"Phylogeny Recapitulates Ontogeny"
[USS Charon, Holodeck Two]
Being in charge of ships' operations, Savant found it easy to schedule a
few hours in one of the two Holodecks for awhile. She had never
understood the appeal of the places - why would you want to live in a
fantasy world when the real one was so interesting? And couldn't they
see through the charade easily enough? So Savant had few hours logged in
the Holodecks. What few times she did have were generally limited to
presentations of complex subjects and manufacturing. This current
project was the latter.
There was no "Savant" in the Holodeck, mind you. No hologram floated in
the black and yellow gridwork, for there was no one inside the room to
witness. What there was, for the moment, was music. Strings hummed their
first stirring strains amongst the reluctant sound of waking trumpets.
Pure tuning-fork sounds chimed and echoed above the basement sounds, the
deep and sonorous rumblings that reverberated through the room. These
were the most sincere representations of Savants' actual thoughts.
Five-eights, phi, the Golden Mean - Savants' thoughts were interweaving
chords. She gave them voice through the speakers of the Holodeck as she
prepared her architecture. The orchestra woke.
The music rose as the first machines made their appearance - simple
tanks, each filled with some of the contents of the replication systems.
The replicator bulk was more than sufficient for her purposes - almost
all the universe was made of hydrogen, helium, oxygen and carbon. If she
needed more in any serious quantity, she was doing it wrong. Bivalves
shimmered into place above the tanks. Following this, taller armed
apparati sprouted up from the floor around the room - holographic, to be
sure, but sufficient for her purposes. The containment fields of the
holograms would be enough to direct the gross bulk flows to their
destinations. Six replication emitters capped of the structures, real
devices transferred from the bulk replicators below decks. The
Holodecks' bulk replicators were functional but not capable of the
quality that Savant wanted - these six, however, would be more than
sufficient. They swiveled on their gymballed axis, stretching and yawing
as a pianist might flex their fingers before a performance. Gravity
surrendered as the Holodeck gravity generators deactivated, and the air
rushed form the chamber as it was pumped away.
The devices glowed and shivered, twitching as the first notes were
played; valves opened and released the first batch as the violins and
cellos swelled. Floating undisturbed in the centre of the Holodeck,
surrounded by the framework, appeared a spine, vertebrae by vertebrae.
They looked bone-like, though perhaps coral was a better metaphor.
Foamed carbon benzene rings for bones. Layers concreted on layers,
quickly accreting one upon the other, joined by carbohydrate ligatures.
Soon the broad arc of a pelvis followed in place around the coccyx and
ribs sprouted like white shoots from the pillar of the spine. The
foundational structure gained a dull gloss as further layers of carbon
diamondoid coated it, providing strength above the flexible core.
Steady drum beats joined the chorus as the methyl slurry tanks joined
in. Pale white structures, loose and globular, hung about the framework,
nascent organs. They were mostly for show, but she constructed the thin-
fibrous membranes of the intercellular matrix very carefully. The fiber
string out long, thin, flexible and strong, carbon-carbon and silicon,
optic transmitting; they were her isoquad processors. She bubbled methyl
polymer through the mesh to fill it with tiny semi-osmotic pockets -
artificial, hollow cells. They would go a long way to making the end
product look real, while at the same time would make excellent power
storage. The non-functional organs swelled, filling the ribcage and
clustering beneath it while the bones of the limbs grew outwards, tiny
nubs stretching and growing to their full form, curling fetally. It was
still headless, but it began to take shape.
Broad, translucent fibers, like feathers, sprouted out from the body at
all angles, radiating long and thin. Each one filled with grey threads,
stretching from one end to the other - more and more they branched and
grew, coming out from the wet gleam of the clear rays. Pencil thin
tractor beams pulled them around the body, wrapping the growing muscles
in place as they filled with electromotive fiber. Rugged diamondoid
anchored them securely, and more mesh webbed everything together. The
muscles slowly filled out on their own as the replication system moved on.
The skull and head deserved special attention - the brain was first. It
was a useful memory processor, but Savant found it too vulnerable - she
had used the miles-long coils of the gastrointestinal system for her
bulk processing. No, the brain was well suited as a sensory system, as
complex as it was. The intricate folds started out as a broad sheet that
nearly filled the room, slowly studded with tiny sensors of all shapes
and sizes, laced from one end to the other with a massive communications
antennae. Eyes, ears - these would be cosmetic. The broad sheet began to
rise up in the centre, then fold down, undulating as a tremor passed
through the membrane. It scrunched up, twisting, coiling, compressing -
soon it was a tightly compacted ball, massaging itself into the shape of
a humanoid brain. Filaments began to lace around it; one, two, three
layers. carbon-corundumoid embraced the network tightly as the skull formed.
Eyes, the jaw, the tongue, thin fingers, each toe; the pieces came
together slowly, suspended midair in the yellow-black gridwork of the
Holodeck. The orchestra of Savants' thoughts swelled to a crescendo as
the skin began to appear, layer by microscopic layer - first the soft,
spongy hydrocarbon network in place of fat; where lubricants and
power-storing gels could be stored; then the highly durable polymer
coating, then the softer pressure-sensitive coating; then finally the
surface layer that would have the job of mimicking the look and feel of
humanoid skin. Tiny hairs stretched from the second layer through the
surface, atmospheric sensors on each one. the pale skin took on a tan as
amounts of copper-iron laden fluid began to pump in; the source of the
green Vulcan hue that was so well known to xenophiles. A Mediterranean
complexion.
It looked like a living thing, an adult woman curled up in the airless
void of the Holodeck. A bushel of black hair slowly fanned from her
head, arched eyebrows sprouted above the closed eyes. Tiny details
picked out - subtle imperfections in the skin, the tiny dimples of
pores, the delicate point of the Vulcan ear, all the things that made an
organic being what they were. The orchestra sounded triumphantly as the
bobbing figure came together. Savant was pleased. The construct
stretched out from its fetal embrace, as akimbo as if prescribing to
Leonardo da Vinci's proportions. Clothing wrapped the figure as if spun
by spiders; black threads lacing together at odd angles into a tough,
durable mesh. A Starfleet uniform never came out so well - it wasn't
regulation, as it was constructed of far more durable fibers that would
chafe a living being something terrible.
Finally, Savant set in motion the cascade of power that would engage the
autonomic systems of the android and, moments later, allowed access to
its communications system and processing centres. It opened its pale
blue eyes and, both characteristic to Savant and highly un-Vulcan, she
smiled. She flexed her fingers, wiggled her toes, went through her
diagnostics list for each of the motive centres and sensing systems. The
support and construction apparatus fell away at this point, while
gravity gently reaffirmed itself. Air flooded the Holodeck once more.
She stretched, moved, took a few tentative steps, nearly falling over -
she was still building device drivers for the peripheral, but it would
come quickly.
Savant inhaled, filling polymer lungs with the ships' air. Was this an
important event for an organic? She wasn't entirely sure - reports were
conflicting. It was important enough for her, though. Savant settled the
smile from her androids' face, loading Vulcan interaction sets. One more
tool amongst her legion, one more set of hands and eyes to peer into the
universe with. This one seemed competent enough. She strode out from the
now empty Holodeck, into the corridors and the world of the animals.
- Savant
