To The Journey
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, it's not mine. This is an AU story.
Chapter Forty-Eight: Another Trial
Data walked into his quarters and immediately had to duck as a heavy object - a candlestick, he realized after a literal fraction of a second - came flying at him. His wife's voice followed it a second later. "Sorry, Data. I didn't hear the door opening until it was too late."
"Is something wrong?" He came to stand in front of her. "You are angry and agitated. It is evident by your voice."
He hadn't expected this kind of emotion at all. Just days earlier, she'd been so happy she'd been practically dancing around their quarters. Asil and Barclay, together with a few of the Voyager crew, had managed to create an actual communication link between Earth and the ship lost in the Delta Quadrant.. It was only usable for a few minutes a day, but it meant actual, face-to-face contact between the crew and the people they'd left behind.
"You've heard about that new holo-novel? The one Voyager's doctor wrote?" The Doctor had made good use of his own comm time, it seemed, and had submitted a holo-novel to an Earth publisher.
"I scanned a preview of it in my memory banks. I admit, it does not show the Voyager crew in a positive light -"
"It was a draft!" Tasha grabbed the nearest thing that wasn't bolted down - which fortunately, this time, was only a pillow from the couch - and hurled it at the wall, exercising just enough caution to make sure it wasn't anywhere near hitting Data. "The publisher took the draft and published it without the Doctor's consent! Because he's an artificial life form and therefore they've decided he doesn't have any rights and how can you not be as angry about this as I am?"
She looked into his face, and then she was shocked to see a single yellow tear sliding down his face. "Oh, Data." She took him in her arms, holding him close.
"Emotions are not always rational," he said softly. "It is not uncommon for an individual to exhibit an emotional response that is not what is expected."
"What are you feeling?" she asked him gently, forcefully shoving down her anger. "Tell me."
"I feel - I feel hurt," he replied. "That my own existence would seem to be so devalued. And I feel sad. When I fought for my own rights to be recognized, I believed my fight would make it easier for other artificial life forms. And it has not."
"I'm sorry," she whispered again. "I shouldn't have sprung that on you without warning like that. I was so caught up in my own anger that I didn't even think about the fact that what I'd be saying would have more of an impact on you than on me."
"Is there a hearing?" he asked suddenly.
"That's what Admiral Paris told me. Starts the day after tomorrow."
"We are only a day's travel by warp-capable shuttle from Earth," he told her. "While I am certain the Voyager crew will provide an advocate for the Doctor, as someone who has been in the same situation, I would like to be his advocate. And I would like for you to be by my side."
She tilted her head up to kiss his cheek. "I'll always be by your side."
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"Doctor?"
"Yes, Admiral?" the hologram asked the man on the screen. He really hoped this man wasn't angry at him for the character in his holo-novel based on Tom. The man's words were still in the back of his mind. I don't care if the whole Alpha Quadrant mistakes me for Lieutenant Marseilles. What bothers me is that you think that's what I'm like.
Except he didn't. He had been telling the truth when he said he'd started with loose representations of the crew and made the story up pretty much out of thin air from there, molding the characters however he pleased to make the story better. It hadn't been until Tom had said that that he really realized how it looked to everyone else.
Thankfully, the Admiral chose not to comment on that. "I'm certain you already have a member of Voyager's crew standing by as your representative, but there is someone here in the Alpha Quadrant who has personally asked to advocate for you."
"Forgive me for being skeptical," he replied, "but how do I know this person is really acting in my best interest? I know the Voyager crew, in fact they're the only people I really know."
"Commander, would you come here please?" Paris glanced over at someone who was out of view of the screen and then stepped back to let that person come into the camera's foreground.
It was a humanoid figure that stepped forward, but he didn't fit any species that the Doctor knew. He would have looked human except for the fact that his skin was ivory and his eyes were yellow. And yet, the Doctor didn't need to know his species to know who stood before him. "Commander Data?"
"I believe my expertise in relations between Federation authorities and artificial life forms may prove relevant here."
"I'd - I'd be honored."
"I have only one condition," the android explained.
"Let's hear it."
"I work as half of a team." It was his turn to wave someone into the camera's lens; a human woman with short blond hair. "This is my wife, and my own advocate. Her experience is nearly equal to me, and I - I work better partnered with her."
The Doctor regarded the woman for a long moment. Data he trusted without question, but her - so many humans and other species had treated him as lesser that, especially after this latest body blow, he was hesitant to trust her so easily.
But she married an android, another part of his simulated brain insisted. She can't be the same as them.
His simulated eyes met her organic ones, and the intensity in the blue orbs almost knocked him back a step. No, he realized a split-second later, it wasn't the intensity, it was the familiarity in that intense gaze. He saw that look on a regular basis.
And then he remembered. Your Starfleet idol is now married. To my second cousin. He couldn't believe it had taken so long for him to make that connection. That was Tom's determination he was seeing in her eyes.
"Okay," he said finally. "What's the plan?"
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"I just wanted you to know," he told the Vulcan, "I don't have any doubt that you would have done just fine as my advocate." Of course, it was ridiculous to worry about hurting a Vulcan's feelings, but he was worried anyway. The Voyager crew was practically his family, and he'd already hurt most of them in one week.
"Were we in the Alpha Quadrant, you would have your choice of trained defenders," Tuvok replied evenly. "I was selected as the best option out of a rather limited pool. If a better option has been presented, it would be illogical for you not to avail yourself of it."
"I'm still not sure what I think of this woman," he admitted.
"Woman? I thought Commander Data had volunteered to be your advocate."
"He did. But he's asked that his wife be a part of the defense team as well. I didn't think it would be right to refuse, considering the massive favor he's doing me, but -"
"You should not refuse."
"You're lecturing me on protecting someone's feelings?"
"Feelings are not at issue here. You would do yourself a disservice by refusing Tasha's assistance."
His perfect electronic memory allowed him to connect that name with a conversation he'd had with the Vulcan three years earlier. "Tasha? The human girl you fostered?"
"The same. She will fight fiercely for what she believes in - including the rights of artificial life forms. You would be remiss not to take advantage of such passion."
"I had no idea she was the same person, it's a common enough name. I knew she was Lieutenant Paris' cousin, that and the fact that she's Commander Data's wife are the only reasons I accepted at all."
"She will accept nothing less than success." This conversation called to mind a vivid memory of a teenage girl walking around, begging one Starfleet officer after another to hear her out, refusing to leave even as one after another dismissed her.
"Thank you, Commander."
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"You got Louvois' statement?"
"Here." Data handed her the PADD. "It includes an audio portion; she has asked that we play it during the hearing."
"She really wasn't happy, huh? Long way to go from someone who was once ready to declare you a piece of machinery."
Data shrugged. "I blame Maddox for that, not Louvois. She was willing to hold the hearing, to acknowledge there were things she did not know. In any case, she seems the sort of person who does not like having her rulings countered or questioned."
"MIDAS array becomes operational in an hour," Tasha told him, though doubtless he already knew that. "Let's make sure we've absolutely got everything in order before then. Unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot of chances to consult one-on-one with our client."
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Tasha gently squeezed Data's hand before he stood to give his opening statement. The android glanced briefly at his client on the screen, then to the arbitrator.
"It is true," he began, "that Federation law says that holograms have no rights." Tasha saw the momentary panic that flashed across the doctor's face, and she caught his eye, trying to reassure him as Data continued. "However, I submit that the law in question is not adequate to address this situation. Simply put, there has never before been a sentient hologram covered under Federation law. Laws were never meant to be stagnant; they are meant to be adaptive, to allow for unforeseen circumstances, and with all due respect to the Doctor, his very existence as a sentient hologram could easily be construed as such with relation to this law. If Mr. Broht wishes to deny the Doctor ownership of his creation, he must be able to justify the law in question, not merely cite it."
He and Tasha exchanged smiles as he sat back down, and as they glanced at the screen, they could see that the Doctor was smiling too.
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"We're exploring new territory today," the Arbitrator said, "so it is fitting that this hearing is being held at Pathfinder. The Doctor exhibits many of the traits we associate with a person. Intelligence, creativity, ambition, even fallibility. Under other circumstances, I might have wondered if this was sentience or programming. But I see in this courtroom today another example of the same thing." Tasha smiled at Data, squeezing his hand, as the Arbitrator continued. "A single example could be happenstance, but in a situation as rare as artificial life forms, even two occurrences must be considered a pattern. In addition, I am loath to ignore the precedent on this subject. Starfleet Judge Advocate General Phillipa Louvois ruled more than a decade ago that artificial life forms can be granted personhood rights if it can be shown that they could reasonably be considered to have sentience. I am not willing to declare the Doctor a person. However, until we can definitively prove or disprove his personhood, it is preferable to err on the side of protecting individual rights. I hereby grant the Doctor the same basic rights that apply to any Federation citizen, including the right to control his artistic work. I'm ordering all copies of his holo-novels to be recalled immediately."
Tasha vaguely heard the publisher protesting, but his exact words were lost to her as Data swept her up in his arms and they embraced each other. He lifted her clear off her feet and spun her around in a circle. She was laughing. "You won, Data!"
"Not strictly true," he said, putting her back on the floor and meeting her eyes. "In the strictest sense, I did not win."
Tasha may not have had Data's perfect recall, but she remembered the conversation she knew he was referencing almost immediately. "You 'busted him up', right, Data?" she asked with a smile.
He smiled too, but shook his head. "I was going to say, we won. You are half of this team as well. Do not discount your own contribution."
Sorry this took so long, but I wanted to get it just right!
This chapter references the Voyager episode Author, Author and the TNG episodes The Measure of a Man and Peak Performance.
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