Recovering Tess

"Aye, Sir," responded Sisko to the Captain upon his request to return home. "I'm happy to report that our level one diagnostic of the warp core has completed successfully. You're clear to go up to Warp 9. We will continue to monitor the diagnostic of the Transwarp Drive, but I see no reason we cannot go to at least Transwarp 5 within the next twenty-four hours."

"Very well, Mister Sisko. Inform helm control as soon as transwarp is again operational."

Smiling to himself, the chief engineer added, "Although I can't replicate the tumultuous conditions that got us here in several minutes at near Transwarp 10, if we can maintain Transwarp 5, we can be home in about five and a half days. If we have problems, we may have to drop down to Transwarp 4.5 which will get us there in two weeks."

Two weeks may be better, Sisko thought . I might actually be able to continue my research into integrating a sentient hologram into a physical positron framework... At that moment, his thoughts turned to something he heard during the various communiques that were being tossed back and forth during the mission.

"Sir... this may sound like an odd request, but... did we happen to recover from the Nemesis a sentient hologram named 'Tess'?"

"Mister Sisko, Please go into your office and restrict comm access," suddenly ordered Kheren after a short moment of silence.

When the chief engineer complied and opened again a ship channel on a scrambled connection, his commanding officer then answered him.

"Now, to answer you, Mister Sisko; yes. More accurately, it is the download of a sentient artificial lifeform created to run that warship we just said goodbye to," answered the Andorian. "The TETIS project is still classified so I'm not surprised even you did not hear about it. And since you were not on the Artemis when we first encountered the Nemesis, you never heard of her... "

he made a pause and then sighed.

"I am taking it on my personal autority to give you this information, as we need your expertise if we may have any hope of restoring her with the crude computer systems we have on board."

This was enough to annoy any chief engineer, more so the one in charge of the latest starship design of Starfleet. But he had never seen or heard about the metacomputer of the USS Achilles prototype. he did hear however the definite seriousness in Kheren's voice.

"Tetis Achilles as she christened herself, Tess as she likes to be called, is a registered citizen of the Federation and a genuinely graduated Starfleet Ensign. She helped save us all when she was still the AI of the destroyer. Somehow, the hologram of Admiral Redding downloaded her in his metachip given to our Commander Redding and our chief of science managed to bring it back with her."

There was a pause before he went on.

"As artificial lifeforms go, Tess is way beyond even a Soong Android like Captain Data or a sentient hologram like the Doctor or Moriarty... in ways that would astound you. But her existence was due to the creation of a living supercomputer which itself makes the infamous M5 or the most advanced positronic brain look like PADDs. Storing her essence is already a miracle and only made possible by the unique advanced data chip Redding had; but restoring her without the original brain of the Nemesis is something else entirely. We might only be able to get a holographic facsimile of her... or only her raw data and loose all that makes her an individual, as was the case with Ira Graves several decades back..."

The Andorian went silent for a moment. Ira Graves had been the greatest genius in Federation History, who had downloaded his entire personality into the positronic matrix of then Lieutenant-Commander Data; but when later he had been transfered into a starship computer, all that had made him an individual had been irretrievably lost, everything reduced to raw computer data.

It was obvious Kheren was moved by the situation. but then he spoke again, his voice firm.

"I'm telling you this because we will need your recommendation if we are to attempt... awaking her; or at least to make sure we do not loose her until we get back to Federation space."

Sisko was excited about the potential of being able to help to recover the sentient AI.

"Aye, Captain!" he responded with enthusiasm. "I may have an idea on how to accomplish this. A positronic matrix COMBINED with the sophisticated computer of the Horizon may just provide enough computational power to retain the individuality of the program. I've been working on a project since we launched. Being interrupted from our sudden journey to the edge of the Galaxy, I currently only have an arm complete, but the process to create the rest of the android is quite straightforward, and if I work double time, I can have it done in no time. The complicated part will be integrating the matrix, which as you mentioned, is not yet sufficient to contain the program with both the Horizon computer AND the datachip. The datachip will need to be used for data storage until we return to Lotus Starbase, but the program may be able to be streamed to and from it through the Horizon computer."

There was silence for a moment before Kheren answered.

"Mister Sisko; as far as Ensign Thetis Achilles is concerned, I want you to stop seeing yourself as an engineer and start seeing yourself as a doctor. She is a constructed being, yes, but she is a living being nonetheless; I want you to look at her not as an extraordinary piece of hardware to repair or improve but as a living patient, an injured fellow Starfleet officer who happens to need your exceptional expertise to get well."

He made a pause to allow his words to really sink in before he continued.

"If you can certify me that you can do that, I will authorise you to concentrate all your efforts and ressources to help her... wake up, at least. Your routine engineering duties can be taken over by Mister Baoule and the rest of your team until we get back to Starbase Lotus. Can you do that, Lieutenant Commander chief engineer Joey Daystrom Sisko?"

Using such a formal way of addressing his chief engineer was typically Andorian; it stressed the solemn importance Kheren was giving to this.

"I myself had to remember that when we confronted our new incarnation of Khan Noonien Singh. For all the evils the original one did, this Khan is another being, born of the AI of a starship and who, so far, has not committed those crimes... although through no fault of him trying. We had to stop him, yes. We had to prevent him from using the power at his disposal to cause harm as he openly confessed he wanted to do. That is our duty. But I was not to make myself judge, jury and executioner and declare a death penalty on a sentient being if there was any other way. I was not about to turn all of us into murderers just because he was artificial and dangerous. There is no death penalty in the Federation."

It was not entirely true; Starfleet General Order 7 stated that anyone entering the Talos star system group for any reason whatsoever, including emergencies, would face the death penalty, the last and only one in the entire United Federation of Planets. but that fact was irrelevant here. What was relevant was the sanctity of life; life in whatever form, organic or not. And Captain Kheren would always be adamant about that core principle, be it for the sake of his crew, an enemy... or even a mad AI; more so for one to whom he himself and his entire crew owned their lives.

He was no telepath but  he was confident that Joey D. Sisko shared this attitude, even towards an artificial lifeform like Tess.

"Aye, Sir, you can count on me to treat her just as I would any other living sentient being," he replied solemnly. "It is actually the reason why I have involved myself in the study of this technology. I've always thought it to be not quite fair and confining for sentient holograms to be tied to a ship's computer or even the Mobile Holographic Emitters enjoyed by many holograms today, thanks to the reverse engineering of that original 29th century technology. My goal is to provide them with a physical form to inhabit when not in the ship to allow them the freedom that Captain Data enjoys. Beyond that, they may even choose to switch back and forth between the android body and any computer in order to accomplish whatever task they need to as easily and efficiently as they can. Additionally, the hologram form provides the safety of not having a physical form that may be harmed."

"She is not a guinea pig, Sir," Sisko added... "BUT... she may be a pioneer that will help future holograms and androids alike. If she helps us accomplish this task, she will be recognized as a first in artificial intelligence among the likes of the Enterprise's Data and the Voyager's Mark I EMH. I will also not move forward until we wake her... at least temporarily... and she fully understands the risks and freely gives her permission."

"That may just be the very thing she needs... or even want," commented Kheren. " Prepare yourself then, Lieutenant Commander... and, on her behalf, thank you."

"Aye, Captain. I will get started right away," Sisko said lastly before closing the comm and heading up a few levels on the ship.

As he walked into the private Engineering lab, he said, "Computer, activate project Lal."

"Hello Commander," a computer voice said. The mounted android arm waved its hand at the same time.

"Hi Lal, sorry I've been away for so long. The ship was in trouble and needed my help."

"I know, Commander, I was so scared," replied the AI.

SIsko was taken aback by the response. It... she was already scared? The program was learning quicker than he imagined it would. He wondered if she would become attached to her body... if she had already done so. If so, he would have to duplicate it for Tess, with different features, of course.

Oh well, it can't be helped. If Lal became sentient, taking away her body to give it to someone else was not an option, he thought. Will just have to quadruple my efforts.

As the doors hissed closed, Joey Day SIsko gave the hand a gentle squeeze to reassure her before sitting down to continue his work.