Data's emergent empathy and moral struggle: an android develops an interpersonal, quasi‑emotional bond with a child (Sarjenka) and must reconcile curiosity, duty, and the impulse to protect.
Data's emergent empathy and moral struggle: an android develops an interpersonal, quasi‑emotional bond with a child (Sarjenka) and must reconcile curiosity, duty, and the impulse to protect.
Events in This Arc
Alone among cluttered black boxes and improvised filters, Data isolates a faint, repeating tonal pattern buried in static. When his systems identify the emission as an artificial RF transmission, the …
Data and the frightened alien child Sarjenka rematerialize on the Enterprise transporter pad, provoking Chief O'Brien's stunned outrage. Sarjenka instinctively grips Data's hand; her terrified plea and Data's unemotional, absolute …
In a quiet, intimate aftermath in Picard's quarters, Data interrupts to thank the captain and to admit he will miss Sarjenka. Picard refuses thanks, reframing his controversial ruling not as …