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Chapter Two

Captain Picard, Counselor Troi, and Commander Riker sat together around the coffee table in Picard's quarters. Troi cradled a mug of hot chocolate between her hands, as if warming them, but Riker's coffee and the captain's cup of Earl Grey sat steaming on their coasters, untouched.

"Are you sure you're not overreacting?" Riker said. "Data's had mood swings like this before. He's had plenty since he installed that chip of his, but his job performance has been consistently excellent."

"He has, yes, but not like this," Troi said, her eyes focused on her mug. "What I felt from him, in my office… It concerned me. And, as much as we all care about Data, as ship's counselor, I have to put the good of the crew first."

"Just what are you trying to tell us, Deanna?" Picard said, his deep concern evident in his use of her first name.

Troi sighed and looked up.

"I'm considering recommending Data take an extended leave of absence," she said grimly. "A year, perhaps. Maybe two. Now, Will," she held up a hand, "before you say anything, I want you to stop and think. These past few years have been a chaotic, uprooting time, and none of us have really had a break. I'm afraid the stress of enduring so many transitions so quickly has started to take its toll on Data. He needs some time, time to decompress, to reflect, to get to know himself – not as the efficient, dispassionate officer he used to be, but as the emotional being he has become. And I'm not sure he can do that with the pressures and obligations of his command position constantly hanging over him. He is Chief of Operations, the Second Officer of the Enterprise-E. If he should suffer an emotional break…"

"I…I understand what you're saying, Counselor," Picard broke in, "and you may be right. Considering his outburst this morning and all you've told us here, there can be no doubt Data has reached yet another fragile point in his emotional development, and I would be willing to recommend he take some time for himself, away from his duties. If that's all this was. But, apart from any Starfleet repercussions, my concern is that Data would interpret your suggestion of a leave of absence as a rejection – a rejection that would only reinforce the accusations made by that ridiculous article. If he comes to believe that installing that damned chip has lost him the trust and respect of his colleagues, his friends… I fear we may lose him. Lose him to the same bitterness that twisted his brother, Lore."

Riker sipped his coffee, his eyes averted. Troi's expression hardened.

"Captain, Lore's legacy is one of the main reasons I think Data should get away from us and this ship and immerse himself in a different environment, different experiences," she said. "He has to learn he can be passionate and still be himself, still be Data, without the memory of Lore or our expectations getting in his way." Her grip tightened around her mug. "Since he installed that chip, there's not a session I've had with Data where I haven't wanted to curse Dr. Soong and his colossal narcissism for making both Lore and Data look and sound so exactly like him."

Riker fidgeted in his chair. "I have to admit, there have been times, seeing Data smile or hearing him laugh…I have been reminded of Lore," he said. "I'm sure Data's picked up on that, and not just from me. God," he shook his head. "I hadn't really considered it from his point of view before. Just my own embarrassment for feeling that way."

"It's not your fault, Will, or any of ours," Troi said, including the captain in her gaze. "Lore made it his business to taint Data's dream of sharing human feelings from the moment he opened his eyes on the Enterprise-D. Lore claimed he was more 'perfect' than Data, more 'human,' because he had the strong emotions Data believed he lacked. He impersonated Data to undermine our trust in him, to show him how easily human friendship could turn to suspicion and fear. The next time they met, Lore stole Data's emotion chip from Dr. Soong – making it his. Meaning if Data ever got it back, it would be second-hand goods. The feelings Data would feel, the memories Dr. Soong had given him, they would have been Lore's memories, Lore's feelings first. But, that wasn't enough. Lore later used that chip to brainwash and manipulate Data into harming his closest friends, tainting it further. Then, Lore attacked Data, forcing Data to fire at his own brother. He made sure that, if Data was to have emotions, he would first have to 'scavenge' them from Lore's dead body. Lore wrapped that chip up in so many layers of violence, cruelty, and pain it was years before Data was able to ready himself to finally claim it as his own. And what happened? As soon as he let himself go, the chip malfunctioned. Data was forced to watch as Geordi, his best friend, was kidnapped by a mad scientist and tortured by Klingons, then used as an instrument to destroy the Enterprise-D. Our ship. Our home. It took me months to help him stop blaming himself for that. Then, just as he was getting back on his feet, Data was kidnapped and tormented by the Borg Queen. The tactics he used to defeat her – deceit, manipulation – were not dissimilar from tactics Lore had used against him and against us, and Data later admitted to me, quite reluctantly, that he had derived satisfaction from being the instrument of her destruction."

Picard furrowed his brow, remembering that terrible day in Engineering, the look in Data's lone, remaining eye as he pulled the Borg Queen off his captain and into the dense cloud of corrosive gasses he had released from the ship's engines. Picard had seen the pale flesh melt from the Borg Queen's face, heard her horrific screams...

And, he knew Data's positronic brain had recorded every moment of her gruesome demise.

"All this has made Data afraid," Troi went on. "Afraid of himself, of the expressive, animated face he now sees in the mirror. It's Lore's face. Soong's face. Not his. Not Data's. And now, this article, coming at him from an outside source…it only intensifies the blame he's already piled on himself for installing that chip in the first place. It puts into sharp relief the uncomfortable fact that he is no longer who he was. The chip has changed him, altered his neural pathways, caused his brain to develop to the point where, even if he removed the chip now, today, it wouldn't make a difference. Data is acutely aware he will never again be the Data we used to know. And he's terrified of disappointing us."

"Hm," Riker said, running a thoughtful hand over his beard. "After we lost the D, didn't you put Data through a series of psychological tests…?"

"To ensure his continued fitness for duty, yes," Troi said.

"And his emotional age then…you pegged it somewhere between six and nine?"

She nodded. "I also said that was to be expected, given his limited experience handling emotional stimuli. His rational nature and exceptionally high intelligence have helped him cope, so far, but—"

"Yes, I read the report," Riker interrupted, "but didn't Starfleet evaluate him again, after his experience with the Borg?"

"They did, and he passed," she acknowledged. "I also gave him several tests, which pegged his current emotional age between fifteen and seventeen. That's remarkable developmental progress, given the short time frame, but I still—"

"Then that's it, isn't it?" Riker said, his expression beginning to brighten with something like amusement.

Picard regarded him. "Explain."

"Data's behavior," he said. "His moodiness, angry outbursts, all that sulking about the changes he's been going through lately. Don't you see? We've got a teenager on our hands!"

"It's not that simple, Will," Troi started, but Riker shook his head.

"No, that's it," Riker insisted. "You said yourself Data's brain is still developing, still growing. And, while he may have reached intellectual maturity long ago, emotionally, he's just a kid. A super-smart, highly self-critical, fifteen year old kid, caught between the childlike understanding of the human experience he used to have and the more shaded, adult world he's just started to enter."

"Merde," Picard muttered into his tea, and set his glass on the table. "You might have something there. But if it's true, how should we handle this? Data is not a child, and he is growing more perceptive by the day. Even if he is…emotionally, at least…a teenager, we cannot treat him as one. If he should think we've begun to patronize him…"

Troi pursed her lips.

"Data needs to feel that we accept him and like him for who he is now. He has to know he won't disappoint us by acting against type – that it's OK for him to smile and laugh and even get angry in front of us. But if he smiles, he has to see that it's Data smiling. If he loses his temper, it must be Data losing his temper, separate and apart from the shadow of Lore's cruelty. With this in mind, it is still my considered recommendation that Data take some time off."

Picard's eyes narrowed and he nodded slightly, as if he'd just come to an internal decision.

"Very well," he said. "The Enterprise is nearly due for a maintenance check, and Geordi has been wanting to upgrade the dilithium chamber. I had planned to put it off for a few months, until we'd finished cataloging the Cochrane Nebula, but you've just convinced me a few weeks shore leave will improve efficiency all around, for ship and crew. Number One," he said to Riker, "have the helm set course for Starbase 74. I'll join you on the bridge in fifteen minutes."

"Very good, sir," Riker said, and strode out of the captain's quarters.

Troi turned her dark eyes toward Picard.

"Something more, Counselor?" the captain asked.

"You're looking forward to this leave time," the empath observed. "Do you have something special in mind?"

"Now that you mention it," he said, "I have been wanting to take a trip to Nineveh IV, explore the ancient city…perhaps acquire permission to volunteer at the new archaeological dig."

Troi smiled. "That sounds perfect," she said. "I'm sure you and Data will have a wonderful time."

Picard opened his mouth, then closed it and narrowed his eyes.

"Counselor…" he said warningly.

"You know if we dock at Starbase, Data will just stay in Engineering with Geordi. He hates to be alone, and he doesn't want to feel like he's intruding on others' fun. But, if you invite him to join your expedition…?"

"I see," Picard said, and sighed. "So, you want me to take our moody, teenage-minded android on a camping trip away from home, is that it?"

"I wouldn't have put it quite that way, but yes," she said through her smile. "If you won't approve an extended leave, then I think a 'camping trip' would do you both good. And, if you like, Will and I can join you. I'd like to be there to monitor Data and track his progress."

Picard seemed to consider.

"You know there are no ground vehicles allowed near the ruins," he said. "We'll have to do most of our traveling on horseback. And, this isn't a resort world. There'll be no hotels, no hot baths, no fresh food…"

"Sounds like a regular adventure," she said. "What do you say?"

Picard raised his eyebrows.

"You mean I have a choice?"

"Of course you do," Troi said innocently. "You're the captain. If you don't want us to come—"

"No, no, it's all right, Counselor," Picard said. "The four of us do usually go our separate ways on leave, don't we. It might be good to spend this time together, away from the ship."

"Great, then I'll tell Will," Troi said. "I'll leave it to you to invite Data. And, sir... If, at the end of this trip, Data's emotional state still concerns me-"

"Then I will consider supporting your recommendation for an extended leave of absence," Picard said. "Though, I hope it will not come to that. Starfleet does not tend to react kindly to emotionally unstable androids..."

To Be Continued…

References include TNG: Datalore, Brothers, Descent I/II, 11001001, and the movies Generations and First Contact.