Captain Picard smiled as he looked across the large table of the main conference lounge. As always, he was at the head of the table. "As I'm sure you know," Picard started to talk, "every year, we hold a staff dance."
Everyone who was sat around the large oval shaped table nodded. "When is it?" Commander Riker asked.
"I am sure counsellor Troi can tell you," Picard gestured to Deanna and Riker turned around to face her, as she was sat next to him. It was Deanna who was organising the dance this year. Last year, it had been the responsibility of Beverly Crusher, the chief medical officer.
Deanna folded her arms and answered Riker's question. "Its tonight," she said.
"Tonight?" Riker repeated in shock. He knew it was soon, but he never thought that it would be that early.
"Yes, didn't you know, Number One?" Picard queried.
"No, no, I did know. Sorry, it must have just slipped my mind."
Lieutenant Worf then interjected. He had never been fond of dancing. "Is it compulsory?" He asked.
Captain Picard chuckled quietly at the Klingon's worried sounding question. "No, Mr Worf, it is not compulsory. But, if you wish, you can come."
Deanna Troi then continued to explain further information about the dance. "The dance will be held in recreation room five, as it is the only recreation room with windows."
Lore was seated at the table too, as he was more or less in place of Data. He wasn't entirely sure about the dance. Obviously, he knew that he didn't necessarily have to go, but he felt as though he should. Data was rather good at dancing, Lore was not.
"Dismissed." Picard gave out the order, and promptly all of the officers then left from the conference lounge.
A few hours had passed, and now it was the time of the dance. Still, Lore was very unsure of the whole thing. He had never even danced before in his whole life. He was standing near the broad, majestic windows of the recreation room, along with commander Riker and a few other officers. Riker, as always, looked dashing in his black suit and, he had shaved off his beard.
The doors of the recreation room slid open, and someone walked in. It was Deanna Troi. Riker turned around, and when he saw her he was simply lost for words. He walked over to her and too her hand and they began to dance slowly. The starlight outside acted as some sort of a natural spotlight.
Lore was beginning to get more nervous now. He had invited Grace Fletcher to the dance with him, but she still hadn't turned up. He was expecting her to arrive at the same time as counsellor Troi, but Troi had already arrived and Lore couldn't she Grace anywhere. However he consoled himself with the knowledge that Grace was looking forward to the dance a lot, so he doubted that she would miss it.
Just as Lore was about to turn away and look out of the large windows to stare in wonderment at the billions of stars, he saw the recreation room doors open once again. The sight that he saw was perhaps the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
Bewildered amazement clouded Lore's features for some time before he managed to return his expression to a neutral one. Ensign Fletcher approached him, wearing a flowing, blue dress; that matched the colour of her eyes.
"You are the most beautiful woman here," he observed as she stopped to stand in front of him.
"What about Deanna?" Grace said as she looked across the room to see the ship's counsellor dancing with commander Riker.
Lore put his hands on her hips and looked down into her eyes, "Even more so than her," he said.
"Well," Grace began, "you're very handsome too." And, with that, she put her hands on each of Lore's cheeks and placed her lips to hers. Lore pushed back and moved his hands down her back slightly. "Do you like this dress?" She asked.
Lore was a little confused. "Yes. It compliments your figure very much," he said. Lore, himself, was wearing a black suit; a tuxedo. He had never worn anything at all like this and he thought it made him look rather ridiculous.
She smiled, "Are we going to dance?" She asked him, but she noticed someone at the other end of the recreation room. It was Andy Summers. "I'll just be one minute." She said to Lore before she walked over to where Andy was. He was sat in the corner, by himself. It was strange, seeing him sat by himself. Once she had walked over to him, Grace spoke, "Why are you sat here all by yourself?" She asked him.
Andy didn't say anything in response, instead, he just shrugged. "You look very nice." He said glumly.
"Thank you," Grace smiled as she sat down next to him. "How come you haven't asked anyone to the dance?" She asked.
He sighed before answering. "I don't know. There wasn't really anyone I wanted to ask." That was the truth. He had wanted to ask Grace, but that was definitely out of the question.
"Oh." Grace said.
Andy put on a fake smile. "You can go back and dance with Data." He said.
Grace smiled and then walked back over to where Lore was.
Andy sighed as he watched Grace walk away. He wished he could have asked her.
"Why...?" Lore began to talk before Grace cut him off. "Don't worry," Grace interjected. She knew that Lore had felt somewhat threatened by Andy and she just wanted to make sure that he was all right.
They continued to dance and the song changed. It had been something rather slow and boring to start off with, but this song had a slightly faster tempo. It took her a few moments to recognise what it was. Her knowledge of classical music wasn't all that great. Everything she knew about classical music was because Sarah had told her about it. Once the song's chorus began to start, Grace recognised it at once. It was a song from Earth's mid-twentieth century, Close to You. She had remembered hearing the song when she was young, even tough it was hundreds of years old. Lore took her hand and they began to dance.
The song was only a couple of minutes long and now it had finished. George Burly, one of Andy's friends, was the person in charge of the music at the dance for this year. He, like Andy and Grace, was a fan of rock music, but he couldn't play that sort of music here as you can't really dance to it. He did however, manage to play one song. It wasn't in the rock genre, but it was by a rock band.
As soon as the first few notes of the song had began playing, Grace knew exactly what it was. Lore saw her expression change, she looked a little sad. "Are you all right?" He asked her as the continued to dance.
She, being shorter than him, looked up and nodded. "I'm fine. Its just, this is my favourite song," she replied.
At last, the singing had started in the song and Grace felt something. She felt nostalgic. This song had been her and Andy's favourite song when they were at high school together. She even remembered the first time that she heard it. Andy had always been interested in history, and so once, he had shown her something called a cassette player and the song which he played on it was the song which was playing now.
"Last Night on Earth," Grace said the song title, almost dreamily. As soon as she said it, she looked over Lore's shoulder to see Andy's glum expression as he was sat on a chair across the room. Grace no longer had any feelings for him, but, nonetheless, she still felt sorry for him.
Lore had heard her, "What?" He asked, confused.
"On, no, nothing," Grace replied quickly. The song seemed to go on for ages and, in a way, she wanted it to end. It kept reminding her of Andy, and she didn't want that.
Finally, the song ended and Grace could relax. Now, George Burly put on a different song, which had been requested by another officer. The first few notes of the song, the drum, piano and violin had started and Grace smiled. She seemed to remember Sarah telling her that it was her favourite song, and so, Grace had listened to it many times. After little over ten seconds, the singing began. Grace had to admit, this man, Elvis, had a wonderful voice.
As the song carried on playing, it made Lore think. The lyric reminded him of Grace. He wasn't quite sure why or how, but why simply did. It was as if there was some sort of a link. "Do you like this song?" He asked her.
Grace lifted her head up of Lore's shoulder and nodded, "Do you?" She asked him.
Lore, unlike Data, did not have any preferences regarding musical taste, but he did rather like the song which was playing. "Yes," he replied. He whispered, "It's getting late," reminding her.
"Is it?" Grace wondered. On a starship, in practically the middle of nowhere, how could there be a day and a night? It confused her a little, but there had to be time, and there was. There was a large clock on display in the recreation room, and she noticed it. "You're right," she said once she knew what the time was.
"Should we leave?" Lore asked.
It was actually quite cold in the recreation room, and Grace could feel the cold air on her legs. It wasn't very comfortable. Sarah had told her to wear something longer, but she hadn't listened. Just before they left the room, Grace walked over to where Deanna and Riker were, with Lore, and congratulated her on the dance, "The dance is amazing, commander, counsellor!" Grace said.
Deanna smiled, "Thank you. You look very pretty, and," she caught sight of Lore, "Data, you look handsome too."
Data... The word clung to Lore.