Part Seven
About three years later…
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday dear Lore!
Happy Birthday to you!
"And many more!" Juliana added, laughing as she raised her glass toward the holoviewer she'd built into the wall. A very lifelike holographic face smirked back at her – a face that strongly resembled a fifteen-year-old version of Noonien Soong.
"Con-gratu-lations, brother," Bertie pronounced in his slow, careful way.
"Yes! Happy, happy birthday, brother!" Soong's new C-5 prototype, Charlie, cheered and clapped, his golden eyes shining brightly in his smooth, pale, almost doll-like face. "I can see you, I can see you, I can see you!"
"Shh, Charlie," Noonien said, placing an affectionate hand on the infant android's shoulder before he bounced himself right off the stool. "So Lore, my boy, how do you like the present Juliana made for you?" he asked cheerfully.
"It's…different," Lore said, squinting at his new reflection in the mirror Juliana had set up for him just across the room. "Certainly unexpected. But, I think I like it. Thank you, Juliana."
Noonien and Juliana laughed delightedly and clasped hands over the lab table they'd converted for the party, her engagement ring sparkling as their fingers intertwined. This was their first real family celebration in their brand new home, and they'd gone all out, spreading a festively colored tablecloth with pizza, chips, ice cream, and a rich chocolate layer cake bristling with fifteen blue and white-striped candles. Five tall lab stools circled the table, each decorated with three blue and white balloons featuring the words Happy Birthday in sparkling gold letters.
"They're like the clouds and sky!" Charlie had exclaimed when he first saw them. The moment they'd sat at the table, Charlie had tied one of his balloons to his wrist, delighting at the way it bobbed and swayed with his every movement and sprinkled golden glitter in his hair.
Lore tilted his head slightly, waggling his eyebrows, baring his teeth, and sticking out his tongue as he more thoroughly examined his new, holographic image. He reached up and wiggled his fingers, ruffled them through his dark chestnut hair, then smoothed it back behind his ears. After a moment, he smiled.
"Yes, I really like it. I look just like you now, Father!"
"Oh, dear Lord."
All eyes turned to the sixth member of their family party.
Juliana's mother sat like a dark cloud at the end of their happy rainbow, glaring at Lore and the androids with open disgust.
"Mother, please," Juliana said gently. "This is a big day for Lore. For all of us. Don't you realize the significance of this achievement? Our Lore is the first ever stable positronic consciousness. The fact that he has not only survived, but thrived, for fifteen years—"
"I really don't care about that, dear," Mrs. O'Donnell said bluntly, her Irish accent much stronger than her daughter's. "Your computers and robots and circuits and things are none of my concern."
"Then, what is it, Mother?" Juliana demanded. "Why can't you just be happy for us? For our family?"
"Family indeed," her mother snorted, and glared daggers at Noonien. "Fifteen years! Fifteen years ago today! That means you had already constructed this computer…thing…back when my Juliana was but a child! Tell me: exactly how old are you, Dr. Soong?"
The two humans paled.
A spark of triumph lit in the woman's sharp, hazel eyes.
"Yes, that's right. I know who you really are 'Mr. Martin,'" she said. "You don't think I'd remember the face of my only child's former teacher?"
"Mother—!"
"I'm talking to him, young lady," she said coldly, her gaze fixed on Soong. "I've held my tongue these past two days, struggling to understand what you see in this man, but I've had enough. I want to know exactly what's going on here. Why are you living under a false name? Why did you leave my daughter's university under cover of night? What exactly did you steal from that Daystrom Institute after they fired you?"
Noonien closed his eyes as if in pain. Juliana reached for him but he gently shook his head. Lore, though, was fuming.
"My father didn't steal anything, you ignorant old bat!" he snapped, his new face flushed with anger. "And he wasn't fired! He left because—"
"Lore…"
"But, Father!" Lore exclaimed. "This human thinks that you—"
"What did I tell you about the power of publicity?" Soong said with quiet firmness. "Ira has it. I never have."
"Wait…is that what you meant?" Lore yelped, absolutely horrified. "Uncle Ira makes up stories about us for the newspapers, and humans like this one actually believe them? What about all that stuff you said about trusting people to be smart enough not to believe everything they read in the papers? Was that a lie too?"
"No," Soong told him. "But if the people who read Ira's stories don't have all the facts, you can't always expect them to draw the right conclusions."
"Then, what the hell, Father? Why didn't you do something? Tell your side of things?"
Soong sighed, his tired eyes turning to Charlie, then Bertie, then back to Lore.
"I was afraid," he admitted with blatant honesty, all too aware of Mrs. O'Donnell's piercing gaze. "Afraid if I made a scene, drew even more publicity, things would only get worse for us. And you were so young, son…too young to understand… It's true I left my reputation, and my career, behind when I took you and your brother and ran. But, your lives, your chance for happiness, has always been more important to me than my name. And, it always will be."
"I can't accept that," Lore said, his blue eyes burning. "It isn't right! You're not a thief. You're a first-rate genius by human standards, Father. A visionary, like…like Tesla or…or Cochrane! Humans like this one should be naming cities and starships after you, writing songs for schoolchildren!"
"Maybe I don't want that," Soong retorted. "Maybe I like being plain, eccentric, tinkering Andrew Martin. Andrew Martin has friends, a community, a life! What did Noonien Soong ever have, hm? The anger of his stubbornly ignorant, anti-tech preaching parents? The suspicion of his peers? The jealousy of a supervisor so terrified of death he'd coopt his own colleagues' work to suit his own ends? That's no way to live, no sort of environment to raise a family. Juliana understands," he said, and squeezed her hand. "This is the best life for all of us."
"Then, he wins?" Lore said, blinking with stunned disbelief. "Uncle Ira gets to stay perched right at the top of the scientific world, saying anything he wants about us, no matter how cruel or false, and we just huddle undercover on this remote hole of a planet and pretend it's OK?" He snorted and stared straight at Juliana's mother. "Maybe the bat is right after all. There is something wrong with you."
"Believe me, Lore, if it was just myself at risk, I would fight. I'd come at Graves and that damned institute with everything I had, and then some," Soong stated with conviction. "And perhaps I will, once you and your brothers are old enough and strong enough to fend for yourselves. For now, though, our family has to come first. It's my responsibility as your father to provide you all with the chances and choices and freedoms you could never have existing as mere experimental devices in some rule-bound, investor-beholden cybernetics institution. Can you understand that, son? Are you grown-up enough now to see why we have to live this way?"
Lore hesitated, his holographic face contorted in a confused, uneasy frown.
"I can," said Juliana's mother. Her expression remained grim, but her eyes seemed more contemplative than before. "You feel about your boys the same way I feel about my daughter."
"Oh, Mother!" Juliana smiled in relief. "Then, you do understand!"
"Yes," she said. "I'm afraid so. And that's why I cannot, and will not, give my blessing to this relationship of yours."
"But— What? You just said—!"
"You will never be first in his life, my dear," Mrs. O'Donnell said. "Not even second. These machines fill his heart in a way you never will. Together, you may fancy yourselves partners, lovers, but these creations are his true loves…and my daughter deserves more."
"What 'more'? Mother, we're a family," Juliana said defensively. "Noonien and I both willingly share the responsibilities, and the sacrifices, of raising these beautiful children. And any others that might come along."
Mrs. O'Donnell closed her eyes and sighed.
"I'm warning you, child," she said grimly. "This man built his family without you, and he lived a lifetime before you were born. The relationship you think you share is inherently unequal. He will never truly need you except, perhaps, as a nursemaid in his old age."
"Excuse me?" Noonien said, his face reddening with genuine outrage. "Mrs. O'Donnell, I have tried to be both honest and polite, but this is unfair. You don't know me, or what I've been through. You say I lived a lifetime before I fell in love with your daughter? I say, my life didn't begin until that moment! Juliana is the one who taught me what it means to truly care for another human being, to share a love and show that love is real. How dare you come to our house – our home – and spout your spiteful accusations in front of my boys! What's it matter if I'm pushing past fifty? I'll always be nine years younger than you, you witch!"
"Noonien!" Juliana snapped, grabbing his arm. "Mother, this conversation is closed. Now, it's Lore's birthday. We should be celebrating our love for him, for his amazing life, not pecking at each other like a bunch of caged roosters!"
Lore's bitter expression opened ever so slightly.
"Do you really mean that, Juliana?" he asked.
"Of course I mean it, Lore," she said fiercely. "I'll be proud to be your mother. You must know I already love you like a son. Why else would I have spent all those off hours working just to have the chance to finally see your handsome face?"
"But, you designed this image, didn't you?" Lore asked, frowning at his reflection.
"I didn't," Juliana said, and smiled. "I didn't want to force my own impressions on you, Lore. I designed the program to identify and project your own self-image, whatever it might be. And it seems you view yourself, not as a computer or a creation, but as a true son of Noonien Soong. We're seeing your face, Lore. Not your father's."
"What?" Lore gasped.
"What?" Noonien echoed, deeply rattled. He got up from his stool and walked closer to Lore's image, his eyes wide with wonder. "Then…that's really you? My Lore…"
His fingertips brushed the screen. Lore met his light touch with his own holographic fingers, the pair of them staring into each other's eyes like a peculiar time-warp of a mirror image.
"Hi…" Soong whispered.
"Hi."
Lore laughed and flashed a brief, bright smile, then lowered his eyes.
"Father…"
"Yes, my boy?"
"Father, I'm sorry for what I said to you. You are the best human I know, and I love you. I just…I don't think you should have to give up your rightful career…because you love me too."
"The way I see it, son, I'm not giving up anything," Soong said with gentle sincerity. "Thanks to you and your brothers and your mother, I've found a life and a love I never dared to even dream about when I was your age. You are my family. And this…seeing your face, hearing you say you love me…" He stroked his hand along the edge of the hologram's cheek. "That's all the success I'll ever need."
"Then, I love you, Father," Lore stated firmly. "I love you. And you, Mother," he said to Juliana, shooting a pointed little glare at Mrs. O'Donnell. "Thank you for my birthday present. You are far more perceptive than I gave you credit for. I'll have to remember that."
Mrs. O'Donnell shook her head, but no one at the table paid her any mind.
"You really are incredible, Lore," Juliana told him, and beamed. "Now, it's time for birthday cake. Noonien, come sit down. Lore, would you mind dimming the lights for us?"
"No problem," he said, and the lights went down to a warm, orangey glow.
Juliana playfully nudged her fiancé.
"Noonien, would you do the honors?"
"I'd be delighted," he said, and grabbed the lighter. Soon, all fifteen candles were lit. Juliana reached for the cake, to bring it over to Lore, but Charlie started bouncing in his chair.
"Oh, me!" he cried. "Let me, let me, Mother, oh please!"
"We'll both carry the cake," Juliana said, and helped the pale android find a secure grip on the plate. Noonien and Bertie soon joined them as they carried the flaming dessert up to the air vent closest to Lore's speaker grate. "There we are. Good job, Charlie!" she praised.
The young android practically glowed with excitement.
"All right, son, make a wish!" Noonien said.
Lore glanced at each of them, his gaze coming to rest on his proudly beaming father. He closed his eyes, and a puff of air shot out from the vent. The candles blew out, and the lights in the room returned to normal as the family laughed and cheered.
"Well done, Lore!" Juliana said, bringing the cake to the table for slicing. "You got them all in one go! That means your wish will come true!"
"What did you wish for, brother?" Bertie asked.
"Yes, tell us, tell us, tell us!" Charlie said, bouncing happily on his heels.
"If I tell you, it won't come true," Lore said, his mind ruminating on Dr. Graves and all he'd learned during his brief time at the institute. "Go eat your cake, Charlie."
The young android giggled and danced back to join his parents at the table.
"I have no mouth with which to eat, brother," Bertie said. "And neither do you. Does this mean we cannot eat cake?"
"No, we can't. And thank goodness for that, right Bertie?" Lore said. "Ever see what happens to cake after it gets all chewed and swallowed? Yuck!"
"Yuck!" Bertie repeated, seeming to enjoy the sound. "Yuck! Yuck!"
Lore laughed.
"Here, Bertie," Charlie said, his pale mouth already smeared with chocolate as he took another balloon off his stool and skipped over to tie it around his brother's wrist. "Play with my balloon. It will make you happy!"
"The balloon will make me happy. Lore, Charlie says the balloon will make me happy!" Bertie said.
Lore smirked at his brothers.
"Look at you," he said. "A regular Tweedle-Dumb and Tweedle-Dumber. You two are completely ridiculous. You and your positronic brains. But, as long as Father knows I'm best, I guess I can put up with you."
"You're best?" Bertie repeated curiously.
"First is always best," Lore told him. "And I'll always be first."
"Because you're our big brother!" Charlie crowed. "Big brother, big brother, big brother!"
"Will you always be our big brother, Lore?" Bertie asked.
"Don't see how I can help it," Lore muttered.
"I am glad," Bertie said, and pressed his forehead and his black and silver fingers gently against Lore's screen. "That makes me very happy, Lore. That you will always be my brother."
Lore blinked and awkwardly returned the android's strange half-embrace, a strong, protective feeling surging unexpectedly through his systems. His image seemed to swallow, and he shook his head.
"Stupid nut. Why don't you go sit down?" he said. "You're missing the party."
"I'm missing the party," Bertie said, and backed away from the viewer. "I don't want to miss the party. It's Lore's happy birthday party."
"Happy birthday, brother!" Charlie cheered.
"Yeah…"
Lore snorted a little, then smiled a lopsided smile, his gaze fixed on his new, very human reflection.
"Happy birthday to me."
To Be Continued...
References: Inheritance, Datalore, Brothers. "Happy Birthday" (1893) attributed to Patty and Mildred Hill.
Next time...bad, bad stuff will start to happen, and Lore will probably be the one most affected. No specific spoilers, though. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful reviews! I hope you enjoyed Lore's party! :)