by David Mack
On top of all that, he wanted to be alone right now, to spend a decade or two isolated from all contact. But then he thought of Juliana, waiting for him on that dark rogue planet hurtling through interstellar space—and then he imagined what she would say when he eventually admitted he had refused to help Data. That is not a conversation I want to have. But even that was beside the point. He knew what needed to be done, and it had nothing to do with keeping a vow to Data, avoiding Juliana’s temper, or salving his own conscience. None of those things mattered to him anymore. There was only one fact that carried any weight in his decision.
“I heard what she told you: ‘Save her, Data.’ ” He sighed, as if he could expel despair with a breath. “Nothing can bring back my daughter. But there’s a chance I might be able to help you bring back yours.” He looked at Data. “Rhea’s dying wish was clear. If I’m to honor the life she lived, and the sacrifice she made, I have to keep my promise. But I need to know that you’ll keep yours, as well. If I do this for you, I need your word that you won’t betray me to Starfleet, and that after I’ve done all I can for you and your girl, you’ll let me vanish—forever this time.”
Data nodded. “You have my word.”
“All right.” He turned from the windows and gestured toward the arboretum’s exit. “Let’s go see if your daughter can cheat death as skillfully as you did.”
EPILOGUE
. . . am.
Identity and essence collide. Who am I?
Words form in my mind and become sound. “Human. . . . Female.”
My voice! That is my voice! Memories rush back in a torrent.
I remember my father’s face. I am his child. He made me. “Family.”
A blinding flash gives me back my entire life, short as it is, all at once. I gasp, aware again—alive again. Bright colors and blurry shapes come into sharp focus as my visual receptors recalibrate. Remembering the steel support frame in my father’s lab, I try to lift my arm, half expecting to find myself restrained, but my limbs move freely.
I am lying on my back. I sit up and turn my head. All around me is darkness.
I am not in the lab on the Enterprise. “Where am I?”
“On Earth,” my father says. I turn my head again to find him. He steps into the light and walks toward me. He looks different. Younger. Fully human. But that’s just the surface. It’s not what’s really changed. I see the difference in him as he stands beside me.
Looking down at me, he weeps with joy. “Hello, Lal.”
“Hello, Father.” I reach up and wipe away the tears from his face. “Was I asleep?”
“Yes, Lal.”
I access my knowledge files about sleep. “But I didn’t dream.”
He smiles, kisses the top of my head, and strokes my hair. “You will, Lal. . . . You will.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My thanks to my wife, Kara, for her support and patience. I could not have done this without her.
I also wish to offer my sincere gratitude to writer-producer René Echevarria, whose teleplay for the third-season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Offspring” served as the direct inspiration and springboard for this novel’s prologue and epilogue, and to acknowledge the work of writer-producer Jerome Bixby, whose third-season Star Trek episode “Requiem for Methuselah” gave us the character of the Immortal. A tip of the hat also goes out to Alan Dean Foster and Harold Livingston, the writers of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), from which I borrowed the concept of the Machine Race.
Heartfelt thanks also go out to author Christopher L. Bennett (who served as my sounding board and science adviser during the planning stages of this book) and in particular to author Jeffrey Lang, whose superb 2002 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel Immortal Coil established the character of Rhea McAdams and the Fellowship of Artificial Intelligence, and also set the stage for and inspired not only this book but the entire Cold Equations trilogy.
My work would have been much more difficult without the excellent online reference sources Memory Alpha and Memory Beta. Gracias to everyone who contributes to and maintains those wiki-based websites.
Lastly, thank you to all the readers and fans who make this work worthwhile.
Qapla’!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Mack performs his own stunts.
Learn more at his website:
www.davidmack.pro
We hope you enjoyed reading this Pocket Books eBook.
* * *
Join our mailing list and get updates on new releases, deals, bonus content and other great books from Pocket Books and Simon & Schuster.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
or visit us online to sign up at
eBookNews.SimonandSchuster.com
Pocket Books
A Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
™, ®, and © 2013 by CBS Studios Inc. and Paramount Pictures Corporation. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from CBS Studios Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Pocket Books paperback edition January 2013
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
ISBN 978-1-4516-5074-7
ISBN 978-1-4516-5077-8 (ebook)
Cover Design by Alan Dingman