Chapter 3
A year later, Noonien Soong was ready to try again, although he was hesitant to activate Data, and he knew Juliana wasn't so sure about it either. "Ready?" He asked worriedly. Juliana gave a hesitant nod as she squeezed his arm. Pushing the button on his lower back, the cyberneticist stepped back and watched as, just as before with Lore, Data's eyes snapped open, although for a second Juliana could've sworn there was a faint white glow in his eyes, in fact she was sure of it.
"Data?" The scientist asked, taking his wife's hand, and squeezed it lightly. The android tilted his head awkwardly and opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out at first. Juliana sighed, shaking her head, giving a teary smile when Data did the same. "W-who are you?" He asked curiously, although it took him a second to form the words.
"I'm your father, and this is your mother," Noonien said with a light smile causing his blue eyes to kind of sparkle, at least to Data anyway. "Who is Lore? You are thinking about him mother," the android said in a menacing tone, although he had no emotion. "Lore … H-He was your brother, but how did you…" Noonien started to say, but stopped when he remembered catching Lore alone with Data, although he wasn't finished yet, and no where near being done back then. He, then, realized that Lore had passed his ability of telepathy onto him.
Just as they had done with Lore, Noonien and Juliana taught Data everything he needed to know to be as close to being human, although unlike Lore he couldn't use contractions, nor did he have emotion besides confusion and curiosity. "Who are you thinking of Father, the ones who died, what happened to them?" Data asked in the middle of a lesson on learning how to dress himself.
Juliana looked at her husband and shrugged. "They were killed by some strange crystal entity. It's like … like a giant snowflake. It sucks up the energy through a bright white light, and everything in its path is destroyed. It's been attacking since Lore was dissembled," Dr. Soong said with a sigh as he showed Data how to zip the back of his black jumper. Data nodded, and looked down. He knew the crystal entity somehow, but something was keeping him from telling them that he knew who they were talking about, Kairi Luuacco.
Tilting his head, Data watched as his father walked out of the room before removing his clothes then followed. Looking around, he walked out into the garden and smelt the flowers before shaking his head. "Data!" Juliana called out before covering her eyes and then called for her husband. "What's wrong?" Noonien called, and then stopped trying not to laugh when he saw Data standing naked in the front garden. He quickly grabbed a blanket and threw it over Data's shoulders. "Son you can't walk around without clothes on, it's … it's unethical," he said leading Data back inside.
"I do not have to wear clothes Doctor, since I do not suffer from the elements, then clothes are not required. If you try to dress me, I will just take them off again," Data replied pulling out of Noonien's grip a little harder than he meant to, causing the man to lose his balance. "Data please put some clothes on," Juliana said walking inside as well. "No!" Data snapped, but in a kind sort of way, seeing as he had no emotion. Noonien rolled his eyes and deactivated Data before putting his clothes back on, and reactivated him. "Keep your clothes on, I mean it!" He said angrily before walking upstairs.
As the sun set, Noonien walked outside and sighed with a light smile as he felt the breeze against his face. "Can't you control your android; no wonder people call you Often Wrong!' A woman said walking by, and then quickly walked off with a growl. Noonien opened his eyes and looked around before noticing Data in the garden, for the fourth time that day with no clothes on. Smacking his forehead, Noonien grabbed a blanket from the table on the porch and walked over throwing it around Data's shoulders. "Data you can't go around with no clothes on, I've already told you its unethical and not proper," he said in an irritated tone. "Why not? As I have told you … father, since I do not suffer from the elements, so I have no need for clothes!" The android snapped back, but allowed his father to lead him back inside.
"Noonien we have to write a modesty subroutine or something, write a program so he'll keep his clothes on," Juliana said as she snuck up from behind and deactivated Data. The scientist nodded with a sigh. "It'll take a while," he said as he set Data up on the operating table and connected him to the computer system.
It took an hour until both Juliana and Noonien were satisfied with the program before applying it to Data, and then activated him. "How do you feel darling?" Juliana asked caressing Data's cheek in a motherly way. "Since I do not have emotion … I guess the right response would be I do not know," Data replied with a confused expression. "Here drink this, it's good for you sweetheart. It's called a semi-organic nutrient suspension in a silicone based liquid medium," she said with a light smile, handing Data a clear glass filled almost to the brim with a thick grayish liquid.
"Thank you," The young android said calmly, the first he had said thank you since he had been activated the night before.
Both Noonien and Juliana looked at each other and smiled, nodding in unison. They were glad that the modesty subroutine was working, and at least now he was saying thank you.
The next morning, Noonien and Juliana ran into Data's room and quickly removed the harness. "Quick hurry!" Noonien said attempting to pull Data to his feet. The android tilted his head, but obeyed then followed his parents out of the room and into a secret panel right outside the house. "The crystal entity is back!" Data shouted as they ran deeper into his father's lab just as Kairi appeared in the sky and started destroying things at random with a silvery white beam of light.
"We're safe down here. Data come here, there's something I want to do before we leave. We can't stay here much longer, it's too dangerous," he said leading Data to another operating table. "He's right; soon there'll be nothing left. Don't worry my darling, we have an escape plan," Juliana said squeezing Data's arm as Noonien strapped him down. "You are going to try and make me more human that is what you are thinking." Data said looking from his mother, then to his father. "Yes Data, then we can leave and find a safer place far away from here," Noonien replied before deactivating his son to begin downloading all the colonists' journal entries, hoping to make Data as human as possible without giving him emotion.
"Noonien I don't think we should bring Data," Juliana said after a long uncomfortable silence. "What? You can't be serious Jules; we've worked so hard on him. Have you lost your mind? We can't leave him here for that monster to destroy him! You've seen what it does to everything, he'll be eaten I know it! I WON'T! I'm not leaving him and that's final!" The scientist snapped waving his arms angrily, but she wasn't about to give up. "What if he turns out like Lore? I'm worried Noonien. Please I … I can't stand to lose another son!" She insisted, tears swelling in her eyes. "Jules abandoning him is just the same as destroying him, I can't!"
It had taken a while, but she had finally convinced her husband to leave Data somewhere someone would find him. They decided on the steps outside the laboratory. Juliana kissed her son on the cheek and ran her hands through his neatly combed hair before turning away to leave. Noonien patted Data on the cheek. "Good luck boy," he said before following his wife.
An hour later Piper, her eyes glowing white, being controlled by the crystal entity, walked into the lab of Dr. Soong and looked around, everything cast in black shadows and white lights. She was looking for Lore. Walking to a storage area, she tilted her head and pressed a button, holding it until the door disappeared into the ceiling above her head.
It took her about three hours before she had reassembled Lore, and then stood back as her eyes went back to normal. She blinked a few times, as did Lore. "Lore!" She said happily then hugged him, although her arms barely wrapped around his waist. "Piper," he said with a light smile as he picked the girl up as if she were a toddler and held her leg up for support, and growled when his mouth twitched. /Glad you're among the living my pet, your crew is waiting for you just tell them to beam you up. / Kairi thought directly to Lore. /Got it, oh and thanks for not killing Piper./ Lore thought before looking around then saw a weird small pin sitting on a chair.
"Lore to Legend, two to beam up," he said pressing the badge. "Captain, we've finally found you! Acknowledged sir," came a woman's voice and at once Lore and Piper transformed into a billions of tiny blue particles that glowed before disappearing and reformed both Lore, and the young girl in her arms on a ship.