Chapter 7

The day after was full of trouble. The Command was waiting for a logic explanation to the Borg attack. But the question more urgent was: where did they disappear? And when will they return? Nobody knew the right answer. There was a possibility: the Borg of the Delta quadrant reorganized their fleet, but they were unable to rebuild a Queen…It could be a point to their disadvantage. The Federation could hope to destroy the cube of Lore and then the other cubes should be helpless, without a guide … But indeed Lore was very astute. Captain Picard thought that they could replace Lore with B-4. They were so similar that nobody could distinguish one from another. Data was perplexed about this plan. It seemed very dangerous to send an android with a normal intellectual capacities among a lot of enemies. He didn't have a real chance to survive. It seemed to Data very cruel to abandon him in such a way…

-"Data, what are you thinking now?"- Cindy asked to her husband during the lunch. She didn't feel very well in the last weeks, but she didn't understand why…

-"I am thinking that it is too dangerous to send my brother in mission, darling. He hasn't much experience, he could be tortured and then destroyed and it would be only my fault. I am the First Officer, I should take my responsibility and then I should exchange myself with Lore."- he said. They were eating brown food, which was the favorite one by Data, meanwhile at dinner they were used to eat Italian food, which was the favorite one by Cindy. The children were eating in silence. They didn't understand very well what was the danger which could destroy their family, but they understood that their parents were in a great trouble.

Cindy felt herself worse and then she should go into the bathroom. She vomited the entire lunch. Data knocked at the door. He wanted to be helpful: –"All right, darling? Could I help you anyway?"-

-"No, thank you. You can return into the kitchen."- Cindy decided to try the test of pregnancy. After the rape of Alex she didn't have any more her menstruations. And Data cannot have children… She feared to know the result. How could she explain this to her husband and to her children? But she knew that it was the only logical solution to her recent problems of health…

Data understood that it should be a delicate question. If a woman refuses to open the door to her man, it's only one the answer: she fears to explain something to him. She ran too often into the bathroom in the last month and she fainted on the bridge 24 hours earlier… They made obviously love during the last night, with a new passion, but she was very pale and her belly seemed a little bigger…

After a few minutes, Cindy had the bad news: she was waiting a baby by Alex. The first thought which she had was to not reveal the pregnancy to anybody, except Dr. Crusher. She should hide this delicate question. She should abort before it would be too late…

She returned into the kitchen and she forced herself to smile to her husband and to her children. –"Oh, but you were waiting for me…it is so kind, thank you very much…but unfortunately I should go now into the Sick Bay, because I have a terrible headache. Sorry, babies…"- she said. She went out without giving other details about her conditions.

Data remained astonished. Cindy was going to Dr. Crusher with an excuse, it was clear, but why? Had she a lover? Could she be pregnant of another man? It was very hard for him to think that his wife could have a sexual relationship with another man. He feared that he could have a violent reaction. But on the ship nobody was interested to become friend of Cindy, except the females. The men seemed to fear him, especially after the death of Alex. Therefore he excluded a secret relationship with an officer. He would have noticed something strange in the behavior of Cindy…