I thought we were friends

Posted on Friday, 24 July 2020 - 7:47pm by Captain Barret Stillwater & Emerick

Mission: Operation: Jabberwocky
Location: Various
Timeline: MD 06

ON:

Eyelaya had managed to get a hold of a nurse. She had had her com call transferred to the CMO's office and had the woman activate the EMH. She now waited for his appearance.

Emerick's program was triggered by one of the only nurses, only medical personnel left aboard. This was so that he was not continuously running and Sickbay was still maintained. There were daily duties outside of seeing patients that needed to be done. When Emerick's holomatrix stabilized he was informed by the nurse that his presence was required to take a 'call' that had come through for him. Peculiar he thought as he walked into the Chief Medical Officer's office half expecting it to be someone from Starfleet Medical wanting Doctor Rose; however, it was not Starfleet Medical. It was trouble.

"Eyelaya," he said as he took a seat in Ryan's chair and found himself looking at the screen of Ryan's desk workstation. "Uh hello, is there something medical that I can assist you with? Allergic reaction to something? Need advice on how to treat something?" he asked hoping that this was not about the incident that had happened; however, the expression on her face would be one that Ryan described as 'The Dog House' and it was then that Emerick was starting to understand that term. He suspected he was close to being in it if he was not already.

Eyelaya stared at him. Anger and hurt rolled through her. "How could you do that. I thought we were at least friends."

"We ARE friends," he replied swiftly. "Eyelaya, that was not meant for you. It was my personal log and I was just trying to save it, not send it to you" he tried to explain. This was not really much of an explanation that she would have wanted per se; however, it was about all he could offer her at the time. "I....you have been a good friend. I have come to value that, but I do not think that I can provide you what you need in something more than that."

Her eyes filled with tears but she held them in. "You really hurt me Emerick. If we were friends you would never see me as grueling or tiresome. You would not run away from me and think I am...." She paused letting herself gather her thoughts. "You know what? I genuinely liked you. I saw how you struggled how people treated you as less than human as nothing but an EMH a machine. I never saw you that way. I know how cruel people can be and frankly I never thought of you as one of those cruel people who would treat someone like that." There was a pause. "I was wrong. You are no better then they are!" She sighed. "You know what you'll get your wish. I will leave you alone. I'll never activate you again."

"I am your friend, Eyelaya" he replied immediately. He was not emotional over the situation. It was not as though he had done anything wrong from his perspective. The only thing that was wrong was that he mistakenly sent his personal log to her, and it had been about her. "I have never treated you poorly. My bedside manner is one of the best that an EMH has been equipped with. I can assure you that my programming does not allow me to be malicious or have the flaws that flesh and blood individuals such as yourself and Doctor Rose are susceptible to" he added.

He crossed his arms, something in his programming, a personality quirk from one of the many physician templates used. "You will activate in the event that you require medical assistance that cannot be provided by the medical personnel aboard the starship or the lack of their ability to treat you. I am an Emergency Medical Hologram, Eyelaya. You were well aware of this upon coming into my presence and choosing to pursue a friendship with me. If you had wanted to become infatuated with something else void of emotion and more controllable to your whims, then I can arrange a nice meal between you and one of my tricorders, or perhaps a hypospray is more your taste?"

She stared at him. There he was insulting her again. "Your bedside manner is sub par. And no if the doctors can't treat me then I will ensure you do not. I genuinely wanted to be your friend but now I see you are incapable of friendship. You don't even see what you did wrong. I'm sure Doctor Rose can explain it to you. But maybe it's too much for your programing to understand." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "But you are right it was my mistake for seeing your as more then a pile of circuits. You are right you are an EMH. Nothing more. I won't make that mistake again. I will also ensure that one of the other engineers ensures you function as you are meant to, as a program for emergency use" She hoped that he felt as badly a he'd made her feel.

She sighed. "I'm sending your log back to you Emerick. We're not friends anymore. You stay out of my way and I will stay out of yours."

Emerick sat there stewing in the seat for a moment. Though there were no 'emotions' exactly to have, she did get a response from him. "I will respect your wishes, but if you are going to send any engineers to ensure my program is functioning and being used for emergency purposes, please do not come yourself. One does not have a dental hygienist to do a neurosurgeon's job. I want someone I trust in their abilities."

"We're in agreement there. I don't trust you either. You don't know what friendship means Emerick. I feel sorry for you. The worst part of this is Doctor Rose. If you say hurtful things to him like you did to me well...whatever it's none of my business. Goodbye Emerick." She closed the call and sent him the log he'd sent her. Standing she walked over to the bed fell into a fitful sleep.