To say he was surprised to see Lore again would be an understatement. Although he’d anticipated a potential second reunion with the android, he hadn’t envisioned it to transpire so soon. The aftermath of Lore’s deceit was still burning like acid in the back of his consciousness; his outrage, whether it was justified or not, had left his creator with a mild concussion and a permanent scar arching several inches above his right brow. But the scar was nothing compared to the damage he’d inflicted on the android by neglecting to satisfy his needs, to provide him with the guidance to attain a relative understanding of human emotions, and to give him the life he had been denied because Noonian had been too preoccupied, too obsessed with the creation of Data...
Now, Lore had found his way back to Terlina III, and Noonian was uncertain what the android had in store for him. Had he returned to claim his laboratory and utilise it for harrowing and obnoxious experiments? Or had Lore somehow discovered that his father hadn’t died after all and had he come back for the sole purpose to finish the job? Properly this time... But if he was, then why drag an innocuous little fellow, like the one that was obscuring himself behind the android, with him? He was just a child.
‘Lore. What brings you here?’ he asked with poise, not abandoning the desk at which he had been working prior to Lore’s arrival. ‘And who’s your little friend?’
‘Don’t talk to him, old man ⸺ keep him out of this,’ Lore hissed, the bile of his past still lingered on his synthetic tongue.
‘And, what is... this?’ Noonian asked provokingly, unfazed by the android’s outburst, and proceeded to ignore his words by addressing the boy directly. ‘What’s your name, son?’
