Part 9 (1/2)
By this time Picard could see pretty well. He and Data were standing on a blank holodeck. Wesley was not there.
”Have we somehow escaped back to the s.h.i.+p?” Picard said.
Data said, ”You a.s.sume that we are standing on the holodeck of our real Enterprise. I suggest that this may be a simulation of a holodeck.”
Picard considered that. A holodeck simulation of a blank holodeck had its hilarious aspects, and Picard was certain that some other time he would be able to appreciate them. It was a nice complement to the wheels-within-wheels conundrum in which they found themselves-a fascinating philosophical problem, but practically, thinking about it would lead only to frustration. He shook his head. ”If this is a blank holodeck, if it is the holodeek on which we played out the Dixon Hill scenario, then Wesley ought to be here.”
”Correct, Captain,” said Data, ”which leads me to believe that we are not yet on a real holodeck. Wesley has merely been taken to another area of the simulation.”
Picard looked around at the grid lines on the walls of the holodeck, broken only by a single exit. The place looked so d.a.m.ned real. He said, ”Might walking through another holodeck exit take us to a place where we would never be able to find Wesley? Or would it lead us back out into the real s.h.i.+p?”
”Possibly, sir. It is more likely that a holo exit from a simulated blank holodeck would leave us in the same simulation of Enterprise that we are in now.”
”Very well,” the captain said. ”In any case, it is pointless to stay here. Exit holodeck.”
The doors slid open, showing an empty Enterprise corridor beyond. Picard and Data walked out, and the doors slid closed behind them. Picard said, ”Exit holodeck,” and another door appeared not six feet away. ”That answers that question. Cancel exit.” The door went away.
As they approached the cross corridor, three Boogeymen swarmed toward them. Bored, frustrated, very unhappy, Picard grabbed the nearest Boogeyman by the neck and slammed his head against the wall. Evidently Data was also tired of this particular method of attack because he took care of the other two Boogeymen. The three lay on the floor in an unclean heap.
”That's done with, anyway,” said Picard.
”Yes, sir. Where to now?”
Indeed, that was the question. He considered all they knew about the situation. ”Let's use Occam's razor,” Picard said.
”Ah,” said Data. ”The theory that the simplest explanation covering all the facts is the correct one.” He shrugged. ”It is not very scientific, but it is a place to begin.”
Picard touched his insignia and got the audio twinkle. He said, ”Ensign Crusher.”
No answer.
”Try Captain Crusher.”
Picard tried it, to the same effect.
”Still some kind of interference,” Data said.
”Very well.” Picard touched a companel and said, ”Computer.”
”Working.”
”Tell me the location of Captain Wesley Crusher.”
”Captain Wesley Crusher is on the main bridge.”
”Why is he not answering his communicator?”
”No one has called him.”
”His presence on the bridge follows the pattern,” Data said. ”The computer seems determined to give each of us our fondest fantasy and then pervert it. Lieutenant Yar was a traitor, and Wesley was abducted right under the nose of master sleuth Dixon Hill.”
”Then Wesley could be in serious trouble.”
Picard and Data hurried into a turbolift and went to the bridge. Neither of them spoke as they rode. When the turbolift slowed, they sank into martial arts crouches. The doors shushed open. Before they stepped onto the bridge, Picard peered out at it. A star field was on screen. A Boogeyman sat at the conn and another at Ops. A third sat in the center seat. They did not look up at the sound of the arriving lift.
”It all seems very placid,” Picard said quietly.
”Yes, sir. Unnervingly so.”
”Are you unnerved, Mr. Data?”
”Merely a metaphor. It is very strange.”
”Take up a position at the foot of the tactical rail.”
”Aye, sir.”
They walked onto the bridge. Picard expected the Boogeymen to leap at them at any moment. Tension wound tighter and tighter inside him as nothing continued to happen. To be constantly vigilant could be more wearing than to be constantly in action.
He stood in front of the captain Boogeyman, blocking his view of the main screen. Still nothing happened. The Boogeyman just sat with his hands knitted across his large belly. To be ignored was maddening.
Picard said, ”Where is Captain Crusher?”
The Boogeyman clasped his hands in the air and cried, ”We win!”
”You win what?” Picard asked angrily.
”We win!” the Boogeyman said again with his arms raised.
Picard sighed, looked at Data, and said, ”You win. End program. Abandon and exit.”
Nothing happened.
Picard shook his head. ”I'm out of ideas, Mr. Data.”
”I have one, sir.”
Picard sank into the chair normally occupied by Counselor Troi and rubbed his face with one hand. ”We might as well discuss it here as anywhere. The computer can hear us wherever we go.”
”Yes, sir. I have noticed something interesting in the actions of the people we've met.”
”Go on.”
”The reaction time of the ninjas accompanying Lieutenant Yar was microseconds slower than I would have expected.”
”Is that important?”