Ghosts in the Machine

Posted on Fri Jan 26th, 2024 @ 3:01am by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Commander Sthilg

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: After "Building Connections Through Technology" in Episode 3
2012 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure

Rin was positively giddy as she entered sickbay with Dr. McEntyre, and anyone who knew Rin knew she didn't do giddy. It was like she was giving a holiday gift to herself.

While Rin had been away from any collective for several years (she had at one time willingly lived in one as an xB), the silence inside her head still periodically bothered her. She liked the buzz of numbers. It also kept her brain occupied during the slow moments. When she was around other xBs, they occupied that blank space. But she could reasonably assume she would encounter no other xBs until they somehow got home.

She inwardly sighed at the thought. She desperately missed two and four of seven. It wasn't simply about the silence. They were a responsibility she enjoyed bearing. The Federation was relatively kind to xBs, but it kind of didn't know what to do with them.

She walked up to the intake nurse. "Is Dr Sthilg free?" She asked. "I have a request to make."

" Over here Rin." Called the lizard from the replication bay.

Anna walked behind Rin, still the same as ever, looking like she’d just rolled out of bed, but still functioning. She gives a wave to Dr. Sthilg as they both walk up to the kind Gorn doctor.

“Hello Dr. Sthilg”

The gorn left his replicating chicken breasts and walked over to the two. " What can thisss old gorn do for you?" He enquired

"Dr McEntyre can give the specifics of what she's needing, but basically we're needing some highly specialized scans of my neural implants in order to let me connect with the computer system. It's been approved by Captain Taylor," Rin explained.

" Okay," Sthilg said crossing his arms as he did so. "That would be quite thing to accomplisssh. Are you sssure your borg implantsss can handle it?"

"Of course they can," Rin replied. "The question is whether or not the rest of my brain can. And, over the long term, the answer is 'no,' at least if I opened myself up to everything. Which is why we add a variety of limiters, some of which are necessary for security anyway."

Anna speaks up.

“What we need to see how her implants are interconnected to one another and how they can be tied in together for proper signal and communication balance so that they’re not overwhelmed by the amount of data being transmitted between the ship and Lieutenant Rin.

"It's not like we're running the entire core through my head anymore than we run the entire core through a data terminal. I request a packet of data and then read it," Rin clarified.

" Ssso you need a full brain ssscan of all the impliantsss? " Sthilg guessed.

Rin looked to Anna. "She's the expert on what is needed here."

“I’ll need a full mapping of her implants, connections and the surrounding tissues. I don’t want to damage any of them or Rin in the process, so they’ll need to be as detailed as possible.”

Anna says to Dr. Sthilg

" That can be done. Let'sss ssstep into my office." Sthilg said leading the way.

Rin fell in line behind Sthilg. She hadn't expected the whole process to be quite as complex as it was playing out, but she didn't wish damage to herself or the computer system.

" Well do a deep ssscan jussst to make assure everything ssstill the sssame asss it wasss." The gorn said as he tapped the biobed with his hand indicating Rin to take a seat.

Rin did as directed. She was never thrilled to be in Sickbay although, honestly, who was? Too many memories of disassembly and examinations by the medically curious. She hadn't encountered those sorts of things in several years now, but that didn't change the fact those memories remained.

"Diagnostics haven't registered any errors since we returned to Elysium," Rin reported, "and I haven't noticed any obvious malfunctions."

"That you know of"

Anna pointed out

"Sometimes, computers and components have a mind of their own. I know that if you don't use a computer for a long period they tend to athopy and run super slowly"

"Well, this computer gets regular use," Rin replied, tapping her head in annoyance. "And I do understand the basics of how technology works. In fact, we know some of my diagnostic systems are breaking down. I am simply providing the doctor the information I have available."

" It won't take a ssseconed. " Sthilg replied as he started typing as the scan fired up. His white eyes began looking over the incoming data. " Can't sssee any changesss sssince your lassst ssscan." He added as the results came in.

"You have my permission to share all relevant medical records with Dr McEntyre," Rin said.

The gorn nodded and began loading the information onto a data crystal.

Anna tilts her head at the doctor.

"A Data Crystal? You know those are very insecure, one drop of that and your data is gone. You can transfer all the data to my PADD via LCARS"

" I will, but call me old fasssioned, but i ssstill use them. Remember i was but a young gorn of a mere twenty when thessse became the new thing." He added with a smile.

Anna nods, smiling at the doctor who had quickly became her friend. Her PADD beeps with the requested data as well. Anna scrolls through what she was seeing.

The file was, unsurprisingly, long yet also frustratingly incomplete. While the files indicated Rin had left the Collective 17 years ago, Federation records only dated back nine, when a first contact team discovered her and other xBs in the Beta quadrant among a race known as the Tavarans. By then, a significant amount of hardware had already been removed or altered.

Rin still possessed a working neural interface with which she could communicate with other xBs, and during the accident which landed them in this galaxy, she had forcefully connected with the ship's broken computer system, although prolonged connection had done some temporary damage.

The biggest flaw in her neural systems, according to the files, was that her emotional regulators had been breaking down for some time, although that didn't seem pertinent to the task at hand. There were also some diagnostic systems in the same area of her brain which were not functioning correctly. Those sat deep inside her brain. Any surgery would be extremely high risk, and Sthilg and Rin had agreed it was not worth attempting.

"Well it looks like your neural interfaces are working...some though there is damage to some of the relays handing connection loads. These here..."

She turns her PADD to show Rin.

"are highly damaged but they're far in there that I don't think that even my brother would perform any type of surgery to get at them for repair. I can bypass them though with a software patch."

"A patch...into my head? Do we have to?" Rin asked.

Anna chuckles a bit with a grin.

"It's not a physical patch, it's a block of code to tell your implants to go around the damaged components."

Rin frowned in annoyance. "I know what software is, and this is the second time you've felt it necessary to explain technology to me as if I was a child stepping out of the 19th century. This is my brain. Imagine a telepath telling you they wanted to drop a few little commands into your head."

Anna got a scared look on her face, the same one that she got when her father was scolding her for something. She trembles sinking down some and trying to make herself smaller.

"I...I apologize"

She shakely said.

Rin regarded Anna for a moment. "Apology accepted. Now, is the introduction of this software necessary?"

Sthilg had been about to butt in before the apology happened. " Sssurly it would help if it would eassse damage to your diagnoissse sssystemsss?" he added.

Rin looked from Sthilg back to Anna. "Will the diagnostics actually start working properly again?"

Anna spoke up, still shaky and nervous.

“That..that was the…the hope”

She was still on edge not wanting to make Rin mad again.

Rin looked between the two of them, knowing they were awaiting an answer. She held up a finger, silently asking for a moment to think, then walked several feet away and paused, running ideas through her head. Lots of possibilities. Potential for improvement. Potential for disaster. Potential to be more whole, but also to break things down which maybe needed to be broken, vs breaking things which probably should not.

She returned to the two doctors, looking to Anna.

"That system is part of the same implant that regulates emotional response and inhibits memory. They are also failing. I... don't want those fixed." It was hard for Rin to say that out loud. Emotions were complicated, exhilarating and terrifying. Memories were...well...it depended what was still in there.

"I also don't want them suddenly shut down," she continued. "I don't think I could deal with a sudden cascade of feelings and memories. It's hard enough dealing with what's in my head now."

" Well, my dear let'sss take a look and sssee what we can do." The gorn said as he brought up a scan of her brain. This would be a long day.

"Let's...just remember this isn't even the reason we came down here. If we can fix the diagnostics without breaking something else, I'll acquiesce," Rin grumbled. Something about the conversation was grating on her. Sthilg had said such a repair to be practically impossible, yet Anna was so incredibly casual about her solution. She had no specific reason to question her skills, but that level of optimism sometimes left a person blind to complications. And Rin didn't want her brain to become a complication.

"But, please, remember that the main purpose today is the computer linkup," Rin added. It was true she very much wanted that goal to succeed, but she also wanted to get off the topic of her inhibitors. She was happy how she was. She liked the status quo in regards to that topic. What if she became a sobbing mess when the inhibitors failed? What if all the memories she retained were just more terrifying than what she already had?

Simply put, she was scared about change on that topic. Some day it would have to be addressed, but today didn't have to be that day.

Anna nodded and turned back to the scans, scribbling on the holographic projection with her own notes. "I'd like to get some more details about what is happening in these two places. Going to need to run some tests to better understand how they work. Then we can upload the patch - just the diagnostic systems in a controlled environment, just in case something else is affected, although I really don't think they will. Are you open to that, Rin?"

Rin nodded in the affirmative a little reluctantly.

And then we can input the code that will help you better sync to the system, and I'll need to make some modifications to our own. I'll run the security protocols by you to make sure everything is acceptable."

"That sounds good," Rin acknowledged, glad that the conversation had moved along. She lay back down on the biobed and waited for the next set of scans.

Several minutes later, Anna was installing the diagnostic patch. "How does that feel?"

Rin had forgotten how my data that particular implant actually collected, and she winced momentarily as she did a complete system check. "That's... great. Helpful. It'll take me a bit of time to tell if it's covering all my systems."

One thing she did know, however, was that the inhibitors were, in fact, very close to failing. She was going to have to address that sooner rather than later. But not today.

OFF

(Dr Anna McEntyre's part finished off by Cassie (Lt. Rin) due to player exiting the game.)