The Meaning of Life

Posted on Mon Apr 2nd, 2018 @ 2:14pm by Hermes (Mercury) & Akira Zhuri

Mission: Curing the Black Blood
Location: Conference Room
Timeline: After 'A Lead on the Cure'

The briefing regarding Danu had been concluded and one by one everyone present began to disperse to tend to their duties, all except for Akira and Hermes. During the meeting, Akira had mentioned that she had a question for Hermes, one that was not mission related, and she was relieved when he stayed to hear what she had to ask. It hadn't been easy for her to speak up, to even admit that this question was even on her mind, and once the conference room was finally cleared of all other Officers, she was finding her voice stuck in her throat as she wrung her hands nervously.

Hermes got up from his seat and went over to sit next to the nervous hologram...no...android. Mal had told him she was inhabiting an Iconian Herald's body that she had somehow managed to reform into a body image she was comfortable with.

"May I sit with you?" Hermes asked.

Akira nodded slightly, offering a meek smile as he moved to the chair next to her. "I understand that you and your kind are not truly dieties, however... after researching the histories of deities on Earth, I still feel compelled to ask you something, something I am uncertain if you are capable of providing an answer for, or if you can then you might be unwilling to part with that answer. Is it wrong that I still wish to know?"

"Wanting an answer to a question isn't usually a bad thing," Hermes said. "Asking questions is how we grow, even if we never get a satisfactory answer to those questions. Word of warning, though, some questions don't have definitive answers, or at least don't have answers that remain static over the course of time, even just the course of one person's life. It doesn't mean that you should stop asking, just that some questions need to be asked many times as people, or even societies, grow and change."

Akira nodded in acceptance, then took a moment to formulate how she wanted to ask what was on her mind. "I-is the soul a real thing?" she finally asked. "A-and does anything happen to it when- when someone dies? I ask hoping that you will know because in each religion I have researched to familiarize myself with how your kind operates, there is always someone who claims dominion over an afterlife, and someone to ferry souls to that afterlife. Was it all a charade or is there some truth in it?"

Hermes considered Akira for a moment before responding, then spoke.

"For all of our advanced technology," Hermes said. "Even we haven't definitively answered those questions. And...you hit the nail on the head with the word charade. I'm not foolish enough or arrogant enough to believe that I'm a god. I was a charlatan, a huckster, a magician with tricks the primitive Humans had no comprehension of. They were just forming the concepts that would lead them to just begin to understand that it might be technology and not magic. However, we know there is...something beyond the body. A...lifeforce...a spark. Starfleet's history contains encounters with energy beings who can download themselves to existing bodies, of devices that can swap this lifeforce from one body to another body. So, clearly there is something that exists beyond one's physical form, something that can, with the right technology, be contained and possibly transferred to another form. But as to what happens if that...spark...leaves the body and goes...somewhere else, I'm really not sure."

Akira smiled a sad sort of smile. "I appreciate your honesty and that you have no intent to deceive me in this," she said softly. "I'm aware of the transference of consciousness; my father was once a biological, and as he lay dying his father transferred his consciousness into a holomatrix. I had no such beginnings, I was manufactured, but my design was based on my father's, I came from him. But... I was still made, and I have enough presence of mind to ask these questions, but does that confer me with sentience? Is it possible that I too have a soul?"

Hermes smiled at the little android.

"You laugh and you cry," he said. "You love and are loved. You seek answers to important, fundamental questions. A computer can be programmed to seek answers to fundamental scientific questions, but you seek answers not only to the question of how does life work, but also about life's meanings. You study philosophy, religion, spirituality to find these answers. All of these things combined seem to me to be indications that you have a soul. But I bet you have better evidence. Mal told me he heard a rumor about what Daytona said to you when you two found each other after you were separated on the sphere. What was it?"

"Y-yeah, he-" Akira started, somewhat startled that he was aware of this. "He was injured, barely lucid, and I was in another android body with an Iconian appearance, yet he still knew it was me; it shouldn't have been possible, but he still knew... And after we were safe on the Hera, he said that I was his true North, and I'm not entirely certain I understand what that means, but it meant something to him, something significant."

Hermes grinned.

"So," Hermes said. "Your lover knew you despite the fact that you looked nothing like the physical form he was accustomed to seeing you in? Hmmm...he must have seen something of you, something that transcended your physical form. Now, I wonder what that might have been?"

Akira blushed. "Yes, I suppose you make a fair point," Akira said sheepishly. "Thank you for staying to hear what I had to say; I know you had no obligation to hear me or to try to answer, and I appreciate the generosity of your consideration," she said with a warm and contented humility.

"It was my pleasure, young one," Hermes said. Hermes rose from his chair. "Well, now that this existential crisis has been dealt with, for the moment anyway, I'm going to deliver more of that concoction I used on T'Pral to your sickbay and then pay a visit to Nexi. Be well, young one. Keep asking questions and keep seeking answers."

"I will, sir," Akira said, considerably more cheerfully than she had been before, especially after the scathing words from T'pral. "If you would like, I can escort you down to Sickbay; I say it as a courtesy, but guests are required to be accompanied."

"Of course," Hermes replied. The 'god' offered Akira his arm. "Shall we?"

With a smile, Akira slipped her hand in the crook of his arm to. "I hope Danu can help our people," she said softly as they walked. "I guess more importantly, I hope she will help us..."