(Almost) fully functional
It was tense on the Enterprise-D. The Borg attack had been resisted, but not without cost. An entire away team was gone – dead or assimilated – and although the boarding squadron of drones had been wiped out without further casualties on Starfleet's side, a scar in the ship's hull inflicted by the Sphere's cutting beam, and phaser burns from the security detail's counterattack, were grim reminders of this and many battles past; of comrades and friends lost to the Collective.
Mealtimes were awkward, and work was done in silence – in short, people weren't ready to talk about what had happened. Military discipline only went so far: the crew was on the brink, and in desperate need of light relief.
Between the glum atmosphere and the cloying, sweaty air in the dilithium crystal chamber, Ensign Joshua was closer to the brink than most. She could feel sweat pouring down her chin, into the high collar of her jumpsuit and pooling in her heaving cleavage as she panted with the effort of dragging open the injector chutes to inspect them for damage. A single fissure could result in a breach in a deuterium tank, which would result in a cascade in the antimatter storage systems, which would in turn scatter bits of the Enterprise across all four corners of the quadrant the second it went to warp speed.
No pressure.
She was confident. She'd done routine checks like this a thousand times, and the ship had experienced no serious systems damage in the attack. But with 230 souls riding on perfection, how confident could one ever be? Of course, that wasn't the only reason she was tense…
"Pardon me, Ensign."
Her jaw tightened.
"What is it, Memo?"
The android's pale-yellow eyes blinked in an awkward, jerky motion: a poor simulacrum of a human involuntary reflex.
"I cannot help but notice that you appear… stressed. I was wondering if I could be of assistance?"
"We're all stressed, Memo. It's an organic thing. You wouldn't understand."
"On the contrary, I am detecting elevated levels of anxiety throughout the entire vessel, which I can only assume is a symptom of our recent engagement with the Borg."
Ensign Joshua smiled despite herself.
"With insights like that, you could give Commander Troi a run for her money."
The android's bone-pale brow furrowed in a pantomime of bemusement.
"My talent for emotional tact is inexpert by Klingon standards, I would never presume to compare myself to a Betazoid empath, let alone a counsellor of Commander Troi's sta-…"
"That was sarcasm, Memo. Sarcasm. There: that's a lesson for free."
Ensign Joshua sighed. This new Soong-type android had been her cross to bear for the past three weeks. His integration into the crew was to follow a different pattern than Commander Data's, at the Commander's own urging. To get Memo quickly acquainted with life on the Enterprise, and organic habits, he was to be placed under the supervision of several volunteers – including herself – on rotation, for the rest of the mission. Ensign Joshua been overjoyed at the opportunity. A new Soong! What tech-head could pass up the opportunity to show one the ropes?
She didn't exactly regret putting her name down, but at this precise moment… well, she could imagine less-grating company.
Memo's baseline functionality was – allegedly – equal to Commander Data's, but he lacked the years of experience that had contributed to the Second Officer's idiosyncrasies, which were rapidly approaching something like a proper personality. In short, he was wet behind the ears.
Like all androids out of the box, Memo was efficient, ever-eager and unfailing polite, but the capacity for learning and self-development Dr. Noonian had instilled in him meant he was constantly evolving. On good days, watching the 'young' android's artificial brain drink in the reams of data that came with day-to-day life on the Enterprise was a source of delight to an aspiring engineer. On bad days, his earnest, wide-eyed fascination with every damn thing made him eminently punchable.
It was still stifling in the pit. Ensign Joshua loosened one of the fastenings on her collar – then another.
"Pardon me, Ensign," Memo piped up, helpfully. "But you are in violation of uniform protocol, I wonder if you were aware?"
Ensign Joshua smirked, and popped another button, exposing the edge of a bra cup.
"It's not like I'm going to get you all hot and bothered, now is it, Memo? And it's only us down here."
A mercifully timed refresh of the reactor pit's environment monitors resulted in a breath of 'fresh' air wafting across her clammy skin. Evaporative cooling made gooseflesh prick up down to the notch between her clavicles. She felt herself unwind a fraction – and then her comms badge chimed. She tapped it.
"Lieutenant La Forge?"
Joshua privately admitted she had found the Chief Engineering Officer, with his curt demeanour, cyclopsian VISOR and intimidatingly impressive credentials, unapproachable at first. But he had proved a patient and kind superior officer. Always on hand with advice, and even a joke if the mood took him. Unsurprisingly, he was in no such mood today.
"Have you run those checks, yet? The captain wants us at warp speed within the hour. We might've stopped those drones from alerting the Collective, but we can't rule out a short-range alert for passing patrols."
"Sorry, sir; we're nearly finished up here."
"Quick as you can. Oh, and Ensign?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Put them away. You're on duty, and there are monitors in there. Even I'm not that blind."
Annoyed, Ensign Joshua rapidly redid her jumpsuit collar.
"With respect, it's the 24th Century, sir. I thought workplace sexism went the way of the dinosaurs?"
"Sure, but uniform regulations are alive and kicking. One more infraction and I'll put you on the graveyard shift for a week. Le Forge, out."
Ensign Joshua glowered at Memo. He cracked a smile.
"Don't worry. Next time I shall be sure to remind you more vociferously."
Water cascaded down onto Ensign Joshua's body, washing away the physical and emotional refuse of a hard day. One hand was pressed against the inside of the cubicle, her head down, her back arched. As her slick, naked skin turned pink with the heat of the water, she found her other hand had drifted to her inner thighs. A finger slid upwards and she caught her breath.
Tension. Something had to give.
She began to move her hand rhythmically, breathing shallowly, and a delicious warmth began to build below her navel. Her eyes screwed tight. The thing they never told her about space travel, through all her lessons in the Academy, was the lack of any real privacy. Like the intrepid seafarers of old, space was a premium on any vessel, meaning most rooms are communal – dormitories included. Meanwhile, the thousand-and-one duties involved in maintaining a ship like the Enterprise left precious little time for self-care.
But it had been a very long day. And a painful, frightening few days prior. Ensign Joshua felt she owed herself a little rest and relaxation. Still, her current situation – private though it was – didn't quite facilitate the level of comfort she felt she deserved.
"Computer, is anybody in my room?"
"No lifeforms detected," was the monotone reply.
"Computer, shower off."
The water cut out.
Ensign Joshua grabbed a towel from a rack adjacent and walked out of the shower, rubbing her face as she entered her living quarters.
"That is… really quite a significant uniform infraction."
She dropped the towel. Memo was sitting on his bunk in the two-person dormitory, holding a readout display pad and looking impassive.
Just in time, Ensign Joshua prevented herself from screaming, but android or no, she wrapped both arms tightly around her modesty.
"Memo! What the hell are you doing in here?"
"I am consulting today's datalog from engineering. Dilithium induction was operating two percent below peak efficiency as we entered warp three, which led me to consider…"
"Look, Memo – another free lesson, ok? If you hear the shower, always let me know you're in here so I don't just… walk in on you."
"Ah, this is termed 'bashfulness'. I am reliably informed that most human cultures observe at least some prohibition on nudity, although cultural norms vary widely, of course."
Memo frowned and tilted his head a fraction.
"Although, overt evidence of sexual arousal is generally universally concealed, correct?"
The colour of Ensign Joshua's skin became approximately identical to that of the walls of her quarters.
"What…?! What the hell are you…?"
"Forgive me, but I cannot help notice the vasocongestion that has led to noticeable engorgement of your labia majora and minora, coupled with visible lubrication of your vulva."
Ensign Joshua clapped both hands to the anatomy in question and glared at the android.
"I'll forgive you to keep your eyes off my… any of those, thank you very much."
"But Ensign, I am quite incapable of being either offended or alarmed. I am an android. I was merely making an observation."
"Yeah, well, keep your observations to yourself," she grumbled, reaching for the towel.
"Forgive me again," Memo said, "but I deduce that you were masturbating in the shower as a form of stress relief, and were likely intending to achieve climax in here, when my presence interrupted you."
"Does the expression, 'no shit, Sherlock', mean anything to you?"
"Not really. However, your behaviour is well within the bounds of normal for humans under high levels of anxiety." A note of (really quite convincing) empathy entered Memo's voice. "Which, considering the circumstances of the past several days, is hardly something to be ashamed of."
He stood and walked slowly towards Ensign Joshua. She did not move, and nor did she make any move to conceal herself further. Memo looked different all of a sudden. This sympathy he was exuding didn't feel like a simulation. Bar his golden eyes and pallid skin, he looked every inch a concerned human being. In that instant, anger gave way to shyness, and Ensign Joshua looked down and away.
"The Enterprise has endured much hardship," Memo went on. "I know you have all lost friends. Given the close quarters and mutual reliance, I've no doubt you come to regard one another as family. I literally cannot imagine what you have experienced. But from what little I understand of emotions, I can calculate your pain."
He stood at a gentlemanly range – not close enough to be overbearing, but close enough to invite contact if she wished it. She found, inexplicably, that she did. Her arms came to rest on his. The synthetic muscle and fibre beneath his uniform compressed convincingly at her touch.
"You are a brave and talented officer," he said. "I apologise for interrupting what must have been rare solace."
"You…" Ensign Joshua's sentence trailed. She picked it up on a new track: "I think I've been hard on you, Memo. I'm sorry. I want you to know, I think you've got the potential to be as much of a man as Commander Data. The Soong-series… you are a remarkable accomplishment. I think with you, humanity has found a whole new way to sustain its legacy."
"There is… information that Commander Data possesses that I do not," Memo said. "I still have much to learn. However…" his hand cupped her face. It was cold, but soft, and crackled with the merest hint of static electricity, "…I feel it would be remiss if I did not offer to assist with what I interrupted. Like Commander Data, I am also…"
"Fully functional?" Ensign Joshua finished, smirking.
"I feel this would be a… welcome step for my education on organic life. Sexuality is such a central aspect of your existence. I would be remiss not to study it."
"I have been looking to blow off some steam," Ensign Joshua said, tracing the android's firm chest with a fingertip. "And of course, this would only be between us."
"I have some pre-programmed subroutines," Memo said, his pale hands travelling to Ensign Joshua's shoulders. "Varying levels of intensity. To accommodate a range of tastes."
"That sounds exciting," Ensign Joshua murmured, leaning in, "let's just see where the evening takes us, hmm?"
Their lips met. His mouth was completely dry but not nearly as unnatural or unpleasant as she might have thought. His lips and tongue had the texture of velvet, and carried the very slightest metallic tang. The towel by now had fallen to her ankles as she reached up and put her arms around his neck, while Memo's own hands fell to the small of her back. He kissed down her chin and throat with a surprising deftness, as one of his hands came gently around her waist and up to her right breast.
"These loom rather large in human culture," he noted, squeezing the soft flesh in a firm hand. It almost sounded like a joke – it was admittedly hard to tell.
"We like them, sure," Ensign Joshua agreed, "you could say it's a love affair as old as our species."
"I can… appreciate the structural aesthetic," Memo replied, making Ensign Joshua utter something that was halfway between a laugh and a gasp as his smooth fingertips captured an erect nipple and began to compress and twist it with just the right amount of force. She felt her stomach perform a somersault as Memo's other hand came up to repeat the process with the other nipple, while their deep kiss resumed.
By now Ensign Joshua's belly and groin were pressed up against Memo's body, her back undulating as she moved her body rhythmically against his. He broke away momentarily from the kiss, and intoned, "I am… not certain how my mouth will feel elsewhere."
"Only one way to find out," she replied, breathlessly, gently guiding his head as his lips kissed down her neck once more, to her collarbone, onto the flesh of her right breast and finally meeting his hand at her pronounced nipple. His tongue was unlike that of any human partner: it felt like pliable rubber wrapped in silk at it worked its way around the circle of her areola.
"You had… nothing to worry about…" she gasped, guiding his head again to the opposite breast and biting her lip as his supple, artificial tongue continued its work.
"In which case," he said, between strokes, "we can safely proceed."
With that he lifted her into his arms with alarming ease, striding back to the dormitory bunk and laying her down, legs askew. Positioning himself between her splayed thighs, his mouth found its way from the corner of her knee, ever closer to the point where both legs met, pausing on the smooth mount above her public bone. His yellow eyes darted up to meet her blue ones across the length of her torso.
"I am acquiring an abundance of data today, thank you Ensign."
"Always pleasure, Memo, glad to be of help," she replied, "now what are you waiting for?"
He didn't disappoint. His soft, smooth lips and tongue found the ridges of her loins, tracing and sucking up to the sensitive crest and ending with long strokes of his tongue along her whole length. His mouth closed around her and his tongue slid into her, up and down in long, sweeping motions that wrenched short, breathless gasps from her body. Her swelling breasts rose and fell with each sharp intake of breath, matching the rhythm of his tongue as she inched ever closer to climax.
But not yet.
Ensign Joshua reached down and drew Memo's face up towards her own, sealing their lips together once again as she reached for the clasps on the collar of his jumpsuit. He took her hand, meeting her gaze with seriousness.
"While I am functional," he said, almost embarrassedly, "I am… not entirely as other men. As you shall see. I only say this, so you are not alarmed."
She scoffed.
"Memo, I bedded men and women from about nine different species in the Academy. I've seen every kind of equipment in the galaxy. You won't have anything weirder than what I've seen before. Now shut up and help me with this…"
She freed the clasps at his collar, while he unzipped the jumpsuit at the waist. Together, they pulled the garment aside and Memo stepped free of it. He wasn't wearing underwear: lacking some of the occupational hazards that afflict organic males, Ensign Joshua supposed that made sense. His body was pale, of course, and there were barely visible joins where his limbs and head met the trunk. His manhood might've passed for that of an uncircumcised human, but it was uniform in colour, lacked any hint of veins, and the purely 'decorative' testicles were hairless, and identical in size and orientation in a way that would've looked unnatural on a human. On Memo, though, they called to mind the idealised form of a marble statue.
"Not bad at all," Ensign Joshua commented, approvingly, reaching down to grasp the erect shaft. Texturally, it was firmer than any organic equivalent, and Memo remained impassive as she began to draw her hand along its length.
"I do not feel anything, but do not assume that means I am ungrateful, nor that I am not glad to be here," he said, sheepishly. "I can engage a subroutine to… perform, if you wish?"
"No need, maybe next time," Ensign Joshua said. She knew intellectually that sex with Memo would always involve some degree of performance on his side, but for this encounter, she wanted to get to know him without any affectation. Then again, she thought, wouldn't it be fair to say his entire persona was a 'performance'? An imitation of life?
This was getting into excessively philosophical territory for the circumstances: she thought it best to move things along. To satisfy her own curiosity more than anything, she took him in her mouth. Again, there was the slight prickle of static when her mouth met his 'skin', and a taste like laying a clean penny on her tongue. The taught, thick length of artificial flesh was a sensorial joy, and she found herself growing unbearably eager to feel him inside her. Coming up for air, she looked at Memo with a wolfish grin.
"These subroutines of yours… you say there's varying levels of intensity?"
"Correct."
"So… if I wanted it rough?"
"That can be arranged," Memo replied, suddenly adopting a very human expression of raw lust. "So, what you're saying is, you want me to fuck you?"
By way of reply, Ensign Joshua flipped over onto her hands and knees, bracing herself on the bunk and exposing her hindquarters to the android.
"Don't be gentle, Memo. I want to see just how functional you are."
"I'd never be one to refuse a direct order from a ranking officer."
Memo's hands gripped her backside with a new urgency. This was no longer the timid uncertainty of the youthful android, but the eager desire of a living man. Ensign Joshua felt the tip of his manhood press up against her, after which a single, firm thrust saw him buried to the hilt in her quaking body. He gripped her haunches tightly as he ravished her, almost overwhelming her with a small sample of his strength, which she could plainly sense was many times greater than human.
"Memo…" she groaned, burying her face in the sheets as the android slammed against her, "don't stop…don't you dare stop…"
On the contrary, he seized her again and, with a dexterity that made her feel weightless, lifted her in the air and thrust her into the adjacent wall, driving himself into her all the while. She felt her back and buttocks against the cold wall of her quarters, thrilling at the sensation, and as she looked into his face she saw the unmistakable lust of a human man in the throes of passion. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he plunged ever deeper into her body, bringing her close to the edge and then to the very precipice of endurance.
"I can't… I can't…"
"Then don't," he said, firmly and without panting, "don't hold back."
She didn't. She let go and felt her entire body spasm as her climax came – a choked and sighing gasp leaping from her throat. She shivered and sighed as Memo lowered her back down onto the bunk. He sat beside her. They took hands: her pink in his white, their bodies so different but united in the act of passion.
"That was… highly satisfactory."
She had to resist her urge to be scandalised by what would, from a human man, have probably been a veiled insult.
"Congratulations, Memo – you've just taken an important step into the world of being human."
"I think," Memo said, thoughtfully, "on balance, the stress of the 'organic thing' is adequately compensated for."
She chuckled and drew up against him.
"I'd say so. Oh," she looked at him sternly. "Don't you dare breathe a word of this to Lieutenant Le Forge."
"I would never – as you would say – kiss and tell."
"Good to hear."
"Although, considering you are currently on rotation as my minder," he said, "you are certainly in violation of all major protocols regarding the improper handling of valuable equipment."
"Yeah well," she replied, smirking, "I didn't hear the equipment complaining."