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Security Risks

by Lt. Logan Castle

Chief Security Officer, USS Grail

"I'll review the files, and let you know.", Castle replied.

Castle offered a straight smile and left beside the Commander. As the pair of them exited the Science Lab, Castle tilted his head toward Epic Terrakian and spoke out of the side of his mouth in a hush.

"She really a droid? I mean....", Castle considered it for a moment. "I mean, she sure `smelled' like a woman.

Terrakian looked sideways at the solid man walking beside him. "What a peculiar observation."

"You think?", Castle shrugged as they walked. "I mean... If she looks like a woman and walks and talks like a woman, and if she feels and smells like a woman....", he shrugged again. "Well, I never had any interspecies hang-ups."

Terrakian raised an eyebrow at his choice of words. "`Species?' Lieutenant, she was `manufactured'."

"You know what I mean..", he gave the First Officer a measuring look. "...but I guess you `see' things on a different level, eh?"

"That is one way to say it.", Terrakian replied.

They achieved the turbolift. It opened, they entered.

"Bridge.", Commander Terrakian ordered.

"Deck 3.", Castle added. "Gotta check my digs. I came over with the `specimen'. I haven't even seen my quarters. I'd also like to catch a quick `sonic' and a change of uniform before the Staff Meeting."

Terrakian simply nodded. `Why is this man telling me all this? Can't he see that I don't care?'

The lift opened onto Deck 3. Castle nodded his farewell to the XO and stepped off. He immediately moved right to follow the indicated path to his numerically distinguished quarters. He considered the First Officer a moment while he walked.

First off, the guy has definitely got a pole in his ...pants. Can't even make small talk with the grunts. Second, Castle bristled a little at the terse comment he made about the Assistant Science Chief. Eve Mallory may be an android, but that didn't make her any less deserving of respect. Castle considered his own reaction to her nature.

He shrugged. With all the women on all the worlds he'd been introduced to, he was hardly in a position to judge anymore. He readily admitted to himself, he had rarely been choosy as concerns his `personal affairs'.

And Eve Mallory would certainly put to shame 90% of his previous encounters.

But, despite his personal predilections, Eve Mallory was one other thing. She was a massive security risk.

Starfleet can run all the diagnostics and all the tests it wants. Too many times had inconsequential sub-routines blossomed into major problems with his experiences with artificial intelligence. The Borg were just the most obvious and topical example. He laughed as he remembered a time when the Emergency Medical Hologram had slipped a chip

and confined him to Biological Quarantine because he had a cold. They finally had to feed an obscure command in that would reset the EMH to his default mode.

And that was the thing nagging Logan Castle about Eve Mallory.

What obscure command would reset her back to her default mode? And, what state of mind would that put her in?

But, Castle sighed as he thumbed open the door to his quarters. Those questions were already asked, he was certain. And, Starfleet sent her anyway.

He pulled off his uniform and stepped into the sonic shower. He thought of Eve Mallory again, and realized his statement to Commander Terrakian was not exactly accurate.

Certainly, she walked and talked like a woman. And she looked and smelled like a woman. But, did she feel like a woman? That had yet to be proved.

And, so, Logan Castle got the thought into his head that he was going to find out.