Ceremonial Welcome, Unsettling Multiples
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The away team materializes and meets GRANGER 1B, who offers formal welcome and escort as Riker clocks an unsettling resemblance to the prime minister he expects. Protocol masks a first ripple of unease.
Riker murmurs, "A brother?" as Worf growls and yet another identical athletic black man (2C) crosses their path; GRANGER 1B calls their arrival "serendipitous" but defers answers to the prime minister. Suspicion hardens while the host sidesteps explanation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professionally curious and slightly impatient—her medical instinct pushes her to replace evasive talk with objective data.
Pulaski introduces herself as medical, casually activates the tricorder clipped to her belt, glances at readings while pressing Granger for medical information—deploying clinical procedure to translate social oddity into diagnostic data.
- • Obtain medical information and biometric data about the hosts
- • Determine whether the situation poses a biological or public‑health risk
- • Ensure the safety of civilians and crew through medical assessment
- • Data and diagnostics clarify evasive or ambiguous social behavior
- • Medical transparency is necessary to evaluate risk
Neutral surface presentation—intentional composure that masks controlled distancing and guarded secrecy.
Multiple identical men and women move and work through the reception and offices in a coordinated, impassive manner—serving as a socially curated front that converts a routine welcome into an uncanny, defensive presentation.
- • Project normality and hospitality to visiting dignitaries
- • Control and limit direct probing into their social/medical practices
- • A synchronized public face reduces scrutiny and preserves social order
- • Maintaining decorum is preferable to revealing internal practices to outsiders
Cautiously wary—committed to diplomatic protocols but ready to escalate to emergency procedures if necessary.
The Away Team materializes as a unified tactical/scientific unit, accepts the escort, and shifts immediately from ceremony to caution—moving in formation, scanning the environment and reacting to duplicates with heightened alertness.
- • Complete diplomatic engagement while protecting the team
- • Gather information and maintain secure extraction options
- • Standard diplomatic encounters can hide operational hazards
- • Collective discipline reduces individual risk
Disturbed and alert—Klingon restraint overlays an instinctive readiness for combat or emergency extraction.
Worf stands at Riker's side, responds to the duplicates with a low growl and a double take, and immediately acknowledges and prepares to execute the beam‑out order while maintaining a disciplined security posture.
- • Be prepared to protect and extract the away team on command
- • Monitor the surroundings and identify immediate physical threats
- • Uncanny duplication changes the threat calculus and requires readiness
- • Obedience to command preserves team safety
Guarded and alert—surface politeness masking immediate suspicion and protective anxiety for his team.
Riker leads the introductions, physically scans the reception and hallways, fixates on multiple identical people, and quietly issues the order for Worf to stand by for an immediate beam‑out while trying to maintain diplomatic composure.
- • Protect the away team and maintain extraction readiness
- • Assess potential threat quickly without provoking a diplomatic incident
- • Preserve Starfleet protocol while gathering information
- • Repeated identical people imply an abnormal or potentially hazardous situation
- • Diplomacy must be balanced with security to prevent harm to the crew
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Pulaski casually keys and activates the palm‑sized medical tricorder clipped to her belt; she uses it to scan and gather discreet biometric and environmental data while engaging Granger, turning clinical instrumentation into a tool for immediate verification amid diplomatic evasiveness.
The low, curving reception desk frames the initial threshold between visitors and the Mariposan officials; it anchors the choreography of greeting, gives a vantage point for identical staff to be observed, and functions symbolically as the institutional barrier that both welcomes and conceals.
A modest stack of reception papers sits on the curving desk and is briefly referenced by background staff; the papers function as everyday bureaucratic props that help normalize the scene and thereby amplify the oddness of the duplicates when juxtaposed with repetitive human faces.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Riker’s observation of duplicate citizens prompts Pulaski to challenge Granger, leading to the clone revelation."
"Riker’s observation of duplicate citizens prompts Pulaski to challenge Granger, leading to the clone revelation."
Key Dialogue
"GRANGER 1B: "Welcome to Mariposa. Victor Granger, minister of health.""
"RIKER: "William Riker, Doctor Pulaski, Lieutenant Worf.""
"RIKER: ((sotto voce)) "A brother?""
"RIKER: "Worf, stand by for immediate beam out. There's something damn odd down here.""
"PULASKI: "Is there some medical problem we should know about?""
"GRANGER 1B: "I think it best if the --""
"PULASKI: "Prime minister explains that. Somehow I thought you might.""