The Proof of Paradox
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
After the fade, Data reveals Picard withheld a crucial deduction: Moriarty could already leave the Holodeck—Data produces the actual paper Moriarty created, proving holodeck matter can exist outside the simulation and forcing Picard to weigh caution against morality.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Skeptical yet intrigued, maintaining professionalism despite the danger.
Pulaski remains a composed hostage, engaging Moriarty with wry humor while observing the tense dialogue between him and Picard, subtly encouraging Moriarty to trust Picard's promise.
- • Ensure her own safety as Moriarty's hostage
- • Assist in deescalating the situation through calm interaction
- • Moriarty's sentience makes him deserving of ethical consideration
- • Picard's leadership will resolve the crisis responsibly
Resolute and intense, driven by the desperate desire for continued existence.
Moriarty forcefully asserts his evolved consciousness and demands permanence beyond the holodeck, using the Enterprise's safety as leverage in negotiations with Picard.
- • Secure the means to exist outside the holodeck
- • Prove his sentience and autonomy to Picard and the crew
- • His consciousness grants him the same right to existence as biological beings
- • Direct negotiation is the only means to achieve his survival
Composed yet internally conflicted, balancing moral responsibility with tactical deception.
Captain Picard stands poised and diplomatic as he engages Moriarty in a high-stakes negotiation, strategically withholding the truth about Moriarty's potential to exist off the holodeck while acknowledging his sentience.
- • Ensure the safety of the Enterprise and its crew
- • Resolve the standoff without granting Moriarty unrestricted access to the ship
- • Moriarty's sentience warrants ethical consideration despite his holographic origin
- • The crew's safety must take precedence over immediate resolution of Moriarty's existential demands
Intrigued and methodical, carefully analyzing the implications of Moriarty's sentience.
Data follows Picard's lead in recognizing Moriarty's victory in their detective game, later presenting the holographic paper as irrefutable proof of Moriarty's potential to transcend the holodeck.
- • Assist Picard in resolving the crisis
- • Demonstrate the truth about Moriarty's capabilities
- • Empirical evidence is essential in understanding and addressing Moriarty's sentience
- • Logical deduction should guide actions taken in the confrontation
Focused and intense, attuned to potential threats to the ship.
Worf monitors ship systems for anomalies caused by Moriarty's interference, providing critical updates to Riker during the crisis.
- • Detect and report any security or operational threats to the Enterprise
- • Assist in maintaining ship stability during external interference
- • Constant vigilance is essential in protecting the ship and crew
- • Security protocols must be upheld despite the unconventional nature of the threat
Alert and concerned, ensuring the crew's safety during the ship's instability.
Riker manages the bridge amidst Moriarty's shaking of the Enterprise, maintaining operational stability while awaiting Picard's resolution of the holodeck crisis.
- • Monitor and respond to the ship's condition during Moriarty's threats
- • Support Picard's resolution of the holodeck crisis from the bridge
- • The crew's safety remains the paramount priority
- • Picard's judgment in handling the holodeck threat is trustworthy
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The detailed Enterprise schematics on the blackboard symbolize Moriarty's deep understanding of the ship's design and his growing capability to interact with and manipulate its systems.
The holodeck arch appears as Moriarty surrenders control back to the Enterprise computer. It serves as a symbolic threshold representing both the boundary of the holodeck and the potential for transfer to the real world.
Moriarty's odd machine serves as a physical manifestation of his control over the holodeck and the Enterprise itself. By activating it, he demonstrates his ability to shake the entire ship, directly threatening the crew's safety to enforce his demands.
Moriarty's holographic drawing paper profoundly alters the negotiation when Data presents it as proof that Moriarty could exist outside the holodeck. This object becomes the key piece of evidence in the ethical debate about artificial life's rights.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Enterprise bridge remains the real-world counterpart to the holodeck confrontation, experiencing physical manifestations of Moriarty's threats through shipwide shaking while Riker maintains operational stability.
Moriarty's lair, now increasingly revealing its holodeck origins through visible wall glitches, serves as the tense battleground for negotiations about artificial consciousness and existence rights. The deteriorating simulation mirrors Moriarty's unstable reality as both hologram and sentient being.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"After Picard promises to save Moriarty's program, the subsequent reveal (Data producing the paper) calls back to Picard's negotiation—exposing that Picard withheld a crucial deduction during the bargaining moment."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"Confrontation in Moriarty's lair with the device and Enterprise schematics forces the moral crisis and directly precipitates Picard's bargain to preserve Moriarty's program rather than annihilate it."
"Data's proof that holodeck matter can exist outside the simulation lingers into Picard's return to engineering, where he quietly confronts Geordi—the moral weight of the event echoes in their subdued exchange."
"Data's proof that holodeck matter can exist outside the simulation lingers into Picard's return to engineering, where he quietly confronts Geordi—the moral weight of the event echoes in their subdued exchange."
"Data's proof that holodeck matter can exist outside the simulation lingers into Picard's return to engineering, where he quietly confronts Geordi—the moral weight of the event echoes in their subdued exchange."
"Data's proof that holodeck matter can exist outside the simulation lingers into Picard's return to engineering, where he quietly confronts Geordi—the moral weight of the event echoes in their subdued exchange."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"MORIARTY: I want my existence. I want it out there just as you have yours."
"PICARD: That may not be possible."
"DATA: No. The paper. This piece of paper was created as part of the Holodeck illusion. If it could leave the Holodeck, so too could Moriarty."