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Chapter Text

The corridors on the Enterprise were empty as Data walked past exactly 23 doors on the right and 17 doors on the left side. He paused for a few milliseconds when he thought he heard an uncommon noise. In this part of the ship, he had never heard this specific tone. The data, however, was too small to classify what he had heard. He decided to ignore it. He was not late, but he preferred not to leave that to chance. As always, he had to command the bridge at night – by himself.
Data asked himself, as he often did, how a human would feel about working at night. He knew that a few of his colleagues did not enjoy working late. He had often wondered and asked why.
“Because people like having free time,” Geordi had said with a shrug. “We’re not androids, Data. We actually need sleep.”
“When you work, do you look forward to not working?”
“Not always. But after a long shift, yeah, I guess.” His friend had laughed – a laugh Data had classified as a social laugh. Laughs came in various shapes and sizes. At first Data thought when a person laughed it meant something had amused them, like a joke or a situation. But Geordi had told him that people often laugh to alleviate tension, to be social, nice or just because they didn’t know what else to do.
“Are you looking forward to working after you slept, Geordi?”
“Yes. After I’ve had a good night’s sleep, I love getting back to work. But as of right now I am needed in Ten Forward.”
As Geordi turned around to go, Data felt another question creeping into his positronic brain: who needed Geordi in Ten Forward? But instead of asking, a data file popped open, informing the android that “being needed” did not always mean literally being needed. It could mean the person just wanted to go there. So Data just nodded silently.
On the bridge, Commander Riker – right now in command – spotted Data.
“Mister Data!” he exclaimed. Data noticed micro-expressions indicating that Commander Riker was glad to see him here but also wanted to leave.
“You have the bridge.” Riker sprang from the captain’s chair and whirled around, looking at his friend and colleague. “Have a good night, Data.”
“I wish you a good night’s sleep, Commander,” Data replied.
Riker looked puzzled.
“Or do you not intend to sleep in your free time?” Data tilted his head.
“No, I am. But… never mind.” Commander Riker was already on his way out, one foot inside the turbolift, when Data asked, “Have I done something wrong, sir?”
“No, it’s just… people wish others to have a nice evening, not a good night’s sleep. At least not at 2100 hours.”
“I understand, sir. Are you needed in Ten Forward now?”
Riker laughed, grinning still as he said, “Exactly.”
That did not seem to be a social laugh, Data mused. He seemed to have amused his commander. Data did not know how, but he seemed to do that a lot.
As the android sat down in his chair and logged in the course the Enterprise was going to take, he thought over 2,000 thoughts. Most of them concerned the way he tried to be human, to understand them and to change – and how doing so took a lot of energy from his processors. The engines and the equipment hummed about as Data sometimes needed to correct a course setting or investigate a strange reading. All of those things made sounds he was used to on the bridge.
At 0300 hours there was a sound he did not register as common on the ship’s bridge – or at all as part of the Enterprise’s usual sounds. It sounded like… scratching. An analysis of the range of tones and frequencies led Data to believe it was a couple of small but sharp instruments clawing at something metal or metal-like.
Data looked around. A visual scan came up empty. He could not see where the noise could come from. He took a look at his station’s screen. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Data stood up from his slightly reclined chair. Then he walked around – back to the engineering and security stations, back to the helm. He could not identify it.
“Hello? Do you need help?” Even though he didn’t know who or what it was, there was a slight chance it was in danger or at least in trouble. Data’s Starfleet training and his ethical subroutines did not permit him not to ask if that life-form needed help.
He did not get an answer though. It was calm and silent again.
“Computer, scan the bridge for life-forms besides myself,” Data said loudly.
“No life-forms detected,” the computer’s voice came back.
Mysteries in general intrigued the android. It led to the tilting of his head and to uttering one word. “Curious.”
Was it outside? Was something clawing at the hull? Should Data ask for help? A brief analysis led him to act on his own. That was a problem he, as a Lieutenant Commander, could and should manage. And it was a small mystery that led to sensory input. Data did not get bored at night. But sensory and cognitive input was always appreciated.
“Computer, scan for life-forms on and around the bridge.”
“Lieutenant Commander Data is located on the bridge.”
Data returned to his station. He scanned the region of space again but could not find anything out of the ordinary.
“Hello?” he asked the noise again. “If you need help, I will be able to assist you.”
But the noise had stopped.
After waiting a while and “keeping his eyes and ears peeled,” Data resumed his normal duty on the bridge: monitoring signals, looking out for distress calls and avoiding zones of diplomatic dispute. His inner chronometer told the time to be 0600 hours when Captain Picard came out of the turbolift.
“Data,” his commanding voice called. “Anything out of the ordinary?”
Data noticed that the Captain sometimes forgot to wish him a good morning. Data was curious why that was.
“Good morning, sir. Everything went smoothly. Although around 0300 hours I heard a scratching sound of unknown origin. I was unable to determine where it originated from. The computer did not register any life-forms besides myself. I would have investigated further, but it stopped soon after it had begun. No instruments were compromised. I ran an analysis.”
“A scratching?” The Captain of the flagship opened the door to his ready room and went straight to the replicator. There, he ordered his Earl Grey.
“It sounded like scratching.” Data followed his captain and stood in front of the desk. The Captain sat down. He looked tired.
“Probably nothing of consequence.”
“Sir, I doubt it. I did hear a noise. Therefore it cannot be nothing,” Data insisted.
“Yes, Commander. Right,” Captain Picard took a sip of his hot tea.
“Oh, you meant nothing of importance,” Data mused.
“I did.” A slight smile grazed Captain Picard’s face after looking down again, eyes on the PADD in front of him. “Alright, your shift is over, Commander.”
Data nodded and turned around. He stopped and turned back a few degrees. “Is everything alright, sir?”
The Captain looked up at him – half questioning, the other half polite. “I am just a bit tired. Nothing more.”
Humans slept. Still they were tired after the sleep. To be sure, Data looked at his internal files on human physiology and the need for sleep. He understood, but it still seemed not logical to him.
He was curious about sleeping and what to do when others did not sleep well. What was the protocol? Should he have suggested different sleep rituals or remedies to the Captain?
Data appreciated seeing the Doctor and Deanna standing together in the hallway as he left the turbolift. They were surely on their way to the bridge whilst he was on his way to go… anywhere else. He did not require rest or free time, so he did not have any urgent plans or needs to tend to at the moment. Except for his curiosity.
“Data, how was your night on the bridge?” Deanna spotted him first and smiled.
“Good morning, Counselor. I would describe it as normal.” Data looked to the Doctor. She was looking at him, seeing the question mark in his eyes.
“What is it, Data?” Doctor Crusher smiled.
“How is it that humans sleep through the night and still feel tired waking up?”
Doctor Crusher looked around. Maybe she thought that she had to get to the bridge or to sickbay. And therefore she did not have the time for the history of sleep. Because when Data asked something, an answer packed up in one sentence was never enough. Data required examples, studies and had a lot more questions after getting the initial one answered.
“Deanna?” Doctor Crusher looked at her friend and colleague, hoping she would take that one.
“Data, people might sleep through the night but that doesn’t mean they slept well. The quality of sleep is almost more important than the duration,” the ship‘s councelor explained calmly.
“Curious. What factors into the quality of sleep?”
“Light, being tired and…” Deanna looked around. “Why don’t you try resting yourself, Data? Sometimes it’s better to learn through experience… to collect your own data, so to speak.”
The Counselor smiled again and stepped into the empty turbolift behind Data. He turned around. A few other crew people came down the corridor. Suddenly, he was alone again. And did not know how to spend his free time. If he would be a human he would have looked forward to having free time – to spend time sleeping or nurturing one of his interests. But Data wasn’t, after all.
Data spent most of his free time wandering around, Watching others and their interactions with each other. The next two hours he saw a Vulcan ensign talking to a human lieutenant about a game and their time in the holodeck. He saw a child running after another, trying to catch the giggling kid. And then he saw a crew person shouting one word. That got his attention.
Data knew shouting one word often meant danger. People shouted “Fire” or “Help.” But the word the woman shouted seemed unlikely a warning or a cry for help. “Spot.”
Data stopped and saw the woman coming his way. She opened a few other doors before coming to a halt in front of him. “Commander, have you seen a red tabby cat?”
Data looked through a couple of files in his head before answering: “I have seen one in the database of the computer once.”
“No, I mean lately. I miss one of the kittens.” The woman looked distressed.
“No. But do you need help locating Spot?”
“Yes, I do. She is always wandering off. I tried to keep my door shut but somehow she just… went out. I don’t even know how that was possible.”
“Have you tried to ask the computer?” Data offered. They started walking down the corridor together.
“Yes, but somehow my kittens don’t register. My friend in engineering told me that might be due to a malfunction. We went past a couple of anomalies the past few days. That messed up a few of the processors.”
Data had the urge to tap his badge and ask Geordi about that. But a thought came into his mind: he could just help the woman and maybe learn a few things about interacting. So he just nodded and searched with his own processors.
“It was an accident,” Crewperson Sandra said suddenly.
“What do you mean?” Data asked.
“The kittens. I was not planning to have kittens. One night our cat got out. My wife and I searched for her and after finding her we noticed that she might have gotten pregnant. And then the kittens were born. We have five. But Spot is by far the most adventurous one.”
They went through different parts of the ship. They passed the school, the counselor’s offices and Ten Forward. But nowhere was a red tabby cat looking for trouble. Sandra finally turned to Data, rings under her eyes. “Thank you for helping, Commander. I really appreciate your support. But I’m sure you have more important matters to attend to than search a cat.” She laughed. A social laugh, Data registered.
“You are welcome. But I do not have any activities planned until my next shift starts. I can keep searching.”
“You really don’t have to. I’m sure she’ll turn up eventually. I‘ll ask around. I mean it is a cat after all. They sleep a lot. She is just restless.”
“Alright. I will inform you if I see her. What should I do? Can I pick her up?”
Sandra laughed and snorted a bit. “She doesn’t like to be touched. She is a feisty little thing. But I guess you can try, if you don’t mind getting scratched.”
Suddenly – association. Scratching. “I think I know where Spot was last night.”
Sandra looked up at him, eyes wide. “What?”
“I heard scratching while I was on the bridge. That might have been her.”
“She might be somewhere in a vent,” Sandra mused. “I‘ll start looking into that. Thank you, Commander.”
Data decided to go to his quarters. He still was thinking about sleep and how he might be able to simulate it to learn. He always liked experiments.
He turned on the lights in his room and closed the door. He opened his mouth and said different vowels. He tried O and A and finally U. He had seen yawning almost every day after his activation by Starfleet. In the Academy his classmates yawned, his professors and instructors yawned. And everywhere he went after that people, human and humanoid, yawned in front of him. Yet, he felt like he could not master the expression. So he tried out stretching his arms over his head, forming his hands into fists. He had also seen that a couple of times. Even though it didn’t feel as natural when he did it. Data then removed his shoes and lay on top of the bed he never used. He had it in case anyone else needed to rest. Sometimes, when Geordi visited him, he would lay down while Data worked. Geordi said working while lying down was sometimes more comfortable. Data liked to stand upright or sit in the chair behind his desk.
Now he lay down on the covers, arms by his side. His yellow eyes stared at the ceiling. Of course humans would close their eyes to sleep. So Data closed his eyes. At first it was uncomfortable not getting any visual input for such a long time. The blinking his father programmed did not cut off the input as long as right now. Even though the visual input was missing, Data still heard a lot. People roamed outside of his quarters, he heard the Enterprise’s hum and a few of his equipment he used to research sometimes.
Lying there, Data did not feel different. He could not fall asleep; he did not feel tired or the need to lay horizontally. It felt unnatural if anything. His thoughts kept going and going. In his mind Data worked on multiple problems and checked his schedule for the next three months. He reviewed the data he had collected last night and read a few articles about sleep. But sleep did not come.
Data was almost ready to stand up and call his experiment failed, when he heard a noise that was no longer unknown. It was faint, but it was there. Scratching. It was right above him. Data opened his eyes. The ceiling hadn’t changed but he could still hear it. Then he heard it move.
And then make another new sound: Mew.
“Spot?”
The scratching resumed and got more frantic.
Data now stood on his bed and touched the ceiling. He could feel the scratching right above him. Spot meowed again. Data hopped from the bed and went to his replicator he also barely used. He opened a shaft behind the replicator and removed some screws. Then he opened up a panel, getting a look behind his wall. He couldn’t see Spot right away. But then a small paw clawed at the side of the opened panel. Data stepped back. He remembered that Spot didn’t like to be touched or pressured. Sandra had told him that although all cats were free spirits, Spot topped them all.
Data sat down on the edge of his bed, far away from the replicator and the cat in the wall. He tilted his head slightly to the side and watched as the paw became a leg and then there was an ear. The ear, curiously, tilted sideways. The nose came into sight and soon a whole red tabby sat in the opened panel, looking at Data like it owned these quarters anyway.
“Hello Spot,” Data whispered carefully. “Someone is looking for you.”
Spot glanced around and decided to find out if a tricorder could get thrown down onto the floor and still work. The tricorder knocked down, Spot hopped from her entry point down onto the floor next to it.
She proceeded to look, and sniff, and scratch at different surfaces. Spot also liked experiments.
And suddenly Data wasn’t alone on his bed. A cat sat next to and then curled up beside him. Data didn’t move. Instead he looked at the kitten licking her paws and finally falling asleep like this was her home.
Data thought that although he might never be able to sleep, it would be nice to have a companion that could.

Chapter Text

Data tapped his badge and said, “I found Spot. She is currently sleeping on my bed.”
The voice of crewperson Sandra came back enthusiastically: “Thank you, Commander. I’ll get her soon. Don’t move. Hold her in your quarters if possible.”
“I will.” Data stared at Spot. She was still sleeping. She seemed to be at peace. Data knew that especially animals of the feline variety only slept when they felt secure.
Data’s files on cats were lacking, he felt. He found a lot of information about genetics, breeding, and the evolution of Earth’s cats from big African lions and tigers to small housecats. But he couldn’t find information about how to handle a cat that was determined to make the whole flagship her home. Surely, Spot was not the first cat that graced the Enterprise’s hallways with her dainty paws. But she seemed to be even more of a handful than the Klingon targ that had been on board once.
Data thought about closing up the panel above his replicator but decided against it. Like most species, Spot might jump back into the wall if Data were to move, and resurface somewhere else—maybe even somewhere dangerous like next to the warp core. No, a short but thorough analysis made Data stay on his unused—now slightly furry—covers.
He was counting Spot’s fur when the bell of his quarters rang. That made one of Spot’s ears perk up and tilt in the direction of the tone she must already know.
“Please enter,” Data said quietly but loud enough for the sensors to react. His quarter’s door slid open to reveal an even more disheveled crewperson than previously in the hallway. When Data last saw Sandra, she was ready to climb up into the Enterprise’s tubes and vents. The dust on her uniform and the hair sticking out from her pinned-back bun led Data to believe she had just done that.
“I’m so glad she turned up, Data!” Sandra came closer, but not too close. She spoke quietly. She seemed to know what made Spot want to search for the next adventure. Sandra kneeled in the middle of the room, looking at the cat that had made her crawl through vents and lose so much sleep that the rings under her eyes were still visible.
“Did she make any trouble?” Sandra looked at Data. The android found it difficult not to look at Spot. He didn’t know why that was.
“She did not damage anything that could not be repaired again. I was glad I noticed her soon enough. I opened up the wall and she left the vents.”
“You are wonderful with her,” Sandra gushed. “It’s something really special when she curls up beside someone. She doesn’t really do that with anyone. The other kittens are…” Sandra laughed briefly. “Cuddly. I really thought Spot just wasn’t a people cat, so to say.”
“Then Spot was in luck, as I am not a person,” Data explained neutrally.
Sandra looked a bit embarrassed and unsure of what to say next. Data noticed this look, as he had seen it many times before: with other officers, with delegates, ambassadors, and in the beginning with the bridge crew. The only one who never looked that way was Geordi. Geordi never made Data feel like he asked or said too much. His expression was always open and curious.
“Thank you again, sir. I think I should take Spot back now. As far as I know, she hasn’t had a meal in at least a day.” Sandra stood up and moved closer to the bed and the curious-looking android. Data wondered how a cat who didn’t like people or being touched would be picked up by a person.
As it turned out, cats could sleep and suddenly wake. Spot was picked up by Sandra and did not see it coming. But in an instant, she decided that being held was not something she would allw.
It happened fast: Spot was in Sandra’s arms, hissed, and scratched Sandra’s left cheek. Then the cat jumped down and found a new hiding place under Data’s bed.
“Damn it!” Sandra exclaimed. She seemed irritated and in pain. She touched the scratched cheek and winced. “She got me good.”
Data stood up from the bed and looked at the crewperson’s cheek. Formerly white, now red lines formed on Sandra’s face. A bit of blood dribbled out.
“You should go to sickbay,” Data said matter-of-factly. “Or you might get an infection.”
“Yes, but I’m due at my station soon. I don’t have time for so many stops before my work starts.” Sandra touched her wound again and then looked at her fingers. They already had blood on them.
“I could take care of Spot for now. Later, when she comes out from under the bed, I could bring her back to your quarters, if you would like,” Data offered kindly.
“But…” Sandra looked at Data. A look that said a lot. She was embarrassed. Yes, Data was nice and he always helped where he could. He had no bad synthetic bone in his android body. But after all, he was the Enterprise’s second officer.
Data knew that he sometimes intimidated people. Even though he did everything to be polite and down to earth—or in that case, down to the lower decks of the flagship.
“I really do not mind. I am quite interested in learning more about feline behavior, as my own database is lacking information and personal experience.”
Sandra smiled. Data noted that in this moment she seemed tired. After being stressed and pumped full of adrenaline and worry, it now seemed to catch up with her that she hadn’t slept enough. “Thank you so much, Commander. I’ll go to sickbay and report to my station. I’ll inform my wife. She might be able to pick Spot up in a couple of hours.”
Sandra went to the door, pressed the pad to open it, and looked one last time into Data’s quarters. She seemed to check if Spot might have sneaked away already. But there was a bit of a red tail visible under the bed.

When Sandra had left, Data sat back on the bed. He tried to call Spot, but the kitten did not move. He then remembered that Sandra had told him Spot hadn’t eaten for quite a while. Data walked to the replicator, closed up the wall behind it with very fast movements, and thought about what a cat might like to eat.
He asked the computer which foods it could provide that were suitable and nutritious for cats. To Data’s surprise, the computer could list over 200 meals for felines. Some of them seemed to be classic Earth meals—salmon, chicken, or rabbit. Others incorporated proteins from different planets. One meal paired a Klingon protein with a plant that only grew on the surface of Betazed.
Data was curious and ordered the salmon and one of the more exotic meals. Sandra hadn’t told him what Spot liked, but according to her, Spot was old enough not to need her mother’s milk anymore. But Data was still curious. Would a cat that did not need milk still drink it? He knew that Counselor Troi often drank an animal’s milk with a piece of chocolate cake.
Soon Data had ordered three different meals and one saucer of cow’s milk. He brought them to his bed and put all dishes in front of the place where he saw a bit of a tail poking out from under it.
Data stepped back a little bit and curiously, with a tilted head, watched as nothing happened. Spot didn’t move. At least for a long time. Data’s chronometer said exactly three minutes and twenty-two seconds. After that time the red tail swished from side to side. Suddenly a little nose poked out of the dark and sniffed at the salmon. With a decisive movement Spot told Data that salmon wasn’t something she was in the mood for. She was able to turn the plate, making the cat food spill over the sides and then onto the carpeted floor of Data’s quarters.
“Interesting,” Data commented.
Spot didn’t tell him yet what she preferred. At the moment, it seemed more important to tell her newest acquaintance what she refused. The saucer of cow’s milk got the green light. Spot sniffed at the small bowl and then her tongue licked a few times, making its color change from pink to a lighter pink tainted by the white milk.
Data spent his next hour watching as Spot got out from under the bed. She decided the food that paired a Ferengi beetle with Earth’s green peas was the right meal today. She ended up eating the plate clean, half her body still under the bed in case someone decided to make her go somewhere she didn’t please.

Later that day, Sandra’s wife Helen came over and was able to take Spot back with her. She coaxed her out of her hiding spot with a couple of treats and a lot of determination. She seemed calmer than her significant other. Spot let herself be placed into a carrier. Once she was inside, she protested loudly—scratching, hissing, and crying almost like a humanoid. Data watched with interest as Helen left with a carrier full of protesting furry adventurer.
The rest of his free time Data studied up on all things cat and feline and ended up logging his experiences into his personal log.
“I appreciated having Spot in my quarters. She did do unexpected and illogical things. I hope I will see her again,” he told the computer and ended his log.
His bell rang and after telling the person outside to come in, the door opened, revealing Geordi LaForge looking down at his PADD, obviously in thought.
“Geordi,” Data greeted. He had learned that a greeting between friends could be just their name. Commander Riker did this a lot.
As he said Geordi’s name, he tried to match Riker’s commanding but friendly tone. That made Data’s friend look up with a questioning look that was visible even with his visor.
“Data,” Geordi imitated Data’s attempt at sounding casual and laughed. That time Data could not identify if it was a genuine or a social laugh. Unclear input made the android tilt his head.
“Is this not a way to greet a friend?” Data asked and stood up from his chair. He walked over to Geordi. The Chief Engineer surely was here to pick him up. They needed to go to the conference room where the bridge crew of the Enterprise would soon have a meeting concerning shifts and the next diplomatic mission.
“Yes, Data. But it didn’t sound like yourself when you said it,” Geordi smiled.
“Not like myself? My vocal processor seems intact. But I can run an analysis if—”
“No,” Geordi laughed. “I mean, the way you said it. You have a way of speaking, and if you change that way of talking it seems not like you. More like… you’re acting.”
Data stepped into the hallway, closing his door. They began to walk side by side. Data still not sure of what Geordi had meant by that.
“Curious. My database tells me that imitating a person’s actions is one of the most common ways to learn new skills,” Data explained.
“You just sounded like you were playing Coammander Riker or the Captain in a play,” Geordi commented earnestly. Data had told him shortly after they met that Geordi did not need to concern himself with politeness or saying things indirectly, as that way of communication made it more difficult for Data to understand and to learn. Because he had no feelings, Data preferred Geordi being honest and direct with him.
“What kind of greeting is myself, Geordi?” Data asked as they stepped into the conference room.
“You are polite and sometimes too formal. But that’s not bad. That’s just how you are. You don’t need to change the way you greet people, in my opinion.” Geordi sat down. They were the first ones in the room. Soon after them Deanna Troi, Worf, Doctor Crusher, the Captain, and his first officer joined the table.

After a few moments of talking about nothing of importance—Data had learned in the Academy that this was called small talk and that most humanoid species enjoyed it—they started with the meeting.
Captain Picard didn’t look as tired as he had in the morning. He had his PADD in front of him and led the meeting. When Worf asked a question about one of the delegates that would come aboard tomorrow afternoon, Data heard a scratching sound.
Worf didn’t react to the noise. Doctor Crusher was deeply engrossed in the briefing she read on her PADD. Deanna and Commander Riker noticed the noise just shortly after Data.
Captain Picard looked at his science officer, a question in his eyes. “Commander, didn’t you hear the same sound last night? A scratching?”
Data nodded. “Yes, sir. It turned out it was a crewperson’s cat. A red tabby kitten, to be exact.”
Deanna giggled. Data turned his head in her direction, not understanding what was funny about a feline in the walls. As he looked around the table, almost every bridge crew member had a faint smile or even a wide grin on their face.
“A cat?” the Captain asked.
“Yes. Her name is Spot. She seemed to have wandered through the vents of the ship for over a day, Captain,” Data stated in a neutral tone.
William Riker laughed quietly into his beard and looked down.
“Doesn’t the crewperson look for her cat?” Captain Picard seemed annoyed at the interruption of the meeting. But Data also detected genuine interest in the odd situation.
“I found Spot behind the walls of my quarters. She was picked up by one of her owners a few hours ago. It seems she has left their quarters again.”
As Data spoke he was interrupted by a meow that came from behind the walls of the conference room.
Doctor Crusher and the Counselor looked at each other, smiling and giggling quietly.
Data was curious. “Is a cat in the walls funny? Is the structure behind the joke that a cat does not belong in the walls of a starship?”
Doctor Crusher looked at Data with a warm smile on her lips. “Data, we just think it‘s nice that you know so much about this cat.”
“I helped search for her,” Data explained further.
“Can you help to get her out of the walls again, Commander?” The Captain looked around the room, trying to locate where the cat noises came from.
“I can try. Spot seemed to like me earlier,” Data stood up from the table. Commander Riker and Geordi were both grinning at him with amusement.
Data understood why a cat in a wall might be funny. He did not get the amusement that seemed to come from the help he had provided.

Data left the conference room and tried to further locate the adventurous cat. Spot had moved in the walls. Data could hear her getting closer. She scratched again. It seemed to be right above him. Data borrowed some tools from a crewperson who walked down the corridor and unscrewed one of the panels on the wall. Spot seemed spooked. She leapt from her point and wasn’t audible anymore.
“Spot?” Data asked.
The cat was gone. Or so he thought. Twelve seconds later, Data could hear cat paws getting closer. Suddenly Spot’s nose poked from behind a panel next to the hole in the wall.
“Hello, Spot,” Data whispered.
Spot looked at him. She seemed to remember Data’s voice—maybe his smell or the way he looked at her, curious about so many things. Not really different from the red tabby herself.
Data moved his arms slowly. He held them out in front of him, trying to give Spot the opportunity to jump onto them like on a tree branch. At first, Data’s calculated statistics came up with a very small likelihood of that happening. But then a paw touched his arm. And then another. A few moments later, Data had a kitten in his arms. Spot purred.
She really did seem to like him.

Chapter Text

The transporter chief looked stressed when Data and Commander Riker entered the transporter bay. They were early. Data had finished up his work before his meeting with the delegates, and Commander Riker seemed to have wandered the halls aimlessly, not knowing what to do.
He seemed lost — something William Riker normally never let on.
The starship’s first officer had his PADD in hand, looking down on it with worry.
“Sir?”, Data tried to get his attention.
Commander Riker just made a quiet sound, telling Data that he was listening. But Data’s input wasn’t enough to ask the question. He was never sure what noises meant. They were all so different, and the universal translator sometimes messed the translations up. A grunt in Klingon culture could mean literally anything, while a grunting Vulcan was cause for concern.
A mumbling Riker was something Data did not understand yet.
Commander Riker looked up from the briefing he had been reading before, looking at Data with a bit of annoyance. “Yes, Commander?”
“You seem to be worried,” Data stated calmly. “May I ask what about?”
But before they could say anything else, the transporter chief locked onto the coordinates of the delegates and beamed them onto the space where Data had also appeared many times before.
When the particles were reassembled into humanoid figures, a woman with perked-up ears and a neutral-looking Vulcan stood on the transporter pad.
“Welcome, Ambassador M’Ress,” Riker clicked into his role perfectly. Data looked at him for a millisecond to check if the first officer’s face had changed completely.
He thought about what Geordi had said yesterday: You sounded like you were playing a role. He had sounded like he was playing William Riker or Jean-Luc Picard. Now though, Commander Riker seemed to play a role. He grinned at the ambassador and her companion.
The information Commander Riker had read up on his PADD was the briefing they all had gotten a few days ago. And Data had seen Commander Riker reading it yesterday in the meeting. Why would he need to read it again?
Even though Data wanted to ask his friend this pressing question, they had more urgent matters to attend to. And Data always prioritised his work and duties over his curiosity. Although, sometimes those two came hand in hand.
The Caitian woman and her companion stepped down from the transporter pad. The Vulcan’s face was neutral, like a well-meditated Vulcan would be. The ambassador, her brown fur sticking out from under her clothes, looked suspicious.
Data was curious. She did not know Commander Riker, yet she seemed to not like him already.
“A pleasure,” she said, lightly snarling.
Data tilted his head. It did not seem to be a pleasure. Yet, the Caitian ambassador said it with some earnestness. To Data, that did not make sense.
“I am T’Korin, partner and companion of the ambassador,” the Vulcan said. They looked at Commander Riker, then at Data. They seemed to pause a second before continuing. “We are very thankful for the Enterprise’s hospitality. May we see our rooms?”
Commander Riker swallowed. The others might not have heard, but Data could clearly hear the movements in the commander’s throat. He is stressed, Data analysed. He did not know why — that made it difficult to help.
Riker then nodded. “Yes, of course.”
M’Ress and T’Korin were on their way to a Caitian colony. The Enterprise, warping in the same direction, was their ride.
They moved through the hallway awkwardly. Data walked next to T’Korin. The Vulcan stole a couple of glances along the way at Data.
Data wasn’t surprised about their curiosity or questioning eyes. He had to tell most people who came on board that he was an android. Like on a keyboard, he had installed a shortcut to the needed conversation.
“I am an android. I am not human,” Data said matter-of-factly.
T’Korin, a true Vulcan, did not seem embarrassed like most humanoids would be after Data shared that information.
“Interesting,” they said. “I have heard stories about you and your abilities.”
“I am stronger than humans,” Data said while keeping an eye on Riker’s and M’Ress’s backs. They both seemed to hate the walking formation, but Data noticed the commander’s shoulders were more tense. While he seemed nervous, M’Ress just seemed annoyed.
“I heard,” T’Korin stated. “I have read a lot of works on android construction. It is only logical to be interested in Doctor Soong’s work, especially as he is the only one to have accomplished a working result.”
Data often found it refreshing to talk to Vulcans because they valued the same direct communication he did. They didn’t seem to mind offending others and sometimes were even more clueless than him when talking to humans or other emotional humanoids like Betazoids or Klingons.
T’Korin asked a few questions about Data’s abilities and the techniques behind them all. They seemed to know as much about android construction and their inner workings as Data himself did. Data appreciated talking to someone who seemed interested and not just polite about every question.
“In which parts are you lacking? What makes you not human enough?” T’Korin asked as they turned the corner. They had almost reached the ambassador’s guest quarters.
“I cannot use contractions when I talk. Some people have informed me that this might make me sound too formal in casual, non-work-related situations,” Data said and looked at T’Korin with great interest. He noticed parts of T’Korin’s face moved in patterns Vulcans normally didn’t use — almost bringing their emotions and interests to the surface in their look and expression.
“Yes, I have read about that, and I noticed. I read you also don’t have emotions.”
“That is correct,” Data nodded. “My father did not program me with human emotions, as my brother had begun showing signs of what humans call an antisocial personality disorder. He is not able to feel for others and thinks himself to be better than non-synthetic lifeforms. As a precaution, my father did not program in emotional capabilities, although he later developed an emotion chip.”
“But you don’t use it?” T’Korin asked. Again, Data noticed almost excitement in their face. He made a note to ask Commander Riker if he could ask the ambassador’s partner about that unique way of showing emotions.
“It got damaged when my brother tried to use it himself. I do not think it will ever be able to work,” Data explained, slightly shrugging his shoulders. Sometimes he tried out new movements that underlined the topics he talked about. Nearly all humanoids did that.
“I understand,” T’Korin seemed to be in thought. The sentence, already seeming to form in their mouth, was cut off when Commander Riker showed M’Ress into their quarters.
“If you need anything else, please inform me or any other member of the crew,” he said with a polite smile. Data detected tension in his shoulders, indicating that he was still uncomfortable.

When the door closed behind them, Commander Riker sighed deeply, looking at Data.
The android tilted his head to the side. “Commander, I noticed that you were uncomfortable during the interactions with our guest. May I ask why?” They began walking, heading in the direction of the bridge.
“You notice a lot, Data. I met M’Ress once. She visited Risa at the same time as Deanna and I did. It was before I was stationed on the Enterprise. Deanna and M’Ress didn’t get along. She has a… temper,” the first officer almost growled the last word. He still seemed angry at the encounter that had occurred so many years ago.
“So, you did not look forward to her coming aboard and staying on the Enterprise,” Data nodded. He liked to tell what his conclusions were, because sometimes he made the wrong ones and just assumed. That had led to a couple of misunderstandings.
“Yes, exactly,” Riker said, going into the turbolift.
Data was right behind him. As they both stood there, Data used the moment for his second question. “I noticed emotional displays in T’Korin’s face as we talked. Are they not fully Vulcan?”
Commander Riker shrugged. “I don’t know more than you about that, Data. The briefing just said they were the ambassador’s partner.”
The turbolift opened up, and Data and Commander Riker took their stations. Data was eager to spend more time with the guests. His curiosity was piqued again.

Ten Forward was full of people enjoying their free time. There were couples on dates, friends sitting and talking about their day at work while drinking, and there was the one table Data was eagerly approaching.
Earlier that day there had been a captain’s dinner. M’Ress and her partner had spent time with Captain Picard and Commander Ruker over a variety of Caitian and Vulcan foods. Data had been working and wasn’t able to attend. He had asked Captain Picard, but the captain had told him that with him and Riker gone, Data was needed on the bridge. But he did allow Data to switch his shifts. Him not having the night shift on the bridge meant he could join their guests in Ten Forward.
Ten Forward was, like always, quiet. It was the kind of quiet that came with the bar’s parameters. Even though there were many people laughing, talking and moving around, the room was hushed, making it seem like everyone was whispering. Deanna had once described it as magical.
Data greeted Guinan at the bar and told her who he was here to meet. He had informed T’Korin, asked them if it would be alright for him to join them after dinner in the ship’s famous meeting place.
“They are already here, waiting for you,” Guinan smiled. Even though she had a lot to do, she seemed calm and enjoying herself. She nodded in the direction of the table the couple had sat down at, her hat tilting slightly.
“Thank you,” Data said. He had already seen them but was aware of the bar’s norms and the social expectations. He always needed to greet Guinan first and ask if he could join the table. Guinan never told him to do that, but Data did what others did. And he had seen many people who had done it that way.

“Greetings, Ambassador,” Data looked at the Caitian woman. She had a drink in front of her. It was milky white and had a fruit he did not know clasped on the rim of the big glass.
M’Ress looked up, her ears were perked, Data saw her tail swishing behind the chair. “Hello, Commander,” she purred gently.
“Hello, T’Korin,” Data said. You greet everyone, he had learned, even though you had already had a conversation with a person a couple of hours ago.
“Greetings, Data,” T’Korin said. Data saw their tongue slip out of their mouth for a split second. T’Korin also had a drink in front of them. It was clear. It was probably water, Data analyzed.
The android second officer sat down and looked at the Enterprise’s guests. “I am glad I was able to meet you both. I found the conversation I had with T’Korin earlier to be very interesting,” Data said.
M’Ress’s left ear went from perked to slightly askew. The other stayed the way it was. Her nose moved a bit as she looked in Data’s direction, not really at him directly though.
“M’Ress?” T’Korin asked in a hushed tone.
“You don’t smell like anything,” the Caitian ambassador stated. “That seems wrong.”
Her significant other growled very quietly, almost not audible at all. Data heard it. His hearing was better than most humanoid species.
M’Ress also seemed to have heard it. Her ear clapped to the side, she looked at T’Korin and hissed before saying: “I just noticed, is all. I thought you liked facts.”
“Mister Data is an android. He has no pheromones you would smell. I have already told you before.” Although T’Korin’s tone stayed neutral like a Vulcan, their face changed. Form hiss seat Data saw, just for a second, embarrassment in their face.
“I do not mind the ambassador’s statement. I am aware that I do not smell like a humanoid. I am a machine after all,” Data looked at the couple with a neutral look.
M’Ress’s one ear was directed at him, the other was still clamped. Again, her tail swished behind her rhythmically. If Caitians and Earth cats were anything alike, Data thought, M’Ress seemed to like him.
T’Korin looked at him like a typical Vulcan and then they nodded, understanding that Data, as he had no emotions, couldn’t be offended by their partner’s crude observation.

“I noticed that your communication with each other is a unique mix between Vulcan logic and the expressiveness of Caitians,” Data offered. Again, his curiosity took over.
M’Ress’s ears both perked up again, her look was open and slightly amused. “That took a couple of years. At first we had many misunderstandings.” She looked at T’Korin with a warm look, then back to Data. The swishing of her tail had gotten slower, but it hadn’t stopped.
“I understand,” Data answered, nodding.
“We live on Cait. I had to adapt my communication style to be understood by everyone,” T’Korin explained.
“Everyone? I always understood you,” M’Ress said and wiggled her whiskers a bit.
T’Korin shook their head. “You did not. We were fighting a lot. That made me believe we didn’t fit together. Until one day M’Ress told me she fought with me to engage me more.”
“They were so rigid at first,” M’Ress laughed. The movements of her tail got faster.
“I was not rigid,” T’Korin objected. “I was born and raised on Vulcan, following Vulcan norms.”
M’Ress moved both her ears and then narrowed her look. “Yeah, right. You were rigid.”
Her expression changed. Again, it was open and friendly. “But now look at you. You are expressing emotions every day.”
“As I don’t have a mirror, I am unable to look at myself, M’Ress.”
The Caitian ambassador smirked. “Your literal thinking always gets me.”

Data watched and puzzled the answer to his question earlier together for himself: T’Korin didn’t seem like a fully logic-driven Vulcan because they needed to be understood by people who used visual cues almost more than the things they said to bring across their emotions and desires. And that meant, Data thought, that it was probably not possible for T’Korin ever to turn this way of communication off. So even when they talked to an android, their face was still talking almost as much as their mouth.
Data thought back to what Commander Riker had said earlier about M’Ress: she has a temper. That made even more sense now that Data saw M’Ress react to T’Korin’s comments. She was provocative but also honest, almost like a Vulcan. For an android that couldn’t be offended and was interested in analyzing communication styles, that mixture was not a problem. But for a human first officer that was normally liked by almost everyone he met, it could seem difficult to understand.
As for Deanna’s difficulties with the Caitian ambassador, Data wasn’t sure. Surely it did not help that Caitians once ate Betazoids.

Data was deep in thought when M’Ress suddenly shrieked and hissed, her ears tightly clasped at the sides of her face. Her tail had stopped moving. Because, having decided that M’Ress was very interesting, a red tabby cat lay on the floor, her paws at the ambassador’s tail.
M’Ress looked at the kitten and hissed again. Her fur stood upright in alert, ready to defend and fight.
Data acted quickly. He grabbed Spot and held her on his lap. The kitten was calm but still seemed playful enough to try to get on the table. Maybe she wanted to sniff the drinks or fight M’Ress from the front.
M’Ress was still shocked. She looked with much distaste at the kitten in Data’s lap. “Is that one of your young?”
“That is a house cat,” Data explained. “Humans live with them. They are companions.”
The ears of the Caitian woman relaxed a little, but her look stayed the same as she said: “My grandmother was stationed on the first Enterprise once. But she never said anything about these weird creatures aboard your ships.”
T’Korin drank a sip from their water and noted, “Curious. They look like a Caitian youngling. A little bit different, but the resemblance is very noticeable.”
M’Ress hissed at her partner. “What do I care? I don’t want this touching my tail out of nowhere! The tail is private.”
“Spot is a young cat. She is very playful, and I think she just saw movement and wanted to play with your tail. But of course I will notify her owners and bring her to their room.”
Data stood up from the table. M’Ress’s expression changed again. “Please come back after,” she purred for some seconds.
T’Korin, neutrality on their face again, informed Data: “M’Ress likes you. So do I. I would also appreciate you coming back to continue our evening together.”
Data nodded. “I will.”

Data walked out of Ten Forward and tapped his badge. He informed Helen that he found their cat again and that he would bring her back to their quarters. Helen seemed to be glad and apologetic. She told him she would meet him there.
When Data reached the quarters of Sandra and Helen, Spot was still snuggling in his arms. She purred, almost in the same way M’Ress had before. Data tapped the bell and heard it ring. Helen and Sandra opened the door from the inside. They both seemed stressed. They had clearly searched for their kitten again.
“We haven’t found the hole yet. But there must be one. Spot is just a cat, she doesn’t have special powers,” Sandra stammered.
“No, I don’t think so,” Helen murmured, sitting on their couch, another cat on her lap. Data sat down opposite them.
“I found her in Ten Forward. She tried to play with the Caitian ambassador’s tail,” he informed the owners.
Sandra sank more into the couch, embarrassed. “Oh god…”
“It was alright. Spot lets me pick her up quite easily.”
Helen and Sandra looked at each other. Then Helen whispered something. Sandra replied with, “Yeah, you are right.”
Then they both turned to Data.
“Would you like to adopt Spot? She seemed to only like you anyway, and although it might sound crazy, we think she was searching for you,” Helen said with a defeated but hopeful look in her eyes.
Data looked at Spot, who sat on the ground right next to him. She was looking somewhere else at the moment but seemed content and not looking for a way out of the room.
“I would like that,” Data answered softly.