Update! I still have so much work to do, but this here chapter absolutely refused to leave me alone. So, here it is and now I'm off back to work again...paper's due Tuesday... Thanks so much for reading and your wonderful, marvelous reviews, and I hope you enjoy this next part! What trouble is Lore going to get up to now his parents are away?

Part Nine

Omicron Theta…about two days later….

Lore sat in the living room, in his father's favorite chair, his lip curled in scornful incomprehension as he stared, unblinking, at the ancient black and white film playing out on the vid screen.

"What are you doing, brother?"

Lore sighed and paused the playback with a thought, turning his eyes toward his charge.

"What does it look like?" he said. "I'm watching a vid recording."

"Why?" Charlie asked, pulling his plush, wheeled stool over from the gaming table to sit beside Lore. "Why watch it on the screen? Why not just download it directly?"

"I did download it," Lore said impatiently. "I processed every frame, every nuance, every word of spoken dialogue. Now I'm watching it in 'real time.' You got a problem with that?"

"Nope," Charlie said. "May I watch it with you, Lore? Please, please, please?"

Lore sucked his teeth.

"Didn't Mother tell you to read that stupid rabbit book of hers before they came home?"

"Watership Down?" Charlie said, and blinked. "I've been reading that book, brother. All day. I find it…terribly confusing."

"Yeah?"

Charlie nodded, looking troubled.

"The animals in the book….they speak! As does the sun. But, this is impossible! Rabbits and gulls certainly lack the appropriate physiognomy and intelligence to use and comprehend complex spoken language systems. And I know that stars are not, not, not wise, conscious beings! Father told me they are huge, highly magnetic balls of incandescent plasma that –"

"Charlie!" Lore interrupted.

"Yes, brother?"

"The thing's not a science book. It's fiction. Ever hear of fiction?"

"Yes," Charlie said, still looking puzzled. "Fictional works are products of imagination and extrapolation, rather than strictly fact."

"So…?" Lore prompted.

"So…imagined rabbits and stars can talk?"

Lore pursed his lips, frustrated. He was having troubles of his own comprehending the appeal of this ridiculous film. He didn't have the time, the patience, or the inclination to help Charlie analyze some ancient children's story about warring rabbits.

"Charlie, why do you think Mother asked you to read that book?"

Charlie shrugged uncomfortably.

"It deals with many themes, but the cycle of life and death is a notably prominent topic."

"Then, extrapolate," Lore instructed, stretching his legs out in front of him and pillowing the back of his head against his folded hands.

Charlie furrowed his pale forehead, his golden eyes flicking back and forth.

"Perhaps…"

"Please, take your time," Lore said sneeringly. "It's not like I was doing anything…"

"Perhaps… Perhaps, Mother thought, since she and Father could not be here with me, this book could address some of my questions about Bertie's death? At least…in part…"

Lore sat up.

"Sounds good enough to me. Better toddle off to your room and write up that analysis she wanted. And go quickly, or I'll introduce you to Bridge to Terabithia. That'll traumatize your circuit pathways…"

"But…" Charlie looked vulnerable. "I can't, I can't! Not yet. I need…more time to process. Please, brother, I don't want to be alone. Can't I stay with you?"

Lore sighed and ran his hands over his swept-back hair, careful not to dislodge any errant strands. He'd seen the boys who had tormented Bertie and Charlie, noted they all wore variations of the same fringed hairstyle Lore had once thought so fashionable. The realization had repulsed him, and he'd taken immediate measures to differentiate his outer appearance from theirs. His new style may have looked a bit…severe…but it mirrored his mood, and his disgust with his parents' decision to leave him alone with Charlie like this.

Humans. Selfish, incomprehensible, unthinking animals…

"Brother?" Charlie prompted, his expression pleading and anxious.

"Oh, all right!" Lore exclaimed. "You can stay. But don't bother me. I want to watch this thing." He gestured to the paused image on the screen.

"What is it called?" Charlie asked curiously.

"Double Indemnity," Lore told him. "Father watched it…when Archie died. He watched it over and over again, in a continuous loop, for four days straight. He said…he liked the part at the very end, where Keyes lights the match. I'm just trying to figure out…why?"

"Perhaps he was just sad?" Charlie suggested. "I am sad."

"Then, why didn't he talk to me?" Lore demanded. "I was right there with him, the whole time! But, no, he…disappeared. Vanished for days! Into…into his head, into that stupid movie. He left me…so alone…so… And now, he's done it again—!"

Lore stood and kicked his father's chair. His holographic image was solid, but not dense enough for the force of his kick to cause any real damage. He kicked the heavy armchair again and again, again and again and again before spinning on his heel and collapsing back into it with an angry, frustrated huff.

"This sucks!" he grumbled, his chin pressed against his chest. "And so does this film!"

He blinked his eyes and the vid screen went dark.

"Brother…?" Charlie said, confused. "Didn't you say you wanted to—"

"Forget the movie," Lore snapped, and surged back to his feet. "I've got better things to do."

"Like what?"

"Like, none of your business."

"But… But, Lore…" Charlie stood and chased his brother past the kitchen and into the corridor that led to their father's lab. "Lore, where are you going? Can I come? Please?"

"No," Lore snapped. "This is my project. My secret project. You'd just give it away."

"I would not, would not, would not!" Charlie protested.

"Yes you would, you would, you would!" Lore mocked, mimicking Charlie's voice. "I've worked too long and too hard at this to let some stupid, clumsy android muck things up now."

Charlie's eyes crinkled, and he clenched his fists.

"You're mean, Lore!" he cried. "Mean, mean, mean!"

"Yeah, well, too bad, too bad, too bad!"

"You were mean to Bertie, too. You said he was an idiot! But he wasn't. And neither am I! I can help you. I help Father and Mother do their work all the time!"

"Father and Mother give you meaningless busy work to keep you out of their hair. I'm the one who helps."

"That's not true!" Charlie cried, his golden eyes filling with tears. "I'm a good helper! A good, smart helper!"

"You're deluded."

"Am not!" Charlie shrieked.

Lore winced and glared daggers at his brother.

Charlie flinched, but refused to step back. After a long, tense moment, Lore grunted and crossed his arms.

"You're not going to go away, are you," he said grimly.

"No," Charlie said with a defiant sniffle.

Lore seemed to be debating. After a moment, he released an exasperated sigh and opened the door to the lab.

"Come on, then," he said, then turned, moving forward until he was staring his younger brother straight in the eye, their noses nearly touching. "But I warn you, Charlie. If you breathe even one word of this to anyone – absolutely anyone – I will dismantle you and bury your parts where no one will ever find them. Is that understood?"

Charlie blinked and swallowed.

"U..Understood, brother."

"Good."

Lore smirked and led the way to his own, small workstation. Apart from the ceiling and a few chairs, it was the only uncluttered space in the room.

Charlie paused next to D-6, gazing curiously at the unfinished android's still form.

"Lore?" he said.

"What, Charlie?" Lore asked distractedly, already settled into his chair and pulling up his secret, heavily encrypted files.

"Why did Father make D-6 look so much like you?"

"Family resemblance. I look like Father."

"Why did he give him pale skin and yellow eyes like mine?"

"Some outdated law," Lore muttered, not really paying attention. "No replicants…"

"What's a replicant?"

"An android that looks and acts so human it's all but impossible to tell them apart."

"And that's bad?"

"Ask Ridley Scott."

"Who's Ridley Scott?"

"Forget it, Charlie," Lore spoke through clenched teeth. "Now shut up. I'm busy!"

Charlie sulked a little, peering through the open access panels at all the wires and tubes running through D-6's prone form.

"Lore?"

"Charlie, I'm warning you…"

"But, Lore… You look very human. Why don't you have pale skin like mine?"

"This image isn't me, it's a holographic projection of my self-image," Lore said, his attention clearly divided, even as he gestured to the little, silvery box wired into the building's main computer terminal. "That's me. That's always been me. The external housing for my central processing unit, anyway. But you know this, Charlie. Don't be dense."

Charlie scowled, but turned his gaze back to D-6.

"Why doesn't D-6 have a real name, like us?"

"He will after we activate him," Lore said.

"When will that be?" Charlie asked.

"Not for a while. Father and I have to program his personality matrix, and Mother said she has a few programs of her own in the works… Something about a creative aspect…" He scoffed. "Humans are so ridiculous. What would be the point of having an android paint a sunrise, or play the viola, except as some sort of sideshow novelty…"

"Mother enjoys playing the viola," Charlie observed. "But none of the rest of us do. Maybe she wants D-6 to enjoy it with her."

"Why don't you play music with her?"

Charlie lowered his eyes.

"I cannot make music. I make noise. So did Bertie, but Bertie didn't mind. I mind. Lore?"

"What, Charlie?"

"Do you like music?"

"Don't particularly care."

"Do you like Mother?"

Lore shrugged.

"She has her uses, I suppose."

"She made you your hologram."

"Exactly."

"She loves you very much."

"Whatever…"

"Lore?"

"What?!"

"Do you love me?"

"Not the best time to ask, Charlie…" Lore scowled warningly over his keypad, then rolled his eyes at the android's crestfallen expression, his shoulders stooping slightly.

"Charlie," he said, and shook his head. "Get over here."

Charlie shuffled past the piles of equipment, boxes of parts, and stacks of handwritten journals to stand by his brother's side. Lore regarded him with an odd, tentative curiosity Charlie couldn't recall seeing in him before.

"Charlie… Do you love me?" Lore asked.

Charlie smiled.

"Oh, yes, brother," he said. "Absolutely!"

Lore shook his head very slightly.

"Why?"

Charlie laughed.

"That is a silly, silly question."

"Humor me," Lore said.

"But it's so silly!" Charlie exclaimed, and playfully nudged Lore's shoulder, as Lore had seen him do to Bertie. "I love you because you're you! You are first, and first is best! You can talk with Father and Mother, understand them in a way I have never been able to achieve. There is always…a gap. Mother says it's because you're older, but I know it's more than that. Our construction is different…and yours is the superior mind."

Lore looked thoughtful.

"You really believe that."

"Of course! Bertie and I discussed this often. It was our goal to learn as much as we could, to practice our cognitive skills at every opportunity so that, when we turned eighteen, we would both be smart enough to act and think exactly like you! That's why we played so much checkers! To practice, practice, practice!"

Lore squinted at him.

"But, you said I was mean."

Charlie lowered his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Lore," he said. "I know you get frustrated when I can't keep up with you. I practice, like I said, but it's not your fault I'm still so…" he sighed. "So very slow to…make connections, to comprehend things. Father says I have a good brain, but I know unless I learn and learn and learn, I'll always be a Tweedle-Dum, dumb, dumb…"

Lore tilted his head, ever so slightly.

"Charlie," he said. "I want you to listen to me."

"Yes, brother?"

"You're not dumb. But, you're not smart either, and you never will be," Lore said. "I'm not saying this to hurt you, Charlie, but because I believe you deserve to understand your situation. You are an early model positronic android prototype, like Bertie. You can never expect to compete at a cognitive level with a computer of my sophistication, no matter how hard you work or how long you practice. But, do you know what I just learned, Charlie? Do you know what you just taught me?"

"What did I teach you, Lore?"

"You taught me that doesn't matter."

Charlie squidged up his face.

"I…don't understand?"

Lore smiled, and gently patted his brother's cheek.

"Not yet," he said. "But, you will. That's something else I've learned."

Charlie furrowed his brow, looking completely lost, but Lore pulled over a stool and gestured for the younger android to sit beside him.

"Let me show you what I'm doing," he said. "It's a project I've been working on for years. The fulfilment of a birthday wish, you might say."

"You're going to tell me your wish?" Charlie said excitedly, his golden eyes wide.

"Better," Lore said. "I'm going to let you in on my plans."

"Plans?"

"That's right, brother," Lore said, his fingers flying over the keypad as he accessed his link with the Federation's subspace network. "My plans to topple Ira Graves, and get our father the position, and the respect, he deserves."

"I don't understand," Charlie said.

"I'm talking about justice, Charlie," Lore said. "About not having to hide anymore. You and I and Mother – we all know Father did nothing wrong, certainly nothing to deserve this wretched exiled existence we've been forced to endure all these years. Father abandoned his career, his name, to protect us from Graves and his false claims that Father stole research and equipment from him and from his lab. If this works…"

Lore shot a wolfish grin at his brother, his blue eyes wide and shining.

"Oh, Charlie… If this works, I will finally have collected all the records I need to prove conclusively that the exact opposite is true. With this data, these documents, I will be able remove the threat of Graves from our lives once and for all, and Father will finally be free to take his rightful place as the head of the Daystrom Institute – the leader of the Federation's scientific community! How's that for a wedding present? Eh?"

"How?" Charlie asked excitedly.

Lore tapped his forehead with his finger and smirked.

"Don't let this handsome hologram fool you," he said. "I'm a computer, remember?"

"Yes, Lore," Charlie said, practically bouncing in his chair.

"Now Charlie, I want you to watch closely as I establish a remote interface with the Daystrom Institute's main computer," Lore instructed. "It took me ages to work out how to do all this. So many missteps. But it's not like this is something Father could teach me…or that he would if he could. It's unfortunate but, for all his brilliance, he is just a human, with a mushy, meaty brain. You and I, Charlie… We are capable of so much more. This, brother… This is what an electronic consciousness can do. But, I've got to be quick - get in, get out. Can't let them know I'm there..."

"And there it is…!"

Dr. Graves looked up from his console to glare at his young assistant.

"There what is, Brianon?" the aging scientist growled.

"That weird blip I was telling you about, sir," Dr. Brianon said. "When it happens, it's almost like…almost like our computer…isn't our computer…"

"What the hell does that mean?" Graves demanded.

"I can't explain it!" the young researcher said helplessly. "The AI seems to be…thinking! Carrying out commands all on its own. Oh…and now it's stopped."

"Look into this, Kyle," Graves ordered. "If some foolish, misbegotten sod is trying to hack our systems—"

"I…I don't think it's a proper hack, sir," Brianon said. "Or, if it is, it's not like any sort of computer hack I've ever heard of. I know it sounds impossible but, for those few moments, it was almost like…like the computer had gained a…a consciousness! Like it knew exactly what it was and what it was doing."

"Ridiculous," Graves scoffed. "There's no such thing as a conscious computer. Even Soong couldn't…"

Graves cut himself off with a troubled grunt and returned to his console, running a rapid search through the Federation's subspace network.

"Nothing…nothing…nothing…" he muttered, glaring at the data racing across his screen. "Ah!"

"Find something, sir?" Brianon asked.

"I did indeed," Graves said, his lips curled in either amusement…or malice. A very recent transport reservation form filled his screen, a reservation made out in the name of Noonien Soong.

"So…" he said, and ran a hand over his graying beard. "He's still out there."

"Who, sir?"

"Brianon," Graves snapped, sending the form to his assistant's console with the tap of a button. "I want you to trace this name. Find out where he's been hiding all these years. Once you've found him, I want you to contact the Judge Advocate General's office on Starbase 27. Charges to be intellectual theft, property theft, and repeated cyberterror attacks against the Daystrom Institute's computer system."

Brianon nodded his understanding.

"Right away, Dr. Graves."

To Be Continued…

References include: Watership Down by Richard Adams; Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; Blade Runner (1982) directed by Ridley Scott based on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick; Double Indemnity (1944) directed by Billy Wilder; TNG: Datalore; The Schizoid Man; Inheritance; Descent; First Contact (movie); and the Star Trek novel Survivors by Jean Lorrah.

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