Part 17 (1/2)
”Exactly.”
She stared at him. ”You took that test? How could they fool you, when you can see the walls of the holodeck no matter how it's programmed?”
”Do you mind if I do not explain how an android can be misled by computer experts? The point is that we face a similar paradox here. We know that Nalavia is so determined to maintain her tyranny that she has resorted to drugging her people. But this is not a Federation planet; we are not duty-bound to help the people of Treva regain their freedom.”
”Are we duty-bound not to?” Yar asked. ”Suppose we do nothing. Nalavia continues her rule-unless Rikan and Dare can put an end to it without our help.”
”My help,” said Data. ”I have the information from Nalavia's computer which will allow them to remove the drug from the water supply.”
”Allowing the people to decide for themselves whether to overthrow Nalavia,” said Yar. ”Isn't that closer to the spirit of the Prime Directive than leaving them unable to think for themselves?”
”It is not the spirit but the letter of the law that we are sworn to obey,” Data pointed out. ”If we interfere, we do not know the effect on Trevan culture.”
”No, we only know what will happen if we don't interfere. Things will get worse. You told us the long-term effects of Riatine. Data, last night you were ready to help Rikan and Dare. What happened?”
”I was reminded of the short-term effect of removing the drug: war.”
Yar remembered Rikan's ”That's when we attack!”
”War or drugged docility,” she said. ”It's Priam IV, all right. But Data ... if I were a Trevan, I know which I would choose. You cannot imagine what it is to live drugged, to have no happiness except a false joy created by chemicals-”
”Your mother?” he murmured.
”And myself.”
”What?!” he asked sharply.
”I don't remember anything but the pain,” she admitted. ”I ... I was born addicted to joy dust, Data, because my mother was. She fed it to me to keep me quiet when I was a baby, but after a while she couldn't afford enough for both of us. She stopped giving it to me. My earliest memories are of the pain of withdrawal.”
”Tasha, I had no idea-”
”Please don't tell anyone. Not even Dare knows that. The woman who cared for me after my mother finally abandoned me altogether kept me free of the stuff until I was old enough to understand that a free mind was worth the pain of life, even on New Paris. Data, you said Riatine doesn't have physical withdrawal symptoms. I say, free the minds of the people of Treva. Let them think for themselves, decide for themselves what to do about Nalavia!”
Data stared into her eyes for some seconds. Then he nodded. ”I will provide the information Rikan and Adin require. Rikan is Trevan; he has the right to decide what to do with it.”
Data provided the records of the manufacture and delivery of Riatine. ”It would be simplest to exchange it where it is warehoused before use,” he explained. ”There are no guards-why would anyone want to steal water purifier? If we had a transporter, it would be child's play to subst.i.tute a placebo for the Riatine; an hour's work for the capital and all three other major cities.”
”But we don't have a transporter,” Dare said, putting a casual hand on Data's shoulder as he leaned forward to study the screen. Yar saw Data glance at the hand-on the Enterprise, only Geordi touched Data that way, as if he were just another person. She felt her lips quirk at the change in Dare's att.i.tude once he actually met the android; obviously he had already forgotten that Data was a machine.
”Suppose,” Dare was saying, ”we ambush the lorries carrying the drug to the purification plants.”
”Right!” said Barb.
”Fine if we just wanted to steal it,” said Aurora, ”but we want to subst.i.tute something for it. The regular deliverymen are probably known, and they would certainly be missed before the placebo was used.”
”Mmm,” Dare ruminated, ”I was thinking of going in fast, hitting deliveries to all three cities in one night.”
”We can do it,” urged Barb. ”If we just take the Riatine, they can't put it in the water.”
Poet responded, ”Who ever asks whether the enemy were defeated by strategy or valor?”
”I do!” Barb told him with a glare. ”We're all gettin' fat an' lazy sittin' around here.”
”The better part of valor is discretion,” Poet reminded her.
”Dammit, Poet,” the warrior woman said, ”you talk like a coward. If I hadn't a seen you fight, I'd think you was some snivelin' worm.”
Data interrupted the bickering. ”The moment the Riatine is missed, Nalavia will know you have stolen it. If you replace it, the placebo may not be used immediately. If the drug wears off in only one city, Nalavia will test both the water and the chemical in the warehouse.”
”You're right,” said Dare. ”The scheme will only work if it wears off for everyone before Nalavia realizes what has happened.”
”And we must be ready to take advantage of it,” Aurora added. ”A few riots won't do any good. Nalavia will send her army to quell them, and replace the drugs. Once the people have their free will back, they must be informed of Nalavia's treachery.”
”If we can take over the radio and video broadcasts,” said Sdan, ”the word will spread very fast.”
”And be believed,” said Aurora, ”because people will feel the difference in themselves.”
”Why not simply destroy the plants manufacturing Riatine?” Yar asked. ”Nalavia would know at once, but surely she could not manufacture enough to poison all the cities' water again before everyone woke up.”
”That's the ticket!” Barb agreed.
Rikan said, ”Many Trevan people work in those manufacturing centers. I am sure most of them think they are making water purifier. Is there a way to destroy the plants without killing and injuring innocent people?”
”I doubt it,” Dare replied.
”Even if we could, consider Nalavia's reaction,” said Aurora. ”She wouldn't wait for the rioting to start; she'd inst.i.tute martial law the moment she saw a danger of losing control.”
”We must surprise her,” Rikan agreed. ”The plan to subst.i.tute something harmless for the Riatine seems best, if we can implement it.”
”That's what you're paying us for,” Dare replied. ”Data, have you any records beyond the routes from the manufacturing plants to the water purification plants?”
Yar saw Data's head lift in the half-nod that said he did indeed. ”I have the time schedules, including places where the drivers are exchanged, and where they stop for meals and fuel along the way. However ... ” he stared at nothing as he cross-referenced, ” ... possibly unbeknownst to the drivers, they are tracked by Nalavia's army units.”
Unbeknownst? Yar was amused to hear Data doing his chameleon act, picking up the flavor of Dare's speech patterns.
”Tracked?” Dare asked. ”How?”
”There are tracing devices in the trucks, by which a small armed escort makes certain the vehicles follow the route and schedule. Where there are no parallel roads, the escort follows at a discreet distance, or else flyers are used. The patterns vary-” The android frowned in momentary puzzlement. ”Ah, I see why. They travel through the open countryside, where undrugged citizens might wonder at a military escort for what is purported to be water purifier. Therefore the method of escort changes frequently, parallel, following, preceding, troop carriers, single-person vehicles, flyers-apparently Nalavia hopes no pattern will be noticed.”
”It works,” said Aurora. ”We've heard no suspicions. But now that we know-”
”I have the schedules for the next four days,” said Data. ”There was nothing beyond that in Nalavia's computer.”
Dare grinned at him, no sarcasm this time. ”That's enough-give us those schedules, and we'll figure out how to manage a subst.i.tution. Mr. Data, how would you fancy leaving Starfleet for a life of danger and excitement on the outer edge of the galaxy?”
Yar knew it was said jokingly, but Data replied solemnly, ”I am afraid I would not ... fancy it at all.”
One of the advantages of being an android was the ability to keep several ideas in one's consciousness at once, and many others within ready access. Data found in the next few hours that it was also a disadvantage.
Tasha seemed caught up in the hope of freeing Treva's city dwellers from the hypnotic chemical, forgetting that, even though they had a sort of trustee status, she and Data were prisoners here. Data could not forget who Darryl Adin really was, and that produced another, unantic.i.p.ated, problem: he liked the man.