Part 14 (1/2)
The facilitator blinked again. ”You mean-”
Riker grinned widely. ”That's right.”
”Wonderful!” the facilitator said, genuinely pleased. ”Well, of course I'll help. This is a very, very special day for you two. I'm just sorry your distributor failed. What a time for that to happen!”
”Don't we know it,” Riker said ruefully. ”Anything you can do-”
”-will be done. Don't give it another thought. Now let me see.” The facilitator put a finger to his lips and squinted at Troi, who tried to relax and look pleasant. ”I think I know what I want to do,” the facilitator finally said, ”but it'll take a bit of programming.”
”We wouldn't want to put you to any trouble,” Riker said hastily.
”No trouble at all,” the facilitator said. ”First, I'll need some basic patterns. You'll both need a lot of red, of course. That bin over there should have a few things I can work with. Excuse me. I'll be right back.” He walked quickly toward the other end of the stall.
”Will?” Troi whispered. ”What are you two talking about?”
”I have no idea,” Riker replied pleasantly, ”but it's our very, very special day, and we're getting exactly what we need-or at least I hope we will. Just play along.”
The Krann woman in dark dress came over to them. ”I couldn't help but overhear,” she said. Clearly, she was pleased for them. ”The lists are just so long, and especially at a time like this-well, you're fortunate people, you two. You and your spouse must be very happy.”
”We are,” Riker said. ”Aren't we, dear?”
”Oh, ecstatically,” Troi agreed.
”Bet you can't wait for all this to be over, eh?” the Krann male with her said. He winked at Riker.
”Uh, right,” said Riker.
”Permit us to introduce ourselves,” the man said, bowing slightly. ”I am Kerrn Starboard Atmosphere Monitor. This is my spouse, Nawha Starboard Gas a.n.a.lyzer.”
”As you can see, Kerrn and I have a lot in common,” Nawha said.
Riker bowed and identified himself. ”Dex Portside Sanitation Systems Supervisor. This is my spouse, Pralla Portside Consumables Monitor.”
”Ah,” Nawha said. ”You have a lot in common, too.”
”Like attracts like, I suppose,” Troi said. ”We're very pleased to meet you.”
”A pleasure to encounter you,” Kerrn said. He bowed again, this time more deeply, and Nawha followed suit. ”We're honored by your presence here,” he continued. ”Supervisory personnel usually don't frequent this corridor.”
”I think we might have been missing something,” Riker said, making a show of looking around. ”This is a very pleasant place.”
”Well,” said the facilitator, coming back, ”my little pavilion here does try to give the best service in this entire module, and word does get around.” He held up something that looked very much like a skirt that had been splattered with fifteen colors of paint and smiled. ”What do you think?” he said, sure of an enthusiastic response.
”Perfect!” Nawha said, clapping her hands together. ”Pralla, he's found the very thing!”
”Oh, I agree,” Troi replied enthusiastically. ”It's perfect! Now what could possibly go with it-?”
”Well, I'll take care of that, ”the facilitator said. ”If you'll just come back this way-?”
”I just don't understand fas.h.i.+on,” Kerrn said as the facilitator led them all toward the other end of the stall. ”Just give me a simple nine-color outfit suitable for any occasion, and I'd be out of here before the old one hit the recycler. Can't stand shopping, myself. Know anything about floatball, Dex?”
”Haven't been following it lately, no,” said Riker. ”I've been too busy lately. Used to be a big sports fan, though.” He watched as Troi stood on a small platform at the back of the stall. There was a gentle hum as bright lights bathed her from above and below. The facilitator then entered a series of numbers onto a touchpad set into the wall, using some sort of tag on the fifteen-color skirt as a reference. He then punched in another series of numbers without referring to anything at all, entering the digits and commands as if by instinct.
”Well, we're all set,” the facilitator said, pleased. ”I've added a few excusable frills, purely in the spirit of the day.” After a moment, a small display lit up next to the touchpad. It showed a miniature female figure draped in the outfit that had just been designed by the facilitator. The outfit looked like something designed by a Highlander on hallucinogenics, but here, among the Krann, it seemed to represent the height of fas.h.i.+on.
”Rosco, you are a genius!” Nawha cried. ”It's just the thing! Pralla, Rosco's outdone himself, don't you think?”
”Oh, yes,” Troi said as enthusiastically as she could. ”I've never seen anything like it. And so effortlessly, too!”
”Well, now,” the facilitator said modestly. ”Mustn't give me my own boat just yet, you know.”
Kerrn and Nawha laughed, and Riker and Troi joined them close behind.
”I take it, then, that you like it?” the facilitator asked Troi. ”Do you wish to order this ensemble?” His hand hovered near the touchpad.
”Can we think about it?” Riker asked quickly. ”I mean, this is our special day.”
”Well, yes, it is,” Rosco said, a hint of huffiness coming into his voice, ”and it's not getting any younger, you know. Why, it's almost celebration hour.”
”What's the problem?” Kerrn asked, puzzled. ”He's done the work.”
”Well, we need to talk it over anyway,” Riker insisted gently. ”It's beautiful work, Rosco. You can be proud of it. Very proud indeed.”
”We'll be back soon,” Troi said.
Rosco pursed his lips. ”Return here or not, it doesn't matter,” he said haughtily. He punched a series of commands into the touchpad, and the display went blank. ”I've randomized the design, and I shan't recreate it. Go somewhere else if you need such services today.” He waved them out of his stall. ”Please leave. Go. Have a good watch, but go.”
”We're leaving,” Riker said abruptly. ”Good-bye to you, Kerrn, Nawha.”
”Er, good-bye, you two,” Nawha said for both of them. She seemed as puzzled as her spouse.
Riker and Troi left the stall and began walking up the concourse.
”I don't understand,” Kerrn said to Nawha as they watched them go. ”Did we offend them somehow?”
”Supervisors,” Rosco sniffed. ”Came down here to slum, I think, and have a little fun with us. Well, we don't need that kind around here. We work hard, and we plot a direct course. Not like them.” He shook his head sadly. ”I've never had this kind of thing happen to me in my entire life. Shows you what the fleet's coming to, so close to planetfall. There are no standards anymore.” He paused and then, with an effort, brightened. ”Well, then,” the facilitator said pleasantly. ”What can I do for you good people?”
The first thing Riker and Troi noticed as they walked down the concourse was that there were now a good many more Krann dressed in dark clothing.
”I've got it,” Troi said. ”The dark clothing is a standard work uniform. Remember what Nawha said about coming off s.h.i.+ft a little early? Apparently the s.h.i.+ft she was talking about is over now. That explains why the same dark uniform was all we saw people wearing in the hospitality module. Everyone there was at work.”
”We'll blend in a lot better now,” Riker said. ”I'm glad we weren't breaking some sort of taboo.”
”There may be taboos to break, Will. It seems to me that these people have a love of ritual costuming. For instance, according to Ros...o...b..ck there, we're supposed to wear 'a lot of red' for whatever celebration we're supposed to be celebrating today. Not many people are, though.”
”d.a.m.n,” Riker said. ”I wish we hadn't offended that shopkeeper. He'd done us no harm, and he'd gone to some trouble for us. We insulted him somehow without realizing it.”
”And we shocked Kerrn and Nawha, too,” Troi pointed out. ”I don't know what we did. Whatever it was, it must have been quite a gaffe.”
”Perhaps Rosco thought we were questioning his skill somehow,” Riker said. ”We didn't let him deliver the goods. I had to get us out of there, though. He'd already scanned you-to get your sizes, maybe. I thought some sort of an ident.i.ty check must be coming up next, and we're a little shy of proper ID right now. I also didn't know how we'd pay for the clothes or Rosco's services-or even if we had to, for that matter. Leaving seemed to me to be the wisest course. I don't know what else we could have done.”