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The dim lights of the Enterprise D Bridge rose, signaling another successful night shift completed. Commander Riker strode confidently out of the turbolift, stifling a yawn as he crossed to the Captain’s chair.
“Morning, Mr. Data,” he said, as Data stood to address him.
“Good Morning, sir,” Data answered, and began his report of the night’s occurrences.
Riker nodded along politely, but his mind began to wander. His eyes searched the tired faces of the bridge crew as they left to get some rest after a long shift before he turned his attention to the vastness of space which lay before, sending a sort of exhilaration down his spine. Finally, remembering that he was supposed to be listening to Data, he refocused, just in time to catch something interesting.
“…and an anomaly was detected exactly 2.16 light years from our location,” Data
reported.
Riker started, “An anomaly?”
“Yes sir,” Data replied, “It was a collection of gamma particles which formed a cloud near the border of the Antares sector. It is rather harmless, and it is 4502 meters away from our current course heading.”
Data stopped for a moment, his eyes searching the ground and his face scrunched into a confused look.
“Correction, sir,” Data added, “the anomaly is 4542 meters from our current course. I do not understand why I misstated that information. Perhaps I need to run my sleep program in order to reset my systems.”
“I guess you do,” Riker added, a little alarmed and concerned by Data’s mistake, “You have a few hours before your next shift, how about you get some rest.”
“Of course sir,” Data replied, and started towards the turbolift.
~
An hour later, Captain Picard arrived on the bridge, relieved Riker, and took his place in the Captain’s chair before turning to Riker for a report.
“Anything unusual this morning, Number One?” Picard questioned.
“Just a harmless anomaly near the Antares system, Captain. Oh, and something weird happened with Data. He made a mistake with a calculation. He says he was just… ‘tired,’” Riker added, rather amused.
“Tired?” Picard replied, stifling a laugh, “That android is becoming more human all the time.”
Riker and Picard shared a knowing look, but their fun was interrupted by an earsplitting sound, like that of a dog whistle. The bridge crew covered their ears in pain.
“What in God’s name is that,” Picard yelled over the noise.
“I’m not sure, sir,” the ensign at ops answered, “It appears to be some kind of cloud that’s moved into our path. It’s filling the ship with gamma particles.”
“Full power to shields, now!” The Captain commanded, and immediately the deafening noise ceased.
The Bridge crew breathed a sigh of relief, but Picard remained on edge.
“Number One, run a full check of systems to make sure those particles didn’t interfere with anything. Bridge to Sickbay, are there any injuries?” Picard said.
“No injuries have been reported sir, besides some ear pain lingering from that awful noise,” Beverly replied, “It looks like it was pretty harmless, but I’ll run a few tests to make sure.”
“Systems look fine, Captain,” Riker added.
Picard finally relaxed a little, relatively sure that no harm had come to the ship. “Continue on our current heading, Lieutenant,” Picard ordered the navigator, and they continued on their way.
~
The comm badge buzzed gently on the uniform jacket, which was laid neatly across Data’s bed.
“Captain Picard to Commander Data. Commander, you are 10 minutes late for your shift, please report,” Picard’s stern
voice growled.
Data groggily rose. He brought a hand to his head in pain, and nearly collapsed back onto the bed. The room was spinning, the ceiling light was too bright, the humming of the ship too loud. He stumbled from the bed towards the small sink that usually sat dormant in his quarters, his legs weak and unfamiliar beneath him. As he managed to open one eye, a startling gaze met his own in the mirror.
It was a human’s face, pink skin, bright blue eyes, and tousled brown hair! He shrieked in fright and covered his face. Intrigued and unable to look away, however, he slowly uncovered it. Despite the sheer humanness of the features, it was unmistakably his. His oblong face, the sharpness of his nose, all were the perfect likeness of his late father, Dr. Soong. His eyes traced his profile and he lifted a hand to inspect the tan of his skin and the light dusting of hair on his forearm.
Suddenly, he began to understand the reality of his situation, and the tightness of panic began to rise in his chest. With one last frantic look at his bronzed hands, he bolted out of his quarters onto the bustling deck.
~
Staggering down the halls of deck two, Data garnered many odd looks from his crewmates. This unfamiliar man was now manically running down the hall, barefoot, with his hair unkempt and sticking out in all directions. With one final sprint, he reached the turbo lift and sunk down to the floor, sitting against the wall with his head in his knees. Scared and overwhelmed, solemn, salty tears streamed down his cheeks and sobs wracked his body.
“Deck 12,” Data mustered between sobs, and as the turbolift began to hum, he calmed a little, soothed by the gentle sound. His mind, while still firing rapidly, slowed a bit, but it didn’t do much to subdue the chaos that his brain was in. Without his programs, subroutines, or the massive database that was his memory, everything felt disjointed and confusing. Before he could dwell on these things too long, though, the turbolift stopped and the doors open. Data heaved himself from the floor and wiped his nose with the back of his hand.
Dr. Crusher was serenely cleaning a hypospray, lost in thought, when the sickbay doors burst open, revealing an odd, disheveled stranger. Beverly’s head shot to face him, her calm, blue eyes meeting his manic ones.
“Can I help you…?” Dr Crusher asked confused, her eyes searching the man for anything that would identify him.
“Doctor?” Data squeaked out, eyes beginning to fill with tears again.
Suddenly, Beverly’s face lit up with recognition, and then concern as she rushed to Data’s side.
“Data?!?!” she cried incredulously, bringing a hand to his pink face, “but how?”
Data matched her confused expression before his blue eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the ground. As nurses rushed to his side and hauled Data onto an empty table, Dr. Crusher turned away and pressed her comm badge.
“Crusher to bridge,” she uttered apprehensively, “Captain, we’ve got an…unusual situation down here.”