Awakening the Anachronisms: Sonny's Fear
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data reports that much of the third subject's file is unrecoverable and names him L. Q. "SONNY" CLEMONDS; Beverly catalogs massive chemical deterioration, while stage direction paints Sonny as a world‑weary, short‑attention musician—mystery and decay collide in one volatile personality.
Picard reflects that Sonny may have hated life yet chose freezing; Beverly offers the thematic judgment—'Fear. Too afraid to live... too scared to die.'—then Picard delegates the 'human problem' to Beverly, exits with Data to the bridge, shifting authority and focus to medical care.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Calm, professionally reassured—maintains command composure while deferring specialized responsibility to medical authority.
Observes Beverly's medical procedure, listens as Data reads recovered names, delegates medical custody to Dr. Crusher, nods to Data to accompany him, states he'll be on the bridge, and exits satisfied there is no immediate threat.
- • Ensure the safety of the Enterprise and its crew
- • Delegate clinical responsibility to the qualified medical officer
- • Resume command duties on the bridge to monitor broader situation
- • Specialized tasks belong to the appropriate officer (medical matters belong to the CMO)
- • The survivors do not currently represent a security threat
- • Chain of command and proper delegation preserve order
Focused and matter‑of‑fact, prioritizing accurate data transfer over emotional involvement.
Provides forensic information recovered from an ancient disk (names, ages, occupations), reads the survivors' fragmentary files aloud in sequence, helps contextualize their medical conditions, then follows Picard off to the bridge.
- • Deliver accurate identification and diagnostic data to inform medical and command decisions
- • Support command by providing objective evidence
- • Ensure preservation of retrieved records and maintain forensic integrity
- • Empirical information is necessary to make correct decisions
- • Data should be made available to appropriate authorities (medical/command)
- • Objectivity reduces risk and clarifies responsibility
Vigilant and controlled—professional detachment with an undercurrent of protective readiness.
Stands as security presence during the reawakening, listens to Beverly's orders, accepts and executes the escort instruction by guiding the survivors toward the guest quarters with a terse 'This way.'
- • Protect the ship and crew by controlling movement of unknown individuals
- • Follow the CMO's orders precisely
- • Monitor survivors for any signs of threat
- • Unknown recovered individuals could pose a security risk
- • Orders must be followed to maintain ship safety
- • Visible security presence reassures crew and enforces control
Protective and morally resolute—compassion for the patients combined with firm enforcement of medical ethics.
Leads the clinical revival: confirms diagnoses aloud, soothes disoriented survivors, sets expectation for a delayed debrief, assigns Nurse Wright to immediate care, rebuffs Ralph's attempt to commodify treatment and asserts medical custody by ordering an escort to guest quarters.
- • Stabilize and comfort the revived patients
- • Establish Starfleet medical custody and clear professional boundaries
- • Prevent exploitation or commodification of care
- • Recovered individuals are patients and must be treated as such
- • Medical ethics override financial or external claims
- • Orderly, humane triage preserves both health and ship security
Disoriented and quietly alert—absorbing the strangeness of the environment while processing personal shock.
Remains awake after revival, takes in the sickbay and its occupants with clear, observant attention; her sustained consciousness turns an abstract rescue into an intimate human encounter.
- • Assess immediate surroundings and determine safety
- • Understand what has happened to her
- • Find reassurance from medical staff
- • Medical staff will offer truthful care and explanations
- • Her bodily state can be stabilized with competent treatment
- • The situation is dangerous but survivable with help
Confused, defensive and grasping for control—uses money and procedure as anchors in an alien context.
Awakens disoriented but quickly reverts to a power‑broker posture—demanding to know costs and attempting to reframe care as a paid transaction; becomes the scene's immediate antagonist to Starfleet's custodial stance.
- • Reassert personal authority and control over services
- • Clarify financial liability and preserve perceived rights
- • Avoid being made dependent or deprived of familiar social power
- • Services and care are transactional and require payment/approval
- • Money and status secure one's liberty and priority
- • Old social rules should apply even in this new context
Confused and brittle—short attention span and physiological deterioration dominate his presence.
Is identified as L.Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds with missing file details, appears dazed and chemically worn; finishes dressing alongside the others and remains a fragile wildcard because of addiction‑related deterioration.
- • Maintain immediate comfort and avoid confrontation
- • Recover a sense of stability and basic needs
- • Possibly locate familiar comforts (food, smoke, music) though unfocused
- • Personal cravings and habits may reassert themselves quickly
- • He is physically vulnerable and needs care
- • The new environment is bewildering and must be navigated with small steps
Calm, competent and ready—focused on practical patient comfort and orders compliance.
Performs bedside duties during revival, awakens one of the patients, and is charged by Dr. Crusher to furnish the survivors with anything they need—positioning Wright as the immediate practical caregiver.
- • Provide immediate comforts and medical attention
- • Follow Dr. Crusher's directives accurately
- • Keep patients calm and stabilized
- • Patient welfare is the immediate priority
- • Orders from the CMO are to be promptly executed
- • Gentle practical care reduces disorientation and distress
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Light clinical sheets initially conceal the three recovered bodies; staffs lift and fold them back to reveal faces and wounds. The sheets function as a tactile bridge from stasis to personhood—covering, then partially removed as the survivors are dressed and moved to guest quarters.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Main Bridge functions as Picard's chosen point of command; he verbally delegates the medical matter to Crusher and departs to the bridge with Data, signaling a shift from bedside human drama back to strategic ship duties.
Enterprise Sickbay is the central stage for medical triage and moral adjudication: it contains diagnostic consoles, biobeds, and clinicians who convert a recovered module into living patients. The room tightens from clinical procedure into an intimate ethical theater where custody, care, and authority collide.
Enterprise guest quarters are designated as the temporary lodging/quarantine destination for the revived survivors. Beverly orders the survivors escorted there to separate medical convalescence from general ship operations while preserving dignity and containment.
Enterprise Sickbay is the central stage for medical triage and moral adjudication: it contains diagnostic consoles, biobeds, and clinicians who convert a recovered module into living patients. The room tightens from clinical procedure into an intimate ethical theater where custody, care, and authority collide.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's decision to pull data via the disk enables later identification of Clare Raymond in Sickbay."
"Data's decision to pull data via the disk enables later identification of Clare Raymond in Sickbay."
"Ralph’s immediate demands in Sickbay persist into later insistence on calls and control in the Lounge."
"Ralph’s immediate demands in Sickbay persist into later insistence on calls and control in the Lounge."
"Ralph’s immediate demands in Sickbay persist into later insistence on calls and control in the Lounge."
"Ralph’s immediate demands in Sickbay persist into later insistence on calls and control in the Lounge."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Much of his file could not be retrieved. His name is L. Q. 'Sonny' Clemonds. Apparently his occupation had something to do with music.""
"BEVERLY: "Fear. Too afraid to live... too scared to die.""
"PICARD: "Doctor, this seems to be a situation more suited to your talents. I will leave it in your hands.""