Android Dreams

            On Tuesday morning I memorized the first tow verses and the chorus of "S.S. in Uruguay" by Serge Gainsbourg. The song is from the point of view of a former S.S. officer trying to escape war crimes arrest by bribing his way around Uruguay.

            I worked on typing my lecture notes, hoping to get them done that day rather than Wednesday as usual, since I have a research essay to write.

            I made soup for lunch with a carton of beef broth, a carton of chicken broth, sautéed green onions, frozen cooked soybeans and spices.

            In the late afternoon I finished typing my lecture notes and updated my journal for Monday.

            For dinner I added broccoli to the soup I’d made earlier and had two bowls while watching episode six of Star Trek Picard.

            Spoiler alert!
            The story begins with a dream that Soji keeps having in which she is a little girl who has been frightened by the sound of thunder and is seeking out her father in his lab. She sees him working behind some orchids and enters the lab but when her name is shouted she turns and sees something frightens her awake. Soji calls her mother but while talking with her finds herself falling asleep again. She is becoming suspicious but does not know why. She takes out all of the childhood mementos that she had brought with her and scans them for their age. The scanner reads for every item that they are only 37 months old. When Narek finds out that Soji dreams he thinks he has found a way to get the information he needs from her. Under the pretence of helping her he takes her to a special Romulan meditation room and hypnotizes her so she can describe the dream as it unfolds. Meanwhile as the La Sirena approaches the Borg Cube Raffi subtly blackmails a Starfleet official into giving Picard diplomatic status so he can enter the Romulan facility. Dr. Jurati, who has recently secretly murdered her lover Bruce Maddox, comes to Captain Cristobal Rios and comes on to him. She says, “I’ve never slept with a captain of anything.” He says, “I recommend it.” As he approaches the Cube Picard is feeling a lot of trauma because of his history of once having been assimilated by the Borg. On the Cube he meets his old friend Hugh, who had been rescued from the Borg by the crew of the Enterprise many years ago. Hugh is now in charge of the rehabilitation of former Borg drones. Hugh shows Picard the good work they are doing to slowly rid former Borg drones of their implants and Picard is impressed. He tells Hugh that he has to find Soji but Hugh cannot find her location on the Cube. Since it would be impossible for her not to be on the Cube he concludes that her location is being concealed. Meanwhile Narek is guiding Soji through her dream past the point when she would normally wake up. The thing that she sees that frightens her is herself on a table as a disassembled doll. Narek tells her to look up through the skylight and tell him what she sees. She describes two blood red moons. He has the information he needs. She asks him what her dream means and he tells her that it means she is not real. Then he places a box on a table, leaves the room and it locks behind him. The box begins to emit a poisonous red gas. Soji's synthetic instinct kicks in and she begins punching the floor until she hammers an opening to jump through. Suddenly Hugh sees that Soji is back on the sensors but that she is moving fast between two levels. Picard and Hugh arrive just as she lands. Picard says he has answers and wants to help her and so she goes with him. They go to a teleportation device that would send them to Nepenthe but Narek and the other Tal Shiar try to stop them. Suddenly Elnor arrives against orders and kills the attackers. Picard wants Elnor to come with him but he says he’ll stay behind to buy them time. Picard and Soji leave while Hugh and Elnor stay to fight.