ON THE EDGE


 

 

She was on the edge of her seat. Of all of the times for her finally to get around to taking the public-transport tour of the San Francisco area, did she really have to bumble into doing it on the very same day that the visiting Cardassian officials were doing so? What had been the odds, and how had she defeated them so soundly?

The formidable men observed her dispassionately and pensively. It was rattling enough to be the only human in a transport-car full of Cardassians, but it was even more unnerving to be the only woman among alien men. She studied them in return, apprehensively. On top of everything else, she recognized them all too thoroughly: they were famous…or rather infamous.

“The area close to Starfleet Headquarters is indeed every bit as much a ‘melting-pot’ of Federation species as we’ve been told,” Garak remarked, looking through the nearest window.

Tain’s lip curled slightly in evident disapproval at the sight. “I must say that I strongly prefer the uniformity of Cardassia. It inevitably leads to an smoother community of purpose.”

Damar nodded, also watching the pedestrians outside of the conveyance. “Humans in the company of Andorians, Vulcans, and Bolians: it does indeed seem unnatural. And yet, they all appear to get along well.”

“But for how long?” Dukat disparaged pessimistically. Then he chuckled humorlessly. “Vulcans. Ostensibly formidable, yet ineffectual.” He regarded the human girl openly curiously, obviously waiting to see if she would dispute his insult of her species’ ally.

She wanted to, she really did. But it just wasn’t that easy to find the nerve to speak to these dangerous beings at all, let alone in a discordant manner.

Probably to taunt her further, Dukat elaborated upon his Maquis-captured experiences leading to his negative assessment of her green-blooded colleagues, eyeing her all the while for a reaction.

She knew that she wouldn’t be able to hold her peace for much longer, and she felt as if she were on the edge of a precipice. And this teasing Dukat seemed determined to push her over it.

“You-all should like Vulcans,” she blurted before she could stop herself.

“Now why is that?” urged a delighted Dukat.

Mentally kicking herself, she had no choice but to pursue what she had started. “Well, …” she stammered. “Since you have an unsettling…um…obsession with prying into the…uh…secrets of others….” The smirking expressions of all of the Cardassians disconcerted her into temporary silence.

“Yes, go on with what you were saying,” encouraged a smiling Garak.

Uh, …well, …um….” Anguished, she suddenly rushed to finish, “The Vulcan mind meld could do that for you far more efficiently and faster.”

“Than what?” teased Dukat, enjoying the grin offered to him by Damar in response.

“Than…than…than anything else,” she answered lamely. Her eyes descended into her lap, accompanied by an abruptly desolate expression and a blatant, self-conscious blush. She was clearly emotionally on edge.

But Tain chuckled almost good-naturedly. “I must admit that I admire the courage of a vulnerable human girl, in discussing our torture with us, especially while alone with us.”

Damar agreed. “Most humans would avoid the topic.”

Ruefully, awkwardly, she said, “I was avoiding…the word…trying to speak subtly, and maybe accomplish something noble.”

Their eyes were twinkling at her.

“But it was a mistake!” she decided miserably. “Now I’m having trouble even meeting your eyes!”

“Oh, we’ll get you over that soon enough,” predicted Tain ominously.

She glanced ever-so-briefly, worriedly, toward him.

“See? Leading you to suspect a threat got your attention. No, don’t look away again.”

“Come on, face us,” coaxed an amused Dukat.

She moaned in misery, delivering lightning-speed glances into each pair of reptilian eyes. She squirmed where she sat.

“Are you more frightened or embarrassed?” wondered Garak, not unkindly.

“Both.” She sighed heavily. She tried to change the subject somewhat. “You also have in common with Vulcans a preference for heat. You would find each other’s planets agreeable.”

Dukat refused to be sidetracked. “Would you like to know what we do to humans in the interrogation chamber?”

“No!” she declared hastily, and desperately added hurriedly, “You also have in common that you’re both exceptionally intelligent.”

“Intelligent enough not to have our topic derailed, anyway,” commented Damar.

“Oh, please, give me a break!” she implored, holding her head in despair, and employing a slang expression that against-all-odds had survived for centuries, and was even translatable into a similar Cardassian phrase by the universal translator.

Uncharacteristically decently, Tain admitted, “We have no reason to hurt you, because you clearly possess no governmental or military secrets.”

The other Cardassians instantly looked surprised, though not really disappointed, at his admission.

As for the human girl, she now regarded Tain openly, steadily, speculatively. At length, shifting her gaze pointedly among Garak, Dukat, and Damar, she offered her own confession, “Another thing that you-all and the Vulcans have in common: I find that I’m very attracted to you.”


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