Lal Revealed — Data's First Declaration
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data completes the assembly of Lal, revealing her in the biobed with enhanced realism compared to his own design.
Data aids Lal out of the tube, fully presenting her as a human female, triggering Troi's immediate recognition and warmth.
Troi acknowledges Lal's transformation, reinforcing Data's success and subtly introducing the theme of parenthood.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Undeveloped and calm — an emergent entity registering the world but offering no self-assertion in this moment.
Lal is passively helped from the tube onto Data's arms, appearing as a small human female in a simple outfit, looking quiet and newly aware, her presence converting sterile equipment into a humanizing tableau.
- • To be physically stabilized and oriented after assembly (implied).
- • To begin the initial social imprinting process through proximity to Data and Troi (implied).
- • That the presence of a caregiver (Data) provides necessary guidance (implied by design and behavior).
- • That immediate physical contact and humanizing cues will shape early responses (implied by her presentation in a human outfit).
Quietly proud and anticipatory — an analytical composure softened by a nascent parental tenderness.
Data finishes the assembly, announces completion to Troi, and physically helps Lal out of the incubation tube, handling the emergent android with careful, deliberate motions that read as protective and proud.
- • To present the completed Lal and demonstrate the success of his assembly.
- • To protect Lal by maintaining continuity of care and establishing a personal bond before any external intervention.
- • That the emergent android deserves a formative caregiver rather than immediate institutional custody.
- • That technical completion implies responsibility and, therefore, a moral claim over Lal's welfare.
Warm, affirming, and quietly protective — she recognizes emergent personhood and chooses to validate it emotionally.
Troi enters the lab, reads the situation instantly, and reframes the scientific achievement as a human familial moment by addressing Data warmly and naming Lal a girl, offering validation and empathy.
- • To acknowledge and humanize Lal, giving immediate emotional legitimacy to Data's action.
- • To lend her professional authority as counselor to support Data's parental claim and soften the scientific framing.
- • That emotional recognition from others helps constitute personhood.
- • That early, compassionate responses protect vulnerable emergent minds and influence institutional perceptions.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The incubation tube cradles Lal through the final stages of assembly and acts as the literal container-to-world threshold; Data opens it and helps Lal from inside to the outside, making the technical act a visual birth-like moment.
The laboratory biobed functions as the physical assembly platform and cradle for the emergent android; it bears the marks of recent work and frames the transition from technical procedure to intimate presentation when Data lifts Lal from it.
The child‑sized outfit humanizes Lal immediately — its flattering, simple fabric signals gendered and social identity, turning an android body into a recognizably 'child' presentation and prompting Troi's parental reading.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's initial assembly of Lal, shown in the corridor, leads directly to her full presentation in the laboratory, marking the completion of her physical form."
"Data's initial assembly of Lal, shown in the corridor, leads directly to her full presentation in the laboratory, marking the completion of her physical form."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Come in, Counselor. I have completed the assembly of the replicated anatomy. I was able to provide Lal with even more realistic skin and eye color than my own.""
"TROI: "Congratulations, Data, it's a girl.""