Foreign Foes Part 36

Urosks cheeks grew ruddy with anger and he took a step back.

No! You are twisting and distorting Listen to me, Urosk. Listen to yourself. This, Picard said motioning around him, indicating the situation as it now stood, it is all because of the Klingons?

Yes!

Urosk hissed.

Picard stepped closer, his eyes intent, backing the Hidran away.

The Klingons have turned your people into what they did not want to become, yes?

Anger contorting his expression, the Hidran captain nodded sharply.

Picard took only a moment to glance up at the other Hidran. They were listening too now, ignoring their work.

And, he continued, your culture has been totally disrupted by values you never held, and by a morality you once disagreed with.

What is your point, Picard?

Urosk yelled, taking another step back as Picard closed in.

What has happened to your nature, Captain? Has it changed?

he asked.

Or are you ignoring it in favor of a philosophy that has gripped you as it did the Klingons? Has your reaction been to fight them using your naturethat which is every intelligent beings natureyour minds, your capacity to reason, your ability to thinkor have you been fighting them with the very tools even they are coming to rejectanger, hatred and Ftsssiiittssss.

They both spun as the row of communicators crackled with the electrical whine of overload, then flashed into flame.

Silence followed for a moment, as Urosk looked incredulously at the sizzling mess. A drop of water fell from the ceiling into one of the communicators, making the smoldering circuit hiss and sputter.

The Hidran captain looked again, and watched the raindrop after drop of water that had condensed on the ceiling, only to fall back onto the Hidrans work.

The line of Urosks spine tensed and sank, not in defeat, but in action. He hissed something to his men, then swung toward Picard.

Picard felt his own muscles tense, and he readied himself for a fightnot soon enough.

The Hidran captain grabbed him by the neck, then lifted him off the floor. They struggledPicard forcing a knee into the Hidrans chestbut without leverage he had no force.

With his free hand, Urosk seized Picards right arm and twisted until they both heard the crack of bone and a grunt of agony.

Dropped back onto the bench against the wall, Picard cupped his left hand under his right elbow as his side filled with heat and pain. His hand throbbed and moving his fingers was white-hot misery.

Next time, Urosk spat, it will be your neck!

You were attacked by dogs?

Worf glowered, and his question sounded a lot more serious than the words implied.

Riker shook his head and Deanna chuckled.

Theyre roving machines, Worf, Riker said.

And Im going to guess the industry we saw down there is busy pumping out this grain.

He turned to Barbara.

Sound like everythings beginning to fall into place?

Barbara shook her head.

I should have seen this coming ... should have put it all together ...

Oh, come on, Riker said, thinking of his own bout of jumping to conclusions.

Who doesnt miss something once in a while?

You just didnt have the equipment, Beverly added.

Even if I had, I wouldnt have thought that the grain was inorganic. I just a.s.sumed You did what we all do from time to time, Riker said softly.

Stuffing her hands into her lab coat, Barbara shook her head again.

Its my job not to.

Mine too, Riker thought.

I think youre all missing something, Beverly said.

Dont you know what this might mean?

Riker waited only a moment.

Obviously not, Doctor. Tell us.

Holding up her tricorder, she pointed to a graph on the small screen. Riker could barely read it from where he was, but it looked like his own bio-scan.

The grain isnt magic, Beverly said, but it does seem to have the properties Barbara claims. Someone designed thisit has programing and structure, all on the molecular level. A lot like the nanites we use in certain medical procedures, but much more advanced in design and programming.

I can probably still market it, Barbara added.

Worf sighed and s.h.i.+fted his phaser from one hand to another.

This is all very interesting, but does not help us in our current situation.

Agreed, Riker said, impatient. None of this would help rescue the captain.

It might, Beverly said.

It hasprogramming , Will, just like my tricorder does. It enters the body and that programming takes over. Im not sure how, but it obviously scans the body and takes some action to balance any systemout of balance.

How does it know, Deanna asked, what that balance is?

We dont know, Beverly said.

I a.s.sume it scans the DNA of whoever ingests it, and then is programmed to restructure the body, or repair it, based on the genetic model it has to go on.

Now Riker sighed.

This is all fascinating, but Hush and listen, Beverly snapped.

Geordi and the Hidran Amba.s.sadorboth ate the grain and both had bioneural implants. Prosthetics arent written into DNA, so the grain probably thought they were foreign bodies. Ive already scanned the Amba.s.sadors body. The grain-machines are still active within him. Idle, having nothing to do, but they are still living, for lack of a better term.

All at once she took Rikers arm and gasped.

Jean-Luc didnt have any of the grain, did he?

Riker shrugged and turned to Worf.

He did not, Worf said.

Beverly released her breath in relief.

Good. The time it takes for the grain to activate seems to vary depending on the person, but if he had ... hed be dead by now. The grain would have recognized his artificial heart as foreign and responded the same way it did with Geordi and the amba.s.sador ...

rejection.

This is proof I did not kill Zhad, Worf said.

Yes, Beverly said.

I can prove it. The pain of the rejection, the same pain Geordi felt, was too great for Zhad, and he most likely tore out his mask in an effort to stop it.

Riker smiled.

This is good.

I do not understand, Worf said.

Why then did the grain not give Geordi his sight and allow the amba.s.sador to breath?

Because, Beverly began, that wasnt a condition the grain read in their DNA. Geordi neverhad sight.i.t is not a malady, but a condition he has genetically. I think we can safely say the grain would heal a cut faster than the normal, but it wont rewrite DNA code or grow you a new arm. Ormaybe it will grow you new a new arm. I dont know. But it wouldnt grow you one with a different number of fingers than you had before. Its only a sophisticated antibody as far as I can see. So, the amba.s.sador, by definition of his genetics, couldnt breathe this atmosphere, and all the grain on this planet wouldnt have helped him to. Location and needs werent listed in his DNAonly his basic physical structure was.

Perhaps already writing the marketing proposal to her company, Barbara added, And any being with DNA and without synthetic parts could probably eat this quite safely.

Pus.h.i.+ng out a breath, Riker glanced down the hall toward the Hidrans hatch again. He was interested, thought he may use this information, but wasnt sure how. That irritated him, made him anxious as if he were wasting time.

Why would anyone construct this?

Deanna asked.

Why disguise a machine to look so natural and biological? The machines underground didnt look that way.

No way to know, Barbara said.

Maybe if we can access any computers underground ... right now were just guessing they found it easier to ingest in this form, or maybe they wanted to keep secret the planet was industrial rather than agrarian.

That would make sense, Beverly said.

The grain is nearly impervious to sensor scans. You cant imagine the backflips we had to go through with my medical equipment to get past the illusion that its just an uninteresting new grain. In any case, theres no way to tell what their motive was for hiding it. What we need is access to the computers below the surface.

Wedo have a more immediate problem, Riker said, his neck tight with tension.

The Hidran are not going to lay down their arms and release the captain just because we say Zhadwasnt killed by Worf. They believed he waswithout evidence. Proof to the contrary isnt going to matter.

Theyd have to listen to reason, though, Barbara said.

Riker smiled. Perhaps a bit more patronizing that hed wanted to.

No, he said.

They dont.

What if we could demonstrate to them how it worked and exactly what happened, Barbara offered. dont.

Shaking his head, Worf grunted a laugh.

Youd be dead before you spoke your first sentence. You can physically force someone to take almost any action, except changing his mind.That they must do of their own accord.

Computer, engage all auto systems. Accelerate to one-quarter impulse power and prepare to apply set course out of standard orbit.

Data quickly tapped commands into Ops console.

Acknowledged, replied the computer.

Data nodded.

Bring main phasers on line, and transfer full power to all offensive and defensive systems.

Another acknowledgment from the computer, and Data nodded again.

Engage course and display tactical on main screen.

Unlike humans, Data did not need the view of the actual scene as it would appear if the naked eye would view it. He preferred the tactical display with its grid and specifics.

Course engaged. Leaving orbit and coming about to course three-one-zero mark five.