Chapter 4 (2,192 words)
Lieutenant commander Geordi La Forge shook his head as he walked away from main engineering. It wasn't a particularly large shake or the head, but, it was still quite noticeable. He wasn't quite sure what to do. His mind was torn between two options. And, those two potion were, that he should tell his captain, his own commanding officer that Data had, for lack of a better word, resurrected Lal. The second reason was involved him not telling captain Picard. He cared for Data, as a friend, and he didn't want to end up putting his foot in it.
Geordi had had many friends in the past, even though he was not always as sociable as many of his colleagues knew him to be at present. Nevertheless, in spite of all of the friends which he had had, none of them even came close to Data. Data was different, and not just because of the fact that he was human. Data had friends in the past who were aliens. Even now, he had friends which were otherworldly; such as counsellor Troi and Worf.
He stopped dead in his tracks. He wanted his mind to be made up, but for some unknown and rather annoying reason he didn't know why. He decided on going to visit counsellor Troi, but he thought she was busy.
Commander Riker, luckily, just happened to be strolling past and Geordi noticed him. He quickly jogged up to the commander and asked him if he knew whether or not Deanna had any appointments scheduled for the next few hours.
In response to his question, the commander regarded him, "Hmmm…" he mused. He wasn't really certain. "I don't really know," he confessed, "but…" he paused for a little while, so that he could think a bit more. Then, suddenly, he erupted, "Ah, yes! I know, Deanna's got this appointment with this Tellarite who's been having bad dreams. She told me about it yesterday."
Geordi smiled, "Thanks commander."
"I'm going that way, more or less," Riker added, "I could go and tell her you were asking for her."
For a moment, Geordi stood there in silence, considering Riker's offer, but he decided to decline it. "No. But, thank you anyway."
And, at hearing that, Riker turned on his heal and walked off into the distance; disappearing behind a corner.
Geordi sighed to himself. Now what? It wasn't a medical emergency, so he couldn't realistically report to sickbay. He didn't know what the diagnosis would be, if there even was one. What would it be? Confusion? All he knew was that he had a dilemma, and it certainly was not an easy one, by any stretch of the imagination.
Then, after a few more moments of thinking, Geordi came to a new idea. He was already sort of going in the direction of Ten Forward, so he might as well go and relax there. He had no paper work left to do, and he had no plans either.
He walked a little further, and then he came to the turbolift. He gave the required instruction to the computer and the turbolift quickly whizzed him up the decks to Ten Forward.
Ten Forward was located on deck ten. It was, more or less, the social hub for all of the many different species who, at present, called the USS Enterprise their home. It is a large lounge and recreational facility which is dominated famously by many massive windows which stretched from floor to ceiling. These windows allowed the wonderful view of the stars to be accessible to all. It was a place for observation and for thinking. This is what Geordi had intended on doing.
The person who was in charge for the maintenance of the place known as Ten Forward was a mysterious woman who went by the name of Guinan. She was from a species called the El-Aurian. Next to nothing is known about her species, as is Guinan, herself. However, it is common knowledge that she is quite a few hundred years in age.
Geordi strolled into Ten Forward and stopped once the doors had closed behind him. He was scanning the area for some place for him to sit. It was usually busy, but today, it seemed to be much busier than he remembered it to be. He brushed that aside and finally managed to locate somewhere to sit. It was a window seat. He made his way towards the table and sat down. Once he had done so, he stared out at the stars. He was thinking. He had always wanted to know what it was like to see the night sky as a human did. This is what he liked to discuss with Data. But, Data wasn't with him at the moment, he was with Lal.
Geordi sighed and continued to look out at the stars. He liked to quiz himself from time to time so that he could see how good his astronomical knowledge was. Sometimes the 'quiz' would involve him looking out of the large windows and then trying to estimate exactly what warp factor the Enterprise was presently travelling at. Other times, he would try and see what stars he could point out. Sometimes, there weren't any actual star-systems which he could make out. He knew, from all of his travels, that not every star was the parent to a planetary system.
Now, though, he was concentrating on a star which he could just about see out of the bottom left hand corner of the window which he was sat near. He wasn't sure what the name of the star was. He knew it was a red dwarf star; this part of the quadrant was scattered with these types of stars.
He was deep in thought, partially about the stars and partially about Data and Lal. It was then that he could have sworn he saw someone come up to him and sit down opposite him. He was right. He looked up and saw who it was.
"Oh, hey Guinan," he observed.
The alien woman seemed to be scanning his expression. She could just simply tell that something wasn't quite right. "Hello, Geordi," she smiled that welcoming smile which she seemed to permanently have on her face. "How are you?" She asked him. She seemed to be genuinely concerned, and she was.
He answered, his words little more than a mumble, "I… I'm fine, I guess."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked him, whilst smiling again.
He shook his head, for he didn't actually know the answer to that question himself. "I don't know," he expressed his confusion to her, "I just… I guess I've got a bit of a dilemma."
She frowned, confused. "A dilemma?" She asked, "What sort of a dilemma?" She asked the question again and looked at him. She didn't need to be able to see his actual eyes to know that something was wrong; she just knew. She noticed that he appeared to be rather uncomfortable. "Look, if you don't want to tell me, then…"
Geordi was suddenly alert and he cut her off, mid-sentence. "No, no, Guinan. It's not that. It's just that I don't know whether or not I should tell you."
"Well," she offered her opinion, "I'm guessing someone's told you a secret and you don't know whether you should keep your mouth shut or not. Am I right?" She asked him.
He sighed and then replied, "Yeah, I guess you could kind of call it a secret. But, he never actually specified that it was a secret."
"I see," she nodded her head in agreement. "Does this 'secret' pose any threat to anyone?" She asked.
"No," he responded.
"Well then," her voice sounded as though she had already made her mind up," I don't think you should tell."
He nodded and considered what she had said. But, he still wasn't very satisfied. "But, it may be against the rules. I'm not quite sure which rules exactly, but I'm sure it's not… right."
"Well, I'm not quite sure if I can help you then," she said. She sounded a little disappointed in herself and she left him and went to go and man the bar which, as usual, stood in the centre of Ten Forward.
Geordi gathered that it had been at least an hour, if not more, since he had asked commander Riker whether not Deanna had any appointments, so he thought he might swing by her officer and find out for himself.
Geordi cleared his throat. He wasn't quite sure why, yet still, he just did. He pressed the comm-panel on the side of Deanna Troi's office and announced his presence to her, "Uh, Deanna?"
She didn't even have to ask who it was. She could just recognize his voice. It sounded nervous. "Yes, Geordi, what is it?" she asked.
"I was just wondering if I could… well, if I could talk with you." Although she couldn't see, he shuffled his feet ever so slightly. He kept asking himself over and over again. Am I doing the right thing?
"Of course, Geordi, come on in. I've got no appointments scheduled for now," she said, smiling.
He walked in and sat down opposite her on a large purple chair. It wasn't really purple, in fact, it looked slightly anaemic in colour.
"What's on your mind, then?" She asked him as she tried to get her Betazoid senses to home in.
He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know, Deanna."
"Look," she said firmly, "I'm sensing something in you. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I think it's something like stress or worry."
"Yeah, I guess it is something like that," he replied, considering her conclusion.
"Do you… want to tell me what it is that's bothering you?" She asked him.
Geordi told her. "Well, I was talking with Guinan and she said that it's not right for someone to tell someone else of their friend's… secret."
"I see," she replied, pondering what Geordi had said. "Could this 'secret' endanger someone?" She asked, slightly apprehensive.
"No, not really," he replied. "But," he began to talk again, "it could hurt Data." As soon as he had said the name, he instantly cursed himself under his breath. It obviously wasn't as quite as quiet as he had thought, because, from looking at Deanna's expression, he could tell that she had heard it. "Sorry," he quickly apologized.
Deanna could tell that Geordi didn't mean to reveal the person with the secret as being Data, so she said to him, "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I won't tell anyone. You have my word."
"Thanks." He then smiled, albeit a little half-heartedly.
"So, we've established this: Data has a secret which he has told you, but you think it could… hurt him?" She asked, a little confused.
He nodded. "Yes. So, I don't know whether or not I should tell the captain."
"Is it a…" she tried to phrase her next question as delicately as she possibly could "…private matter?"
"I wouldn't say that," Geordi considered for a moment. "I would call it more of a personal thing. But, I just don't know if I should, you know, report it."
"Report it?" Deanna repeated, slightly alarmed. "Is it dangerous or against regulation?" She asked.
He shook his head, but only a little. "It's not illegal, but I definitely think it's going to need some sort of approval."
"I see," she replied, thinking. "And, you won't tell me what exactly it is?"
He sighed wearily. "I guess I have to now, don't it?" He let out a short, quiet chuckle. "All right," he said finally, "I'll tell you." He looked over at Deanna, who was, by now, listening rather intently on what he had to say. Geordi began, "A few days ago, Data came round to my quarters and asked me if I could give him some help."
"What sort of help?" Deanna asked, wide-eyed and interested.
Geordi continued, "He asked me to help him in… resurrecting Lal."
"Lal?" Deanna was instantly thrown aback by Geordi's revelation. "As in, Data's 'daughter'?" She asked, astounded.
"The very same," Geordi responded.
"But… how? I mean, I'm certainly no expert in computing, but I thought her neural net overloaded or something?" She asked.
"Not exactly, but that's the general idea," Geordi confirmed.
Deanna continued, "So, Data wants to… bring Lal back to life?"
"No…" Geordi's voice trailed off and then he picked it back up again "…He's already brought her back."
"Ah," was all Deanna could say. "Where is she now then?"
He frowned and replied, with little certainty on his face, "I'm not sure. Last time I checked, they were in engineering, which is where Data had been… storing her body. But, I don't know where they are now." He looked at Deanna, who appeared pensive. "Their probably in his quarters now, I should think."
"Okay, Geordi," Deanna concluded, "I'll maybe go round and check up on Lal."
"Thanks, Deanna," Geordi replied, thanking her. He stood up and smiled before leaving the ship's counsellor office.
