Electric Sheep

Posted on Wed Jan 13, 2016 @ 3:35pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings

3,386 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: The Fall
Location: Engineering Lab

Nicole was almost climbing the walls when her savior finally walked in. "Thank God. Two-step it, Torres," she said, taking him by the arm and pulling him towards the surgical bay.

As they rounded the partition, she put her entry code and the doors opened, revealing Penny lying on a table. "Before we go any further," Nicole said, stepping inside, "you need to know that the Captain was made aware of this but that was all. Her condition was classified and the rest of the crew wasn't going to know unless she told them. Circumstances have changed."

She tilted Penny's face away from him, revealing an open access port in her skull. Nicole looked back up at him. "Can you help?"

His eyes opened wide as he realized what it was he was looking at. "She's an android?" he asked. The tone in his voice giving away his excitement. He got closer as he looked at the open port, he had so many questions flooding his mind but he didn't know where to start so he just looked her over. "I need to know everything that happened." he said not answer the question of whether or not he could help or not. Truth was he didn't know yet.

"Honestly, I don't know much," Nicole said. "Her primary operating system is barely functioning. I'm trying to access her diagnostics, but it's like she's completely frozen up. She had a shock from a holodeck emitter days back, and I noticed an error in her system, but she said it was nothing. Evidently it's a lot less nothing than we thought."

"That's putting it mildly," Cassandra said, appearing behind Torres and stepping around him. "This has been going on for some time. When she shorted out, her system sent an auto-distress call, and Captain Edwards intercepted it. Evidently whatever's affecting her primary systems is internal, not a virus."

"Who is Captain Edwards?" Miguel asked as he continued to look over Penny.

"Penny's former Commanding Officer," Nicole said. "Okay, so the hardware's okay, and it's not an external program. So she's just...broken," Nicole said, swallowing hard. "Okay...we need to access her primary diagnostic circuit, it should be protected in her core memory. If we can get access to that, we'll have her own internal tools to tell us what's wrong." She looked at Miguel. "Got room in your lab? I don't have the tools here."

"Yes I have everything we'll need there," Miguel said, "but I also need to know everything about her. I can tell by looking at this circuitry that she isn't a Soong-type android, but so far that's all I know." he said looking up at the two of them and waiting to get more information from them.

Cassandra and Nicole shared a glance, Cassandra nodding to Nicole in deferment. "Computer," Nicole said, "download all available information on Mudd-type androids and Mudd Mark II androids to a padd."

"Authorization required," the computer said.

"Anderson-Delta-Beta-Six-Four-Red," she said. A moment later the surgical replicator activated and a padd appeared. "Here you go," she said. "Specs and diagrams of her parents, and what we have examined of her. As you can imagine, she wasn't keen on letting us pull her apart to see how she works." She pulled up a scan of Penny's head. "That's the chip we need," she said, highlighting a spot.

**********************************

Outside, Tom arrived in sickbay. As much as he'd wanted to be right by Penny's side the moment the Valkyrie had returned, he'd unfortunately been sidetracked on the way. He was too late to slip into the surgical suite, and the orderly was steadfast, saying that Barnes remain outside. It was a helpless feeling, much like the other day when Penny had been electrocuted. How was it two such events could happen so close together?

Of course, he didn't know what had happened yet on the surface, though he was sure he'd learn in time.

**********************************

"Well first thing we need to do is get her to my lab." he said as he was still looking over her schematics. She didn't look as advanced as he would have thought. "I take it we don't want the rest of the ship to know about what she really is?" he asked. Though the he really shouldn't be surprised by it, everyone on this ship seemed to have secrets.

"Not unless she gives consent," Nicole said. She pulled a sheet over Penny's body and pointed at Cassandra to help her. "Grab her shoulders."

The two women lifted Penny onto an anti-grav gurney and Nicole walked into Sickbay to grab her bag, then immediately did an about face and walked back into the surgical bay. "Problem," she said. "Thomas is outside. We'll have to go out the back way."

Cassandra came around the gurney. "You two take care of Penny, I'll speak with Thomas. She left the surgical bay, heading back for Sickbay.

**********************************

Cassandra came out into Sickbay, hands behind her back and walked past the orderly and up behind Thomas. "Did you know, pacing is an evolutionary method to manage stress?"

Tom had never liked sitting still. In fact, he'd thought he'd remained in a chair for a record time while waiting for news about Penny. He hadn't timed himself, but he was sure he'd sat for ten whole seconds before deciding to test the limits of the carpet beneath his feet as he bounced back in forth between nearby walls. He hadn't anticipated the Counselor appearing behind him suddenly, and he wasn't surprised either.

He turned and simply asked, "How is she? What's happening?"

Cassandra's expression was complete sympathy. She gestured toward's Nicole's office. "Let's talk in private." She led him in and sat down next to him on the visitor side of Nicole's desk. "While the away team was down on the planet, Penny seemed to have a bit of a seize up. She's unconscious but last I checked, she's in stable condition. Nicole has a specialist helping her now." She reached over and patted Thomas' hand. "I promise, Thomas, Nicole won't rest until Penny's all right."

"A seize up?" Tom looked up at the Counselor. Why didn't she just call it a seizure? Right now, he just wished there was something he could do.

"That's how Nicole described it. Penny was stuttering, incoherent, then simply collapsed. I wish I could tell you more, but I don't know much more myself, and Nicole's beside herself, but of course she's not showing it. Penny is her best friend; saving her is going to be paramount."

She crossed her legs and folded her hands in in her lap. "There is nothing more frustrating than having to wait while someone you care about is hurt, and I wish I could say you won't have to wait long, but I just don't know. All I can advise for now is you do something to keep yourself and your mind occupied. Sickbay is just a comm call away and I'm sure as soon as they know something, they'll contact you."

Tom slowly nodded. A huge part of him just wanted to stay here in sickbay and just wait. He then felt the chevrons weighing down his collar. Perhaps it would be best to focus on the crew and duty instead of waiting for hours in sickbay. To the Counselor, Tom nodded again, albeit slowly.

"I'll check in with you in a couple hours. Until then, have some faith and some hope, and keep sending her good thoughts," Cassandra said. She stood up and put a hand on his shoulder, steering him towards the door back to Sickbay. "Keep your chin up. Things will work out."

"I hope so," Tom replied with a hollow smile while accepting her gentle push out the door. Before he knew it, he was by himself out in the main sickbay, separated from the surgical area. Sighing, Tom reluctantly turned on his heels and left, hoping to find something to do to keep his mind off of things.

(Tag Sanders?)

**********************************

"No need to move her through sickbay and corridors that would announce to the world that something is wrong." Miguel told the doctor. He walked over to the nearby sickbay computer and entered a few commands. When he was done he walked back over to the gurney. He looked up to the Doctor "Computer initiate Torres site to site 15." With that the familiar light from the transporter enveloped them and whisked them away.

*********************************

A few moments later Miguel, Nicole, and Penny on her gurney appeared in the cybernetics lab. Miguel moved over and cleared things out of the way so they'd be able to work around Penny more comfortably. "I have some studying to do." he said as he held up the padd indicating the information on it.

Nicole nodded. "Of course," she said, understanding she was on the other side of the situation now. "I'll just...sit in the 'visitor's area.'" She pulled up a chair next to Penny, holding the girl's hand and praying to Providence to keep her numbers in balance.


Miguel had sat there reading over the data for awhile as he studied the schematics he had been given. He had no idea how much time had passed he was to fascinated by what he was seeing. "Okay.... if I've understood this correctly it seems to me that she essentially has encountered something that her mind is having issues processing. Now she is much more advanced than the other androids that proceeded her. However it seems that she had finally come across something that needs her to make contact with the controller android Norman. But with us being in the Delta quadrant I don't think that's possible. So what we need to do is find a way to help her figure out what she is trying to process."

"That's standard protocol," Nicole said. "Norman is the central coordinating node for her people. If you can remove the diagnostic chip I highlighted, we can have her own diagnostic interface lead us to the problem."

"I'm not sure I like the idea of removing parts from her. Especially since we don't know what kind of effect that would have on her. Could it clear up the problem, whether it's by leading us to it or just do it on it's own.. yeah. But there's also a chance that we could lose the Naroot we know." He said as he walked over to the table Penny was laying on. He looked down and knew immediately that even though there was a chance that they could lose her, he'd never forgive himself if they lost her because he didn't at least try. He place his hand on her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "I'll do my best." he told her and then began to gather everything he thought he would need.

Nicole smiled and stood up. She knew the drill when the Chief of Surgery began: scram. "The chip is supposed to be removable, so you shouldn't have any trouble. There's an access port by the parietal lobe." She paused, then said, "sorry. Here," she pressed a spot in Penny's skull and part of her hair moved as an access panel flipped open. "Please let me know as soon as you've learned anything. I'll be in Sickbay if you need me."

"I will." he said without looking up as he looked at the now open port and saw the chip.

Nicole smiled at him again and left the lab quickly to return to her domain.

Miguel was able to remove the chip with little difficulty. He studied it for a bit and then plugged it into a data port so that he could access it through the labs computer. Hopefully this chip would be able to give him some idea of how to fix her.

The computer suddenly beeped and said, "program activated." Behind Miguel, a hologram shimmered to life, and Penny stood there, arms draped behind her back, wearing a loose-fitting tunic-style out fit. "Diagnostic control for Penelope Series, Unit One-Hundred-Twenty-One now online. All diagnostic systems functioning within expected parameters. Accessing interface systems, please stand by." Her blue eyes stared into the distance for a moment, then she turned her head and focused on Miguel. "Good evening, Commander. I trust you are well?"

"For the most part, at least nothing to complain about." he replied. "But you on the other hand seem to be having some issues." he added.

Penny nodded. "My primary operating system is being slowed by the analysis of an errant subroutine." She took his padd from him and brought up a section of coding. "This program is used to help assimilate new data and define emotional responses. It has encountered something it deemed 'unquantifiable.' As it used up processing power, I've been rerouting my main systems to avoid shutdown, however the program is now using 99.7 percent of my processing power. The program needs to be reinitialized so that the subroutine can be either purged or defined." She handed back the padd to Miguel. "Fortunately that is not a complicated process, and I believe I have the subroutine now quantified in general, if not specifics. A re-initialization should solve the problem, but I am too far gone to do it internally."

"So I'm assuming you'll need me to reinitialize the program. But what will happen to you? Are we in danger of losing any memories or aspects of your personality?" he asked the hologram.

"Unlikely," Penny said. "My core memory is intact. I am, for all intents and purposes, in a coma. The initialization will, at worst, have me reset my assimilation program and I will lose a few idioms, however there is a 89.45% chance that there will be no ill effects. Your concern is appreciated and will be noted in my report."

"Alrighty then." he said as he walked over to her head. He wished he had more time to study her specs before doing this, but he also didn't want to risk anymore damage to her. He used his sonic probe and activated the reinitialization program. Then he stood back and waited.

"Commencing re-initialization," Penny said. "You will need to reinsert the diagnostic circuit once she is online. I will dematerialize at that point. Online status in three minutes..."


*********************************

Standing behind a transporter console didn't help. Trying to play poker with the top NCOs didn't help. Tidying his quarters didn't help either. Tom simply could not shake the thought that something was seriously wrong with Penny. He'd watched her be horribly shocked a few days ago, and since then many questions had floated in his mind. No human should have survived that. Perhaps she had some sort of non-human DNA as part of her genome. He knew she hailed from Hawaii, and there wasn't too much else.

He'd already lapped the sickbay deck twice as he was tempted to walk in and wait anyway. But the good counselor was right. He couldn't sit there and do nothing. Instead, the answer was simple. It was time to tinker.

Tom had been wanting for a while to do some serious maintenance on the pad in Transporter Room 1. He'd cleared it with Lieutenant Evans and promptly shut down the room. But before he could go any deeper, Tom had to pick up some tools. Most had been easy to procure, but apparently, the only free magnetic decoupler and tri-phase induser on the ship were in the Cybernetics lab. Why they were there of all places, he'd never know, but he stopped in front of the door anyway, only to find it locked.

Strange...

He entered his authorization code to unlock the door. And it wasn't until after he'd stepped inside when he realized that he was in a place that he shouldn't be. There were... two Pennys? And somehow he caught the Chief Engineer with his back turned. Tom couldn't help himself as "What the..." fell right out of his mouth.

The diagnostic program turned to look at the newcomer fully. She accessed the ship's personnel records, and her face fell slightly. "Oh dear, I'm afraid you aren't supposed to be here yet," she said.

Suddenly the system beeped. "System restored to one hundred percent," she said automatically, and dissolved.

Miguel head what the hologram had said and turned to see Chief Barns there. He said the look of surprise on his face, but time was of the essence so he went back to work and replaecd the diganostic chip in the slot and then made sure that any exposed circutry was covered up again.

Penny's eyes fluttered open and she sat up. She grinned wide, and jumped down, hugging Miguel. "It worked! I'm--" she stopped dead as she saw Thomas and the color drained from her face. She immediately felt her hair, and the exposed circuitry underneath. "Tom...I can explain..."

It took a lot to shock or surprise Tom. He knew very well that he'd seen less than a fraction of a tenth of a percent of what the galaxy had to offer in the last twenty years. This, however, was something he'd never thought to expect. "You're... an android?" he stammered out. It honestly explained a lot, especially the incident in the holodeck. "How... When... What... ?" Tom found himself unable to compose any coherent thought.

Penny grabbed for her access panel and quickly turned away for privacy, securing it back against her skull, the skin mending seamlessly. When she turned back to Thomas she was looking her normal self, but her big blue eyes were brimming with tears. "Thomas, I didn't know how to tell you. I didn't even know if I'd need to bring it up. There was this problem...inside. I had something, an emotion, I didn't know what to call it. I couldn't really pin it down and I have studied all of them and I just...well I kinda have it sorted out now and I was going to tell you everything I swear..." She took a step closer to him, hopefully.

Tom could still not compose any sort of sentence. Even as he tried to compose himself, his thoughts would not transform into any sort of verbal communication. "Penny... I..." Tom sighed, looked around the room, spotting once again the Chief Engineer. "I... can't do this... not here." Even as he said the words, he was sure that the implication was that he could not go on with the relationship. In truth, he didn't know what to think. But to deal with a matter this important needed to be done in private. And as much as Tom would have liked to do it right here in the lab, he was sure the Chief Engineer and Penny were not finished with their... their work.

Instead, he grabbed the tools he sought, which were so conveniently laying on the nearby counter and left the lab.

Penny felt the tears coming before she could override them. It started with a little sniffle, then a choked sob, then she just sank down into a chair and put her face in her hands and bawled. She sat there for what seemed like hours till the doors to the lab opened again and Nicole walked in. Penny immediately jumped up and threw her arms around Nicole's neck and hugged her tight, crying into her friend's shoulder.

Nicole held Penny tight, looking to Miguel in confusion. "Penny, whatever it is, it'll be all right." She looked to Torres for help, completely confused.

"Chief Barnes came in a little while ago and saw her while I was finishing up." he informed the new arrival.

"Oh no," Nicole said, horror on her face. She hugged Penny tighter and nodded to Torres. "Thank you, for everything. I'll get her to her quarters." She guided Penny, still crying, out into the corridor and to her bed, steeling herself for a long night.

"Sounds like a good idea, I've been up so long know I don't know what's keeping me awake." he said as he went about making sure the lab was cleaned up before he went to quarters to sleep.

Penny Naroot
CFO

Nicole Andreson
CMO

Thomas Barnes
Chief Transporter Specialist

Miguel Torres
Chief Engineer

Cassandra Sanders
Chief Counselor

 

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