Star Trek: First Contact by J.M. Dillard

Author:J.M. Dillard
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Star Trek, Fiction
ISBN: 9780671015886
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1996-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

And atop it, something new: a fragile, delicate patch of human flesh, nursed by slender tubes of blood and fastened to the hideous mechanical surface by metal hooks and clamps.

Data gazed down at it and felt fear combine with unpleasant anticipation to form the emotion called dread.

“Do you know what this is, Data?”

He swallowed, paying careful attention to the nuances of the feeling while at the same time yearning to be freed from its grasp. “It would appear you are attempting to graft organic skin onto my endoskeletal structure.”

“What a cold description for such a beautiful gift.” She leaned low, gazing reverently down at the attempted graft until her face almost touched the immobilized arm; her lips parted, and she exhaled a long breath onto the patch of flesh.

The hairs on the exposed skin stood bolt upright; at the base of each, a small bump formed. Goosebumps, he had once heard Commander Riker call them, though the commander had been at a loss to explain the term‟s origin.

And the sensation. . . it was undeniably pleasurable, which confused and disturbed him.

He looked up to see her face next to his, smiling slyly. “Was that good for you?”

Lily drew a deep breath and leapt through the hatch to the next level down where Picard waited.

She landed hard on the soles of her feet, knees deeply bent, and stumbled trying to keep her balance. Picard moved to put a steadying hand on her elbow, but she waved him away, then walked alongside as he moved cautiously down the hallway, raygun at the ready.

As anxious as she was about the immediate predicament with the Borg—Picard had explained, briefly and eloquently, that they were indeed as sinister as they appeared—she could not prevent her mind from rapidly working to piece together the precise turn of events that had led her to this moment.

It was true: she had been dying from severe radiation sickness when Picard and his android officer, Data, had found her. Never mind that she had tried to fill the two of them with bullets; the point was that had they not come, she would be dead now.

And because they had come, she was now stuck in this new, equally insane and dangerous scenario.

Despite the current danger it faced, the future Picard described was far, far more wonderful than Lily had ever dared dream. She had expected humanity to slowly die off from disease, or maybe go up in a huge fireball when someone got fed up and decided to detonate the last of the nukes.

But for something amazing and good to happen? Impossible

Yet here Jean-Luc Picard was, an amazingly sane and compassionate man, and here was his amazing ship, with its rayguns, invisible force fields, and awe-inspiring observation decks. After Zef and his quirky moods, Jean-Luc seemed enormously easy to talk to; less than an hour before, they had been strangers—and she had contemplated killing him—but now she felt completely relaxed in his presence, and he in hers, as if they had always been friends.

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