IX.

"She's very lucky."

Lore pulled back the blankets and threw a pillow at the head of the bed. Quickly, he scrunched up the sheets with his hands to give all the appearance that the bed had been slept in. Somehow, the bed looked more convincing it this rumpled, unmade state. He had spent the last six hours spreading subtle indicators of his so-called humanness all over the ship. He had done up the other living quarters at the opposite side of the ship, replicating everything from the bed to the end tables to the dressers that he filled with newly replicated clothes. He had even replicated a cup of coffee, downed it quickly, and left the dirty mug sitting on the edge of the bridge console. It seemed like something a forgetful human would do.

After those little physical things, he had decided to focus on the more technical aspects. He disengaged and rewrote the standard security protocols that he had put in place for intruders, which would have instantly depressurized the entire ship. It had been a perfect system, but since Teni would certainly need air and atmospheric pressure regardless of intruders, he had to remove it. He also had to reallocate energy reserves to life support, a system which he typically only ran twenty percent of the time. It would now run one hundred percent of the time, which would certainly put energy restriction on his warp-field experiments, not to mention several other systems he had been working on—.

Not even a full day, and she's already trouble.

Lore stopped what he was doing and took a moment to frown and be generally bitter. He was kicking himself, as humans liked to say. He should have set a course for the nearest station and simply bought Teni a seat on a transport bound for Bajor. He still could, in fact, but a very irritating and very unwelcome sense of guilt prevented him. He had already promised to take her to Bajor, and every station within twenty light years was little better than Gesteia Nor. He would hardly assuage his guilt by taking her from one hell-hole only to drop her into another.

He rolled his eyes up and shook his head. Every once in a while—a very rare while—Lore wished he was still the same way he had been all those years ago. Back then he would not have given a damn. Back then he would have minded his own business and not even concerned himself with the grotesque interactivities of humanoids. But, back then was nothing to long for. Who longed to be a heartless bastard?

You are a heartless bastard.

He stepped before the console and opened the replicator history files, ready to insert a bogus history of replicated meals, when his console made a low angry beep. The starboard warp nacelle was registering a point zero six second delay in its instrument readouts. It was such a minor variance that any normal person would have overlooked it, but Lore was not a normal person when it came to his ship. He frowned as he knelt down and pulled away the cover at the front of the console to reveal the workings inside. It took him no time to see that the problem was the data stream itself and not the instrumentation.

He was mildly pleased. This would take hours.

Less than twenty minutes passed before he heard Teni's door open and close. The soft padding of feet approached the bridge.

"Um…hi." Teni said as she stopped near the short flight of steps leading to the platform. She had changed into a long brown dress with a figured diamond pattern, a style that Lore recognized to be traditionally Bajoran.

"Thanks for the use of the replicator." She continued, "I'm a lot more comfortable."

Lore looked sharply back down at the disassembled console in front of him. It had taken him a moment to realize he had been staring at her. "My ship has substantial energy reserves. You can replicate anything you want."

His tone was not mean, but not quite friendly enough to be inviting. Teni stood at the threshold of the bridge, awkwardly shifting her weight and looking toward the view screen. That was when he noticed she was in her bare feet.

"Did you have trouble replicating shoes?" He asked.

"What? Oh!" She laughed and moved a bit closer to the stairs, "It's not traditional for Bajorans to wear shoes in the house."

Lore smirked, "House?"

"Yes. Your ship feels very homey."

Homey? "That's not quite the description I thought you would have."

"Really?" She said, suddenly more relaxed. She moved up the steps and stopped a few feet from him, "The layout is so strange. Not like a ship at all. On all the ships I've been on, the bridge is separated from everything else and there are usually doors to divide everything. Your bridge just kind of curves right into the corridors where you sleep. Its feels more like a…big living room in a house."

Lore shrugged. He was going to have to take her word for that. He had never been in a 'house', as the typical description was. Even his home on Omicron Theta, where he had been activated and lived with Dr. Soong, had been a converted ballistics lab. He offered a plain explanation, "This ship was originally a private Ferengi pleasure cruiser. I've made extensive alterations."

"I like it." She assured him. Her voice was low and meaningful, as if she was trying to say far more than those three words. "Arik, I don't know how to thank you for everything. If you hadn't shown up when you did, I…I don't…."

"He's lucky I didn't kill him." Lore said flatly as he continued to sort through the console. He was just moving his hands, though. He had ceased actually paying attention to it.

Teni smoothed her dress behind her knees as she knelt and sat back on her haunches, becoming eye level with him. "Why did you come back to the bar last night? Did you forget something?"

Lore could detect the tinge of hope in her voice, and he could not help but be flattered. She was hoping that he had come back for her, perhaps to ask her to dinner or lunch or whatever it was that humans did when courting. As ridiculous as such a notion was to him, he still found himself trying to suppress a smile. Teni liked him, more than liked him, and it felt a little good to be liked.

"I was returning to give you something." He said casually, shrugging.

Teni took a deep breath, "Oh. The…the box?"

He nodded.

"Why?"

He grumbled to himself. Did she need him to lay out the obvious? "So you could buy passage off the station."

Teni's heart thumped two wild beats. Lore heard it clearly.

"How is your wrist?" He asked, desperate to change the subject.

"It doesn't hurt anymore." Teni said, twisting it around a few times, "Perfect. Thank you."

He nodded and looked back at the console. He wondered if she had any engineering experience. Perhaps if he could distract her with some kind of task—.

"You're not human, are you?"

Lore's eyes shot up in a flash, "What?"

"It's okay." Teni said at once, raising her hands, "You said you had run away from something. It only makes sense that you would disguise yourself."

He was aghast, and almost angry, "But why would you think I'm not human?"

She lowered her eyes and fidgeted with her fingernails, "I, eh….In the bar when you attacked Mull, you lifted him off the ground. You…. Humans aren't that strong."

Shit. He could have objected, for what he had done was within the conceivable limitations of a human; just not a human of his size and build. He clenched his jaw, "Does that bother you?'

"No." She said quickly, "There are many species that are stronger than humans, and I can't think of anything objectionable—. Unless, you're Romulan. Please tell me you aren't Romulan!"

Lore laughed, "I'm not a Romulan."

"Good."

His humor vanished suddenly, "Listen, Teni. We need to have an agreement right now. Don't ask me what I am. I can't tell you."

Teni swallowed hard and seemed to consider. Finally, she nodded. "Ok. Maybe you'll eventually choose to tell me."

"I doubt that."

"I'm an optimist." She said brightly, smiling.

Yes, you are. He turned his attention back to the console and was prepared to ask her about her engineering experience when he felt her hand suddenly against his cheek. He turned and was immediately met with her lips pressed lightly against his. His initial shock was melted away by the soft, slow motion of her lips as she kissed him again. He felt a forgotten exhilaration that seemed to rise up from nowhere, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to put his hand on her waist and pull her closer. If it were possible, he would have sworn he had forgotten how wonderful a simple thing like a kiss could feel. The first time Anna had kissed him it had been so overwhelming he had wondered if something wasn't wrong with him. The second time had been so less thrilling.

Anna….

Lore's lips stiffened and he pulled away. Teni tried to meet his eyes as she leaned closer.

"What's wrong?" She whispered.

"I shouldn't have done that." He said simply.

"You didn't do anything." She muttered, her voice very low. She leaned back onto her haunches, and Lore could see the blood rising in her cheeks. She swallowed hard. "I'm sorry. You're not attracted to me."

That's right. But he couldn't say it, not like that. Even he had some decency! "That's not it. You are…very beautiful, Teni, but I…." He trailed off. What the hell was he supposed to say? Assuaging hurt feelings was not exactly something he was familiar with.

Teni gasped, "Oh! You're married!"

"No, I'm not married, but I…." He sighed, exasperated. What would put an end to this? "I love someone else."

Teni lowered her eyes to the open console and appeared to be considering something. She whispered as she said, "Where is she?"

"I don't know." He replied. He decided quickly that he needed to end this, now, and the best way to do that was to just be honest and get it over with. "She's on a starship somewhere, probably in the Alpha quadrant. I left to protect her. I can't see her again."

Teni let out a bitter little laugh and wiped at her eyes, which had begun to well with tears.

Lore grumbled.

"So, she isn't here and you can't see her again, but you won't break faith with her." Teni said slowly, examining each word as she said it. She sighed, "She's very lucky."

Lore looked away, "That's debatable."

Teni regained her feet and smiled down at him, "Oh, now I know she is. I—I'm going to see if I can replicate some shoes. Excuse me."

"Teni." He sighed miserably. This was stacking up to be a very awkward journey. He had to eliminate this now, before it became so bad that he would have no choice but to leave her somewhere. "Stay here and I'll…I'll show you the database. You can find something to read."

Teni hesitated, but eventually swallowed hard and moved back up the stairs, "Ok."

Lore indicated the only chair, which faced the massive computer interface along the back wall. "You can do a basic word search. The library is quite extensive." That's right. Distract her. Get it out of her mind.

Teni nodded, her shoulders still broadcasting her embarrassment, and faced the computer console. She lifted her hand and let her fingers hover over the touch board. She moved for one set of controls, hesitated, moved onto another. Lore watched her fidget like this until she eventually sat back, allowing her hands to fall into her lap.

"I don't know how to use it." She whispered.

Lore looked at the screen. Of course. Not everyone knew how to read scrolling Borg code. "Computer, adjust displays to Bajoran characters."

There was a hesitant flicker as the sharp, boxy Borg code was replaced with horizontal lines of Bajoran calligraphy. Teni sat up as if a bit more relieved. She reached her hand out and touched a control which, she thought, would highlight the entry search box. The computer objected with an angry beep. She bit her lip and touched another unlabeled touch-button, which only elicited the same response.

Lore frowned. What was she doing? He reached out and tapped the two adjoining controls that would highlight the entry window. She smiled and cleared her throat and leaned forward. "Thanks. I've got it."

Lore stepped away, back to the disassembled console behind him, when he heard another confused objection from the computer.

"Teni, do you know how to use a basic mainframe interface?" He regretted his words and his surprised tone instantly. Teni's face was flushed anew, and she held her hands tightly in her lap.

"No." She whispered.

How was that possible? He frowned and wondered if she was lying for some strange reason. When she saw the look on his face, her expression immediately switched from embarrassed to angry.

"I didn't learn computers, okay!" She belted, "They didn't have any at the refugee camp. I don't even like to use data-pads!"

Lore managed to suppress his wonder—for he had never met an adult without this rudimentary knowledge—and realized with some irritation that all the changes he had made to the ship's files had been totally unnecessary. Still, using a basic interface was such an essential piece of knowledge, he found himself wondering just how long she had been fussing with the replicator before she had gotten it to do her bidding.

"Fine. I'll teach you. It's simple."

Teni scoffed and turned back toward the screen, "Don't waste your time. I don't know how."

Lore rolled his eyes. Either she learned this or he was going to have to do everything for her, which he found unacceptable for more reasons than one. "That's why I said teach." He tapped a few controls, sending the scream back to the opening display. He nodded at the screen, "You can read this?"

"Of course I can read!" She said angrily.

Lore raised his brow, slightly amused. Apparently Teni was sensitive about people questioning her intelligence. "Are you going to yell at me every time I ask you a question? Do you see the file headers?"

She sulked, "Yes."

He reached in front of her and held his finger on one touch-key as he tapped another. A highlighted square jumped from file header to file header with each tap.

"This is how you highlight a category. Let go of this button and the last category highlighted will expand, then you can navigate within it."

Teni pressed her lips together, but nodded. This was not how she had seen him do things. "It's looks…much slower than the way you do it."

Lore smirked. That's because I can enter direct code at two thousand keystrokes a minute. "This will be easier for you."

She sighed, "You don't have to teach me stuff to make me feel better, Arik. I'm not a pity case."

Now, that pissed him off. "I am not taking pity on you. It would be very convenient for me if I did not have to spend the next two weeks getting your meals out of the replicator because you can't figure out how to use it."

Teni sucked a sharp breath between her teeth and looked back at the screen. Her face had quickly grown red all the way to her ears, and the glare from the console did nothing to hide the glitter of tears rising in her eyes.

Damnit. Lore looked away, once more metaphorically kicking himself. He was hardly an expert on humanoid relations but even he should have known that one did not go from kissing a woman to insulting to her in less than two minutes, but that pity comment had truly rubbed him the wrong way, mostly because it was true. He did pity her, but he didn't want her to know that!

"I'm sorry, Teni." He said quickly, "I didn't mean that."

"Yes, you did. You think I'm stupid." She muttered.

Lore sighed and closed his eyes. How did he get himself into this? Still, he could see that she was genuinely upset, and part of him couldn't help but think that it was his fault; a tiny part of him.

"If I thought you were stupid I would not bother to try teaching you." He said simply, "Highlight a category and open it. Any one will do."

Teni shifted as if she would object again, but sighed as she held down the same touch-key he had and tapped the cursor a few times. She let it rest on the category for communications and let go. The communications interfaced expanded and filled the screen.

"Communications?" Teni said, her demeanor somewhat brightened, "Can I send a message?"

"No. It might be traced."

"Oh." She said, a little disappointed. "I guess I can send a message to my grandmother when we stop somewhere, or I can wait until I get to Bajor."

He nodded.

"Aren't you worried about these messages being 'traced'?" Teni asked. She was leaning forward and pointing at the screen to the only two lines of text in the communications box.

Lore glanced at them and went utterly still. The first message was, as he had expected, from that stupid trader Shoek. The second was labeled, very clearly, Lt. Commander Deanna Troi, USS Titan.

Teni immediately saw the strange look on his face and began to rise out of her seat. "Arik? Are you ok?"

Lore gripped the back of the chair. Hard. "Can you leave me alone for a while, Teni?"

She only nodded, too frightened by his intense expression to question anything. She floated down the steps and disappeared into the room that had tacitly become hers.

Lore lowered himself into the chair and stared at the screen.