Obeying The Lore (Part Three)

I was pleased we caught the killer in Starbase 6 so quickly; sometimes we can wrap up our missions very fast!

Now we are conducting a shipwide search for Jennifer Baxter, who seems to have disappeared. Her Com badge was destroyed.

Also, we are going to observe the Kraka Rift. It is a dimensional distortion in space that has developed, and tends to open up every so often. It leads to an unknown area.

It's too dangerous to get very near to, so we have to view it from a distance. A very long distance.

I must say, the Enterprise does seem to getting a little close to the Rift for my liking.

"Mr La Forge" I say, "We are too near the Rift, reverse course."

"The Enterprise has been set on a programmed course towards the Rift!" says Georgi in his best panic-stricken voice, "There is no way to change it!"

"There must be!" I tell him, in my best calm-but-actually-terrified tone.

"I can't change the law of physics" he shouts.

Now who said that before?

Deanna looks at me.

"I sense increasing concern throughout the ship" she says.

I sense it in me as well. Data gets up and goes towards the door.

"Mr Data" I tell him, "We need you at your post."

"I can't do that, Captain" he replies, "I've got a shuttle to catch. I don't want to be in that Rift, after all. I've got a life to lead once you are out of the way."

Contractions.

"Lore?" asks Riker.

"That's right, Riker." he replies, "He's smart, Picard; you were wise to get him as a Commander."

On that, he disappears from the Bridge; despite all our efforts, we can't stop the route he is taking as Lore has programmed a forcefield corridor right towards his shuttle.

Why does this always happen? We had these things built in to help us, not so that villains could get away without us doing anything. That's something I'll have to write to Starfleet about.

Now I must be going crazy; here I am, thinking of writing a letter of complaint to Starfleet, while the Enterprise is on an irreversible course towards the Kraka Rift!

Lore is seen going off to safety in a shuttle; he leaves at Warp 9.

"How long do we have?" I ask.

"About 10 minutes." replies Riker.

"Where do you think Data is?" I say, "He would be able to solve this."

"He must still be on Starbase 6" answers Beverly.

"Absolutely; if we can find him, he might get us out of it all"

Five minutes later, after a call, Data is located in a crate bound for Nowheresville Warehouse. He is snapped together. It was fortunate that the Starbase had an Easy-To-Assemble plan that Dr Soong had bequested to the Federation.

With thirty seconds to go, the Enterprise about to go in the Rift, Data's face appears on our videoscreen; he suggests a probable sequence that might work.

The program is disabled, and the Enterprise turns round with two seconds to spare.

It's odd that these incidents are never carried out with lots of minutes remaining; there are always single seconds.

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Later on, we pick up Data from Starbase 6 and find Jennifer Baxter tied up and gagged in a Jeffries Tube.

"Lore is still on the loose, sir" says Data.

"That's true" I reply, "He's not the sort to retire to a quiet life with pipe and slippers. I'm sure he will turn up sometime"