Hours later, his bridge shift finished, Will walked with Dr. Crusher from her quarters to the Ten-Forward lounge.
"They've been there all afternoon?" Will asked in amazement.
Beverly nodded. "They ate dinner there. "
"What are they up to?" Will wondered.
They could hear the hubbub from down the hall. Seeing them enter, Guinan left her post behind the bar to join them. Neither boy could be seen, but a mass of crewmembers, all talking and laughing excitedly, was crowded around the tables where the chess club usually met before dinner.
"Your Ben and Wesley have become quite the draw," Guinan told them. At their raised eyebrows, she added, "Wesley is normally undisputed king of the chess club. Seeing him credibly challenged has everyone in a fit of excitement. Especially with the challenger being a newcomer, and a boy his own age at that."
"I didn't know Ben knew chess," said Will, dumbfounded.
"He didn't eight hours ago," Guinan answered with a smile.
Will and Beverly looked at each other in surprise. Then the doctor laughed. "Either Wesley's going to be incredibly upset or ecstatically happy. Or maybe both. This has got to be good for him."
Will just shook his head. He didn't know what to think. Certainly he was learning a great deal more about Ben today, but all he learned only led him to more questions.
Guinan left them as they pushed their way through the crowd to the table where the two boys were playing, a carved chessboard between them: Wesley's favorite, replicated from a set his father had used as a child. Wesley was playing black, Ben white. A row of captured pieces lined the board's side, but the play still looked remarkably balanced to Will's admittedly amateur eye. Both boys were frowning, faces intent: Wes slouched back in his chair, Ben sitting straight with his legs folded, tucked up beneath him on the chair's seat. A hush settled on the watching crowd. After a few minutes of this, Wes broke the tableau by leaning forward to move his knight. Ben countered with a bishop. Immediately a dozen or so whispered (and some louder) conversations broke out around them.
Quiet slowly descended once more, all eyes on Wes, slouched and perfectly still with his eyes on the chessboard. Finally he leaned slowly forward, and pushed up one of his pawns.
Now it was Ben's turn to be still. For several minutes he considered, head tilted to one side, everyone watching. Whispers broke out once more around them. Finally he sighed, and smiled softly, and moved a rook several squares backward.
Wes grinned, and immediately charged forward with his knight, pinning the king in a corner. "Check," he said. Ben grinned back, and shrugged. He took Wes' knight with his bishop, but clearly he knew the game was over. They quickly played out the last few moves of the end game.
"Mate," said Wes, taking the king with his queen. "Good game, Ben - you had me going there, I thought I was a goner." They shook hands over the table, as pandemonium broke out around them, congratulations to both of them, and animated discussions of the game.
"Unbelievable," said a young scientist to his fellow, both of whom Will recognized as being from the stellar cartography crew. "That he even won one out of three with Wes, and new to the game -"
"Ben never played before today?" Will asked Wes, still skeptical.
"Not exactly," Wes answered. "He let us know he's played something similar. But the pieces and the moves are all different in the game he plays, if I get what he was showing us. We'll have to play more, Ben," Wes said to his friend. "At this rate you'll be killing me within a few days." Ben just shook his head and grinned, putting pieces away in their storage box.
"Ice cream floats for the two brave contestants," said Guinan, gliding up with two tall glasses in hand. She placed one in front of each boy. "And would either of you like something to drink?" she asked Will and Beverly.
"Synthehol, thanks," said Will, reversing his chair and straddling it.
Beverly took her seat in a more standard manner, on the opposite side of the table. "I'll have a lemon water, thanks, Guinan," she said.
"Thanks for the floats, Guinan," said Wes, and Ben nodded enthusiastically.
"You are decidedly welcome," she answered. "Something for you, Deanna?" she asked the counselor, who had just come to join them.
"Nothing, thank you," Deanna answered, and pulled a seat from another table to join the other four. Guinan smiled and glided back to the bar, her long loose dress fluttering behind her.
"Wes and Ben just had a short chess tournament," Will said, bringing Deanna up to date. He took his drink from Guinan, who had returned with a tray.
"So I heard on the way in," she informed them. The halls were buzzing with it. You took one of three, Ben?" The boy nodded.
"Wes said you knew a game like chess already," Will told Ben. "Did your parents teach you?" he guessed. Ben shook his head no, his attention suddenly intent on his treat. Will pressed on. "Someone else in your family, or a neighbor? A friend of your parents?" The boy shrugged.
"We spoke with Lieutenant Worf this afternoon," Deanna said, changing the subject. "Worf is Chief of Security here on Enterprise. Will told him about the skill you displayed this morning, and Worf agreed that you may join his advanced class in martial arts this evening, if you would like."
"And if you pass his muster," Will added. "He wants to work with you before class, to assess your skill. Are you interested? We should leave soon, if you are."
"The advanced class," said Wesley, impressed. "You're in that class, Commander!"
"Which makes it all the more convenient for me to take him," Will agreed. "How about it, Ben?"
Ben looked around at them all, looking uncertain.
"You can always back out if it looks to be too much for you," Will told him.
Ben nodded slowly, considering, then nodded once with certainty. He put down his spoon. Somehow he had finished the float in the time they were speaking. Will drained his glass in one gulp. "All right then, let's go. It will take some time to get changed. We have to replicate you a gi."
"See you tomorrow, Ben, same time?"
Ben nodded, then glanced quickly up at Will, who smiled his approval.
"I'll see you later this evening," Deanna told them.
"See you then," Will agreed.
-
Will and Ben walked back to Will's quarters, damp from the showers and pleasantly tired from an intense workout. At least, Will was tired. After two and a half hours of steady practice, Ben seemed more energized than worn out. Will shook his head at the spring in the boy's step. Had he been so tireless, as a boy in Alaska? Short winter Saturdays, out wrestling in the snow with his friends for hours - he smiled at the memory. Okay, so maybe he had been that relentless.
Deanna met them at the door to his quarters, coming around the opposite corner from the lift just as they were walking down the hall. "Good timing," Will said with a smile, and opened his door.
Ben went straight for the replicator, of course. He looked over at Will before keying it on.
"Get what you want, I know you're hungry. Just water for me, thanks," Will answered the unspoken question. "Something to drink, Deanna?"
"I'll have water as well," she answered.
Ben brought them the water first, then returned to the table with a large bean casserole of some kind. Will had noticed that the boy tended to favor vegetarian meals, when left to choose for himself. He made a mental note to introduce him to burritos at lunch tomorrow.
"How was class?" Deanna asked him.
"It went well," Will answered. "Worf was impressed. He said: 'the boy has admirable skill, for a human.'"
Deanna smiled at Will's impression of the deep-voiced Klingon. "Did you enjoy the class, Ben?" she asked the boy. He nodded happily.
"You missed a good performance by Dav Gilder's jazz band after you left," Deanna told Will. He let her engage him in small talk about the doings of the crew, so the boy could finish his meal in peace. It didn't take Ben long; though he seemed to be actively listening as the two adults chatted, as usual Will was left wondering, only a short while later, whether the boy had inhaled all that food.
"Well, Ben," Deanna began when the boy returned from disposing of his empty dishes. "You may have wondered what Will and I were up to this morning." Ben nodded, looking curious.
"We went down to the planet's surface," Will told him, "to the city around the Starways resort, to try to learn more about where you might have come from." Ben's brows drew together at this; a look of concern or perplexity. "We talked to a slave trainer there, who works at the arena. He told us about how the fighting in Starways got started. He said another trainer named Sitaris was nearly killed by Xanatos. That Xanatos had stolen you from another man." Ben watched Will, his eyes unwavering, his face sad.
"Is that what happened, as far as you know?" Deanna asked in a quiet voice. Ben shifted his gaze to her, and nodded slowly. "Sitaris confronted Xanatos, and Xanatos tried to kill him?" Ben nodded again. "And you were taken from another man, another human?" He nodded again. "Was that other man your father?" He shook his head no.
"Your master?" Will interjected, his voice harsh. Ben nodded quickly, then stopped, head tilted to one side, face contorting, as though there was more he wanted desperately to tell them. "You needn't worry I'll bring you back to any master," Will told him firmly. "No matter who thinks he owned you first." At this Ben shook his head in a decisive negative, and placed a hand on Will's arm, looking at him plaintively.
"Are either of your parents alive, Ben?" Deanna asked gently. Slowly he looked back at her, his face still and anguished, as though at a loss for what to answer. Finally he nodded, his movement small. "Are you certain?" she pressed. After a long moment, he shrugged, not carelessly, but watching her intently. "Can you remember what was happening when you were taken from them?" At this all self-possession left the boy. His face contorted, and he looked back and forth between the two adults. Finally he leaned back in his seat and covered his face with his hands.
"I'm sorry, Ben," Deanna said soothingly, and looked desperately at Will. "I don't want to hurt you, to remind you of things you would prefer to forget." The boy looked up at her at that, his eyes intent, pleading. He shook his head, slowly, his body shouting there was more he wanted to say, if only he had the words. Will couldn't help but feel his frustration. He sighed. Perhaps they should try another tack.
"If we showed you maps of Lansar," Will asked, "Could you point out your parents' home?"
Ben shook his head in a definite, weary no, and drew his feet up on the chair, arms around his folded knees. Will and Deanna exchanged resigned glances.
"Why don't you get ready for bed, now, Ben," Will told the boy gently. "It's late." Ben looked up at him a long moment, pleading, but Will didn't know what more he could do. "We'll think of something tomorrow. Don't worry, we're not giving up." Ben nodded, and unfolded himself from the chair, leaving for his room.
"Why do I have the feeling we're asking all the wrong questions?" Will asked Deanna quietly once the door had closed behind the boy.
The counselor only shook her head in answer. "We need him to talk to us. He needs to talk to us. I can only imagine how difficult it is for him to have his thoughts, his emotions, his experiences all bottled up inside him." She looked away, toward the closed door. "It would help us understand him, I think, if I could only sense his emotions."
"He's still a blank to you."
She nodded. "Perhaps if I spent more time with him -"
"We're scheduled for another trip to the surface tomorrow. Perhaps we should cancel it?"
Deanna sat back in her seat, thinking. "No," she said finally. "We should try to track down that former master, or see if we can reach Sitaris. One of them might know something. Though how we are going to get them to talk, is another matter entirely," she finished, muttering. She placed her now-empty glass before him on the table and stood. "How much time before we leave the system, and take our chances with the wormhole?"
"At least another few days," Will told her.
Deanna turned to go, then stopped. "Will," she said, hesitant, "what if he has no family to go to? What if they're all dead?"
Will took a long pull from his drink before answering. He had replicated something a bit stronger than water while Ben was eating. "Then we take him with us." Will said. "As my ward, if that seems the most appropriate."
"Will he want to come?" Deanna asked.
Will met her eyes, and sighed. "Do we have to worry about that now?"
Deanna smiled sadly. "The question can wait another day or so." She stepped to the door. "Until tomorrow, Will."
"Good night, Deanna."