Discovery of Data’s Birthplace and Hidden Legacy
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data leads the team to the exact spot where he was found lying on a simple stone pallet, exposing the underwhelming reality behind his mysterious origins.
Data describes his 'birth' moment—awakening with full knowledge—triggering philosophical reflections by the team on the strangeness of his creation.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Alert and inquisitive, balancing duty with philosophical curiosity about Data’s nature.
Tasha scans the environment diligently with her tricorder, maintains alertness for security concerns, and engages Data with probing questions about the nature of his memory implantation and origins, expressing a mixture of skepticism and genuine curiosity.
- • Gather environmental data to ensure team safety
- • Understand why Data has colonists' memories
- • Challenge and verify Data’s account
- • Data’s memory implantation is unusual and merits scrutiny
- • Environmental scans can reveal hidden truths
Subtly conflicted — a blend of fascination with his origins and a poignant sense of loss and otherness.
Data leads the team to the exact stone pallet where he was discovered, articulating his fragmented memories and the immediacy of his awakening. He exhibits both analytical detachment and a quiet, reflective vulnerability as he meditates on his origin and the implications of being 'born' fully formed.
- • Guide the team to his birthplace
- • Clarify the nature of his memory implantation
- • Comprehend the colonists’ intentions and fears
- • His memories were implanted in haste to protect hidden knowledge
- • Understanding his origin is vital to his self-identity
Stoically vigilant, prepared for sudden danger but calm under pressure.
Worf stands vigilant as the team investigates, maintaining security and readiness against potential threats. His presence underscores the underlying tension and danger implicit in exploring an abandoned, possibly hostile environment.
- • Protect the team from external threats
- • Maintain perimeter security
- • Support command decisions
- • Unknown dangers might lurk despite the barren landscape
- • Security is paramount during exploration
Contemplative and tactically alert, balancing skepticism with open-mindedness toward the mysteries unfolding.
Riker leads the away team cautiously, scrutinizing the barren surroundings while probing Data about his origins. He provides reflective commentary linking the site to historical records and tries to contextualize the significance of the location with a mix of military discipline and human empathy.
- • Confirm the exact location of Data’s discovery
- • Understand the circumstances surrounding Data’s origin
- • Maintain security and team cohesion during exploration
- • The site holds crucial clues to the vanished colony’s fate
- • Data's memories are key to uncovering the truth about the planet and its history
Focused and intrigued, motivated by the unfolding mystery and the technical challenge of uncovering hidden structures.
Geordi actively investigates the barren soil and surrounding terrain using his VISOR and technical expertise. His analytical mind uncovers that the hollow was artificially constructed to conceal something crucial, leading to the discovery of a hidden entrance. He blends scientific precision with growing intrigue as he reveals this pivotal clue.
- • Analyze soil composition and ecological history
- • Detect artificial modifications in the terrain
- • Locate concealed entrances or artifacts
- • The barren soil is evidence of sudden ecological collapse
- • The colony took deliberate measures to hide their refuge
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Tasha uses the Starfleet Tricorder to scan the environment continuously, providing real-time environmental data and confirming the lifelessness of the landscape, as well as tracking the signal device's transmission to the Enterprise. The device’s scans support understanding and safety during the investigation.
Geordi employs his VISOR to detect subtle structural anomalies in the rock face, enabling him to identify an almost invisible crack that conceals a hidden entrance. The VISOR’s advanced sensory capabilities transform the landscape from natural desolation to a site of artificial concealment, pivotal for progressing the narrative.
The barren soil is examined closely by Geordi, whose analysis reveals it to be lifeless and devoid of bacteria or decay, pointing to a recent and catastrophic ecological collapse. This soil anchors the away team's grim realization about the planet's tragic history, serving as a silent witness to the colony's demise.
The simple stone pallet marks the exact spot where Data was discovered. Data physically interacts with it, blowing off accumulated dust, emphasizing the passage of time and the forlorn nature of his 'birthplace.' It symbolizes the humble and neglected origins of the android amidst a barren landscape.
The signal device, discovered previously by the Tripoli landing party, is referenced as the technological beacon that led the away team to this remote site. Though not physically manipulated in this event, its existence is central to the team's understanding of Data's origins and their current investigation.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The orbit around Data's home planet serves as the strategic vantage point enabling the Enterprise’s away team deployment. It frames the entire scene as a threshold between the ship’s technological domain and the desolation they must confront on the surface below.
The rectangular depression carved into the rock houses the simple stone pallet marking Data’s discovery site. It functions as a physical marker and a symbolic birthplace, anchoring the away team’s investigation in a tangible reality amid the desolate landscape.
The rock face behind Data’s birthplace pallet is scrutinized as the site concealing a secret entrance. Its rugged, barren surface initially masks the hollow’s artificial nature, but it becomes the key physical barrier hiding the colonists’ sanctuary and their secrets.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The command to assemble the away team leads directly to their materialization on the barren planet, marking a clear narrative progression from shipboard to surface investigation."
"The command to assemble the away team leads directly to their materialization on the barren planet, marking a clear narrative progression from shipboard to surface investigation."
"The command to assemble the away team leads directly to their materialization on the barren planet, marking a clear narrative progression from shipboard to surface investigation."
"The command to assemble the away team leads directly to their materialization on the barren planet, marking a clear narrative progression from shipboard to surface investigation."
"The away team's discovery of barren, lifeless soil leads Geordi to find the hidden storage of android parts, revealing the backstory of the colony and Data’s origins."
"The away team's discovery of barren, lifeless soil leads Geordi to find the hidden storage of android parts, revealing the backstory of the colony and Data’s origins."
"The away team's discovery of barren, lifeless soil leads Geordi to find the hidden storage of android parts, revealing the backstory of the colony and Data’s origins."
"The away team's discovery of barren, lifeless soil leads Geordi to find the hidden storage of android parts, revealing the backstory of the colony and Data’s origins."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "I was found twenty meters in that direction, sir.""
"TASHA: "You were born and became fully knowledgeable at the same instant!""
"GEORDI: "It was really very cleverly done to make this look like a natural hollow in the terrain here. Signs of it being constructed hurriedly... as if to hide something here.""
"DATA: "This has awakened a memory remnant of how the colonists hoped to remain hidden... but their fear of being discovered led to their storing information in me.""