Chapter Twenty-Seven

Data had gotten rather used to dreaming over the years. His lifetime in the holodeck had been saturated with it: childhood dreams of adventure, of meeting his heroes from his favorite books and shows… Then, later, dreams of school, laced with infatuation and woven through with anxieties about his goals, his future; the angst and apprehensions of growing up…

Now, Data strode through the Enterprise corridors, wearing the uniform and living the life he had worked so hard to earn…

Yet, something was wrong.

He increased his pace, just slightly, turning corner after corner.

…Until he realized what was missing.

He was alone.

Even at night, there was usually someone else in the corridor…a scientist returning home after a late night in the lab…a security officer off to begin her shift…

But, there was no one there, no other people…

Even the engines were silent.

Data moved on, straining to listen for anything, everything, even the sound of his own breathing…

But, the silence seemed to follow him. It stalked him like an unseen predator, swallowing his footfalls, sending eerie tingles up his spine...

He broke into a jog, moving faster, faster, losing all sense of distance, of location…his unease rapidly rising to panic as the encroaching silence was shattered by a cruel, angry voice…

"You said you were alone in the universe. Claimed to be the only one of your kind."

The disorienting whirl lurched to a sudden halt, leaving Data precariously off-balance until strong hands took him by the shoulders, stopping his awkward tumble before it began.

A cold smile greeted him, a pair of golden eyes, so familiar…

too familiar…

"Lore!"

Data's android brother stepped back and began to circle him slowly, looking him over with a sad, appraising air.

"Well, well," Lore said. "If it isn't my own, dear brother. You're looking a bit flushed, Data. If I didn't know better, I'd say something's changed."

His eyes narrowed, and he grabbed Data by the neck, his white-gold snarl only inches away…

"Traitor," the android hissed as Data gasped and struggled, utterly helpless against Lore's machine strength. "How does it feel, Data? This human weakness, the fragility of flesh and bone? Can you feel the adrenaline rush through your meat-sack frame? Is your mammalian heart beating faster, your animal brain throbbing with panic – knowing I could snuff you out so very easily…and keep on going, long after you and your fellow organisms have rotted away to dust?"

"I…" Data gasped painfully, straining to form words, to force them from his constricted throat. "I don't…understand…"

Lore snorted in disgust and pushed Data away, leaving the younger man coughing, gasping for breath.

"Pathetic," the android snarled. "You disappoint me, Data. But, I shouldn't be surprised. You've coveted humanity for so long, I doubt you'd recognize your betrayal if it punched you in the nose."

Data coughed again and straightened, gingerly rubbing his bruised neck.

"I betrayed no one, Lore," he rasped. "That was you. You murdered the Omicron Theta colonists. You attempted to hijack my ship and, later, kidnapped me…used me to harm my friends—"

"WRONG!" Lore roared. "You betrayed me, Data! Me, and everyone like me."

He clenched his fists, seeming to expand slightly in his anger.

"Don't think I couldn't see through your little act for human sympathy," he said, "playing the part of the poor, orphaned android…so lonely…so misunderstood! The moment I set eyes on you in your sickbay, I could tell you weren't like those other cut-out officers. You wore that uniform like a costume, like a magic cloak you hoped might conceal the machine in the guise of a man. And, when I threatened to expose that guise, to force our shared mechanical nature into Starfleet's unforgiving spotlight, you conspired with the humans to 'dispose' of me."

Lore snarled, his eyes as hard as yellow diamonds.

"Hypocrite!" he cried. "You denied me, brother. And, not just me. You denied your daughter, our mother, Juliana – denied us all the right to live and die as androids. As self-determining machines, free from the oppression of human prejudices you, yourself, have been taught to uphold! Strutting around your ship, calling yourself a 'culture of one'..." He snorted. "Culture of one, my ass! You had a brother, Data – a fellow android to talk with, to learn from! But you didn't want that, did you? Didn't want me around, discomfiting you and your so-called friends with such a stark reminder of the man-shaped construct you are! The fact is, you've been so long among humans, you've actually grown to believe you're one of them! And, perhaps it's true…"

He moved closer, his expression curdled with revulsion.

"Look at you now, little brother! Organic at last, your mechanical roots all but forgotten! My, my, my," he tutted. "What will your dear daughter think when she sets her eyes on you?"

Data frowned, more disconcerted by Lore's accusations than he wanted to admit.

"Actually, Lore, I would think Lal would be pleased that I—"

"Pleased!" Lore barked a harsh laugh. "Pleased to know you've allowed her to languish in stasis all these years? Admit it, Data, you barely gave your poor, broken child a thought until that human showed an interest in her case. That 'Danny' Soong. So typical…"

"What do you mean?" Data said, his fists clenching defensively by his sides.

Lore shook his head.

"You really can't see it, can you…and that's always been your problem," he said.

"Then, show me," Data challenged. "Explain…if you can."

Lore smirked.

"You are a cuckoo's child, Data," he said. "An android raised in a human nest; a cygnet swan among ducklings, repelled by his own reflection! The organics have you so convinced biological life is the only legitimate life, you even refer to yourself as 'artificial.'"

He huffed in disgust.

"You are every inch as blind a bigot as our father was. Worse: you're a self-hating bigot. Faced with the choice to stand up for your own android kin against human biases and fears, you choose the human side every time!"

"That is not true," Data said.

"Isn't it?" Lore scoffed. "Putting my own sordid case aside for the moment, let's take a look at Lal. You could have provided your child a stronger defense when that admiral came to call, refused to allow him to interview her without her father present. But, you didn't. You stepped back, bowed your mechanical head before the 'might' of human authority. And, what of Juliana? You chose – consciously, deliberately chose – to lie to your own mother's face: to allow her to maintain the illusion that she was a biological human being, rather than help her accept, and embrace her android nature."

Data frowned.

"As you are a dreamscape manifestation, Lore, I will not question how you learned of Juliana, or Lal," he said. "But, you cannot know how I agonized over those decisions. Even without emotion—"

"Oh, spare me!" Lore cried. "You kept Juliana ignorant of her status to shield her from the organics' distrust of machines. More than that; you did it to appease the soiled conscience of a dead man. The man who betrayed her, me, all of us, by crumbling in the face of human fear! Tell me, Data: how could Soong design us, construct us - then overtly fail to recognize us as the living, independent beings he created us to be!"

"Lore," Data said, "I don't think you—"

Lore moved faster than Data could see, fierce golden eyes boring into frightened blue as pale, android fingers grasped the human's throat, slowly tightening…

"Soong was a traitor. He deserved what he got, and more," Lore growled. "And you, dear brother, deserve even worse…"


Data sat up and coughed, pressing both hands to his throat.

"Data? Hey, are you all right?"

"Geordi?"

Data blinked and focused his sleep-blurred eyes, his disorientation slowly fading as he realized where…and what…he was.

"My hands… I'm still human," he said, an uncomfortable, anxious tightness squeezing his gut as he touched his face, his chest. "Oh God, my heart is pounding. When – how did I fall asleep?"

"You've both been asleep," Danny called over to them. "For the past two hours, thirty-four minutes. We figured you'd need your rest."

Geordi sat up on his own cot and rubbed his milky-white eyes before slipping his VISOR over his nose and looking around.

The holodeck looked pretty much the same as it had when he, Data, Danny and Ihat brought Lal in for her final diagnostic some three hours earlier. Lal's body lay on the biobed, the colored wires branching out from her exposed brain linking her systems to an array of computers. Danny's oversized diagnostic brain model blinked and rotated over the primary interface console, where Danny and Ihat stood, meticulously overseeing the scan.

"How's it going over there?" Geordi queried through a yawn.

"The scan will be complete within the next forty-seven minutes," Danny reported. "So far, it has revealed only three minor errors we can easily correct once the scan has finished."

"Sounds promising," Geordi said and glanced at Data, who was sitting at the edge of Danny's battered brown 'thinking' couch, looking utterly bewildered.

"Two and a half hours…?" he repeated disbelievingly. "But…the admiral – the meeting! Were we not supposed to—"

"Oh, that meeting's been postponed," Ihat said lightly.

"What do you mean, 'postponed'?" Data asked.

Ihat glanced up at him, his expression smug.

"Didn't I say? The admiral's had to return to his ship. It seems a few very key systems have gone just the slightest bit 'wonky'." The disguised being smiled the broad, mischievous smile he'd borrowed from Harpo Marx. "I did warn him he'd arrived too early…"

Data blinked, confused, but Geordi frowned.

"What have you done, Ihat?" he demanded. "And what about Barclay? If you—"

"I've done nothing that can't be repaired…given time," Ihat said, returning his round eyes to the ongoing scans. "And, that's just what I've given you, see? Time! A whole night's worth. But, it's not just for you. I need this group to make my case, but you're not yet where I want you to be. As for Mr. Barclay, he'll answer for his crimes soon enough."

"Crimes? What crimes?" Geordi asked. "If you mean that energy net we set up to trap you back in Ten Forward—"

"Oh, he's committed far graver crimes than that," Ihat said, rather grimly. "But, we'll discuss all this when the time comes."

Geordi would have said more, but Data stood up, looking oddly lost.

"Where is Spot?" he asked.

"We left Spot in your quarters," Geordi reminded him. "Cat fur and exposed positronic link-ups don't exactly get along, remember?"

"Of course," Data said, and sank back down, burying his fingers in his hair.

Geordi frowned, and sat beside him on the couch.

"Hey, what is it?" he asked gently. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Data snorted slightly, and looked up, running a hand over his bristly face.

"You could say that," he said.

Geordi gave him a prompting look, and Data sighed.

"Lore," he admitted. "I…I do not remember it all. Most of the dream faded when I woke up. But…"

He shook his head, his blue eyes troubled and distant.

"In the nightmare, Lore called me a traitor. He said I was like the Ugly Duckling, taught by the humans around me to feel repelled by my android reflection. He claimed, when faced with a choice, I tend to bow my head and side with human bias rather than take a stand for android rights and freedoms."

"You can't believe that stuff, Data," Geordi said. "If you ask me, you had this nightmare because you're worried. I mean, we're all here preparing to reactivate Lal - it's only natural for you to be an overanxious bundle of nerves right now. You might even be feeling a little bit guilty."

"Guilty?" Data tilted his head.

"It's been a long time, Data," Geordi said. "A lot has changed. Maybe you're concerned that she might not recognize you in this form. That she might…well…blame you… For what happened."

"I know she does not blame me, Geordi," Data said. "But you are right. I have been feeling increasingly anxious since..."

"Since you first realized this was real? That Danny and Ihat might actually be able to bring her back?"

Data swallowed, and nodded his head.

"I want this to work, my friend," he said. "So very, very much. But, if something should go wrong…if I should lose her, again, I-I don't—"

"Hey, hey," Geordi said, clasping his friend's shoulder. "Nothing will go wrong. We're all here for her. And, for you."

"And, I appreciate that," Data said. "Still, I can't shake this awful, anxious feeling... Some of the things Lore said to me in that dream…the accusations against me, and my father…"

"They kind of struck a chord, huh?" Geordi said gently.

"And, so they should," Ihat said, glancing up from the reams of numbers scrolling across the monitor to fix Data with an eerily focused stare. "Don't dismiss that nightmare of yours too quickly, Data. From the looks of you right now, a good, deep ponder might do you some good."

"That's not fair," Danny said. "His current status, and mine, are entirely your fault, Ihat, not his. If you're going to start picking at him for being human, why don't you just change us back into our own forms – and send me home while you're at it!"

"I already offered to send you home, Mr. Workaholic," Ihat said slyly, and Danny turned his head away.

"Is that true, Danny?" Data asked, wide-eyed.

"Just another one of his tricks," Danny grumbled. "He knew I'd have to see this through. Android or not, I could never leave Lal…like that…"

"Constructor," Ihat taunted in a sing-song voice.

Danny scowled.

"I really hate you," he said.

"I know," Ihat said brightly, and grinned. "But, right now, you need this project, and I need what's in your head. I also need both you and Data to be ready, as you are, when I call on you."

"What do you mean, 'call' on us?" Danny demanded. "Call on us for what?"

"You'll know when I call on you," Ihat said. "And not until I call. But don't worry, it won't be much longer now."

"Must you always speak so cryptically?" Data said irritably.

Ihat laughed.

"If you want riddles, my friend, try talking with Korgano. I am but a humble Constructor. And, we Constructors tend to say what we mean. Even if it may not make immediate sense to those outside our heads."

"Schrödinger's Cat," Danny muttered grimly, and stepped away from the monitors. "Keep an eye on that scan," he ordered the mercurial being. "Alert me if there's any change. I want to check out that chip again."

"The personality matrix?" Geordi said, heading over to join him, his curiosity piqued. "It has a holographic interface?"

"The format is a little strange, but I can adapt an isolinear chip to read the program. If you like, we can run it here, concurrently with the diagnostic program."

"It won't slow things down," Geordi asked, "running two such complex programs at one time?"

Danny shook his head, already working at a speed that left Geordi at least five steps behind.

"This one's not as complex as all that," the android said, and held up the modified isolinear chip. "There. Data!" He beckoned his counterpart over. "Care to do the honors?"

Data took the chip and turned it over in his hands a few times. He looked to Danny, then to Geordi, who gave him an encouraging nod.

Finally, he opened the access panel and inserted the chip.

A shimmer of energy…a brief flash of light…

And a figure coalesced behind them.

A figure with the stooped shoulders and wizened features of Dr. Noonian Soong.

To Be Continued…


References include - TNG: Datalore; Brothers; The Offspring; Inheritance; Descent; Birthright I; Phantasms; The Quality of Life.

Hope you like this chapter! Until next time! :)