Androids In Love, Chapter 2
Counselor Courtney Mudd had another question about Holberg and Rigel Seven. She just couldn't get the fact that the two planets looked so much alike out of her mind. It couldn't be just a coincidence…or, could it? After all, there were many strange happenings in the universe, such as the discovery of an identical planet Earth in the twenty-third century. She had to ask about this. The mystery of the uncanny resemblance of the two worlds was finally solved when they began their tour.
Zachary explained that his father had purchased Rigel Seven as well. At that time, his name was still Brack, and Rigel was uninhabited. Brack found some alien DNA in sealed containers in a remote cave on that planet, obviously left by a highly advanced but long extinct race, but of unknown origin. The name "Kalar" was etched onto the surface of each of the containers, so naturally Brack called them Kalars when he made clones from the material. Brack (AKA Flint) hoped to use these beings as servants in order to build and maintain his first castle on Rigel. For a while, it worked, until some of the primitives rebelled. The others soon followed and construction was never completed. Flint was seriously injured during the rebellion, but was rescued by Captain Pike. When he recovered, Pike dropped him off on Holberg 917-G. The ship's doctor, Boyce, marveled at Flint's recuperative abilities. Flint made one request of Pike in finding his new home: find a similar planet to Rigel where he could start over. There was one small difference to Holberg than to Rigel: The smaller natural satellite with the rings was missing. This time, on Holberg, he made sixteen androids to aid him in the construction of his second castle. When he decided to build his "mate for all time", he decided to deactivate his worker drones just in case they ever developed a personality and began to get jealous of his affection towards Rayna #17. He used some of their inner components to make the "M" robots.
Data, Geordi and Courtney finally made it to the exhibit they were here to study, the seventeenth Rayna android. Courtney asked if the rumors were true about Rayna and Captain Kirk, and Zachary nodded sadly. He told them that the emotion of love caused her to shut down, and that she couldn't bear to hurt either Flint or Kirk. She could not decide on whether she should stay with Flint or leave with Kirk. This indecision, according to their soft-spoken tour guide, tore her apart emotionally. Data thought that was interesting, considering most androids never develop a will of their own. Suddenly, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye.
"She moved" he announced quietly.
"You're seeing things, Data." Geordi said, unbelieving.
"I do not think so, Geordi. Do you recall that recent experience we had when we were caught in that time pocket and I saw the warp core breach expanding a micron a minute? I am certain she moved."
Geordi and Courtney stared at him as he stared at what was to them a motionless android. He was aware of their stares, but was fascinated with Rayna. He found he couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was decidedly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"Mr. Data," Zachary spoke to him in a silky whisper. "She has not moved in almost a century. Perhaps it was an optical illusion. A lot of people think they see her move when they come here. With all due respect, sir, I think your mind is playing tricks on you."
"Come on, Data" Geordi said, patting him on the shoulder and noticing how he was staring at her. "Let's go do the paperwork. She's not going anywhere."
Courtney cast a furtive glance at the Ferengi, who now seemed to be uninterested in the Rayna android, but now examining some paintings of nude figures in a garden setting. The Flint siblings had temporarily turned off the security force field to conserve power, and to make it easier to move Rayna when the time came to examine her. Melanie was outside gardening. Courtney thought it was a little unwise to leave the Ferengi unattended, but refrained from commenting. They were behaving themselves for the most part. Data inwardly shrugged off the uneasy feeling of thinking that the beautiful Rayna android had moved, and finally decided that Geordi and their soft-spoken host were right. Courtney had elected to stay behind to keep an eye on the Ferengi. She had a feeling that something was about to happen, and she felt very uneasy. She studied the motionless android for a moment. During that time, she also thought she saw movement.
***
The first thing that Rayna became aware of was a man's voice, announcing that she had moved. Her eyes were still closed, and she had not wished to open them. She heard another much softer voice say that she had been inoperative for almost one hundred years. Strange, she thought. She had set her internal clock to awaken her on the one hundredth anniversary of her staged 'death'. Almost one hundred years? Obviously, some outside force had awakened her early.
She remembered Spock fondly. He was very wise. There had been a danger and she had perceived it. She had turned herself off to avoid the conflicting emotions she was experiencing. Flint had obviously forgotten that he had built an internal off switch into her circuitry to simulate sleep. She took advantage of this forgotten feature to avoid damage to her logic circuits and because she did not want to be the cause of any fight. She surmised that Flint was probably dead by now. She knew that he had sacrificed immortality by moving away from Earth. She slowly opened her eyes.
The room was dimly lit, but she could tell that it was the very room where she had collapsed so long ago. A woman was standing in front of her, and she gasped in astonishment, tapping her left breast for some reason.
"Damn! That's what I get for taking off my communicator when I'm on shore leave!" The woman muttered. A moment of indecision followed. Should she stay here with Rayna or go and get the men? She decided on the latter, asking the android politely to stay put.
Rayna was intelligent enough to stay where she was. She decided to look around and see how things had changed since her phony demise. It was very different now. Rich tapestries covered the walls, and there were roped-off sections with yellow overhead light fixtures set into the dark ceiling. The dim light cast from them placed elongated shadows into the corners of the room. Rich red carpeting covered the floors. She found that she was in a glass case. Obviously, her home had been converted into a museum, and she was an exhibit.
There was other movement in the room. She smiled at the irony of the fairy tale setting, although she wasn't exactly Snow White. Seven strange-looking little alien men were examining and critiquing the assorted works of art lining the walls, mostly painted by her creator. One of the little men was attempting to play a well-remembered waltz on a nearby hands-on exhibit, while another, who seemed to be the leader, noticed that she was awake and nudged one of his buddies. They soon approached her, but only stared in wonder as she stepped daintily out of her coffin.