Stardate 58537.2

Geordi La Forge waited at the entrance to the underground bunker, as the blue shimmering energy materialized into Commander Data. "So what's this all about?"

Data dipped his head in the singular nod of greeting to his friend, "Lore's memories have brought to our attention two hidden areas in the bunker that we need to search. My hand should give us access to Doctor Soong's hidden quarters…"

Geordi chuckled, "You mean his "lair"?"

"His lair, indeed." Data grinned, then entered the underground bunker, still speaking to Geordi as the two of them walked, "The other hidden area is a small room connected to the main communications center. Lore gave me the access code." He led Geordi into the cybernetics lab and past the cryogenic storage area to the black panels in the rear of the room. "The doorway should be here, somewhere."

Geordi La Forge ran his hand along the panel to the right of the cryogenic storage, "If there's a hidden door here, it's very cleverly concealed."

Data reached out and placed his left hand on the black panel that displayed three side-facing humanoid figures. The panel slid sideways, disappearing into a pocket in the wall. "The last time I was here, I was so excited to have found a link with a form like my own that I neglected to search for hidden areas, even though we were aware that the bunker's outer doors were constructed in such a way as to be camouflaged." He lowered his right eyebrow two millimeters, then walked through the doorway.

"Data, don't forget we were in a rush and just stopping here for a couple of hours. We also didn't know that much about Doctor Soong, at the time." Geordi followed the android through the connecting corridor, then whistled as he entered the next room. "Clutter, books, toys… this is more like what he had on Terlina III."

"I am going to make a visual record." Data held out his tricorder, scanning the entire room, "We will leave everything undisturbed for now."

"Good idea." Geordi's blue optical implants gazed around the area, "There's nothing unusual here, as far as I can see." He followed Data to the next corridor.

Data moved through the corridor, into a rock-lined passage which led out into a cavernous area. "This is where Doctor Soong's escape shuttle would have been." He moved to stand in front of a slanted storage area. "This storage unit is similar to the one in which we discovered Lore. The same three tiers, with fitted partitions for the body parts. All of these are empty."

Geordi pressed his lips together, then moved to stand next to Data. "Maybe this was where they stashed B-4?" He surveyed the area, "Most of the metal's been taken. I'd say someone was here, sometime after the Crystalline Entity left, and scavenged for anything else of value."

"I will ask Doctor Tainer and hope that she knows which android was contained in this unit." Data frowned and turned to head back to the laboratory, "Given that Lore was unaware of the existence of prototypes, he would most likely not know who was stored here. B-4 has no memories prior to his awakening on Kolarus III, so he would be of little help in this matter." As they headed back to the hidden lair, Data had to use his hand to gain access, "This would explain why the central room was not touched. It is protected by Soong's specific access."

Geordi tailed Data as they backtracked through the hidden lair to the lab, and then out into the wide main corridor of the underground bunker. "You would think he would have protected everything, not just his quarters."

"It could be that the main cybernetics lab and the shuttle bay were considered colony public property. I do not know how they conducted their operations." Data opened the door to the communications center, then looked around the room. "Ah. I see where the panel is." He walked to one side of the room, then pushed two racks of equipment aside. He opened the panel hiding the numeric keypad and with his right hand, rapidly typed in the thirty digits spoken by Lore earlier.

"That's some access code." Geordi commented.

Data's lips curled with amusement, "I would say "Open Sesame", if I were making an attempt at humor."

Geordi shook his head with an amused chuckle and entered the small room. "Whoa! Quite a setup they had."

Data moved inside the room and checked the console in the center of the multiple displays. "These systems have been functioning the entire eighty years since they were installed."

With a wince, Geordi bent to examine the storage units. "This is a lot of archived information. I sure hope they were using a good recognition algorithm, or else we'll be fishing through a ton of nothing in order to find useful recordings." After a few more moments, "They used standard compression for archiving. That makes things a bit easier."

Data typed in a few commands, "Most of the external cameras connected to this center are now covered with layers of dust. That leaves only the internal cameras as the source of recorded footage in the aftermath of the Crystalline Entity's attack. It also looks as if recordings were made on a detection basis and were not a simple, continuous feed."

"Geez, this setup didn't leave anyone much privacy on the colony." Geordi straightened up, then glanced at his friend, "Is there anything in specific you want from all this?"

"Yes." Data answered, his face a mask of neutrality. "We need evidence that Lore and I were active at the same time, and an accounting for exactly how long a duration for each of us. If possible, I would like to find any security footage pertaining to the Soongs' escape. I will compile a listing of stardates for any events in question."

Geordi nodded, "I'll get an isolinear storage unit and transfer everything to the Enterprise computer, so it doesn't interfere with the work going on down here. Should I assign someone to index the footage, or do you want it sent to T'Mera?"

"I am concerned that T'Mera is overworked, so it would be best if someone quickly indexes the footage by stardate and sends those to Doctor Chipman." Data pressed his lips together, "She can use the results to cross-reference against Lore's memories and to fill in the gaps of important events that Lore was not present to bear witness to, as well as to find out for certain if Doctor Tainer's memory engrams are becoming unreliable."

"Yeah." Geordi frowned, then leaned against the wall of the security room. "If that's the case, can she be fixed? Or, should the question be how can she be fixed without letting it slip to her that she's an android?"

Data's eyes oscillated as he considered possibilities, "While there are a few ways to deactivate a Soong-type android, I would like to use the least disruptive method. If we modify a tricorder to shut down her actuation servos, that should have the effect of knocking her unconscious. Yet, I am not certain it is right to do this."

"If she's malfunctioning, shouldn't she be fixed?" Geordi lifted his right hand to scratch at his goatee.

Data hesitated for a moment before answering, "It is possible that her memory loss is a part of Doctor Soong's programming. He did say that he programmed her to terminate after a long life."

Geordi shook his head, "Yeah, but Data, she's in her seventies. That's hardly a long life for a human."

"I should have listened to Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher." Data lamented, "Had I told her the truth, back when we discovered that Father transferred her into an artificial body, she would be aware of her android existence and we could simply check her systems for malfunctions without needing to resort to clandestine methods. My decision to continue my father's deception in this matter has returned to gnaw me in the posterior."

"You were trying to do what was best for her." Geordi moved next to Data and placed a hand on his shoulder, "Data, you made that decision based on the idea that Doctor Tainer would be unhappy to be an android, right?"

"That is correct." Data tilted his head as he looked back into Geordi's eyes. "Counselor Troi felt that, if I told her the truth, I would be robbing her of what I have wanted all my life… to be human."

"But unlike you, Doctor Tainer really was human." Geordi replied, "Just because being human meant a lot to you doesn't mean it meant as much to her. Look at T'Mera. She doesn't seem unhappy to me. Heck, didn't Doctor Graves try to steal your body to avoid dying? Maybe Doctor Tainer would be okay with the idea of having her life extended artificially. Maybe she'd understand why Doctor Soong transferred her into an android body. She married the guy, after all. So, she probably knew him well enough to know he'd do something like that."

Data directed his eyes to the floor, "I will have to deliberate on the best way of telling her the truth and hope that it does not deactivate her permanently." He looked back at his friend, "Thank you, Geordi."

Geordi patted Data's shoulder, then let his hand drop to his side again, "Any time, Data. Lemme get to work on this, and I'll have the information transferred to T'Mera in about an hour."

"All right, Geordi." Data turned to exit the security room, "I will return to the ship." After the nod of acknowledgement from La Forge, Data walked out into the corridor, then through the Southern entrance of the bunker to the surface of the planet. He tapped his combadge, "Data, to Enterprise. One to beam up." The blue shimmering energy of the transporter surrounded him, returning him to the ship.

Commander Data was the first of the observers to return to Holodeck Four. He dipped his head in greeting to Lieutenant D'Sora, then walked over to kiss T'Mera, "Greetings."

T'Mera returned Data's kiss, "Greetings to you, too."

Lore looked up from the PADD he held in his hands, "Hello, dear brother. Did you find what you went looking for?"

"Yes, Lore." Data replied as he took his seat at the table. "The security recordings will need to be extracted in order for T'Mera to compare them to your memories and then add them to the holographic presentation."

Lore put down the PADD, then regarded his brother, "You're absolutely sure you don't have any memories of your own from the colony?"

"I am quite certain, Lore." Data responded, "I have a few memory remnants of having my functions tested and having the colonists' journals hurriedly downloaded into my memory banks. My final memory remnant is a sense of great danger, something sudden and not understood... then a blank as if the colonists were gone. The memories are nebulous at best."

"The crew of the Tripoli didn't think you were a monster?" Lore leaned back in the chair.

"No." Data leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table and interlacing his fingers. "Starfleet crewmembers are used to encountering lifeforms unlike themselves. While they did not think of me as a monster, neither was I seen as a sentient being. To most of them, I was merely an android, nothing more than a sophisticated machine with human form. As soon as it was possible, they transferred me to a lab where I was studied and tested, until such time as I was deemed to be alive."

"When you created Lal, how was she treated?" Lore tapped the border of the PADD in front of him.

"Lal's reception… was not what I had anticipated." A pensive expression clouded Data's face as he elaborated. "The initial reactions of Geordi, Counselor Troi and Wesley Crusher could be summed up as stunned silence. Captain Picard was dismayed and had objections, which I had thought to be unfair at the time, but when Admiral Haftel became involved, I realized what it was that had caused the Captain to worry." Data paused for a few seconds, then continued, "The general reaction among the crew ranged from curiosity to amusement, especially before Lal had chosen her appearance. The most sizable difficulty was due to Lal's inability to understand the nuances of social interaction, most notably with children. There was a small degree of fear and unkind laughter, in that regard."

Lore's voice softened, "Her appearance was more realistic than ours, wasn't it?"

"Yes. If she had been able to develop her social skills, I am certain that she would have passed for human." Data replied, then looked at Lore. "Is there a reason you are inquiring about these matters?"

"I'm just trying to put the reaction of the colonists on Omicron Theta into perspective." Lore lifted his legs to place his feet on the table.

T'Mera turned from her work and offered, "In my opinion, the colonists might have been predisposed to hating anything Soong made. There was quite an adversarial environment on Omicron Theta, from what I've seen. Soong could have made the galaxy's best Ktarian Chocolate Puff and they probably would have hated it just because he made it."

Lore smiled at T'Mera, "Excellent point, Doctor Chipman. How are your protocols coming?"

"I have the initial demo written, but it most likely won't work." T'Mera replied. "To test it, I'd have to call B-4 and have him go into one of the Holostations there."

"You should see if he's available." Lore rocked his chair back a bit, "I'm curious as to how his hearing concluded."

"As am I." Data added. "My mental pathways still sense the absence of his proximity."

Lore snorted, "How come you miss him, but you never missed me?"

"B-4 gives me something to miss, Lore." Data retorted with an upward turn of the right side of his mouth.

Lore rolled his eyes, removed his feet from the table and sat straight in the chair, "Maybe we can find out if B-4 has any memories from the colony."

"All right." T'Mera announced. "He's heading to Holostation One at the institute and we'll initiate a short holo-communication as soon as he gets it set up."

Data twiddled his thumbs as they waited, "I doubt he has any memories from the colony. The Remans were fairly thorough at erasing most of his memory engrams. He knew his name, had a decent vocabulary and was able to ask and answer very simple questions, but not much more than that."

T'Mera tapped on her console, "Here he is." She stood to meet the holographic representation of B-4. "Live long and prosper, B-4." She held up her right hand in the Vulcan salute.

B-4 imitated the salute, "Hello, T'Mera." He waved to his android brothers, "Hello, Data. Hello, Lore."

"Greetings, B-4." Data smiled, "How are you?"

"I'm fine and functioning in normal parameters." B-4's eyes alternated between each brother, "How is everything here?"

Data replied, "Everything has gone as planned, so far. What was the outcome of your hearing?"

"Oh!" B-4 snapped his fingers, "I've been declared sentient and a citizen of the Federation. I will need to choose a real name for myself."

T'Mera edged nearer to B-4, then moved to embrace him. "Congratulations." She added, "Careful. I'm testing out the long-distance tactile protocols. Do you feel the hug?"

"My sensors are detecting your touch." B-4 answered and wrapped his arms around T'Mera.

T'Mera released B-4, then slipped her hand into the left leg pocket of his jumpsuit. Her hand phased through the material in a ghost-like fashion. "Ah well. I didn't expect everything to work perfectly on the first try. And there's the transfer from Omicron Theta's Big Brother room. B-4, please chat with your brothers for a bit, while I work on verification."

"Okay." B-4 moved to stand by the table.

Data smiled at the prototype, "B-4, what is the first thing you can remember?"

"Opening my eyes. Looking into the eyes of myself." B-4 grinned at Data. "I wondered why I was looking at me." His face took on a slightly sad expression, "I wondered where my body was." He turned to face Lore, "It was Data who picked up my head."

Lore drummed the fingers of his right hand on the surface of the table, "I gathered that."

"Data said the word fascinating." B-4 continued, "So I also said 'Fascinating.' Then, there were loud explosions and dirt flying around and Captain Picard's head was shiny and when I began to ask questions, Data put my head in a box."

This time, Data offered the explanation to Lore, "We had come under fire and B-4 was distracting the Captain."

Lore stuck his tongue in his cheek for a moment, "I gathered that, as well."

B-4 continued reminiscing, "Then my head was put on a pole and a red-haired woman declared that Data has nicer eyes than I have."

"The three of us have identical eyes." Lore growled at the prototype.

In a sudden, jerky motion, a dark grey ball of fur launched itself from B-4's left pocket. "Toto!" He ran to retrieve the toy tribble.

T'Mera looked back at B-4, winced, then turned back to her display, "Well, that was a lot of latency. I'll have to adjust for it."

Lore raised an eyebrow, "Why do you have a ball of lint in your pocket?"

B-4 stroked Toto as he picked it up from the floor, "This is my toy tribble, not lint."

Data peered at B-4, "There is something else in your pocket, as well." He unlaced his fingers and placed both hands on the table surface.

B-4 reached into the pocket and pulled out a metal spork. "It's a spoon, but it has fork ends."

Lore shook his head, "What is it with you and spoons?"

"They're tiny shovels the humans use to scoop up a small amount of food and then perform repeated and incremental inputs of food into their mouths." B-4's face lit up with joy and amusement. "Why don't they just lift the bowl or plate to their mouth? Or lower their head to eat directly from the bowl or plate? They added an extra step. It's intriguing!"

Both Data and Lore stared at B-4 in silence, until Lore finally spoke. "Have you been snorting fine grind quadratanium or something?" He sighed, "Nevermind. So, you have no memories or even memory remnants of the Omicron Theta colony where the three of us were built?"

"Correct." B-4 answered. "I'm sorry, Lore." He slipped Toto and the spork back into his pocket.

Lore leaned against the backrest of the chair, "You don't have to be sorry, B-4. It's probably best that you don't remember any of it."

"If Mother's memory gets worse, you will be the only one who remembers, Lore." Data stated in a voice tinged with regret.

"Does she have a switch on her back?" Lore asked, then gestured with his left hand, "If so, just pretend to hug her and shut her off. Then fix her."

"I am still struggling with the ethical parameters of deactivating her without her consent." Data began to absently tap the index finger of his right hand. "I need to rectify my previous error and somehow tell Doctor Tainer the truth of her existence. How do I explain to her that I was deliberately lying? I colluded with Father in deception, even though I did so with the best of intentions."

B-4 tilted his head and stared into an unseen distance, then mused, "If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, does that mean the road to heaven is paved with bad intentions?"

Lore stared intently at B-4, "Thank you for the philosophical interlude, Bit for Brains…" then looked over at Data, "If you want, I'll tell her. What's one more chunk of anguish from me on the pile, after all?"

Data shook his head, "No, Lore. I will think of a way to do it. It is my mistake, and I will face the consequence."

"No, Data." Lore slammed his hands on the table, "It was Father's mistake and you simply got caught up in it. I'm Father's mistake." He pointed to a startled B-4, "He's Father's mistake. You've been suffering for all of Often Wrong's mistakes."

Data raised both eyebrows in contemplation, then gave his brother a sharp nod. "Perhaps. In Klingon culture, the son pays for the sins of the father. I suppose it is the same in our own particular android culture."

"I know you will do the right thing, Data." B-4 moved to Data's side and cautiously placed a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder, "You're very smart, and you'll figure out the proper way." Something caught his attention, then he returned his gaze to the two androids at the table, "It's time for me to go back to studying. I will call in fifteen days, for my update."

Data blinked in surprise at the feel of B-4's hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, B-4. It was good to see you."

"It was good to see you, too." B-4 moved towards Lore. "And you, Lore."

Lore frowned at B-4, "You don't need to be polite to me. I tried to hurt your woman. You're justified in hating me."

"I don't hate you, Lore. I think you're stuck, and I feel bad that you are." B-4 spoke in a quiet warble.

"Explain." Lore focused his eyes on B-4's.

B-4's eyes betrayed the sadness within, "You have been angry for so long, and you're used to only one type of input from others. That creates a strong pathway. It can become familiar, and then familiarity becomes a comfortable routine, even if it is not what you desire. When anger and hate is the only input you receive, the pathway is so solidly formed that it might become permanent. At that point, anger is all you can handle and understand, even when it's caused so much damage to you."

Lore turned away, averting his eyes from B-4. "You'd better go. See you next time."

"Goodbye, Lore. Goodbye, T'Mera." B-4 walked a few feet away from the table and reached out into the air, then vanished from Holodeck Four.

Lore grumbled, then folded his arms across his chest, "He's supposed to be the slow one."

"Slow is not the equivalent of wrong, Lore." Data offered, "B-4 has been studying many things at Daystrom, just as if he were a human child attending school. I suppose he has picked up philosophy and psychology."

"Along with the subject of spoons." Lore's mood broke and he chuckled. His attention was diverted to the holodeck doors opening. "Ah, it looks as if the intermission is over and act two is about to begin."

Captain Picard, Captain Louvois, Doctor Crusher and Counselor Veluna approached the table and took their seats.

Captain Picard settled into his chair, "Is everything ready from the transfer, Doctor Chipman?"

T'Mera nodded to the Captain. "I just finished integrating it, right before you walked in."

Captain Louvois waited for Captain Picard's cue, then spoke succinctly, "The viewing of the Omicron Theta holographic presentation will now resume."

At the conclusion of Captain Louvois' words, the lighting in the holodeck faded to black.