Foreign Foes Part 31

Whats wrong?

To his proximity detector, the lift felt empty.

Where are they?

Lieutenant? Are you okay?

The guards voice now came from Geordis feet.

Whats happened?

Sir, Mr. Data is gone, and Lieutenant Wyckoff is unconscious.

d.a.m.n! Geordi pulled the old hand comm out of his pocket, glad hed remembered to keep it. He snapped the grid up.

Computer, locate Commander Data.

Commander Data is on the Battle Bridge.

The rustle before Geordi was the guards uniform as he rose.

Emergency medical team to deck two section 31-A!.

Geordi reached out, grabbing the guard and pulling him forward.

I need my freedom. I think my case is proven.

Yes, sir. You sure have.

Good.

Geordi yanked back the communicator and barked, La Forge to Engineering! Priority one!

Disengage power to Battle Bridge. Now!

Sir?

With Wyckoff in the turbolift, Geordi had no choice but to head for the next one. Using the proximity vest as his only guide, he began a blind rush down the corridorliterally. And he didnt have time to explain his actions to Engineering.

Thats a direct order, Mr. Cheng. Follow it!

Aye aye, sir.

Geordi bounced into three people on the way to the turbolift.

Report, Cheng.

Im trying, sir. Someones overridden with manual control.

d.a.m.n!

Where was the turbolift when he needed it? The doors wouldnt open for him. Unless ... Data sealed off the lifts!

Cheng, make sure all civilian personnel report to the saucer section on the double if theyre not already there. And override any initiation of saucer-sep, you got that?

Aye, sir. Will do!

Geordi slammed his fist against his thigh and spun away from the closed lift door. There was a ladder around the corner with his name on it. Whatever Data was doing wouldnt go down this flawlessly. Not on a bet. As he ran faster than the proximity detector could handle, he b.u.mped into a wall or two, but pushed off and kept on going.

Gracelessness under pressure.

Computer, Geordi barked, beginning to pant, unlock all secondary hatch pathways deck seven to deck twenty-seven.

Access denied.

No, no, no, Data ... Its not that easy.

Override on authority of Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge, access La Forge: Theta two-nine-nine-seven.

Secondary hatch pathways now available.

Geordi couldnt help but laugh.

Now thats the computer we all know and love.

Before lifting the hatch on the secondary path he closed the communicator andwhere was his tool kit?

Left behind somewhere.d.a.m.n . Three d.a.m.ns in as many minutes. It had been that kind of day.

Geordi scurried down the Jeffries tube. Deck eight by now? Hed go down one more to make sureif hed lost count he could be left behind. That wouldnt do.

Hand under hand ... foot under foot ... he had done this quickly a million times without lookingwhy couldnt he do it blind?

Red alert. General Quarters. Saucer separation in T minus one minute.

The computer droned on, klaxons sounding. At least Data was making sure the civs and the non-essential personnel were off the battle section. That was the odd partsomething was wrong with his best friendhe was obviously damaged, yet he seemed to still care what happened in most respects.He actually sounded concerned when he ordered security to find me , Geordi thought.

He jumped down to the deck, stumbled a bit, then straightened himself. He pulled out the hand communicator and flipped it open.

La Forge to Engineering. Cheng, report.

Commander Data has overridden all Engineering access, sir. I cant stop the saucer sep.

Status of the sep?

Lift, umbilical, and SIF interconnects are separated. Docking latch servo seals are counting down to sep.

Do what you can, Cheng. Force the warp core output to less than ninety percent! Make him overrideeverything to get what he wants. Buy me some time. See if you cant stall some turbolifts between the two sections. La Forge out.

He rushed toward the nearest door, banged into the jam, and cursed himself for rus.h.i.+ng to the point where he actually was beginning to slow himself down. He composed himself, tried to get his bearings, and spoke into the comm again. He nearly collided with the next door and grumbled an insult at it.

Computer, relinquish all control of engineering subsystems to Engineering. Authorization: La Forge.

Access denied.

Override! Personal authority, La Forge: Theta two-nine-nine-seven!

Access denied.

Dammit!

The communicator clenched in his fist, Geordi reached out to pound the wall, missed, and stumbled. He fell to his knees, then yanked himself up and steadied himself. He was getting too worked upfunneling his adrenaline into anger rather than action.

Computer, pinpoint location of this communicator. What deck is this?

Deck Eight, section five.

Battle bridge on this deckweapons conduits not far. Data could control the computershe couldnt control the crew. h.e.l.l need automation to fire any weapons ... and those systems would have to fail.

One way or another, Data, Geordi said to himself, Im going to have control of this s.h.i.+p.

s.h.i.+ps were big, but not this big. Riker had never seen one like thisthere wasnt one.

Were not on a s.h.i.+p, Riker said breathlessly, losing himself in the distance. He gripped the handrail and slowly turned back to Deanna.

I dont understand. What is all this?

Look, Riker said, pointing to the clean lines of machines and bins ... somethings doing something.

They pumped and hummed and grunted in effort. At what? There was no way to know without interrupting them, and he wasnt going to play that game again.

We didnt beamup ... we beameddown !

Will Deanna said as she stepped forward and grabbed his shoulder with one hand and the rail with her other.

Of course! Ive had the same lack of empathy here as on Velex.

Because thisis Velex. You were right, Deanna.

Nothing on this planet is alive. Nothing! Its all machinery.

Riker turned from the amazing view, strength somehow filling his legs again.

This changes everything.

He gripped his arms, almost smiling, for there was hope now, where there had been none.

We must be kilometers underground ... and we have to get back. Find the room we arrived inif thats a transporter room then we dont have to worry about beaming ourselves into s.p.a.ce. If were lucky.

He looked into her eyes, those dark and tired wide orbs.

She nodded.

Why? Who Boooom!

Behind them, the wall exploded, a bubble of white heat spreading over the corridor. They were tossed against the railing and Riker dropped to his knees. He looped his arm through one of the rail bars and gripped on to Deanna as the wall behind them vaporized into metal dust.

As Rover the Eighth pushed through the downpour of debris, Riker forced Deanna away and fired. Again his beam was reflected off to one side, and the Rover moved forward, unharmed.

Riker turned to run down the corridor. Deanna was well ahead of him. His leg was bellowing agony to his brain. He pushed it out of the way. Dont think about the painit doesnt exist. Pain is a mythan evil fantasy someone once had.

The corridor extended up against the rail for at least a city block, curving around at an angle. Riker fired, hoping to blast Rover off balance at leastmaybe knock the robot into a wall or into the handrail. He missed once, twice, and again ... there was just no way to get a clear connecting shot between the curve of the corridor and bobbing of the Rover.

Move, move!

Riker barked at Deanna. Speed would be their only advantage ... if Riker could keep his up. And he couldnt forever. Theyd run out of phaser settings, and out of options. If they couldnt find a way to the surface ... well, there was no place else to go. They might avoid the Rover for a while, but without defense, without a way to destroy the robot, they were as dead as the planet they were on.

d.a.m.n, hed been stupid. He hadnt rethought, hadnt reconsidered his first a.s.sumptions, and it could mean their deaths. Had he even considered the idea that they were in the planet rather than on a s.h.i.+p, his entire course of action would have been different. Had he not started to destroy the machines, he and Deanna probably could have roamed peacefully until they found a way to the surface.

Could have ... but there was no going back.

What was it Deanna had said about poor concept-formation? Hed never let that happen again.

Up the next corridor, leaving the Rover trailing behind, Riker caught up with Deanna and they ran together evenly.

The old dogs learned all my tricks.And its immune to the phaser, he puffed out.

Try to put some distance between us and him. As soon as we have a corridor between us He coughed and stumbled, and she reached back to draw him along.

We cant run forever, Will.

I know, he choked out.

I know.

His leg knew too.

We have to find that transporter roomor one like it! You run aheadcome back when you have one. I have an idea that might buy some time. If you dont find it, just keep running.

Will I dont want to hear it! Thats an order and I expect you carry it out, Commander!

He motioned up the corridor.

Now go!

She looked back a moment, then took off, and Riker realized just how slow a snail hed become. He was dragging her downshed stay alivefind a way to the surface and inform the captain, if he didnt become deadweight for both of them.

As Deanna disappeared around the corner, Riker hobbled on and felt like that steak hed wanted a few minutes earlierraw and lifeless. Sweat dripped from his hair onto his cheeks and he smeared it away with an already soaked wrist. He looked back, listened, and heard the Rover still coming.