"Okay," Geordi said, "scan complete. I'm not seeing anything else like that homing beacon in your programming, Data. So unless your father hid it really well, you're all good."

"Thank you, Geordi." Data hesitated a moment, both for the sake of conversational flow and because he was, uncharacteristically, a bit hesitant to say what he was thinking. But Geordi was always understanding, and Data was incapable of true anxiety, so he spoke.

"I have been thinking about Lore."

Geordi hesitated for approximately 1.3 seconds before resealing the port on the back of Data's head. "What about him?"

"When we first met Lore, he told me that I was created as a less perfect replacement for him, at the request of the colonists. I had no reason to think he would lie about such a thing, so I believed that what he said was true."

"You never told me about that," Geordi said. His voice sounded different than it usually did. Data expected that it was an emotional change, but as always, he struggled to parse what the emotions were causing it, particularly without being able to see Geordi's expression for additional information.

"I did not tell anyone." Data was not quite sure why he had not done so. He ought to have told the captain, at least, but he had kept the information solely to himself. If he were capable of such things, he almost would say that he acted as if he felt ashamed, but of course, he could not feel ashamed. He could not feel anything. And since Lore had stolen the chip that might have changed that, he never would.

He could not feel, so thus he could not feel disappointed by that.

"I mentioned Lore's words to Dr. Soong, when we were all reunited," Data continued. "But Dr. Soong told me that I am not less perfect than Lore. And it was… strange. I have spent two years believing the opposite. My programming took longer to acclimate to it than I had expected."

Geordi came around in front of Data, and Data identified the expression on his face as sympathy with 83.9% certainty. A low percentage, to be sure, but one that had steadily improved with time and exposure. He hoped to reach at least 98% certainty with all of Geordi's expressions within a year.

"You should have told me what Lore said," Geordi told him. "I would have told you that he was lying. There's no way you're less perfect than Lore."

"I cannot comprehend why he would say such a thing. What would he gain from such a falsehood?"

"Well, I haven't really interacted with him, but from what you've told me, I think he's jealous of you," Geordi said. "And when people are jealous, sometimes they like to make the person they're jealous of feel bad about themselves."

"But Lore is aware that I cannot feel."

"You spent two years thinking you were less perfect than Lore," Geordi said. Data identified his tone of voice as gentle with 87.6% certainty. "Maybe you can't feel the way humans can, but Lore got into your head. Figuratively. He wanted you to believe that you were less perfect than he was, and you did."

"And you believe this desire stemmed from jealousy?"

Geordi shrugged. "You've spent more time with Lore than I have. What do you think?"

Data ran over his interactions with Lore with that particular lens. "You may be correct," he stated after a moment. "Particularly in this second interaction, Lore did exhibit many behaviors that are common indicators of jealousy. It seems as if he believed that Dr. Soong preferred me to him, and I believe this upset him."

"All the more reason for him to try to convince you that he was better."

"Some of Dr. Soong's behavior did seem to validate Lore's hypothesis," Data added. "Although I cannot agree with Lore's actions, and I understand the logic of Dr. Soong's, I believe there were flaws in his behavior. While I cannot experience emotional hurt, I believe I can understand why Lore felt it."

"Why?" Geordi asked. "What did your father do to him?"

"Dr. Soong was the reason why Lore was disassembled when we found him," Data said. "Apparently, he had flaws that caused the colonists to fear him. Dr. Soong disassembled him and built me. He claimed it was the next logical step in understanding the failures in Lore's programming, but I believe there were many other ways he could have done so."

"Well, if he acted like he did when we brought him onboard, I don't blame the colonists for wanting him gone."

"I wonder if that was what his behavior was like." Data hesitated again, flicking through possible explanations until he found the one that Geordi was the most likely to understand. "I believe it may be like the ancient human riddle: What came first, the chicken or the egg? Obviously, in this case, the answer is that the chicken is the result of a long evolutionary process that began long before chickens or eggs existed, but in the context of the riddle, it is meant to compare two things that are each required for the other. A chicken is hatched from an egg, but the egg is created by a chicken. Thus, it appears that a chicken could not exist without an egg, but an egg could not exist without a chicken. Does the concept make sense?"

"I know the theory," Geordi said, his lips twitching minutely upwards, "but I don't get how it relates to Lore."

"You are aware of how I am often treated by humans. They do not consider me as trustworthy or as important. It is not uncommon for humans to make rude comments about me; for example, calling me 'creepy' or referring to me as 'it.'"

Geordi's lips twitched again, but while Data would have classified the previous twitching as fond (84.3% certainty), he would classify this one more negatively (82.8% certainty). He calculated a high chance that Geordi's negative feelings were in relation to the comments Data received and not in relation to Data himself. This was the preferable outcome; Geordi rarely seemed to experience negative feelings related to Data, but on the few times that he had, it decreased their efficiency by a non-negligible amount.

"I know what people say about you, Data. Did someone say something recently? If it was anyone in Engineering, I'll talk to them. Hell, no matter what department they're in, I'll make sure it's dealt with."

"No, you misunderstand. I am currently engaging in a hypothetical," Data explained. "I am often treated in such a way, and so it is logical to assume that Lore may have received such treatment from the colonists as well."

"Yeah, but you've never summoned an entity to kill everyone because of it," Geordi said. Data calculated at 64.9% chance that there was at least a base level of sarcasm in his words, but regrettably, he was still too inexperienced at identifying sarcasm to increase the percentage.

"Agreed, but I also do not have emotions. I cannot feel hurt by the comments made about me. Lore can."

Geordi sighed. "Data, I can understand why you'd want to give Lore the benefit of the doubt, but nothing can justify killing all the colonists like he did. There were children there."

"I am aware. I am not attempting to defend Lore's actions. I know they were reprehensible. I am simply trying to understand him."

Geordi put a hand on his shoulder. Geordi could be very tactile, Data knew, particularly when he thought someone might be in distress. Data, of course, was incapable of being in true distress, but he appreciated Geordi's attempt at comfort nonetheless. He knew it came from a place of wanting to help.

"You know you're nothing like Lore, right? And you're definitely not less perfect than him."

"In many ways, I am functionally identical to Lore," Data reminded Geordi. "We were both modeled off the same design, with some minor differences."

"Considering he killed an entire colony and you're one of the nicest people I've ever met, I'd say there are more than just minor differences," Geordi replied, his voice slightly louder and more emphatic than usual. Data surmised it was in an attempt to make his point especially clear. He interpreted the comment with particular attention as a result.

He also saved the compliment Geordi had given him in his personal files. It was a habit he had formed while back at the Academy. He segmented all saved compliments in two categories: compliments about his work and compliments about himself as an individual. Compliments about his work were far more common, especially on ships like the Enterprise where his value was recognized. On the other hand, compliments about himself as an individual were far less common. Compliments from Geordi in particular comprised approximately 39.6% of all personal compliments he had received.

"I understand your point," Data agreed. "However, there still are more similarities between myself and Lore than there are differences. I wonder if there were any way he could have turned out differently than he did. And I do... regret beaming him out into space and leaving him there."

Regret, of course, was not something Data could precisely feel, but it was the simplest way to explain the way his systems retroactively analyzed the situation and offered up superior alternatives to his past actions. He could not feel the sorrow that humans associated with the concept, but he could objectively understand that his decisions had not been the best possible ones to make.

"You did what you had to do to keep him from hurting Wes," Geordi comforted. Geordi often attempted to be comforting to Data, even though he was aware that Data could not truly be comforted and did not strictly need to be.

"I am aware of that, but we could have attempted to retrieve him afterwards. I believe even being disassembled again would have been superior to floating in space while conscious and unable to act."

Geordi winced. "Okay, yeah, you might have a point there."

"When Federation citizens break laws, they are sent to a rehabilitation center and given aid, often in the form of mental health services. If this aid is deemed unsuccessful at minimizing the risk of future crimes, other nonviolent options are explored. This would have been a superior course of action with Lore. I wonder if such an action would have helped him."

"So you're wondering if there was any way Lore could be… better?" Geordi asked.

"Indeed. Specifically, I am wondering if it would have been possible for myself and Lore to have a better relationship. While obviously the preferred outcome of today's encounter would have been if he had allowed Dr. Soong to provide me with the emotion chip without interference, I can understand his anger towards me, given my actions towards him during our first meeting."

Geordi nodded slowly. "You're wondering if Lore's behaviors are like a- a-" He waved his hands slightly in the way he often did when he was searching for the right word. "A self-fulfilling prophecy."

Data frowned. "I do not believe any prophecies were made about Lore. Even if they had been, the likelihood that they would have been correct is slim. Among most species, prophecies have a very low rate of reliability."

"No, Data, it's a saying. It means when someone's actions are influenced by what people think of them. You see it sometimes with stereotypes. If everyone expects the, uh… the Klingon to be violent, for example, then maybe they will be violent because they know it's what everyone expects. So with Lore, if everyone expects him to be awful, then he is, well…"

"Awful?"

"Yeah."

Data nodded. "That may indeed be the case. But again, I believe we have come to the same issue of the proverbial chicken and egg. Without a witness of Lore's early behavior, it is impossible to know how he acted prior to any exposure to other people's beliefs or comments. And given that the only surviving witness is Lore himself, I doubt we will be able to access an unbiased account of the situation.

"The colonists' memories in your system don't include anything about him?"

"No. I checked those memory banks thoroughly after we first met Lore, but I found no mentions of him whatsoever. I wonder if it may have been purposeful."

"You think someone purposefully removed any mentions of Lore from the colonists' memories?"

"It seems unlikely that no logs would mention him at all when he spent a significant amount of time with the colonists. Thus, the only logical explanation is that he was not in the logs purposefully."

"That makes sense," Geordi agreed, nodding. "Doesn't help answer our question, though."

"I am not certain that we will ever find an answer," Data admitted. "Nor am I certain that we will ever see Lore again."

"Well, honestly, I'd be okay with that," Geordi said. "If you want to see him again, that's your right as his brother, but the way I figured, it's good riddance."

Data nodded slowly. "An understandable opinion. However, I will assemble contingency plans, in case we do encounter Lore again."

Geordi frowned, and Data calculated a 73.2% chance that it was from sorrow rather than anger. Before he could calculate the best thing to say in an attempt to comfort him, Geordi's expression brightened.

"Okay, but before you do that, do you want to go to the holodeck with me? We were supposed to go yesterday, remember?"

"I remember. Computer, are any holodecks currently available?"

"Holodeck seven is currently unoccupied, sir. There are no scheduled sessions for five hours and thirty-nine minutes."

Geordi grinned. "I bet we can do a pretty good Holmes mystery in five hours and thirty-nine minutes."

"We will have to change our outfits and report to the holodeck before we can begin the mystery. We are more likely to have approximately five hours and twelve minutes."

"Still sounds good to me," Geordi replied. "And tell you what. I'll race you there."

"Race me?"

"We both go to our quarters and change as fast as we can, then we meet up at the holodeck and see who got there first. Whoever did, won."

"I am capable of moving at speeds far faster than a human. This would not be a fair race."

"Good," Geordi said, "cause I wasn't intending to make it fair. Ready, set, go!"

Data's systems made the connection that Geordi was saying the words to start the race at the same time that Geordi reached the door to the hallway. "Geordi! I believe this is cheating!"

"Damn right it is!" Geordi called back over his shoulder. "I intend to win!"

Data blinked, analyzed the situation, and began to walk to his own quarters at a faster speed than normal. He did not have the same competitive urge that Geordi did, but he still thought it was likely that he would finish earlier. Then again, Geordi's quarters were closer to holodeck seven, and he did seem determined to win.

Data was also fairly certain (98.3% certainty) that Geordi was attempting to distract him with the proposed holodeck outing. It would not work in the way it could for a human, but then again, Data's reaction to the whole situation was not the same as it would be for a human. Either way, he appreciated Geordi's help, whether it would prove effective or not.

Perhaps, he reflected as he slowed slightly, he would let Geordi win.