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“I have discussed matters with the others,” Data said, stepping farther into the room, “and preparations have been made for your arrival.”

“Very well,” Picard said, tugging down the front of his jacket and nodding toward the transporter chief. “If you can give Chief Hubbell the coordinates, the away team is ready to accompany you.”

Picard stepped onto the transporter pad, followed by the others. Data joined them a moment later, having given Hubbell the required information.

Data stepped onto the empty space between La Forge and Isaac. He turned and glanced at La Forge’s uniform. “Red suits you, Geordi.”

“I was wearing Command Red when we first met,” La Forge reminded him, more casually than he’d expected.

“Your mother must be pleased,” Data said.

La Forge couldn’t help but grin. “Yeah, but Dad wasn’t quite so delighted, I’m afraid. But then, he never really forgave me for not following him into the sciences.”

Data nodded, his expression thoughtful. “It is…difficult to be a parent. Perhaps when you have children of your own you will understand.”

Before La Forge had a chance to ask what that was supposed to mean, Data had turned to the android who stood on the other side.

“Excuse me, Commander Isaac? If you do not mind my asking, what generation are you?”

“I was part of Batch-2365-4-Alpha.”

“Ah.” Data nodded, appreciatively. “I recall there were a number of design improvements planned for your generation, specifically in the areas of sensory filtering and hyperspatial awareness.”

“That is correct,” Isaac answered, “my design does indeed incorporate those improvements.”

Data nodded again. “I think, Isaac, that you will find some of the improvements we have devised on Turing to be most…enlightening.”

“Coordinates input and ready, Captain,” Chief Hubbell called from the controls.

“The ship is yours, Commander,” Picard said to Ro.

“I’ll try to keep her in one piece for you, Captain.” Ro gave a sly smile, her hands clasped behind her back.

“Energize,” Picard said.

When the transporter hum faded and the world returned around them, La Forge saw the world of Turing for the first time, his silver eyes widening in surprise.

4

Sito Jaxa had seen a great many things in her young life, but nothing she’d seen, nothing she’d experienced, had prepared her for a first glimpse of Turing.

She knew what it was like to walk out onto an unfamiliar world, not sure what to expect. She’d left Bajor when she’d been just a girl, the planet of her birth still under the heel of the Cardassians. With her family she’d escaped from their oppressors, finding sanctuary in a refugee camp on a world in Federation space. Then, inspired by a Starfleet officer who’d helped her family in ways they could never repay, she applied for and was accepted to Starfleet Academy. She remembered the first time she went to Earth, to San Francisco, and saw the blue waters of the bay, the green hills of the Presidio, the bright red of the Golden Gate Bridge. It had seemed like something out of a picture book, like something out of a story.

Sito hadn’t returned to Bajor until years later, when she was an adult, not until after the Cardassians finally withdrew. She probably still wouldn’t have gone if Commander Worf hadn’t insisted. He’d been such a mentor to her since she first came on board the Enterprise, and when he announced that he was transferring to Deep Space Nine, in orbit above Bajor, Sito had let slip her secret desire to return to her native home in a rare, unguarded moment. With Captain Picard’s permission, she’d taken a leave of absence, and accompanied Worf on the trip to his new posting. She visited the place her family had called home, saw the mountains and fields praised in their traditional Bajoran songs, even went to the village in which she’d been born, and where she’d spent her early years. Her parents couldn’t bring themselves to return, preferring instead to remain on Earth with the rest of the small Bajoran immigrant community, afraid