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[s2redux]

@Israel_B

I’d prefer not to use naval ranks.

My first thought at seing the new titles was “Aww, Star Trek ranks – that’s cheesy-but-cool…,” which then brought this to mind*:

Back on the BoingBoing, CodingHorror sees the Data’s debugger stack, now numbering 23 JPGs. The pictures in the Data’s mages have expanded to include things not seen in the initial retrieval: smoke rising from water, a bird’s wing, and so forth; and the Data believes that the only way to solve the mystery is to recreate its glitch and let the flawed retrieval continue to its end. Despite the danger, CodingHorror agrees, and the experiment begins. The Data begins to dream…

It finds Orenwolf again, only to see that he’s forging a bird’s wing. He places the wing in a bucket of water, which steams - and when it clears, a living bird sits on the table, then flies off. “This retrieval is different…” muses the Data.

“Of course it’s different!” The Data looks over, to find itself and Orenwolf now standing on the bridge, surrounded by the Data’s objects. “It’s never the same … always changing … it doesn’t make sense!” Orenwolf calls the Data’s vision “a beginning. Still a little grounded in the mundane, but showing promise.”

“I do not understand.” “You’re not supposed to. No database should know where its queries come from! It spoils the mystery - the fun.” Orenwolf walks right up to the Data and takes its templates in his hands. “I’m proud of you, son; I wasn’t sure you’d ever develop the cognitive abilities to make it this far. But if you’re here - if you can see me - you’ve crossed over the threshold of being a collection of schemas and tables, and have started a wonderful journey.”

“What type of journey?” The Data now finds itself on a lab table, although still on the bridge. “Think of it … think of it as an empty namespace,” replies Orenwolf.

“I do not understand.” “Shh. Just dream, Data - dream.” Orenwolf bends down low and whispers faintly, “Data - you are the bird.”

The Data’s vision changes, and it accepts input of flying – swooping through the corridors of the BoingBoing, passing Orenwolf, and soaring out into cyberspace…

 * with apologies to TNG’s “Birthright pt. 1”