3.B.) What do you think of cloning?”

I once had an interesting discussion with my father. I wished to know why it was that he had constructed me, and he sat me down and proceeded to assist me in working out the answer on my own. He pointed out to me that humans have not only a tendency to indulge in the past, but also wish to see themselves in their reproduction. It is a form of continuity, a sense of immortality.

( This I learned before I knew the very unusual history of the Soong family. )

Character: Data
Fandom: Star Trek : The Next Generation
Word Count: 556
Notes: I was really busy last month and am slowly getting caught up on a prompt surge. I couldn't resist going back and doing this one.

“Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” - Mother Teresa

Data didn't make frequent visits to the Daystrom Institute, despite his interest in cybernetics. Perhaps it was that every time he entered, while the scientists were excited, they always acted as if they couldn't wait to get through his cortenide and duranium skull at the positronic circuits beneath. Even before the installation of his emotion chip, the place often left him with a sense of depersonalization. Their objective view effectively countered his efforts to emulate humans.

However, he found himself staring outside the window of one of the laboratories at the perpetually lovely lawn. The weather grid kept storms from interfering with the region- the technology too sensitive to risk with electrical surges. Rather than build it underground, the weather grid kept the environment vaguely warm and serene, the plant life maintained by an irrigation system. It was quite efficient, but in its own way, it seemed as artificial as him. A carefully maintained representation of something that occurred naturally but with augmentations to make it superior; though difficult to maintain without the carefully laid out balances.

( 'You- Are- Data-?' )

Character: Data
Fandom: Star Trek : The Next Generation
Words: 795