Character

Mariposan Clones

duplicative impassive ceremonial evasive hostile anxious obedient reactive

Mariposan Clones: a set of three identical, weapon-bearing Mariposan replicas encountered in the ruined Mariposa cloning laboratory. They confront Riker and Granger over missing cloning equipment and stand ready to use force until Dr. Pulaski intervenes. Their presence represents survival-driven tactics and the ethical collapse surrounding Mariposa's cloning technology, shifting scenes from technical salvage to a fraught political and moral standoff.

11 appearances

Diplomatic Relations

Also known as: Mariposan duplicates, Cloning Lab Clones, Mariposan multiples, Mariposa clones, Clones, Mariposan reception staff, Mariposa Clones, Armed Clones

Mariposan Clones's Journey

A timeline through the narrative

11 moments

S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Ceremonial Welcome, Unsettling Multiples

Neutral surface presentation—intentional composure that masks controlled distancing and guarded secrecy.

Multiple identical men and women move and work through the reception and offices in a coordinated, impassive manner—serving as a socially curated front that converts a routine welcome into an …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Identicals: Riker's Alarm, Pulaski's Challenge

Neutral or socially programmed; presents no visible agitation and maintains hospitable appearance.

Multiple identical Mariposan men and women move through the reception area in calm, routine ways — conferring, passing papers, working at desks — presenting a coordinated, uncanny civic face to …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Warm Welcome, Cold Diagnosis

Functionally absent yet suddenly vulnerable—the group's existence is transformed into a public, contested fact.

Not physically present in the office but invoked directly by Pulaski's question; the collective is treated as the subject of intense scrutiny, their uniformity and political status suddenly the central …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Mariposa's Secret: The Clone Revelation

Externally neutral and observant — their presence reads as engineered calm or cultural training rather than spontaneous emotion.

Represented by the two women (3A and 3C) who enter: they move as decorous, neutral presences, one carrying a laptop, embodying Mariposa's uniform population and transforming the reception into evidence …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Replicative Fading and the Demand for DNA

Portrayed as vulnerable and diminishing; their collective condition evokes pity and urgency but also raises ethical complexity about individual worth versus communal survival.

Referenced but not physically present; depicted as the homogeneous, declining population whose replicative fading and mental sclerosis provide the moral urgency and human stakes of the scene.

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Consent Denied — Repairs Promised

Represented as an anxious, weakening collective; desperation is conveyed through Granger's plea rather than direct speech.

The Mariposan clones are represented indirectly as the cohort suffering replicative fading—their demographic crisis is the subject of the meeting and the impetus for Granger's request.

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Rush to the Cloning Lab — Discovery of Tissue Theft

Collective urgency and cold pragmatism — actions motivated by existential need rather than individual malice.

The Mariposan Clones are implicated by Geordi's VISOR and Pulaski's scans as having lied about the crew's whereabouts and as the likely perpetrators of nonconsensual tissue harvesting; they operate as …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Brokering Survival: The Mariposa–Bringloidi Compromise

Portrayed as desperate and fragile — the group itself is not present but its existential anxiety is central to the conversation.

The Mariposan clones are the subject of the diagnosis: described as biologically failing and culturally in crisis, they are the immediate beneficiaries of whatever plan is chosen and are positioned …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Ultimatum and the Spit-Shake Pact

Not individually specified in scene—functionally instrumentalized and treated as property/stock for policy.

The Mariposan clones are invoked as a deployable resource—named by Danilo as the physical stock to be 'sent in'—their existence is leveraged to operationalize Pulaski's breeding plan.

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Extinction Deadline and the Spit-Sealed Pact

Disturbed and unsettled; their synchronized reaction underscores social conditioning and discomfort with the ritual.

React to the spit‑handshake with the 'expected reaction' referenced in the screenplay — their presence registers social tension and visceral recoil, serving as an embodied chorus to the humiliation and …

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S2E18 · Up the Long Ladder

Spit-Sealed Survival Pact

Collective passivity with inscrutable reserve — they serve as social objects rather than individuated participants in the negotiation.

The Mariposan Clones are invoked and summoned as instruments of ritual and reproduction; they react predictably to the ritual, their presence underscoring the uncanny and procedural nature of the society's …

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