Part 28 (1/2)
As soon as Deanna said it, she realized she'd misspoken, and she thrust her hand forward and put it gently over Lwaxana's mouth before her mother could bellow for Mr. Homn.
”Mother,” she said softly, ”I'll make my own dinner. In fact, if you'd like, I'll even make something for you.”
Lwaxana looked thunderstruck. ”Yourself?”
”Yes, Mother.”
Lwaxana let out an amazed breath. ”You are full of radical ideas today, aren't you. All right... let's go.” She stood and looked around, momentarily confused. ”Now... which way is the kitchen?”
Deanna took her by the elbow. ”I'll show you, Mother,” she said with a smile.
Lwaxana shook her head as Deanna led her off. ”Children nowadays and their crazy notions. Starfleet. Cooking. I don't know what the world is coming to...”
CHAPTER 31.
Roper looked up as Riker walked slowly into the caf?. ”You're late, Captain,” he admonished him.
Riker just nodded... very slowly. He sat down and the waitress brought some black coffee over to him unasked. He was silently grateful.
”I hear,” said Roper casually, ”that there was something of a brouhaha last night.”
”Something like that.” Riker didn't even want to ask him where he'd heard it. Either it was from one of the security men describing the idiot behavior of a senior officer, or else it was from Roper's own daughter describing the aftermath of an a.s.signation. Either way it wasn't something he wanted to dwell on.
”Planetside relations.h.i.+ps can get somewhat tangled, eh?” said Roper. ”That's the advantage of being in a s.h.i.+p. Hit and run, as it were.”
Riker just nodded and let the coffee flow into his veins, reestablis.h.i.+ng some measure of coherency.
”You must be happy about getting out of here.”
Something about the phrasing caught Riker's attention, burrowing through the alcoholic haze. ”I've... I've got at least another month here.”
But Roper shook his head. ”I thought you'd heard. Hood repairs finished faster than antic.i.p.ated. You're out of here in twenty-four hours, Captain.”
Riker felt a charge in his head as if a life-support system had come on line. ”You mean... you mean I'm s.h.i.+pping out?”
”That's right. So you'd better get yourself shaped up. There's paperwork for you to finish up. Forms to be filled out, reports on the Sindareen business. Got to have everything tied off nice and neat before we kick you loose.”
Riker stood quickly, tossing the coffee down his throat and trying to ignore the fact that, in so doing, he'd just burned himself ”Mark-Mark, thank you. This is great news. This is...”
Mark pumped his hand and said, smiling, ”When you're out carving yourself a career, just think about us poor planetcrawlers every now and then, okay?”
”I will, Mark. You can bet on that.”
”Then get a move on, Captain.”
Riker released Roper's hand and bolted out of the caf?. Mark watched him go and then sighed. ”Kids.”
Everything had been attended to.
Almost.
Riker told himself that he was making a final stop at the art museum to verify for himself that everything was back in place and restored to order. After all, Starfleet would want nothing to be overlooked.
But he found himself standing for an overlong time in front of one particular painting: the one Deanna had showed him, the one with all the large concentric ”goopy” swirls.
He stared at it.
Then he heard the music floating from nearby. And somehow, in a way that he couldn't quite explain, the music seemed to enhance what he was looking at.
As if dancing to the notes, the colors began slowly to swirl. It bore a striking resemblance, Riker realized, to stars swimming about in a sort of galactic whirlpool. No, not just stars... stars and planets, and perhaps... perhaps that was something like what the universe had looked like in the throes of creation. Void and miasmic and filled with promise and possibilities...
He sensed her standing next to him. But he couldn't turn to face her.
”You're leaving,” said Deanna.
”Yes.”
”I wish you safe voyage.”
”I wish you...” He stopped and found the strength to look at her. He had turned quickly, and for a moment his mind's eye superimposed the flow of the painting over her. For one insane second, she was, literally, the center of his universe. ”I wish you could come with me,” he said at last.
She shook her head. ”You know, Imzadi... for a time there, I was ready to change my universe for you. But now... now I don't think either of us is ready for that.”
He tried to say that she was wrong. but he couldn't. So instead he tried to find some way to say good-bye. But he couldn't do that either.
He turned and looked back at the painting. Such vastness that encompa.s.sed everything there was... and yet somehow, now, it seemed completely empty.
”Deanna.” He turned back to her. ”Maybe...”
But she was gone.
He hadn't even said good-bye. Dammit, he'd said nothing to her... because he hadn't been able to find the words. And so he'd blanked his mind, and now she probably thought that he didn't care all that much. If he were able to part from her with such apparent ease, without even a word...
He took a step in the direction he was sure she had gone... but then stopped. Because he knew, beyond any question, that this was the way she wanted it. And somehow, somewhere along the way, what she wanted had become more important to him than what he wanted.
CHAPTER 32.
Captain's Log, Stardate 42372.5: Of the twenty-four hours Q allotted us to prove ourselves, eleven have now pa.s.sed without incident. And yet I cannot forget Q's prediction that we will face here some critical test of human worth.
As the Enterprise continued to orbit around Cygnus IV, Commander Riker sat across from his new captain in the ready room. Both of them were equally concerned about what they perceived as oddities on Farpoint Station, but neither was certain precisely how to proceed.