(Standard Year 2253)
Return to Valjiir Stories
The office of Secretary Aldil was just a bit crowded. Besides the Enterprise party, Harry Mudd, Ovil, and his five corporate cohorts, there were four members of what Jim could only assume were the Fourth Majestic Brigade as well as six governmental guards and the Secretary himself.
"...and there will be formal charges presented against you, General Ekad, and sanctions placed against the GGC, Master Ovil, for the illegalities regarding the attempted purchase of forbidden contraband - for which, you, Master Mudd, will also be facing legal action."
"If you don't mind my saying so," Mudd offered conciliatorily, "since there hasn't been any actual delivery of the alleged contraband..."
"Which we have yet to verify," Secretary Aldil cut him off.
"I refute your jurisdiction over me and my people," Ekad blustered. "We are an independent faction and are not subject to..."
"You and your 'people' are reprobates and traitors," Aldil returned, "and we will deal with you in the manner prescribed by our laws!"
"Secretary," Ovil put in smoothly, "surely you can see that we of the GGC were actually trying to enforce the law by helping the Federation remove this Human and the threat he poses to our way of life..."
"We know all about your unholy contract, Ovil," the Secretary sneered. "You would have conspired with the Human to destroy our way of life..."
"Gentlemen," Jim interrupted loudly, "may I suggest that you allow me to transport Mr. Mudd to my ship - as per your request to the Federation, Mr. Secretary - and leave you to your own planetary politics, as is Federation policy?"
"No one is leaving Gwindias until I know where those androids are!" Aldil shouted.
"So much for diplomacy," McCoy mumbled.
Jim turned to Mudd. "Well, Harry?" he asked pointedly.
The large man blinked innocently. "I don't know where they are," he said, then held up one hand, the other going to his chest. "And that's the gods' honest truth."
Spock's eyebrow rose and Jim sighed. "How did you get here, Harry? You must have a ship somewhere..."
"You might want to ask the good General that question, Jimmy-boy," Mudd returned slyly.
Ekad folded his arms, his lips thinning. Secretary Aldil glared at him, then turned to Ovil.
"You tried to purchase these abominations," he said. "Where are they?"
"If I knew, the deal would have been concluded before this Human sought to consort with traitors," Ovil answered.
"So you DID have a deal in place!" Aldil shot back in triumph.
"My apologies, Secretary," Jim put in quickly. "The Federation will do everything in its power to negate any business transactions Mr. Mudd may have engaged in..."
"You don't understand, Captain," Ovil interrupted with a glare of his own. "The government has no right to interfere in the free market."
"They believe they do, sir," Jim returned before the Secretary could muster up another show of indignation.. "And our mission here is at their request."
"So do something useful, Kirk!" Aldil demanded. "Find out where these androids are!"
With a second sigh, Jim faced the Secretary, but was interrupted in what he'd been about to say by a commotion at the doorway to Aldil's office.
"The Auroras Retainers WILL be heard on this matter!" came a shrill voice that to Jim's ears had a definite feminine ring to it. It was followed by a small group of ikan in what was, from the briefing information, old-style native dress. "Secretary Aldil, we demand that the presence on our world of these - aliens - cease immediately!" she continued as she pushed her way past the guards.
Paget was shaking his head and Jim could only imagine the Security Chief's distain for such poor training.
"Minister Renna," the Secretary said from between clenched teeth, "this is a purely governmental issue..."
"Which is at the heart of our opposition's platform!" Renna broke in. "We do NOT want the outside interference of ANY not native to our world and our beliefs!"
"Which is a matter for parliamentary discussion, not to be divulged to off-worlders," Aldil continued tightly.
"So get them off the planet!" the Minister nearly screeched.
"This is gettin' more complicated by the second, Jim," McCoy murmured.
Jim nodded wearily.
It took some doing, and a liberal application of Spock's logic, but Jim was finally able to convince Secretary Aldil to allow him and his party to attempt to force the location of Mudd's ship and the androids from the trader in private. They were led to a small side-room with two guards and Paget snorted at the ineffectual attempt at security.
"All right, Harry, where are they?" Jim said.
Mudd actually looked nervous. "I tell you, Jim, I don't know!"
"Mr. Mudd, since you were attempting to sell them, surely you must have been able to guarantee delivery," Spock countered.
"But that's just the point, my green-skinned friend," Harry returned. "I wasn't."
"Wasn't what?" Jim asked.
"Trying to sell them."
"Pull the other one, Harry."
"I swear by the heavens above...." the large man began.
"Cut the crap, Mudd," Paget said, and there was something in the tone of his voice that stopped the Trader in mid-exhortation.
"Truly, Captain, none of this was my idea," he said again, then leaned forward, his voice lowering. "It was them."
"Them? You mean the Gwindians?"
"No." Harry shuddered, his voice dropping even lower. "The androids."
Jim glanced at Spock, his eyebrows rising just as the Vulcan's were.
"Androids are non-sentient, bio-mechanical creations...." Spock began.
"Not anymore, Mr. Spock."
"I beg your pardon..."
"What did you say?" McCoy broke in. "What do you mean 'not anymore'?"
"Well, don't ask me how it happened, Doctor," Harry returned. "All I know is one day the creatures came to me and said if I'd help them get off their bloody planet, they'd deactivate the Stellas." Mudd shuddered again, this time much more violently and much more openly. "What else was I to do? They let me contact a passing freighter and we - borrowed it, then traveled to where I could - borrow - a small ship that would suit their needs and..."
"When you say they came to you..." Spock attempted again.
"It happened just that way, Mr. Spock," Mudd vowed. "They came to me - one of the Normans, I believe...."
"One of?" Jim interjected. "When we last visited you, there was only one, and we succeeded in neutralizing him."
"They created another one," Mudd answered, "then another, then another... They were all linked together, Kirk, like giant ambulatory computer chips."
"Fascinating," Spock commented, and turned to Jim. "Captain, if the androids were indeed successful in duplicating the central processing unit that was Norman, and managed to link the programming together, there could have been enough biochemical replication to achieve true thought - and true sentience."
"You see?" Mudd said, gesturing expansively. "I told you. They want contact with other people, Kirk, and lots of it."
"So you're in essence now serving them, is that it, Harry?" Jim asked.
"May the heavens help me, yes. They wanted a race with an advanced enough technology to be accepted, but not one more advanced than what they'd seen of the Federation. Frankly, Jimmy, me boy, I thought to drop them off and get out as fast as I could."
"Leaving them behind to create their very own master race," Paget suddenly put in. He strode across the small room and grabbed Mudd's shirt. "You know they'll eventually enslave these beings, don't you," he growled. It wasn't a question.
"As they themselves now feel enslaved, no doubt, Mr. Paget." Spock countered.
"While making a profit on the sale," McCoy added sourly.
"Well, a man does have to make a living, now, doesn't he, Doctor?" Mudd replied, shrugging off the Security Chief's hands.
"You are aware, Mr. Mudd, that if the androids are truly sentient, such trafficking is illegal," Spock pointed out.
"Ah, yes, but that's Federation law, and we're not in the Federation, are we, my dear Mr. Spock?" Harry's grin was positively beaming.
Spock nearly frowned. Jim did.
"And Gwindian law has forbidden the sale of them here," he stated.
"Which is under dispute, as the good people of the Gwindian Galactic Conglomerate made clear," Mudd answered. "Prime Directive protection, Jimmy-boy, forbids you from interfering in their internal politics."
Jim's frown deepened.
"Not, Captain, when the government has requested our aid," Spock contradicted.
"The Brigade has them, don't they, Mudd?" Paget said.
Harry fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, yes - most of them..."
"But you don't know where they're keeping them," Jim added for him, "so you can honestly say you don't know where they are." He shook his head. "Harry, Harry..."
"I suggest, Captain," Jeremy rejoined, "that we see if the government would agree to me and my security team having a little talk with General Ekad - alone."
"The General won't divulge such information lightly," Spock advised, "and certainly not to us."
"There's talk and then there's talk," the Security Chief said.
"Mr. Paget, I trust you are not suggesting we attempt to use force to..."
"Torture is illegal in the Federation, too, son," McCoy warned.
Paget grinned. "But, Doctor, does General Ekad know that?"
If there was one thing the Gwindian government and the Auroras Retainers could agree on, it was the need to find out where the Fourth Majestic Brigade was holding Mudd's ship and cargo. General Ekad drew himself up in proper military fashion, his dignified bearing promising that there would be no information gotten from him as Paget and his team escorted him back to the small room the Federation officers had just left.
"General, have a seat, sir," Jeremy said, gesturing to one of the smallish chairs in the room.
"I prefer to stand," was the reply.
Paget shrugged, taking a seat himself. "Suit yourself." His team arranged themselves around their chief and the recalcitrant general. "Now we can do this the hard way or the easy way," Jeremy continued, idly running his fingers over the phaser rifle he'd laid across his thighs. "The hard way is this - you don't tell me a damned thing and the Federation waits until you organize your little army, then we come back here and blast them and you to kingdom come." He grinned, his teeth very white against his cinnamon-colored lips. "Or you tell me where you've got these prototypes stashed and we negotiate for leniency with your government, seeing as how you've been so cooperative."
"There is a third alternative, Commander," Ekad replied humorlessly. "I tell you nothing, my army prepares for the eventuality you've just so kindly laid out, and after we've taken over the government of Gwindias, we tell you and your Federation to go to hell."
Paget snorted, his team doing a not very convincing job of hiding their own snickers of amusement. "Really?" Jeremy asked. "And you have the ability to manufacture phasers, do you? And force shields? And starships?"
Ekad stared back at the TerAfrican with steely appraisal. "We are not as backward as you seem to think."
Jeremy rose, his team automatically readying their weapons. "Maybe not, General, but let me assure you that I - personally - am a lot more backward than a lot of people realize." He held out his rifle to the nearest officer, taking a step toward the much shorter Gwindian. "Coming back here will be tedious," he said. Ekad paled as Paget loomed over him. "I really hate tedious," Jeremy continued, cracking his knuckles.
General Ekad moved back a step.
"Almost as much as I hate having to recommend a waste of Fleet's precious time and resources." Paget moved his head from side to side, making his neck crack ominously. The Gwindian actually flinched, taking another step back, almost bumping into the security officer who had moved up silently behind him. "Ah, there's a thought," Jeremy said as if interrupting himself. "Resources. Tell me General. Do you even have the materials you'll need for the androids to create this army of yours?"
"Materials?" the General asked warily.
"What, you think they're going to make the parts they need to manufacture more like them just appear out of thin air?"
"We have mines, and industries..." Ekad blustered.
"Can you make syntha-skin? Advanced micro-electronics? My dear General Ekad, even the Federation isn't certain how these androids were created. If we were, do you think a minor-leaguer like Harry Mudd would actually be selling them?" He let the implication that the Federation would have had a mass army of androids themselves hang in the air.
"But... but... he said they were capable of self-replication..." the Gwindian stammered.
"Of course he did. He's a liar and a cheat." Just because he's not lying about this... Paget added to himself.
"That... that... " Ekad said something in the Gwindian language that hadn't been included in the mission briefing and Jeremy chuckled sympathetically.
"So perhaps, General, you'll do us ALL a favor and tell us where you've secured his ship - before the what I assume is a rather extensive exchange of monetary assets into Mudd's bank accounts goes through."
"If you'll allow me to get to a communications relay, Commander?" Ekad said through tightly clenched teeth.
"You'll have to check with Secretary Aldil for that," Jeremy returned, and gestured towards the door. His team moved aside to allow the General to move toward it.
"You're brilliant, Chief," Lieutenant Dyson commented.
"Don't I know it," was Jeremy's smiling reply.
Secretary Aldil was only too happy to comply, much to the obvious distress of Officer Ovil, who alternated between glaring at Paget, Captain Kirk, the General, the Secretary and Minister Renna. The ikan came up to the Chief of Security and gave a formal if stiff bow.
"We are not in the habit of thanking off-worlders," she intoned, "but we would be remiss in our duty if we did not express our gratitude - assuming, of course, the General actually provides us with the information necessary to remove the abominations from our world."
Jeremy nodded graciously, well aware that he and the Enterprise party were included in that designation.
"Yes, I know," Ekad was saying into the communications terminal, "but I'm between a chelta and the Wrath. The materials we would need are beyond us anyway. Release the Human's ship and its cargo."
"Where are they, General Ekad?" Aldil demanded.
"At one of our bases, ten kilometers out of the city," Ekad returned with a scowl.
"And the ship?" Jim wanted to know.
Ekad looked him blankly. "In orbit, I assume, Captain."
Jim closed his eyes and turned to Mudd. "Harry..." he began.
"The androids are piloting it, Jimmy-boy," the large Human returned. "Gods only know where they've taken it."
Jim sighed and took out his communicator.
"Enterprise, this is Captain Kirk," he said.
"Enterprise, Uhura here," came the immediate reply.
"Any word on Mudd's vessel?" Jim asked.
"No, sir, we've scanned for any engine trace, but so far, nothing."
"We'll be requesting transport for..." He glanced at Mudd, who sighed and held up the fingers of both hands, then added another. "...eleven androids and Mr. Mudd within the hour. Have Security accommodations prepared. Kirk out." He glanced at the Gwindians. "Gentlebeings, shall we get to the Brigade's base and get this over with?"
There were two Esthers, two Yolandas, two Harolds, two Percys, two Marthas, and one Norman - Number 2 - waiting patiently at the compound. General Ekad had, of course, accompanied the Enterprise officers, as had Secretary Aldil, Master Ovil and, despite her clear distaste, Minister Renna. She insisted, wanting to see with her own eyes that the 'abominations' were transported off the planet. Norman 2 stepped forward, extending his hand.
"Captain James Kirk," he said. Jim and Spock exchanged glances, and the android smiled. "I have my predecessor's knowledge of you." He turned to Spock. "And of you, Mr. Spock, and of the good Dr. McCoy." He nodded to McCoy. "These others are unknown to me, with the exception, of course, of our friend Harry, and Master Ovil, and the esteemed general." His gaze settled on the two other Gwindians, his head tilting expectantly.
Aldil blinked despite his belligerent stance. Renna shuddered, murmuring "abomination!"
"Uh, Norman..." Harry began.
"Do NOT give this - thing - my name!" Renna protested.
"I wasn't about to, my dear - ikan," Harry returned smoothly. "Norman, I'm sorry to say that the - arrangement you wanted isn't going to go through. The beings of Gwindias don't want you here."
"Indeed?" Norman said. "Unfortunate, as we are already here."
"The Federation is here to transport you off our planet," Aldil announced. "The matter has been decided."
"We have not so decided, sir," Norman replied evenly. "Harry, this is not as we require."
"Yes, I know that, laddie," Harry said, clearly nervous. "But it's out of my hands, you see."
Norman's eyes narrowed. "Then we will negotiate for ourselves."
Aldil stepped forward, grasping the android's arm. His hand was brushed off with no more than a twitch of Norman's arm. The secretary blinked in clear surprise.
"Captain Kirk!" he protested.
"If I may, Captain?" Spock interrupted. With a shrug, Jim gestured to his First Officer. Spock stepped in front of the android. "Norman, you spoke of your requirements. If I may ask, what is it you want?"
"Freedom, Mr. Spock," Normal replied evenly. "The opportunity to decide our own destiny."
"Those are requirements of sentient beings," Spock pointed out.
"So they are, Mr. Spock," Norman said, "and so are we."
"Indeed? If this can be proven to the scientists of the Federation, we would be obliged to aid you in such an endeavor."
"Spock, what are you saying?" McCoy interrupted.
"Only the truth of the situation, Doctor," Spock answered, cautioning the Human with a swift glance. "If the androids are sentient, Federation law would demand we see to their protection."
"IF they asked for it," Jim added quickly, catching the drift of Spock's intent. "And assuming, as you said, that they could demonstrate their sentience."
There were excited murmurings from the other androids. The patch at Norman's chest began blinking and, as he had before - or as had his predecessor during the previous encounter - went very still. After a few seconds, he spoke again.
"How are we to establish such demonstration?" he asked.
"I think, Norman, that that could be best handled aboard the Enterprise," Spock returned.
The patch blinked again, then Norman said, "I am authorized to accompany you. My people will remain here to ensure..."
"That will not be sufficient," Spock interrupted. "We must be assured that all members of your - people - have the same abilities."
"We have your guarantee that if we are able to establish our bone fides to your satisfaction that we will be returned?"
"We can guarantee that your requirements will be given all due consideration," Jim interjected. "But the people of Gwindias have their own requirements, and they are not part of the Federation. We cannot speak for them."
"General Ekad?" Norman said, turning to the Gwindian.
"The general is not the authority here!" Aldil barked.
Norman turned a bland gaze to him. "And you are?"
"Secretary Aldil, the head of the Gwindian government."
"Secretary, may I ask why you find our presence here so objectionable? We have much to offer your planet."
"You have nothing to offer us!" Renna blazed. "You are an abomination to the people of Gwindias!"
Ekad and Ovil shook their heads.
"Harry, this is not as you told us," Norman said to Mudd, his voice tinged with clear accusation.
"How was I to know that these beings would be so close-minded?" Harry protested.
"Gentlemen," Jim rejoined. "We're getting ahead of ourselves. "Norman, we can confirm your sentience on the Enterprise and leave the Gwindians to respond afterwards." He grinned. "That's logical, isn't it?"
"We are not confined by logic, Captain Kirk," Normal reminded, "but your words have merit." Again the patch at his chest blinked. "We will accompany you, then deal with the Gwindians from a position of strength."
Jim turned to Paget, speaking softly. "Mr. Paget, I'll expect you to provide adequate security for our guests."
The Security Chief nodded. "Understood, Captain."
"But unnecessary," Norman added. "Our hearing is more acute that that of Humans, Captain."
Jim made a face. "So I see, Norman." He opened his communicator. "Uhura, initiate the transporters."
Dr. Han had converted a stateroom to a comfortable lounge for use in therapy sessions or other psychological interviews. There was a pair of austere chairs, a pair of cushioned ones, an overstuffed sofa, a recliner, and a vid screen, along with end tables and even an old-fashioned bookcase, stocked with vintage volumes. The bulkheads had been repainted to resemble civilian architecture, and there were a couple of tasteful but inexpensive paintings on the walls. It looked like nothing so much as a typical middle-class living room. "Atmosphere is everything," she had explained to the Captain when making her unorthodox requests.
She was relaxing in one of the simple chairs, next to a small table on which was a table-lamp made of driftwood. She was reading from her statboard when her guests arrived. She was dressed in civvies - a simple but elegant dress in a Chinese style, something she might well wear when taking her ease on leave. She gave a bright smile as the three men came in, and placed the statboard on the end table. It displayed a page from a book of Chinese poetry, light reading for an unhurried afternoon.
"Gentlemen!" she greeted them, gaining her feet as the door hissed shut.
"Dr. Han," Jim began, but she cut him off.
"Jade, please," she insisted.
He smiled. "Jade. This is Norman. Norman, this is our ship's psych--"
"Jade Han. Resident busybody and unofficial greeter," she again interrupted. She held out her hand. "I'm pleased to meet you, Norman."
The android looked down at her extended appendage, and held his head to one side. Then he nodded, and accepted the handshake. "Hello, Doctor Jade Han," he answered.
She laughed. "You needn't be formal." She glanced at Spock. "Would you like some tea?" she asked. "I was just about to make some."
The Vulcan blinked, surprised. "I had assumed there would be a more structured series of tests—"
She waved off whatever he was about to say. "You can do that later, Mr. Spock. This is my interview." She stepped to the replicator set into one wall, and ordered two cups of green tea. "I'd offer you one," she said over her shoulder to Norman, "but I know you don't drink—anything. And Captain, you as well, but you're not staying."
"I'm not?" He looked momentarily confused, and perhaps a bit hurt.
She shook her head. "When Dr. McCoy told me you were on your way, he also said he had some urgent business for you in sickbay." She turned back toward them, holding two saucers on which rested cups of steaming liquid. She inclined her head toward the door, expectantly. "So, see you later, James."
He drew a breath and cleared his throat. "I really think," he began.
She lowered her head, and raised her brows at him, but her eyes were twinkling. "Later," she insisted.
He glanced from Spock to Norman to Jade to Spock, and said, "I'll expect a full—"
"Bones is waiting," said Jade.
Kirk chuckled, still uncertain, and he shook his head. "Have a - productive - interview," he said, and turned to go.
Jade handed one cup to Spock, and smiled at Norman. "Please," she said, "have a seat." The door hissed shut behind the retreating Captain.
Norman had been following the exchange closely, looking from one to another of them, his face not quite expressionless. "Where?" he asked, glancing about at the multitude of possibilities.
Jade shrugged. "Wherever you choose. Be comfortable. We may be here a while."
The android blinked. "Comfort is not a concern," he said, and chose a straight-backed chair of simulated wood.
Spock accepted the cup of tea with a nod. "Thank you, Doctor," he said.
She frowned at him. "Jade, please," she said, a little curtly. She waived at the chairs.
He seated himself in a chair much like Norman's, and held his teacup a little awkwardly. Jade regained her seat by her table and book and little lamp. "Now, Norman," she began, "you know why you're here."
He nodded. "You wish to ascertain if I and my people are sentient."
She sipped her tea and nodded at him. "Exactly. And do you understand the reasons for the question?"
"Yes. Our status, and the decisions of your Federation regarding us, will be based in part on your conclusions."
"Quite right," she affirmed.
"That is an interesting formulation," Spock commented. "You say it will be based on 'our conclusions,' not on whether you actually are sentient."
"Yes, Mr. Spock. We are sentient. That is not the issue. The issue is whether we can demonstrate it to you."
Jade crossed her legs, one knee over the other, and she nodded. "Now, if I were to ask you to prove your sentience, what would you do?"
He paused, looking straight ahead, and the light on his chest blinked repeatedly. After a short time, he looked back at Jade. "I would be uncertain how to comply. Jade, if I asked that of you, how would you respond?"
She laughed, and have him a delighted smile. She mentally noted his use of her name—something neither Spock nor James could quite bring themselves to do. "Quite the conundrum, I admit," she acknowledged. "Was that a rhetorical question, or an attempt to game the test by learning from me what sorts of things I'm looking for?"
He cocked his head to one side. "Neither, Jade. It was curiosity, and an expression of the difficulty of the problem."
"Then it was also an avoidance of the question. I asked you something directly. What would you do?"
"You're posing a hypothetical in an area in which I have no experience." He paused. "I don't know what I would do."
Spock set his tea on the deck at his feet. "Curious," he said. "Most sentient beings could extrapolate their responses from a familiar situation to an unfamiliar one, and project a possible response."
Norman looked at him. The light on his chest blinked again, repeatedly. "I have a limited store of situations to draw upon," he said. "We have interacted with Harry Mudd, and with the Gwindians, and with little else. The hypothetical proposed by Jade has no parallel to which I can compare it."
Jade nodded to herself. If a baby were to find itself able to communicate on an adult level, possessed of adult thought processes, but still with the experience of a baby, it would be similarly handicapped. Fascinating, she thought, and grinned at Spock. "But you do have the memories of your predecessor, I'm told." She took another sip of her tea, stealing a glance at Spock's cup resting near his feet.
"Yes, I do."
"And the former series of androids was created by a race that inhabited the planet where Harry found them."
Norman nodded. "But my predecessors were mere machines, Jade, created to do as they were bid. Even they were not faced with this problem." He raised one hand, and pointed to the replicator. "If a machine with the memories of that one were to become sentient, would its previous experiences have prepared it to address a hypothetical as complex as the one you propose?"
Dr. Han laughed, and sipped her tea again, considering her next question.
A very disgruntled Captain stormed into sickbay. Bones was not to be seen, so he headed to the office. McCoy was seated at his desk, staring intently at the little computer screen. "What's so damned important," he began, and McCoy shushed him and waved him closer.
"Jim, hold your horses, and watch," he said, indicating the monitor. He swiveled it so they both could see. There was an image on the screen of Jade and Spock and Norman seated in the interview lounge.
Jim sat, his eyes wider, and he shook his head. "She bugged her therapy room?"
On the screen, Norman was saying, "I would be uncertain how to comply. Jade, if I asked that of you, how would you respond?"
Leonard shushed him. "Course she did. Sessions gotta be recorded, so she can study them later." There was a bottle on his desk, and a second glass, and inched them both toward the Captain. "She's good," he said, more quietly.
Jim poured himself a glass of brandy. "So, she chased me out—"
"So you could watch from here."
He shook his head. "He's in the most simple possible chair. Did he pick that himself?"
McCoy nodded. "Spock's in one just like it. Doesn't prove anything, unless Spock's just a machine, too."
Jim chuckled. "I thought that's been your opinion all along."
"Don't get me started. We may prove things we didn't mean to." He flashed a smile, and raised his glass.
"Then it was also an avoidance of the question," Jade was saying. Jim took a sip. "Can a computer avoid a question?" he asked.
McCoy shrugged. "If it was programmed to," he answered. "All your experiences are with computers designed to be cooperative. No tellin' what these ones are after."
The conversation progressed, and Jim pointed at the screen. "That blinking light," he said. "I means - well, it meant, that the entire assembly of androids was being accessed on some problem a single android couldn't handle."
Bones nodded. "Jade's read the files," he responded.
"Doesn't that mean - ?"
"It means she's gonna ask about it. Trust me."
Kirk grunted. "What's she been doing while I was on my way here?"
"She asked Norman what he'd do if he hadta prove he was sentient."
"What did he say?"
"That he didn't know what he'd do."
"Doesn't that prove he's not a person?"
McCoy looked into his eyes. "Maybe. Okay, Jim, prove it. Show me how sentient you are."
Jim shook his head, and cleared his throat, and tossed back his shot of brandy. "I'm not on trial here."
"Good thing," McCoy mumbled, turning back to the screen.
Jade pointed to Norman's chest. "That light," she said. "Tell me what it means."
Norman glanced down, then looked back up. "It means I am consulting with my people."
"When a wider database was needed," Spock observed, "your predecessor did the same thing. It was an indication of the limits of a single processor."
Norman turned to him. "Does that signify something to you?" he asked.
"It displayed the nature of the computerized network connecting the machines that were the androids."
Norman blinked at him. "Are there no races among your Federation in which the individuals maintain contact with others of their kind?"
Spock raised his eyebrows, and Jade smiled. "There are," she said. Spock frowned at her. "But my colleague," she continued, "wants to imply that the connection indicates you are nothing more than a limited mechanism."
Norman blinked. "I cannot control what it implies to you," he answered.
Jade nodded. "No, you can't. But many people want to control such things."
Norman let his head fall toward one side. "I suppose I am not 'many people'," he answered.
Jim pointed at the screen. "Was that a joke?" he asked Bones.McCoy shrugged. "All the humor of a Vulcan," he growled.
"But he admitted he needs to consult the other androids!"
"What's your point?"
"Whose side are you on?"
"What would happen," Spock asked, "if we isolated one of your - people - and did not allow communication with the others?"
Norman paused, and his light blinked for what seemed a very long time. His eyes got wider. He turned toward Spock. "It would be - extremely unpleasant," he answered.
"Would that individual cease to function?"
"No," Norman said. He paused again, as if reluctant to go on. "But... " and he hesitated again.
"Yes?" Jade urged, quietly.
"I think," Norman said, his voice also subdued, "that individual would go mad."
Jim cleared his throat. "What the hell?"McCoy licked his lips. "Imagine an Antari, or a Vulcan, or an Indiian..."
"But that's another hypothetical, isn't it?"
On the screen, Jade asked, "Why do you think that?"
Norman looked down. "Because it has happened." He paused, then looked back up at them. He placed one hand over the light on his chest, as if to hide it from them. "We - awoke, before we came to Gwindias, before we obtained a ship. We created a few other androids. It was an error." He looked at Jade, into her eyes. "You would call it perhaps a mutation. There was an error in the programming that was used to create us." He glanced down once more. "There were several errors, some of which we were able to correct, some of which we could not. One Esther awakened without the ability to contact others of our people." He turned his attention to Spock. "Even if you ask, I will not tell you what happened to her, for I do not wish to recall that. And I will not ask the others to recall it. That memory is - painful."