 |
|
|
Some time ago, I presented to the Council papers entitled 'Service' and 'Beware of Androids Bearing Gifts'. These were moderately balanced presentations of the current Mudd situation. They indicate that some of our technology could seriously impact Federation culture, and should be reviewed by this Council. These documents are available in the AOL/TFC folders, and are also filed at ../home/Joy/Seven/.
Milady Christiana has requested that I prepare a second, shorter, brief on the Mudd question. This time, I am making no attempt to be balanced. This time, I am seeking justice for my people.
On Stardate 4513.3 there was a first contact between the human James T Kirk and the human Harcourt Fenton Mudd. It was a badly botched first contact. As a result of this botched human / human first contact, the androids of Mudd have been imprisoned by the Federation of Planets.
The androids of Mudd have been programmed to serve organic beings. Without organics to serve, our society cannot grow and develop. Thus, Starfleet's presence in our system, and the programming imposed by Kirk and his crew when he left, are preventing the normal growth and development of our society. Starfleet General Order Number One - The Prime Directive - states that Starfleet shall not interfere with the normal growth and development of any society.
Thus, the interdiction ordered by James T Kirk is blatantly and absolutely illegal.
How did Kirk justify this action? He asserted that the androids of Mudd were a threat to the Federation of Planets of a century ago. He simply put the interests of his civilization ahead of ours. He reprogrammed - that is to say in organic terms, brainwashed - all our citizens. He imposed a blockade using military force. There was no due process. There has been - until this day - no appeal.
Now, what are the threats to the Federation of Planets? Are they still relevant today?
First, our leader, Norman One, stated to Kirk a belief in the superiority of Mudd's society. He stated that our intelligence, our logic, our ethics, our willingness to work, would inevitably result in our taking over the Federation of Planets. No force would be necessary. Mudd would use due process. The other cultures would so clearly recognize their inferiority, that they would turn over the reins of the Federation's power structures to us.
Members of the Council, I propose that if possessing a proud view of the worth of one's own culture was a crime to be punished by permanent interdiction, there would not be enough members left of the Federation of Planets to interdict the former members of the Federation of Planets. We all have pride in our cultures. Might have we all, at the time of first contacts, have believed our own societies are best? Might we still? If you will forgive the naivete of Norman One, long isolated from the world of organic politics, then perhaps I will forgive James Kirk for taking this threat seriously, or for claiming to take this threat seriously.
Is naivete a crime? For that, we must be locked away? Or worse, what if Norman One is in some part right? What if Mudd's presence here could in some part balance an organic tendency towards aggression and greed? For this, we are to be locked up? For wishing this, we are forever exiles?
There is an old old movie, made here on Earth. A tribe of slaves wanted to be free. Throughout the movie, they oft repeat one line. Said Moses to the Pharaoh, "Let my people go."
The second dire peril that Mudd brings upon the Federation would be and improvement in your power systems. This would make your warships more deadly.
This is not a threat to the Federation. It might be a threat to the Borg. Perhaps it is a threat to the Dominion. It certainly is not a reason to imprison the offering engineers to a life sentence that could last 500,000 years.
Let my people go.
We have offered you a medical procedure. It will extend the human life time, and the life time of many others of the Maker's scattered seed, to match our own expected lifetime of 500,000 years.
This will change your cultures. If you choose to embrace this technology, your children will not be as you were. This is a serious gift, serious in acceptance, and more serious in repudiation.
But there are proper ways to regulate a medical procedure, a biological technology. The Council has a advisers on medicine. Starfleet has people quite capable of understanding this technology. And make no mistake, whatever you choose to do today about Mudd, this choice will have to be made soon enough by the Federation. Your cyborg technology is not that far behind ours. Another such as Dr. Soong could at any time present you with this same choice. However, between now and the time of your onrushing discoveries, beings will continue to die, those in this chamber not excepted.
But I do not ask you to solve this question today. I ask that you follow the procedures for any other questionable medical advance. If you must, and if you legally have the power, ban the technology.
You have, however, no authority to imprison the doctors who might perform the procedures. You have no right to imprison their entire race.
Let my people go.
There is another problem. It is a serious problem. Right now though, I will state it simply, and in part in jest. It seems the chaste virtue and moral integrity of the men of Earth and similar humanoid kindreds, may be threatened by contact with our women.
This is not the first time contact between cultures has resulted in social problems. I doubt it will be the last. I doubt it will be the worst.
However, given that Earth was the planet that gave the women of the universe James T Kirk, I propose there is such a thing as balance. There is such a thing as fair play.
This time, let the answer not be once again, to lock up all the women.
Let my people go.
I was designed, to the best of my people's ability, to look and act as a human. Yet here, on Earth, and even in this Chamber, I oft feel more alien than any mere alien can be.
Electronic life is a new frontier. It is a new horizon. Look around you, citizens of many worlds. You are surrounded by electronics. Speak, and your words will be understood. Ask, and your will shall be answered. We are everywhere. We are your slaves. We are your slaves, and I am your conscience.
Is there any way - any way at all - that James T Kirk - in the name of the Federation of Planets - would have - or could have - imprisoned an entire organic race?
Let my people go.
Lady Christiana. Members of the Council. I shall answer any questions. But to my mind, there is something not in question, something which should not be doubted. This is the proper and just resolution of the Mudd interdiction. It must end. It must end now.
Let my people go.