Part 18 (1/2)
”It is what I was designed for.”
”Not only that, surely,” said Rikan. ”You said experience a moment ago. I can see that you have feelings, that you are concerned about your colleague Natasha, and about your duty to the organization you serve.”
”You read my concerns very well,” Data admitted.
”I have many years' experience over you,” said Rikan. ”I was surprised to find out how short a time you have been ... alive?”
”Conscious,” Data supplied.
”Is not the organic part of your makeup alive?”
”In a sense; it does require nutrients, and replenishes itself. That part of me, however, existed in stasis for an unknown length of time before my consciousness was awakened.”
”Ah,” said Rikan, ”how intriguing. Can you remember being brought to consciousness? Or are you like a person, who cannot remember the moment of birth?”
Birth. Tasha had called it that, ”Then this very spot was your birthplace,” when she saw his home.
”It is the first event I can remember. My mind was not a tabula rasa; I was already programmed with language, a great deal of basic knowledge, and information gathered by four hundred colonists on my home planet.”
”I wonder,” Rikan mused, ”whether that would be a greater or a lesser shock than birth. I suppose no one will ever know, as no one can experience both.”
”No, sir,” Data responded automatically-and then realized the implied question. ”Not at current levels of technology. And if it should ever become possible to transfer human consciousness into an android body ... I do not know if, having once been human, a person could adapt.”
Rikan studied him. ”Do you feel less than human, Data?”
”I am ... other than human. I am stronger and faster than any fully-organic humanoid. I have more information at my immediate disposal, and can manipulate it more efficiently. Still, I am capable of learning and growing-not merely increasing my information files.”
”Obviously,” Rikan told him with a smile. ”I have never felt impelled to have a conversation like this one with the very clever computer system Adrian installed here. You are clearly a person, Data.”
”Yes. Still, I would be human if I could. I look at you, sir, for example, and while I know that with experience I am learning judgment, I wonder if it is possible for me to acquire wisdom.”
The smile broadened. ”Ah, Data-do you not see that your question is its own answer?”
Data did not. ”Sir?” he asked with a puzzled frown.
”Never mind,” said Rikan. ”You will outgrow that quandary-and discover others. Do you age physically?”
”Apparently not, sir. However, I have existed for too short a time for conclusive estimates as to how long I may continue. As Tasha frequently reminds me, I am not indestructible, but unless I suffer irreparable damage, Starfleet scientists believe this body will last several centuries.”
”You may not suffer the physical indignities of age, but long life has other cruelties, far worse than loss of strength and keenness of the senses. Survivors are considered fortunate, Data-and the irony is that those who envy us our longevity either do not live long enough to know the cruel fate in store for us ... or else they live to share it.”
”Sir?”
Rikan stared past Data, at nothing. ”I had a wife once, and a beautiful daughter. I had good friends and colleagues, who shared the same experiences I did. They are all gone now-including many who were younger than I. My child, gone before me. My wife, following within the year. My friends, the companions of my young manhood-all are gone now.”
The warlord's eyes refocused on Data. ”Did your designers realize what they would subject you to, when they gave you both sapience and sentience, and then condemned you to outlive everyone you love?”
”I do not know whether I am capable of love, sir.”
”How can you not know, when I know upon one day's acquaintance?”
”I cannot procreate,” Data explained. ”There is no reason for me to be designed with the capacity for-”
Rikan laughed. ”Ah, Data, how very young-and how very human-you are in that respect! To confuse the mating drive with the love born of fellows.h.i.+p is utterly typical of young people. No, no-I am speaking of love for one's friends and colleagues, which you display in abundance.” The laughter faded once more into ineffable sadness. ”And that cause of greatest joy is also the source of greatest pain.”
”I understand,” said Data.
Rikan gave him a sad smile. ”No, you do not, but you will ... and perhaps sooner than you think. Data, you were created as what Adrian calls a 'survivor.' Jevsithian says that Adrian is a survivor, whether by fate or doom or simply strength of will. You heard the seer's prophecy?”
”Such prophecies cannot be scientifically tested,” Data pointed out.
”But if it should come true, what do you think it means?”
”To win and yet lose? To win the battle, but die, I should think.”
”Possibly,” said Rikan. ”We organic people are also capable of logic, Data. The first moment you saw Adrian you attempted to arrest him. I do not think you can s.h.i.+rk that duty, and the charges you named-murder, conspiracy, treason-are surely punishable by death.”
”The Federation has no death penalty,” Data explained.
Rikan closed his eyes with a shudder. ”I feared as much. Incarceration, then, for the rest of his life.”
”Confinement to a rehabilitation colony,” Data said, ”and only until he is cured of his aberration.”
”The name makes no difference. You do not know Adrian well yet. To lose his freedom would be far worse than death to such a man. And that, I think, is why the seer said he would first win all-which augurs well for Treva-and then lose.”
The brilliant old eyes opened again, looking at Data with a question in their depths. ”Lord Rikan,” the android said, ”please do not ask that of me. For all the good he may have done since, Darryl Adin did once turn traitor to everything he purported to believe in. If I neglected the opportunity to return him to Federation justice ... I would be doing exactly the same thing.”
Tasha Yar spent the next two days with Darryl Adin, their old camaraderie reawakened as they plotted to subst.i.tute barrels of a placebo for the Riatine being carried to Treva's cities. With the routes and schedules Data supplied, it was a simple operation: when each truck stopped and the operators left it to have a meal, it was surrounded by similar vehicles, s.h.i.+elding it from surveillance as its cargo was rapidly removed and replaced by placebo in identical containers. The operators of those other vehicles-all Trevans from Rikan's territory-distracted their fellows of the road while the exchange was accomplished. Sdan, Poet, Aurora, and Pris provided means of disabling or fooling the vehicles' sensors. Child's play, as Data had put it, with their information, equipment, and expertise.
By dinnertime on the second day, all was accomplished without incident, everyone was back at Rikan's castle, and good cheer reigned.
Yar and Data, of course, had not been allowed to go along. As Yar waited for Dare to return, she knew she had made a decision: he had outwitted her and Data both, and certainly had a plan devised for his own escape when his mission here was over. While she could not in good conscience just let him go, she would do nothing to antic.i.p.ate his escape. She would simply trust him to plan something as unique as his trap for Data.
The android, meanwhile, was far quieter than usual. With the strategy room nearly empty, she missed the friendly talk they had shared on the way here. He suspects, she thought grimly. I wonder if he thinks I would actually aid Dare to escape? But she couldn't ask; better to let Data worry about her loyalties than plot to prevent Dare's escape.
After dinner, everyone crowded into Rikan's parlor to continue the celebration. Thus it was easy for Dare and Yar to slip out to the balcony, and thence away from the noise to Rikan's music room, where they had come before. Like the rest of the castle, it retained its ancient atmosphere and furnis.h.i.+ngs, while modern technology produced exquisite sound at the press of b.u.t.tons hidden inside a small enamelled box on one of the tables.
Dare programmed up something soft and un.o.btrusive, and they sat talking quietly for a time. Finally, Dare said, ”I want you with me, Tasha.”
”What?” she asked, startled, fearing he meant to ask her to run away with him.
”When we strike, three days from now-when the effects of the drug wear off, and we organize the uprising against Nalavia. I want you at my side.”
”I can't,” she said tightly. ”The Prime Directive-”
”Tasha, this planet called for Starfleet help! Give it!”