XX.

"I'm sorry, Bee."

The view from the promenade café was nothing short of impressive. Lore was certain that all the humans who took it in were impressed, and probably a little uneasy, but he felt no vertigo. That was a sensation utterly foreign to him. He leaned back in the café chair and used his finger to idly spin a fork that someone had left on the table in front of him. Around and around, the scrapping sound filling the empty gallery with more disruption than it should have, but there was no one and nothing to compete with it. The third shift had been on for more than an hour, and there were as yet no officers or crew breaking for their mid-shift meal. The place was deserted.

He continued to spin the fork as the events of the day ran through his mind. What a day. What a monumentally disastrous day. Though, perhaps disastrous was not the appropriate word. Mixed devastation sounded much better. He had been dealt a heavy blow with Data's death, only to be shocked into near paralysis by the revelation that B-4 was alive…and here! He had always been so sure that B-4 was lost forever that he had not thought about him in years, and had especially avoided the thought of him recently. After all, what the colonists had done to him had enraged Lore so much that he had….Well, everyone knew very well how he had responded.

"Do you paint pictures?"

Lore looked lazily over his shoulder at the next closest table, the one nearest the window. B-4 sat at the table with his attention fixed on a green and black puzzle box. He turned the item over in his hands, pressing the various points in different combinations.

"No." Lore replied simply.

"Data painted pictures." B-4 said, "They are pretty, but they do not look like real things. They do not look like photographs."

Lore laughed slightly, "They aren't supposed to look like 'real things', Bee. Art is an interpretation of reality, not an imitation."

B-4 looked up, his brow dropped in thoughtful confusion. Eventually, he smiled and nodded, "Okay."

"Okay." Lore tossed back playfully. Apparently, B-4 had taken to imitating all kinds of things, a fact that pleased Lore immensely. His brother had obviously progressed, for at one time he would not have had the ability to so quickly adopt the ways of others. It was one of the primary failings that had kept him from advancing.

Lore turned back to the view and began spinning the fork once again, but thoughts plagued him too much to continue. The discussion with Troi had been long and informative, once he had finally managed to still himself long enough to take everything in. With every new revelation, he had felt the urge to ask a dozen questions and fly off in a single direction. It was only with Troi's constant insistence, and Crusher's yelling, that he had managed to let them finally get it all out. He now knew everything that they did about Schinzon and the Scimitar, of how they had used B-4 to lure the Enterprise into the neutral zone. He knew about Data's decision to sacrifice himself for everyone, though there was something in that story that he felt was lacking, as if Troi had purposefully left something out. He could not be sure, for Lore's knack for intuition was not very good—apparently—so he had allowed the subject to drop. The subject of B-4, however, was still open. How had the Remans located B-4 after all this time, when Lore had given him up for lost so long ago?

"Bee, what is the last thing you remember before you woke up on the desert planet in the Neutral zone?" Lore asked. He watched B-4 carefully from the corner of his eyes, and was not surprised when his brother's shoulders suddenly went tense and a frightened look overtook his face.

"I…I do not like to think about that." B-4 said, the puzzle box stilling in his hands.

"Was it the colonists?" Lore pressed.

"Yes." B-4 murmured, barely getting out the word, "They were…angry at me. They yelled at me and they had a weapon."

Lore closed his eyes and tried to hold back his anger. It had been so many years, and he thought he had expelled those demons, but he had never been able to find out what truly happened. Neither had Dr. Soong, to his knowledge.

"Tell me what happened." Lore continued, "What did the colonists do?"

B-4 twisted the box around in his hands faster now, "They…they fired a weapon at me and I could not move. I could still see things and hear things but I could not move. They did not like me. They said I was an…abomination."

Lore scoffed bitterly, "Yeah. That's a word some humans are very fond of. What happened after that?"

B-4 was really starting to become agitated now. He spun the puzzle around in his hands, and Lore could hear the plastic casing popping and cracking under his brother's strength.

"They…took me apart." B-4 said, his voice so low that it barely made it to Lore, "They disassembled me without deactivating me first. I could…I could see my own back when they put me in the box."

"Damnit, Bee…." Lore pressed his palms over his eyes for a moment. He was not surprised, for he and Dr. Soong had theorized that just such a thing must have happened, but that did nothing to lessen the blow, "I'm sorry. I should have gone with you to the village that day."

"No." B-4 said quickly, shaking his head, "They would have gotten you too."

Lore thought to ask more questions, but he already knew it was pointless. Picard and the others had already interrogated B-4 to the best of their abilities, and it was clear that B-4 had no knowledge of his whereabouts during all those years. Lore struggled to accept just how long he had been conscious in that box before power minimalization would have forced a shut-down. Three months, perhaps four?

"I am glad you came back." B-4 said, suddenly bright again. Lore had almost forgotten—almost—how mercurial B-4 could be.

"Thank you." Lore replied, laughing slightly, "I think you're the only one."

"Now, Anna does not have to be sad anymore."

Lore stopped spinning the fork and turned to face him, "What do you know about that?"

B-4 hesitated, "I…I do not understand."

"I mean, how do you know that she was sad?" Lore pressed. He did not doubt B-4, but he wanted to know details, despite how horrible they were likely to make him feel.

"Data says so." B-4 said.

Lore frowned, "Data told you so?"

"Y…Yes." B-4 replied. His eyes were a bit wide, and he quickly turned them back on his puzzle box.

"I think I should give you a full diagnostic, Bee." Lore said, turning back toward the window, "The time-tense issues in your speech are probably just a translation error in your forward processor."

"Yes. Okay." B-4 said quickly. He fumbled with the puzzle box once more, and released a short delighted laugh when it finally sprang open to reveal a glistening purple geode. He picked it up and showed it to Lore as if he was proud of it.

"Congratulations." Lore said, rolling his eyes.

"Thank you!" B-4 put the box down again and began the equally confounding process of figuring out how to reclose it.

Lore looked through the viewport at the planet below. It was the dead of night, pitch black, and only the lights of cities could be seen through the swirling atmosphere. Lore sighed and cursed himself silently for perhaps the hundredth time in the last few hours. He was at a loss. He could not leave the station, at least not on his vessel, and there was little to nothing for him to do until Anna agreed to speak to him. It was the middle of the night, and he hardly thought that waking her unannounced would lessen her anger.

He decided to distract himself instead. He turned to his brother, "Have you been down to the surface?"

"No." He replied, "Counselor Troi said it would be overwhelming."

"She's probably right." Lore muttered.

"It is okay." B-4 continued, "I have been to San Francisco and New York and Scotland and Alaska and Okinawa—."

"Bee!" Lore barked. He did it before he could stop himself, but the bizarre nature of what he had been hearing was too much. "You haven't been to any of those places. Why Data gave you his memories, I will never understand. Maybe if we fix your processing error, you won't continue to confuse your memories and his."

"I am sorry." B-4 said sheepishly, "Geordi and Anna get angry when I forget."

"Forget?"

"I cannot help it sometimes."

"I know." Lore said. He glanced around briefly, just to make sure that there was no one nearby, and softened his voice significantly, "Don't worry about it. We'll fix it. You and me, buddy."

B-4 smiled. It was the way Dr. Soong had always referred to B-4. Buddy. "Okay."

Troi had explained the entire bizarre situation with regards to Data's memories in as much detail as she could, but it had done nothing to lessen the startling nature of it. Data was dead; he was gone. Memories alone did not make up a person.

Wow. When did I start thinking like that?

"Now that you are here and Anna will not be sad anymore, she will be my friend." B-4 said matter-of-factly, as if he had the whole scenario mapped out, "She will not dislike seeing me anymore."

Lore sighed and picked up the fork, "Don't count on that just yet. Anna is pissed at me."

"Pissed?"

Lore smirked, "Angry. She is angry with me."

"Oh." B-4 nodded sagely, "Because you lied and went away. She missed you very much. She cried. I saw her cry in the Jefferies tube, but she did not know I was there and I—."

"Bee."

B-4 stopped abruptly, "I am sorry. Data saw her cry."

Lore dropped the fork with a clatter and pressed his hands over his face for a moment, "Just…stop talking about it. Okay?"

"Okay." B-4 went back to his puzzle box, oblivious to Lore's anguished frown.

The view continued to occupy him for several more minutes, before the complete lack of useful employment sent a shiver of irritation down his back. He could not stand it. He wanted to speak to Anna, he wanted to regain access to his vessel, and he wanted to go through Data's personal files to find some reason why he would instruct Troi to send him that message—.

Oh! Idiot!

Lore bolted upright in his chair as an epiphany struck him. How distracted had he been that he had not thought about this before! "Bee!" he said, unintentionally startling his brother.

"Yes?" B-4 said.

"I need you to tell me something about Data. Why did he want me to come back? Why did he instruct Troi to send me a message?"

B-4 frowned, "I do not know."

"What do you mean you don't know? You have Data's memories. Did he block that information from you?" Lore pressed, suddenly too hopeful to be kind.

"No…no…I do not know!" B-4 pushed back, his expression a mix of fear and worry.

Lore pulled back, frowning, "Relax, Bee. I didn't mean to be harsh."

"I do not know…things…about Data when people ask! I do not know! I know some things, some times, but I…I…."

Lore grabbed B-4 by the shoulders and stilled him, for his brother looked as if he were about to stand and run away, "Stop, Bee, it's alright. I'm not angry."

"Captain Maddox wanted to know things about Data." B-4 continued, "I could not tell him, and he got angry."

"I am not angry." Lore said again, more slowly. He punctuated the statement with a forced, reassuring smile, which appeared to calm B-4 significantly. B-4 was always a sucker for smiles. "I won't ask you any more questions about Data's memories. I promise."

"Okay."

"And, listen to me, Bee." Lore took his shoulders again and held his gaze, "Do not allow Maddox anywhere near you. I don't care what LaForge or Picard or anyone else says about it. Do you understand?"

"Yes." B-4 said with a nod.

Lore waited for some kind of objection, or at the very least a question, but when neither came he was sure that B-4 already understood. Perhaps Data had said something to him, or that imperfect recall had at least informed him of what Bruce Maddox was really all about. Lore nodded, satisfied, and turned to retake his seat when he saw the turbo-lift doors on the other side of the promenade open. A cadre of THD personnel emerged and made a sharp left in the direction of the shuttle bay. Lore quickly retook his seat and put his back toward them.

"Bee, face the window." Lore whispered. B-4 obeyed immediately. Lore made a few subtle glances over his shoulder as the men continued, apparently oblivious to the two of them. One of the men carried a long, thin grey case under one arm, while another carried a Romulan phaser rifle in each hand.

He turned back toward the window with a satisfied smirk on his face. Two Romulan phaser rifles and a case containing three class L Romulan disruptors; it was all the weaponry that Lore had had every intention of them finding and taking. He reached into his jacket pocket and removed his uplinked data-pad. A quick scan indicated that all of the false readings and shielding systems he had set into place were still intact. The disruptors were criminal enough, and would no doubt satisfy whatever urge they had to add one more thing to his list of charges. It was a pity they would find that the disruptors were, in fact, completely inoperable, which would make the offense little more than a misdemeanor.

The men disappeared into the shuttle bay and Lore stood. B-4 did the same, picking up his puzzle box as he did.

"Where are we going now?" B-4 asked, a little excited.

"You are going back to your quarters." Lore said, "I have to go back to my ship."

"I want to see your ship." B-4 said.

"Not right now." Lore replied, "I have a lot of things to do, and you shouldn't cross the station once the day shift starts."

"Oh. Okay." B-4 muttered, clearly disappointed.

Lore shook his head and indulged in a little good-natured eye rolling, but it was bitter-sweet. It was that same pleading tone that had convinced Dr. Soong to let B-4 leave the lab on his own that morning.

"I will see you tomorrow." Lore assured him, "Don't worry, Bee. I'm not leaving. Not again."

B-4 smiled and followed Lore as they crossed the promenade in the direction of the turbo lift. The large corridor leading to the Enterprise airlock was off to the right. B-4 headed in that direction, then stopped half way and faced Lore.

"What things do you need to do aboard your ship?" He asked.

Lore smiled. His brother had progressed, yet he was remarkably the same; the same curious B-4.

"Why, dear brother, I have something very very important to do." Lore said with a little laugh, "It's something I've wanted to do for quite some time."

B-4's eyes brightened with excitement, "What?"

"I'm going to shed this ridiculous human façade from my face, and not a moment too soon." Lore leaned forward, still laughing slightly, "I think gold eyes are much more attractive. Agreed?"

B-4 smiled, "Agreed!