Part 15 (2/2)
It took him several seconds to climb down, but that was enough for Data to step back and press the closure circuit for the transparent contamination wall. Two clear wall panels slid out from sockets in the opposite walls and closed in the middle just as Geordi reached them. He was forced to watch helplessly as Data shorted out the lock and fused it. A flare of sparks, and Geordi was trapped.
”Data! What's this for? Why are you doing this?”
”I'm sorry, Geordi,” the android said, and truly he sounded sorry. ”This may be the only time when I am not expected to be on the bridge.”
Geordi's voice was m.u.f.fled now behind the clear wall. ”I don't get it. Let me out.”
”I will be taking a shuttlecraft. Please inform the captain and Mr. Riker that I will attempt to get closer to the creature in hopes of communicating more clearly with it.”
Geordi pressed his hands on the transparency. ”Data, come on, don't. Don't! That's insane. Come on, open up. Don't do this. Don't risk your life.”
”Some would say I have no life to risk.”
”Oh, don't be a wart! Open the door. How'm I supposed to inform the captain of anything if I'm stuck in here.”
”That is an excellent point. But I must take advantage of the opportunity.” He started to turn away, only to stop, pause, turn back. He gazed at the floor for a moment, then looked up once again at the only person who'd ever treated him completely like a human being.
”Thank you for the past, my friend,” he said, his face astonis.h.i.+ngly animate. Now he grinned sentimentally and added, ”You've been a pal.”
Chapter Nine.
THE CAPTAIN STRODE back into his ready room after being gone for nearly forty-five minutes. Deanna Troi still sat where he'd last seen her, her hands still folded in her lap, and she blinked as though coming out of a trance.
Picard came around his desk into her line of sight, though she already knew he was here, and waited until she looked at him.
”They're waiting outside. They've been fully briefed. Are you sure you're up to this?”
Troi sighed and nodded. ”Believe me, sir,” she said, ”I'm just as worried about my own sanity as I am about those beings out there. I'd like an end to this. And I need help finding it.”
”Dr. Crusher has been reviewing up-to-date medical policy and debate on the rights of the terminally ill and all current hospice psychology and the thoughts of terminal patients in every sentient species-”
”That's my profession, Captain,” Troi said, a twinge of defensiveness creeping into her voice.
”I didn't think it wise for you to be doing research right now. However, I'll need your expertise to collate the information the doctor is bringing in with her. Fair enough?”
She managed a thin smile, but one that conveyed genuine grat.i.tude, and she said, ”You're very gracious, sir. I didn't think of that myself. I might indeed be inaccurate at the moment.”
Picard slid into his chair and said, ”I'm not worried that you will be. You seem perfectly in charge of yourself, at least for the moment. I haven't noticed any aberrations in your personality, Counselor.”
”But it may come, sir,” she admitted softly. ”I'm fighting even now to maintain my individuality. I don't know how long I can deal with the pressure from them. It's beginning to affect me physically. I feel weak and nervous, as you might feel after exerting too much energy.”
At her solemn tone, even Picard had to stifle a wave of concern. His doubt began to stir. This made him uncomfortable, this inconcrete business, and he steeled himself to accept what she had said and what she would be saying over the next few minutes. He'd had to do that before-depend on those whose talents were other than his own. He would tug the cord of instinct and insight if he had to, but as he looked at her and saw her effort to remain in control, he knew guesswork would be only a last resort. Starfleet had surrounded him with people of various abilities, and it was his duty to make use of them.
”Yes,” he murmured. ”I'm depending upon you to hold your ground against them. It'll be up to you to tell me, as nearly as you can estimate, what those ent.i.ties want.”
”I have told you.”
”And we're going to examine that.” He pressed the intercom and said, ”Come in, plea-”
The door opened.
Picard leaned back in his chair. ”Well, that was subtle, you two,” he said as Beverly Crusher and Will Riker strode in. ”Sit down. I've explained the situation to both of you. According to Counselor Troi, the life essences inside that phenomenon have asked unconditionally that we destroy them. They want their existence to end. Death is their choice rather than formless life, apparently. When I leave this room, I want as clear a picture as the four of us can provide of what exact action this s.h.i.+p is going to take. I tell you now that I would much rather face an enemy with eyes I can look into and whose intents I can read. If I'd wanted to be faced with these pale ethical problems, I'd have become a priest. I don't like this. You know what these ent.i.ties have asked of us, according to Counselor Troi's translation of their wishes. It's up to you to help me decide if this is euthanasia,” he said, ”or butchery.”
An unwanted silence blanketed the ready room, broken only by Will Riker, who had finally had enough of it. He slid one thigh up onto the captain's desk and settled there, the toe of the other boot still planted on the floor, and folded his arms. ”We'll do our best, sir.”
”I know. Dr. Crusher, you've reviewed all the material on current medical ethics.”
”Well, all is an inappropriate term for a half hour's study, sir,” the doctor said, ”but I've done my best. As a matter of fact, I had to refamiliarize myself with the subject upon accepting the post as chief surgeon.”
”Luckily,” the captain commented. ”On with it.”
”Just remember you asked for this,” she warned, and adjusted her narrow hips against the back of her chair. She looked like she was settling in for a long time, which made both Riker and Picard wonder what they were getting into. ”The word euthanasia doesn't mean what most people think it means. It's an intransitive concept, for one thing. It's something you get, not something someone does to you. Its true meaning is simply a gentle, quiet, good death, usually just a matter of luck. Society has come to take it as ending life painlessly so as to end suffering. What we're really dealing with, however, is the point at which the only chance left for a person to have euthanasia is for someone else to kill him. That's the closest to what we're facing.”
Troi gripped her hands tightly together and said, ”This is not a case of our deciding to terminate their lives. They've decided it for themselves. I don't think that can be minimized.”
”I'm getting to that,” Crusher patiently said, and she started ticking things off on her long fingers. ”There are complications, believe me. We get into the questions of suffering or not suffering, rationality or not, direct or indirect killing, killing by providing pain relief, the difference between personhood and potential personhood, capability of expressing a rational desire to die, death of biological organisms as opposed to persons, the distinction between ordinary versus extraordinary means of keeping a person alive, that ever-elusive phrase quality of life, failure to supply help versus active harm with kind intent, sanct.i.ty of life, obligation to live, freedom of choice versus deific property, being and not being the cause of a death other than one's own, avoidance of giving euthanasia for selfish reasons-keeping one's conscience clear, for instance-”
Picard rubbed a hand over his eyes and wearily groaned, ”Cut my losses, will you, doctor? If you've already run the process of elimination, might you just give me the upshot of it?”
She dropped her busy hands and said, ”It's not a simple subject, Jean-Luc.”
He leaned forward. ”No one's asking for simplicity, doctor. Just brevity.”
”Well, there's the medical definition of death. Will that help?”
Before the captain could say anything, though he started to, Riker said, quietly, ”It'd help me.”
”Okay,” Crusher said with a toss of her hair. ”Unless you're into horror stories, we all basically know what death is. We start with dying-as a recognizable physiological process, one that medical science can pretty easily recognize. We know the difference between a living body and one that's being kept alive. Any intern worth his salt can spend ten minutes with the readouts and tell which is which. But the clincher has always been brain activity-the flat electroencephalogram. As far as current medical consensus goes, the only absolute criterion for death is its irreversibility. That's not the only criterion, mind you, I didn't say that. Death is a cl.u.s.ter concept and requires several criteria in a lump, but irreversibility is the only absolute one.”
”Dying is irreversible in my estimation,” Picard said. ”At least I thought so until now.”
”They're not dead,” Troi said. Her steadiness was wearing thin. She felt it pull and strain against the crus.h.i.+ng pressure of a million ident.i.ties. She heard it in the sudden flatness in her voice, and knew it showed in the immobility of her body. She tried to force her legs into a more social position, but they remained tightly knee to knee, and soon she gave up trying. This discussion was time wasted, chewing at her, frustrating her. She knew what the decision had to be. Over and over in her mind echoed her own words: They're not dead. They're not dead.
”I accept that,” the captain said. ”They have yet to experience their deaths. I may be old-fas.h.i.+oned, but to me death is final. Death doesn't have degrees. Suffering does, but not death. This isn't a matter of betting one way or the other. It's a matter of deciding to intervene.”
”Or deciding not to,” Riker plowed in.
They all looked at him, and discomfort entered the room.
”Yes ... ” Dr. Crusher murmured, eyeing him. It took her a moment to return her full attention to the captain. ”Well, there's also an additional problem; over about the past century and a half, medical doctrine has had to include some very strange lifeforms and all their habits, customs, physiologies, and abilities.”
”I can't decide for the whole galaxy, doctor,” the captain said. ”Let's stay with humans, shall we?”
”I thought you'd say that, so I did. And I agree with you on that point.”
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