"The Offspring" Line-by-Line

[Gul Re'jal]

WESLEY: Data, it called you Father.

 

[Athena28]

DATA: Yes, Wesley. Lal is my child.

 

[LeadHead]

Captains Log, supplemental. I have just been advised of a highly unusual project undertaken by Commander Data.

 

[Athena28]

[Laboratory]


DATA: Lal has a positronic brain one very similar to my own. I began programming it at the cybernetics conference.

 

[LeadHead]

La Forge: But nobody's been able to do that, Data, at least not since you were programmed.

 

[Athena28]

DATA: True, but there was a new submicron matrix transfer technology introduced at the conference which I discovered could be used to lay down complex neural net pathways.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

WESLEY: So you did a transfer from your brain into Lal's.

 

[Athena28]

DATA: Exactly, Wesley. I realized for the first time it was possible to continue Dr. Soong's work. My initial transfers produced very encouraging results, so I brought Lal's brain back with me.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

PICARD: Data, I would like to have been consulted.

 

[Athena28]

DATA: I have not observed anyone else on board consulting you about their procreation, Captain.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

TROI: Why didn't you give it a more human look, Data?

 

[LeadHead]

Data: I have decided to allow my child to choose its own sex and appearance.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

PICARD: Commander Data, at your convenience, I would like to talk to you in my Ready room. Counsellor?

[Corridor]

PICARD: I insist we do whatever we can to discourage the perception of this new android as a child. It is not a child. It is an invention, albeit an extraordinary one.

 

[Athena28]

TROI: Why should biology rather than technology determine whether it is a child? Data has created an offspring. A new life out of his own being. To me, that suggests a child. If he wishes to call Lal his child, then who are we to argue?

 

[LeadHead]

Picard: Well, if he must, but I fail to understand how a 5 foot android with heuristic learning systems and the strength of 10 men can be called a child.

 

[Gul Re'jal]

TROI: You've never been a parent.

 

[Athena28]

[Ready room]

PICARD: What you have done will have serious ramifications. I am truly dismayed that you told no one of what you were doing.

 

[LeadHead]

Later, in the Reasy Room

Picard: What you have done will have serious ramifications. I am truly dismayed that you told no one of what you were doing.

 

[Leandar]

Data: I am sorry, Captain. I did not anticipate your objections. Do you wish me to deactivate Lal?

 

[Athena28]

PICARD: It's a life, Data. It can't be activated and deactivated simply. This is a most stupendous undertaking. Have you any idea what will happen when Starfleet learns about this?