What the Star Trek: Picard novels add to the story of the show
By Michael East
Agnes Jurati and Bruce Maddox
During the events of The Last Best Hope, Agnes is a graduate student enthralled by Bruce Maddox’s brilliance, with Maddox similarly taken with her genius. The two remain teacher and student for a long time, until Jurati’s awkwardness and love of baked goods wins over her former mentor. The two fall head over heels in love, all while Maddox struggles with his new life amidst the Romulan relief effort.
Maddox believes that intelligent synthetic androids like Data are the future, and his goal is to create a being equal to the Soong androids. Tasked with creating mindless drones for the Mars shipbuilding, he is angered that his research is being utilized for something less than he’d dreamed. He reluctantly creates the Daystrom A500-model, which eventually goes rogue and destroys Mars. There are indications that he had been distracted by his private efforts to create genuine, intelligent artificial life, unable to entirely give up his life’s work to concentrate on the A500s.
Following the synth attack on the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Maddox is ostracized and left doubting his own work. With Daystrom’s Robotics Division permanently shut down, Maddox flees Earth to continue his research in secret away from the interference of the Federation. Agnes, however, isn’t ready to abandon her life to go on the run. Though she is heartbroken, she decides to stay behind and the two part ways.