Possession - J.M. Dillard [15]
Now everyone seemed cautiously interested.
“You’re researching the development of androids?” Beverly asked as she followed the images on the display screens.
“In a manner of speaking,” Tarmud told her. “I hope to make a functional humanlike android that could be used to house the mental engrams of a living person.”
As he said this, the screens changed, showing scientific overlays of the human brain, the pattern of engrams, and a complicated schematic for an engram-transfer device. The scene shimmered, changing to an animated sequence of memory engrams being transferred to the featureless humanoid form.
The officers stood in silence for a moment, then Crusher finally asked, “For what purpose?”
“Why, to defeat death, of course,” Tarmud told her, smiling.
Deanna nearly staggered from the collective reactions of her friends. His statement shocked them, making them all relive their grief at their crewmate’s recent death. She had to blink and take a deep breath to get a grip on their feelings.
She looked up to see that, eerily, the face of the android in the film sequence had begun to change as the engrams were transferred into its “brain.” Its features went from bland to animated, lifelike. It opened clear human eyes—not like Data’s, but true eyes that showed emotion—and smiled at Deanna as if it knew her, knew everything about her. She felt herself shiver and rubbed her arms.
“If I can perfect an android as sophisticated as Soong’s,” Tarmud continued, nodding again at Data, “with all the physical capabilities and functional brain that his androids had, but without its own personality, and use that android to house the mind—the soul—of a human, then that human can be spared death. Instead, after a full life, when the body begins to decay, that mind can be saved— transferred, if you will—into an immortal, indestructible shell.”
“Ah,” Data said. “Then you are attempting to build on the work of Dr. Roger Korby—”
Tarmud banished the thought with an impatient wave of his hand. “That was almost a century ago; Korby’s androids were crude, incapable of the level of sophisticated sensory input you experience, Commander, and prone to eventual decay and obsolescence after a few hundred years. I’m speaking about bodies such as yours: self-maintaining, self-repairing—truly immortal.”
For a moment, no one spoke, then Beverly asked, “How close are you to finalizing your research?”
He gave another of those hearty laughs and said, “Not nearly close enough, I’m afraid. The VISOR was one of my first studies, to help me develop artificial sight for the android and work out certain neural sequences. I’ve got a fairly functional body now—admittedly not quite as good as Soong’s, but getting there—but I’m having some problems with the brain. And, of course, the engram-transfer technology is still in the planning stages.” He eyed Data again covetously. “Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a few months to spend with you, my friend. A few months in my lab—I could learn so much, and shave years off my work.”
Deanna almost smiled as the group clustered around Data, Geordi actually standing protectively in front of his mechanical friend.
“We don’t exactly consider Commander Data a research subject, Dr. Tarmud,” Geordi said softly. “He’s a senior officer of our crew.”
“Oh, I’m well versed in Mr. Data’s career,” Tarmud assured him. “And I meant no offense. But for me as a scientist, the commander represents the pinnacle to which I aspire. You can’t blame me for my curiosity.”
Deanna looked at Crusher, who, she realized, was still reacting to Tarmud’s desire to defeat death.
Troi was about to say something to her when Captain Picard said softly, “That’s an interesting theory, Dr. Tarmud. And, of course, every medical doctor fights to