RotM Prompt 2009.7-A-5
Character: Data
Fandom: Star Trek : The Next Generation
Words: 656
Notes: Related to hearts_andminds. Mentions saviorsmother and haughty_alpha.
Prompt: 5. Few people can resist doing what is universally expected of them. This invisible pressure is more difficult to stand against than individual tyranny. - Charles Dudley Warner in That Fortune.
It wasn't difficult for Data to make approximately 99.521% of the decisions that he made. Even the most profound of which, concerning life and death, he could simplify into the easy choice of whether it would be necessary to kill something in order to preserve the lives of others, especially those that might die needlessly and uselessly simply for the gain of another. He had a set of clearly defined protocols that could dictate these choices, and even with the function of the emotion chip it usually took less than a few seconds for even the most serious of formulations to complete.
He was aware, however, if these things were not typically expected of the sort of person you were, finding yourself in that position could be completely disorienting. Someone with a normal, typical, civilian life could quite possibly be essential in history altering events.
The android did not envy these people. They did not make their own decisions. They had their decisions thrust upon them, and they had to adapt to them against their very will. He could see the spite from it sometimes in Avon. The resentment for idealism, and Data often pondered whether it was that he was displeased that his assertions that all humanity had ill-intentions had been proven incorrect, or if he was resentful that his hopes had been raised simply to be dashed by the futility of the situation he had been placed in. That no intentions, no matter how well-meaning, could inflict the change that he had wanted so badly to incur, even if he hadn't vocalized this desire.
He wondered if Sarah Conner felt the same way. If she resented him for contradicting her expectations or for giving her some hope that she felt could be dashed. There was the chance of that, though that had no bearing in how he would conduct himself around her.
Idly musing on the subject, Data tapped away at the console on the holosuite; checking the program that she was planning to test before she would have the opportunity to use it for any errors. If she was going to risk using technology, he didn't want to frighten her away from the attempt with an erroneous and somewhat dangerous holosuite program. He frowned as he came across an anomaly in the main computer, but it appeared to be something amiss with the matrix itself and not the program. A few clicks and taps to verify the problem, and he sent the system into a reboot.
If she did resent him, he didn't resent her. If anything, she reminded him very much of Tasha Yar. Well, perhaps there was something about her he disliked. In her presence, sometimes that reminder caused a bit of discomfort; a lingering reminder of that space in his memory engrams that he would never be able to fill again and that would always unsettle him with or without his emotion chip. It wasn't what he would consider truly resentful, though. Just something disheartening about her, especially as she seemed trapped in the mindset of being a lost cause.
He stepped away from the console as the reboot finished, and ran a few simple test simulations in the middle of the room.
It was important to her to protect her son. It was important to her to protect what she had been told was the savior of humanity, and as far as he could tell what she considered the last lingering connection to her greatest love. A love that she somehow managed to get another chance at thanks to the circumstances of this unusual place.
For what he felt for Tasha, and for what he felt for his daughter, he had to help her; whether or not she resented him for it.
Satisfied in the function of the program, he stepped away from the console. If he could help her, perhaps he could even stand some slim chance of helping someone like Avon.
Fandom: Star Trek : The Next Generation
Words: 656
Notes: Related to hearts_andminds. Mentions saviorsmother and haughty_alpha.
Prompt: 5. Few people can resist doing what is universally expected of them. This invisible pressure is more difficult to stand against than individual tyranny. - Charles Dudley Warner in That Fortune.
It wasn't difficult for Data to make approximately 99.521% of the decisions that he made. Even the most profound of which, concerning life and death, he could simplify into the easy choice of whether it would be necessary to kill something in order to preserve the lives of others, especially those that might die needlessly and uselessly simply for the gain of another. He had a set of clearly defined protocols that could dictate these choices, and even with the function of the emotion chip it usually took less than a few seconds for even the most serious of formulations to complete.
He was aware, however, if these things were not typically expected of the sort of person you were, finding yourself in that position could be completely disorienting. Someone with a normal, typical, civilian life could quite possibly be essential in history altering events.
The android did not envy these people. They did not make their own decisions. They had their decisions thrust upon them, and they had to adapt to them against their very will. He could see the spite from it sometimes in Avon. The resentment for idealism, and Data often pondered whether it was that he was displeased that his assertions that all humanity had ill-intentions had been proven incorrect, or if he was resentful that his hopes had been raised simply to be dashed by the futility of the situation he had been placed in. That no intentions, no matter how well-meaning, could inflict the change that he had wanted so badly to incur, even if he hadn't vocalized this desire.
He wondered if Sarah Conner felt the same way. If she resented him for contradicting her expectations or for giving her some hope that she felt could be dashed. There was the chance of that, though that had no bearing in how he would conduct himself around her.
Idly musing on the subject, Data tapped away at the console on the holosuite; checking the program that she was planning to test before she would have the opportunity to use it for any errors. If she was going to risk using technology, he didn't want to frighten her away from the attempt with an erroneous and somewhat dangerous holosuite program. He frowned as he came across an anomaly in the main computer, but it appeared to be something amiss with the matrix itself and not the program. A few clicks and taps to verify the problem, and he sent the system into a reboot.
If she did resent him, he didn't resent her. If anything, she reminded him very much of Tasha Yar. Well, perhaps there was something about her he disliked. In her presence, sometimes that reminder caused a bit of discomfort; a lingering reminder of that space in his memory engrams that he would never be able to fill again and that would always unsettle him with or without his emotion chip. It wasn't what he would consider truly resentful, though. Just something disheartening about her, especially as she seemed trapped in the mindset of being a lost cause.
He stepped away from the console as the reboot finished, and ran a few simple test simulations in the middle of the room.
It was important to her to protect her son. It was important to her to protect what she had been told was the savior of humanity, and as far as he could tell what she considered the last lingering connection to her greatest love. A love that she somehow managed to get another chance at thanks to the circumstances of this unusual place.
For what he felt for Tasha, and for what he felt for his daughter, he had to help her; whether or not she resented him for it.
Satisfied in the function of the program, he stepped away from the console. If he could help her, perhaps he could even stand some slim chance of helping someone like Avon.