Object

Lal's Incubation Tube

A compact laboratory containment tube that cradles the replicated child during assembly on Data's biobed. The tube functions as the immediate physical vessel from which Data gently withdraws Lal; its closed interior holds the emergent lifeform until he lifts her into the open lab. Characters touch and lean over the tube as Data helps Lal out, and Troi steps forward to name the child—the tube thus frames the transition from technical workbench to a parental moment.

1 appearances

Purpose

To incubate and contain Lal during her assembly and initial activation, providing a controlled enclosure for the replicated child's formative moments.

Significance

Acts as the tangible threshold between experiment and parenthood: Lal's emergence from the tube catalyzes Troi's immediate recognition ('it's a girl') and reorients the episode toward moral and institutional questions about Lal's status.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

1 moments

S3E16 · The Offspring

Lal Revealed — Data's First Declaration

The incubation tube cradles Lal through the final stages of assembly and acts as the literal container-to-world threshold; Data opens it and helps Lal from inside to the outside, making the technical act a visual birth-like moment.

Before: Sealed/closed or containing Lal within the biobed assembly area.

After: Emptied of Lal after Data assists her out; remains as diagnostic hardware beside the biobed.

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