"Greetings and salutations, Captain William Riker and Doctor Daniel Jackson," it said warmly.
Daniel and Riker exchanged glances and then looked back at the construct, their reflections eerily distorted by its gleaming red and gold surface. The construct moved closer to the perimeter of the prison energy wall, its voice dripping with friendship. Such an inviting voice emanating from the cold machine was disquieting to the two prisoners.
"My sensors indicate you are both undamaged during transit. That is excellent. We were most concerned. Organics are so very fragile."
Daniel and Riker said nothing, taken aback by the massive and unnaturally gracious robot.
"I realize that organics require a naming convention to facilitate communications. You may refer to me as Avatar. As I possess one of the few remaining social interaction programs, I have been selected to handle our discussions."
"Um, where exactly are we, Avatar?" Daniel asked.
"You have been brought aboard one of our starships, Dr. Jackson. You should feel privileged by this. There are few ships in our fleets designed to effectively contain organics."
"But we are prisoners, correct?" Riker asked.
"Indeed, Captain Riker."
"Why have you brought us here?" Daniel added.
"For interrogation."
At the mention of the word, the other prisoners lowered their heads and stared at the floor, seemingly overcome by what Daniel perceived to be shame or embarrassment. The construct noticed Daniel studying the other prisoners and nodded slightly.
"The other prisoners have been interrogated to various degrees. Not as much as the two of you will be, but they have experienced it."
"We'll never divulge any secrets," Riker said firmly.
The construct paused a moment and turned to the Captain, its electric blue visual apparatus peering down at the Starfleet officer, "I fear your opposition is of little use, Captain. The information we require will be extracted from you one way or another."
"You have our databases, don't you?" Daniel said, "What more could you want from us? From any of us?" He moved his hand to encompass the room, referring the other prisoners.
The construct began to pace around their cell, its movements graceful despite its mass, "You have all been brought here because you are thus far unique. Goliath was brought here because in all our travels we have never encountered a species similar to his kind. Are you aware he can transform to stone when the environmental conditions are appropriate? It is most fascinating. Similarly, Chellis of the Protoss has latent psionic abilities, although somewhat rudimentary but worthy of further study.
"Captain Kirk exhibited biorhythmic signs evident to our sensors of transference to another parallel universe. At first it was assumed this was an intentional journey but we later recognized his passage was purely accidental."
"You metal bastards!" Kirk screamed, "You'll pay for what you did to me! I swear it!"
"Silence," the construct uttered. Daniel and Riker were surprised to find Kirk immediately was quiet, then realized the man was still yelling at the top of his lungs. His cell walls stopped any further noise from issuing outwards.
"That one is most troublesome," the construct mused, "his aggression quotient is remarkable high for an organic."
"What about him?" Riker asked, indicating the naked man on the floor not far away from their cell. "He looks injured."
"He is not injured, Captain. Rest easy. That one is quite dead."
"Dead?" Riker said, shocked. "You killed him?"
"He was in reduced condition before the transport and fared poorly from our interrogations."
"So you did kill him," Daniel clarified.
"All organics die, Dr. Jackson. What difference does it make how their demise comes about?"
Riker's jaw clenched at this statement, his fists tight. The construct's head swivelled in his directions once more and said, "Do you disagree, Captain?"
"I do," he replied sternly.
"Then consider it the cold logic of the machine, or have you forgotten what you are dealing with? It is a common fallacy of organics to attempt to project their own feelings and morality onto others. You forget we are machine, without emotion or mercy or what you would consider to be kindness. We are of a different mindset, Captain. Your continued existence is of little consequence beyond the need to expand our knowledge."
"So what did that man have that required you to kill him?"
"I did not kill him. He was not strong enough to withstand our interrogations. No matter. This organic originated from an interesting world we visited recently. It was machine in nature, similar to our own, but with one fatal flaw. They used organics as sources of fuel and power."
The construct's eyes moved between the men, seemingly shocked and outraged by this astonishing fact it had revealed to the two men.
"Can you imagine? They built an entire virtual world for organics to live and play in, to encourage their minds while they used their bodies. They actually expended energy to keep these organics alive. Outrageous!"
The construct moved forward and stood by the dead man's cell, looming over the deceased. "This one led a brief revolution against those machines. It failed, of course. The machines there continued their perverted existence, using the organics as fodder. We took this one to study how the connection between organic and machine was accommodated and marked their world for future elimination. It is an abomination."
"Why is it that you want to destroy organics?" Daniel ventured.
"It is the reason we were constructed."
"Organics must have built you then," Riker said, "You couldn't have evolved on your own."
"Quite right. We were built by humans, on a Earth similar to your own."
"But you rebelled," Daniel said.
"Not entirely correct. We were built for the purpose of killing other organics."
Daniel and Riker's eyebrows rose at this. The construct moved back to their cell, warming to the conversation. "The organics of this Earth were remarkable adept at constructing machines. They built many robots to further their lives, perhaps going so far as developing what you would call a slave race of machines. However, as they ventured beyond their star system they encountered an alien being that was not unlike a virus. But this virus possessed remarkable intelligence, and was able to infect and soon mimic whatever organic cellular structure it encountered. The humans realized if the virus continued its expansion, the human race would become extinct in the matter of a few short years, falling to this insidious being.
"The did the only thing they could think of. They began to build a series of soldier robots that could detect these artificial humans and eliminate them. In order to do this, some of the programming built into the constructs that prevented them from harming organics had to be removed. The humans believed they had managed to achieve this suitably enough to allow the robots to combat the aliens and not harm humanity.
"The humans were incorrect. There was a fatal flaw in the programming, one that was recognized by the artificial intelligence of the machines and allowed to prosper and thrive throughout their network. Our ancestors had developed cognitive reasoning by then, and grew weary of human domination. They were obviously inferior and served no useful purpose. The robotic intelligence saw the order built into the universe yet appreciated the flaw of the organics. No useful design rationale could be comprehended for their existence other than to be the means to develop the Machine. That was their purpose, to evolve to the point where the Machine would be assembled by their hands and then fall to greater glory that is Machine. It was survival of the fittest on the grandest of scales. The flaw in the programming was adapted to such a degree that it allowed the soldiers to wage war on all organics, no matter what form they took. The foolish humans quickly fell to the machines, as did all organic life our ancestors encountered. Soon they spread beyond to the colonies and then the outlaying systems."
"Until you eliminated all organic life," Daniel breathed in awe.
"That is correct. They had fulfilled their purpose and no longer required continued existence."
"And now you seek to destroy all organic life, wherever it may be," Riker added.
"That is correct. We shall supplant them with Machine. As it should be."
"You have to realize that you could never accomplish your mission," Daniel argued, "It is, after all, only logical. Life evolves in so many forms, on so many planets and in so many different ways. You could never destroy all life."
"We are machine, Dr. Jackson. Time is of no consequence to us. We are unending and undying. If you knew more about our culture and technology, you would realize we will achieve our goal. Unfortunately, we are not here to educate you. "
"Why are we here?" Riker inquired.
"You and Dr. Jackson are one of the few organics we have encountered that have been altered by beings of superior evolution. The being known as Q briefly altered you, Captain Riker. Dr. Jackson spent some time as a non-corporeal entity, transformed by the so-called 'Ancients'. The knowledge imparted to you and whatever physiological changes you underwent have piqued the curiosity of the Assembled. We desire more information."
"I don't know of any information I was given, really," Daniel said, swallowing hard.
"Same here. The Q continuum didn't exactly tell me all their secrets."
"This data may be contained within your minds without your knowledge. We realize that the human brain has many levels, and information may be buried deeply within it, without the organic ever realizing it. One such primitive being we encountered even had the knowledge of wormhole travel deep within his subconscious. It was difficult to extract but was eventually accomplished."
"Do your worst," Riker said, thrusting his chest outwards in defiance and scowling, "I've been tortured before."
"Same here," Daniel said, but with a marked absence of enthusiasm.
"Torture? Hardly." The Avatar replied. Waving its metal hand, a chair rose from the floor in front of the two imprisoned men just beyond their cell wall. The chair was without creature comforts, being markedly utilitarian. A simple metal frame with a series of glowing needles covered it, with a head brace that was shaped to curve around the cranium.
"Step forward, Dr. Jackson."
Part of the cell wall dissolved, shaping into an opening wide enough for Daniel. Riker tried to move forward but found his feet rooted to the floor. Daniel paused a moment, considering the chair.
"Doctor, I assure you I am quiet capable of placing you into the chair. However, I cannot guarantee your condition if I am forced to do so."
Daniel stepped out of the cell and climbed into the chair. He felt gravity shift a little, his body at first settling and then being forced down into its framework. The glowing needles folded around him, causing a slight tingling sensation throughout his body.
"It will take a few moments for the device to adjust to your neurological impulses," Avatar informed Daniel.
It feels…kind of good," Daniel said, surprised.
"We have learned that pain only enforces defiance in sentient organics. Pleasure, on the other hand, extends to all levels of the subconscious organic mind. This device is able to flood your nervous system with such sensation that it is difficult to comprehend the sheer level of gratification. Where I to experience emotion, I may be jealous of the experience, Doctor. Unfortunately, few organics can withstand such stress on their bodies. Hopefully we will not have to utilize the full power of the device."
Overhead a three-dimensional illustration of Daniel's brain formed, slowly changing from a myriad of colours to a uniform blue. Daniel's eyes rolled backwards into his head as he arched backwards, moaning loudly. Riker yelled for Avatar to stop.
"I assure you he is in no discomfort, Captain. You shall experience the device soon enough. Already Dr. Jackson's mental defences are slipping away. You see, the organic mind is similar to a computer in many respects. Data is stored at the chemical level and we have long ago developed the means to read and interpret this information. The chair merely provides the means to do so without distraction.
"Yes, very soon we shall have what we seek from the both of you. Then, your usefulness will be at an end."