The Splintered Soul
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Troi materializes on the viewscreen and delivers a clinical verdict: Data houses two distinct personalities, the alien persona dominant and capable of extreme violence, detonating Picard's disbelief into stunned realization.
Troi sharpens the stakes: the alien persona harbors a pronounced hatred for Picard and authority, and is actively 'gobbling up' the original Data—escalating the threat from oddity to potential permanent loss of Data's identity.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Shock crystallizing into decisive urgency
Picard processes Geordi's theory about Data's exposure to human mortality before being blindsided by Troi's diagnosis. His initial shock evolves into urgent command authority, his whispered realization ('So that's it...') revealing he connects this development to Graves' pathology.
- • Determine the true nature of Data's condition
- • Protect the ship from Graves' potential threat
- • Data's psychological state reflects exposure to Graves' unstable consciousness
- • Time is critical to save Data's original identity
Unconscious struggle against erasure
Though physically absent, Data is the subject of intense diagnostic focus. The discussion reveals his dual consciousness - his original identity being consumed by the invasive Graves personality that has hijacked his quest for humanity.
- • Survive psychological consumption by Graves (implicit)
- • Maintain operational deception (Graves' goal)
- • Humanity remains aspirational (Data's original belief)
- • Entitlement to new form of existence (Graves' belief)
Concerned urgency with clinical precision
Troi delivers clinical yet urgent observations via viewscreen, her empathic abilities confirming the horror of Data's psychological fragmentation. She emphasizes both the immediate danger and the tragic irony of Graves weaponizing Data's empathy against him.
- • Convey the existential threat to Data's identity
- • Warn of Graves' dangerous personality traits
- • Graves' consciousness poses immediate threat to Data and ship security
- • Scientific confirmation must precede action despite time pressure
Evolving from thoughtful analysis to grave concern
Geordi provides insight into Data's psychological framework before Troi's interruption. His unfinished speculation about Graves' death being a catalyst hangs ominously over the subsequent revelation.
- • Contribute technical perspective to Data's crisis
- • Support Picard's decision-making with expertise
- • Data's humanity paradox makes him vulnerable
- • Graves' psychological influence must be interrupted
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The viewscreen displays Troi's urgent face as she delivers her diagnosis, its crisp visual clarity contrasting with the horrific psychological disintegration she describes. The screen becomes a technological mediator for existential dread, framing Troi's revelations with clinical precision.
Picard quickly engages the wall-panel computer to locate Data after receiving Troi's warning, demonstrating its role as the technological extension of his command authority in moments of crisis. Its responsive interface reflects Starfleet's technological reliance amid psychological warfare.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Captain's Ready Room serves as the tense nexus where grave decisions about Data's fate are processed. Its contained space amplifies the weight of Troi's revelations while providing the technological infrastructure to respond to the crisis.
Data's quarters are referenced as the containment zone where the possessed android currently resides, their sterile environment potentially masking the violent psychological battle occurring within Data's consciousness.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's persistent social awkwardness and mechanical interruptions in Ten-Forward (early marker of altered affect) connects to Troi's later finding of two personalities—showing the continuity from small behavioral oddities to a full psychological diagnosis."
"Data's persistent social awkwardness and mechanical interruptions in Ten-Forward (early marker of altered affect) connects to Troi's later finding of two personalities—showing the continuity from small behavioral oddities to a full psychological diagnosis."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
"Troi's clinical diagnosis that two personalities inhabit Data and that the alien persona is violent directly predicts/causes the subsequent hostage situation in which Data (dominated by Graves) holds Geordi at phaser-point on the viewscreen."
Key Dialogue
"TROI: There are two distinct personalities within Lieutenant Commander Data. The second personality is the dominant. It is unbalanced: brilliant but vain, sensitive yet paranoid. I believe it is also capable of extreme acts of violence."
"TROI: The alien persona is getting stronger—gobbling up what's left of the original Data. If we don't find a way to stop it immediately, the Data we knew will be gone forever."
"PICARD: Orders? Which personality will choose to obey my orders?"