A Test of Trust in Ard'rian's Front Room
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Ard'rian voices the colonists' skepticism about evacuation and reveals Gosheven's anti-android prejudice.
Data probes Ard'rian's trust in his android logic versus human fallibility.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Practical and slightly apologetic while diagnosing local politics; shifts to purposeful readiness and mild anxiety when the urgency is confirmed.
Ard'rian hosts Data in her front room, speaks candidly about social dynamics and Gosheven's attitudes, offers to approach Gosheven herself, and physically prepares (grabs coat) to leave immediately when Picard's com forces action.
- • Support Data's effort to persuade the colony and, if necessary, personally confront Gosheven.
- • Help mobilize the colonists quickly to avoid catastrophe.
- • Preserve her independence and avoid being undermined by Gosheven's condescension.
- • Local social dynamics — not logic alone — determine whether people will act.
- • She can influence Gosheven and the colony despite his efforts to belittle her.
Not present physically in scene; collectively at-risk and uncertain, their fate creates moral pressure on the active agents.
The Colonists are referred to as the vulnerable population whose readiness depends on leadership and persuasion; they are the implicit audience Data and Ard'rian plan to influence when Gosheven is bypassed.
- • Preserve community life and safety (implicit).
- • Trust local leadership, which currently inclines toward Gosheven's stance (implicit).
- • Local cohesion and tradition are central to community identity.
- • Leadership's decisions should guide communal action.
Implied stubbornness and pride; defensive posturing that resists outside authority.
Gosheven is not physically present but is the central object of Data's analysis and Ard'rian's critique; his prior refusal frames the entire exchange and forces them to consider alternative persuasion strategies.
- • Maintain control and uphold local autonomy by resisting outside directives.
- • Protect cultural memory and his position as leader, even at potential cost.
- • External orders (especially from machines or outsiders) threaten communal sovereignty.
- • Yielding to outside authority will diminish his standing among the colonists.
Not emotional in human terms; procedural and absolute, producing existential pressure on colonists and Starfleet.
The Sheliak Voice/authority is invoked indirectly by Picard as having refused negotiation; their intransigence provides the external ultimatum that compresses the timeline and forces ground action.
- • Enforce the treaty terms without compromise.
- • Compel compliance through immovable legal deadlines rather than persuasion.
- • Treaty stipulations are paramount and non-negotiable.
- • Formal enforcement, not diplomacy, is the correct instrument of policy.
Institutional calm with procedural urgency; represented indirectly through Picard's authoritative instruction.
Starfleet is referenced via Picard's message as the institutional channel being contacted to provide transports; its presence converts private concern into an organized evacuation effort.
- • Deploy transport resources to evacuate colonists if necessary.
- • Coordinate a timely and organized response to the Sheliak ultimatum.
- • Institutional capacity can and should be used to save civilian populations.
- • Following protocol and chain-of-command enables effective large-scale operations.
Controlled urgency — professional and commanding, focused on securing resources to save lives.
Picard appears only through a brief com: he delivers the decisive information that the Sheliak will not negotiate and instructs arrangements for transport; his voice injects legal and operational urgency into the private conversation below.
- • Ensure Starfleet arranges transport to evacuate the colonists.
- • Convey the gravity of the Sheliak's refusal so immediate action can begin on the ground.
- • Institutional resources must be marshaled quickly to protect civilians.
- • Clear, direct orders will prompt effective action from subordinates.
Surface calm and analytical, with a developing undertow of concern and urgency once the Sheliak refusal is confirmed.
Data conducts a measured interpersonal experiment, verbally probing Ard'rian's trust and the colony's likely response to an android messenger; he receives Picard's com and instantly converts analysis into immediate command to confront Gosheven.
- • Determine whether Gosheven's resistance is ideological prejudice or a leadership obstinacy that can be bypassed.
- • Mobilize an effective messenger or tactic to persuade the colonists to prepare for evacuation.
- • Act swiftly to implement evacuation steps after Picard's report.
- • Persuasion succeeds when messenger is trusted; messenger identity affects reception.
- • Protecting lives is a primary duty that can override social norms or personal affronts.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Clusters of computer parts and half-assembled consoles form the room's backdrop and are invoked in dialogue as Ard'rian compares local machines to Data; their presence underscores the technological gap and grounds the discussion about trust in devices.
Ard'rian's heavy coat functions as a pragmatic action prop: she grabs it the instant Picard's com mandates urgency, symbolizing the transition from talk to movement and embodying her readiness to engage Gosheven directly.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Ard'rian's front room is the intimate, lived-in setting where technical clutter meets domestic warmth; it stages a private, candid exchange about persuasion, prejudice, and leadership before Picard's public, institutional emergency interrupts and forces action out into the community.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data and Ard'rian's mobilization against Gosheven leads directly to Gosheven's violent counterattack using the electronic prod."
"Data and Ard'rian's mobilization against Gosheven leads directly to Gosheven's violent counterattack using the electronic prod."
"Data and Ard'rian's mobilization against Gosheven leads directly to Gosheven's violent counterattack using the electronic prod."
Key Dialogue
"ARD'RIAN: Maybe because you're an android. I don't think Gosheven likes the idea of machines ordering him around."
"DATA: In spite of the fact that I am an android? ARD'RIAN: Because of that fact. I don't have any silly prejudices against computers -- I like them."
"PICARD'S COM VOICE: The Sheliak won't bargain."