milliways_bar | (no subject)

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The ball seems to be closer and yet farther every day. Jane has not gone looking for the Bar but she's found it today as she's considering something she wrote a while ago.

Her thoughts keep straying to Mister Lefroy but he has returned to London and may not come back for the ball.

It is best to move on and do as her mother would wish even though she doesn't wish to. In the end, it takes her rather longer to find a seat as her thoughts are not truly in Milliways.

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Data nods. "You are unsure as to how you feel about him, then?"

"Yes, I would say that is true."

There is a short pause before Data asks, "May I ask you a very personal question?"

"You may ask but I may not answer."

Data pauses again before asking, "Have you ever been in love?"

"I do not believe so. Why?"

"I was simply curious," Data explains. "I have never talked with anyone extensively on the subject, but I have noticed that has been a popular theme in literature for centuries. It has always fascinated me."

"A great part of life is taken up with worrying about marriage and all its complications. It makes sense that so many would wish to write of it to better understand it."

"Is that your motivation for writing?"

"No, I wish to write the truth of the world. Too often what is found in books is closer to a fairy tale than the true complications of the world."

"I have found that to be the case," Data agrees. "Perhaps some humans enjoy reading such literature because they are seeking an escape from those very complications.

"Personally, I would prefer the approach that you are suggesting."

"Yet those escapes can still create hopes of what might be when in truth the world is never as simple as it is laid out to be."

"Do you think that such hopes are beneficial or detrimental?"

"They can be quite detrimental because it is a rare day when a maid marries a duke."

"That is true," Data agrees, thinking. "What sort of story would you write instead?"

"One that speaks of the complications and difficulties of navigating affection and necessity."

"What sort of necessity are you referring to?"

"The need for a steady income."

Data nods. "It is a shame that you must deal with monetary constraints in your society."

"Do they not exist in yours, sir?"

"That is correct. My society has eliminated the need for currency."

"How?"

"We are simply capable of meeting everyone's needs," Data answers. "Technology is a significant reason for this ability. We have developed something called a replicator, which can dematerialize quantities of matter and then rematerialize that matter in another form.

"In other words, we can simply 'make' anything that we might need or want."

"That is rather amazing."

Data nods, then thinks of something. "I find that replication technology is very similar to what I have discovered of Bar's capabilities."