The Child's Plea and Data's Reckless Rescue
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Sarjenka throws herself into Data’s arms, her sorrowful relief dissolving into desperate questions about his absence, while Data remains physically unresponsive—her emotional vulnerability exposing the distance between his logic and her humanity.
Data attempts galactic responsibility—urging Sarjenka to flee—only to learn her family is gone and she returned alone to hear his voice, her devotion transforming his mission from rescue to moral reckoning.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Terrified and breathless at first, quickly shifting to wonder, relief, and exhilaration upon recognizing Data; a vulnerable yet fierce attachment underlies her actions.
Sarjenka bursts into the room coughing, freezes at Data's appearance, succumbs to fear then awe, recognizes him, physically clings to him and confesses she saved her transmitter and waited; she is steadied by Data and ultimately allowed to be beamed away to safety.
- • Reunite with Data and ensure he isn't alone
- • Keep the transmitter as proof and emotional anchor
- • Find safety from the volcanic threat
- • Be rescued and taken away from immediate danger
- • Data will return if she waits and keeps the transmitter
- • The transmitter is essential to preserve contact and memory
- • Adults (her family) prioritized survival over belongings, but she must hold on to what matters
- • Trusting Data is safer than remaining in the collapsing environment
Measured and focused externally; internally experiencing emergent empathy that overrides procedural hesitation—calm competence fused with moral urgency.
Data materializes in the child's room, immediately deploys his tricorder to scan structural and atmospheric danger, steadies Sarjenka during tremors, reassures her verbally, evaluates options, taps his insignia and authorizes a two-person beam to the Enterprise before dematerializing with the child.
- • Protect Sarjenka from immediate geological threat
- • Gather and interpret environmental data to inform a safe course of action
- • Preserve the child's trust and minimize harm
- • Execute an extraction with minimal delay
- • The immediate preservation of an innocent life can justify extraordinary action
- • Data's contact with Sarjenka creates a personal responsibility to act
- • Starfleet resources (Enterprise) can be mobilized quickly to save lives
- • Protocol matters, but the presence of a vulnerable child requires prioritized compassion
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Data's tricorder emits high-pitched beeps as he scans the room and door areas, mapping air density, structural integrity, and seismic activity; its dropped tones translate hidden danger into actionable data that directly informs Data's decision to evacuate Sarjenka.
Data taps his Starfleet insignia to open a voice link and call the Enterprise, initiating the transporter lock for a two-person beam. The insignia functions as the literal mechanism by which institutional rescue is summoned and the procedural boundary is crossed.
Sarjenka's handheld transmitter is the emotional catalyst in the scene: it lies on the floor as evidence of loss and determination, and the child declares she rescued it during the evacuation — proof she waited for Data and the reason she returned to the site despite danger.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Drema Four functions as the broader antagonistic environment whose seismic and volcanic fury has driven an evacuation; the planet's instability provides the external pressure that forces Data's moral decision and frames the scene as part of a planetary catastrophe rather than an isolated incident.
Sarjenka's private bedroom is the intimate stage where global ethical issues become personal: domestic detritus, a lute, pictures, and a cracked transmitter frame childhood lost to geological catastrophe. The room's vanishing wall provides both a literal portal to danger and a dramaturgical reveal that heightens urgency and intimacy.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data’s transport to Drema Four is the direct outcome of his request to Picard and the subsequent authorization from Riker. His appearance on the planet is the physical manifestation of the moral breach — setting the stage for his ultimate act: saving Sarjenka."
"Data’s transport to Drema Four is the direct outcome of his request to Picard and the subsequent authorization from Riker. His appearance on the planet is the physical manifestation of the moral breach — setting the stage for his ultimate act: saving Sarjenka."
"Data's rescue of Sarjenka on Drema Four is the direct cause of her unauthorized arrival on the transporter pad. This act—carrying out his moral belief in person—is the single event that forces Starfleet to confront the concrete human cost of the Prime Directive."
"Data's rescue of Sarjenka on Drema Four is the direct cause of her unauthorized arrival on the transporter pad. This act—carrying out his moral belief in person—is the single event that forces Starfleet to confront the concrete human cost of the Prime Directive."
"When Sarjenka reveals she returned alone to hear Data’s voice, it confirms that she doesn't just see him as a savior—she sees him as her friend. This exact same emotional truth is what makes the neural erasure so monstrous: she doesn’t just need saving—she needs remembering."
"When Sarjenka reveals she returned alone to hear Data’s voice, it confirms that she doesn't just see him as a savior—she sees him as her friend. This exact same emotional truth is what makes the neural erasure so monstrous: she doesn’t just need saving—she needs remembering."
"Sarjenka’s emotional vulnerability—whispering why she waited alone—mirror's Data’s silent, mechanical departure at the end. She reaches out to comfort him as a child; he, in turn, removes himself like a ghost. Their interaction is one of unspoken sorrow: she feels, he remembers, and both are left alone."
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Sarjenka, wait!""
"SARJENKA: "Data. Data, you came.""
"DATA: "Enterprise, two to beam up.""