His ship - his friends - his whole home - don't exist here!

Jerach bangs his fists on the couch and lets out something halfway between a groan and a scream.

He wants to figuratively collar that woman - she still hasn't given him her name - and demand from her what she was thinking doing all this!

... except he can guess what her answer might be.

Well, she's actually said things about how much she needs him.  She might be telling the truth there.

But the other thing she could say... he's met people who would've said it in her place... would be "would you rather I hadn't created you in the first place and you never existed?"

Well.  He's going to definitely see about those simulation records.  Both for his own home and for his... predecessors.  For his own sake - having some possibility of seeing something he knows - and for theirs so they won't just be thrown away.  He got taken out; he might be able to rescue them.

That much he can do, for those weird questions tearing at him that he doesn't know how to answer. 

And for this new world he's in...  the best thing is to go along for now and see what he learns.

Or maybe he can get answers now?  "Computer?" he says questioningly to the air, like that woman had said earlier.  "Do you have a brief wiki* description of this station?"

* roughly, "encyclopedia summary"

"Jupiter Station is a research focused space station operating under the supervision of the Federation Science Council and Starfleet. Much of its research is classified but it is known to do research into artificial intelligence, warp drive, stellar physics and material sciences among other topics. The senior Starfleet officer responsible for operations is Captain T'Lar Evrok.

"Physically, the station is composed of six habitat modules and two engineering spurs and two extended sensor arrays. Its exact defensive capabilities are classified but it is known to have been upgraded following the Breen attack on the Sol system in the year 2375. It currently has a population of approximately 50,000 including researchers Starfleet personnel and civilians."

Ah, good, the computer understands what he's asking for!

It's a wide-ranging scope for just one research station... though it might make more sense given the wide range of the Federation?  And it being run by... something that sounds like it might be a traders' league, or maybe a navy?  "Wiki summary 'Breen attack on Sol system'?  Wiki summary 'Starfleet'?"

"In 2375 as part of the conflict known as the Dominion War a species called the Breen which was allied with the Dominion used previously undocumented stealth and weapons technologies to overcome the reduced defenses in the system.

"The majority of the aggressor forces were still destroyed by the defensive installations and vessels present in system but a minority were able to launch an attack on Earth's surface killing roughly 40,000 people and heavily damaging the Earth campus of Starfleet Academy and several other Starfleet facilities and significant amounts of civilian infrastructure.

"Before further damage could be done responding forces from elsewhere in the system and nearby systems were able to contest the remaining Breen Confederacy forces and they retreated.

"Federation Starfleet is the primary military, sentient aid and exploration corps of the United Federation of Planets. It operates the majority of the starships in the Federation with substantial weapons complements and modern drive cores and is the primary builder for such vessels.

"Starfleet serves as the primary deterrent and defense against hostile action by non-Federation parties and space-bourne criminal groups within Federation space.

"Starfleet vessels are also used as diplomatic couriers, logistics for urgent biological or ecological crises, to handle some scientific missions within Federation space, and to handle scientific and exploratory tasks outside of Federation space where we are authorized by the powers that claim that territory or where there is no known claimant.

"Federation Starfleet retains the name of the United Earth Starfleet as a historical legacy of the compromises within combined military operations during the early years of the Federation. The Vulcans, Andorians and Tellarites all had decades and in some cases centuries of previous diplomatic friction and so Earth as the newest polity to achieve interstellar travel capabilities and, at the time, the weakest party to the new Federation were seen as non-threatening compromise for the leadership of joint operations."

... "Previously undocumented stealth and weapons"?  If he was hearing that at a bar, he'd think that sounds really convenient.  But he's hearing it from a computer, so... ouch.  That would explain why this woman's saying the Federation needs something different.

And Starfleet is a military force after all?  He's never been part of one of those.  (At least yet... there was that one guy saying Alorica was going to conscript spaceships?)  The aid and exploration parts he would shrug off - every space navy does those - except it's interesting the computer would give them immediate prominence in the wiki...

... And humans were the newest and weakest race to achieve warp travel?  That's... interesting.  He's suddenly running through his memory from home to try to remember the order of things there... when he realizes it doesn't matter and makes a face.

Quick, something else to ask...  Oh, while he's on Starfleet - "Wiki summary, Starfleet Commander Data?"

"Commander Data was created by Noonion Soong and Juliana Soong on the Omicron Theta colony in 2336. He survived the destruction of the colony by the space-bourne lifeform known as the Crystalline Entity and was rescued and reactivated by the crew of the UFS Tripoli in 2338 during their salvage and investigation efforts in the wake of the incident that destroyed her colony.

"Commander Data subsequently enrolled in Starfleet Academy and graduated with honors in Xenobiology and probability mechanics in 2345. He was initially assigned to the UFS Hood and is best known for his service on the current Starfleet Flagship the UFS Enterprise."

"He has been awarded the Starfleet Command Decoration for Gallantry, Medal of Honor with clusters, Legion of Honor, and the Star Cross.

"Notable accomplishments include compiling the best known translation matrix for the Iconian language, preventing the Romulan from interfering in the Klingon Civil War in 2368, and is cited as having a critical role in the destruction of the Borg Cube and thus repelling the Borg incursion in 2366.

"Commander Data was also the subject of the 2365 court case Maddox v Data that established that artificial sapients did exist and should be acknowledged as having all the rights and privileges accorded to sapients under Federation law."

Now that's really reassuring!  Jerach can have a long career in the public eye even if it's known where he came from.  If he wants to be in the public eye, of course - he doesn't really care for that, and he's never cared for it or gotten it (even that one time when his ship got the praise of a grateful moon, it mostly went to the captain and first mate).  But if he does fulfill what's-her-name's hopes, he'll probably end up getting in the public eye.  Oh well.

Assuming, of course, any of this is true.  He can't forget that.  But he can't really judge it yet, either.

Which leaves...

... no, a few more things before he has to be faced with uncomfortable philosophical questions again.  There're some uncomfortable profession-related questions too.  How much does he really know, and how much does he just think he knows?

"Computer, can you lay out the technical specs and diagrams for a... common sort of starship?  On... that screen over there?"

If it'll do that, he'll spend some time scrolling through them to figure out whether what he thinks he knows about a warp drive and ship's life support and all sorts of things like that are at all accurate.

There's an acknowledging beep and on the screen he can see the public version of the technical specifications of what's apparently called the Ambassador Class. Its main hull is a large saucer connected to two warp pylons by a substantial engineering hull.

The exact details of its weapons and shields aren't disclosed but it's powered by a matter-antimatter reactor with backup fusion reactors and uses an electro-plasma energy conduit system to transfer power to primary systems with interlinks to lower energy systems for lower energy systems. The Ambassador class has a max cruising speed of warp seven or roughly seven hundred times light speed. The specs have a lot more details including on the inertial dampening system the artificial gravity system and yes the life support systems. The Ambassador class is also equipped with matter energy replicator systems.

Okay, that's a size of ship he's familiar with, though a more luxurious design -

- it goes how fast!?

That would - you could get from Earth to Alorica so much faster - and with those sensors you can even look around while you're in warp, and look at other ships that're in warp -

Jerach suddenly feels he doesn't have the least idea how to even plan a voyage with a ship like this.  Oh, maybe he can be an engine tech - they can't be totally different; they still use dilithium after all - but how would he even guess what to carry from one place to another where every ship can go this fast?  What would that do to what sort of trade different worlds can start presuming to rely on?

... With some more research, he's satisfied himself for now that, basically, the technology is indeed similar to what he's used to.  The replicators are far better than what he's used to, which enables them to be used more frequently, of course.  But still, most parts of what he examines are basically familiar to him.

So if he stays away from the warp engines... and maybe the weapons this computer didn't talk about... and anything affected by them... and of course if this first look doesn't paper over more fundamental differences, which he can't neglect the possibility of...

... Well, that leaves the existential questions.

What does it mean to be Jerach, when all of Jerach's life till now was... a computer program...

He remembers joking about it once with his first crewmates - what would their computer game characters do if they came to life?  The main answer was, beat us up because we set up all the nasty stuff they were dealing with.  Well, he can hardly complain to whatshername about that; he's rather liked his life so far.  Or his simulation-of-life.

The joke didn't go that far beyond that - they didn't have any answer to what they'd do next, except Mikken who thought his cleric would set up a new utopian colony world.  And Jerach doesn't want to do that.

So... no answers.  Just a gaping blank.

... Ordinarily, if he was feeling like this, he'd say he needs a new ship and crewmates and a voyage.

Well, is there really any reason he can't get those now?  Does he need answers right now?

He sits a little, but can't think of anything else, so he slowly steps up and opens the door.

"Hello?  Are you here?"

The woman is not there just the same peaceful lake he saw previously.

"Hello?  I'm ready." he says to the air.

And then, if no response, "Computer, please message the woman who was recently here and tell her I'm ready to talk again?"

There's an acknowledging chime. A minute or so later there's another chime, a metal door appears and the woman walks through. "Hi, I've gotten the ball rolling on building an android body for you. Do you want it to just mirror your current appearance or would you like to tweak anything? I've put in a requisition for the parts that can't be replicated but the aesthetic features don't fall into that category."

"Thank you.  I..."  He pats himself down.  "I guess I'm fine with how I look, assuming my appearance doesn't have unsavory connotations here.  What I have wished for would be more temperature and vacuum tolerance - I assume the new body will be okay with that?"

He pauses.  "These warp engines are a lot faster than anything I've seen before... and the sensors are better too."

He'll just leave it there rather than asking about her simulation parameters just yet.

"You should be fine in vacuum and in a pretty wide range of temperatures, you still shouldn't stick your hands in a furnace or try to operate somewhere that air freezes but otherwise I think you'll be alright. As for the technical differences, I expect you'll adapt. The underlying principles should still be the same."

"Eventually, I'm sure... I'm just glad nobody's expecting me to run a trading ship here.  And this makes me less surprised to hear there's just one Federation."

"The Federation is... complicated we don't actually claim all the planets inside our borders. Some of those are host alien civilizations that haven't achieved interstellar travel and we have a law against interfering with their development and others are claimed by smaller governments that started off that way and either haven't applied for or haven't been accepted into formal membership. There's even some colonies from humans and other species that fall into that bucket."

"A law against... interfering with their development?  But wouldn't anything you do with them - even visiting them - interfere?"