Chapter Four
Captain's Log, Stardate 47636.02. The Enterprise is continuing its analysis of OGLE-2005-BLG-390L: a red dwarf star orbited by a rocky planet some five times the mass of Earth. The planet, first detected by human scientists in the Earth calendar year 2005, has been home to a Federation research team for the past ten Federation standard years; approximately the duration of one planetary orbit. Their project now reaching completion, the Enterprise has been dispatched to review their work, dismantle the research station, and transport the scientists back to the Daystrom Institute.
On a more personal note, the sudden, tragic loss of Mr. Data continues to have a profound effect on my crew, made all the keener by the unexpected – and, as yet, unexplained – appearance of a man claiming to be Dr. Daniel Soong: a human counterpart of our Lt. Commander Data from another reality. This man, who also calls himself 'Data,' has agreed to undergo tests that will hopefully determine the validity of his claims and help us find a way to return him to his own quantum universe...
Data sighed and drew the silvery blanket up to his chin. Describing the events of the past eighteen hours as "a long day" would be a gross understatement. He had stepped onto the Atrean transporter platform eagerly anticipating the distraction of a new mission; meeting the returning shuttle bearing Geordi, Riker, Worf, Tasha, Lal, and Guinan; enjoying the long-missed comfort of a quiet evening at home in the company of his beloved wife and daughter...
Instead…
Instead, he had endured multiple series of tests in Sickbay, questions from the captain and Commander Riker, an interview with Counselor Troi and, perhaps worst of all, the icky, creepy, sickly, disconcerting knowledge that he did not belong. Not to this crew, not to this ship, not to this universe. No, this universe was home to an android. Data's own mechanical counterpart — a truly sentient, self-aware mechanical lifeform who had earned the respect, and the friendship, of the entire crew. And, although he found the thought extremely unsettling, Data couldn't shake his awareness that, if he'd still been functional, this machine Data would have been his father's ultimate achievement: an intelligent, intuitive android son. The culmination of Noonian Soong's most coveted dream.
A dream his father could never, now, attain.
Data had spent his entire childhood watching Soong's struggle to prove that the creation of a being like this Data android was possible, but he'd never achieved any long-term success. Instead of the accolade and recognition he'd deserved, the frustrated and, admittedly, abrasive genius had received only ridicule and ostricization to the point where he'd taken his family and fled society to conduct his work in isolation.
Here, however, in this universe…without the burden of a family, a child, to hold him back…
Was it because of me? Data wondered. Did the responsibilities of raising me keep him from realizing his dream? Did my influence, my rejection, deny my father his place in history?
Data shifted to his side, then rolled to his other side, then lay flat, staring at the faint, dappled shadows on the ceiling. His mind filled with images as accurate and vivid as holographic recreations. The images kept flashing, flashing, flashing, without his volition, churning like old-style film through a projector, replaying his vigil at his father's bedside, the tears in his mother's eyes, his childhood home on Terlina III, the elated grin his father had worn those times he rushed in from his lab late for dinner, his gray hair wild, babbling about his latest breakthrough…
Tears leaked down Data's face and he reached out an arm in the dark, seeking a presence, a warmth, he knew would not be there. Instead, his fingers met a void. He felt it as a tingle against his skin...an almost physical absence.
Quickly, he sat up and got out of the bed.
Data wasn't an officer on this ship. There was no need to get back into his uniform. Striding to the replicator, he requested a set of comfortable civilian clothes, got dressed, brushed his hair, and stalked out to roam the nighttime corridors of this alien Enterprise.
The lights in the Observation Lounge were dimmed.
Deanna Troi knew, intellectually, that dimming the lights was an effective means of conserving power during ship's night, but sitting in the dark like this always made her feel bleary. That wasn't the worst part though. The worst part was sensing its similarly soporific effect on the rest of the gathered staff - a warm, sleepy feeling that evoked the rather unprofessional desire to yawn and lay her head down on the table.
"Tell me your impressions, Number One," the captain was saying, leaning forward over the polished conference table. "You've spoken at some length with this man. Do you believe his assertions?"
"I was skeptical at first," Riker admitted. "But after being around him for a while… I have to say it's uncanny, sir. He strikes me as open, trusting, honest…overanalytical, nervous… A match for our Data in almost every way."
"I have to agree, sir," Geordi added. "Aside from a few emotional quirks, for a while, talking with him… I almost felt like… Like I had my friend back."
The engineer looked down at his folded hands.
Troi felt sympathetic, but also concerned.
"What do you mean, 'emotional quirks'?" she asked.
"Well, he asked me to help him rearrange the furniture in his quarters," Geordi said. "Said he wanted it to feel more like home."
"Well, that's not too unusual. Anything else?" Troi prompted.
Geordi furrowed his brow.
"Most of the time we were talking, he seemed…I don't know. Kind of formal. Detached, even. Very Data-like. Then, we brought up his family and he suddenly got very upset, almost like a mild panic attack. I introduced him to Spot and he seemed OK after that, but…I don't know. If I couldn't see he was fully organic I'd swear the man was an android. He just doesn't seem to connect like a normal human. If anything, he seems a little…stilted. And he wouldn't look me directly in the face for more than a few seconds."
Riker nodded.
"Yes, I picked up on that too," he said. "I assumed it was a symptom of the 'social disability' he told me about."
Deanna raised an eyebrow.
"Social disability?"
Riker shrugged.
"He described it as Asperger's syndrome. Some form of autism, I think he said."
"Autism?" Dr. Crusher straightened in her chair.
"You know of it, Doctor?" Picard said.
"Of course I know of it," she said. "But, it's an incredibly rare condition…at least, in the Federation. If it's true that Soong is on the autistic spectrum, that would certainly shed light on the somewhat unusual results I got from his brain scans. There was nothing alarming – all tests show him to be a healthy, highly intelligent, well adapted officer – but I was a little concerned. I was meaning to look into it in the morning."
"I would like to look into this too, Beverly, if I may," Troi said.
"I'd be happy for any insights you could provide," the doctor said.
Troi nodded, but her lips were stretched in a frown.
"Captain, I think you should know I've been sensing extremely high levels of anxiety from this man. If he does have some form of autism, even if it is a very mild case, I'm concerned that the sudden loss of the familiar structure and support he knew on his Enterprise might trigger a severe panic response. I'm also concerned that he didn't volunteer this information about himself during our interview this afternoon."
"He told me," Riker said. "He probably knows you're empathic – maybe he assumed you already knew."
"Perhaps," Picard said, but Troi sensed his concern. "Doctor, I want to know the results of those tests the moment you have them. Geordi, if it's not too much trouble, I want you to keep an eye on our guest. I'd also like to have him assist the investigation into how he arrived here, and how we might get him home."
"Yes sir. But, Captain," Geordi said, "this man is a cybernetics genius. He worked by Dr. Soong's side for years. If anyone has a chance of finding out what happened to our Data—"
Picard nodded, a thrill of hope briefly brightening his expression as he realized the implications.
"Of course, Mr. La Forge. If he's willing, then I am all for allowing him to find out if there's a way to restore our Mr. Data. Work out a schedule and submit it to Mr. Worf at Ops in the morning. In the meantime, I want you all alert and rested when you return to work, so I'll bid you all good night. Dismissed."
Geordi felt a little awkward checking up on Data's location, but the Captain had told him to keep an eye on the man. Besides, Geordi had been the one who'd input his biodata into the computer and presented him with a communicator, since the one from his reality couldn't seem to interface properly with the ship's systems. So, while the rest of the staff shuffled out of the Observation Lounge and into the turbolift on the upper bridge, Geordi strode down the ramp to the lower lift and spoke as soon as the doors closed.
"Computer, location of Daniel Soong?"
"Dr. Daniel Soong is in the cybernetics lab."
"Then that's where I want to go," Geordi said.
The computer chirped an acknowledgement and the lift at once began to move.
Geordi wasn't sure what he'd expected to find once he got there. Soong at the computer panel, probably, pouring over Data's schematics.
What he found made him stop with a jolt.
Lal's body stood upright in the cylindrical diagnostic elevator that dominated the center of the room.
Lal's headless body.
"What the—!"
"Geordi?" Data's voice called from the back of the lab.
"Data?" Geordi rushed toward the sound, hardly daring to hope—
Danny Soong looked up from an incredibly cluttered lab table, a complicated magnifying headset pushed up his forehead and a huge, beaming grin on his face. He was dressed in blue denim trousers and a black shirt with short sleeves, and a leather jacket hung over the back of his chair.
Geordi blinked behind his VISOR (not that the action interrupted its sensory feed to his brain) struggling to recall if, outside the holodeck, he'd ever seen his own Data dressed in anything but his uniform.
"Is she not beautiful, Geordi?" the man said, indicating Lal's head, which stood in the center of the table. "My sweet little Lalena, all grown up!"
"Lalena…?"
Geordi shuffled closer and peered at the mess, a lurch of horror growing in his gut as he realized just what it was.
"Data…" he said. "You removed her brain. You…you took it apart."
"Of course I did. How else could I trace the physical development of all these anomalies?"
Geordi blinked again.
"Are you… Are you saying you can fix her? That you can undo the cascade failure that led to her shutdown?"
"No," Data said, pulling the magnifier back over his eyes and fixing his attention on the array of tiny circuits and chips that surrounded him. "Cascade failure cannot be reversed. But, if I can determine the catalyst that triggered the development of these critically unstable neural circuit pathways, I can remove them and correct the erroneous code. I can then reconstruct the brain, providing a more stable matrix."
"Then you can repair her?"
"I won't know that until I finish mapping these faulty pathways," Data told him distractedly. "Something set this off… Something that destabilized the system, allowing the rapid formation of numerous pathways, all at once. This unchecked, uneven growth created a host of anomalies, which led to her shutdown. If the underlying cause of this instability cannot be found and corrected, the system error would only reoccur if she were to be reactivated."
Geordi nodded. He and his own Data had come to that same conclusion years before. Geordi wasn't sure how Data would have reacted to seeing his daughter's brain spread out across a lab table. He felt his own reaction very strongly, but he knew there really was no point in blowing up at Soong. The damage had already been done. And if there was any actual hope that Soong could restore Data's daughter…
"You want some help?"
Data raised his head, his wide blue eyes magnified comically by his headset.
"Thank you, Geordi."
Geordi took a seat and Data slid him a fresh data padd.
"I talked to the captain," Geordi said. "He wants you to join our investigation."
"Excellent. I'll be pleased to assist in any way I can," Data said, his fingers racing over his own keypad as he recorded his observations. "And the androids? Will I be allowed to continue here?"
"Yes," Geordi said, and glanced at him. "Data… Have you had a chance to take a look at…"
"At the mechanical me?" Data seemed to grimace. "No. I could not quite bring myself to…"
"To open the crypt?"
"Gah! Did you have to say it that way?" Data exclaimed, and shuddered hard. "For goodness sake, Geordi, it was disturbing enough seeing my daughter…like that. If she'd looked more like…like herself…I don't think I could have… But, expecting me to look into my own face…after midnight…!"
"OK, OK, I get it," Geordi said. "Maybe we could try tomorrow. Together?"
Data glanced at him and nodded slowly.
"Yeah," he said, starting to calm down. "OK. Yes. That would be…more acceptable."
Geordi offered him a smile, then slid a curved piece of Lal's anterior cinculate cortex closer for analysis. After a few minutes of industrious silence, he said, "So, did the tests today show anything? Anything we don't already know, that is?"
"Dr. Crusher said it would be some time before the results came back," Data replied, and shook his head. "It is so strange to be here, on the Enterprise, among people who look and act so much like my closest friends, and feel that…I do not belong. Gazes linger just a little too long, smiles always seem a trifle forced. It would be extremely uncomfortable…were it not for you, Geordi. I am grateful that you have decided to trust me enough to allow me access to your cybernetics lab. I was going…a little stir crazy in my quarters."
"Yeah, well, I for one believe your story. And I think you've got the rest of the senior officers convinced too. Human or not, there's a lot of Data in you, Danny. Do you mind if I call you Danny? I know you're not comfortable with 'Dr. Soong.'"
The man squidged up his face.
"Only my mother calls me Danny. Everyone else calls me Data. Including my wife."
"OK," Geordi said. "I get that. But if we do manage to get our Data…I mean, this universe's version of Data…back online… Having two Datas around… It might get a little confusing."
Data regarded him through the lenses of his headset.
"Surely you're not saying you would confuse me with an android, no matter how human he may be in appearance. An android, when functioning, would give off an electromagnetic aura that would certainly be perceptible by your VISOR. In addition—"
Geordi held up his hands.
"Yes, I know all that. I'm just saying it might be easier if, while you're here, you went by your more…well…human name. Not just for us but…for Data. You don't know him but, seeing you, the way you are…" Geordi faltered and dropped his hands back to the table.
Data furrowed his brow, struggling to decipher the engineer's meaning.
"I would assume he would react rationally, just as I would upon meeting him...were it not after midnight in a darkened room. No doubt there would be some level of discomfort involved in meeting an individual so similar to oneself, but while we may be quantum duplicates, in a sense, it is not as if we are the same person. No matter how many physical or experiential traits we share, our differences extend to a subatomic level. But, this is all hypothetical, Geordi. We do not yet know if the system failure that caused your Data's shutdown can be repaired."
"Fine then, if you won't do it for him, will you do it for me? Will you let me call you Danny?"
The man regarded him, clearly confused.
"Does it really mean that much to you?"
"Yes. It does."
"Why?"
"Why does it mean so much to you?"
The man shrugged his eyebrows.
"Fair point. Very well, Geordi. If it relieves your discomfort, you may call me Danny."
"Great," Geordi said. "So, your daughter's name is Lalena?"
"Yes," Danny said. "My wife's choice. We had been debating possible names for some time. Tasha liked the idea of naming our child for a song, as my mother had named me for the Irish ballad 'Danny Boy,' but complained that no title she had come across so far 'spoke' to her - until she heard the Donovan song 'Lalena' playing at my parents' house. I tried to explain that Donovan's 'Lalena' refers to the archetype of the socially marginalized woman, such as the streetwalker, but Tasha said she liked the melody and argued that 'Danny Boy' was about death and often sung at funerals. My father then pointed out that the shortened version, Lal, meant 'beloved' in Hindi. I acknowledged that, although the term is usually applied to boys, it can be a unisex appellation. This pleased us both and, so, we agreed that would be our child's name: Lalena. Lal Juliana Soong."
Geordi smiled.
"I guess you guys are pretty happy together, huh."
"Yes," Danny said, and his expression grew distant. Suddenly, he took off his headset, stood, and grabbed his jacket from the chair.
"My brain's gone muzzy," he said. "I cannot work on this any longer. Would you care to meet again in the morning, Geordi?"
"Sure," Geordi said, getting to his feet. "Want to meet in Ten Forward for breakfast? Say, 0700 hours?"
Danny nodded and strode for the door.
Geordi stared after him for a moment, then looked down at Lal's scattered brain and sighed.
To Be Continued…
References include TNG "Heart of Glory," "The Offspring " and "The Quality of Life."
Note: Just for the fun of it - Based on calculations derived from details provided by Data in the episode "Data's Day" and other given stardates, Stardate 47636.02 translates to our 21st century standard Gregorian-based Earth calendar as Thursday, May 21, 2370 at 12:47pm GMT Daylight Time, 7:47am Eastern Time. That's eight days after the episode "Masks," which took place on Stardate 47615.2: Wednesday, May 13, 2370 at 5:57am GMT Daylight Time, 12:57am EST. The following episode, "Eye of the Beholder," took place on May 15, and "Genesis" took place on May 28. This story takes place right in-between the two, so continuity-wise Danny's basically got seven days to save Data and help solve whatever other mysteries might crop up in relation to his malfunction if, in this universe, Data is to be available to save the crew from Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome. Since, being fanfiction, this whole story is AU, though, anything could happen… :)
Thanks for reading, and for taking the time to leave me some comments! They're always greatly appreciated, especially after long, stressful weeks of research and article writing. (I just finished a hugely important article and now I've got to jump right back into my thesis writing). Thank you for making my bookish life brighter! :D