Stardate: 58541.1

Enterprise Holodeck Four

Lore stared down at Lynn as his respiration and blinking simulation ceased momentarily. "I thought you died." He visibly struggled to speak, capable of only a strangled whisper, "I thought I'd killed you."

"I can't believe you recognize me." Lynn's right hand caressed a line from Lore's shoulder to his neck.

"Of course I recognize you." Lore leaned his head to press against her hand. "When I look at someone, I see more than hair, eyes, skin and the coverings on a body. I see bone structure, and I sense the heartbeats, respiration and unique scent of each biological individual. Even without your spectacles, I would always know you." He closed his eyes as her fingers traced over his jawline, "How is it possible that you're here? That you're alive?"

"When Mom saw what Dad did to me, it was the final straw." Lynn let her hand rest on top of Lore's shoulder once more, "As soon as he left for the lab, she packed up and told me we were leaving. I had just enough time to squeeze in a goodbye to you, and then help her get the kids onto the Wisconsin."

Lore pressed his lips into a pale, thin line, "The transport ship. You left the planet."

"Once we got settled in on New Sydney, I tried to send a message." Lynn's fingers drifted to one of the monitors attached to Lore's open ports, "But there was no reply from Omicron Theta. There wasn't even a ping to my transmission. A few months later, I found a Starfleet report saying that everyone on the colony had vanished without a trace."

"They were about to deactivate me permanently and replace me with Data." Lore frowned and brought up one of his hands to stop Lynn from touching the monitors on his head, "I called the Crystalline Entity and had it come eat the planet, humans and all. I killed everyone except Doctor Soong."

Lynn bit her lower lip and lowered her gaze to the floor, "Maybe I was wrong to leave you. If I'd stayed-"

"Then you would have been there when I killed everyone, instead of distant and safe." Lore interjected. His voice grew softer, "I thought you were in the security center when I called the Crystalline Entity. My plan was to kill everyone except for you, and then we'd be free to be together."

Lynn blinked back emerging tears, "Did you think I'd be happy living on a dead world where so many people I knew had just been killed?"

"I wasn't really thinking clearly." Lore hung his head, still keeping his gaze focused on Lynn's face, "And it's been pointed out to me that my long-term planning skills aren't exactly the best." Movement in his peripheral vision caught Lore's attention, and he whipped his head to snap at B-4, "Do you mind?"

B-4 ceased his inquisitive approach towards the couple, "Oh. No, I don't mind. In fact, I find this quite fascinating. Please continue the conversation." He answered Lore's wordless glare with an innocent smile.

Lynn brought her hand up to her mouth to hide a giggle, "I suppose we don't get to have this reunion alone."

Data inclined his head apologetically, "It is unfortunate that the two of you cannot be afforded privacy, but Lore is in custody for the duration of the legal proceedings that will eventually establish his status as an individual, as well as adjudicate possible punitive measures for his past crimes."

Lynn smiled with amusement at the android in the Starfleet uniform, "Hello, Data. It's all right. I understand what's going on." Her eyes turned back to B-4, "There's three of you, now? Did Doctor Soong make another one after Data?"

Lore rolled his eyes, "No. That's B-4. His construction preceded mine. B-4, this is Evelynn Lucien, someone I knew from Omicron Theta. You already know Data, after a fashion, but he doesn't know you."

"Lynn Darnell." Lynn corrected as she looked at B-4. "It's nice to meet you." She looked up at Lore, "I changed my name after we moved to Farius Prime."

"Lynn, then." Lore pressed his lips together, "What are you doing here?"

Data moved to the table and held one of the chairs out, "Would you care to sit down, Ms. Darnell?"

Lynn sat down gratefully, "Thank you, Data." She folded her hands on the table surface, "I'm not sure if you remember Mira, Lore."

Lore pulled his rolling chair over to the table and sat facing her, "The baby. I am incapable of forgetting."

Lynn gave a nod to Lore, "Mom had trouble supporting all seven of us, even with me helping by getting a job. Once we realized that Dad wouldn't be coming after us, Mom sent Mira to live with some of Dad's relatives on Earth. I kept in touch with Mira over the years, even after she joined the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. Since she kept her name, she was approached recently by Starfleet legal, asking if she was related to or knew someone named Evelynn Lucien. Mira contacted me with the information, and I agreed to come here and meet with Captain Louvois to give some testimony as to your history and your character." She unlinked her hands and reached across the table to Lore, "I worried that you were dead. I'm glad to see you're still active, even after forty-three years."

"Forty-three years for you." Lore frowned, but grasped her hand, "It's only been six years of activity for me, and I spent nearly two of those drifting alone in space." He shot Data an irritated glance.

Data returned an equally irritated look at his brother, "Lore, I apologize for that. I am hoping that we will be able to ameliorate our relationship."

Lore grunted at Data, "We'll see how all this plays out."

Lynn looked between the two, "Have you both been fighting? That's a shame. You were always so close."

Data clasped his hands in front of him, "Lore and I disembarked upon the erroneous substrate interface during his first reactivation after the colony had been destroyed."

Lynn tilted her head and knitted her brow, then let out a short laugh, "Got off on the wrong foot. You still talk that way, I see." She turned her attention to B-4, "Do you talk that way, too?"

B-4 shook his head with a smile, then pushed errant strands of hair out of his eyes, "No, I talk like a regular person."

Lore lowered his chin and stared at his and Lynn's joined hands, "When I thought everyone on the Enterprise was rejecting me, I became angry and stopped thinking clearly again. I misbehaved."

Lynn winced, "I'm so sorry, Lore. Maybe I should have tried to take you with us."

A lopsided smirk replaced Lore's grimace, "Me in Orion Syndicate territory? I'm sure that would have worked out just great." The smile faded, and Lore stared wide-eyed at Lynn, "Are you risking your life coming here to help me?"

Lynn's eyes flitted to Data, then back to Lore, "At first, my employer was nervous, until I explained about Omicron Theta, showed them the communication from Captain Louvois to Mira, and assured them that I'm only here to testify about an android and a long-dead colony. I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about."

Lore glanced down at the bracelet on Lynn's left hand, "If Data's lover is as good a programmer as she claims, I'll be fine. She's going to fix Juliana, first." He indicated the unconscious woman on the chaise.

Lynn peered across the table to the chaise next to the workstation, "I thought she looked familiar. That's Juliana Soong?" She turned back to look at Lore, "But you said everyone except Doctor Soong died."

Lore's lips curled in a soft sneer, "She did die, but Often Wrong transferred her mind into an android body." He returned to a solemn expression, "She's malfunctioning."

"I gathered as much." Lynn let out a sigh, "I feel so bad for leaving you, Lore, but I did what I felt I had to do."

"I know." Bitterness dripped from Lore's voice, "Everyone did what they "had" to do. You had to leave me. Often Wrong had to build Data and take me apart. Data had to leave me floating in space… and I did what I "had" to do, just like anyone else." He opened his mouth to continue, but the sound of the holodeck doors whooshing open stopped him.

Captain Louvois strode over to the table and set her shoulder bag down on the surface, "Good morning, Ms. Darnell." She blinked at the presence of the three identical androids, "Good morning, Lore, Data and…" A smile formed on her lips, "B-4? Is that you?"

B-4 smiled cheerfully as he approached the table, "Yes. Hello, again, Captain Louvois. I am helping my brothers."

Captain Louvois glanced at the empty workstation, "Where's Doctor Chipman?"

Data relocated to stand next to T'Mera's workstation, "She required a short period of slumber, in order to restore her intellectual and psychological efficiency to its fullest."

Lore stuck his tongue in his cheek for a moment, "A nap."

"Ah, I see." Captain Louvois reached into her bag, pulled out a PADD and slide it down to Lynn, "Ms. Darnell, if you could read that and mark the statements as either accurate or inaccurate, I'd appreciate it. My assistant should be ready to take your full deposition soon."

"Of course, Captain." Lynn released Lore's hand and reached for the PADD.

As Lynn answered the statements, Captain Louvois turned her attention back to Lore. "Do you have any objections to the hearing board watching some of your interactions with the Pakleds?"

Lore shook his head, "No objections. You've seen so much, already, what's a little bit more?" He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm afraid my time on board the Pakled trade ship won't make for an exciting holonovel."

Lynn slid the PADD back to Louvois, "I'm all done."

Captain Louvois picked up the PADD and her eyes scanned over the writing on it, "Ms. Darnell, I do have a question for you." She placed the datapad back in her bag, "When Lore told you that he had no programming that prevented him from harming humans, why didn't you report that to your father or Doctor Soong?"

Lynn frowned as she replied, "I did report it to both of them. They knew."

Captain Louvois' frown matched Lynn's. "They knew, but they let Lore continue on without those directives? Would you know why?"

"They were afraid to touch Lore." Lynn reached for Lore's hand once more.

Louvois rubbed her chin, "Afraid of Lore? Because he was violent?"

Lynn shook her head, "Not so much afraid of him, but afraid to mess with his programs, in case they might break him." She set her amber eyes on Data, "Then they made you and experimented to their heart's content."

B-4 let out a gasp, "That is irresponsible and negligent!" He frowned as his eyes slowly oscillated, "Lore's creators were criminally negligent. They exhibited an indifference or disregard for human life or for the safety of living beings. They need to be held accountable for that."

Lore lifted his left elbow to rest on the back of his rolling chair and shot a look of disbelief at B-4, "Well, Barrister-4, I'm afraid Edward Lucien can't be held accountable for anything. I killed him with my own hands."

Lynn winced at Lore's statement, "I suppose that would be poetic justice."

"I'm sorry, Evelynn. He was trying to vaporize me." Lore averted his gaze for a moment.

Data watched Lore, then tilted his head to look at B-4, "I do not think that Doctor Soong will allow anyone to hold him liable at this point in time. Forty-three years has passed since the destruction of Omicron Theta and Doctor Soong is technically dead."

B-4's eyes oscillated once more, "The nearest legal precedent to this situation is the case of Richard Daystrom and the sentient computer, M-5, in 2268. Richard Daystrom was not held responsible for the homicidal actions of his creation. There were no adverse effects to his esteem or legacy, although he did suffer a nervous breakdown that required fourteen months of psychological rehabilitation. He later wrote 'Principles of Robotics', which is required first year reading at Starfleet Academy in the Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course."

A stunned silence followed B-4's remarks, with four pairs of eyes locked on the prototype in expressions ranging from awe to shock.

Captain Louvois recovered first, "Thank you, B-4. We'll keep it in mind, if there's to be a trial. Right now, we're determining Lore's status and whether he can be rehabilitated."

Both of Data's eyebrows twitched upwards as he regarded B-4, followed by a "Hmm!" Then he regained his composure and resumed watching Captain Louvois.

"I'm not familiar with history." Lynn looked between B-4 and Lore, "What wound up happening to M-5?"

The familiar, sullen smirk returned to Lore's lips, "They tried to shut it down, but couldn't. They wound up convincing it that what it did was wrong. The M-5 terminated itself to atone for its actions." He pushed his chair away as he stood, and made his way to the punching bag. "If I cascade after T'Mera installs the new morality subroutine, I'll be doing the same thing."

Captain Louvois turned to Lynn, "In your opinion, do you think that Lore would have been different if his morality subroutine had been running on Omicron Theta?"

Lynn nodded in reply, "Yes. I mean, I kept him out of trouble most of the time and all I really did was pay attention to him and tell him to behave. A subroutine would have to be better than me, right?"

Data threw a worried glance at Lore, "That remains to be seen. However, you did seem to serve as his conscience for the duration of your time together."

"Speaking of time…" Lore leaned against the punching bag and regarded Lynn, "You traveled a few days just to give an hourlong deposition?"

Lynn shook her head, "I could have done that by subspace. When I found out you were still alive, I wanted to come here to see you. I'll be staying for a little while to try to help you, if I can. I owe you that much."

Captain Louvois fished through her bag and pulled out another datapad, "Ms. Darnell, my assistant should be ready for you in the other room. Captain Picard and the others will be arriving soon, for the depositions on Lore's first awakening on the Enterprise." She looked over at Data, "Commander, are you able to work the holodeck, so that the depositions will be recorded?"

Before Data could reply, Lore spoke, "The holodeck is recording as we speak, Your Honor. It's continual."

Data raised an eyebrow, "Lore is correct. There is nothing special we need to do, with regard to the holodeck. We can proceed without Doctor Chipman."

Lynn rose from her chair and turned to leave, "I'll see you later, Lore."

The wry grin spread across Lore's face once more, "I'll be here." He watched her walk to the exit, then let the smile fade. "B-4, are you leaving, too?"

B-4 stuck his left hand in his pocket, "Not unless I'm told to. Emily will be teaching for a few class periods, so I have time. I would like to be here when Mother is fixed, if there are no objections."

Captain Louvois looked up from her PADD, "I have no objections, B-4, as long as you aren't disruptive."

"I will be quiet during the hearing." B-4 removed his hand from his pocket, just as people began to enter the holodeck. He smiled and waved at each person as they took their seat at the table. "Hello, Captain Picard… and Doctor Crusher… and bald woman who I do not know."

Lore moved to take his seat at the table, "This is Counselor Veluna." He smiled at the bald woman to his right. "Counselor, meet B-4."

Veluna dipped her head with a smile, "Hello, B-4. It's nice to meet you." A crease formed in the bridge of her nose as she watched Data take his seat at the far end of the table. "Are you all right, Commander?"

Data broke from his preoccupied state, "Yes, Counselor. I am fine."

Captain Louvois tapped the table, "The inquiry into the Soong-type android named Lore will now recommence with depositions pertaining to Lore's reactivation on stardate 41242.4. The logs of the captain and senior officers have been reviewed. Lore was discovered on Omicron Theta and reassembled on the Enterprise, where he subsequently incapacitated and impersonated Data and then called the Crystalline Entity to their position in order to feed it with the life aboard the ship. Lore was then beamed out into space and abandoned." She looked at Lore, "Do you agree with the sequence of events?"

Lore pressed his lips together, nodding, "That's accurate."

Captain Louvois raised an eyebrow, "Can you shed any light on your actions and motivations?"

"Shed light… Let's see…" Lore leaned back in the chair. "From my viewpoint, I had just been grazed and damaged by a phaser that was set to kill. I was under the impression that I had killed Evelynn, my only friend. I had just been deactivated and dismantled, so that Data could replace me. Now I wake up in a strange place, my internal chronometer tells me that twenty-six years have passed, and I see Data standing there, having apparently lived all that time while accepted by humans. It made me angry. That was my general motivation."

Louvois ran a hand through her feathered coppery hair and sighed, "Let's move to specific motivations. At what point did you decide to call the Crystalline Entity to the Enterprise?"

Lore leaned forward in the chair, diverting his gaze to the table surface, "After Data told me I'd have to attend Starfleet Academy in order to have a uniform like the one he was wearing."

Captain Picard steepled his fingers on the table in front of him, "But how did you manage to speak to the Crystalline Entity when it was hailed? You were speaking standard to it on the bridge, yet it never responded to any hails that we sent."

Lore raised his head to look at Picard, "I had sent a filtered subspace communication to it, prior to that, telling it that I would identify myself as Data. That's the only word it had to understand when your blonde security officer opened the channel. To the Crystal Entity, what I said must have sounded like "Blah blah blah blah Data. Blah blah blah." When I entered the cargo bay, I used the translation filter."

Picard nodded in an attempt to keep his expression neutral, "You knew so much about the Crystalline Entity. Why didn't you tell us, in your report? With your cooperation, we could have communicated with it and found a way to lead it home."

"I didn't trust any of you and I thought you would be like the colonists. When I went up to the bridge and La Forge showed me how to work the helm, everyone started to become suspicious of me. I could see it in their eyes; I was still the monster and Data was the good android." Lore grimaced, screwing his eyes shut.

Veluna placed a hand on Lore's upper back, "Are you all right, Lore? Do you need to rest?"

Lore relaxed slightly, and opened his eyes, "I'll be fine. The recursive loop of my morality subroutine has me second-guessing every single choice I've made. It's… unpleasant."

"Is that supposed to make us feel sorry for you?" Doctor Crusher interjected, "You threatened to kill my son and your "kindness" included shooting me with a phaser."

Lore gritted his teeth at Crusher, "I'm not excusing what I did, but might I remind you that the phaser I used was the one I had taken from you, and that I didn't change the setting. You were trying to kill me. All I did was set the sleeve of your coat on fire. Did you think I missed you and hit only your clothing by accident?"

Louvois tapped on the table, "Let's keep things civil, please." After Doctor Crusher dipped her head to acknowledge the censure, Louvois addressed Lore, "So, it was vengeance that motivated you to call the Crystalline Entity to the Enterprise?"

"Not quite." Lore let out a long sigh as he allowed his anger to drain, "Data let me use the computer in his quarters, so that I could learn about the ship. I realized that if I had control of the Enterprise, I could travel with the Crystalline Entity and protect it, allowing it to feed on any world it found suitable. I could then extract all the knowledge it had gathered from any high-order lifeforms it devoured." He stared pointedly at Picard, "Didn't anyone wonder why the Crystalline Entity was going after uninhabited planets or sparsely populated colonies or tiny, isolated ships, when it was roaming through sectors where there were planets teeming with life? It was capable of moving at several light years per second. Rigel or New Sydney could have kept it full for a year or two! No, it tried to avoid humanoids whenever it could, unless it was horrifically starving."

"And that was why it didn't attack us when we lowered the shields to beam you out." Data murmured.

Louvois glanced at the PADD in front of her, and then at Data, "Commander, according to the official log entries, Lore was transported into space, but never retrieved. Was a buoy placed, so that Starfleet could find him?"

Data pressed his lips together, "No."

Louvois set her attention on Picard and Data, "The intention was to simply leave him there, floating in isolation?"

Data opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated.

A genuine smile graced Lore's lips, "Tell them, Data. Tell the truth. When you did that, you had no idea that we could survive out there."

Data's voice came out in a hoarse whisper, "I thought you were dead. Yes, I thought you were … gone permanently. It never occurred to me that you were still alive."

Louvois frowned, "And no one else on the senior staff thought those actions were severe? Or even that Lore, as the only other Soong android at the time, was too dangerous and valuable to risk falling into the hands of those whose interests run counter to the Federation?"

"No, your honor." Data answered tersely, "Even as we transported him out into space, Lore was firing a phaser at me that was set to kill. I do not know that we could have..." He trailed off, then amended, "We could have set up a containment field, beamed him into it, and then deactivated him if he showed signs of functioning. Or we could have towed his body with a tractor beam."

Louvois let out a long sigh and covered her face with her hand, "If it weren't for the trail of death behind Lore, this whole thing could have been called a comedy of errors."

Picard spoke up, "The responsibility for abandoning Lore's body was mine, as the captain. We will let the record show that."

"Very well." Louvois nodded, then tapped the table, "The depositions for the incident on stardate 41242.4 are concluded. We will reconvene tomorrow, at sixteen-hundred hours, to review information on Lore's time with the Pakleds." After Louvois stuffed the datapad back into her bag, everyone filed out of the room, with the exception of the three androids and the security guard.

B-4 stepped around the punching bag, observing his two, silent brothers, each of them still seated at the curved meeting table. Seconds stretched to minutes, and B-4 studied each of their faces, noting the differences in expression; Data's brow creased slightly, his eyes narrowed and his lips parted a millimeter, while Lore's frown deepened and he pressed his lips together in a thin, pale line.

"My attempts to terminate you were not performed gleefully, Lore." Data broke the lull, now staring directly at his errant sibling. "While I could not experience the emotions I generated, when I recall those memories in order to determine how I felt, I discover that I was distressed, heartbroken and angry. I had wanted another sentient android to share my life with, and you were unable to do that."

"How could I?" Lore spat back, "You took the side of the humans. They accepted you, but not me. The three of us should have been together, but B-4 rejected me, too."

B-4 stamped his foot with indignation, "I did not reject you. I gave you what you wanted, in exchange for you not hurting Emily." He moved closer to Lore's chair, "If you had stayed with me and remained calm, you would have been surrounded by androids instead of all biologicals."

Lore waved a hand dismissively at the prototype, "Those aren't androids. They're mindless automatons."

B-4 bent to level his eyes with Lore's, "They are the true androids. The three of us are the aberrations, Lore. We are mechanical people, and you are the closest to being fully human. I am thinking that when our creator made you, the humans expected androids like the ones on Galor IV. Can you imagine how you might have seemed unexpected to them? You are rather terrifying, and this is coming from someone who looks exactly like you."

Lore turned his face away from B-4. "I don't care what the humans expect or want. They're irrelevant."

B-4 altered his stance to keep eye contact, "If that's true, then why do you seek their affection and approval? Why would their rejection anger you so, if you think they are irrelevant?"

Lore shut his eyes, "You're not my counselor."

"No." B-4 placed his hand atop Lore's. "I am your brother. So is Data." He gestured with his free hand, wiggling a finger at Data.

Data stood and moved to join his two siblings, glancing inquisitively at B-4.

B-4 grabbed Data's hand and placed it in such a way that both of their hands enveloped Lore's clenched fist. "Many bad things have happened because of anger, but we are still brothers."

As Lore's eyes opened and fixated on his younger brother, Data revisited an old memory of Doctor Crusher explaining reconciliation to him:

"They're brothers, Data. Brothers forgive."