The "Ghost" in the Machine (part 1)

Posted on Wed Jun 1st, 2016 @ 2:08am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Mara Cross & Lieutenant Arnon Barak MD, PsyD & Lieutenant Illise Hale & Lieutenant JG Victoria Drani M.D. & 1st Lieutenant Leroy Mangalia & Crewman E.M.H. Galen

1,065 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Point of View
Location: Various

ON

Galen stood in Doctor Drani's office facing the small group of officers who wished to question her about her observations of the Main Computer. The Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Illise Hale held a PADD in her hands and was reviewing some notes before beginning. Galen had not seen her since giving her a physical when she first came on-board. She looked tired, although the same could be said for most of the crew, which was to be expected considering the current situation.

"When the current crisis has past I suggest that all of you get no less that nine hours of uninterrupted rest." Galen said to them.

"I agree," Sam said. She and Damon had far too little time together -- awake or asleep -- for her comfort.

Doctor Drani sat on the edge of her desk. She had grown to respect Galen as a valued team member. Before the Calypso, she had considered EMHs to simply be tools--nothing more. Galen on the other hand showed sentience. "Galen. Do you know why you're here?"

Leroy stood off to the back right of the group watching. He was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, ready and waiting. He didn't understand the connections between a holoprogrammed doctor that had a name and something that he had on board a shuttle in case of emergencies. "Excuse me for interrupting and maybe not being as forward thinking as you Lieutenant Drani, but how does a program know anything that hasn't been programmed? And what I mean to say is, how does someone program something like the good Doctor here with the ability to know why they are anywhere?"

"Perhaps we should allow Galen to answer Doctor Drani's question," Arnon said from where he was standing. "We don't want to get distracted from our purpose here. Please, continue Galen."

"Master Sergeant, the EMH on the original Voyager developed far beyond its original programming. And Data was granted sentience. So, while it is not likely, it can happen that a program becomes more than its -- or, in this case, her -- subroutines," Sam replied quietly in an effort to both answer Leroy's question and not disrupt the Doctor and her questions.

Mara stood towards the back listening to the conversation that was taking place. She couldn't help but smirk at the question asked by Leroy. She looked over at Galen and smiled. 'At least this mark was more attractive then the previous ones, especially the ones modeled after Dr. Zimmerman.' She thought to herself.

Galen smiled almost shyly at Mara's comment, but looked back and forth between Leroy and the Doctor. "If I was unable to recognize my surrounding I would not be very much use to anyone, Master Sargent." She said casually. "Years of research and development have gone towards developing the EMH's base programming. The Mark I was based on Doctor Zimmerman's personality and appearance, while the Mark II incorporated a more broad range of traits. My own program was developed using real data collected from observations of the brain. However, there are many regulations and safeguards in place to prevent the creation of true artificial intelligence." She told them. "My program is adaptive but cannot actually be considered sentient. For example, I do not consider by own well-being beyond my ability to care for others. That said, I am capable of growing, of adding new subroutines to better achieve that goal." She glanced at Sam with a grateful expression. "I appreciate the sentiment though, I have always hoped to be considered as more than a computer program."

Before they could get further off-track with more questions regarding her status as a non-sentient entity, Galen continued. "I believe we are here because I have the capacity for analytical thought; to be able to observe, analyze and draw conclusions. The issue we are having with the Main Computer threatens the entire crew, and this concerns me greatly." She looked at Illise. "Ms. Hale, I am not a computer engineer but code is the 'language of my heart', so to speak. I will tell you what I can."

"Thank you Galen. Please, what have you noticed?" Illise asked.

"Well, through the Holo-Core's link to the Main Computer I have observed some very strange behavior in the system." Galen said.

"Please elaborate Doctor." Illise prompted.

"Earlier, when I was unaware of the issue and took steps to isolate my matrix, the input I received from the computer had some unusual effects." Galen told her. "I received false reports of injuries among the crew, but more than that, I truly believed that reality was different." Illise had a confused look on her face, so Galen continued. "For example, I went to the bridge expecting to be on an ancient navel vessel during a conflict, my dress and instruments were altered to represent the era as well. This occurred twice more with different scenarios before I returned to sickbay and purged the erroneous coding from my system. I have considered it for some time and still have no explanation for how I was effected."

Illise took notes about Galen's experience on her PADD. "You reported that the computer seemed to be testing the ship's systems?" She asked.

"Yes. The manner in which the computer accessed and used various systems, seemingly at random, suggested that it was testing them to see what they do. I found this very odd, as the computer is not programmed to preform such analysis'. If the database was corrupted to the point of losing the relevant data required to run a system, it would simply ignore the broken link and prompt for repairs." She seemed to consider for a moment, then continued. "Despite the random appearance of the malfunctions, there does seem to be a pattern to the computer's probing of the ship's systems. In fact... " Galen stopped talking as suddenly a large number of requests to access her program came from the Main Computer. She denied them all, but with growing difficulty, and the lapse in her focus showed as she appeared to be staring blankly at the empty space between herself and Illise.

(To be continued...)

Crewman Galen
EMH

Commodore Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Victoria Drani
Chief Medical Officer

Master Sergeant Leroy Mangalia
Flight Leader

Lieutenant Arnon Barak
Chief Counselor

Lieutenant Illise Hale
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Mara Cross
Chief Operations Officer

 

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