Big Doors
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.
Chapter Eleven: Right on Q
"Yes," Q sighed, "once again I've overstayed my welcome. As a human, I was ill-equipped to thank you, but as myself you have my everlasting gratitude. Until next time. Ah, but before I go, there's a debt I wish to repay to my professor of the humanities. Data, I've decided to give you something very, very special."
"If your intention is to make me human, Q-" Data began.
"No, no, no, no, no, no. I would never curse you by making you human. Think of it as a going away present."
Q vanished, and Data suddenly collapsed in uncontrollable laughter.
"Data?" Geordi was more than a little concerned. "Why are you laughing?"
"I do not know," Data said once he had composed himself, "but it was a wonderful feeling."
"This doesn't let you off the hook, Q!" Tasha called out. Had the crew not been so familiar with Q, they would likely have thought she was crazy, talking to thin air. However, knowing him as they did, they were certain he was listening.
"You owe Data your life, and one day you may be called upon to pay off that debt. And when that time comes, you'd better be there."
There was no answer, but Tasha knew she'd been heard and understood.
xxxxxxxxx
"Sensors are reading gravimetric fluctuations, Captain," Data reported. "Most unusual ones."
"Unusual in what way?" Will asked. "Specify."
"Nothing I have seen before."
"Is it a wormhole?" Picard asked."
"Yes and no," Data explained. "Like a time displacement, but it does not have a discernible event horizon."
"Sir, navigational subsystems are unable to give coordinates on the object," Wesley reported.
"Confirmed," Data reported after quickly checking his own instruments. "The phenomenon does not have a definable center or outer edge."
"Are you saying it is and yet it isn't there?" Will was clearly trying hard not to lose his patience.
"I do not have sufficient information to make an analysis as yet, Commander. The dynamics of the radiation patterns -"
"Captain!" Tasha interrupted. "Something's happening. A new change in sensor readings."
For an instant, Tasha thought she saw another ship, and she felt a strange sensation she couldn't recognize. Then, without warning or explanation, the ship seemed to blink out of existence and the feeling was gone.
"Report, Lieutenant!" Picard ordered.
"Readings fluctuated momentarily. It appeared to be a ship, I saw it just after the sensors did, but it just - disappeared."
"The phenomenon is closing in on itself, Captain," Data reported.
"Very well. Prepare a class one sensor probe. We'll leave it behind to monitor the final closure. Mr. Crusher, lay in a course for Archer Four."
The comm crackled. "Captain, this is Guinan. Is everything all right up there?"
"Guinan?" Picard looked truly puzzled by the bartender's communication. "Yes everything's fine. Is something wrong?"
They could almost hear her smile. "No. No, everything's fine. Sorry to bother you."
"Captain, when you saw that ship, did it give you an odd feeling?"
"I saw no ship, Lieutenant."
"You didn't? Didn't anyone?"
Everyone on the bridge shook their heads.
"Huh. It was the oddest feeling - I can't explain it. I've never felt anything like it. But I can tell you one thing. Whatever it was, I don't like it."
xxxxxxxxx
"Tasha, come with me. I want to show you something."
"Well it's about time. I've hardly seen you since you got back from that cybernetics conference."
"You will understand momentarily." He led her into the lab and gestured towards the work platform in the center of the room. "This is what has been occupying my time."
Tasha glanced at the platform and gasped. the area was dominated by a figure that resembled the upper half of a human body. What was clearly the rest of the body lay scattered in various pieces in the same immediate area.
"What the hell?"
"This is Lal. Or rather, it will be Lal, once I have completed the project."
"So Lal is another android?" Tasha was starting to see what Data was doing.
"Indeed. While I was at the cybernetics conference, there was a new sub-micron matrix transfer technology introduced which I discovered could be used to lay down complex neural net pathways. I began programming Lal's brain there. I realized for the first time it was possible to continue Doctor Soong's work. My initial transfers produced very encouraging results, so I brought Lal's brain back with me. I have created the body since."
"It's not finished."
"No. But I wanted you to see it now. I must ask you, however, to keep this to yourself. You are at present the only person besides myself who knows about this."
"So, you've created yourself a friend." Tasha grinned. "I like it."
"A child."
"Pardon?"
"Lal is not intended to be my friend, but rather my child."
"You're telling me you're going to be a father?"
"Well, yes."
He was not prepared for Tasha to come flying at him, nearly knocking him off balance.
"Oh, Data," she whispered into his ear. "You're going to be a wonderful father."
"Actually, that is why I brought you here. I believe that in addition to a father, Lal will need a mother. I would like to ask you to fill that position."
To his surprise, Tasha burst out laughing.
"I do not understand how my statement was humorous. It was a genuine request."
"I know, I know." Tasha was still giggling slightly. "It's just - you've got to be the first man ever who went up to a woman and asked her to be the mother of his child."
"Then you refuse?"
"I didn't say that." She glanced once again at the half-built android. "I accept. So what are we having? A boy or a girl?"
"I have decided to allow Lal to choose its own gender and appearance."
"That's gotta be a first." She smiled again.
"I have been thinking. Although I have only one name, it is my observation that many species prefer to have two. I do not have a second name to give Lal, but you do, and giving Lal your name might solidify your status as mother."
"Hmm. Not a bad idea. Lal Yar." She tried the name out, then grimaced. "It doesn't sound right."
"It is correct."
"That's not what I meant. It doesn't sound," she struggled for a term Data would understand, "aesthetically pleasing. It's hard to say and it doesn't flow right."
"I suppose we could give her another last name, but I did like the idea of using yours."
"What about a middle name?"
"What?"
"Once Lal chooses a gender, we could give him or her a gender-appropriate middle name. It might help smooth it out a little, especially if it were longer - part of the problem with Lal Yar is that both names are only one syllable each."
"It is a good solution."
"Well, it won't be necessary unless you ever finish! Why don't I let you get back to your work?"
xxxxxxxxx
She stood before Tasha now, a beautiful young woman. My daughter. My little girl. Unlike Data, she looked completely human. If Tasha hadn't known she wasn't human, she never would have guessed.
"Mother. Father said I would be given another name."
"Yes, you will."
"Since I chose Lal's first name," Data pointed out, "it seems fair that you should choose the middle name. If you require time to think -"
"I don't." She turned back to her daughter. "Your name is Lal Katherine Yar."
"Katherine," she pronounced slowly. "Lal Katherine Yar. It is acceptable."
xxxxxxxxx
"Tasha, may I speak with you?"
"Always."
"Lal is attempting to learn about human life. She is confused by the fact that our family does not live together, in the same home. I believe steps should be taken to ease her confusion."
"So what you're saying is you want me to move in with you."
"Yes. The bed in our quarters is never used, as Lal and I do not require sleep."
"All right. But you have to help me move my stuff."
xxxxxxxxx
"Mother, what are you doing?"
"I'm reading."
"What are you reading?"
"It's a very old earth series called Harry Potter. It's one of my favorites."
"Ah. Humans cannot retain information completely, so they have to read it even if they have read it before."
"It's not just that. Remembering something I've read isn't the same as reading it again. You know what else is common among humans? Many parents read out loud to their children. I could read out loud to you, if you want"
"But I can read."
"That's not the point. Think of it as a bonding ritual."
"All right. You may read out loud to me."
"Come, sit down. I'll start from the beginning."
She scrolled the PADD back to the start.
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
"Why would they wish not to be unusual?"
"Well, you know how the children at school didn't want to be around you because you were different than they were?"
"Yes."
"Well, there are some people who want to be part of a group so much that they would give up their individuality to achieve it. This was especially true in the twentieth century when this book was written.
"Please, continue."
Until this point, Tasha had always assumed that reading aloud was solely for the benefit of the child. She now realized how wrong she had been. Reading this story aloud, to such an alert audience, even stopping to answer Lal's frequent questions, brought a sense of deep contentment she'd never felt before.
And so it was that Data walked in just in time to hear Tasha say
Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.
"Tasha?"
"Data!" She jumped. "I didn't hear you come in."
"Who is Uncle Vernon? And why is he acting so strangely?"
"What? Oh, I'm just reading Lal a story. You're welcome to listen. If you want to know what's happened so far, access your files on Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We're in the middle of Chapter Three."
"Ah. I am now aware of our position."
And so the bed, which had so rarely been used until Tasha's arrival, lay sagging under the weight of two androids and a human, who sat reading the tale of a boy wizard to her daughter.
xxxxxxxxx
"What interest do you have in this project, Lieutenant? You are a security officer, not a cyberneticist."
"It's not a project, it's a person. Lal isn't just Data's daughter, she's my daughter too."
"She's an android. You weren't remotely involved in her construction."
"Would you tell a human child not to call her adoptive parent mother or father?"
"This is different. For one thing, you don't have legal parental rights."
"Frankly, Admiral, I don't give a damn about legal parental rights. Lal is my child as far as I'm concerned, and as far as she's concerned, and as far as her father is concerned, and that's all that matters to us."
Tasha had not known it was possible to feel such raging anger and such intense love at once. But she knew now that as long as she lived, she would never let Starfleet, or anyone else, take her child from her.
"I think," she said icily, "that this conversation is over."
xxxxxxxxx
"Mother." Lal stood in the doorway, looking shaky.
"Lal! What's the matter?"
"Mother. Admiral. Admiral. An admiral from Starfleet has come to take me away, Mother. I am scared."
"Don't be scared." Tasha crossed the room and enfolded Lal in her arms. "I won't let him. I won't let him take you away. Mother's here, Lal. I'm here."
"This is what it means to feel. This is what it means to feel!" Suddenly, Lal pulled free of Tasha's arms and started walking down the hall.
"Yar to Data! You'd better get up to your lab, now! It's Lal."
It was not Data's voice that responded, but rather the Captain's. "He's on his way."
xxxxxxxxx
Tasha was shoved aside by Halftel and Data as they set to work on Lal. The Admiral would have forced her out of the room completely but he recognized that he wasn't getting her to leave without a fight and a fight was one thing they did not have time for. Instead he snapped a curt "stay out of the way" before getting to work.
Data's fingers flew faster than Tasha had ever seen them. For nearly an hour the two of them worked tirelessly. Then Halftel stopped suddenly, giving a defeated sigh.
"This isn't working. There's nothing we can do."
"I have come to the same conclusion."
"No!" Tasha, until this point silent as a mouse, chose this moment to insert herself. "You can't give up! You can't let her die!"
"Lieutenant, you're not a cyberneticist, you can't understand. Lal's neural pathways are collapsing one by one, but too fast for us to fix. Look, I wish there was something we could do too, but it would take a god to fix her now."
The Admiral had expected her to finally give in, but instead her face lit up. "Then I guess we'd better get ourselves a god."
"What?" Halftel now looked completely confounded.
Data, on the other hand, suddenly realized what she meant. "Tasha, you are not suggesting-"
"Why the hell not? He owes you, Data, and he knows it. Here's his chance."
She turned to face the apparently empty room. "I know you're out there, and I know you're listening! I told you a time would come for you to pay off your debt. Well, it's time! Come on out here or show yourself for the despicable coward you are!"
Halftel jumped a yard when the man materialized in the middle of the room, but niether Data nor Tasha was remotely surprised.
"What seems to be this burning emergency?"
"She's dying! Fix her!"
"Why should I?"
"Because she's Data's daughter, and we both know where you stand. He risked his life to save yours. All you have to do to repay him is snap your fingers!"
"Please, Q," Data added. "It would mean a great deal to me."
"What the hell is going on here?" The Admiral finally got his voice back.
Tasha ignored him. "You heard Data, Q. Now do it!"
"Yes, yes, very well." Q snapped his fingers, and Lal's head was briefly enveloped in a flash of light. Then he simply vanished.
"I - I don't believe it," Halftel sputtered. "She's completely repaired."
"Sometimes, Admiral," Tasha said with just a hint of smugness, "the most brilliant things are said by people who don't know what they're saying."
xxxxxxxxx
"What are you doing?" Tasha had walked into her quarters only to find Lal in the midst of replicating piles of clothing. Already she had shed the purple dress and blue vest she had been wearing since her creation and put on a dark red shirt and a pair of jeans. Her feet were bare and she had pushed her dark hair off her face with a headband that matched her shirt.
"I don't want to wear the same thing all the time!" She pulled yet another item from the replicator, folded it, and laid it on top of the stack. "So I've been replicating clothes I've seen on other people." She twirled, modeling the outfit she was wearing. "Do you like it?"
In the two days since she had begun to have emotions, her growth had sped up exponentially. She was now nearly indistinguishable from the young teen she appeared to be. Data had even talked about trying to send her back to school.
"I do," Tasha answered honestly.
"Mother?"
"What is it?"
The next thing she knew, her arms were full of her daughter. "I love you."
Tasha pulled Lal even closer. "Oh, God, I love you too."
Wow. That was fast. Even I'm surprised. But I'm seriously on a roll, so keep watching. I expect to have at least two more chapters out by the end of the week.
Please review. If I get at least three reviews for this chapter, I'll hit fifty. Thanks to my reviewers! I love you guys! You're actually managing to review all my chapters despite how fast I'm cranking them out.