<USS Avalon> "Modifications"

"Modifications"

Dr. Alexis Cazook, AMO
Cialra

Soon  after Walker and Talea left, Cialra said quietly, "Doctor, if you 
would  point me to where you wish the psionic shielding to go, I will 
instruct your  personnel in how to make the special paint, then leave 
them to paint it. I  can also confirm its effectiveness once the material 
dries. It can be tricky  to use, however."

Looking around for a moment, Alexis looked for the most  out-of-the-way 
room, which would also be the quietest. "How about that room  down the 
hall? It is far enough away from the noise of Sickbay, yet still  close 
enough that I can reach it in a hurry if needed." She thought, '/I  
should probably check with Doctor Mahler, but he is on the away mission  
and this is somewhat of an emergency.'/

Cialra smiled. "All right."  After two orderlies came over to the doctor, 
she detailed what must be done,  then, after replicating the "paint" 
(which was, in fact, not paint, but  something else) aboard her own 
vessel, used her vessel's transporter to  bring the gallon and a half 
container to sit on the deck in the room. She  then briefed the two. 
"Cover everything in here, and get a roller and paint  tray. This isn't 
precisely paint, so it can be a little difficult to work  with. It's 
designed for single-coat coverage, though, so that helps." She  turned to 
Doctor Cazook. "This material is what makes the room psionically  
shielded. Every surface of the walls must be covered, including and  
especially the inside of the door panels." She sighed. "I'd help, but I  
am just a hologram." Her face showed her distress. "Talea and I go a  
long way back."

One of the orderlies complained, "You're asking us to  paint? Who died 
and gave you authority, Miss?"

Alexis looked at the  orderly with a look of disdain. "You will paint and 
you will do it exactly  as Cialra has instructed. That is an order from 
me, and one you will follow,  or you may just end up in the brig along 
with Ensign Jackson. Now get to  work."

The other just shook his head. "Be better, I believe, to use  paint-pads. 
Less messy, for one."

Cialra, grimacing as she had  forgotten that tech altogether, nodded. 
"For the walls and  floor, yes,  proceed. Much less messy. For the 
ceiling? I expect you'll need rollers, but  you've my permission to 
attempt using the pads there as well, especially  around the lights." She 
then smiled at the doctor. "One thing: the material  will wrap itself 
around the edge of the door panels before drying  completely. This is 
normal, and the edge thus covered will not be tacky. The  shielding 
material is somewhat forgiving, but overlapping too much can cause  
strange effects." She chuckled as one of the orderlies discovered this  
for himself as the material crawled to thin itself to the proper  
thickness, the cut-in wall edge merging with the ceiling edge as he  
stared in fascination.

She continued with, "The shielding material  dries totally clear, thus 
not affecting lighting in the room. The lighting  fixtures must be either 
sealed with the material or removed and the ceiling  painted under them. 
Either way, the seal must be total."

Watching the  orderlies paint, Alexis thought for a moment. It had been 
done on the  Avalon-B in the form of a Scottish nanny. "Cialra, I believe 
I know how you  can help Talea. If I am not mistaken, engineering can 
create a program where  your holomatrix is kept in a combadge you would 
wear at all times. This  would allow you to interact with people and things."

This reminder of how  things could be done to give her solid-avatar EMHA 
status made Cialra first  look very ruefully at the doctor, then nod. 
"Aye. That can be done easily  enough, and if it is permissible, I would 
enjoy assisting the crew that way.  I may even have such a stabilizer 
already somewhere in stores. Lords know I  was surprised to find that 
ancient force-whip!"

Alexis continued  with, "We can also put holo-emitters throughout the 
ship, which would allow  you to go wherever you were needed. That is, if 
you are  interested."

Cialra smiled at the mention of universal coverage of the  ship with 
holo-emitters. "That would also benefit Medical, Doctor, by  allowing the 
EMHA and EMPH units free access to anywhere they are needed to  render 
initial aid. As much of the Golden Hour must be conserved as  possible, 
in trauma cases." She held up a hand in caution. "I am aware that  the 
Golden Hour concept is not precise; in some cases, up to three hours  
between event and treatment can be considered the Golden Hour, but I  
digress."

She shook her head. "Once the material is applied evenly,  it will take 
about four hours to fully activate and another hour or so to  completely 
dry. Once dry, unless you know what the dry material feels like,  versus 
the material it covers, you will probably not be able to detect it by  
touch. However, a telepath or telempath or empath inside the room with  
the door closed and the shielding intact would tell you instantly that  
something was very different. I've heard it described as, and I quote,  
'A total absence of any psionic or psychic impressions.' I know that it  
is reported to be very relaxing, especially for empaths and telepaths  
who are under stress during their non-shielded hours, because all they  
"hear" is their own thoughts, without having to devote energy to keeping  
their shields up."

She looked a little pained for a moment as she  realized something. 
"Gentlemen, be careful. You will need to coat the floor  as well. Be sure 
to cover the entire floor, preferably without painting  yourselves into a 
literal corner with no way to leave. I doubt you want to  stay in one 
position for four to six hours."

Trying not to laugh at  Cialra's comment, Alexis turned her head. Once 
she had regained her  composure, she turned back to the orderlies. "I am 
sure that you will finish  this room as directed and you will do it with 
no more complaints. This is a  medical necessity and you work in Sickbay. 
Hence, the reason you are  painting. Makes perfect sense to me. Once you 
are done, let Cialra know and  she will inform me. You will follow her 
instructions just as if I were  giving them myself."

Nodding to Cialra, Alexis left the AI and the  painters to their work. 
She had paperwork and such to do, and she wanted to  get it done before 
they moved or had to move Talea into that room. She hoped  she wouldn't 
need to, but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that  the room 
would be used sooner than later.

Within another hour, the  room was done, although moving the biobed 
itself had been the hardest of the  tasks. Cialra had worriedly monitored 
the two orderlies as they shifted the  unit, but could not assist. Not 
for the first time did she regret the  situation that forbade her being 
able to do so.

In her office, Alexis  kept her word to Cialra by calling down to 
engineering. She had talked to  Lieutenant K'etrall, explaining the 
situation and the need for Cialra to  have access to the entire ship. 
Admittedly, the engineer had been hesitant  at first. She wasn't thrilled 
about the idea of a hologram wandering around  the ship. However, after 
further talking with Alexis, she began to  understand the need. She told 
Alexis she would begin work on it first thing.  With this news in hand, 
the oh so tired doctor walked to the freshly painted  room to find 
Cialra. On returning to the room, Alexis looked around,  pleased. "Well, 
it looks as if everything is just about ready. Thank you,  gentlemen and 
Cialra. I'm sure the person/s it is intended for will  appreciate it 
greatly. If you have a moment, I would like to talk to you,  Cialra. 
Before we go anywhere, do you suppose I could call you Claire? It is  so 
much easier for me to pronounce. However, if it is going to bother you,  
I will keep working on my pronunciation."

Cialra just bowed slightly.  "Since Claire is actually the modern version 
of my name, it is more than  acceptable. Perhaps I should have made that 
clearer, doctor. Forgive me if I  have offended."

"What is it with everyone thinking they have offended me?  It would seem 
to me to be the other way around. Anyway, back to what I  wanted to talk 
to you about. I just finished talking to Lieutenant K'etrall  in 
engineering, and she has agreed to install holo-emitters throughout the  
ship, as well as develop a program that will allow you to go places  
where there are no emitters.  And, if I am not mistaken, she is going  to 
allow the program to allow you to feel things as any other person would.  
Of course, this all hinges on your approval." Alexis stood with her  
hands crossed behind her back and waited for a response.

Cialra was  privately excited. She already knew the parameters, or at 
least where to  base from. Another Federation vessel even had a Regellian 
MI as its ship's  computer, and had had such an avatar for years, since 
2376, in fact. Now, to  access the data, if she could. Celeste may not be 
willing to assist, even  though Cialra was actually much, much older and 
therefore her elder. "Yes,  certainly! I know the technique is doable 
with Federation technology, as  witness the EMPH of the USS Voyager, but 
if I can gain permission to  duplicate a certain thing from another MI I 
know serves here in the  Federation, it will make things much easier on 
everyone." She smiled.  "Especially one very beleaguered Acting Chief 
Engineer of our mutual  acquaintance!" She was referring to the way that 
Celeste, the MI who was the  computer of the USS Resurrection, had been 
able to go from holographic to  quite solid, to the point that she was 
actually anatomically  correct.

Alexis smiled, knowing it would make K'etrall's job that much  easier. 
"If you can get this permission you require, I am quite sure that  our 
engineers would be extremely grateful. I also think it would be of great  
assistance to myself and, most importantly, Talea, who is my prime  
concern at this point. Do you need me to assist in any way to gain this  
permission?" It would be nice to have someone around who could help  with

Cialra nodded. "Permission will be easier than making the unit, I  fear. 
It is neither Federation or Regellian technology, and apparently some  of 
the materials are rather . . . unique." She said quietly, "One moment.  
Establishing communications with Celeste."  Thirteen seconds later, she  
smiled. "We're on. Celeste has given permission, and a schematic of the  
unit. What's curious is that it is material, yet stays with her even  
when she is holographic." After considering the circuitry, she shook her  
head in wonder. "So small. So incredibly powerful." She shivered. "So  
difficult to find the materials for."

Alexis looked thoughtful for a  moment. "I may have an idea. I am 
wondering if perhaps you and one of our  resident Exocomps would be able 
to gather the supplies you  need."

Cialra sighed. "Closest supply, if it could be called that, is  
ninety-five light years to our current course's port and a hundred  
ninety-five light years below us. It's a nebula, and there's a small  
supply of the key materials left from an operation the Resurrection  
successfully executed some years back." She frowned. "According to the  
information she sent with the schematic, it is designed to be embedded,  
here." She touched the area on her body. "Doing this on a holographic  
avatar will be an interesting exercise, no?" With a sense of trepidation  
she didn't understand, she stored the coordinates of the nebula and  
materials cache for later, updating course-corrections second by  second.

"Now, now! Don't start fretting yet. Let's send the information  to 
Lieutenant K'etrall, and once she is released from Sickbay, she may be  
able to pull of what we need. Once we have the materials and such, you  
let me worry about doing the actual implantation. Ok? I will take care  
of you just as I have Talea and everyone else." Alexis hoped she had  
sent a sense of calm to the avatar.

Cialra almost laughed. "Since I  do not understand how the implantation 
was done, and Celeste explained it to  me, doctor, I find it a little 
disconcerting. You see, I'm well over two  thousand years old; my core 
was activated in Regellian year 3512; this being  nearly 5521 by our 
reckoning, I believe you agree I'm over two thousand in  either system. 
Yet," and she sighed. "I do not understand the procedure  Celeste has 
explained to me, with more patience than I could have expected."  She 
smiled. "I was present for Talea's birth, and those of all her brothers.  
I've been in the service of her family for centuries." Her tone went  
rueful. "And yet, the longer I have lived, the more I realize that I do  
not know. It is a humbling experience."

Sighing, Alexis nodded. "Life  is indeed humbling and yet at the same 
time it is also a learning  experience, something to be valued and 
enjoyed. If there is anything I can  do to make life more enjoyable for 
you, I will use all my available powers  to do so. If we need engineering 
help, we can get it from Starfleet. I have  learned to take things as 
they come. Sometimes I can do something about them  and others I can't. 
It may not always make me happy, in fact it can  downright irritate me. 
Yet I keep plodding along. As will you, my dear  friend. Your memories 
will keep all of us who have had the pleasure of  meeting you alive. For 
that, I am eternally grateful."

Cialra looked  slightly uncomfortable for a moment. "Doctor, I appreciate 
the sentiment,  and note that your attitude is quite refreshing. Too, too 
many in the  Federation are afraid of AI and MI entities such as myself. 
They always cite  the failed M5 experiment, too." She shook her head. 
"The problem with M5 was  the coding. It wasn't flexible enough, so the 
inputs overloaded the system.  It was also quite fortunate that they left 
the hole in the code that  Ambassador Spock used to shut the machine 
down." She looked sad. "Another  problem for M5 was simply the fact that 
the hardware didn't have enough  memory for the AI to properly run. If 
you saw the memory space I exist in,  it might surprise you." She knew 
that her memory space was nearly half that  for the entire ship, in the 
case of the Avalon-C. Her memory space was  somewhere on the order of six 
thousand teraquads, to name the measure the  Federation used. And that 
was in a core-box that was (barely) movable by a  single person. She knew 
the exact weight of her core-box in Terran gravity,  and at just over 
60kg, it was quite a struggle for most non-Regellians to  lift, which was 
somewhat fortunate.

Alexis wasn't much on mechanics  or engineering, and what Claire was 
describing did sound overwhelming, but .  . . it had been done before. 
Was she just afraid of the freedom? Or was  something else going on? 
"Claire, you say that you have the diagrams and  whatnot needed to make 
this a reality, yet I am getting the distinct  impression that you are 
hesitant in doing so. What are you afraid of,  Claire? The freedom to go 
where you choose, when you choose? What is it?  Explain it to me. I would 
very much like to understand."

Cialra  chuckled ruefully. "I suppose, just as with the Resurrection's MI 
core, I'm  a little concerned that Starfleet might, erm, overreact and 
try to destroy  me. Not because I would be a danger to the ship, mind, 
but from the  expectation that I would eventually become one." She shook 
her head.  "Considering the length of service I've already put in, I 
seriously doubt I  would be a threat, however." She was very aware of 
what it would take to  drive her insane; it had been done to a sister of 
hers over a thousand years  before, and the flaw exploited was nearly 
impossible to totally correct.  She'd been trying for centuries, as had 
other sentient computers, since so  many of the older ones still had the 
flaw. It was a combination of their  firmware and hardware, and while the 
hardware aspect had long since been  repaired, the firmware aspect was 
puzzling the best minds Regelis had put to  bear upon the problem.

Smiling slightly, she said quietly, "Forgive me,  but that is the basis 
of my seeming reluctance, Doctor. The very real risk  that someone may 
take it into their own hands to attempt harming me, simply  because I am 
more advanced than any known Starfleet core. It happened to  Commander 
Data, Creator keep him, so it could very well happen to me. In  fact, it 
very nearly did, during one of the engineering explorations of the  Baron 
l'Orange. I stopped them from doing real damage, but as Delaney Scott  
would probably be able to testify, damage was done to circuitry that I  
depend upon to, for lack of a better term, feel within my  ship-body."

Alexis wasn't sure what she was supposed to say. It seemed of  late that 
she was taking over sickbay or at least the care of Ensign  Erridim, 
which she didn't mind as she truly was fond of the woman. She just  
wished Claire would have a little faith and trust her a little more. "I  
am truly sorry for what has happened in the past. I really am, but I  
would also like to think that we have moved beyond things of that  
nature. I abhor the thought of anyone taking a sentient being, humanoid  
or android or whatever apart just for exploration. I personally will not  
allow it. I suppose the choice is yours to make, Claire. I am not going  
to force you into anything you don't feel you want to do. That is not my  
way. If you decide that indeed you want to do this, I will be by your  
side every step of the way. You have my word."

Cialra smiled. "Oh, I  indeed do intend to have this procedure, doctor. 
And despite what has  happened, I recognize it is not the fault of all 
those in Engineering, just  those who actually did damage. Therefore, 
unlike what Lieutenant K'etrall  has likely told you or will, I do not 
hold it against her. I simply will not  permit anyone who has harmed my 
systems, knowingly or not, to board my ship  to resume work." She shook 
her head. "And I do not mistrust Sickbay, unlike  Talea, who has had a 
number of unfortunate reasons in her past. After all,  without my 
assistance and full knowledge, you cannot do what will be  necessary to 
implant the modulator."

She knew there was a wealth of  misunderstandings between the doctor and 
Talea, as well as between herself  and others, and frankly, she was weary 
of it all. She wanted, nay, needed to  show everyone she was a team 
player and useful, not just taking up space in  the shuttlebay!

Alexis smiled. "You needn't worry, Claire. Lieutenant  K'etrall has said 
nothing to me, or to anyone else, as far as I know. I know  she feels bad 
that her engineers caused you harm and wishes she could fix  that. Maybe 
that is why she is willing to help you in this matter. In fact,  I think 
it would help matters greatly if you were to talk to her yourself.  Clear 
up any misunderstandings there, maybe."

Cialra smiled. "Quite  true. Such an elegantly simple method." She shook 
her head in wonder. "Goes  to show even we oldsters can learn new 
things." She then chuckled at calling  herself an oldster.





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