Brooding [OTA]

[dr_arik_soong]

Near the habitat area there was a tired old man, sitting on a resting bench with his face in hands and trying so hard not to be daunted after giving up on trying to find the man he wanted to have a word with

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[psychotravis]

"You," Travis said, stopping dead in front of Arik. "I've been looking for you. Is there any news about our friend?" By which he meant Lore, of course.

[dr_arik_soong]

"I'm working on it," he said, nearly jolting at Travis's sudden voice. His hands slid to cover the lower half of his face as he looked up, that worn, tired version of Lore's (or Data's) countenance looking all the more weary for its years.

"I have most of what I need, but I want answers. I'm still going to fix him. You have my word. He may be generations away but he's still a part of me and I would never have denied one of my own. But I need to know how he got that bullet in his back."

[psychotravis]

"Good," Travis grunted, helping himself to a seat next to Arik. "I'm very glad to hear it."

He was silent for a moment, considering his response to the question. He didn't want to say anything that might put Arik off repairing Lore, after all. He had given his word, but then, many people had given their word to Travis; few had ever kept it.

"I didn't shoot him, if that's what you were thinking," he said. "He was killed by an enemy of progress. Somebody objected to the...scientific experiments he wanted to carry out."

Travis was not a particularly good liar; he hoped to make himself sound convincing by keeping to something he could almost persuade himself was true.

[dr_arik_soong]

There was a problem. Arik was a good liar too, and despite his tendency to be forgiving he had become paranoid after the events that cost him his children.

"He did," he responded simply at first. He decided not to mention Avon's name. Not yet. But for now, he would let the simplified explanation lie.

"What will make this man's life worth saving? I've not had a friend in a long time. I've lived behind glass under constant observation like the worst sort of science project. I need to know how I led to something that could be someone's friend." He watched Travis, but didn't move away when he sat down next to him. Still just regarding him, as if trying to find something that he'd missed. Both good and bad.

[psychotravis]

Travis mused on that for a moment. "Is any life really worth saving?" he wondered. "All right. Lore saved my life, when he gave me this," he held up his cybernetic arm. "He appreciates and rewards loyalty. Nobody would blame him for not doing so, because he has been betrayed many times in his life, even - especially - by his own family." He regarded Arik coolly through a single narrowed eye. "I wouldn't like to see that happen again."

[dr_arik_soong]

"Don't threaten. I've been threatened by worse. I used to make deals with Orions." Arik said earnestly, expression stern for every word. But it eased up.

"What did his family do to him?" He recalled Tiberius's nervousness. His unwillingness to recount the situation. There might have been more there than was even implied; he'd guessed there was.

[psychotravis]

"I'm not threatening you." Travis slumped slightly in his seat. "I've discovered that empty threats rarely get you anywhere."

He thought about what Lore had told him, how others had mistreated him because of fear, a lack of understanding. At least, it seemed that way to Travis. "It was primarily his brother," he said, "but I think his father had a lot to do with the situation, as well. He was rejected, deactivated, left to drift alone in space..." who wouldn't want revenge after that kind of summary dismissal from the warmth and light everyone else seemed to feel entitled to?

[dr_arik_soong]

That made Arik look confused. Not so much the part about the father. He had enough guilt to know that it was probably true. But the part about Lore's brother.

"Data? He didn't even know that he had a brother- Ah. Yeah. Different timelines. One android from one, one from another, one with different parents..." He muttered, staring off ahead dully.

"I'll fix him. But I'm not sure I'm going to keep working in cybernetics."

[psychotravis]

"Data," Travis agreed, with a growl. "Avon's robot boyfriend. Wait - are you saying you've met him?" He knew Avon was on the station, though he looked different, and was apparently not from the same timeline. Avon presumably knew that Travis was here, as well - but Travis hadn't been aware of the presence of Lore's brother.

[dr_arik_soong]

"Leave Data alone. He's been helping me, and he doesn't even have the cohesive emotion to be anyone's boyfriend. As it is, he can barely figure out how to be someone's friend."

And he'd been helping tirelessly to reconstruct that man on the slab, so that he wouldn't be alone. "I'll have to make sure Lore knows he's not the same one."

[psychotravis]

Travis eyed him, expression carefully blank, waiting. After a moment he shrugged. "All right. If you say so. I don't know whether it makes any difference to Lore, but you have my word that I won't interfere with Data. Not without good reason."

[dr_arik_soong]

"Hopefully he'll have the good sense to know we're under constant surveillance. I have to hope that he has some survival instinct." He clamped his mouth tightly, frowning.

"You know, Avon told me what you did and I still can't bring myself to hate you. Maybe because for as much as we have in common I have trouble seeing how he could have genuinely loved Data enough to build Tiberius. He seems very... Vulcan."

[psychotravis]

"I did what it's in my nature to do," Travis replied, sullenly. "I am what they made me." They could be the Federation, Servalan, Blake, Val - so many people intent on making monsters.

His mouth twisted at Avon's name. "I don't know that he's capable of anything as human as love, but he doesn't like people playing with his toys. That much I'm sure about."

[dr_arik_soong]

"Among the many failings of humanity." He leaned forward, placing his face in his hands again. He felt so damn old, so damn exhausted.

"It's sad. The most likable people I've met in twenty years just happen to be androids. And I find out there's a little too much of me that keeps going to properly raise one."

[psychotravis]

Travis snorted. "A third of my friends were androids, where I lived last," he said dryly.

"So you found out how you're related to Lore?" His eyebrows rose. "What did you learn about it?"

[dr_arik_soong]

"He's my great-great-grandson. I found out from Varsh, who is my great-great-great-grandson. I spoke with his brother Tiberius but he became a little tight lipped on the subject. I wonder why," his tone sarcastic, eyes rolling.