Stardate: 58541.5

Enterprise Holodeck Four

Forgiveness turned out to be more difficult than Data had originally thought. Once T'Mera had returned from her nap and started work on Doctor Tainer, the three android brothers sat down at the table to get to know each other better. There remained a good deal of animosity between himself and Lore, so what began as a three-way exchange developed into Data and Lore asking B-4 about his life and ambitions.

Lore's throaty cackle filled the holodeck, "Law? Really?"

B-4 glowered at Lore, then turned to Data. "I can't tell if he's mocking me."

Data sighed and tossed a glance at the workstation where T'Mera worked at repairing Juliana's programming. "Perhaps the idea of the three of us being able to pass the time in pleasant conversation was somewhat premature." He turned back to focus on B-4, "I do not believe that Lore is directly mocking your aspirations, but is merely finding amusement in your choice of possible studies. Lore's sense of humor seems to be unique to him. I, on the other hand, find your interest in the Federation legal system to be commendable."

"If you want to be a lawyer, you might have to brush your hair." Lore grinned, then reached out to smooth down a few of B-4's errant strands.

B-4 ducked away from Lore's hand. "I will, when it's time. I haven't made up my mind about it, yet. Even if I were a lawyer, I don't think I'd be able to represent you." He paused, then added, "Assuming your case even gets to trial. It may not."

Lore leaned back in the chair and folded his arms. "I'll wind up in some kind of penal colony, if they decide to let me live, won't I?"

"I don't know what they're going to do about you. The Federation is averse to putting anyone to death." B-4 regarded Lore with wide, yellow eyes. "But, as Data might say, humans provide an increasingly complicated and often contradictory set of variables to navigate, heuristically speaking. Most of the early rulings are not favorable for artificial intelligence, and sentient holograms are still not allowed to have rights. Both Data and I have been deemed sentient individuals, so it's likely that you'll be considered the same. Then, they would have to treat you like they would any biological being who's committed your crimes."

Lore scowled at his brothers, "We shouldn't have to answer to them. We're superior to them… better than they are."

"No, Lore." B-4 shook his head, "We are not better or lesser than… we're simply different. The sooner you accept that, the happier your life will be."

A few seconds passed before Lore responded, "It's not going to be easy. I've been clinging to that idea since Omicron Theta."

"If you are sincere in your desire to be repaired and rehabilitated, you will have many people assisting you, Lore." Data tilted his head, then turned to face T'Mera's workstation. "You have stopped rapidly chewing your gum, t'hy'la. Does that mean you have finished?"

"Sorry." T'Mera let out a soft chuckle, "I didn't realize I was being noisy. I'll try to chew quietly. But yes, I've finished restoring her nested memories and marked the implanted ones as fake. We can reactivate her."

Lore moved to a position behind the punching bag. "I'll watch from over here."

T'Mera removed the optical cable from Juliana's primary port and closed the panel above it. "Data, do you want to do the honors of inserting the interface chip and waking her?"

"I would like that, t'hy'la." Data switched places with T'Mera, then carefully replaced the tiny interface chip into the proper slot in Juliana's positronic brain. With his left hand, he gently closed her forehead panel.

Juliana's eyelids moved, blinked several times, then opened. She turned her head to look up at him and smiled, "Data." Her expression of delight was immediately obliterated by a frown, followed by a scowl. "Oh… For the…" She sat up and stared at her hands, "Data… What's happening to me?"

Data winced, "You fainted in the terraforming control center."

"The last thing I remember is that engineer shaking my hand… saying something about cybernetics." Juliana swung her legs over the side of the chaise, nearly falling over.

Data grabbed Juliana's shoulders to steady her, "Do not try to get up too quickly. You have had a substantial shock."

"My hand is cybernetic." Juliana's eyes settled on her hands, "Both of them." A frown knitted her eyebrows as she lifted her eyes to look up at Data, then at B-4 and T'Mera. "It's coming to back to me. There's memories…" She began to tremble as her eyes unfocused.

T'Mera reached up to fiddle with the lemniscate charm on her choker. "Don't try to remember everything at once, Juliana. Try to relax and go slow. If you need water or anything, let me know."

"I couldn't possibly keep anything down, right now." Tears began to course down Juliana's cheeks, "I feel nauseated." She screwed her eyes shut. "I remember making jewelry. Lore was right… We left them to die. It was our fault and we left… I can remember how I was injured, but then nothing for a while. I woke up on Terlina III."

Data spoke in a gentle tone, "The injury you received had put you into a coma."

"What did he do to me?" Juliana opened her eyes to focus on Data's face, "What happened to me?"

Lore spoke up from beside the punching bag, "Let me put it this way, Mother… You finally got the female android you wanted."

"Lore!" Data shot an irritated glare at his brother. "You are not helping matters."

Juliana looked past Data to B-4. Her eyes widened, "I thought you were Lore." She twisted her neck to view the punching bag. "There's three of you."

B-4 responded with a genial smile as he rose from his chair to stand near Data. "I'm B-4. Lore is hiding by the punching bag. Data is right next to you. Please try to remain calm and don't let Lore's sense of humor upset you."

Data opened his mouth, hesitated for a couple of seconds, then continued in a soft spoken manner, "When Doctor Soong realized that nothing could be done to save you, he built an android body and transferred your synaptic scans into a positronic matrix. He could not bear the thought of losing you."

Juliana's eyes darted to T'Mera, "I'm an android?" She seemed to contemplate the holographer for a moment, "You tried to soften the blow, the other day, at breakfast. Telling me about yourself." She turned her attention back to Data. "And mentioning that it was possible to create an android who was unaware..." She shook her head, "Why would he do this to me?" Fresh tears began to run down her cheeks, "Oh, that man…"

Data kneeled next to Juliana, to keep himself at eye level with her, "Is your current state of distress caused by the awareness of your body's synthetic nature?"

B-4 inched closer to the chaise, "Data is asking if you're crying because you're an android."

A few more sobs racked Juliana's body, "I'm crying because I'm angry at Noonian. Give me a moment to deal with all of this, please." She covered her face with her hands.

Data turned his head to give a helpless look to T'Mera and B-4.

T'Mera closed the distance between herself and Data, then rested her hand on his shoulder.

When he noticed Juliana dropping her hands to look at him, Data faced her once more, "You are angry at Father because he transferred you into an android body?"

"No, Data." Juliana inhaled deeply, then exhaled, "I'm angry because he lied to me and continued to manipulate me after I left him. I feel … violated."

"Violated?" Data's expression turned to dismay.

Juliana glanced from T'Mera to Data, "How exactly did he keep me from finding out what I am?"

Comprehension dawned in Data's yellow eyes. After a second of hesitation, Data replied, "He… altered your memories and programmed you to shut down if the truth of your nature were discovered. You have also been programmed to age in accordance to time passage and then to…" Data paused, let out a soft sigh, then continued, "To terminate at what would be the natural conclusion of a human existence."

More tears welled up in Juliana's eyes, "I've been transferred and tampered with. How can I trust that anything I know is real? How do I know that anything I've done was of my own choosing and not something that he programmed me to do?"

"I understand now." Data lowered his gaze, "He broke any trust you had. I have broken it, as well."

"You, Data?" Juliana placed the fingertips of her right hand under Data's chin, lifting his face to gain eye contact, "How?"

Data's eyes briefly met hers, then averted, "Father left a holographic message inside one of your ports. He implored me to continue the deception, as he felt that it would preclude your happiness to learn that you died and had been transferred into an android form."

Juliana searched Data's face, "You believed him?"

Data let out another sigh, "At the time, I thought I was choosing the course of action most beneficial to you. I did not realize that I had assigned my own preferences to the situation. I decided that you would rather have the illusion of being human, because becoming more human was my wish."

"What made you decide to tell me, this time?" The quiver in Juliana's voice diminished as she focused on Data.

"It was pointed out to me that "being more human" would not necessarily be a goal of yours, especially given that the alternative choice had been death." As Data spoke, a soft smile began to form on his face, "B-4 subsequently recommended a course of action in which we should ask you for your preferences, rather than continue to make choices without your input. T'Mera has restored your memories and removed Doctor Soong's compulsory programming from your matrix. We do have the ability to remove the knowledge of your synthetic nature and reset you, so that you can continue to believe you are still human, if that is your wish."

T'Mera nodded to Data's words, "I apologize that I was in there, adjusting you, as well, but if I didn't do that, you'd keep shutting down or having memory lapses. Eventually, it was going to be impossible for you to function. I felt it was illogical to continue to let you live a lie."

Juliana fixed her gaze on T'Mera, "You were in my mind, tinkering? How can I know if anything I remember is real. I feel as if my life has been turned inside-out. I suppose I have no choice but to trust you, but…"

T'Mera pressed her lips together, "I wish there had been a way to ask you for permission, but because of how you were programmed, you would have shut down before you could give consent. I can understand if you don't trust me."

"There are three fine counselors on board the Enterprise, Mother." Data spoke in a near hush, "Perhaps it would help you to avail yourself of their skills."

"We'll see. I'm just overwhelmed right now." Juliana lowered her face into her hands, "How could Noonian let me live a lie? I got remarried. I continued my career. Pran never knew."

Lore emerged from behind the punching bag and moved to stand next to B-4. "Father lied to you all the time. That was his pattern. Whenever Often Wrong had a choice to tell the truth or to lie, he'd choose the falsehood. I'm sure it was just reflex for him."

A deep frown knitted Juliana's eyebrows and she looked up sharply, "He summoned me back to Terlina, a few years after I left. I can remember that, now."

"He built an encoded homing circuit into your sublogic controller." T'Mera snapped the gum in her mouth as she explained, "Now, the hardware can't be removed, since it's an integrated component, but I was a smart-ass and rewrote his program so that if… anyone tries to hijack you, it'll give you their location and all the homing information, but not override your consciousness. If you don't even want that in there, I can go back in and totally disable the program."

Juliana waved her hand dismissively at T'Mera, "I need time to mentally digest all of this. I thought I was losing my mind."

B-4 pointed to Juliana's head, "No, it's still there, on top of your neck."

Lore focused an intense glare at the prototype, "What an astute observation, Basic. I guess it's something you don't need to worry about. You've got to have a mind, before you can lose it."

B-4 shrugged at Lore, "At least my sense of humor makes sense."

Data's eyebrows knit in stern disapproval, "Would the two of you be kind enough to refrain from petty bickering while our mother is suffering a crisis of the spirit?"

B-4 hung his head in contrition, "I'm sorry, Data. I'm sorry… Mother."

"I…" Lore began to speak, then gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, "I don't know how to apologize. I don't even know if I can apologize for everything I've done." He turned his back to the others and walked away to lean against his punching bag.

Juliana beckoned B-4 with her hand, "You're B-4? Do you have any idea who I am? Do you remember me, at all?"

B-4 knelt next to Data, in front of Juliana, "I know that you are Doctor Juliana Tainer, and that you worked with Doctor Soong to make us, but I have no memories of him, you, or anything that happened before Data found me."

Juliana reached out and placed a hand on B-4's cheek, "Maybe that's for the best, considering how your first months were. The previous two prototypes seemed to work fine, but after a few months, they became erratic and had cascade failures. With you, I knew something was different at your first activation. Your motor skills were fine, but you were more childlike in your interactions. After a week, you suddenly shut down. I thought we'd lost you, but Noonian was able to get your pathways to reinitialize. No matter what he did, you kept shutting down around seven days after you'd been reactivated. It was terribly painful for me to watch, but he said that he'd figured out what went wrong with the design and that, this time, he would be able to make a stable matrix."

Lore's yellow eyes flashed with anger, "If Often Wrong figured out what the trouble was, why didn't he fix B-4?"

"Distraction." Juliana caressed B-4's cheek, then brushed some loose strands of his brown hair behind his ear, "It was just after we dismantled B-4 and put him in storage, I believe, that Ira Graves came to the colony. Noonian was very interested in his synaptic scan research and spent quite a lot of time with him. After Graves left, Noonian claimed that he'd managed to get newer components and he wanted to build a more advanced android and use the synaptic scans he and Graves had worked with." She sought out B-4's innocent eyes, "I hope you can forgive us for that."

B-4 smiled back in response, "Of course."

Lore smacked the punching bag with his left fist, "He never planned to get back to B-4, did he?"

Juliana shook her head and let her hand drop, "I honestly don't know, Lore. If he did, he never mentioned it to me."

"Of course not." Lore stomped as he circled around the bag, "B-4 had served his purpose, just like I did. It was probably "too late" for B-4, just like it was "too late for Lore." Do you still defend him? Does love still blind you to the things he's done?"

"No, Lore." Juliana's eyes lowered, "Even when you love someone, there comes a breaking point. When all the bad outweighs the good." Her voice faded to an embittered whisper, "Now I don't even know who I am. If Juliana Soong died on Terlina III, what am I? A copy? A delusional android?" She gazed up at T'Mera, "Was it like this for you?"

T'Mera bit her bottom lip, "No. I was awake during my transfer, and I'd already agreed to everything. My mind was directly transferred, with no alterations. I did have adjustments to make, due to some of Data's enhancements to my android body, but my katra is the same as it was before I died. Do you feel as if you're you?"

"I think so." Juliana frowned, "I just need time to adjust to this. To figure out what I'm feeling."

T'Mera nodded, then offered, "Just take it slow. I did my best to restore your full recollections, but they might come back in bits and pieces."

Data followed Lore's circular pacing with his eyes, "You are the only one who would remember Mother prior to her death. Does she seem to be the same as she was?"

Lore halted his momentum and punched the bag next to him, "She seems like herself, but what difference does it make? Don't humans change over time? Hasn't she now spent more years as an android than she did as a biological lifeform?"

Data's eyebrows rose and he emitted a high-pitched, "Hmm." then nodded at his brother, "I see your point." He returned his attention to Juliana, "Please accept my sincerest apology for not informing you when the opportunity first arose."

"Oh, Data." Juliana's lips upturned in a small, sad smile, "Maybe this is better. If you'd told me back then, I would have had to deal with telling Pran." She glanced at B-4, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry, as well. I'm sorry that it didn't occur to me that B-4 could be saved." She lowered her gaze to the floor again, "And the guilt over Lore and everything that happened afterward. If I'd been strong enough… if I'd insisted that Noonian fix you, Lore…"

B-4 reached into his pocket, pulling out his hat. "The word 'if' has only two letters. It's such a small word, yet it holds so much upon it. Every 'if' denotes a varying consequence or set of results."

Lore leaned against the punching bag and smirked in a lopsided manner, "Another philosophical interlude, brought to us by B-4." He threw his hands in the air, " If Mother had insisted, if I'd had a working ethical subroutine, if Data had never reassembled me when he first found me, if I'd never stolen the emotion chip… You're right, B-4. That's a lot of weight for the word 'if' to hold."

B-4 pulled the hat over his hair, then got to his feet, "See, Lore? Sometimes the philosophical interlude is needed. Trust your older brother."

Lore snorted derisively, "Older? You've had less than two years uptime. I'm the first one that functioned. I should be considered the oldest."

Data held up his right hand with the index finger extended, "I have the most uptime, by a substantial amount."

"All right, Lore." B-4 folded his arms across his chest, "If you want it to be by function, then we can do that. I just thought it's funnier if Data is the baby of the family, and he can only be that if we use creation times."

"You're right." Lore relented, "Creation order, it is."

B-4 tilted his head to regard Juliana, "I don't want to leave you if you need me, but my internal chronometer tells me it's time to go back to the office. If I'm not there, Emily might worry."

"That's fine, B-4." Juliana smiled up at the prototype. "I'm so thankful to see you're functioning and stable."

T'Mera smiled at B-4, "Thank you for coming to help."

Data rose to his feet to give B-4 a pat on the shoulder, "It is always good to see you. Give our regards to Doctor Vanzanen and Doctor Maddox."

"Until we meet again, brother." Lore waved from the punching bag.

"Goodbye. B-4 out." B-4 reached in front of him, then his holographic image vanished.

Juliana blinked and sat upright, "He wasn't really here? But I touched him…"

"I've been working on long-distance tactile protocols for holocommunicators." T'Mera explained as she moved to her workstation, "And someone figured out how to engage them and even enabled event logging and debugging for me."

"You're welcome." Lore stuck his tongue into his right cheek.

Juliana wiped away the remaining wetness from her face, "How long have I been here? It just occurred to me that I was helping Director Kim before all of this."

"Including the time you spent unconscious, the total elapsed duration is ten hours, fifty-four minutes and thirty-two seconds." Data extended a hand to her.

"I can't sit here all day!" Juliana grasped Data's hand and stood up, "I should go back to the surface and help her. Plus, working always helped me through rough times."

"As you wish, but you really should consider resting, rather than working." Data released her hand, "I am certain that Director Kim would understand, and that there is no real hurry for the geological information. In any case, do not hesitate to call upon me or the ship's counselors, if you find yourself in need."

"I know that I have a habit of running away, but I think I'd like the distraction that work will give me, Data, at least for now." Juliana started to walk, stopped, then turned to address T'Mera, "And thank you for restoring my children. I know I snapped at you before and questioned whether I can trust you, but… I haven't lost sight of what you've given me back." With a wistful smile, she resumed walking past the table and security guard and then exited to the corridor.

Data cocked his head as he watched Doctor Tainer leave, "She seemed to take that well."

"Too well, if you ask me." T'Mera bit her lower lip. "It might come crashing down on her, in a quiet moment of solitude."

Lore placed his back against the punching bag and rested the sole of his right foot against it. "Maybe, but sometimes the quiet moment of solitude brings clarity."