The Complication

The Battle Within

She could tell he was bothered by something. There had to be something eating away at him. That's the only reason Tasha could fathom that he would be up at this hour.

"Did something else happen to Geordi?" Tasha inquired.

It was possible Geordi might have sent Data a private message on his PADD overnight.

Whenever Geordi was hurting, Data would hurt too. Sometimes Tasha swore they operated on the same set of neural pathways.

"No," Data answered.

He did not elaborate.

"Then come back to bed," Tasha urged. "Whatever it is, it'll hold til morning."

"Tasha, it is morning," Data commented.

"You know what I mean," Tasha said with a big yawn.

Data closed his eyes as she scratched the back of his neck. She worked up to his hairline and then gently raked her nails across his scalp.

After spending the last few hours combing through a series of logs, reports, and official Starfleet transcripts, it was a welcome sensation.

Tasha smiled to herself as she felt him relax.

"C'mon," she said. "You'll feel better after you rest for a while."

"No," Data responded, catching her wrist.

Tasha sat back and looked at him with concern.

Data blinked and took a shaky breath.

"After you fell asleep, I found myself unable to put my mind to rest," Data explained. "I attempted to manually override my processing to slow my positronic matrix with no impact. After thirty-nine attempts to initiate my rest programme, I determined it would be futile to continue."

Data had felt it was useless to continue trying to rest.

"I believe I now have a better understanding of the concept of one finding sleep elusive," Data confessed.

Tasha laughed softly.

"Tasha, I need to show you something," Data said in a serious voice.

The mood shifted immediately.

Data's face was etched with worry. He could not predict how she would react to the information, but he understood it would cause her considerable irritation.

"What?" Tasha asked slowly.

"Please listen in full. It is important," Data informed her.

Tasha's stomach turned to knots. Whatever it was had been enough to keep Data up for hours and that wasn't a good sign.

"Computer, replay log entry A1755R4," Data instructed.

Tasha took a deep breath and waited.

There was nothing.

Data was staring at her expectantly as he awaited a response.

"I don't hear anything," Tasha said after a few seconds.

Data's face registered surprise as if he had forgotten something.

"I was listening at a volume too low for human ears to pick up as I did not wish to wake you," Data explained.

He instructed the computer to raise the volume to an acceptable level and then started the log again from the beginning.

As she listened, Tasha's heart sank.

Disbelief became anger until that anger was displaced by fear.

Once the log was finished, Tasha said nothing.