XXIV.

"Are you familiar with the phrase 'plausible deniability'?"

"If he touches her one more time I'm going to break his neck." Lore grumbled through clenched teeth. His firsts were already gripping the railing so tightly that the welding points were starting to separate.

"You cannot do that. That would be bad." B-4 said matter-of-factly.

"Quiet, Bee!" Lore hissed as he turned his attention back to the railing. He was crouching just at the beginning of the second deck balcony overseeing the station promenade. Behind him, the corridor continued on into the depths of the second deck, but in front of him the corridor opened up onto the balcony, faced with a glass banister topped with a metal railing. He was out of view, but just barely.

B-4 stood a few feet behind Lore, his eyes wandering over every inch of the corridor like it was some kind of art gallery. He made the same guilty smile he had made the day before, "I am not supposed to be on the station."

"Yeah." Lore muttered, waving a shushing hand in B-4's direction. He was too focused on the object of his attention on the promenade below. Specifically, at the promenade café below. At one of the small round tables, Anna sat across from a man with sandy blonde hair and light blue eyes. He smiled at something Anna said and rested his hand on top of hers.

Lore's eyes narrowed and he gripped the railing again. A portion of the seam buckled and split open.

"You damaged the railing." B-4 said, pointing.

"Owen Warrick." Lore muttered ruefully, once again ignoring his brother, "O-wen….Stupid name."

"Doctor Warrick works with Doctor Crusher on the station." B-4 said, "He helps fix people when they are hurt."

"How noble." Lore sneered. He had the terrible urge to say more unfavorable things, but he really couldn't considering the fact that he knew nothing about the man beyond his name and, now, what he looked like. Blake had given up the man's name quickly enough, once Lore had cornered him at the end of an access tunnel and promised that he wasn't going to hurt anyone.

"How old is 'Doctor Warrick'?" Lore asked, pronouncing the name like it was an infectious disease.

"Thirty-one years, two months, and fourteen days." B-4 said proudly, "I will not tell you the hours or minutes, because Geordi says that information is 'unnecessary'."

Lore scoffed again. Thirty-one. He was younger than Anna! Lore wasn't exactly attuned to contemporary human relationship norms, but he was certain that in most human romantic relationships the man was older than the woman. Or at least the same age. Oh! But what did that matter? Anna wasn't concerned about silly human norms, especially such weak ones! Her relationship with him was proof of that. He crouched down further, and his heart seemed to sink an equal degree.

Does she…love him?

"Anna is in the café." B-4 said, "We can go down the stairs and sit with her."

"Not right now." Lore said, "And don't tell her we were on the station this evening. Okay?"

"Okay." B-4 agreed, as if doing whatever Lore wanted was the most natural thing in the world. "I like the café. The replicators make cheese, and I like cheese."

Lore finally broke from his eagle-eyed focus, and turned to look at his brother with amusement, "Cheese?"

"Yes!" B-4 said, still looking around the promenade, "Cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese and—."

"There are hundreds of varieties of cheese." Lore interjected, still laughing slightly, "When did you start eating? No, don't give me the date. Describe the scenario."

"When we came to the station the manager had a party for the crew. They called it a 'reception'. I wanted to talk to everyone, but Counselor Troi thought it was not good that I talked so much, so she showed me the buffet table and said I should try the cheese and I did and she said, 'oh, thank God, I thought he would never shut up.' And the cheese tasted very good and—."

"That's great, Bee." Lore said, stopping the deluge. "You should try blueberry muffins. I've actually developed a liking for—where are they going now!"

Lore sprang to a standing position just as Anna and Owen rose from their table and started headed down the steps and across the promenade. They walked at a leisurely pace, and now that they were actually facing the direction of the balcony Lore could see their faces clearly. Anna was smiling, but he saw with some relief that it was a tense, polite smile, as if her mind were occupied elsewhere. It was the way Owen was looking at her that made Lore's back stiffen. The man watched her face intently, his eyes a little too wide for the bright lights of the room, and his brow was wrinkled just slightly. Lore had seen that expression before. It was the way Riker looked at Troi. It was the way Dr. Soong had so often looked at his wife, Juliana. And it was definitely the way Picard looked at Crusher sometimes, though the Captain probably thought no one noticed.

"Where are they going?" Lore asked again, as if the answer would just manifest itself. He pulled back further behind the wall, hiding his body while he could still see over the balcony. He suddenly had the horrible thought that they might be heading in the direction of the dormitory deck, toward Warrick's quarters.

No! No, no, no, no….

"They are going to the holodeck. I like the holodeck." B-4 said.

Lore spun around, "How do you know that? Did Anna say something?"

"I…." B-4 frowned, "I am sorry. I was…guessing. Anna and Dr. Warrick have gone to the holodeck before, so I…I…."

"You assumed, Bee. That's okay. That's logical." Lore assured him, just as he relaxed from his own sense of relief. Yes. They were heading in the direction of the station holodeck. He leaned forward a bit more, hoping to watch them as they passed into the corridor under the balcony. What would they be doing in the holodeck? He knew Anna liked interactive holonovels, especially historical ones. She particularly liked the scenes of historical parties in which there were often lots of conversation and dancing—. Dancing.

If he touches her one more time….

"Hello, Geordi." B-4 said brightly, "It is good to see you."

Shit. Lore stood up straight and turned around. Sure enough, there stood LaForge a few feet from B-4. He must have approached from the lift at the other end of the corridor, which left Lore a little irritated. He had probably seen Lore crouching down and peering over the promenade.

"Evening, Bee." Geordi said as he gave him a disapproving look, "You know you're not supposed to be on the station right now."

B-4 smiled, "Screw—."

"—I told him to come with me, LaForge. Relax." Lore interjected.

Geordi leaned forward and looked over the balcony, "What are you doing?"

"We are watching An—."

"Nothing!" Lore insisted as he slapped a hand over B-4's mouth.

Geordi looked slowly back and forth between the two of them, "Yeah, that doesn't sound guilty at all."

"What do you want?" Lore asked irritably. He didn't have time for this. He had to find a way to get down to the holodeck suite without being seen, and then after that….What exactly was he going to do after that? The image of Owen's hand resting on Anna's suddenly forced its way to the forefront of his mind, and he felt an intense wave of anxiety.

"It's actually about the new—. Are you okay?" Geordi said.

Lore cleared his expression quickly, for he had not realized her was frowning in an almost painful looking manner. "I'm fine." He insisted, "What do you want?"

Geordi sighed heavily and folded his hands in front of him, "Look, I need to ask you for a favor."

This was more than enough to garner Lore's attention, if for the moment. He gave Geordi a skeptical look, for what on Earth could he want from him? "Really?" Lore said, "And what might that be?"

"You know about the new phased propulsion system that we're installing aboard the Enterprise?"

"No." Lore said with a shrug, "And I don't care."

Geordi shook his head and muttered something under his breath before giving Lore a serious look, "I'm going to make this short, Lore. The new upgrades are derived from Borg systems. We're up against a hard deadline and we are thin on people familiar with the setup. I am asking you to help us with the propulsion install."

Lore narrowed his eyes, "And why are you asking me?"

"Is Lore going to join the crew?" B-4 asked, his bright eyes darting between the two men. "You could go with us when the ship leaves!"

"I'm not going to tip-toe around this." Geordi said, pointedly ignoring B-4's question, "Are you familiar with transphasic warp technology or not? I have reason to believe you are."

"What if I am?" Lore said, suddenly defensive. This was…this was the Borg! They knew better than to talk about that. Ever.

"If you are, I need your help!" Geordi said, exasperation finally taking him. He tossed up his hands and appeared to be making a real effort to control his temper, "Half the engineering staff is assigned to the repairs on the forward section. Another three teams have been reassigned to this ridiculous joint Federation-Bajor program on dry dock station two. I've got engineers wasting their time performing upgrades to hundred year old Bajoran freighters because some diplomat wants to get kudos with the Bajoran government. That leave me in one hell of a situation. Are you going to help me or not?"

"Not!" Lore barked, "Now, if you will excuse me, I'm busy—."

"You're going to be banned from the station."

Lore stopped mid-sentence and frowned. Was that a threat or a simple statement? Considering what he knew about LaForge, it was unlikely to be a threat. "How do you know that?" Lore asked, "And why would I be banned?"

"The station manager has complete discretion when it comes to civilian personnel. He already banned B-4 for something that was hardly his fault, do you think he's going to hesitate to do the same with you the moment he can?" LaForge pinched the bridge of his nose irritably, "I spoke to the maintenance chief about it less than an hour ago. The only reason you haven't been put off the station already is because your ship is impounded for two weeks. Legally, they can't take your only mode of transportation and then tell you to leave. As soon as the impound period is done, you're going to be banned."

Lore closed his eyes for a moment. This was infuriating! Here he was, in the very middle of the rat's nest bureaucracy of the Federation, and it was all his own doing. Could he have ever imagined the day when he would voluntarily tolerate such nonsense?

It's worth it. For Anna.

Lore looked at Geordi again, but didn't say anything. His pride and natural sense of defiance was holding him back from admitting that he had been painted into a corner.

"Also," Geordi said as he shifted his eyes awkwardly over the ceiling, "Hall is assigned to the same project. The, eh, same shift."

Lore's frown fell slowly, to be replaced by an amazed smile, "Why, LaForge! Are you bribing me?"

"Oh, my God! Are you going to help me here, or not?"

Lore took a step back, "Will I be guaranteed access to the station?"

"Yes." Geordi said with a sigh.

"What about the impound period? When it's over am I going to be forced to leave?"

"Captain Picard has already applied for a docking permit for your ship."

Lore smiled again, this time genuinely impressed. "It seems that you've thought of everything. You must really need my help."

"You have no idea. Just…." Geordi looked over the railing again, frowning, "Just stay out of trouble. If you think you can manage that."

"Trouble? Me?" Lore put on a broad smile as he began to back into the corridor, "Perish the thought, LaForge." He grabbed B-4's sleeve and pulled him in the direction of the lift, "We have to go."

Geordi opened his mouth as if to object, but quickly snapped it shut and turned away, waving his hand at them, "You know what? I don't want to know. You had just better show up tomorrow. No! Actually, we had better get started tonight."

"Good Bye, Geordi!" B-4 called just as Lore shoved him into the lift. Lore followed him quickly and set the lift to take them one deck down. In a very rare and very awkward turn of events, Lore did not have a plan. He hated not having a plan. What he wanted to do—truly wanted to do—was hardly viable. Breaking into the holodeck to drag Anna away after breaking Owen's hand would hardly be a plan, though he loved the thought of it.

"Where are we going?" B-4 asked as the lift doors opened and Lore walked out into a narrow grey corridor.

"To the holodeck." Lore replied.

"I like the holodeck."

Lore walked quickly until he reached the next turn off, then stopped. He looked cautiously around the corner to see if anyone was there. Up head, the corridor ended in a kind of large pentagon, with four large doors leading to four separate holodecks. There was no one in sight, and so he walked casually toward the main control panel between two of the doors. He looked over the display quickly. All of the holodecks were currently in use. He could not tell which holodeck Anna and Owen were using.

"Is Anna still mad at you?" B-4 asked.

"Yes." Lore sighed as he dropped his hands to his sides. His anger was starting to break down into something worse, something much more debilitating. He glanced at one of the closed doors with a miserable expression. He knew next to nothing about Owen Warrick, but one piece of information was perhaps the only thing that mattered. He was human. Lore was not human. That fact alone struck Lore like a battering ram. What if Anna had realized her mistake? What if she had decided that Lore had been right, that she was better off without him?

"Anna loves you." B-4 said.

Lore turned and looked at his brother. He was standing near one of the doors, running his finger down the seam of the wall panel as if it fascinated him.

"You don't understand, Bee. That was before." Lore said miserably.

"But…she said so." B-4 insisted, "Many times. She cried and said 'it is not fair'. Then she screamed questions. 'Why did he go back down there? What was he doing? Why did you let him go?' I wanted to tell her the truth so she would not be sad, but I promised I would not. You cannot break a promise."

Lore hardly moved, and did not bother to correct B-4 this time. He just stared at him. These temporary breaks into Data's memory were clearly outside of his control. Instead, Lore turned back toward the holosuite panel. He allowed himself a few more moments of gut wrenching self-pity until he made a conscious effort to throw it all aside. He was not going to feel sorry for himself, and he certainly wasn't going to stand aside while the most important thing in his life slipped further and further away. Not. A. Chance.

This is war.

Lore pulled open the wall panel on its hinge and began repositioning chips on the isolinear board with fantastic speed.

"What are you doing?" B-4 asked as he came to Lore's side.

"Go back to the ship. Go to your quarters." Lore replied.

B-4 frowned, "I do not like being alone. I do not like waiting in my quarters."

"It won't be long. I promise." Lore said and he finished with the chips. He closed the panel again and began working over the program display, looking through thousands of different programs.

"How long?" B-4 asked. "I do not want to go."

"Are you familiar with the phrase 'plausible deniability'?" Lore asked as he continued his fast work. He looked over his shoulder down the corridor, saw it was clear, and continued.

"No." B-4 replied.

"It means that you are a terrible liar, Bee, so it would be best if you go back to your quarters now. Go. I will see you soon."

"Okay." B-4 said. He turned and started walking down the corridor back toward the lift. Lore waited until he heard the lift doors close before he finished the last step of his work. He locked the program in place and ran away back down the corridor, past the lift, and made a left into an adjacent dead-end lobby. He waited at the corner, his eyes just clearing the wall so that he could watch.

Two minutes went by before two of the holodeck doors flew open and people rushed out into their corridor. Another twenty seconds and the other two doors opened. Anna and Owen, along with another six people, emerged into the corridor with their hands desperately wrapped around their shivering bodies. Snow flurries wafted from the holodecks before the doors closed. One of the men rushed to the control panel and smacked it.

"What the hell is going on! My program turned into some kind of arctic storm!"

"Mine too!" Shouted another, "I couldn't get it to deactivate at all. I think it's some kind of program loop."

"God! It must have been thirty below in there!" Owen said through chattering teeth, "Are you all right?"

Anna nodded through her spastic shivers. Lore watched as she looked long and hard at the wall panel. "Are the chips out of order?"

One of the men turned, "Why would the chips be out of order? They were fine."

Anna looked away, shaking her head, "Never mind."

"Well, crap!" One of the men shouted, "I don't know what's going on. I don't think we're fix this any time fast."

Owen chuckled, or tried to, through his chattering, "Well, I guess we can call an early end to the evening, huh?"

"Yeah." Anna muttered. She turned and looked directly down the way, but it was too late. Lore had already disappeared into a Jefferies tube hatch at the end of his dead-end corridor.