"The Inner Light" Line-by-Line

OGAWA: Blood pressure up to ninety over forty and rising.

 

CRUSHER: Isocortical functions are stabilising. Vital signs are approaching normal.

 

[Courtyard]

PICARD: Meribor?

 

(She is now a young adult. She is doing something with the dirt in the planter bed.)

MERIBOR: Happy day, Father.

 

PICARD: Hey, that's my hobby. Find your own.

 

MERIBOR: You're the one who taught me. Don't complain if you've turned me into a scientist.

 

PICARD: And what has the scientist been up to today?

 

MERIBOR: Analyzing soil samples. There isn't any anaerobic bacteria. The soil is dead. This isn't just a very long drought, is it, Father? I have entries in my log that go back ten years. You have data preceding that for fifteen years. You've reached the same conclusion, I know you have.

 

Picard: I haven't reached any conclusion. A good scientist doesn't function by conjecture.

 

MERIBOR: A good scientist functions by hypothesizing and then proving or disproving that hypothesis. That's what I did.

 

Picard: Hey, why don't you spend more time with that young fellow Dannick?

 

MERIBOR: You are changing the subject.

 

Picard: No, I'm not. I'm just hypothesising that he's in love with you.

 

MERIBOR: You've taught me to pursue the truth, no matter how painful it is. It's too late to back off now. This planet is dying.

 

Picard: Perhaps I should have filled your head with trivial concerns. Games and toys and clothes.

 

MERIBOR: I don't think you mean that.

 

PICARD: No, I don't. It just saddens me to see you burdened with the knowledge things you can't change.

 

Meribor: Father, I think I should marry Dannick sooner rather than later, don't you?

 

Picard: Seize the time, Meribor. Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.

 

Meribor: I love you, Father.