Androids in Love, Chapter 8

Geordi decided to do a little further research about Rayna Kapec. Both he and Data pored over the old records supplied by the Flints with great interest, especially an actual video-taped replay of the day Rayna collapsed. They had discovered a discrepancy between what Rayna had told them about her evil twin and what really seemed to have happened. That was, how did Rayna know she had an evil twin? According to the surviving footage, she did not even know that she was an android until that final pivotal moment.

As it turned out, the information about her evil twin sister was stored in an almost undetectable buffer, to be retrieved only in the event of Sixteen's intentional or accidental reactivation. Flint wanted Rayna Kapec to have the ability to defend herself, in the event that this occurred. In that event, Rayna's memory of her twin "sister" would come to the surface. Flint had a strong feeling that eventually, one way or another, he wouldn't be around forever to protect Rayna.

As for the location of Sixteen and Lore, Moogie suggested that they go and see the High Priestess of the Temple of Sixteen for a possible lead. The temple was a day's travel by vampta cart from their present location. On Ferenginar, a vampta was a little larger than an Earth buffalo, and a whole lot uglier. They were ornery beasts, with thick, leathery hides and strong hooves. They made excellent pack animals and were a lot like camels, in that they stored all their water and nutrients in three massive humps, located right behind their shoulders and necks. They may have been ornery and ugly, but they were the only means of travel that was capable of taking rough terrain.

As they approached the temple, they noticed that it was situated on a steep cliff. Moogie had contacted the temple's priestesses before they departed, so they knew that the three Starfleet officers were coming. They were all in for a surprise. It was a long, arduous climb up the steep rock path. They had to leave their vamptas behind. Geordi came to the doors first, followed by Courtney and Data.

"Do we knock?" Mudd asked with uncertainty.

"No," Geordi answered sarcastically. "We just barge right in."

"We knock." Data said without emotion, reaching out and tapping on the huge wooden door. It wasn't a long wait until the door was opened. Their jaws dropped when they saw who answered.

"The doorbell works, you know." The man said with a great deal of irritability. "I suppose you are here to see the high priestess." The tall dark-haired man eyed them with contempt and didn't seem to recognize Courtney. "What are you all gawking at? Haven't you ever seen a doorman before?"

"Ellsworth?!" Counselor Mudd gasped with astonishment. "I thought you were dead!"

"Dead? What are you yammering about, woman? How do you know my name? Nobody but my closest friends call me by my first name! I never saw you before in my life!"

"History has been altered. You were one of my closest friends, Vogen!"

A few seconds passed as Courtney continued to stare at him. He then saw Data, and his mouth dropped open with a mixture of reverence, astonishment and awe.

"You are the brother of Lore! It was foretold that you would some day show up! A thousand apologies, brother of Lore! Please enter, all of you! The high priestess is waiting!" Vogen ushered them into the temple and was now reverently silent. He bowed respectfully and left. The High priestess turned around when she heard them approach. They were in for another surprise. It was Tasha Yar.

"This is too weird!" Geordi whispered. "I thought Tasha was executed by Romulans."

"Apparently not in this time line, Geordi." Data answered with equal astonishment.

"I would love to hear about what happened to her in this reality." The engineer said, looking at Yar with fascination.

"Please approach, pilgrims." High priestess Tasha Yar requested politely.

Geordi approached first.

"Tasha—"

"You will address me as 'High Priestess', sir." She stepped closer to get a better look at them. "Do I know you?"

"I…don't know how to answer that." Geordi admitted with uncertainty.

"High Priestess, we are here to seek information about the whereabouts of my brother Lore and another android known as—"

"Rayna Sixteen, yes, I know. You are Data. You look exactly like your sibling." She paused and looked at them inquisitively. "Come into my study. It is not often we have demigods visit us."

"We are hardly demigods—" Geordi started to say.

"Geordi, it is best to play along." Data whispered in his ear.

"I heard that." Tasha said as she sat behind her desk. "I had long suspected that you and Lore were created beings, and not gods, demi or otherwise. However, I was never able to prove it until now." She paused again and smiled. She studied LaForge's face before speaking again. "You know me from somewhere. You also wanted to know how I came to be here instead of that awful fate you mentioned. I surmised that you were probably from an alternate reality."

"You have always been very intelligent, Tash—I mean, High Priestess." Geordi said with admiration. "It is good to see you alive, at least in this reality."

"Thanks…whoever you are. In answer to your question, Mr….?"

"Geordi LaForge, Chief Engineer on board the Enterprise."

"Chief, ha? I heard of affirmative action for males on starships. I'm glad they are recruiting some men. Anyway, after leaving that god awful planet of my birth, I went to Ferenginar to seek my fortune. Since I'm not partial to space travel, I chose to make this planet my home. I became the high priestess of Sixteen fifteen years ago. Now, as for your query about Lore and Sixteen, they are residing on Angel One."

***

Data, knowing the Ferengi customs, was very curious as to why this Tasha Yar gave them the information about the whereabouts of Lore and Rayna Sixteen so quickly and readily, without asking for anything in return. Tasha explained simply that she was not a Ferengi, and did not like the way this planet had been altered. She was only posing as a cleric, and was trying to convince the planet's inhabitants that Lore and Sixteen were not to be worshipped. There were not many that did, but there were enough devotees around to make Tasha feel obligated to reverse the effects of their interference. She liked men very much, and had decided long ago to see that these 'deities' would be kept in the background, or, better yet, exposed as frauds. This was, of course, going to be a difficult and formidable task, considering how these two evil androids had twisted Ferengi culture and had revised the Rules of Acquisition.

It took several hours to rescue Quark, Rom and Brunt from the alternate Moogie. The exhausted men were awfully glad to get back on board the Phoenix and complained bitterly about their treatment at the hands of that alternate mother. She seemed to want to work them to death. They all soon discovered that, before they could depart for Angel One, they would have to secure some more fuel. Rayna Kapec stepped in to help in that department. She had stayed with Moogie, and was treated like royalty. Moogie was more than happy to oblige, but complained about how her sons and his friend were the laziest workmen she had ever seen. After a little while, they were on their way to Angel One.

When Lore and Sixteen first arrived on Angel One, they immediately seized control of that planet's government. Sixteen had set herself up as the first "Elected One", the election, of course, not an election at all, but a takeover. Lore wanted a piece of the action too, but when Sixteen refused, a fight for control ensued. Lore lost and was deactivated, and placed in a secret location deep underground. Sixteen ruled Angel One for over five hundred years, with cruelty and barbarism equaling Earth's Dark Ages. Finally, the planet's men had had enough, and staged an open and successful rebellion. There were numerous Lore sympathizers, who finally found the underground tomb and reactivated him. They thought that maybe Lore would be better at ruling the planet than Rayna Sixteen. They didn't stop to consider that Lore was no less evil and despicable than the female android. He ruled with great power and authority for another five hundred years after he deactivated Sixteen. He then transported her back to Holberg 917-G, using the time travel device on Iconia. He had to pick a time when Flint had already deactivated her and had placed her in that secret room with the rest of the Rayna prototypes. During the time of his absence from Angel One, the planet's inhabitants celebrated a brief moment of freedom. They were just about to plan an assassination attempt on Lore when our Federation heroes arrived on the scene.

Angel One's inhabitants, of course, did not know the difference between Lore and Data. When our heroes beamed down, they were immediately fired upon. Lucky for them, the planet's inhabitants were not good shots, since Lore had confiscated every firearm he could find. Only his powerful military could use guns, according to Lore's laws. There were, however, factions that took matters into their own hands and bought guns on the black market. These were desperate people, who wanted Lore and Sixteen destroyed. Our Federation friends realized right away that they were in deep trouble. They immediately beamed back on board the Phoenix, before any of the planet's inhabitants could take more pot shots at them.