*Trigger warnings: abusive behavior, violence against children

Omicron Theta

Stardate: 12825.4

Lore found it easy to sneak out of the bunker. He wasn't expected at the communications center, Juliana was polishing stones, and Doctor Soong seemed to be designing a new project. He exited through the Northern doorway and followed the path West towards the sports arena. As he approached the complex, he noticed three boys heading towards him on the walkway. The strange clothing they wore intrigued him, and he studied them in greater detail.

Two of the boys wore matching shiny red clothing with the left side of their bodies covered by black padding. A black belt held the left side padding to their torso and left leg, while just the elbow and knee were padded on the right side of the body. Thick black boots adorned their feet. He recognized one of the boys in red as Josh Matagaro. The second boy in red had hazel eyes and long brown hair tied back in a ponytail. The third boy wore the type of casual clothing that most of the colonists' children wore, and had a metal and plastic apparatus over his eyes; The boy's dark curly hair, dark eyes and general facial and body traits made Lore conclude that the child was related to Ed Lucien.

Benny stopped walking upon seeing Lore, "Who the heck is that?"

Josh Matagaro piped up, "That's Doctor Soong's robot, Benny. His name is Lore."

"He doesn't look like a robot." The child with dark, curly hair peered up at Lore. "But he doesn't look all human, either. He looks creepy."

Benny smirked, "He looks like a monster! I bet I could scare my sister with stories about him."

Lore frowned and closed the distance between himself and the children, "I'm not a monster or a robot. I'm an android."

Josh shifted the weight of his bag to his left shoulder, "Lore, this is Benny Detoronto and Ayden Lucien. Ayden's father works with Doctor Soong, just like my father does."

"I've met Doctor Lucien." Lore replied, then his yellow eyes oscillated, "Detoronto… He is a vintner on the colony." He focused his gaze on Benny, "Benjamin Detoronto, age ten."

Benny grinned and elbowed Josh, "Spooky! What kind of commands does he take?"

Josh scratched at a scar on his left cheek, "Hmm. I didn't see him take any. I think he had just been finished when we walked into the lab."

Lore regarded all three boys evenly, "What is the purpose of the matching clothing?"

Josh looked down at his outfit, "These are parrises squares uniforms. Benny and I are on the same team in the children's division."

Benny's mouth upturned on the right side in a sardonic smirk, "Yeah. Ayden's not on the team because he's a loser, but Josh and I are important."

Ayden frowned, then retorted, "Well, my dad says it's a good thing your father is a vintner, because the whole lot of your family are whiners."

Benny laughed, "See?" He reached out and shoved Ayden, "You should count yourself lucky we let you hang out with us, Lucien."

Lore turned his neck an inch to the left, "What's "hang out"?"

Josh replied to Lore, while moving away from Benny and Ayden, "It means being with others. In a group or something, among other people you belong with. It beats being alone."

"Who do I belong with?" Lore's eyes widened with hope.

"Nobody, I guess." Josh answered, "There's no other androids running around."

Lore smiled at the boys, "May I be on the team and have a uniform like that?"

Benny guffawed, throwing his head back, "We're kids. You have a grown-up's body, so you'd have to be on the grown-up teams. If they even let you on." He looked at the other two boys, "I wish we could have the robot on our team. Then we'd always win."

"Isn't that cheating?" Josh shifted the weight of his bag, again.

Ayden piped up, "My dad says that it's only cheating if anyone sees you."

Benny smirked, "Your dad would say that. Doesn't he also say everything is legal if you don't get caught?"

"Yep." Ayden answered. "But you'd be caught if you have the robot on your team. He's kind of obvious." He looked at the path leading into the town, "I better go, or else my dad'll give me hell."

"Yeah, you better." Benny sneered, "When your dad's mad, we can hear him yelling all the way up at the vineyard."

Ayden stalked off, "You know where you can shove your grapes, Benny."

Benny turned to walk along the path leading North, "Screw you, Lucien."

"I should get home, too." Josh waved as he turned to go, "Bye, Lore."

Lore imitated the wave, "Bye."

Stardate 12838.9

Some days, Lore's furtive strolls took him past the school, where he watched the colony's twenty-eight children in their matching school uniforms as they sat at their desks and worked on the terminals in front of them. At times, he would wait for their outdoor play hour and listen to them interact while they engaged in unstructured activities. Today, Lore chose to walk to the farm fields and accompany Kiran Cooke on his rounds.

Kiran's wide-brimmed hat shaded his face as he sprayed a mixture on the plants. As he and Lore traveled up and down the rows, Kiran imparted his particular wisdom, "Plants seem peaceful, but they're all fighting a silent war, the roughest of anything alive. Plants will gladly crowd each out other, greedily monopolize the space where the best sunshine is, and soak up water as fast as possible. Like most lifeforms, it's a matter of survival of the fittest. Here I am, adding to it. I'm genetically modifying plants to make them stronger."

"Is that also a technique for modifying humans?" Lore asked, pausing for a moment to gently touch the leaves of one of the plants.

"Oh my, no." Kiran answered, "That was tried. They called it Eugenics. No, as far as mankind's concerned, it's best for us to just evolve naturally."

"Is Tom Handy the strongest human on the colony?" Lore smiled along with his inquiry. "He seems to be the leader."

"That scobblelotcher? No." Kiran grunted. "He's just the only one willing to do the job."

"Hmm." Lore mused. "So, all that's needed is for someone smarter, stronger and more willing to do the job to come along and replace him."

"Pretty much." Kiran responded, then finished spraying. "If you want, you can come help me check for ripe berries."

"I would like to come check for ripe berries." Lore's mouth widened into an over-eager toothy grin.

Stardate 12849.7

Lore stood in his alcove, leaning back against the wall while curved metal rods encircled his body. The rods were unlocked, leaving Lore unrestrained. He let his head loll slightly to the right and disabled his blinking simulation. Doctor Soong had left earlier in the day, but had charged Juliana with keeping an eye on Lore, so there had been no chance for Lore to slip out of the underground bunker and go exploring. From the alcove, Lore could view the entire quarters, with the exception of the bedroom, so he faked deactivation in order to quietly observe Juliana polishing rocks.

The door from the shuttlebay opened, allowing a silver-haired woman entrance to the living quarters. "Juliana?"

Juliana looked up from her work, "Here, Mother. How are you?"

Doctor O'Donnell cautiously walked inside, letting the door slide behind her. She looked around warily, "Where is that man?"

"He's at a meeting." Juliana moved to meet her mother and impart a quick peck on the cheek, "He won't be back for at least an hour."

"Good." Doctor O'Donnell returned the kiss, then seated herself at the worktable. She startled upon seeing Lore. "Oh, goodness, is he still working on that thing?"

Juliana sighed as she moved to stand by the replicator, "That's Lore and he's all finished. I suppose Noonian shut him off so he wouldn't wander outside. Would you like a drink?"

"A cup of tea would be nice." Doctor O'Donnell created deep creases in her forehead as she frowned. "He's insane."

"Two cups of Troyian Red Tea, hot." Juliana brought both mugs to the table, set one down in front of her mother, then returned to her own seat. "He's not insane."

"No, you're right." Doctor O'Donnell blew across the surface of the hot liquid, then took a few sips. "He's worse than insane. He's absolutely criminal. I used to worry that he was just an eccentric old fool, until he stole away with you and convinced you to elope."

Juliana lowered her chin very slightly, "We thought it would give you time to get used to us being together."

"He probably put it to you that way." Doctor O'Donnell chided. "What was the rush to get married? You were so young. What kind of a man whisks a twenty-one year old girl off-planet to marry him, when he's in his fifties, and tells her that elopement will gain her mother's approval? And for all that hurry, it's been eight years of marriage and have you given me any grandchildren? No. Just that…" She waved her hand dismissively towards Lore. "... youthful uncanny valley copy of my son-in-law."

"Mother, Lore is proof that Noonian's design works." Juliana snapped in reply, "Sometimes, I think I'm the only one who sees his brilliance."

"You're the only one who's blinded by love. In love with a man who couldn't even reveal his real name when he arrived here." Doctor O'Donnell sighed and drank more of the tea. "At least you're still interested in geology and stones, instead of just circuitry and artificial intelligence."

"I find both fields interesting, Mother." Juliana took a long sip of her tea, then set the mug down. "Noonian's been quite pleased with my ability to work on tiny microcircuitry." She wiggled the fingers of her right hand, "He says I'm very nimble-fingered."

Doctor O'Donnell grunted at her daughter, "I swear, this colony has turned into a bad melodrama. Illicit affairs, hidden marriages, criminal scientists with fake names, the Marrs…"

"Really, Mother." Juliana frowned, "Are you still on about that whole thing? It was almost fourteen years ago. Nobody cares who Renny's father is."

Doctor O'Donnell snorted at her daughter, "I still care, because there's a man among us who fathered a child by a fourteen year old girl and then hid from his responsibility. But, I suppose he's in good company. It's too bad Kila won't allow a DNA scan."

"That's her right, and in my opinion, she did a fine job in raising Renny." Juliana countered. "I hear she's considering leaving the colony in order to pursue a career in xenology, now that Renny's old enough to be able to manage without his mother."

Doctor O'Donnell sipped the tea, then sighed, "All of us should consider leaving this colony. It was a fine idea, but in practice, it's turned into a cesspool of the unscrupulous."

"You're blowing everything up out of proportion, Mother." Juliana rubbed at the bridge of her nose.

"I don't believe I am." Doctor O'Donnell countered. "Take your husband, for example. Did you ever find out why he changed his name and hid?"

Juliana frowned and stared into her mug of tea. "He says it's nothing to worry about and nothing I need to know."

"Juliana O'Donnell…" Doctor O'Donnell leaned forward and set her mug down on the table, "The only reason someone would change their name and run is when they've done something they need to hide from. A man capable of doing so would have no problem lying to his wife or hiding things from her, as well. I wish you'd have listened to me." She studied her daughter for a moment, "At least I get moments like this, to come see you."

Juliana pressed her lips together, "I enjoy seeing you, Mother. I just wish you could learn to accept Noonian."

Doctor O'Donnell frowned, "It's difficult to accept someone whose answer to my disapproval was to lie to me and convince my daughter to do the same. Such things don't tend to earn my trust. I've accepted the fact that you ignored my warnings and you went along with his cockamamie plan." She stood without ceremony, "Thank you for the tea. I should get back home before your husband returns."

Juliana set her own mug down and got up from her chair, "Thank you for visiting, Mother. No matter how you feel about him, you're always welcome here."

Doctor O'Donnell leaned in for a quick peck on her daughter's cheek, "And, no matter what, you'll always be my little girl." She turned and walked out through the doors leading into the shuttle bay.

Juliana sighed in frustration and returned to polishing rocks.

Lore decided to speak, "She's right, you know."

Juliana let out a shriek and dropped the stone. "Lore! Don't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack. I thought Noonian had left you deactivated."

Lore shook his head, "No. I just have nowhere to go, right now. But your mother is correct. Humans tend to repeat patterns of behavior."

Juliana inhaled deeply, composed herself, then picked up the stone and resumed polishing its surface, "The heart and the brain aren't always in sync, Lore. My mother only sees the bad parts of Noonian. I see his brilliance and his tender sides. He can be very sweet, when he wants to be. I do everything I can to make him happy."

"Is that love?" Lore tilted his head inquisitively.

Juliana nodded to Lore, "Yes, I think it is. I hope you're able to experience love, someday."

Lore pondered her words, then answered, "I hope so, as well." He fell silent once more, watching her transform dull stones into shiny gems.

Stardate 12876.7

Something hit Lore in his back and he stopped moving. His auditory sensors detected muffled laughter from behind some nearby bushes and he turned to face his attackers. Three young boys hid behind the shrubs by the path, unaware that the android could see and hear them. Lore looked down at the ground and spotted the small rock which had served as the projectile. Within moments, he identified the boys.

"Anthony Petrus, age nine. Jojo Reitz, age eight. Lewis Magoin, age nine." Lore stared directly at the three boys through the bushes.

"Crap!" Anthony was the first to stand up, "Go away, monster!" He hurled a handful of rocks at Lore. The other two boys joined in throwing stones.

The stones bounced harmlessly off Lore's body, and he smiled. "Ah, a game!" He bent to gather a handful of the rocks at his feet, then flung them back at the boys with greater strength and accuracy than the boys had shown.

High-pitched screams and shrieks emitted from the boys as the rocks found their targets. Jojo dropped to the ground and, after the initial cry, went silent. Anthony's hand covered his left eye as blood began to run down the left side of his face. Lewis grabbed Anthony's hand and ran in the direction of the town, with both boys sobbing at high volume.

Lore watched as the two boys disappeared down the other path. "I guess that means I won." He grinned and continued walking on his original path.

Stardate 12903.2

Evelynn Lucien ran her fingers over Lore's hand, "It's soft and warm, almost like flesh. You have pores, too. Interesting." She retracted her hand, "Thank you for letting me satisfy my curiosity."

"You're welcome." Lore mumbled in reply, then looked across the colony from atop the platform on the West side of the communications array tower.

"Funny, isn't it?" Evelynn broke the short silence. "From up here, it all looks so peaceful. You'd hardly know the vitriol everyone carries around."

"Everyone?" Lore tilted his head to observe Evelynn.

"Well, maybe not Mister Cooke or Ms. Bickel." Evelynn replied, "They're still blissfully unaware."

Lore gritted his teeth, "Vitriol about me."

Evelynn shook her head, "Everyone was angry before you were made. You just give them something new to be mad about. At least none of the kids have died, so far, right?"

"They didn't die, because I wasn't trying to kill them." Lore replied with gritted teeth. "All I wanted to do was walk around without having rocks thrown at me or having humans call me names. Now I'm not allowed to walk around the colony without a human escort, but everyone's too afraid of me to accompany me."

"I'd go with you." Evelynn tilted her head and studied Lore's face.

Lore turned to focus his bright yellow eyes on her, "Why aren't you afraid of me?"

Evelynn shrugged, "I guess I'm easygoing? I'm used to being around someone who's angry? My dad helped work on your programming, so I figure there's some failsafe in you for not killing humans. They always put that in."

A tight-lipped, broad smile spread over Lore's face, "Nope. It's not in there."

Evelynn blinked and her eyes widened, "Wow. That's supposed to be one of your primary subroutines."

Lore's smile softened, replaced by a less sinister version, "I can't locate any subroutine that restricts me from harming or killing humans. Do you still want to offer to accompany me?"

"Sure." Evelynn smiled back at Lore, "After all, you could kill me anywhere. Right here. When I work with Missy. If you get it in your mind to kill me, it won't matter what we're doing, so I may as well walk with you and keep you out of trouble, if I can."

"Beggars can't be choosers." Lore answered, "I accept your offer. I'd already figured out a loophole, in case nobody wanted to be with me."

"Oh?" Evelynn's eyebrows raised slightly, "What's the loophole?"

"Handy said I'm not allowed to walk around the colony unsupervised." Lore smirked, "But if I leave through the South door, I can wander around in the wilds beyond the settlement. There are still things I can explore beyond the human territory."

Evelynn nodded to Lore's statement, "I guess if there's no one there to see you, then you're not breaking any rules."

"Exactly." Lore looked out at the horizon, "That's how things work. When you're unobserved, everything you do is allowed."

Evelynn snorted, "The motto of the colony. Enjoy yourself on lovely Omicron Theta: Just don't get caught."

Lore regarded the girl sitting next to him, then declared, "You have a good sense of humor. I think I won't kill you."

"I feel privileged." Evelynn gave Lore a quick smile, then got to her knees and placed her feet on the rungs of the ladder. "Thanks for not killing me. I'm going to head back down, before Missy thinks I fell off."

"I'll be down in ten minutes." Lore rested his arms on the railing. "I want to sit by myself for a while."

Evelynn started the downward climb, "All right, Lore. Enjoy the peace."

Stardate 12943.6

Lore found himself wanting to work in the communication center with Missy and Evelynn, as it served as a place of tranquility for him. Both of the humans treated Lore with respect and acted as if they enjoyed his company, and from within the anechoic chamber, he was spared the constant stream of backbiting and squabbling in the rest of the bunker's science labs.

Missy stood by the smaller rack of equipment near the security control center, "Lore, will you monitor the subspace frequencies? I want to run this test of the wide-band transceivers."

Lore nodded his head once to the woman, "Very well." His auditory sensors were far superior to her aging ears, and he could detect faint resonant waves that seemed to have some sort of pattern to them.

"Ohey!" Evelynn noticed the pensive expression on Lore's face and moved to stand next to him, "What is it?"

Lore removed the earpiece from his ear and held it out to Evelynn, "I hear an odd sound in the background."

Evelynn frowned as she inserted the earpiece into her right ear. After a few minutes, she shook her head, "I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be hearing."

"There's a repeating pattern." Lore told the girl, "Intermittent and resonant, in the graviton wave band."

Evelynn listened again, checked the waveform readings on the display, then shook her head once more, "I'm sorry, Lore. I don't hear it. It must be outside of human hearing range." She removed the earpiece and offered it back to him.

Lore took the earpiece back, reinserting it into his own ear. "It's very faint, but it's there. I'll work on deciphering it."

Evelynn flashed a smile at Lore, "Enjoy solving the mystery. When we're done here, if you want, we can go for a walk."

"I'd like that." Lore replied, then turned his attention back to the strange, resonant wave patterns.