The Oppressor's Wrong Read Online Free

looks like we might have to do again—the subprocessors are too fast.”
    â€œThat’s it!” Sage said. “I can’t believe it’s that simple.” Fijorians had sharp eyesight, hearing, and smell, which made them excellent scientists and engineers. It was the doglike ears that protruded up through Sage’s thick, silver hair that gave him an almost canine appearance. Daniels could get past the golden eyes—but if Sage had had fangs, he would have been hard pressed not to call him Rover. “I should have known the DPO’s computers were years out of date.” He gave Daniels a smirk as his ears twitched. “Government issue.”
    â€œI am not sure I understand the reference,” Lieutenant Commander Data said as he frowned at Sage. “Why would you have known the age of the computers used at the Department of PlanetaryOperations?” He shook his head. “You are only a scientist.”
    â€œThat was sarcasm, Data,” O’Brien said. “Sage has a very dry wit.”
    Daniels could feel the tension rise when the android worked with his team. Several times Data had lost his temper, though his anger had cooled quickly. Mostly the altercations had been between Travec and Data—as the Tellarite believed an android with an emotion chip was incapable of logical assessment and performance.
    La Forge had informed all of them in private about Data’s emotion chip and the problems it had caused—and continued to cause—the android. It had been several months since the chip had fused with his neural net, and he was seeing the ship’s counselor regularly in order to get a better handle on his emotions.
    But—like most humans facing anger management issues—Data slipped now and then. And Daniels could sympathize. Travec had that kind of effect on people.
    Daniels was proud of Sage as he turned a very calm face toward Data. “When I wrote the protocols for the program, I used the specifications for the model-nine isolinear chip processors, which is what we use at the DPO—but of course those are about five years out of date with what the rest of the Federation uses.”
    Data frowned. “That is a much slower processor than what the computer core subsections use on board this vessel. I am not even sure that model fully integrated the holographic matrix for three-dimensional storing.”
    â€œThey—they didn’t,” came an unsure voice behind Daniels.
    He turned to see Lieutenant Reginald Barclay step forward, a tricorder in his right hand, a thermal patch in his left. When everyone turned to look at him, Daniels was afraid the man might faint.
    â€œHe’s right,” O’Brien said. “The isolinear subprocessors on this ship are the fastest they make.” He looked at Daniels. “That’s why it keeps dumping the program. Protocols can’t keep up with the processor speed. Quark’s subprocessors in his holomatrix were faster, but only fast enough to cause the glitches we saw.”
    â€œSo we either have to rewrite the protocols,” Stevens said, “or dumb down the system.”
    â€œCan you do that?” Daniels moved from the console he’d been working at to join them, careful not to leave Barclay out. “Either one. The subroutine doesn’t have to run simultaneously or be integrated—it’s a rogue system—acts on its own to look for patterns in the sensor sweeps and then compiles them into the simulator program. Maybe if it were on a separate systemit could be modified better, updated as Sage and I work on it.” He was ready to try anything at this point. He’d always believed this project had been too rushed.
    â€œI am afraid that,” Data paused a beat and looked at Stevens, “dumbing down the system, as you say, is impossible. The design of the ship would not allow it. It would disrupt normal ship functions.”
    â€œHe