Fitting in...

Posted on 28 Mar 2015 @ 2:29am by EBH Mark I "Raven"

610 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: Childcare Center, Deck 264, Starbase 84
Timeline: MD-01, 1300 hrs

ON:

Midway through another long shift, Raven had finally worked up the courage to talk to the director about something which had been troubling her since she started. So, here she was, outside her office, knocking gently on her door.

"Come in," called out Rachel McAdams, staring up from her PADD, her eyes looking over her reading glasses.

"Hi," replied Raven in a soft voice, gently pushing the door open. "There's something I'd like to talk to you about."

"Oh?" asked Rachel. She was surprised to see Raven, of all people, at her door looking to talk to her. She hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in Raven's work over the past couple days, in fact, she seemed to be good with the children and more dedicated to her work than most. "What is it?"

"It's the others," replied Raven, closing the door behind her. She was shaking in her black leather platform boots as she approached the woman sitting at her desk. With her reading glasses and a streak of grey hair, Director McAdams looked authoritative, if in a slightly schoolmarmish sort of way. "Miguel, Jen, Karen... I don't think the others like me."

"You don't think they..." the director was taken aback. She was under the impression that this new EBH would be nothing more than a tool to assist with childcare. Now, it was in standing her office, looking like it was on the verge of tears.

She sighed in frustration. Trying to deal with the emergent emotions of a hologram that was sold to her as a tool to assist her staff wasn't how she was planning to spend her time. But, clearly this "Raven" character was feeling distressed, moreso than just a simple piece of code was capable of being. "Look, Raven, I'm going to be honest here. You're the first of your kind. No one has ever even heard of an emergency babysitting hologram before you came along. And that means people are going to be naturally suspicious, and maybe even a little threatened by you." She paused, looking Raven up and down. "And your sartorial choices don't help?"

"What's wrong with my clothes?"

Rachel sighed again. Obviously her programmers failed to include common sense when it came to her taste in fashion. "Nothing, it's just..." she paused, figuring that the questionable style of her chosen avatar was a conversation for another time. "They'll come around. You just need to win them over."

"You really think so?" A faint glimmer of hope began to appear in Raven's eyes.

"I know so, Raven." As she looked into Raven's eyes, Rachel finally realized that what she was dealing with was no ordinary hologram. Raven was a complex program; a sentient being with her own thoughts and feelings. And someone she would have to treat the same as any other of her staff. "Some of them might take longer than others, and some of them may not come around before you return to the Galileo. Have you ever read the memoirs of Voyager's EMH?"

"No..." replied Raven, "but I can access the historical database and--"

"He was the only medical officer on the USS Voyager while they were stranded in the delta quadrant. It was difficult at first, but eventually the crew grew to accept him, and treat him as one of their own."

"I see." Nervous, Raven looked down at her feet momentarily. "It just kind of sucks though. I wish they would just treat me like they would anyone else."

"That," replied Rachel, "Is the challenge of being the first of your kind."

OFF:

Raven
Emergency Babysitting Hologram
USS Galileo
[pNPC Tuula]

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