Part 9 (2/2)
”Try and stop me.” She inclined her head slightly. ”The chapel's less than a kilometer away, and it's a lovely night. Feel like walking?”
”That sounds charming.” He proffered his elbow and she took it.
They headed down the street, keeping up a pleasant and enjoyable string of chitchat between them. Riker found out diat Wendy was a sociologist; that her mother had pa.s.sed away some years previously; and that she preferred new age music.
Riker feigned being wounded. ”I must introduce you to the joys of real music. This new age stuff is just noise.”
”So what's real music, then?”
He grinned. ”Dixieland. Swing. The big-band era.”
”Big band?” she said, sounding puzzled. ”You mean they're excessively tall?”
”I'll explain it later,” he said, for he had spotted the chapel just up ahead.
He saw a number of Betazoids filing in through the doors, smiling and greeting one another. It was his first opportunity to see a large number of them together, and he was struck by the feeling that something seemed a bit wrong. Then he immediately realized what it was.
There was hardly any talking.
People would nod, smile to each other, tilt their heads as if they were listening intently to one another. But except for the occasional stray word of exclamation, or some random laughter here and there, not a word was spoken.
”They're communicating telepathically, aren't they?” said Riker in realization as they approached.
”Of course.”
”Then this is liable to be a fairly dull ceremony. Everyone standing around thinking things at each other and we can't hear them.”
”Oh”-Wendy waved off the concern and laughed-”that won't happen. Weddings are always done out loud, in consideration of any offworlders who might be in the audience.”
”That's a relief.” He thought about it a moment. ”Will I be able to communicate with any of them? Mentally, I mean? I've never met a Betazoid... I'm not sure what's involved.”
”You won't be able to, no. Oh, they'll be able to pick up on what's going through your mind easily enough. But for you to send and receive projections, well... it's a technique. It's something that you have to learn, involving mental discipline and learning how to clear your mind. Unless, of course, you're dealing with a really strong telepath.”
He looked surprised. ”You mean they're not all equally adept?”
”Of course not. Are all humans equally intelligent? Equally athletic? Equally eloquent? No. All Betazoids are telepathic to some degree. Most can read minds, without too much difliculty. But only a small percentage are really so powerful, so... formidable,” she said, for want of a better word, ”and they're the ones you have to watch out for. They're the toughest.”
”Toughest?”
”To know how to act around. They're so casual about their abilities, it's hard to feel like anyplace inside you is... I don't know... safe.”
”I'll watch out for that.”
They entered the chapel. The air inside was cool and fresh. They entered a large room where everyone seemed to be milling about, just conversing... or whatever one would call it... with each other.
Riker looked slowly around the room. It was fairly plain, although inscriptions written in Betazed lined parts of wall. What was also odd were the recesses all along the side, and dangling from the recesses were what appeared to he clothes hangers of some sort. On the floor was a series of small boxes. Riker idly tapped one with his with his toe and the hollow sound confirmed that it was empty.
Hangers and empty boxes. Probably for days when the weather was inclement and people brought coats and such.
At the far end of the room was a set of ornate doors, closed. Riker presumed that the actual ceremony would be through there, but they probably weren't ready yet.
Several of the Betazoids seemed to pick up on Riker's presence. They looked in his direction, smiled and nodded. It was as if to say, We know you're here. Welcome. And then they went back to their own communications.
Riker had once been to a world where none of the occupants had standard auditory or verbal equipment. They communicated entirely through hand movements. Riker had been to a party there, and the silence was positively eerie. The only sound that had broken the quiet was the slap of skin on skin as their hands would come together to form certain words.
This wasn't quite as bad as that... but still, it was rather disconcerting.
”A little difficult to deal with, isn't it,” said a voice from behind him.
Riker turned and saw a thin but pleasant-looking Betazoid smiling at him. ”Pardon?” asked Riker.
The Betazoid gestured. ”All this. The quiet communion. You are from Earth, are you not?”
Riker realized the man knew the answer to the question already, but was doing Riker the courtesy of allowing him to answer it. ”That's right. Lt. William Riker.”
”Gart Xerx, your host.”
”Ah. Congratulations, Mr. Xerx.”
”'Gart' will do.” Xerx nodded at Riker's companion. ”Good to see you again, Wendy.”
”You too, Gart. I'm very happy for you and Chandra.”
”Thank you, Wendy.” Xerx indicated the closed doors with a nod of his head and said, ”They should be ready to start in just a moment or two. Chandra's quite nervous, of course. She wants everything about her appearance to be perfect.”
”I know how it is,” said Riker. ”The bride wants to make sure the dress looks just right.”
Gart Xerx smiled politely. ”Well... that might be true in your culture, Lieutenant. We don't have that problem, actually.”
”Then you're very fortunate,” said Riker.
The edges of Xerx's mouth turned upward slightly. ”You don't know, do you.” It wasn't a question.
”Know what?”
At that moment, the doors at the far end opened. They moved very slowly and ponderously, and Riker watched them, interested to catch a glimpse of the wedding sanctuary within.
It was dazzling, filled from ceiling to floor with flowers, all exotic and tropical. It seemed as if a small jungle had been grown inside the sanctuary specifically for the purpose of the marriage. Riker caught a whiff of moist air-obviously the climate was carefully maintained in order to preserve the flowers to their maximum advantage.
He turned back to Gart Xerx to compliment him on the arrangement and was astounded to see that Xerx had removed his s.h.i.+rt, revealing a bare chest that was amazingly smooth.
”Excuse me... what are you doing?” asked Riker, trying to keep the astonishment out of his voice. He turned to Wendy to see her reaction.
What he saw was Wendy's low-cut green dress even lower than it was before... namely on the floor. She was stepping out of it, and Riker was seeing a lot more of her cleavage than had been displayed previously... to be specific, all of it that there was to see.
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