Posted Sept. 7, 2020, 11:16 a.m. by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Chief of Security) (James Sinclair)
Posted by Lieutenant Corinne Dalton/SARAH (Ships AI/Avatar) in Holodeck 1- Reconciliation
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Chief of Security) in Holodeck 1- Reconciliation
Posted by Lieutenant Commander Dr. Royal Sinclair (Chief of Security) in Holodeck 1- Reconciliation
Posted by… suppressed (4) by the Post Ghost! 👻(snip)
An expanse of silence sat between them. That was a very good question. Was she all right? “No, Royal, I’m very much not all right. Maybe I haven’t ever been. Which is a very strange thought…” If she hadn’t been dressed as she was and speaking on a personal level, she could have been mistaken for her alter ego at the moment given that her voice was much closer to that distant tone of SARAH.
~Corinne Dalton
“Then you might want to tell us what this is about?” Dante said from behind them as he approached, his eyes already having taken in the surroundings and now resting on the form on the ground. He had read the reports, there were always reports, but they were vastly different and impersonal to what had transpired in the past.
Captain Knight, CO
Sinclair looked at the Captain and simply nodded once. This was Cori’s show, so he’d let her direct the flow.
Sinclair, CoS
Cori took in Dante for a moment before she focused on Royal. “I’m sorry,” she said, her eyes dropping for a moment as she frowned. “You were trying to help and I… was too terrified to see anything at that moment. I took it out on you and I’m truly sorry.”
She pushed herself to her feet in a single fluid motion borne of years of practice as a dancer. Taking a step to stand between the captain and Sinclair, she faced Knight. “I lost my ballet pointe shoes. And long story short we found some of my personal effects have been marked as evidence in an investigation into my death. The second one actually. The one where the Douwd trapped me in a tiny space in the Saracen’s computer for over three years, giving me a fear of small spaces and darkness. And after I… returned, after I freed myself finally, I learned that I had been declared lost. Missing in Action and presumed dead. But that of course became complicated when Royal did my psyc eval and filed it. And now Federation Security is investigating. And if they start digging, they will get to this,” she said gesturing to the dead body before them.
“Captain, I told Royal the story, in all its terrible reality, in confidence. Which he’s bound to whether he’s currently a practicing therapist or not. But this isn’t just about me. It’s about all the others that were a part of it. Of people who are innocent and don’t deserve to have the past ripped wide open and made public. It’s not fair to them. But I might not get a say in any of it. I certainly didn’t back then. But it’s your ship. Your crew. And I think you deserve to know the truth so that we can figure out how to handle this. But…”
She moved away, her gauzy dress shifting as a light breeze cast a moment of respite from the desert heat. Dalton peered down at the dead body. “But if I tell you the story, names excluded where necessary, I need you and Royal to understand that this was not some abstract event. I had a bullet rip through my back and I bled out on this very holodeck floor. I don’t say that to be gruesome, but so you understand that when people question my existence, doubt my sentience, I think back to this day and desperately wish that I had just actually died here. Because I’m tired and I’m tired of feeling like I’m one step away from being declared a liability. Or, on the flip side, that one day the ship will begin to get old and breakdown and it’ll be retired. What happens to the woman in the machine? Does she simply become a museum piece along with the ship? An oddity people can visit on a rare whim? Because it’s not just the pain of the past I’m fighting here. I’m fighting for my future. And right now my immediate future is looking dicey. I’ve made some real progress, I think, trying to claim back my life, but it feels like I’m going to lose everything just. like. that.” She snapped her fingers and the bloodied form disappeared from sight.
~Corinne Dalton
“No. You won’t.” Royal said flatly, as if he was commenting on the color of the sky. “You are a living consciousness, a sentient being. The law is very clear on this, isn’t it Captain?” he asked, turning from where the body disappeared to look at Knight.
Sinclair, CoS
Dalton looked at Sinclair sideways “That’ what your report says, but I’ve yet to see evidence that everyone else accepts that Royal. Otherwise why would I have to prove my sentience every time we get a new captain, or counsellor or someone else who has a direct impact on what happens to me. I know why. It’s because Command doesn’t believe it. A that’s what I’m afraid of,” Cori said softly.
~Corinne Dalton
Royal sighed and shook his head. He knew it wasn’t that simple, but bit his tongue. Now wasnt the time to belabor the point.
Sinclair, CoS
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