The Light Fantastic

by Jeffrey Lang

Published 24 June 2014
Returning to the story begun in the novel Immortal Coil and continuing in the bestselling Cold Equations trilogy, this is the next fascinating chapter in the artificial life of one of Star Trek’s most enduring characters.

He was perhaps the ultimate human achievement: a sentient artificial life-form—self-aware, self-determining, possessing a mind and body far surpassing that of his makers, and imbued with the potential to evolve beyond the scope of his programming. And then Data was destroyed. Four years later, Data’s creator, Noonien Soong, sacrificed his life and resurrected his android son, who in turn revived the positronic brain of his own artificial daughter, Lal. Having resigned his commission, the former Starfleet officer now works to make his way on an alien world, while also coming to grips with the very human notion of wanting versus having a child. But complicating Data’s new life is an unexpected nemesis from years ago on the U.S.S. Enterprise—the holographic master criminal Professor James Moriarty. Long believed to be imprisoned in a memory solid, Moriarty has created a siphon into the "real" world as a being of light and thought. Moriarity wants the solid form that he was once told he could never have, and seeks to manipulate Data into finding another android body for him to permanently inhabit...even if it means evicting the current owner, and even if that is Data himself.

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Immortal Coil

by Jeffrey Lang

Published 29 January 2002
A novel of love, loss and artificial intelligence as Data -- among the most popular, paradoxical and intriguing characters on Star Trek -- uncovers the truth behind the destruction of another android. When a new android created by Starfleet is apparently destroyed in a freak explosion, Lieutenant Commander Data and the crew of the Enterprise-E embark on a search for the truth and find themselves thrust into a crossfire between a secret group of ancient androids and the immortal android maker, Flint. Along the way, Data is forced to confront issues of grief, love and immortality as we explore the nature of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human in the Star Trek universe.