Part 10 (1/2)

”Or ... ” Riker prompted.

”Or it has some sort of internal cloaking device that's in force just inside the sh.e.l.l. So our scans penetrate just so far and no farther.”

”I see.”

”I wish I did.”

”Are you at all clear about its power capacities?”

”Don't know. Haven't figured a way to test it yet. Not without risking blowing out the side of the engineering deck.”

”Marvelous. Captain's going to love this.”

”Well, let him figure out how to do it,” said Geordi, that snappishness being the first indication of the frustration he was feeling. ”I can't even disa.s.semble it. Look at this”- and he guided Riker over to it-”except for these settings and markings over here, it's seamless. Look ... there was an entry port over here, and the Kreel connected up some sort of jury-rigged circuitry to it. The wild thing is, it worked. Luck of the stupid. This entry port could have been anything, and instead of managing to harness its power, the Kreel could just have easily have blown themselves to bits.”

”Maybe it liked them.”

”Then it's got strange taste in friends.”

Riker looked over his shoulder and frowned. ”You said 'was' an entry port. Where is it now?”

”It sealed up.”

Riker's mouth moved for a moment or two, trying to get the question out. ”It ... what?”

”Sealed up. We pulled out what the Kreel had connected, and just had time to watch the hole close up.”

”That's insane! What are you saying? That this thing's alive?”

”I sure hope not,” said Geordi. ”Because we've been poking and prodding this thing, and if it's alive, it might get mad at us. And I would not want to have Tiny mad at us.”

” 'Tiny'?”

”My nickname for it.”

”Wonderful. So tell me, Geordi”- and he circled the weapon, staring at it in amazement-”how did it just seal up? A little hatch just dropped down?”

”No. That I could understand. That would be normal. That would be sane. This thing, the metal just sort of s.h.i.+mmered for a moment, and then it started to ... I don't know ... ”

”Reform?” put in one of the techies.

”Good a word as any. It reformed around the hole, filling it in and smoothing out. It took maybe a total of three seconds. As if the metal were malleable. And as soon as the reformation was done, it hardened right up again. Became as smooth as the rest of it.”

Riker leaned against a console, shaking his head.

”So what we got here,” Geordi said with almost malicious glee, ”is pretty d.a.m.ned peculiar.”

And Riker wondered what the captain would do with that report.

Worf entered the holodeck. The door closed behind him as he glanced around the unactivated room. It looked una.s.suming, huge and black, with a s.h.i.+mmering grid of golden squares.

Worf could have fought in some sort of elaborate scenario-anything from battling on the parapets of a fortress to fighting for his life on the plains of an alien desert. But Klingons were never much for extravagances.

He walked forward slowly and said, ”Fighting ring.”

Immediately a large square, marked out in s.h.i.+mmering lines, appeared on the floor. He recalled that during workouts, Tasha had always conjured up a mat. No disrespect to the memory of the Honorable Natasha Yar, but the comfort of a mat was somehow inappropriate for a Klingon.

He walked to the center of the ring and took his mark there, body relaxed and ready, eyes narrowed. ”Opponents,” he said. ”Four.”

At each corner of the box a large, burly enemy for Worf to battle appeared. He frowned. Something wasn't quite right.

Then he knew what he wanted.

”Reform,” he said. ”Kreel.”

The four forms blinked out to be immediately replaced by four Kreel warriors. They stood there impa.s.sively, waiting to be commanded.

Klingons, as a rule, did not smile. Not outwardly. Worf honored this rule, but inwardly, he was grinning.

But there was one thing he had to do before the drill began. The computer would a.n.a.lyze the fight as it went and, if Worf were in serious danger, the computer would shut it down. A warrior could not be at his best if nothing were at stake.

Worf, however, had done some computer modification.

”Override mortality failsafe,” he said.

For the first time the disembodied voice of the computer spoke. It replied, ”Compliance.” It meant that the computer would not stop short of deadly force, if Worf so desired.

”Attack,” he said.

He waited, posing on the b.a.l.l.s of his feet, hands now in front of him in a ”T” formation.

When you were battling computer constructs, you were doing far more than just fighting mindless drones. The computer learned extremely quickly, and was able to compensate rapidly. For every move it developed a countermove. In short, you were fighting a device that thought as slowly as humanoids thought only if it chose to do so.

The first Kreel lunged forward, the others holding back to see what Worf would do. More than just being a generic creation, the Kreel attacked the way the Kreel do. No art, no cleverness, no strategy. Just straight on, arms outstretched, fingers grasping and eager to get hold of an opponent's throat or arms or legs or anything else that could be broken or crushed.

Worf stood his ground, knees bent slightly, arms out and ready. At the last moment, he twisted away from the rush, grabbing the Kreel by the back of the neck and waist and using its own speed against him. With a grunt he hurled the Kreel out of the ring, where it lay immobile, out of the drill.

He waited for the next single one to attack, or perhaps two. Instead, to his surprise, the computer crossed him up. It sent all three of the remaining Kreel at him at one time.

The move caught him completely off-guard, and all three Kreel converged on him, grabbing him and bearing him to the ground. He went down beneath a flurry of fists.

He warded off the blows as best he could with his burly arms, and one of the Kreel had an arm around his leg and was about to get another arm around it, in an endeavor to break it. Worf, on the ground, twisted around, got his foot in position and slammed his boot into the Kreel's face. The Kreel fell back, its simulated nose gus.h.i.+ng simulated blood.

Worf writhed out of the grasp of the other two Kreel. One of them grabbed at him, but Worf dodged easily, kicking his attacker in the throat. The Kreel dropped, gagging, and Worf spun, delivering a reverse roundkick that broke the Kreel's jaw and knocked several of its teeth out. The ma.s.sively injured Kreel rolled out of the Klingon's way and, in so doing, rolled right out of the ring and lapsed into inactivity.

The two remaining Kreel came at him, one trying to tackle his legs, the other aiming for his torso. Worf jumped back, and the two collided. One rose to his feet quickly, but Worf was waiting. He hit the Kreel twice in the gut, and as it doubled over Worf grabbed him by the shoulders and brought a knee up hard into the point of the Kreel's chin. It was a violent, vicious maneuver. Worf gloried in it.