Justine woke alone. She was still in uniform, but someone had covered her with a blanket and removed her shoes. She stood up, slowly, and looked around. Pictures covered her walls, her nightstand. Pictures of her mother. Her sister. Her brother. Pictures of the four of them at the beach, in the gardens, in Paris. Justine sat in front of her computer. She took a deep breath. "Computer, call home."

Troi was napping in the next room when she heard the crash. She burst in to find Justine throwing her computer against the wall.

"It's not TRUE!" Justine screamed. "This stupid computer! This goddamn ship! Where is my family?" Justine grabbed a photo frame and ripped it open. "I have PICTURES. I have proof." She smashed the empty frame and held the photograph up to her face. "Mom?" she groaned, anguished.

"I have to tell you, Picard, this is absolutely unbelievable, but it all checks out." Commander Stevens, Starfleet attorney, shuffled his paperwork. "Four years ago Miranda Bouley created J375, an organic being that looked like your normal, human, Starfleet cadet. She activated Justine, pushed her in the right direction, and none of us were the wiser. Including Justine. Unbelievable."

Picard grunted his agreement, one hand across his mouth. "Does this woman have any legal claim over Justine?"

"Oh, I'm sure she'll get the patents. No one else can even come close to this technology."

"I beg your pardon, Commander?"

"The patents. She's already applied for several." Commander Stevens leaned forward, eyes hard and glittering. "Imagine the possibilities. We will be able to implant memories. Not just facts, not just out-of-context knowledge, but experience. It's the end of schooling! We'll have child surgeons. Pilots that never needed a flight simulator. Generals who have fought in every battle in history."

"You're not serious." Captain Picard leaned backwards in distaste. "Do you realize what this woman has done? She deluded my ensign for years and then stripped her of everyone she ever loved in an instant."

Commander Stevens' eyes narrowed. "You're not looking at the bigger picture. I personally nominated Miranda for this year's Nikenzy award. We've got a shuttle ready to take her and J375 back to Earth tomorrow."

"You will refer to my crew by their proper names." Picard's voice was soft but threatening.

Commander Stevens paused, and stared at Picard through one eye as though sizing him up. "Now I'm going to beg your pardon. You do realize 'Justine' is a fake name. We're taking her with us tomorrow."

"Justine Riley does not leave this ship."

Justine couldn't sleep, again. It had been four days since Miranda Bouley arrived, and she had barely caught an hour a night. She kept every light in her quarters on at full power. She kept the view screen on Xylaxian Video Music Now! but with the volume off so that her room was in a constant, silent barrage of color. Her eyes dried out and her lips cracked, but she didn't sleep, she couldn't.

In the morning she ordered breakfast from the replicator, but then let it sit in the wall while she dressed. She never ate it.

As she left her room the two security guards peeled themselves from the wall to follow her, silently. Even though Miranda and her associate were no longer aboard the Enterprise, she and her lawyers were barking at Starfleet every hour of every day, threatening to get Justine in their possession by any means necessary. And so, Justine learned to ignore the security guards at her back.

There was a sudden hush in engineering when Justine entered, as if all of the ensigns had been talking about her. Justine glared at them, and then turned to her terminal to upload her maintenance schedule. The guards positioned themselves a discreet distance away.

Geordi looked up when she entered. Her scowl sent a shiver across his shoulders – usually she was all smiles, especially for the other ensigns. With a determined pout, he strode across the deck to stand beside her.

"Justine, how are you?"

Justine didn't look up from her work. "You're not asking me what's wrong, commander. You're asking J375. If you were asking me there wouldn't be anything to ask. Because this would just be another ordinary day."

"Justine, if you need time off, you can take as long as you need."

Justine laughed, darkly, still without looking up. "And go where? I'd rather keep busy."

"That's fine." He paused. "If you need me, I'm here." Geordi put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" she snapped, shrugging her shoulder with a jerk. Geordi drew back as if burned. Justine hammered on her touch screen, her face red and eyes puffy. Geordi swallowed. Just a few days ago she had wound her fingers around his for comfort, and now this? Geordi felt rejected, and then immediately embarrassed for feeling rejected. He was her commanding officer, it didn't matter what she thought of him. And anyways, this had nothing to do with him…

Geordi realized he was still standing beside her. "I'm sorry," he whispered, and walked past her.

Throughout the day, Geordi was again thankful for the deceptive nature of his VISOR … it allowed him to keep one eye, sometimes both, on Justine, while still appearing to be reading maintence files or scanning circuitry. He was watching when, shortly after lunch break, Justine shoved one of the other ensigns, swearing and calling him stupid.

Anger swelled. That sort of thing didn't happen on his engineering deck. "Ensign Riley, my office, now."

Justine slammed down her work and stalked to his office. Geordi came up behind her and could hear her fuming through her nose.

"Justine, what happened?"

"Ensign Francis didn't do the assigned reading. It's not my problem if he can't tell a negative couple from a warp field."

Geordi shook his head. "I'm probably not the best one to tell you this, but this isn't the Justine I know."

"The Justine you know?" Justine took a large, sobbing gulp of air. "The Justine you know? The one with the fake memories and the fake family and the fake, vapid, bubbling demeanor? The one who smmmmiles and giggles and her whole life is perfect because she has nothing but happy wholesome memories?" Justine hid her face in her hands. "So many, many memories and none of them real. And that's the Justine you know. The Justine she created. How do you know who I am? Maybe this is the real Justine. Maybe this, this is who I really am and if you don't like it you'll just have to deal, Geordi."

"Let's take a walk and find counselor Troi."

"No! No more talking, no more thinking, no more remembering things that weren't. Ever. There. I'm done, and I just want everyone to leave me the hell alone. Especially you."

The sarcasm in her voice stung. "You're dismissed, Ensign." Geordi couldn't help the edge of anger in his voice. "Go to your quarters, I'm calling the counselor."

"You can't tell me what to do."

"Yes, I can. Your quarters and that's an order."

Justine made a rude gesture and stalked off. Geordi doubted she was actually heading back to her room, but he knew the guards would follow her, where ever she went. Geordi sighed and tapped his comlink. "Counselor Troi?"