Al's jaw dropped as he saw Data seated near Ziggy with a piece of his
head missing. The discarded scalp lay in his lap, allowing Al to see the
glittering circuitry which filled the android's head. "Doesn't that hurt?"
he asked.
Data couldn't move his head because he had run a cable to one of Ziggy's ports, but he slid his eyes toward Al. "Not at all," he said.
Al shook his head in wonder. "So, how're the projections coming?"
"We've just hit the second half of the twenty-first century," Ziggy said.
"That's all?"
"Well, it would go quicker if I could examine the future-history. But that would disrupt our future. As it is, all I'm able to do is to cycle and tabulate the dates. Data's handling the events. We're working as fast as we can, Admiral," the computer said in an annoyed tone.
"I know, Ziggy. I'm just worried about Sam," Al said. If you'd told me ten years ago that I'd be apologizing to a computer, I'd never have believed you.
******
Sam stood nervously in what the crew had called the Transporter Room. The captain had reconvened a briefing an hour after he and Geordi had gone to Ten-Forward. Sam had actually enjoyed himself in the spacious lounge. The starfield provided some relaxation, once Sam convinced himself that there really wasn't anywhere for him to fall. His fear of heights could resurface unexpectedly, as he could attest from the Leap when he'd suddenly remembered he had such a phobia--while hanging upside down from a trapeze swing. Thank God for nets. And for Al, who'd coached him through the harrowing experience.
He looked around the room again. He didn't see any way out of it apart from the door through which he'd entered the room. Starfleet had approved their request to contact the planet. Picard had had Worf send a message petitioning the Zyrosians to allow an Away Team to beam down. Sam still wasn't sure what beaming down was, just that it would be the means to get them from the ship to the planet. Riker walked into the room and the three other officers waiting with Sam stepped onto a large round platform which filled the room. Sam hesitated for a moment before stepping onto the platform himself. Somehow it reminded him of the Quantum Leap Accelerator. Would this contraption cause him to Leap as the Accelerator had?
Riker signaled to the technician who stood behind a panel facing the platform. The technician pressed a few keys, then slid his hand over a section of the panel. A bright blue light shined down on Sam and he felt his body beginning to dissolve. Leaping was nothing like this! Leaping into someone else's life didn't eradicate his body! AL!!!!!! he screamed mentally.
Seconds later, Sam felt his body reform, but they were no longer on the platform. The Away Team, consisting of himself, Riker, Worf, Troi, and LaForge, now stood at the foot of a shining metallic hill. So that was beaming down, Sam thought. It was not an experience he looked forward to repeating. Troi looked at him with concern. He gave her a small smile to reassure her (and himself) that he was fine, then turned his attention to the metallic hill before them.
This planet definitely mimicked natural landscape. Hills, trees, even mountains spread to the horizon, but each piece of scenery glittered with mechanism. The Away Team stared in amazement at the panorama. Geordi spoke first. "There isn't an ounce of organic material anywhere." The band he wore, called a VISOR, allowed him to see in many spectrums.
"Are you sure?" Riker said. "Data, double check that."
Sam hesitated a moment too long in his uncertainty.
"Data? Double check the readings," Riker repeated.
Troi pointed to the small machine in a pouch of Sam's uniform. He reached for it, opening the hinge. It's almost like the handlink. He didn't understand how the little machine worked, though. Deanna quickly performed the scan on her tricorder, nodding at Sam when it was completed.
"Correct, sir," Sam said. "There are no organics on the planet." Remembering that Data was a very literal, er, machine, he added, "Excluding the Away Team, of course."
"Of course," Riker echoed with a smile. "This is incredible! An entirely inorganic planet."
"But why mimic a natural landscape with machinery?" LaForge asked.
"I expect we'll find the answer up there," Riker pointed to the top of the hill. "Let's go."
The Away Team started up the steep hill, the slick surface making the climb difficult. Sam nearly slid back down when they reached the top. "Al," he was startled into saying. The hologram was waiting patiently. Al grinned at Sam, his smile disappearing when Worf walked through him. Al turned to watch the Klingon walk away. "Ugh," he shivered. "That is one ugly. . . whatever it is." He looked at Deanna. "Now her on the other hand." Sam gave him an exasperated look.
Riker pointed toward a rectangular building forty yards away. "There's the meeting place," he said.
"Phasers on stun, sir?" Worf asked.
"This is a peaceful meeting, Worf. Keep your phaser holstered," Riker ordered. He led the way toward the building. The walls glittered in the sunlight.
Deanna stayed back by Sam as the other three men walked off. "Al's here?" she asked. At Sam's nod, she said, "Take your time, I'll walk ahead so they don't notice you talking."
Sam slowly walked forward, keeping one eye on the group. "Ziggy completed the projections."
"No, Sam, they haven't finished yet. At this point they've just made it to the twenty-third century," Al said.
"Then how am I going to know what I'm supposed to do if Ziggy can't run up the odds?" Sam demanded.
"That's why I'm here," Al said. Sam looked at him skeptically. "No, really. I'm your second set of eyes, your devil's advocate, your. . ." he stopped. "I've definitely been talking to that android too much."
They finally caught up with rest of the Away Team at the entrance. "Ready?" Riker said.
"No, but thanks for asking," Al cracked, although only Sam could hear him.
The foyer opened up into a shining rotunda, with hallways branching off in each compass direction. The glittering walls were patterned with a circuitry-like design. The light shining down from far above changed color periodically, bathing the room in shades of pink and blue.
"I thought we were supposed to meet here," Geordi said.
"We were," agreed Riker. "Are you picking up anyone's approach?"
Worf looked down at his tricorder. "Negative, sir."
"Well, where are they?"
As if in answer to Riker's question, the floor shook and shot upward. It traveled sixty feet in two seconds before coming to a halt. From below Sam could hear Al yelling, "Gooshie! Center me on Sam!" A split-second later the hologram appeared next to him. "That must have been a kick in the butt," Al said. Only one hall led from the floor's new location. Riker nodded toward it and the Away Team started down. A whirring noise emanated from a portal at the end of the corridor. Worf made an abortive reach for his phaser.
"This way, please," boomed an electronic voice. A row of lights near the ceiling suddenly came to life, running from the Away Team's position to the opening at the end of the hall.
A room full of living machines waited for them. Four of the six-foot beings sat at two tables. Their anatomy consisted of four tentacle-like limbs and two legs. The central machine was gold, while the others were shades of copper and silver. It was the owner of the booming voice, and the leader of the planet. It looked at the members of the Away Team and stood.
"Welcome to Zyros," it intoned. "We are pleased to connect with other intelligent life. Please, sit and converse with us."
Riker spoke for the group, "We are honored." They each took a place at the table, facing the machines. "Allow me to introduce our party," Riker continued. "I am Will Riker, this is Deanna Troi, Worf, Geordi LaForge, and Data." He introduced each member in turn. The machines introduced themselves as well. The gold one was called Pyrlin. It introduced its subordinates as Trahl, Gerndt, and Suyft.
Pyrlin resumed its seat. "We are gratified that you responded so quickly to our messages. After our astronomer-specialists determined the presence of ion trails, which suggested the existence of other intelligent life, capable of space travel, we decided it would be only logical to contact such beings." It waved a tentacle toward the closest silver machine. "Suyft deduced the most logical message to attract only the truest of intelligent life. Your response indicates the accuracy of its attempt."
"We appreciate your confidence in us," Deanna said with a smile.
The machines drew back abruptly at her expression. The whirring became louder. "What was that you did with your facial component?" demanded Pyrlin.
"You mean the smile?" Troi asked. "It just shows that I'm happy."
"Happy?" Pyrlin asked. "I do not understand what you are talking about."
"It expresses a feeling. An emotion," Troi explained. The machines looked at one another in confusion and distrust.
"Sam, I don't like the looks of this," Al said.
Trahl stood up. "You are not behaving logically. You speak of irrational things. Emotions are not logical. Only logical beings are truly intelligent."
Pyrlin nodded. It waved a tentacle over a light set in the table's surface. Bands slid across the Away Team's laps, trapping them in their chairs.
"What's the meaning of this?" Riker asked in an annoyed tone.
"Listen to that inflection," Gerndt commented. "Irrational, entirely irrational. They are not intelligent life. We have been fooled."
Pyrlin shook its head. "Not yet," it stated. "We will scan their compositions to determine if they are malfunctioning." A purple light enveloped each member of the Away Team. The table beeped. Pyrlin looked down. "Organic! These four are organic! They are not intelligent. Only mechanisms possess true intelligence. These must be destroyed before their organic compositions contaminate the environment."
Riker spoke indignantly, "You can't do that."
"Well, if you'd listened to Prune Face you wouldn't be in this situation," Al berated the Starfleet officer, who was deaf to his words. He addressed the equally unhearing machines. "What about Sam?"
Sam was wondering the same thing. He'd been excluded from the fate of the others, and no alternative fate had been projected for him. Then he remembered who he had Leaped into. Data was a machine, an inorganic life form. Surely he'd be accepted as a "truly intelligent" being. But what of the Starfleet officers?
Pyrlin directed a tentacle toward Sam. "This one may be welcomed into our community. This one is mechanical. This one is truly intelligent. It will be the one to whom we will offer friendship." It waved to a line of platinum machines in the back of the room. "Take the organic ones and destroy them before their irrational emotions contaminate our planet."
"Wait!" Sam shouted. All the machines froze. The Away Team stared at him in utter confusion.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Al asked. "I hope you have a plan."
"Why have you interfered with my instructions?" Pyrlin asked.
"You have determined that I am truly intelligent," Sam said. Pyrlin nodded. "And you agree that I am suitable to remain here and become a part of your community as a truly intelligent mechanical life form."
"That is correct," Pyrlin said.
"Why have these others been declared not intelligent?" Sam asked.
"They are organic. Organic forms are not intelligent."
"But you were willing to contact them before you knew they were organic," Sam reasoned.
"I see where you're heading, Sam," Al said. "I hope it works."
Pyrlin hesitated before answering. Sam took advantage of the pause. "You accepted them as intelligent before your scans revealed their organic composition, didn't you? What does that say about your own intelligence?" Silence. Sam spoke again. "What makes their behavior irrational?"
"They rely on emotions, not logic," Gerndt argued. "That comes from their organic derivation."
"Nonsense," Sam snorted. Every occupant of the room stared at him. "I ask you again, am I truly intelligent and rational?"
"Yes," Pyrlin said. "Because you are a machine."
"If I can prove to you that a machine can behave in the same manner as organic life, will you let them go?"
"Yes," Pyrlin agreed. "But you will not be able to do that. Machines are intelligent and logical."
"Al," Sam said, ignoring the Away Team's shocked looks, "I need you to give me your best joke."
"What?" Al practically dropped his cigar. "A joke? You've got to be kidding me!"
"I couldn't be more serious."
Geordi groaned, "No, not one of Data's jokes." Troi shushed him.
Pyrlin spoke, "Please proceed with your demonstration."
"Very well," said Sam. "You say that emotions prove irrationality, and that machines are incapable of behaving irrationally. I will demonstrate for you the rationality of emotions, as a rational machine." He took a deep breath. "Okay, Al."
"All right, but I'm not sure this is such a good idea." Al shrugged. "What the heck. It went over well at the Christmas party." He began to tell the joke, pausing to allow Sam to repeat the lines. "Okay, one day this man walks home from the market with a wheel of cheese on his shoulder. It started to get heavy so he stopped at the top of a hill to lean against a tree. He set the cheese down, but it rolled away from him and down the hill. He watched it roll away, and to his horror it hit a Mexican who was taking his siesta at the bottom of the hill, and woke him up. He picked up the cheese and said, 'Cheese from Heaven.' He ran straight home with it and called to his wife. 'Honey! Come quick. I've got cheese from Heaven, and we've got to make nachos with it!' 'Nachos, cheese from Heaven. . . what are you talking about?' So he told her the story about the cheese waking him up from his siesta, and how it had come from the sky. 'But why do we need to make nachos?' she asked. 'Because, as I picked up the heavenly cheese and ran off with it, a voice called down from the skies, "Nacho cheese! Nacho cheese!"'"
Despite their predicament, the Away Team couldn't help smiling at the joke. Sam himself couldn't stifle his chuckles, having had the benefit of hearing Al tell the joke simultaneously. The machines stared incredulously, as did the Enterprise officers.
"Well?" Sam demanded.
Pyrlin inclined its head. "Very well, you have proven your point. However, your irrationality is too corruptive to our community. We will let you go, only you must promise to leave immediately."
"Great, Sam! It worked!" cheered Al.
"Agreed," said Riker. "But you must also agree to delay your desire for contact until you can develop a better way of dealing with those life forms that do not fit your personal criteria."
Pyrlin once again bowed its head. It waved its tentacle over the table, releasing the Away Team's bonds. "This machine has given us a glimpse of what may lay ahead for us. Perhaps one day both our people will come to understand the other. On that day, we will contact you again."
Riker nodded. He tapped the stylized insignia on his uniform. "Riker to Enterprise. Beam up the Away Team."
Oh, no, thought Sam in the split second before the beam took hold of him.
******
Data couldn't move his head because he had run a cable to one of Ziggy's ports, but he slid his eyes toward Al. "Not at all," he said.
Al shook his head in wonder. "So, how're the projections coming?"
"We've just hit the second half of the twenty-first century," Ziggy said.
"That's all?"
"Well, it would go quicker if I could examine the future-history. But that would disrupt our future. As it is, all I'm able to do is to cycle and tabulate the dates. Data's handling the events. We're working as fast as we can, Admiral," the computer said in an annoyed tone.
"I know, Ziggy. I'm just worried about Sam," Al said. If you'd told me ten years ago that I'd be apologizing to a computer, I'd never have believed you.
******
Sam stood nervously in what the crew had called the Transporter Room. The captain had reconvened a briefing an hour after he and Geordi had gone to Ten-Forward. Sam had actually enjoyed himself in the spacious lounge. The starfield provided some relaxation, once Sam convinced himself that there really wasn't anywhere for him to fall. His fear of heights could resurface unexpectedly, as he could attest from the Leap when he'd suddenly remembered he had such a phobia--while hanging upside down from a trapeze swing. Thank God for nets. And for Al, who'd coached him through the harrowing experience.
He looked around the room again. He didn't see any way out of it apart from the door through which he'd entered the room. Starfleet had approved their request to contact the planet. Picard had had Worf send a message petitioning the Zyrosians to allow an Away Team to beam down. Sam still wasn't sure what beaming down was, just that it would be the means to get them from the ship to the planet. Riker walked into the room and the three other officers waiting with Sam stepped onto a large round platform which filled the room. Sam hesitated for a moment before stepping onto the platform himself. Somehow it reminded him of the Quantum Leap Accelerator. Would this contraption cause him to Leap as the Accelerator had?
Riker signaled to the technician who stood behind a panel facing the platform. The technician pressed a few keys, then slid his hand over a section of the panel. A bright blue light shined down on Sam and he felt his body beginning to dissolve. Leaping was nothing like this! Leaping into someone else's life didn't eradicate his body! AL!!!!!! he screamed mentally.
Seconds later, Sam felt his body reform, but they were no longer on the platform. The Away Team, consisting of himself, Riker, Worf, Troi, and LaForge, now stood at the foot of a shining metallic hill. So that was beaming down, Sam thought. It was not an experience he looked forward to repeating. Troi looked at him with concern. He gave her a small smile to reassure her (and himself) that he was fine, then turned his attention to the metallic hill before them.
This planet definitely mimicked natural landscape. Hills, trees, even mountains spread to the horizon, but each piece of scenery glittered with mechanism. The Away Team stared in amazement at the panorama. Geordi spoke first. "There isn't an ounce of organic material anywhere." The band he wore, called a VISOR, allowed him to see in many spectrums.
"Are you sure?" Riker said. "Data, double check that."
Sam hesitated a moment too long in his uncertainty.
"Data? Double check the readings," Riker repeated.
Troi pointed to the small machine in a pouch of Sam's uniform. He reached for it, opening the hinge. It's almost like the handlink. He didn't understand how the little machine worked, though. Deanna quickly performed the scan on her tricorder, nodding at Sam when it was completed.
"Correct, sir," Sam said. "There are no organics on the planet." Remembering that Data was a very literal, er, machine, he added, "Excluding the Away Team, of course."
"Of course," Riker echoed with a smile. "This is incredible! An entirely inorganic planet."
"But why mimic a natural landscape with machinery?" LaForge asked.
"I expect we'll find the answer up there," Riker pointed to the top of the hill. "Let's go."
The Away Team started up the steep hill, the slick surface making the climb difficult. Sam nearly slid back down when they reached the top. "Al," he was startled into saying. The hologram was waiting patiently. Al grinned at Sam, his smile disappearing when Worf walked through him. Al turned to watch the Klingon walk away. "Ugh," he shivered. "That is one ugly. . . whatever it is." He looked at Deanna. "Now her on the other hand." Sam gave him an exasperated look.
Riker pointed toward a rectangular building forty yards away. "There's the meeting place," he said.
"Phasers on stun, sir?" Worf asked.
"This is a peaceful meeting, Worf. Keep your phaser holstered," Riker ordered. He led the way toward the building. The walls glittered in the sunlight.
Deanna stayed back by Sam as the other three men walked off. "Al's here?" she asked. At Sam's nod, she said, "Take your time, I'll walk ahead so they don't notice you talking."
Sam slowly walked forward, keeping one eye on the group. "Ziggy completed the projections."
"No, Sam, they haven't finished yet. At this point they've just made it to the twenty-third century," Al said.
"Then how am I going to know what I'm supposed to do if Ziggy can't run up the odds?" Sam demanded.
"That's why I'm here," Al said. Sam looked at him skeptically. "No, really. I'm your second set of eyes, your devil's advocate, your. . ." he stopped. "I've definitely been talking to that android too much."
They finally caught up with rest of the Away Team at the entrance. "Ready?" Riker said.
"No, but thanks for asking," Al cracked, although only Sam could hear him.
The foyer opened up into a shining rotunda, with hallways branching off in each compass direction. The glittering walls were patterned with a circuitry-like design. The light shining down from far above changed color periodically, bathing the room in shades of pink and blue.
"I thought we were supposed to meet here," Geordi said.
"We were," agreed Riker. "Are you picking up anyone's approach?"
Worf looked down at his tricorder. "Negative, sir."
"Well, where are they?"
As if in answer to Riker's question, the floor shook and shot upward. It traveled sixty feet in two seconds before coming to a halt. From below Sam could hear Al yelling, "Gooshie! Center me on Sam!" A split-second later the hologram appeared next to him. "That must have been a kick in the butt," Al said. Only one hall led from the floor's new location. Riker nodded toward it and the Away Team started down. A whirring noise emanated from a portal at the end of the corridor. Worf made an abortive reach for his phaser.
"This way, please," boomed an electronic voice. A row of lights near the ceiling suddenly came to life, running from the Away Team's position to the opening at the end of the hall.
A room full of living machines waited for them. Four of the six-foot beings sat at two tables. Their anatomy consisted of four tentacle-like limbs and two legs. The central machine was gold, while the others were shades of copper and silver. It was the owner of the booming voice, and the leader of the planet. It looked at the members of the Away Team and stood.
"Welcome to Zyros," it intoned. "We are pleased to connect with other intelligent life. Please, sit and converse with us."
Riker spoke for the group, "We are honored." They each took a place at the table, facing the machines. "Allow me to introduce our party," Riker continued. "I am Will Riker, this is Deanna Troi, Worf, Geordi LaForge, and Data." He introduced each member in turn. The machines introduced themselves as well. The gold one was called Pyrlin. It introduced its subordinates as Trahl, Gerndt, and Suyft.
Pyrlin resumed its seat. "We are gratified that you responded so quickly to our messages. After our astronomer-specialists determined the presence of ion trails, which suggested the existence of other intelligent life, capable of space travel, we decided it would be only logical to contact such beings." It waved a tentacle toward the closest silver machine. "Suyft deduced the most logical message to attract only the truest of intelligent life. Your response indicates the accuracy of its attempt."
"We appreciate your confidence in us," Deanna said with a smile.
The machines drew back abruptly at her expression. The whirring became louder. "What was that you did with your facial component?" demanded Pyrlin.
"You mean the smile?" Troi asked. "It just shows that I'm happy."
"Happy?" Pyrlin asked. "I do not understand what you are talking about."
"It expresses a feeling. An emotion," Troi explained. The machines looked at one another in confusion and distrust.
"Sam, I don't like the looks of this," Al said.
Trahl stood up. "You are not behaving logically. You speak of irrational things. Emotions are not logical. Only logical beings are truly intelligent."
Pyrlin nodded. It waved a tentacle over a light set in the table's surface. Bands slid across the Away Team's laps, trapping them in their chairs.
"What's the meaning of this?" Riker asked in an annoyed tone.
"Listen to that inflection," Gerndt commented. "Irrational, entirely irrational. They are not intelligent life. We have been fooled."
Pyrlin shook its head. "Not yet," it stated. "We will scan their compositions to determine if they are malfunctioning." A purple light enveloped each member of the Away Team. The table beeped. Pyrlin looked down. "Organic! These four are organic! They are not intelligent. Only mechanisms possess true intelligence. These must be destroyed before their organic compositions contaminate the environment."
Riker spoke indignantly, "You can't do that."
"Well, if you'd listened to Prune Face you wouldn't be in this situation," Al berated the Starfleet officer, who was deaf to his words. He addressed the equally unhearing machines. "What about Sam?"
Sam was wondering the same thing. He'd been excluded from the fate of the others, and no alternative fate had been projected for him. Then he remembered who he had Leaped into. Data was a machine, an inorganic life form. Surely he'd be accepted as a "truly intelligent" being. But what of the Starfleet officers?
Pyrlin directed a tentacle toward Sam. "This one may be welcomed into our community. This one is mechanical. This one is truly intelligent. It will be the one to whom we will offer friendship." It waved to a line of platinum machines in the back of the room. "Take the organic ones and destroy them before their irrational emotions contaminate our planet."
"Wait!" Sam shouted. All the machines froze. The Away Team stared at him in utter confusion.
"Sam, what are you doing?" Al asked. "I hope you have a plan."
"Why have you interfered with my instructions?" Pyrlin asked.
"You have determined that I am truly intelligent," Sam said. Pyrlin nodded. "And you agree that I am suitable to remain here and become a part of your community as a truly intelligent mechanical life form."
"That is correct," Pyrlin said.
"Why have these others been declared not intelligent?" Sam asked.
"They are organic. Organic forms are not intelligent."
"But you were willing to contact them before you knew they were organic," Sam reasoned.
"I see where you're heading, Sam," Al said. "I hope it works."
Pyrlin hesitated before answering. Sam took advantage of the pause. "You accepted them as intelligent before your scans revealed their organic composition, didn't you? What does that say about your own intelligence?" Silence. Sam spoke again. "What makes their behavior irrational?"
"They rely on emotions, not logic," Gerndt argued. "That comes from their organic derivation."
"Nonsense," Sam snorted. Every occupant of the room stared at him. "I ask you again, am I truly intelligent and rational?"
"Yes," Pyrlin said. "Because you are a machine."
"If I can prove to you that a machine can behave in the same manner as organic life, will you let them go?"
"Yes," Pyrlin agreed. "But you will not be able to do that. Machines are intelligent and logical."
"Al," Sam said, ignoring the Away Team's shocked looks, "I need you to give me your best joke."
"What?" Al practically dropped his cigar. "A joke? You've got to be kidding me!"
"I couldn't be more serious."
Geordi groaned, "No, not one of Data's jokes." Troi shushed him.
Pyrlin spoke, "Please proceed with your demonstration."
"Very well," said Sam. "You say that emotions prove irrationality, and that machines are incapable of behaving irrationally. I will demonstrate for you the rationality of emotions, as a rational machine." He took a deep breath. "Okay, Al."
"All right, but I'm not sure this is such a good idea." Al shrugged. "What the heck. It went over well at the Christmas party." He began to tell the joke, pausing to allow Sam to repeat the lines. "Okay, one day this man walks home from the market with a wheel of cheese on his shoulder. It started to get heavy so he stopped at the top of a hill to lean against a tree. He set the cheese down, but it rolled away from him and down the hill. He watched it roll away, and to his horror it hit a Mexican who was taking his siesta at the bottom of the hill, and woke him up. He picked up the cheese and said, 'Cheese from Heaven.' He ran straight home with it and called to his wife. 'Honey! Come quick. I've got cheese from Heaven, and we've got to make nachos with it!' 'Nachos, cheese from Heaven. . . what are you talking about?' So he told her the story about the cheese waking him up from his siesta, and how it had come from the sky. 'But why do we need to make nachos?' she asked. 'Because, as I picked up the heavenly cheese and ran off with it, a voice called down from the skies, "Nacho cheese! Nacho cheese!"'"
Despite their predicament, the Away Team couldn't help smiling at the joke. Sam himself couldn't stifle his chuckles, having had the benefit of hearing Al tell the joke simultaneously. The machines stared incredulously, as did the Enterprise officers.
"Well?" Sam demanded.
Pyrlin inclined its head. "Very well, you have proven your point. However, your irrationality is too corruptive to our community. We will let you go, only you must promise to leave immediately."
"Great, Sam! It worked!" cheered Al.
"Agreed," said Riker. "But you must also agree to delay your desire for contact until you can develop a better way of dealing with those life forms that do not fit your personal criteria."
Pyrlin once again bowed its head. It waved its tentacle over the table, releasing the Away Team's bonds. "This machine has given us a glimpse of what may lay ahead for us. Perhaps one day both our people will come to understand the other. On that day, we will contact you again."
Riker nodded. He tapped the stylized insignia on his uniform. "Riker to Enterprise. Beam up the Away Team."
Oh, no, thought Sam in the split second before the beam took hold of him.
******
