing but her hand seemed to move through the pulsing tissue to a darker area. The bright pastel colors were darker here, a livid purple with edges of black. The artery was swollen. As they watched, liquid began to leak in small droplets. They floated through the interior as if there were no gravity, solid beads of black liquid.
“What is that?”
“It’s a foreign body. It’s been placed inside the artery. It’s the source of the immune system damage.”
“Can you remove it?”
“I think so,” she said.
Geordi was staring at the blighted area. “Engine, where did this substance come from?”
It did not speak in words like the computer on board the Enterprise, but images flashed through his mind. Veleck’s face, his desire for an experiment to test stress limits. The engine was like an eager, cooperative child. Veleck assured it that he would fix the damage before it reached critical.
“He tricked it,” Geordi whispered. He pulled himself away from the pulsing world of the engines and turned to stare at Veleck. “You sabotaged the engine. You let your own people die.”
“Yes.” Veleck’s deep voice was as soft as it could get, a distant echo of thunder. He slammed his palm flat against the panel nearest him. Pain lanced through the wire in Geordi’s skin, tore burning holes through his skull. He heard Crusher scream.
“You are having an unfortunate accident,” Veleck said.
The pain was eating through Geordi’s face. It felt like his skin was burning away. He fell against the control panels, and the colors went wild. The world was full of burning pain and a kaleidoscope of colors.
The engine was worried about him. Was he well? “No, get help, get the captain!”
Veleck shoved Geordi to the floor. “No, no!” He had released his hold on the panel. The pain vanished instantly, leaving Crusher and Geordi gasping on the floor.
Bebit appeared in the engine room. “The engine alerted me to an accident?” He stared at the two humans still shaking on the floor. “Are you well, Geordi, Dr. Crusher?”
Geordi stared up at the young Milgian and glanced at Veleck. “I am now.”
Veleck whispered, “The engine rejects me.” He passed his hand over the control panel and nothing happened. “It will not recognize me.” There was soft horror in his voice.
Bebit moved farther into the room. He stared at the fallen humans and the chief engineer. “What has been happening here?”
“He has betrayed us all, that is what has happened,” Captain Diric spoke as he entered the room. There were two more Milgians at his back. Geordi could only assume they were security.
“The engine has told me of your treachery, Veleck. Take him into custody.”
The two new Milgians moved up on either side of Veleck. He did not protest. “I would not have let the ship die, Captain, you must believe that,” Veleck said.
“The engine says you tried to kill it.”
“No, I would never do that.”
“You deny damaging it?” Diric asked.
“No, but I would have repaired it before time ran out, but they interfered.”
He pointed at Geordi and Crusher. They had managed to stand, grabbing onto the silver lattice work to steady themselves. Geordi’s head was still ringing. The pain lingered in his body like a bad dream.
“Three of our crew died, Veleck, dozens are injured. Why, why?” Diric asked.
“No, the engine should have trusted me. I wouldn’t have let it die. I wouldn’t betray my duty as an engineer, not to that degree.” He didn’t seem to be listening to his captain.
He turned to the younger Milgian engineer. “Bebit, tell the engine I would not have let it die. Please, it must believe me.”
“The engine has rejected you,” Diric said, “it accuses you of trying to kill it. I do not think it will believe anything you say ever again.”
“No,” Veleck said, “no, I . . .”
It was slowly dawning on Geordi that Veleck wasn’t bothered by the fact that three crew members had died, or that he had betrayed his people. He was only bothered by the fact that the engine had kicked him out, and would no longer respond to him.
“You have betrayed your duty not just to this ship but as an engineer to the engine you helped create. It holds the cells of your body, flesh of your flesh, Veleck, and it rejects you.” Diric stepped very close to the chief engineer. “No other engine will ever let you touch it. The mark of what you have done will be passed from one ship to another. It will be encoded on the programming to every engine from now until forever. You will never again commune as an engineer.”
The heat patterns were growing dimmer on Veleck, almost as if he’d been injured, and was experiencing shock.
“Redeem yourself as much as you can, Veleck, tell us what was so very important. Why, Veleck, why?”
“I never thought . . . I would never have betrayed the engine. If they had not interfered, I would have repaired.”
“Tell me why, Veleck, as your last duty as my chief engineer. Tell us why.”
He spoke without looking at any of them, as if he was speaking to the empty air. “If I lured the starship far away from their destination, I was promised alien genetic material.” Veleck’s heat patterns were turning an icy blue.
“You killed crew members so you could profit?” Diric’s voice held outrage.
“Yes, Captain,” Veleck said. His slow voice, held a distant quality.
“May I ask him a question?” Geordi asked.
“He nearly killed you both, you are entitled,” Diric said.
“Who wanted to lure the Enterprise away, and why?”
“A leader on the planet Oriana,” Veleck said.
“Which one?”
“I do not know. We each went to great pains to keep our identities a secret, so we could not betray each other.”
“Why was it so important that the ship be here, instead of around the planet?” Crusher asked.
“I did not ask. I did not want to know.”
Geordi could believe that of Veleck. Had they sailed away and left the away team in danger? He touched his communicator. “La Forge to Commander Riker.”
“Riker here, go ahead.”
As briefly as possible Geordi explained what little Veleck would tell them.
“Do you think the captain and the others are in danger?” Riker asked.
“I don’t know, Commander, but I’m worried.”
“Me too, beam up to the ship. We’re going to head back to the planet.”
“The Zar’s engine is still damaged, Commander.”
“No,” Veleck said, “I can fix it.”
“The engine does not trust you anymore,” Bebit said. “It will not listen to you ever again.”
“I know. I have betrayed everything I held dear for greed’s sake. I was even going to give the Orianians one of our weapons to finish their little war.” Veleck stared at the control panels on the wall. “But I never thought my engine would reject me. An engineer without an engine is not whole.” He stared at Geordi and Crusher. “I can tell Bebit how to make the repair. I will not let it die. Go, help your people. I will do this last honorable thing, then I will await what comes next.”
Geordi looked at Captain Diric. “It’s up to you, Captain, if you still need us, then we’ll stay. If worst comes to worst the Enterprise can return to the planet without us.”
“We will let Veleck make these small offerings of reparation. He cannot bring back our dead, but he can do this one small thing. Then he will be imprisoned for a very, very long time.”
Geo
rdi glanced at Veleck, but the Milgian didn’t seem to react to that last bit of news. Veleck had always given up too easily.
“All right, thank you, Captain. It’s been a very unique experience.”
“You can say that again,” Crusher whispered under her breath.
“La Forge to transporter room, two to beam up.” The last thing Geordi felt was the warm pulse of the engine in his head, saying good-bye.
Chapter Twenty-one
WORF WAS SURROUNDED by golden-skinned children. Their large, shining eyes stared up at him adoringly. Curious little hands traced the ridges on his forehead. He had tried glaring at the children, but it had not worked. A low growl had only made them giggle, a high, fluid sound.
Worf sat in a small hut that was like no dwelling he had ever seen before. The walls and domed roof were made entirely of plants. Vines, small trees, even what he would term flowers, were all woven together. And all of it was still alive. Worf had seen trees trained to unusual shapes—bonsai miniatures, standards trained against trellises—but the Enterprise arboretum had nothing like this.
He wasn’t a person who noticed plants much, but these were impressive. Flowers grew and bloomed at the edges of the wall. A vine with huge white flowers like stars climbed up the far wall. The hut had been invisible in the greenery they had first seen in the cave. It was camouflage to make any warrior’s heartbeat quicken.
There were twenty huts all hidden in the rich vegetation. But even standing right beside some of the houses, Worf had almost missed them. It was an ideal place for an ambush.
A little girl that couldn’t have been more than four had quickly climbed into Worf’s lap. Now, he didn’t know what to do with her, accustomed to most of the children on the Enterprise being wary of him. Perhaps not afraid, but not comfortable either. Certainly not comfortable enough to climb into his lap, lean against his chest, and nearly sleep. Two boys nearly Alexander’s age were leaning against his right side. Their eyes were intent, their attention touchable, seemingly interested in the conversation.
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