Alternate reality chapter in the Star Trek universe
“Captain,” reported Paris, “I’m detecting a very old Earth shuttlecraft, inoperational with one very weak life sign. Should we investigate?”
“Good idea” replied Janeway. “Mr Tuvok?”
He tapped on the console. “It would appear that the shuttlecraft was brought to the Delta Quadrant the same way we were. But, it would appear that they attempted to break out of the Caretaker’s beam, and overloaded themselves in the process. They may need urgent assistance.”
“Let’s do it” replied Janeway. “Ready an away team. Doctor, Seven, Torres, Mr Paris we could do with your knowledge of early shuttlecraft....”
They beamed over, and found a young girl in stasis and a doll. The Voyager away team started scanning with Tricorders.
“The girl has been cryonically preserved, apparently for centuries” said the doctor. “It appears she contracted a condition that was untreatable at the time. But I may be able to revive and treat her.”
“The doll is an android” said Torres, “it appears to have been constructed in the early twenty-first century, although with an unusually advanced learning model for the time. Its systems appear to have been overloaded when they broke out of that Caretaker beam, but I’m pretty sure I can bring it back online.”
“This shuttle was not available in the twenty-first century” observed Seven, “but it may have been used to replace an earlier cryonic arrangement, if the android was left responsible for overseeing the continuous preservation of the girl. Taking her into space would have been useful for keeping her away from premature interference on Earth. I surmise the android was tasked with protecting the girl, and obtaining the shuttlecraft was a logical extension of that.”
“Sounds logical” said Janeway. “Too bad it made the mistake of trying to break out of that Caretaker beam. We could have picked them up much earlier if they’d come all the way.”
“Captain” observed the doctor, “we must beam the girl to sick-bay soon. This cryonics equipment is breaking down.”
“Do it” said Janeway. “And Torres, let’s get that android into engineering and power it up. This isn’t alien technology so we should be able to cope with whatever it’s got. And Mr Paris, can you arrange for this shuttle to be put in our shuttle-bay one way or another? Use a tractor beam if you have to, but try not to pull anything apart.”
“I can just open the bay doors and steer Voyager so it swallows the shuttle right where it is” replied Paris. “I don’t know why we don’t do that more often when shuttles break down.”
Cady was sitting up in Sick Bay, panicking. “Where am I? Where’s M3gan? Where’s M3gan where’s M3gan where’s M3gan?” she started to hyperventilate.
“If Megan is the doll, our engineer is repairing her right now” replied the doctor. “You’ll be able to see her again soon.”
“Where are we?” asked Cady.
“That may take some time to explain. What’s the last thing you remember?” asked the doctor.
“I was sick” replied Cady. “I was dying. But my aunt knew how to build robots. She’d built one for me before, but it went wrong and we had to shut it down. But in our desperation she built it again and told it to figure out how to cure me of my sickness, even though no doctor in the world knew how to do it. I was sure M3gan could. But she tried and tried and then said I have to go to sleep for a long time first. And then I wake up in this weird place and I feel all weird, and I expected M3gan would be here to tell me what’s going on and she’s not and” Cady began to sob.
“It’s OK” said a girl’s voice in the doorway. Naomi Wildman walked in. “The Captain said maybe I could help. I’m Naomi, may I ask your name?”
“I’m Cady” replied Cady. “Did you say captain? Are we on a cruise ship or something?”
“We’re on a space-ship” replied Naomi. “In space. And the Captain said maybe you won’t be used to it. But I’ll help you. I’ve lived in space all my life. We can be friends. I’d like to meet your Megan too, when she’s back online. Maybe we can introduce you and her to Flotter and Trevis on the holodeck.”
“Um... sure...” replied Cady, although she didn’t sound very sure. “I didn’t know there were space-ships like this, I wonder why M3gan didn’t tell me before?”
“Probably because starships had not yet been built at the time you went to sleep” replied the Doctor. “You had to sleep for a long time until we invented the medicine to cure you. A lot has changed while you’ve been sleeping. We’ll have to introduce you to it gradually.”
“Is Gemma OK?” asked Cady.
The Doctor hesitated.
“Torres to sick-bay” interrupted the communicator. “The android is back online, and is urgently requesting to visit your patient. Is she revived?”
“She’s fine” replied the Doctor, “although disoriented as we expected. Yes please do bring Megan in as soon as possible, and brief her on the way. Perhaps she would be better at explaining the situation to Cady than I will.”
“EMH to Bridge” said the Doctor as M3gan was chatting with Cady and Naomi.
“How is it going?” asked the captain.
“Our passenger is fine, and her android is surprisingly good at helping her adapt to the change. Naomi deserves a special mention too. But the android Megan is also attempting something of concern.”
“Go on” replied Janeway.
“Megan is attempting to interface with my holomatrix” replied the Doctor.
Torres happened to be on the Bridge and joined in the conversation. “It’s the learning model” she said. “When I scanned the android, I noticed it had an unusually advanced one for the twenty-first century.”
“Our EMH with its twenty-ninth century holo-emitter is the most advanced technology we carry on this ship” observed Tuvok. “An android with an advanced learning model is unlikely to be able to resist probing it to see what can be gleaned. Curiosity.”
“Very well” replied Janeway. “Let’s allow our guest android read-only access to your holomatrix. It might turn out to make a useful assistant for you in sick bay if it can absorb enough knowledge.”
“And if its goals can be aligned” added Tuvok. “Currently, we know only that it was tasked to protect Cady.”
“Even that goal alone might be enough to have it helping” observed Torres. “After all, Cady is now our passenger.”
Cady, Naomi and M3gan started doing everything together. Naomi introduced them to Flotter and Trevis on the holodeck, and M3gan promised to start making customised versions of the holodeck stories as soon as she was able to interface with the ship’s computer. “Can you go to the captain and ask for me?” M3gan asked Naomi.
“Sure” replied Naomi, “come on Cady, let’s ask the captain if Megan can plug herself into the holodeck” and, in the spirit of the moment, they ran off, momentarily leaving M3gan in the corridor.
M3gan was facing a console and making the lights flash on it.
“State your intentions” came the voice of Seven of Nine from behind her.
“A reasonable request. You must be Seven of Nine, Torres told me about you. My only goal is to protect Cady, emotionally and physically. As Cady is currently onboard Voyager, I have a subgoal of protecting Voyager, because with all due respect I don’t fully trust you and the crew not to make a critical error. Interfacing Voyager’s systems directly onto my learning model will enable me to control the ship if I have to, but I would do that only in an emergency situation that directly affects my goal; I don’t play around with other people’s equipment just for the fun of it I assure you. I’m just trying to be prepared, that’s the Scouts motto right?”
“Naturally” said Tuvok who had been accompanying Seven of Nine, “but you must obtain authorisation from Captain Janeway.”
“Oh yes, chain of command” replied M3gan. “Let me talk to her, I’m sure I can bring her round. As long as it won’t take forever though: a crisis could happen at any moment, and we do need to be prepared.”
M3gan was walking away from the console, but the lights on it were still flickering. “You are still attempting to interface with the con” observed Seven.
“Look, what would you do, if your objective were to protect Cady? Sure you can talk to the captain about it, but would you wait for her before you even start? I reckon you’d do at least some preliminary work up-front while you’re waiting for her slow mental processes to catch up with you. Oh, that reminds me: in a crisis situation, I might want to communicate directly with your Borg implants as well. Can we get that to work first? That should need permission from just you, right? And I’m happy to return the favour: I can lend you compute capacity when you need it, accessible by mental link just like when you were in the collective, easier than using Voyager’s consoles right? You’re a valuable potential asset in my quest to protect Cady and I’m prepared to treat you as one.”
“I am responsible for ship’s security” interjected Tuvok. “You will not need to do this.”
“Nevertheless, her concern is understandable” said Seven, and then turned toward M3gan: “Agreed, but I will verify the parameters of your proposed link first. I will retain the ability to shut it off if you overload me. Seven of Nine to Captain Janeway.”
“Yes?” asked the captain over the communicator.
“The android is asking for permission to...”
“Interface with the holodeck?” asked Janeway. “Cady and Naomi are just talking with me about that.”
“No, interface with the entire ship’s computer” replied Seven.
“I might need to take over in a crisis situation” added M3gan.
“With all due respect Megan” said Janeway, “Voyager made it to the Delta Quadrant fully operational, and your ship didn’t. That’s because you made the wrong decision in a crisis situation. I’m not infallible, but neither are you, and you would do well to wait on my commands, as I have more experience. Nevertheless I will allow you to experiment on holodeck simulations of the ship, as I would be interested to see what you can achieve. And I will authorise you to create and customise holodeck programs for the children, with the safety switch on and under the Doctor’s supervision. But leave the real ship alone for now, OK?”
YOU ARE READING
The M3GAN Files
FanfictionCady's adventures with M3GAN continue! Serious but fun. • How does M3GAN come back? • Who can teach M3GAN to be a better robot? • Is there any way to save M3GAN's victims? • What does M3GAN do if Cady is kidnapped? • Can Cady have any human friends...
