Musical Inclination [OTA]

[empirical_data]

Data had spent a few days in the TARDIS going over the library and practicing in the music room, and he had picked it up quickly... somewhat predictably. The educated ear might note that he was combining the work of other musicians, emulating; but wasn't that how everyone learned? Even humans

Comments

[haughty_alpha]

Music wasn't something Avon had had much experience of in his life so far. The Federation frowned on it, considering it decadent and potentially subversive. He was intrigued, therefore, by the haunting sounds he could hear coming from a distant corridor, and proceeded to follow them to their source.

When he came within sight of the player, he paused to listen, leaning casually against a convenient wall.

[haughty_alpha]

"And Earth is now a budding utopia? Nice to know that it's all working out for somebody, somewhere."

Avon stretched, catlike, and rearranged himself so that he was sitting with his back against the wall. "I'm curious. How did you come to be here?"

[empirical_data]

"Hypothetically. I did not have the opportunity to find out, as I used the ship I was aboard alone to collide with a ship aimed for the Khitomer conference." He reached up, touched around his eye again where the understructure had been exposed. "I was repaired when I came to be here."

[haughty_alpha]

"Presumably your ship did not survive," he remarked. He paused, thoughtfully. "You mean you were ordered to set your ship on a collision course?" What an appalling way to treat such a remarkable feat of cybernetic engineering!

[empirical_data]

"No, I was ordered to remove myself from it and allow the commanding officer to remain aboard. I disobeyed her orders...." He had chosen for himself what to do, most importantly.

[haughty_alpha]

Avon's eyebrows climbed once again towards his hairline. "You mean you *chose* to stay? You sacrificed yourself without being ordered to do so?" He quirked a smile. "You appear to have a more developed sense of ethics than most humans. But it can't have been part of your programming to disobey orders. Even more extraordinary."

[empirical_data]

"I can made decisions." He said, almost a little defensively. "Just because I am a machine does not imply that I was constructed merely to obey humans. I can act independently and refuse if I wish to." He didn't always wish to, certainly, but he oddly found himself defending his ability to do so.

[haughty_alpha]

"I do beg your pardon," Avon said, in a tone that wasn't quite sarcastic, but fell short of being apologetic. "I am a technician, a computer specialist, and I've never seen an artificial intelligence that wasn't constructed to obey humans." Orac was a highly complex artificial intelligence with a 'personality' of sorts (unfortunately), but he hardly counted it as sentient. More like a super-intelligent mechanical pet with a stubborn streak.

[empirical_data]

"I do not have a particular desire to be openly defiant. However, it appears that you require a demonstration."

And Data stood, dusted himself off, collected his instrument, and started to walk. He could sit or he could follow, but the android had decided that he wanted to be somewhere else.

Odd, to think that the power of choice could be so impressive.

[haughty_alpha]

Avon stared after him in surprise for a moment, then got quickly to his feet, a process not made easy by the restrictions of his tight leather trousers. Annoyed with himself, he hurried after the android in as dignified as fashion as he could manage.

"I'm sorry," he said, awkwardly. "It wasn't my intention to offend you." Offending people didn't generally concern Avon, but he didn't want to lose the opportunity to learn more about Data.

[empirical_data]

"I am incapable of being offended," or so he thought. To the best of hi knowledge, he wasn't. "However, I am capable of educating through demonstration," he responded with an air of confidence to the mild cadence. He couldn't always understand a turn of phrase, but he could understand when a chain of thought was completely erroneous.

[haughty_alpha]

"Evidently," Avon replied. "I assure you that I have learned my lesson. I promise not to question your self-directedness ever again." He flashed one of his sudden grins.

[empirical_data]

He didn't quit walking, but he raised his eyebrows and nodded his agreement. "Excellent. I was hoping you would express the human aptitude to accept new information, though one can not be for certain...." he responded.

He canted a brow at Avon. "My brain is positronic, and utilizes a progressively developing interface."

[haughty_alpha]

"I'm not entirely familiar with that kind of technology in practice, though the concept is very similar to some of the artificial intelligences I'm familiar with. So your consciousness is, essentially, continuously evolving, forging new neural pathways? Just like the human brain. Amazing. Did you have a...childhood, of sorts? An early developmental period?"

[empirical_data]

"I do not remember...." He didn't remember much of anything beyond his first period in a laboratory. "My own construction is something of a mystery to me. My father was killed in a Klingon attack on Omicron Theta. Most of my pertinent developmental information was destroyed with him."

[haughty_alpha]

He noted the word 'father' instead of 'creator', but made no comment on it, not wanting to jeapordise the conversation again by being insulting. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said, instead. "That must be frustrating."