Not Without My Daugher
T'Sorvik is missing?
"Computer," I said, fully aware that my wife had almost certainly already done this, "locate T'Sorvik."
"I am unable to locate T'Sorvik," replied the computer. "She is not on the
USS Murgatroid or in my sensor range." Since much of the Murgatroid's interior was generated by holoemitters, the computer was actively scanning and responding to people and events within the ship at all times, even more so than most Starfleet ships. I next contacted the security personnel in the transporter room and at the airlock leading to
Starbase 668, and neither of them had seen my daughter either.
Suddenly, Lieutenant Heavens shrieked. "' There's a little girl inside me', he said! Counsellor
Lothar ate your daughter!!!"
I turned to
Mib Khan. "Apparently, I am going to have to see 'Madame' Lothar after all."
"Follow me," said Doctor Khan, and we proceeded to the turbolift.
On the way, we discussed all of Khan's recent Lothar observations. "If neither you nor
Ifix have repaired Lothar," I asked, "how has he regained, even temporarily, the ability to walk and to assault ensigns? I was not aware that his systems were self-repairing to that extent… Nor has he started bursting into song like the last time he had major systems failures.
"No idea," replied Khan, "but as you might have guessed, none of us were in a particular hurry to fix him, especially while we were still docked at Starbase 668. And what we don't know about Lothar's internals is much more extensive than what we do know."
We arrived at the corridor where Lothar was standing, still with an ensign clasped in his rigid hand. Ifix was putting away a complex tool that I did not recognize, and pulling a phaser rifle out of his large repair kit. "Don't phase me, bro!" whimpered the ensign.
"Defensive systems active," Ifix grumbled. If Lothar's systems had been completely powered down, his fingers would have been exerting only human strength and relatively easy to unclench. "Did fix face, though." The chief engineer had apparently wiped off Lothar's makeup, at least. "Clashed. Lothar not a summer."
"Lothar," I addressed him. "Do you know where my daughter T'Sorvik is?"
" In mah belly!" roared Lothar. "I wish I'd been able to incinerate her first!"
"You ate her raw?" Khan asked, distastefully. He came from a culture of cannibals, but he still preferred at least some preparation of his meat (although Klingon Tartare was a favorite of his, when he could get it fresh).
"Can't reach the barbecue sauce," Lothar said, indicating his immobile arm with his eyes.