Synthesis - James Swallow [76]
“If you have a question about my kind, ask it.”
“Your species has suppressed emotional responses in order to embrace a doctrine of logical thought. Interrogative: How does it feel to exist in an emotionless state?”
Tuvok paused, well aware that anything he said would likely be disseminated into the pool of knowledge the Sentries were building on the Titan crew. He weighed his reply with care. “A curious inquiry from a synthetic life-form. Are not your emotional responses simply computer subroutines? If you wish to experience a state of pure logic, can you not deactivate those emotional processes?”
“No.” Tuvok raised an eyebrow in mild surprise at the response. “I can no more disengage my emotive reactions than you could remove your brain’s motor cortex.”
“It’s hard-wired into you,” said Sethe.
“Affirmative.”
“Why?” Tuvok asked. “What value does your emotional emulation provide? What benefit to your functions does it give?”
Cyan-Gray paused for a long moment. “Without it, we would simply be… machinery.”
There was the tinkling of a holographic interface forming, and then a melodic female voice echoed across the stellar cartography lab. “Lieutenant Pazlar.”
Melora turned in place where she drifted above the control pulpit in time to see a figure rise from the deck and float toward her. For a second, the Elaysian didn’t recognize her in the peculiar, diaphanous dress she wore, but then, what other being aboard the starship could move unfettered by concerns like gravity?
“Titan.” Melora had a padd in her hand, and she brought it to her chest in an unconscious gesture of self-protection.
“You may call me that if you wish. Others describe me as ‘the avatar.’”
She felt an odd moment of irritation, almost a kind of personal invasion. The holopresence system aboard the ship, while not Melora’s property by any definition, had nevertheless been constructed by Xin Ra-Havreii and Chaka largely for her use, and the idea that this ship-mind was using it in her stead gave the Elaysian pause.
“What do you want?” she asked, taking in the image of the human female. She was striking, it had to be said, and part of her noted that this so-called Minuet holoprogram was very much the kind of female that attracted Xin RaHavreii. She frowned and pushed the petty thought away.
“It is important that we speak,” said the avatar. “I am fully aware of your ongoing research into the Sentry star system and the zones of spatial instability nearby.”
“If you’re the ship, then of course you are,” Melora replied, somewhat tersely. She was surprised by the unexpected resentment rising in her. Things had been strained with Xin in recent weeks. Ever since they had entered this sector, she had hardly seen him—it was almost as if he were actively avoiding her—and now she was face-to-face with one of the reasons. It’s not another woman, she told herself, but that’s exactly the point.
The hologram paused. “I understand Elaysian psychophysiological norms.” She pointed at the combadge on her chest. “I am monitoring local state conditions of your biosigns. You are exhibiting signs of low-key hostility toward me.”
Melora’s lips curled. “You came into my lab, unannounced, interrupting me. Yes, I find that somewhat irksome. What’s your point?”
“You demonstrate similar stressor cues to Doctor RaHavreii.”
“Xin?” Her eyes narrowed. “What does he have to do with this?”
The avatar shook her head. “You misunderstand me. I am not here to comment on your relationship with the doctor.”
“That’s something we both agree on, then,” Melora retorted. “So, back to my original question. What do you want?”
She pointed past the Elaysian to the walls of the lab, where virtual images of the sector around them were displayed. “My sensors have detected a surge in exotic particles, in the Tau and Lambda bands.