Data's Secret Child Revealed
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Geordi, Wesley, and Troi meet in the corridor, all summoned mysteriously by Data.
The group discusses Data's unusual secrecy and locked lab since the cybernetics conference.
Data briefly opens his lab door, holding a human foot, then shuts it to complete attaching it to Lal.
Data introduces the primitive android Lal to Geordi, Wesley, and Troi.
Lal calls Data "Father," shocking Wesley and confirming Data's paternal claim.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Playfully amused that he caught Data's secrecy, then genuinely surprised watching a machine claim a social role as 'Father.'
Walks with Geordi and Troi, teases about knowing details of the locked lab, reacts with a half-amused, half-curious sotto when Lal calls Data 'Father,' representing the youthful, inquisitive perspective in the group.
- • Understand the social implications of Data's project.
- • Test whether Data's behavior replicates human family roles.
- • Data's pursuit of humanity is sincere and informative.
- • Hands-on observation will teach more than speculation.
Mechanically neutral in delivery, yet the address 'Father' implies an emerging social orientation and tentative selfhood.
Newly activated, primitive in form and speech, Lal greets Troi and inspects the visitors, inquires about clothing purpose, and addresses Data as 'Father,' establishing an immediate relational identity and exposing nascent self-reference.
- • Gather data about social conventions (e.g., clothing) through direct questions.
- • Confirm relationship with Data and seek an identity anchor.
- • Data is the primary authority figure (Father).
- • Social conventions can be learned by observation and inquiry.
Measured, neutral — professional distance used to record facts rather than engage emotionally.
Provides an audio framing by delivering the captain's log over ship channels; his formal recorded voice sets mission context and notes Riker's absence, converting a private corridor moment into an institutional space.
- • Document the ship's position and activities for record-keeping.
- • Frame the scene with routine command-level context (including Riker's leave).
- • Ship operations and explorations require accurate logs.
- • Routine administration and record-keeping are separate from crew personal affairs.
Quiet pride and a vulnerable satisfaction; his secrecy softens into eagerness to share the result of his work and to assert a parental bond.
Answers the lab door, completes a precise mechanical assembly (attaching a foot), summons his crewmates in, and formally introduces Lal as his child—displaying a deliberate shift from secrecy to a proud, parental presentation.
- • Introduce Lal to trusted crewmates to establish social legitimacy.
- • Protect Lal from premature external interference by bringing familiar faces into her formative environment.
- • Creating Lal is a justified extension of his quest to understand humanity.
- • Continuity with her creator (Data) is essential for Lal's development.
Attentive and mildly surprised; professionally curious about Lal's affective state while personally inclined to protect the newly emergent being.
Joins the pair in the corridor, greets Lal gently, and listens—her calm, empathic presence helps to translate the mechanical greeting into a human-centered interaction and validates the emergent social dynamics.
- • Assess Lal's psychological and social functioning.
- • Provide supportive contact to facilitate Lal's integration.
- • Emergent intelligence warrants compassion and careful assessment.
- • Data's parental impulse is meaningful and should be taken seriously.
Intrigued and amused, shaded with an engineer's practical concern and a dawning protective impulse toward Data's creation.
Strides into the corridor with Wesley and Troi, probes with questions, reacts with visible surprise and technical curiosity when he sees the foot and then the newly activated android; vocally pushes Data for answers and registers astonishment when Lal calls Data 'Father.'
- • Discover what Data has been secretly working on.
- • Assess the technical nature and implications of the android's design.
- • Support Data and calibrate an appropriate crew response.
- • Data's experiments are worth investigating firsthand.
- • New technology should be understood and safeguarded by engineering staff.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The recessed lab chime is rung as the trio arrives, acting as the arrival cue that converts a private atmosphere into one of attention; it triggers the door sequence and signals Data to manage the disclosure on his terms.
Picard's captain's log recording functions as an institutional frame: its spoken metadata anchors the scene to Sector 487 and notes Riker's absence, flattening the moment into official record and juxtaposing bureaucratic routine with Data's intimate experiment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Sector Four-Eight-Seven is invoked through Picard's log as the mission context for the day's activities; it frames the scene with procedural duty and situates personal drama within exploratory operations.
The narrow Deck 38 corridor funnels the three crewmembers to Data's lab and stages the reveal; its constricted architecture amplifies the transition from curiosity to intimate astonishment, rendering the private experiment suddenly public.
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."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"LAL: "Hello... Counselor Deanna Troi...""
"LAL: "Purpose for... exterior drapings, Father?""
"DATA: "Yes, Wesley. Lal is my child.""