"Deanna! It's a trap!"
Troi spun, his ^ws and his mind reaching out to her
and warning her.
Data, aware that he had been found out, drew
back his fist, and Troi saw it just as she
turned. He stepped forward and drove his fist
straight toward her face.
With a cry of alarm, Deanna dropped back.
Data's fist whistled bare inches from her face and
smashed into a wall, going in with such force that his arm
penetrated up to his elbow.
Deanna tried to run, but Data lashed out with
one of his feet and tripped her up. She fell
with a cry, and Will charged forward, bringing his phaser
up.
With the hand that had already entered the wall, Data
ripped out a huge chunk and hurled it directly
at Riker. Riker dodged it, and as the twisted
metal thudded to the ground in back of him, Riker
fired the phaser.
Data moved with blinding speed and grabbed at the
phaser that Riker was holding. Taking a
desperate gamble, knowing that he couldn't match
Data's superior strength, Riker relaxed his
grip and instead shot his hand out toward Data's
off-switch.
It wasn't there.
"I had it disconnected, Commander," said
Data, sounding almost apologetic. "It became
a nuisance." Data's fingers wrapped around the
phaser and squeezed, and Riker had to release his
grip or risk his hand getting crushed along with
it.
Data dropped the twisted metal to the ground,
then picked up Riker and hurled him against the far
wall. Riker crashed into it and slumped to the
ground, dazed.
Picard came from nowhere, hurtling through the air
and grabbing Data from behind. Data reached around,
grabbing the captain's arm and twisting it around and
back. Picard cried out, but that didn't stop him
from slamming his free hand up into Data's face.
The resulting injury was severe ... but not for
Data. Picard, however, sprained his hand.
"I'm doing this for you, Captain," said
Data, sounding almost remorseful. "If I had
any choice, I'd do anything else." And he
lifted Picard completely off his feet, about
to hurl him into the ambassadors who were flooding
into the hallway. They fell back, trying to get
out of the way.
And Will Riker, pushing off from the wall, charged
and tackled Data around the legs. It knocked the
android off balance, and he lost his grip on
Picard, who tumbled down on top of him.
"Stop it!" Deanna was shouting. "Stop
it!"
Picard and Riker each grabbed an arm, trying
to pin Data. It didn't work. With his superior
strength, Data twisted around, lifting Riker
clear and crushing him against Picard. Data started
to get to his feet.
All the ambassadors were shouting at once.
Data was turning his attention to Deanna.
Riker, indomitable, was grabbing at Data's
leg, trying to slow him down. Picard, using the
wall for support, was pulling himself to his feet.
Everywhere there was confusion, chaos, raw emotions
running rampant ...
And that was when Deanna Troi pointed at the
Sindareen delegation.
"They're deceiving us!" she cried out.
Time froze.
"It's a lie!" said Nici with amazing calm.
"No," said Deanna, her voice building in
intensity. "No, it's not a lie."
"Shut up," Eza now said, looking to Nici.
"Make her shut up."
"I sense that you want him"--she pointed at
Data--?ffsucceed. You ... you did not come here in
good faith. I sense duplicity ... lies,
cheats, anything to stall for time for the Sindareen."
"This is madness," Nici snarled, louder and
angrier.
But Deanna ignored her, whirling on Eza.
"And you! You want me dead! You'd do anything
to see me dead. You ... you tried! You tried
to kill me! Put something in the drink ... I
sense your emotions, homicidal, murderous."
The air around them seemed to be shifting, coming
to life somehow. There was a crackling of energy that
seemed to come from nowhere ...
And Eza howled, "ally empathic bitch!
You've ruined everything!"
From his sleeve he produced a
small phaser, smaller than almost anyone had
ever seen.
He had a clear shot at Deanna. He
wasn't going to miss.
And suddenly, arcing through the air over
Deanna's head, came a tumbling, golden
object. It struck Eza squarely in the chest,
knocking him backward. The phaser fired but the
shot went wide, striking the ceiling over
Deanna's head.
The golden object skittered across the floor
and rolled up to Deanna's feet. She looked
down in astonishment at Data's face. "I
suggest you drop to the floor, Counselor."
Deanna was still staring in confusion at Data's
head, presenting a perfect target. A split
second later, Data's body slammed into her
from behind, knocking her to the floor next to Data's
profusely apologizing head. However, his
apologies were drowned out by the phaser beam that
crackled over them. It enveloped Eza, staggering
him, and he screeched in protest.
Adm. William t. Riker advanced on
him slowly, inexorably, the power blasting out of his
phaser. "Stay down, Deanna. It still takes
a lot of phaser power to put these bastards down
for the count."
"Bastards!" shrieked Nici in indignation.
"Captain Picard, I object to being
described in--"
"Be quiet!" snapped Picard.
Eza writhed in the power of the phaser. He lost
his grip on his own phaser and it tumbled to the
floor, but so consumed with fury was he that he still
tried to make headway against the blast.
"You're from my time, aren't you," said the
admiral, progressing relentlessly. "That's the
only place you could have gotten that weapon. You're
from the time stream that was ... and will be again. You
decided that this point in time was the turning point for
your people--was the downfall of your race--and you
decided to come back and change it to your liking.
Kill the woman who blew the whistle on your people.
And in one reality, you got away with it. But not in
my reality, you murderer. Not in my reality!
Because you picked the wrong focal point!"
Around Eza the scream of the phaser merged with the
howling of the air, and he was knocked completely off
his feet, thrown against the wall like a straw in a
hurricane. He sagged to the floor,
unconscious and helpless.
And then the air around them was roaring. Roaring with
far-off winds that seemed to call from another time and
place, from an infinity of maybes. A
coruscating, sparkling whirlpool of color and
light.
Eza was starting to dematerialize, his very
molecules being drawn into the vortex around them.
And Will Riker suddenly lost his grip on
Data. For a panicked moment he thought that the
android had slipped loose and was going to make one
final, desperate lunge for Deanna. But he
realized his error immediately. Data was starting
to fade. W's hands were passing through him.
Deanna whirled to face the admiral.
He, too, was being drawn off. The color
seemed to be fading from him, as if being yanked
away.
"Deanna!" he called to her, reaching out.
Heedless of the danger to herself, Deanna Troi
stretched out her hand to the man who had crossed
decades, remodeled the universe, all for her.
Her hand passed right through him, as if he were a
ghost. The ghost of things yet to come.
His body started to flatten out, twisting from three
dimensions to two and then one.
"I'm sorry!" she cried out to him. "I
tried ... to touch you one last time."
He smiled, his body disappearing like the
Cheshire cat's. His voice sounded distant as
he said, "Don't be. Maybe it won't be the
last time. Besides ... who really cares about all this
physical touching. Not young Deanna Troi.
It's the spiritual that's important ... that's forever
..."
And then, with a final roar and burst of wind that
swept over everyone in the corridor ...
CHAPTER 43
"Come in," said Deanna as the tone at her
door chimed.
Riker entered, his hands behind his back. He
stopped as the door closed behind him. "Are you
okay?"
She shut off the computer screen she was studying,
folded her hands, and said, "Why shouldn't I be
okay?"
"Well ... you went through a lot."
"We both did," she reminded him. "But that was
twenty-four hours ago. I bounce back
quickly, given time."
"Given time."
He walked slowly toward her. "I thought you'd
be interested ... the Chameloid disappeared about the
same time as ... the others."
"I assumed as much," she said quietly.
"The Sindareen ambassador has been sent
packing. She's not particularly happy about it.
The peace initiative has fallen apart, and the
experts predict that it's just a matter of time now
before the entire Sindareen civilization
collapses. There's already talk about how the
Federation might come in to pick up the pieces if
that happens."
"That would be very humane."
"Oh, and Data has his head together ... so
to speak. It turns out that I ... that the admiral
told him that this other Data--the one who tried
to kill you--was actually Lore."
"And was it?"
Riker paused. "I don't know," he said
slowly. "I know Data believes it to be. I
think he is far more ... satisfied ... with the
notion that it was Lore than he would be with the concept
that there would be a circumstance in which he'd try
to murder you."
"We have no idea what influences will shape
Data over the next forty years," she said
slowly. "For all we know, given a set of
circumstances where the life of one woman is
weighed against the reality that he knows ... he might
very well decide that that woman is dispensable."
"Even if the woman is you?"
"Even if. And frankly ... I'd understand his
decision."
"Yes ... but maybe he wouldn't understand.
That's a hell of a thing for him to have to live with. So
maybe it would be better if we ..."
"Kept it between ourselves?"
He nodded.
"Consider it kept." She leaned back. "So
... did you come here to discuss everything except
what you really want to discuss?"
"And what might that be?"
"u."
He let out a slow breath. She waited for him
to speak.
"I don't know what's going to happen
with us," he said. "I saw what my life was like
without you ... saw what I developed into. I
can't say I like it very much. But ... that was when you
had been pulled from my life completely. We
could continue in the way that we are now, and as long as
you're there to be friend, confidant ... soul mate
... things could work out well for both of us."
"I see what you're saying," Deanna said
slowly. "Of course, on the other hand, if we
become ... or go back to being ... lovers ...
things could work out even better for us."
"Or worse," he pointed out.
"Or worse," she acknowledged.
He shook his head. "I feel so
ridiculous. Do we really have to wait forty years
until we're ready to take a chance on the two
of us?"
"No, W"--she smiled--?we just have to wait
until we're ready. It might take forty
years. Or who knows? It might take forty
days. We have to wait and see. But at least we have
a chance. It's up to us how we use it."
He nodded and then said, "Oh ... by the way
... I made something for you. It's only an
approximation, of course, based on my
memories ... memories which were filled, at the
time, with the sight of a particularly nubile young
maid of honor and her magnificent figure."
Her face colored slightly. "Will, what are
you talking about?"
thin, white, gauze headband.
She stared at it, uncomprehendingly at first.
But then she understood. "That's ... that's like the one
Chandra wore!"
"So I did make it close enough so that it's
recognizable. Good. Um ... if you wouldn't
mind turning your head ..."
She angled her head around and he looped it
around and back, pulling her hair through. She stood
and presented herself for inspection. "How does it
look?"
"As beautiful as the woman wearing it."
She felt her emotions turning to melted
butter, and she went to him. He enveloped her in
his arms, and their lips came together. ...
Andfora long moment, all the confusion and complexity
of their lives fell away, and they were once again the
young man and woman hungering for each other; the
couple shyly learning about one another and
exploring the things that each of them lacked and each of
them provided; the new lovers in the jungle,
intoxicated with their environment and each other; she
was the woman whose life he'd saved, and he was the
man whose life she had made.
And they had all the time in the universe. ...
THE BEGINNING OF THE END
CHAPTER 44
Mary Mac watched in astonishment as four people
emerged from the swirling vortex of the Guardian of
Foreve
r: Admiral Riker, Commodore Data,
Lieutenant Blair, and one more form that tumbled
forward, clearly unconscious.
She went to them, rolling the body over to get a
better look and confirm what she had thought. "This
... this is Mar Locffwas
Data looked at her, his head tilted. "The
scientist whom you said had departed?"
She nodded in silent amazement.
And then the Guardian spoke, in that vast and
all-encompassing way that it had: "All is
... as it was."
Data turned to face the Guardian. "You
mean that Admiral Riker did indeed restore the
time line to its original form?"
"All is as it was," repeated the
portal.
And now Blair stepped forward, his long fur
swirling. "For crying out loud," he shouted, "if
you knew that time had been tampered with in the
first place, and you knew that the admiral's actions
were correct ... then why in hell didn't you
tell us that?!"
With utter serenity, the Guardian replied,
"ally did not ask."
There was dead silence, except for the howling of the
wind, for about ten seconds. And then Blair
managed to get out, "We didn't ask?"
Riker started to laugh.
"We didn't ask!" Blair sounded
positively outraged. "You mean everything we
went through, all the difficult decisions we had
to make, all the ... we didn't ask!"
"We didn't," said Data in quiet
amazement. "That was very foolish of me. In my
determination to uphold the Starfleet imperative
of noninterference with time, I ..."
And Riker, who had managed to calm himself down
sufficiently, said, "What you did, Data, is
forget the very first duty of Starfleet ... something
that I started thinking about when I was spending time with
Capt. Wesley Crusher, and remembering the
hard lesson he learned back in his Academy
days. The duty that supersedes all the
imperatives and directives ..."
"That we must always seek the truth," said
Data.
"Right. And the truth," said Riker, hauling the
unconscious Mar Loc, a.k.a. Eza, to his
feet, "is that this little sleaze decided to make his
people's life better. Mary Mac ... have you had
any unexplained bruises in recent weeks?"
"Why ... why yes," she said, looking at
Data. "Remember, Commodore? I had a
round bruise on my upper arm."
"A spray-hypo mark," said Riker.
"Press down too hard, you leave one. One
night while you were asleep, he must have shot you up