"The Offspring" Line-by-Line

Haftel: That's not satisfactory. If mistakes are made, the damage that's done might be irreparable.

 

PICARD: I'm convinced the damage will be irreparable if they're separated.

 

HAFTEL: Captain, are we talking about breaking up a family? Isn't that rather a sentimental attitude about androids?

 

PICARD: They're living, sentient beings. Their rights and privileges in our society have been defined. I helped define them.

 

HAFTEL: Yes, Captain, and I am more than willing to acknowledge that. What you must acknowledge is that Lal may be a technological step forward in the development of artificial intelligence.

 

PICARD: A most significant step.

 

HAFTEL: Yes, and work like this demands to be done with controlled procedures.

 

PICARD: Which Commander Data is following.

 

HAFTEL: In effective isolation. And that is what Starfleet Research finds unacceptable.

 

[Laboratory]

DATA: So Lal now possesses the sum of my programming.

 

HAFTEL: Her neural nets are laid down identically to yours?

 

DATA: There do seem to be some variations on the quantum level. She can use contractions. I cannot.

 

HAFTEL: An aberration. What have you done about this?

 

DATA: I have maintained records on positronic matrix activity, behavioral norms, and all verbal patterns. I have seen no evidence of other aberrations.

 

PICARD: It would seem you've actually improved upon yourself, Data.

 

DATA: Is that not the goal of every parent, sir?

 

HAFTEL: But as a good father, don't you think it would be better, especially in light of this new aberration, if Lal were close to people trained in diagnostic and evaluative procedures?

 

DATA: I am programmed with the procedures you mention, sir. And in any meaningful evaluation of Lal, you would require a model for a basis of comparison. I am the only model available, Admiral.

 

Haftel: You haven't mastered human cultural and behavioral norms yourself yet, have you?

 

DATA: No, sir.