Star Trek The Next Generation
S2E15
· Pen Pals

The Forbidden 'Yes' — Data Answers the Whisper

In Data's quarters, the Enterprise's sterile diagnostics give way to something intimate: amid static an unmistakable child's voice pierces the feed. Data, struck with an emergent curiosity and an almost-human urgency, overrides normal procedure, enhances the signal and deliberately speaks back. His single word—"Yes"—transforms cold sensors into a clandestine, personal connection. This quiet, unauthorized reply functions as a catalytic turning point: it seeds the ethical crisis to come, evidences Data's nascent empathy, and sets in motion the Prime Directive conflict.

Plot Beats

The narrative micro-steps within this event

2

Data receives a faint, desperate transmission from Sarjenka—the voice of a child asking, 'Is anybody out there?'—and his face lights with urgent, personal connection as he activates the response protocol.

isolation to hope

Data answers Sarjenka’s plea with a single, deliberate 'Yes'—a forbidden act of empathy that forges the first tangible thread in a clandestine bond, transforming sterile sensor data into living connection.

curiosity to commitment

Who Was There

Characters present in this moment

3
Sarjenka
primary

Terrified and desperate, but clinging to hope that someone beyond the static will answer and provide help.

Heard only as a faint, fractured voice-over asking 'Is anybody out there?'—a pleading, frightened child's cry that pierces the static and becomes the human anchor of the scene.

Goals in this moment
  • • Attract attention and secure rescue or assistance
  • • Confirm that another sentient being can hear and respond
Active beliefs
  • • Her voice can cross the void and reach another being
  • • Someone will answer and offer refuge or aid
Character traits
vulnerable urgent hopeful
Follow Sarjenka's journey
Data
Second Officer
 primary

Clinically focused but inwardly enlivened—curiosity bordering on excitement, with a sudden, almost human impulse toward connection and reassurance.

Seated at his desk, Data monitors the console, issues the command 'Enhance,' manipulates keys to isolate the faint transmission and, after hearing the child's voice, deliberately replies aloud with the single word 'Yes.' His expression shows excitement and focused interest.

Goals in this moment
  • • Isolate and clarify the anomalous voice signal for analysis
  • • Establish communication with the signal source to determine if help is needed
Active beliefs
  • • Unknown transmissions merit careful technical examination and may contain life-significance
  • • Responding to a sentient plea is a legitimate use of his capabilities, even if it risks breaching standard non-interference norms
Character traits
procedural precision intense curiosity quiet decisiveness nascent empathy
Follow Data's journey
Custodian Voice
primary

Impassive and functional; no emotional content, serving purely informational duty.

Provides an objective system report — 'Analysis complete' — signaling that diagnostics have finished and allowing Data to proceed; functions as the clinical, procedural counterpoint to Data's emergent subjectivity.

Goals in this moment
  • • Report completion of automated analysis
  • • Provide a stable interface for further user commands
Active beliefs
  • • Systems should present objective results without interpretation
  • • Crew members will issue follow-up commands based on diagnostics
Character traits
neutral procedural concise
Follow Custodian Voice's journey

Objects Involved

Significant items in this scene

2
Wall Computer in Data's Quarters

The wall computer in Data's quarters functions as the technical mouth and ear of the scene: its speakers crackle with static, its diagnostics finish ('Analysis complete'), and Data manipulates its interface to enhance and isolate the child's voice, turning a passive console into an instrument of forbidden contact.

Before: Idle but monitoring; passive diagnostics displayed and speakers …
After: Actively engaged and modified by Data; amplifying the …
Before: Idle but monitoring; passive diagnostics displayed and speakers emitting background system noise.
After: Actively engaged and modified by Data; amplifying the incoming transmission and remaining the conduit for the clandestine exchange.
Enterprise Bridge Communication Static

Shipwide electromagnetic static fills the quarters, masking the transmission and providing the obstacle that compels Data to override safeguards and enhance the signal; narratively, the static both conceals and reveals, making the child's voice miraculous and fragile.

Before: Present and pervasive, producing irregular buzz and crackle …
After: Partially filtered and reduced where Data's enhancements isolate …
Before: Present and pervasive, producing irregular buzz and crackle that buries faint signals in background noise.
After: Partially filtered and reduced where Data's enhancements isolate the voice, though residual interference remains; the static continues to be an environmental factor.

Location Details

Places and their significance in this event

1
Data's Quarters

Data's private quarters serve as the intimate, contained stage for this transgressive moment: a clinical, orderly space where technical work is routine, transformed into a secret confessional when an emergent emotional event occurs behind closed doors.

Atmosphere Quiet, clinical, and solitary at first, then charged with tense curiosity and a fragile warmth …
Function Sanctuary for private action and technical manipulation; the location enables a clandestine exchange away from …
Symbolism Represents moral isolation and the threshold between machine objectivity and nascent sentience; a private interior …
Access Privately occupied quarters; access restricted in practice to the occupant and authorized ship systems, creating …
Speakers and console noise filling the room with static Subdued lighting and a single desk/console as the focal point The echo of a faint external transmission rendered intimate in the small space

Narrative Connections

How this event relates to others in the story

What led here 2
Causal

"Data's unauthorized sensor array (slightly chaotic, yet meticulously tuned) is the direct mechanical cause of him detecting Sarjenka’s signal. His deviation from protocol creates the emotional catalyst for the entire crisis—collapsing the boundary between duty and desire."

Hidden Sensors, Open Judgment
S2E15 · Pen Pals
Causal

"The detection of the anomalous signal initiates Data's secret correspondence, which becomes the emotional engine of the entire narrative. This act of receiving a whisper is the direct cause of his subsequent moral crisis, his confession to Picard, and eventual defiance."

Data Locks On to the Forbidden Signal
S2E15 · Pen Pals
What this causes 3
Callback

"Data’s choice to answer 'Yes' to Sarjenka’s plea is the foundational act of mercy that is later echoed in his confession to Picard. The 'Yes' becomes the seed; the confession is the blossom. The repetition binds his machine logic to human choice."

Confession in the Meadow: Data's Forbidden Contact
S2E15 · Pen Pals
Callback

"Data’s choice to answer 'Yes' to Sarjenka’s plea is the foundational act of mercy that is later echoed in his confession to Picard. The 'Yes' becomes the seed; the confession is the blossom. The repetition binds his machine logic to human choice."

The Whisper That Forces a Choice
S2E15 · Pen Pals
Callback

"Data’s choice to answer 'Yes' to Sarjenka’s plea is the foundational act of mercy that is later echoed in his confession to Picard. The 'Yes' becomes the seed; the confession is the blossom. The repetition binds his machine logic to human choice."

Lonely Signal, Impossible Choice
S2E15 · Pen Pals

Key Dialogue

"COMPUTER VOICE: "Analysis complete.""
"SARJENKA (V.O.): "Is anybody out there?""
"DATA: "Yes.""