Part 14 (2/2)
”It can't be much of a drain, can it?” the boy asked. ”If you haven't picked it up before ... right?”
”That's right, but it doesn't make a bit-Wesley, what do you know about this?”
Data approached them and said, ”Wesley, if you know about the power drain, you had better tell us. The antimatter from the tank has been emergency-dumped, and we cannot restock from the reserves until we discover the nature of the leak and lock it down.”
Wesley's young eyes flashed in the dimness. ”Well ... I only ... I was ... ”
Geordi fanned his flashlight's beam angrily. ”This area's off limits, for Christ's sake, Wes!”
”I know, but that's just a technicality and it would've taken weeks, maybe months, to get the power authorization if I'd gone through channels-”
”Channels exist for a reason. So do rules like off limits. You know what off limits means? What're you up to?”
”Nothing, really.”
”Report, Ensign,” Data said, cutting through the familiarity and putting juniors where juniors belong.
”It's really nothing. Someday it might be, though,” Wesley said, intimidation forgotten in enthusiasm. ”Just wait. I'm doing an experiment on an idea I had to increase phaser power without pulling any more energy. I've got a little mock-up over here-”
He led them to a table that held a shapeless contraption. It looked like so much sc.r.a.p, except that a light beam was glowing straight through the middle of it.
”What the h.e.l.l-” Geordi stepped up to the model and pointed at it. ”What's this hooked up to?”
Wesley's sheepishness returned. ”I was ... tapping the antimatter reserve.”
”G.o.dd.a.m.n, Wes! You have an acting rank. Don't you know that means you could be court-martialed?”
”But it's never used! They don't use it once in twenty years! How was I supposed to know they'd need it?”
”You do know this area's off limits to anyone but authorized personnel,” Data said.
Geordi barely let him finish the sentence. ”You start s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with the antimatter reserve and get a short or something, and suddenly there's another sun around! It's dangerous to tap the reserve directly. Don't you know that?”
”Oh, come on, Geordi, it's not that bad,” Wesley complained. ”Under normal operation, n.o.body'd notice. It'd be like plugging in one extra lamp in a hotel. But with all the power shut down-”
”You know better than this.” Geordi shook his head, then said, ”Then again, maybe you don't. How long have you had this thing hooked up to the AR?”
”Well, only about four ... or five ... ”
”Days?”
”Weeks.”
”Oh, my G.o.d. You gotta be kidding me. What were you trying to do?”
”I didn't mean any trouble.”
”Well, you've got trouble, mister.”
Wesley pulled out a professional whipped-puppy look. ”You'd turn me in?”
Geordi looked at the little contraption again and scanned it for invisible leakage. ”This is a stars.h.i.+p, not a playground, Wes.” The device was working, somehow, doing something, though Geordi couldn't tell what.
Now what? Report the boy? Wesley was genius material, sure, but not experienced. Had he not been living on a major stars.h.i.+p, with all its labs and state-of-the-art technology, where experts in actual applied science, applied engineering, applied mechanics were readily available, some even teaching cla.s.ses to the kids, he'd be just another smart sixteen-year-old. Living on Earth or such, he'd be bright and showered with opportunities, but not like this. Not to the point of getting his hands on a stars.h.i.+p any old day. Geordi knew Wes Crusher had a natural ability to conceptualize the way the universe works, but the only way he could learn to apply it was through all the redundant practice a sixteen-year-old hated even to think about. On the bridge a week ago, Geordi had let Wesley try the helm controls because the boy had so quickly picked up the theories and principles of navigation, only to find that he had plenty of difficulty actually working the controls. Only time, only experience could teach that.
But this-this kind of game-playing was dangerous, and Wesley couldn't see the danger. Hadn't had his hands burned yet.
”Shut it down,” Geordi ordered.
”Okay,” Wes mumbled. ”That's what I was doing anyway.”
”Ah-so you knew we'd pick it up. This is wrong and you knew it. What's the matter?”
”Well ... ” Wesley hesitated, then said, ”I'm not sure how to break the flow without rupturing the magnatomics. Besides, this could never pull enough power to cause a problem. That's why I went ahead and did it.”
”Wes, even senior engineers don't tamper with antimatter. Data, look this over. We've got to disconnect it.”
The android moved in, and Wesley stepped aside. ”What is the principle behind this device?”
Using his hands to ill.u.s.trate every little twist and turn of his idea, Wesley explained. ”Basically, it breaks down the phaser in its initial cycle, into its increment frequencies and energies until the final cycle, when you recombine the phases all at once.”
”What is the problem with it?”
”It ... doesn't work.”
”I see.”
”But if it did, this model would have almost four times the power of a hand phaser, and draw from a reaction chamber only half the size of standard.”
”This little toy?” Geordi blurted.
Data looked at Wesley briefly. ”Did you remember that with the splitting, you'd have to increase the power by the same magnitude as the split?”
Wesley looked from him to Geordi and back again. ”Uh ... no.”
”Otherwise it would not be strong enough to cycle,” Data postulated. ”I'm concerned that the splitting would cause a loss of harmonics in the crystal focusing system. The crystal might break down and result in-”
”Heat. I already know that.”
”Listen, you two,” Geordi said, nudging Wesley even farther back, ”Riker's gonna split our harmonics if we don't lock down this leak and get back topside. The creature could pop out of inners.p.a.ce at us any second and I don't want to be down here when it happens. Wesley, you get out of here, p.r.o.nto. If the senior engineers find you, you're going to know the meaning of reprimand.”
”But what about-”
”Data and I can shut it down. I'm going to have it disposed of. You're on probation. If I hear about any more of these unauthorized experiments of yours, I'm reporting you to the chief engineer.”
Wesley dropped his eyes and grumbled. ”Yes, sir.”
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