Of Cats and Dark Energy
Part 4: Collecting Data on Data
"I presume," Data said without looking up from the Engineering console he was studying, "that the holographic interface on your arm equates to what we would call a tricorder?"
Tali jumped, letting out an "Oh!" of surprise. Data turned to face her.
"I am a unique individual, even in my own reality, so I am accustomed to curiosity and to being studied. However, my studies of the behaviour of intelligent races indicates that in most cases, the simplest and most courteous way to find things out is to ask."
"How did you know I was here?" Tali asked. "You seemed to be concentrating so hard, and I am very soft-footed."
"I have the mental capacity to concentrate on several things at once." Data told her. "At the time I was examining the nature of this ships' kinetic shields, reviewing known Dalek tactics with a view to finding a weakness, and also remaining aware of my environment.
"I have superior hearing, so I detected your footfalls. Also your environmental suit makes a number of characteristic sounds -a human could not hear them, but they are clear to me – as does your Omni-tool device. I am curious as to why you feel it is necessary to study me covertly. I am here, you could simply ask."
Quarians are a direct people. Spending your life behind a mask leaves little opportunity for subtlety, as does the forced intimacy of a life spent on ships. Tali was direct.
"You're an AI." She said. "How am I supposed to trust anything you tell me? My people have history with AIs."
"What is that history?" Data wanted to know. "My studies so far have been confined to technical ones. I have not had time to explore your historical, literary and cultural databases."
Tali shook her head. "You won't find any. This is a military ship, Commander Data. We don't carry anything we don't need. Just a selection of entertainment vids, some music and online novels and magazines. Mostly human-oriented.
"As to my people, some centuries ago, we created an AI race, the geth, as servants and protectors. But they became too intelligent, too numerous. My people got scared and tried to shut them down. The geth rebelled and drove us from our homeworld. Since then, we've lived on the Migrant Fleet and been at war, on and off, with the geth.
"Now I know, when I say it out loud, that it makes my people sound bad. Recently, I've been given a lot of reason to agree with that, as do some of our people back on the Fleet. But I was brought up to hate and fear AIs, and it's hard to overcome a lifetimes' training.
"What's worse is that, when I talk to you, I find myself reacting as I would to a living being. Then I feel like I've been fooled."
Data nodded. "Your feelings are not an uncommon reaction to me. I think it was one of the things Dr Soong was interested in."
"Dr Soong?" Tali asked.
"My creator." Data told her. "My father."
"Why did he build you?" Tali asked.
"I do not believe there was a single reason." Data said. "He and his wife were unable to have children, for instance, but I lack the emotional intelligence to tell if that was a factor. Certainly, he wished to put his theories regarding the creation of artificial intelligence to the test. To design a working positronic neural net. He wanted to place it in an artificial but humanlike body to study how others would react. Also to see if I could learn to become more human.
"I think there were many reasons, many things he was curious about. I was one way of answering these questions. But he was also prepared to let me go, to find my own path. I chose StarFleet, and I have been accepted by my shipmates as one of them."
"Keelah!" Tali exclaimed. "What kind of person..? Data, you are more sophisticated, technologically, than anything I have ever seen. Your brain is a marvel, I can't even begin to grasp its complexity! Most people would hang on to an asset like that, or try to make all the credits they could out of it. But your, your father, just let you go! And you, you chose service. There are few enough real people who would do that. You put me to shame!"
"That was not my intention." Data said. "The history of your people is quite sufficient to explain your suspicions of me. But is there anything else you wish to know?"
"A silly question really." Tali said. "Why do you wear clothes? The geth don't, and my scans indicate you don't need them. Does your captain insist you wear uniform?"
"I expect that Captain Picard would require me to wear uniform on duty, should the question arise." Data responded. "But I always wear clothing. When I was first activated, I did not see the need – you are correct in assuming that external temperatures do not affect me. My father was forced to write a modesty subroutine into my base programming so that I did not disturb the other colonists."
"Disturb?" Tali asked.
"My physiological design is based upon the human male, and is fully anatomically correct." Data told her. "My nakedness caused embarrassment, and there were children in the colony."
Tali couldn't help herself, she burst out laughing. For a moment she was helpless, a state not improved by Datas' look of mild puzzlement.
"Oh, Keelah!" She was finally able to gasp. "I am sorry, Data! It's just..." She almost lost it again. "I'm sorry, I have to...We'll talk later, yes?"
She retired in shaken order, leaving Data looking after her. He wondered why a simple statement of fact should cause such a reaction. But he had discovered that different things made different people laugh. He turned toward the other source of laughter.
"Was there anything you required, Miss...?" He asked.
"Jack." She told him. "Just Jack."
Data noted that the shaven head accentuated her chiselled features, whilst heavy makeup rendered her dark, intense eyes even more vivid. She wore minimal clothing above the waist, probably to display the beautiful tattoo work that covered much of her skin. She came very close.
"So," she said, "you actually have all the man parts, right?"
"Correct." Data replied.
"Tell me," she went on, "do they actually...?"
"I am fully functional." He informed her. "Programmed in multiple techniques of pleasuring."
"Is that so?" Jack took his hand. "C'mon. I've got some scientific curiosity to satisfy. And it better be satisfactory!"
It was some hours later that Commander Shepard called his team together. Meetings this large were rare aboard the Normandy. Normally, only Shepard himself, Jacob, Miranda, Garrus, Tali and Samara attended all the meetings. Mordin came about half the time – if there was a scientific matter to discuss – the others only turned up if specifically asked. Except Jack, who generally refused to attend at all, and had to be approached individually where she lurked on the lower decks.
This time, however, Jack turned up alongside Data, with whom she seemed very comfortable. That was a pleasant change, Shepard reflected, Jack was not on easy terms with many people. There was the usual settling and bustling, including the grumble as Grunt squeezed his massive bulk into a chair.
"Right!" Shepard said. "I'd hoped for a bit more quiet time, but it looks like we're in the thick of things again, people. What's the status of the ship?"
"We took a beating on the other side of the Omega 4 Relay." Tali said. "But the new armour and multicore shielding held up better than we hoped. The engines are back up to speed as well. All in all, we're in pretty good shape as far as that goes. How are the weapons, Garrus?"
The rangy turian shrugged. "We gave the new main guns a good workout back there, and they did the job. I had some recalibration to do, and the mounts needed reinforcing, but they're all good now. If anyones' interested, the Hammerhead didn't even get a scratch. I'm in the middle of upgrading its armour and weapons."
"All good." Shepard noted. "Kelly -Yeoman Chambers – tells me that crew morale is pretty high right now. Of course, if these Daleks are as bad as they seem, that might change!"
"Speaking of that," Jacob said, "what do we know about the Daleks? How bad is it gonna get?"
"You start off," the Doctor told Data, "then I'll put in the bits you left out and put right the bits you got wrong."
"Very well." Data replied. "I uploaded some of the data from my PADD to your systems, Commander. EDI, if you would?"
The image that appeared in the middle of the table was, at first glance, almost comical. Even with the human silhouette next to it to provide scale, it still resembled nothing more than a giant pepper-pot. There were additions, of course. A lens-capped eye-stalk at the top, and two more rods projecting from the mid-section.
But the longer you looked at it, the less you were inclined to smile. Everyone here was a soldier, or a scientist, or dealt in some way with technology, violence, or both. After the initial surprise, Shepard could sense the reassessments taking place, the realisation of what they were actually looking at.
"Form follows function." Mordin commented. "Nothing unnecessary, nothing wasted. Quaroid form of geth typical of sentient habits. Humans call it anthropomorphism. This is not. Pure efficiency. An AI?"
"Daleks are not an artificial intelligence." Data said. "What you see is a combination of environment suit and combat vehicle. There is an organic being -some kind of mutant – inside the casing.
"The casing itself is composed of three layers: bonded polycarbide, high-impact ceramic and an unknown alloy of extreme strength."
"Dalekanium." The Doctor said. "The rare ore that makes it unique is only found on a few planets, Skaro being one of the richest in it. Fortunately, the Daleks never managed to synthesise adamantium, or I wouldn't be here."
"Thank you, Doctor." Data said. "To continue, the Dalek suit is equipped with a sophisticated anti-gravity generator, allowing it to fly considerable distances. It is protected by a force field – usually a thermal shield designed to melt projectiles. However, experience has shown that this can be modulated across the electromagnetic spectrum to defend against almost anything.
"The two projections in the middle are the handling tool and the weapon. The handling tool is modular, and can be changed to fit whatever task is being undertaken. The weapon usually fires plasma bolts, but like the shielding, it can be remodulated to fire electricity, lasers, phased plasma beams or gamma radiation. It is also modular, and can be replaced with a projectile weapon if necessary.
"The suit is fully self-contained, has considerable reserves of power, and can function in almost any environment, including outer space.
"Whenever and wherever Daleks have been encountered, they have shown nothing but unrelenting hostility toward all other life-forms. They seek the extinction of all life except themselves. We do not know why."
"Racism." The Doctor said. "Plain and simple. The creatures inside those suits are bred to believe that they are the only species fit to survive. Everything, everyone, else is a mistake of nature, vermin to be exterminated. They got so dangerous that in the end my people, the TimeLords, had to intervene. That led to the Time War, a war of attrition that spread across all of time and space. It got so bad that I had to Time-Lock it, seal as much of it as I could outside time and space. Basically remove it and its effects from history. I did the best I could, but there are still cracks, leaks and ripples. An event that big can never be completely un-happened."
"So, how do we beat them?" Grunt asked.
"You don't." The Doctor said. "If you're clever, you run and hide, and if you're lucky, you'll survive a few years more until they come and find you. That's what the Q did. It's what the Vorlons were preparing to do just before we got involved.
"The Daleks are smarter than you, they outgun you, and they don't stop, ever. If you insist on fighting them, then you need to capitalise on their arrogance, their hatred, their emotionalism. Daleks run on emotion, on hatred, fear, anger. It makes them powerful, but it also makes them reckless.
"Beyond a certain point, those emotions take over. They abandon plans and strategy and just attack. That's when they're most dangerous and most vulnerable."
"Can't we do better than that?" Shepard asked. "They don't belong in this universe, you said that. There might be something here they can't handle."
The Doctor shook his head. "I doubt it. Not unless you've got some Adeptus Astartes hidden away on this ship. A full company of Blood Angels or Ultramarines would be a match for one Dalek saucer. Just.
"As it is you only have two things. One is your biotic and tech abilities. They're based around Dark Energy, which the Daleks don't have much experience with. It won't take them long to adapt, mind, but used with care, those abilities could do a lot of damage."
"I don't understand." Tali said. "Dark Energy is everywhere, we use it in most of our tech. Is there none in your universe?"
"It exists." Data said. "But it is very rare, and has been deemed uneconomical to use."
"It's one of the cats that Schrodinger was talking about." The Doctor stated. "In our universe, it was dead when the box was opened, in yours, it was alive.
"Dark Energy can't be generated without Element Zero, which doesn't exist in our universe. Most of the naturally-occurring Dark Energy there is stored in artefacts."
"You are referring to the Tesseract?" Data asked. "That is still in Asgard, which has been out of phase with Earth for over two centuries."
"The Tesseract, the Black Swords, the Black Jewel, the Runestaff, the Elder Wand, the One Ring, a few others, but yes, the Tesseract is the best known." The Doctor allowed.
Data frowned. "The One Ring? Academics on Earth are still debating the historicity of the Red Book of Westmarch. The other items I have not heard of."
"It was real." The Doctor growled. "I should know, I was there when Isildur took it from Sauron, and I wasn't far away when that brave Hobbit tossed it into the Fire. I told Gandalf he'd do it, but the silly young fool never believed me until it happened. It was a fixed point."
"OK, focus!" Shepard said. "What's the other thing we have?"
"Me." Said the Doctor. "All those titles your Justicar reeled off? One of them – the Oncoming Storm -is a title the Daleks gave me. I'm probably the only being in any universe they're really scared of. Which means that if they know I'm here, they'll come after this ship with a vengeance!
"I've beaten them more times than I like to remember, but they always come back. Sometimes, they beat me, but I'm still here. We're almost old friends."
"Whatever, they can still be beaten, anything can." Grunt said.
"It'd take special tactics." Massani said. "You'd need a Tech to overload their shields, and heavy weapons or high-level biotics to take out the armour. Team job, and that's just to take out one of them!"
"If the shields were down," Thane noted, "it would not be difficult for a trained sniper to damage the eye-piece. I could do it, so could Zaeed or Garrus. How effective would that be?"
"They're mostly sight-oriented." The Doctor said. "If they lose visual input, they start to panic, fire at random. Just so you know, the dome on the top and the ring the gun is on can both rotate through 360 degrees. They can look, and fire, in any direction."
"Get me or Tali into their computer systems, and they'd be in trouble!" Kasumi stated. "What's their power source?"
"I told you, emotion." The Doctor replied. "The angrier, or more scared, they get, the more power they build up."
"Interesting." Mordin said. "Some kind of tranquilliser? Would have to know metabolism. Also, suit is sealed, would need way to get past. Hmm. Still have data on Collector Seeker swarms. Could modify. Maybe nanotech?"
"I have information taken from autopsies on the Dalek mutants." Data informed him. "I also have some knowledge of nanotechnology. Perhaps I could assist?"
"Thank you, yes." Mordin replied. "Be nice to work with someone who thinks as fast as I do."
Grunt had been studying the hologram. "These things don't look as if they'd be much use up close." He said.
"They're not designed for close combat." The Doctor allowed. "Daleks don't – can't – fight hand to hand. But you'd have to be really strong to make a dent in that armour with your hands, or have something very hard and sharp to cut it."
"Huh!" Grunt peered at the image again. "How dangerous is the thing inside the suit?"
"You mean physically?" The Doctor asked. "Not very. It's mostly brain and eye and it can't move by itself. It does have tentacles, and if you get within reach it will try to strangle you. It might succeed with a human, but not with a krogan.
"Of course, you'd have to get the suit open, first."
"Shepard and I pack some pretty serious biotics." Jack spoke up. "Would they work?"
"Up to a point." The Doctor allowed. "You might be able to throw them around a bit, make them easier targets for any heavy weapons you have. But unless their shields are down, you won't be able to Warp them."
"So it looks like we can take individual Daleks, but that it would need several of us to get just one!" Shepard summed up. "We need to do better than that.
"Mordin, get onto that tranquilliser, it's the best hope we have of dealing with large numbers at once. If we can force them to power down, we stand a chance. The rest of you, start thinking about what we've learned. There may be other tactics we can use.
"Commander Data, would you mind staying here for a moment? I need to talk with you in confidence."
The meeting broke up. Shepard studied the android for a moment. Observed closely, he wasn't really all that human. Apart from the unnatural colour of his skin and eyes, there were the odd, random, birdlike movements of the head. Then there was the voice, a pleasant enough tenor, but always even, rarely inflected, and the precise mode of speech, without the usual contractions. But still, what Tali had said was right, you couldn't react to him as if he was a machine.
"So, Commander," Shepard said, "you've made quite an impression on my Chief Engineer!"
"Miss vas Normandy is a highly intelligent person." Data noted. "I am also impressed by her ability to overcome generations of prejudice and interact with me on an equal basis."
"Tali is a special person." Shepard agreed.
"You are together." Data said. It was not a question.
"So you're intuitive, as well?" Shepard asked.
Data shrugged, a very human gesture. "I do not understand what is called 'intuition'. My thought processes are based on logic. However, since I live and work among people who experience emotion, I have found it useful to study the ways in which it is expressed. The body language and non-verbal signals between yourself and Miss vas Normandy indicate a more than ordinary degree of intimacy.
"But I do not think that you asked me to stay to discuss these matters, Commander."
"No." Shepard grinned. "It wouldn't be logical, would it?
"I understand that as well as information about the Daleks, you also have some on the Doctor. Now all I have is a very old Alliance regulation called the 'Bad Wolf Protocol'. That protocol, on an Alliance ship, would effectively put the Doctor in command.
"I contacted a friend of mine, an information broker, to see if she had anything more. According to Liara, her people, the asari, have encountered the Doctor on several occasions and have collected some information about him by other means. But to be honest, some of it is legend and the rest sounds like tall tales.
"I wondered if you had anything more concrete?"
Data nodded. "There is a good deal of information, but much of it is fragmentary and of dubious provenance. But there is a common theme. It seems that, in times of crisis, a figure sometimes appears, calling himself the Doctor, who offers advice and assistance. He is depicted as being highly intelligent, with vast scientific and historical knowledge. Descriptions of his physical appearance are varied, with at least twelve, possibly thirteen, different ones being given. There are also rare occasions upon which more than one of these avatars or manifestations have appeared at the same time. Accounts of his personality also vary, though all agree on some traits. He is always described as being concerned with the preservation of life, the avoidance of violence, the freedom of individuals and species, and the humane resolution of issues wherever possible.
"Fragmentary records go back as far as Ancient Egypt and Rome. The Doctor is mentioned on an Aztec stele of verifiable authenticity. There are also letters from the English Queen Elizabeth the First, detailing a complex relationship between her and the Doctor. There are also official documents from the Victorian era which mention the Doctor in connection with the foundation of the Torchwood Institute.
"There is a period, ranging from the mid-20th Century to the early 21st, in which records become more coherent. Some official papers from the Second World War for instance, reference the Doctor as a key advisor to British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Later, he appears as an operative – Special Scientific Advisor – of the UNIT organisation. He is also mentioned as a person of interest to Torchwood."
"I never heard of either UNIT or Torchwood." Shepard said. "Even during N7 training."
"They may not have existed in this reality." Data allowed. "We do know, from other sources, that the race known as TimeLords did exist, and may still do so. We also believe that the conflict known as the Time War did actually happen. Not only has the Doctor spoken of it, but there are recordings of Daleks referring to it. Also, there are historical...anomalies...in the records of several civilisations. Parts of the past which seem to have simply disappeared, even within living memory. Physical evidence of conflict where none has been known to occur.
"I am also authorised by Captain Picard to inform you – in strictest confidence – that sealed StarFleet records exist of the Doctor encountering both the NX-01 Enterprise and the Constitution-class vessel USS Enterprise. No more details are available to me of those encounters."
"Fair enough." Shepard acknowledged. "So, what's your judgement, Data? Can we trust him?"
Data shrugged again. "I do not have what you would call 'gut feelings' about such things, Commander. The evidence indicates strongly that the Doctor has a high regard for humanity as a species. It also indicates that he tends toward the weaker side in any conflict. However, since we appear to be confronting the Daleks, his oldest enemy and a species sworn to kill him above all others, it will be in his best interests to assist us in any way he can.
"Be warned, however, the Doctor is not predictable or in any way controllable, and the full extent of his abilities has never been measured.
"Now, if that is all you require, Commander, I promised to assist Professor Solus?"
A sobered Shepard nodded. "Certainly, Mr Data, and thank you."
Jacks' living space, or hidey-hole, down in Engineering was cramped and lit only by red working lights. Despite her apparent carelessness and rejection of military discipline, Shepard had noticed before that she kept her few possessions tidily. It matched her fastidious approach to personal cleanliness. Jack herself lay out on the narrow cot which was almost all her furniture, absorbed in an ebook. She heard him approach and sat up.
Jack seldom initiated a conversation, so to her questioning look, Shepard said: "So, what do you think of our guest? You seemed very relaxed with him earlier."
She looked down at the floor between her feet. Shepard braced himself for one of her bitter outbursts, but when she looked back up again, her eyes were focused inward, and her voice was soft and wistful.
"What do you want me to say, Shepard? I'm damaged goods, everybody knows that. The guys on this tub, they're all polite, even kind, but they don't want me close. It isn't even that they're scared of me any more. They trust me, and I'm not used to that. But most of them are in relationships, and the ones that aren't are looking for something I can't give them. They don't want to hurt me any more, so they leave me alone.
"But I've still got urges, you know? That Yeoman of yours, she came down here once, and it was nice, but I prefer guys to girls. Joker flirts sometimes, but we both know I'd probably snap the poor guy in two, so we let it go at that.
"Then there's Data, and I hear him tell Tali that he's got all the...equipment. She thinks it's funny – or maybe it was just that deadpan way he has of talking about it. So I'm in one of those moods, and I go up to him and ask him if it all works. 'fully functional', he tells me, 'programmed with multiple techniques'." She gave a little laugh. "He wasn't lying. He did everything I asked, and it was great. Then he started doing thing I hadn't asked, and it was even better! 'A logical progression based on your perceived preferences', he told me afterwards. I don't know who wrote that programme, but she must have been a woman.
"But that wasn't the point, Shepard. All the time I was with him, it was all about me. He never asked or took anything for himself, he just gave and gave. Then I cried -I haven't cried for longer than I can remember - and he just held me. Then I talked, and talked, and he just listened. I got a lot of shit off my chest, and he never judged, or told me what I ought to do.
"So yeah, I like Data. No, I'm not in love with him, he's a robot who's good at sex and he'd never love me back. I'm not an idiot.
"But I feel a damn sight better that I have in years!" She stood, and came over to Shepard. "And if it hadn't been for you, Adam, I'd never have had this. You took me aboard, you helped me, trusted me, brought me back out of that hell-hole beyond Omega 4. Data, and the way I feel now, they're just one more thing I have to thank you for."
She hugged him then, and whispered "Thanks, big bro." into his ear. Then she went back to her reading.