25 - Voice

[deusexmechanic]

[Harper tries really, really hard to come up with something re-assuring, or funny, or useful to say, but... he's drawing a blank right now.

PORT SUCKED. Finally, he manages to come up with something:]

So... okay, I used to know this guy, and he-- he spent his entire life hungry. I mean like, serious, ravenous hunger, all the time. For him, the only way, to ever satisfy that hunger? Meant that everything and everyone around him would die.

"My pain belongs to the divine, it is like air, it is like water."

I got that off him. That was how he coped.

[He lets out an irritable little sigh.]

It worked for me once. Sorta. Not so much now, but hey, your mileage may vary, right?

[Private to Uhura]

You get back in one piece?


[Private to Rex]

Hey. You in your room?

Comments

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

Jeeze, you know, for a dude who was never technically born, you sure have a lot of family knocking around to get emotionally tortured over.

I'm sorry. I'm glad at least that you could see through them.

[Private]

You mean, having discussions more frequently? Or getting into arguments?

[There's a brief silence in response to that last comment, then Harper sighs.]

I guess... that's something I could use a little work on myself. I like being friends with you too, Data.

[empirical_data]

A family is not so difficult to find and make. The difficulty lies in keeping it. In some regards, I can be glad they lived their lives and accomplished what they wished mostly, and I have been reminded of that.

[Private]

Having more arguments. There are many impatient individuals on board.

[He gets a solemn little nod.]

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that is good. You should be proud of them.

Uh, you mind if I ask what they were like?

[Private]

[There's a little snort of laughter at that.]

Yeah, you're telling me. Who's been arguing with you?

[empirical_data]

My daughter was not very old when she had a cascade failure. She was still learning to modulate her voice and move organically. We have progressively learning systems rather than preprogrammed movements, you understand. Tasha was very confident woman and came from a poverty stricken background on a ruined planet, but rose above it and left that world. She is likely the strongest person that I have ever been acquainted with. My mother was very artistic and enthusiastic about music.

[Private]

No one in particular as of yet, but I have received some harsh responses. I apologized for any offense. Though I did... find myself leaving an inordinately crass comment to Denise during that period in which we were required to be truthful.

Normally, I would apologize for that as well, but I do not believe she would care.

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

[Sorry Data, Harper is just going to hide from the idea of what cascade failure might have entailed for your daughter. So he'll hone in on the one he likes :c]

I like the sound of Tasha. Escape from oppression? New and happy life off a planet largely defined by how much it sucks to live there? Definitely my kind of woman.

[Private]

Okay, that? Is because Denise speaks with the calloused voice of the abyss, and your sensitive nature means you picked up on the correct way to interact with her. Even if there wasn't a truth flood on, Denise can only improve as a human being from people not giving her the benefit of the doubt.

What'd she do to get you all honest?

[empirical_data]

[He puts his hologram of Tasha up where Harper can see it.] This is Tasha. You can identify with her situation, then?

[Private]

She simply seems incapable of absorbing more than two sentences without the strain required to concentrate driving her to fits of rage. She would be a suitable mate for a Klingon.

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

[Harper peers at the image] She's...very pretty. [Why yes, he did resist the urge to use a less appropriate phrase there.] And, yeah, I guess. I didn't come from the nicest place myself.

[Private]

She's a prejudicial psychopath, who somehow clawed her way into a position of power. Your disliking her speaks volumes about how good your judge of character is.

[Pause, and he frowns]

What's a Klingon?

[empirical_data]

She was very kind, even if firm with her opinions. I am quite proud to have known her.

The planet I was from was wiped of all organic life before I left it, so I identified with never really having had a 'home' until I left my planet of origin. Where are you from, initially?

[Private]

They are a warrior race that could be roughly correlated with the ancient Vikings of Earth. Their mating practices frequently involve the female throwing objects and screaming at the male as he reads her Klingon poetry about the glories of battle.

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

...That is... what happened? I mean, on your home planet?

I'm from Earth. [Pause, and then, assuming you're from THE PAST OR AN ALTERNATE DIMENSION OR SOMETHING:] Uh, I don't know if you know it, but it's going to get really really crappy eventually.

[Private]

That's... [OH GOD MOST AWKWARD CONFESSION EVER] okay, so I strongly dislike her, but I can at least confirm that she keeps the throwing things at you in the bedroom to a minimum.

[empirical_data]

A silicon-based interstellar life-form devoured everything...

Earth has been at risk many times. I have personally saved it from the Borg Collective twice. I can foresee it being at risk in the future.

[Private]

[This is his "wat?" face?

But it goes away pretty quickly. BECAUSE HE CAN'T JUDGE EVER!] I suppose it is not an irregular experience for men to engage in sexual congress with individuals they despise.

[deusexmechanic.livejournal.com]

Man, gotta hate those sillicon-based interstellar life-forms. They just never no when to say when!

What's the Borg Collective? Yeah, well, I can't remember a time in my life when it wasn't... I don't know, at risk is the wrong way to put it, since that implies that the terrible thing hasn't already settled down and had grand kids, but I don't remember a time when it didn't suck.

[Private]

[OH HARPER HAS NEVER DESERVED THE "wat?" FACE MORE THAN HE DOES NOW. He looks incredibly sheepish right now.]

Look, it's not like that. When I worked out that she was evil distilled into a doctors outfit I stopped engaging in sexual congress for her, she just... managed to sneak it by without me noticing for a little while...

[empirical_data]

To its credit, rather stereotypically an earlier model my father constructed of my android type named "Lore" learned to communicate with the Crystalline Entity and offered the colonists to it because he was angry. My "evil twin" destroyed the planet.

Then it is fortunate that you left. One must be willing to leave a home, especially when sacrificing one's self is meaningless.

[Private]

At least she has not attempted to incorporate the human race into a massive hive mind. [Data's consolations are awesome, aren't they?]