Perfection
"Is there someone sitting here?"
Hoshi looked up from her...well, it looked a lot like mashed potato, but who knew? "Nope. Sit down. You're new?"
"I am...Anneka. I have recently transferred aboard this vessel."
"I'm Hoshi."
"Ensign Hoshi Sato, translator and Communications Officer."
Hoshi blinked, smiled, "You've certainly done your homework."
Seven nodded, "I have read your aut...the crew manifest. I feel that it is important to be aware of the identities of one's crewmates."
"You'll pick it up pretty quickly. There's only 83 of us. Well, and the Captain's dog. 84 now, I guess. Hey, when did you come aboard?"
"I joined this vessel when the NX-01 was docked with the Sharr'at."
"I didn't know we were getting anyone new."
Seven frowned. "You doubt the authenticity of my claim?"
"No, I'm just saying, I didn't-"
"Computer, freeze program."
Hoshi paused with her hand held up defensively.
"Incorporate persona, Ensign Anneka Hansen, assigned to engineering and restart program."
"Is there someone sitting here?"
Hoshi looked up from her...well, it looked a lot like mashed potato, but who knew? "Nope. Sit down. How's engineering?"
"We are operating close to maximum efficiency."
Hoshi prodded her food with her fork. "Mashed potato's pretty straight-forward. So how come it's the one thing Chef can't cook properly?" She glanced over at Anneka's plate. "Good call on the macaroni there."
"It is sufficient."
"Hey, did you hear about Mitchell...?"
"Regeneration cycle complete."
Seven opened her eyes and found Kathryn Janeway inches away. "Captain?"
"The Doctor says you haven't been regenerating lately."
"I have just finished regenerating."
"Yes, for the first time in, what, a week?"
"Borg drones are capable of going for several week without regenerating."
Kathryn sighed and looked at her with concern. "Why are you spending so much time on the holodeck, Seven?"
"You have been monitoring my activities?"
"Is there anything wrong? If there's something bothering you, you know that I'm always ready to-"
Seven paused. Then she pulled herself up to her full height, the arrogant Borg stance that she adopted when challenged. "I am fit for duty and have been attending to my required tasks."
"I'm not complaining about your work, Seven, I'm worried about you. You don't seem quite yourself lately."
"I am fine. Are there any further matters you wish to discuss?"
Kathryn sighed.
"Anyway, you know how Novokavitch is about these things, so-"
"You are dead," said Seven, breaking into Hoshi's flow of gossip.
"and the only thing I could do was laugh, but of course-"
"You died in 2173, in a shuttle accident."
"so then he turns round and just glares at me and then-"
"Hoshi."
She stopped talking and looked up. "Yes?"
"You are not real."
"Do you want that tomato?"
"Computer, freeze program."
Seven stood up and stepped away from the table. "This program is malfunctioning."
"The character is not programmed to respond to events outwith the set parameters."
Seven looked back at the frozen woman and took a deep breath.
"So this is where you've been whiling away the hours."
She turned to the intruder, annoyed.
"You are intruding on my leisure activities unannounced. I was under the impression that such actions were considered to be rude."
"One of the benefits of being Captain; no one ever says things like that to you." Kathryn looked around appraisingly.
"The mess hall of the Enterprise NX-01," provided Seven, "The first human deep space mission."
"I used to run this program when I was at the academy. Gave me some perspective. It's all so easy nowadays." She inclined her head towards the woman at the table, "Hoshi Sato was the sole translator on board. She programmed over two hundred linguistic groups into the UT."
"A notable achievement."
"I didn't know you had an interest in history, Seven?"
"I thought it would be prudent to familiarise myself with Earth history in preparation for Voyager's return to the Delta Quadrant."
"You seem to have developed a particular fondness for this particular simulation." She raised a hand to halt Seven's protest, "And yes, I did look at your file activity. Tell me, what's so interesting about the NX-01?"
"You don't share my interest?"
"It's quaint, but there were more exciting missions later on. Strange, actually, no one ever seems to mention them much these days. Our first giant leap outwards and it seems like we've all forgotten about it."
She interrupted the Captain's reverie, "I believe the voyages of the NX-01 were comparatively lacking in 'glamour.' From my studies I have discovered that most historical holoprograms concern themselves with warfare and conflict."
Kathryn pulled a chair from the table and sat down next to the frozen translator. "Sit down, I want to talk. Really talk, I mean. I want to know what's on your mind."
Seven sank into the seat opposite and paused for a moment to compose her thoughts. "This simulation has been...it is...there are a number of imperfections in the program. It is unsophisticated. I also noted a series of factual inaccuracies in its content. And the level of interaction that the characters are capable of is minimal."
"And why does that bother you? Borg contempt for imperfection?"
"It does not seem...real. I cannot always remember that these people were once real."
"Oh. I think I see what's wrong."
Seven looked hopeful. "Yes?"
Kathryn leaned back, laced her fingers together as she put her hands behind her head. "You wanted to know what happened, and all you got was an approximation."
The woman considered this. "The inaccuracies are...disconcerting."
"You're used to the Collective's way of thinking about the past. The Borg memory-cell is vast, incredibly accurate. Their history is binary; something either happened or it didn't."
"An event cannot simultaneously occur and fail to occur."
"Yes, but," she gestured to the hologram beside her, "the real Hoshi Sato was a good three inches shorter. The programmer made her taller, wanted her to seem more heroic."
"Why?"
"I supposed he or she wanted to tell a good story."
Seven frowned, "The past is not a story."
"But this projection of it is. People like to remember things differently from the way they actually happened."
Seven considered this for a few moments. "But then the purpose of studying history is lost. Retroactive alteration of events will not occur merely by representing them incorrectly." She paused again, thoughtful. "I wished to interact with this woman. Her writings intrigued me."
"This isn't Hoshi Sato, this is an artist's rendering of her. Someone changed her so that she was more suited to the audience."
"A fraudulent alteration."
"Yes," Kathryn seemed sad now. "Why don't you write your own version, a more accurate one? You're certainly capable."
"I don't...want to. It...I do not wish to recreate this woman in my own image." She stood up again. "I must attend to my duties in astrometrics. As my workplace is on the way to the bridge, I would be grateful if you would walk with me."
Kathryn stood, took Seven's arm in her own. "From now on, you come to me when you have a problem. You can consider that an order. Understood?"
"Yes, Captain. Computer, end program."