Melancholy Farewell

[Joy 0]

Joy and Dave were walking back from the new duck pen to the old one, discussing his upcoming voyage. "So, with ducks in stasis," Joy asked, "how do you trade off portability against reliability? You are the one that is going to have to move the assembly."

 

Dave shrugged. "My orders are simply to deliver them to McKinley Station, but rest assured I will deliver my own report to the Admiral in charge." He held up a padd. "I believe this contains everything that they need to know, including the incident with the Cardassians."

 

Joy nodded. "I sent quiet word through my own channels."

 

"So you told me," Dave responded. "It seems as if that you're not the one who has borne the brunt of the Admiral's fury. Did you hear about Commander, or rather Lt Commander Kawalas?"

 

"Oh yes," responded Joy, as they entered the bio lab. "Up on the bridge you can't avoid it. It is a role reversal, with everyone dancing around it a bit awkwardly."

 

"Lets hope that the Admiral's report will end this madness."

 

"I think most of the madness is under control," said Joy, "like the ducks." At least, Joy's own timers were beginning to expire. She would soon be able to interact normally with others. The organic's emotion levels seemed to be settling down somewhat too.

 

"Well, how do we create a device to keep the aforementioned ducks alive, but prevent them from biting something else of mine off?"

 

"Stasis, if you don't mind a bit of overkill," Joy responded. "Given the mass and size of the subjects, the design of the chamber is pretty clear cut. The only question is whether to go with a power reserve or a generator. If the whole trip is aboard a shuttle, where you have access to system power, I would think the reserve would be sufficient. Otherwise, the unit just gets bigger."

 

"Well, of the two of us, you're the expert. Tell me what parts you need, and I will help you construct it, under you're instruction of course. I may be an engineer, but not one like you."

 

Joy smiled. "Well, it is just a matter of how many times one has put things like this together." They turned into Bio Lab 1, the 'old' duck pen, and settled down in front of a computer display. She called up the CAD panel, started with the stasis generation package, fed in the size and mass of the ducks, and let the computer produce power and structural requirements. As Dave had avoided answering her question, she called up the power reserve option. Hopefully, he wouldn't end up fleeing Cardassian spies, stiff ducks in tow.

 

"So this thing will be able to be able to function, and leave me enough power to get to McKinley Station? It won't be tied into the warp core, or the impulse engine power sources?"

 

"This design assumes a tap to shuttle power. If you are willing to increase bulk and weight by approximately 40 percent, we could give you a stand alone unit."

 

"Which would you recommend? I don't want to get shot down by the Cardassians or anyone else either."

 

"I personally would go with the smaller unit," she responded. "Do you have a single shuttle doing a non-stop flight? If there are lots of stops, and you have to keep connecting to station power while waiting for the next connection, it might be worth the extra bulk. If you have a direct flight, the lighter unit should be easier, simpler, and more reliable."

 

"I am planning to go non-stop. Why don't we go with two smaller units, one for each duck and tie them into," he paused, looking at the specs, "all non-essential systems? It looks like that would give the units just enough power. I will have to eat rations, but beggars can't be choosers. Besides, I am getting married, and not even that is going to ruin my mood." He smiled, broadly.

 

Joy returned the smile, and reworked the design. Using standard components, there would be considerable duplication in what Dave was requesting, but redundancy had its points as well. If one duck didn't make it, perhaps the other would get through. She created an approach with a smaller stasis compartment, a smaller power reserve, and an appropriate physical shell with lifting repulsers for portability. Handling two such chambers might be a bit interesting, but hopefully Dave could borrow an assistant duck maneuverer. Couriers for the Council generally didn't have problems drafting assistance. "Your lady can counteract even the foul influence of ducks?"

 

Dave chuckled. "I haven't actually told her what happened yet. I didn't want to worry her. You know, I have been meaning to ask you something ever since I have been engaged. You've been around us flesh and blood types for a while and I assume you have seen our interactions, lovers talking over coffee for example, what do you think of them?"

 

"They are doing as they were made to do," she answered a bit cryptically.

 

"As they are made to do?" He looked at her, very confused. "Are you suggesting our interactions are entirely based on our anatomy?"

 

"Life makes life," she responded, a bit uncomfortable.

 

Dave shook his head and returned his attention to the task. "So, do we have to assemble these things or can we just replicate them?"

 

"If you can get time on the big engineering replicators, we can do them in one piece. If not, as they say, some assembly required." Joy was relieved at the change of subject. Perhaps she should have pretended to be a romantic?

 

"I think we can assemble them ourselves."

 

"Of course we can. This is your preference?" She was a bit confused.

 

"I like to get my hands dirty." He smirked, then returned to the other subject. "As someone who has an emotion chip, I'd think you'd be able to understand that human interactions are more complicated than pro-creation."

 

"Of course."

 

He tapped the execute control, starting a series of parts materializing in the lab's small replicator. "Then why did you say, life makes life? I mean, sure I would think most humans would want to pro-create, but that isn't the driving force in our lives. At least, not anymore."

 

"What is, then? What brings you together?"

 

"Love. A special feeling that I can't even describe. Something inside us perhaps biological, that drives us to be together." They watched the parts materialize, and pulled them clear to allow the next part room. "This shouldn't be to difficult. Why don't you put one together, and I will do the other alongside you?"

 

Joy nodded, and began the assembly in silence, while Dave copied her. "I'm sorry, Dave. I am just not the person to talk about love."

 

"I understand, but let me ask you something. Have you ever felt intense emotion that was caused by something, emotion so intense that you felt you're chip my burn out?"

 

"Yes." Eleven had once been ordered to save the sentient population of a planet from death. She hadn't been able to obey. The result, responsibility for the death of millions of beings, had made Admiral Blurox's little speech seem negligible. She hadn't actually thought her chip would burn out. She had just wished it would.

 

"That is what its like when one human truly loves another. It's a feeling that, only comes along once or twice in someone's lifetime, and for some people its so overwhelming that they do, 'burn out'."

 

Joy tried to smile. What should she tell him? She had designed emotion packages for holo characters intended to duplicate human behaviors? She knew all about the initial ecstasy, and how it faded with time. She had been designed by Harcourt Fenton Mudd, and knew all about positive feedback caused by a touch. Dave had his dream. He would best be left free to pursue it. He didn't deserve her personal heartbreak. She just continued to assemble.

 

"It is in fact the reason why my relationship with Rebecca was so strong from the moment it began, why we continued our relationship even serving on separate starships, and whether its miles or light years our feelings for each other knows no distance."

 

"Then go to her, Dave. I just can't follow you. OK?"

 

"I understand." He held up his handiwork. "This look right?"

 

"Yes. That's right." Her eyes were going to leak. She hated it when her eyes leaked.

 

Then lets transport these things to security and get those ducks.

 

Joy smiled. "I'd rather move them the hard way. Let's make sure the lifters are working and balanced, and you can maneuver them in a corridor."

 

"Right." He knelt down to verify the lifters. "Speaking of going to my fiance, I may not be coming back." He paused. "I may not be coming back to the Republic."

 

Joy looked at him. "That would be right in many ways. You should try to find a way to be together."

 

"The lifters on mine look fine, how about on yours?"

 

"Ready to roll." They both activated the lifters, and started out of the bio-lab.

 

"Well, if I do come back, she will be coming back with me, so I hope. We haven't yet discussed it, but one of us is going to make a career change, of this I am almost certain."

 

"Well, I'd be pleased to meet her. You might also ask if she has managed not to shoot her ship's CSec."

 

Dave chuckled. "That's going to haunt me forever isn't it?" He maneuvered into a turbo lift.: Can you fit or are you going to catch the next one?"

 

"I think I'll fit." She carefully moved in. "If you want the shooting forgotten, you'll have to do something far more spectacular that will cast it in the shade."

 

"Any suggestions?" Dave barely managed to touch the door controls, then decided to use verbal command. "Security."

 

"Well, Will himself is into shooting the Admiral, so that's been done. It would just be seen as a cheap copycat ploy, not to mention hazardous to one's career."

 

"I shot him, and now I am a Lt. Go figure. In any case, first thing is first, I have to figure out where I will be serving, with this shiny new pip on my collar, here or the Rhode Island."

 

"What sort of ship is the Rhode Island?"

 

"It's a Intrepid, but its being upgraded right now, so it will have all the capabilities of some of the larger, more powerful vessels without being as large." They exited the lift, pushing their devices, and began the trek to security.

 

"And the feel? Does she have bullies in engineering, and ducks all over? The Republic has character -- and characters -- but are you more at home here, or she there?"

 

"Thats the question I have to answer, Joy, or have her answer for me. In either case, its not an easy question."

 

"I have been on many ships, and my sisters many more. On some you come to belong. On some you don't quite fit. What might be right for your lady, might not be right for you. It isn't easy, finding a new home. Just talk it over. Make a good choice."

 

"Alright." He looked up to Lieutenant Bob at the security desk. We're ready for the ducks now."

 

He scowled. "Just don't let them get near me. He deactivated the force field around two ducks, held in a cell separate from the others."

 

"The honor is yours," said Dave to Joy with a smirk.

 

"Thanks," she responded with all due sarcasm, though it had been her suggestion that toxin immunity and bite resistant metal bones were more appropriate for this task. "Just keep number two cornered while I deal with the first." She ran a final diagnostic on her newly assembled unit, opened the lid, set it for stand by, and addressed the nearer duck. "I have an amazing honor for you, Mr. Quack. You get to meet the Federation Council. Can you say 'Point of order?" She approached slowly then made her grab, one hand for the neck, then the other capturing the wings. A brief flurry of activity, and she laid the Council's latest representative in the chamber. "Good night." She closed the lid, and activated the stasis control. Stable. Good. "Now, I just have to second that motion." The second member of the Anatidae Council delegation didn't look particularly pleased with her.

 

As Dave kept an eye on the still free feathered fiend, Joy prepped the second stasis unit, then turned to the remaining duck. "OK, Ms Quack. I call for the orders of the day. That means you have to do what's on the agenda." Joy repeated her subdue maneuver, and quickly placed the second representative of the Cardassian Expeditionary Force Reserve into the conveyance. Blinky lights blinked properly. She turned to Dave. "Well, I've had worse encounters."

 

Dave chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you, hat you have a better sense of humor and are better at bantering than most humans?"

 

"I was just trying to introduce them to the Rules of Order," Joy said, quietly pleased by the comment. "They really do need to know about rules and order."

 

"Whatever you say," Dave said with a smirk. "Well, it seems I'm ready to go." He turned to the security Lieutenant. "Please beam them to one of the shuttles in the bay." A few taps on the console, and the two stasis chambers shimmered away. " I'll be sure to contact you when my decision is made. If I don't come back to the ship, well, thanks for being a friend, especially when I needed one."

 

"Appreciated. I was glad for your being here for me as well," Joy said with simple honesty. "I wish you all the best, here, or elsewhere."

 

"Thank you," responded Dave. He left the security area, and headed for the shuttle bay.

 

She watched him go, looked back to Lieutenant Bob, and found herself with nothing to say.

 

"Quack."

 

Joy had nothing to say to Happy, either. Two inappropriate names. She quietly left for the bridge.