"I Think I'll Keep You"
Dana Katherine Scully:
The lights on the Bridge flickered imperceptably. Adat paid them no mind: they were of no consequence to him and there was nothing the mortals here could do to stop him, so he let it go. He was busy plotting many courses, all of which set the Enterprise in a position to destroy Federation allies and properties. If he could sweat, his brow would have been glittering.
"Adat, what is it that you want?" Janeway cried from behind the forcefield. "Let our wounded go: release them to sickbay."
Dammit she's awake... "I want to destroy. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less." He said it so coolly that Janeway's skin crawled.
"Please let these people go. You can keep me."
"I don't want just you my dear. I want it all."
Inside Enterprise's systems, the doctor's programming had disseminated into intelligence without personality: all inessential subroutines had to be purged from anything in the computer system to ensure that there was enough space on the massive hard drive. The Doctor had saved all of his emotional subroutines before uploading himself into the ship, but he had known that there was a risk he would never be the same. And now he could not feel what that was like: to know that he would never be the same. He had no idea what it felt like. But he did have a mission.
As he slithered through cables and conduits toward the bridge, the lights of the ship flickerd imperceptibly: a temporary interruption in their programming. His arrival on the bridge went unherralded, Adat continued punching away at his key pad. The Doctor slid through the computer to his pad and started to make tiny systems errours occur. Nothing dramatic, for he was conscious of endangering the crew behind the forcefield. But little things, like making the screen freeze then go crazy for a second or so, and then settle down to reveal that Adat had accomplished nothing. After a few of these the android smashed the keypad and the doctor was forced to flee back to the bridge doors.
Finding the doors locked, he understood why the Captain had been unable to escape. Unlocking the doors surreptitiously, he replaced the actual forcefield with a holographic simulation of one. Adat was raging against the computers on the bridge, and the Doctor saw it was time to make his move. He began replication.
The lights in sickbay flickered. Jean-Luc Picard did not notice them. He was staring sadly at a medical tricorder in his hand, reading the characteristic two heartbeats that signalled a pregnancy. Picard did not dare run DNA comparisons: he told himself he was afraid that his limited medical knowledge would affect the baby, but really he just didn't want to know. "My poor Beverly," he said quietly, tears burning his eyes. "I never wanted this for us."
Throughout the ship, strange things were happening. Crewmen found their quarters overflowing with replicated Klingon blood wine. Ten-Forward had become a bath house, the bar sinks filling with steaming water. The Holodeck was switching worlds quickly enough to make your head spin. And every holoprojecter on the ship was projecting contorted images of the Doctor. He laughed, cried, screamed, sang: depending on which holoprojector he imitated different emotions. His programming could not feel them anymore, but he imitated them.
Meanwhile, the index program was attacking Adat. The Bridge of the new Enterprise had built-in phasors for protection, as the security of the Federation had been compromised by the debacles with its predecessor. Adat did not know this. He simply took the fire.
The Doctor's final victory was a quiet one. He hit Adat enough times that his positronic brain overloaded, effectively killing the being he was. And the Doctor was able to tell the Captain to lead the crew off of the bridge, though she did not understand how it was that he had saved them. Returning his program to sickbay, the doctor's emotional subroutines reintegrated into his programming, and he felt like he was falling.
His holoemitter picked up the presence of his program from the sickbay computer and updated itself, then projected a shaking, crying, screaming Doctor into the air.
Dana Katherine Scully:
The lights on the Bridge flickered imperceptably. Adat paid them no mind: they were of no consequence to him and there was nothing the mortals here could do to stop him, so he let it go. He was busy plotting many courses, all of which set the Enterprise in a position to destroy Federation allies and properties. If he could sweat, his brow would have been glittering.
"Adat, what is it that you want?" Janeway cried from behind the forcefield. "Let our wounded go: release them to sickbay."
Dammit she's awake... "I want to destroy. That is all. Nothing more, nothing less." He said it so coolly that Janeway's skin crawled.
"Please let these people go. You can keep me."
"I don't want just you my dear. I want it all."
Inside Enterprise's systems, the doctor's programming had disseminated into intelligence without personality: all inessential subroutines had to be purged from anything in the computer system to ensure that there was enough space on the massive hard drive. The Doctor had saved all of his emotional subroutines before uploading himself into the ship, but he had known that there was a risk he would never be the same. And now he could not feel what that was like: to know that he would never be the same. He had no idea what it felt like. But he did have a mission.
As he slithered through cables and conduits toward the bridge, the lights of the ship flickerd imperceptibly: a temporary interruption in their programming. His arrival on the bridge went unherralded, Adat continued punching away at his key pad. The Doctor slid through the computer to his pad and started to make tiny systems errours occur. Nothing dramatic, for he was conscious of endangering the crew behind the forcefield. But little things, like making the screen freeze then go crazy for a second or so, and then settle down to reveal that Adat had accomplished nothing. After a few of these the android smashed the keypad and the doctor was forced to flee back to the bridge doors.
Finding the doors locked, he understood why the Captain had been unable to escape. Unlocking the doors surreptitiously, he replaced the actual forcefield with a holographic simulation of one. Adat was raging against the computers on the bridge, and the Doctor saw it was time to make his move. He began replication.
The lights in sickbay flickered. Jean-Luc Picard did not notice them. He was staring sadly at a medical tricorder in his hand, reading the characteristic two heartbeats that signalled a pregnancy. Picard did not dare run DNA comparisons: he told himself he was afraid that his limited medical knowledge would affect the baby, but really he just didn't want to know. "My poor Beverly," he said quietly, tears burning his eyes. "I never wanted this for us."
Throughout the ship, strange things were happening. Crewmen found their quarters overflowing with replicated Klingon blood wine. Ten-Forward had become a bath house, the bar sinks filling with steaming water. The Holodeck was switching worlds quickly enough to make your head spin. And every holoprojecter on the ship was projecting contorted images of the Doctor. He laughed, cried, screamed, sang: depending on which holoprojector he imitated different emotions. His programming could not feel them anymore, but he imitated them.
Meanwhile, the index program was attacking Adat. The Bridge of the new Enterprise had built-in phasors for protection, as the security of the Federation had been compromised by the debacles with its predecessor. Adat did not know this. He simply took the fire.
The Doctor's final victory was a quiet one. He hit Adat enough times that his positronic brain overloaded, effectively killing the being he was. And the Doctor was able to tell the Captain to lead the crew off of the bridge, though she did not understand how it was that he had saved them. Returning his program to sickbay, the doctor's emotional subroutines reintegrated into his programming, and he felt like he was falling.
His holoemitter picked up the presence of his program from the sickbay computer and updated itself, then projected a shaking, crying, screaming Doctor into the air.