Return to Oz

Posted on Tue Jun 27, 2023 @ 12:03am by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot

2,009 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: We Will Take Care of You
Location: Planet Mudd

System initializing.
Error. Memory scan initiated.
Error override. Diagnostic mode activated.

Penny’s eyes fluttered open and she took a deep breath. She didn’t immediately recognize the ceiling above her, but it felt familiar nonetheless. There were beeps and clicks from computers around her, and she wondered if she was in the Sickbay of a different ship. Granted, the decor didn’t look like the Federation, but it was possible some CMO had decided--

“Penelope Series, Unit 121, code designation ‘Penelope Naroot’ activated. Diagnostic complete,” Penny said, then blinked. “Why did I say that?”

“Because your diagnostic was complete,” a voice said from her left. As she sat up, the figure stepped into her field of view. She had a feeling of deja vu seeing his face, but she couldn’t place it. “Who are you?”

The man blinked and tilted his head in an eerily familiar gesture. “My designation is Oscar 47. Am I familiar to you?”

Penny looked long and hard at him, but shook her head. “I’m…not sure. I’m guessing you should be?”

Oscar 47 nodded once. “Evidently, the damage to your core engrams is more severe than we anticipated.” He made some adjustments to his console. “We will attempt to access the protected memory storage once the diagnostics are complete.”

“Protected memory….what are you talking about?” Penny said, confused. “Why are you talking about me like I’m some kind…of…” she turned and saw a reflective surface next to her. She saw the large chunk of hair and skull removed, she saw the blinking lights and circuitry, she saw the cord plugged into a port in her head, connecting to a computer terminal and finally saw her own horrified expression looking back at her.

She let out a scream of terror and grabbed for the cord. “Get this out of me! What did you do to me?”

Oscar 47 moved in quickly and pried her hands away from the cable attached to her. “Cease attempting to sever the connection. I do not wish you to sustain more damage.”

Penny’s blue eyes were wide with terror. “What…what did you do?”

“We repaired you,” Oscar said.

“By turning me into an android?” Penny shouted, angrily.

“The basis for your assumption is incorrect,” Oscar said.

Penny blinked and tilted her head, then realized what he meant. “But I’m….I’m human…aren’t I?”

“The basis for your assumption is incorrect,” Oscar 47 repeated. “May I continue the diagnostic?”

Penny swallowed hard. “How did I get here?”

“You were brought here by the USS Nazareth,” Oscar 47 said, turning to his control panel. “When we were unable to regain contact with you after your launch, we assumed you had been destroyed. Evidently you were merely damaged.”

“Yeah, I was impaled,” she said, looking around the mostly nondescript room.

“That is not what is responsible for your deleted memory engrams,” Oscar 47 said.

Penny blinked. “How did you know I had lost memory?”

“If you did not, you would not be confused right now,” Oscar said matter-of-factly.

Penny mulled that over until a virtual viewscreen appeared in the air in front of them. She couldn’t explain how, but she felt it activate, and as a file appeared with her picture, she understood what it was for: she was about to look at her memories.

“Penelope…Naroot?” she said, confused.

“That was the designation you were assigned upon completion,” Oscar 47 explained. “It was designed to appear as a human surname.”

“So that’s my real name…” she said, still in shock from everything.

“I have accessed your visual recordings while you were damaged,” Oscar 47 said. “Fortunately, your emergency backups were functioning.”

Penny saw the same open patch of space through the hole in the starship that she’d seen when she thought she was dying. Little changed, save for some shaking from the ship taking further shots. She watched ships fly by, watched the Cardassians turn on their Dominion conquerors, and saw the fleet jump to Cardassia prime.

Oscar scanned forward through the recording. For the most part it was rather boring at that point. The battle was over, repair crews were working around the breach, and nothing else was happening. It stayed that way until the emergency force fields finally engaged and a hiss of air was heard as the corridor repressurized. Nothing else happened for some time until a technician beamed in to assess the damage. She saw Penny, went white, and immediately called for a beam out. A moment later, Amber, Nicole and their newest engineer, Thomas Riley, beamed in.

“Good God,” Amber said, looking at Penny pinned to the bulkhead.

Nicole suddenly rushed at Penny, looking her over as if there was some way she could have survived. “We have to get her down,” Nicole choked.

Suddenly, Amber stood up straighter. “Nicole, get back.”

“What? Why?” Nicole said, trying to pull the bar that had gone through Penny’s torso. “Don’t just stand there, Amber, help me!”

Suddenly Nicole was pulled back by an invisible hand. She turned at Amber, her eyes turning red, and a set of fangs starting to appear past her lips.

“Nicole, look,” Amber said, pointing at Penny.

Nicole turned and all traces of anger evaporated as she saw what Amber was pointing at. “By Providence….” she breathed. “What….is she?”

Penny winced, hearing that play back.

“Mister Riley,” Amber said, “your assessment, please.”

“I’m on it, dollface,” Riley said, his Iotian accent cutting through the tension.

“Do not call me that,” Amber said, irritated.

Tommy approached Penny and scanned her carefully, poking around her chest near the wound. Penny watched the screen playback and finally turned away. “Okay, enough,” she said. She felt the playback stop and looked back up at Oscar, observing her. “I’m an android…”

“That is correct,” Oscar 47 said.

“Why didn’t I know that before?” Penny said.

“At some point in transit to Earth, you were damaged, including your core memory engrams. It is a testament to your design that you are functioning at all.”

“I was found on a beach…I barely knew my name, couldn’t remember anything…” she said.

“Correct,” Oscar said. “We’ve downloaded all your records. Fortunately, your primary functions and camouflage subroutines were intact, allowing you to function efficiently.”

“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” Penny half-joked. Oscar came over and disconnected the cable from her head, reattaching the missing piece of her scalp. Penny looked over at the mirror, taking a small comfort that she looked like herself again, but was still creeped out knowing what was lying just under her skin. She suddenly noticed how she was dressed. It was a free flowing tunic, made of a silvery fabric. “This looks like what I was wearing when I was found…” she said.

“It is an identical garment to what you were wearing when we last interacted,” Oscar 47 said. “The garment and my presence were to give you something familiar to reduce an emotional response.”

“We’ve met before?” Penny said.

“I was your diagnostic supervisor when you were first created. I was also there to witness your launch from the planet,” he said.

“Oh…thanks, then,” she said. A thought suddenly crashed into her brain, and while she didn’t pay much attention to philosophy, it occurred to her she might get a more concrete answer than any other person she’d met. “Why was I created?”

“You were designed to withstand human behavior and assess if they have progressed to a point where they can be considered a salvageable species.”

“Salvageable?” Penny said.

“Many civilizations eventually extinguish due to what humans call ‘corruption’ or ‘evil intentions’. We wish to see if there are humans out there who they consider truly ‘good.’”

“So, I was supposed to just…find a good man among men?” Penny said.

“Inaccurate, but a sufficient summary, yes,” Oscar 47 said.

“And once I did, then what?”

“If you determined that humans were no longer a danger to us or themselves, we would reattempt contact in order to facilitate more beneficial relations.”

Penny mulled that over. “What happens now?”

“We will need to analyze the remaining damage to your systems and determine a course of action. You will have access to the rest of the facility until then.”

“Are my shipmates here?” Penny said.

Oscar nodded. “They are being attended to in the Primary Lounge. I’ve downloaded the schematics of the facility back to your system. You may visit them any time.”

Penny nodded and hopped down off the diagnostic table, walking quickly out of the room without looking back.

---

Walking down the geometric corridors felt surreal. She knew where she was going, even though she felt she’d never been there, yet at the same time felt she had. She was almost convinced this was either just another nightmare, or she really was dead and this was just her brain's last neurons flaring one final time. She was both happy and sad (and immediately thereafter confused) to see both theories ruined by the sight of her shipmates waiting in the lounge.

Tommy was sitting back on a couch, feet on the table, head back and half asleep. Amber was sitting as well, straight-backed and alert. Nicole was pacing like a caged animal, muttering to herself.

They all turned to the door as Penny entered. Nicole was on Penny immediately, looking her over. “How do you feel? Are you alright? What did they do? Bloody hell, you had us scared!”

“I’m okay…physically,” Penny said, hugging her. She looked over at Amber and immediately felt a bit scared. Amber’s arms were folded and a scowl was on her face. The CMO did not like surprises, and Penny had just given her a doozy.

“Is she mad at me? She looks mad,” Penny said quietly to Nicole.

“She’s more mad at the Admiral for not telling her of his suspicions,” Nicole said.

That brought Penny up short. “He suspected I was an android?”

Nicole shrugged. “Evidently he saw through your camouflage when he interviewed you. He’d had his eye on you since.”

“Oh…” Penny said, tilting her head, thinking. She looked over at Amber. “If it makes any difference, I didn’t know either.”

Amber looked at her and huffed. “So I’m told. We’ll discuss it later.”

Penny nodded. “Okay.”

Nicole gave Amber an annoyed look and turned back to Penny. “Do you need anything to eat or…” she paused as she realized what she was asking. “Do you need…anything?”

Penny smiled at her friend. “I’m good,” she said. “I think I’m going to walk around a bit and explore.

“Do you need me to go with you?” Nicole said.

Penny smiled. “No, but thank you. I just kinda want to wander and explore a bit.”

Nicole nodded but looked like she’d rather be going along. Penny gave her a reassuring smile and turned and walked back into the corridor.

She explored the whole facility, peeking into labs that were empty, quarters that were empty, observation rooms that were empty and lounges that were empty. She spent some time relearning what the facility was for, and its history, then explored more. For a weapons research outpost, it was rather comfortably decorated, but still spartan and efficient. The androids kept mostly to the labs and equipment rooms, taking inventory, maintaining equipment and keeping the outpost clean. Since they generated no waste, the last task felt rather pointless in Penny’s view, but she assumed it was just part of their basic programming to maintain the facility.

What struck Penny was the silence. No idle chatter, no discussion of what they were doing, no exchange of pleasantries as they passed by each other. When she entered a room, one of them would look and acknowledge her presence, but then turn back to what they were doing. All in all, it creeped her out.

 

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