Artificial Intelligence and Other Wishful Thoughts, Part 2

Posted on Tue 4th Sep, 2018 @ 11:22pm by Elizabeth Anderson M.D. & Lieutenant Damion Ildaran
Edited on on Tue 4th Sep, 2018 @ 11:34pm

2,033 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Oblivion
Location: Deck 1554, River Village
Timeline: MD 2, 1810

Last time, Elizabeth asked:

"Damion, you make credits from Starfleet, don't you? Why can't you give your mother those things?" she asked.

And now the answer and the conclusion:

"Because I can't go home," Damion explained. "The last I knew, both the Coalition and the Alliance had standing orders to shoot down any Federation ship in Turkanan space. They're not joking; they've done it before. The only reason they let that Ferengi shuttle land that I hired away on is because it wasn't a Federation ship, and they came to trade. The factions want no outside interference with their running of things."

"I guess I didn't realize that. That would mean you can't send anything to her, either? It would probably never get there," Elizabeth answered her own question. "Would your mother ever leave, if you could work it out? I don't even know if you have family there other than her. I've realized, since you've been working here, that there is so much I don't know about you."

"It would never get there, and if it got there, it would never get to her," Damion said with a nod. "If it were known I sent her things, someone would figure out a way to exploit that, to get more things. And yes, I've family--parents, two brothers, a sister, and a brother-in-law. I'm likely an uncle by now. As for asking her to leave--no, I wouldn't, unless she were the only one left--and there's no way for me to know, unless I find another Ferengi ship willing to go back there. You know the way a mother is sometimes the glue that holds a family together, and when she dies, the family fair doesn't know what to do with itself? That's how she is, and I wouldn't want to take that from them."

Damion noticed that Elizabeth had finished tying her second shoe. "So, are you ready?"

Anderson took his change of subject as the closing of a door and stood, smiling. "Ready. Adventure around every corner, isn't that someone's motto?"

Damion laughed. "Let's get to it, then! This is a huge starbase, and I've not explored nearly enough of it--and you're the person I'd most like to explore it with."

It felt perfectly natural for Damion to slip his arm around Elizabeth's waist as she shut the door and they descended the stairs to the street.

As they came out onto the sidewalk, Elizabeth steered them slightly into walking to the right. "You remember that walk in the holographic temple gardens when we were first getting to know each other?" she asked. "The Buddhist temple here is quite different, yet holds a sense of the same peace. I thought you might like to stroll a part of it, absorb some of the peace, before we decide where to eat."

"I like the sound of that," Damion said. "It's been a while since that holodeck visit. I've not seen much of the area around the temple. I'm still amazed by the variety of nature that can be found on this starbase."

As they walked along, and then turned into the path that led slightly uphill to the temple grounds, the counselor reached behind her back and took Damion's hand. She thought about how long she'd known him. "It has been a while," she said after a few moments. "Strangely, it seems as if I've known you forever, but I can tell you the exact number of months, weeks, days, hours and minutes, and it's less than a year! This is one of those things that sometimes takes me by surprise, this stretching or bending or compressing of time. Of course, time isn't actually changed, only our perceptions of it. I think. I'll have to check that. Maybe the nature of time is affected by our experiences."

In no time, almost literally, she'd set a subroutine to ferret out information about the nature of time. "But about the starbase. I haven't been on many, only one besides this one, actually, but my impression is that most of them aren't quite as varied as 109. They're more military, more ... practical? Not as colorful is what it feels like to me. They each have their unique spots, from my research," and she didn't mention that research had been conducted only moments ago, "but I think I prefer 109. Maybe that's because I know it a little bit. What's the most unique thing you've come across here, so far?"

Damion thought about that. "I'd say the river they've got going here. Never seen anything like it. I suppose you could argue it's just glorified plumbing, but they use it for a lot more than just something pretty to look at. There's fishing, river boats, water sports, conservation things they do, water treatment and reclamation. Some of it's used for growing fish. I was quite surprised by it all."

Elizabeth nodded her agreement. "A group of small children was going to the fish hatchery last week. It was fun to see their excitement as they changed turbolifts. Something one of them called a field trip? Someone told me the river was Jade Lantz's idea, but Disney took it over from her. I wasn't sure if she wanted that or not, but it's an amazing thing, whoever gets the credit."

"I'm pretty sure Jade is well off, but I suspect Disney has much deeper pockets," Damion said. "They were likely able to do things that she could have done only with the backing of a lot of investors. The whole bit with the river crossing decks--impressive, but expensive."

"Oh, I expect Starfleet engineers would have handled a lot of it, wouldn't they? Not her personal finances. The information I heard is that they've been trying to develop this base as an attractive place for investors, and for families, as well as a place the military wants to serve and protect. Sounds like a motto, doesn't it?" Elizabeth smiled. "I think they could have invested plenty, but maybe having Disney do it invites other investors? Or competition? I don't have a lot of business programming. I'm glad it's here for us, though."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Damion said. "The River is not necessary to the running of the station; the starbase could function without it, just as other starbases do--but without the River, it would be radically different."

They wandered between the gates and stopped to look around. Somewhere, Anderson heard water. It was most likely the waterfall, not a fountain. There were trees everywhere, and nooks with alabaster statues. The smiling chubby Buddha made her smile, too. "I wonder what makes him so happy," she said, nodding toward the statue.

"My guess--because he's figured out it's all about attitude. Choose to be happy despite what life throws at you, and you'll be happy, for the most part, however bad life is. Not laughing-happy all the time, but you'll be able to see the good things in your life and you'll know that they'll come again." Damion glanced at her. "Like me living undercover. I could have spent that entire time thinking of how godawful much I missed you and made myself miserable every night--or I could do what I did, which was to admit that yes, I missed you very much, but to know I had a job to do and to set about doing it."

A wisp of breeze blew across Elizabeth's cheek as she gazed at Damion, captivated by what he'd said. Over the fall of water, there was a distant carillon of bells calling the monks to gather.

"Getting on with it, that's what we do, isn't it? No matter what." And after a moment, she added, "I missed seeing you almost every day, as we did on Hermes. I had grown used to discussing everything with you, and that was a difficult adjustment. I found that emotions are not always ... convenient." She squeezed his hand gently. "It's nice to have you back, however long it lasts."

"It's good to be back," Damion said and squeezed Elizabeth's hand in return. "Not being able to talk to you every day was hard to adjust to for me, as well. I kept to myself as much as possible, so I didn't go out at night; I just concentrated on work--which there was a lot of, thank goodness. But it wasn't nearly as satisfying as talking to you regularly or spending time with you. That one day when I called you--I felt almost as if I were stealing the time--but at that point, I bloody didn't care. I just wanted to hear your voice."

Moving along the path toward the sound of the water, they walked thoughtfully in a comfortable silence for a bit. Finally, Elizabeth broached the subject that had been on her mind since the conversation he'd just mentioned.

"What you do is difficult, but it has to be done, and I imagine you do it well. My observation of you is that you master what you set out to learn, or you ferret out the information you need to know. You're highly intelligent and more focused than most humans I've met. That's a requirement for doing your job successfully ... and safely." She glanced over at him. "I don't want to be a distraction you can't afford."

Damion thought about that as they walked. After a few moments, he answered her. "I handle a lot of my job by compartmentalizing," he said. "When I'm in uniform, I behave in a very by-the-book manner for a couple of reasons--first, to remind myself that there are rules and that the things I'm permitted to do in the field are different from the things I'm permitted to do in uniform and as the person I normally am. Second--simply because I like for there to be a clear distinction between the man I normally am and the roles I create when I'm in the field.

"That's why I was so concerned a while back about what sort of person I might return as and whether that person would be repugnant to you. I basically do method acting when I'm on deep cover. I eat, sleep, and think the role. That's not so necessary with Durant; I can let more of myself be a part of him because he's not living on the fringes of society--but it has been necessary with other roles. What I'm trying to say is, you're less likely to distract me because I compartmentalize. I won't say it could never happen, but that was why I told you what to expect if I met you while in my role."

Anderson nodded, "You will tell me if that changes, however. I hope that, should an assignment temporarily change who Damion is, that I would be able to help you change back, but I know there's no guarantee of that, either. For the moment, you're here and I'm glad we can spend some time together." They ambled slowly along the path, stopping now and then to take in the beauty of a section of garden, or an artistically placed statue. Mostly, they shared in silence, feeling no need to talk, content to feel and experience together.

After a while, they came to a pond filled with flashes of gold and pink and red. On the other side, a small waterfall cascaded over strategically piled rocks, artfully meandering from side to side until it fed into the pond. Elizabeth asked, "If you can tell me, do you feel you've figured out the things you need to know to avoid going off-base in that deep undercover role you were concerned about before?"

"No. We only just caught the woman today, and the last I heard, she was in surgery so the medics could remove an implanted device. She hasn't even been questioned yet. I'll be interested to see how Miller does with that--whether she lies to him about how that device came to be a part of her or not. We don't know where she came from yet or who sent her. I can't leave or plan for any sort of assignment until we have more information."

 

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