Reboot, Disillusion, and Data's Tactical Pivot
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Ard'rian frantically scans Data's damaged systems as he reboots, visibly relieved when he reactivates.
Data reassures Ard'rian of his self-repair capabilities while testing his motor functions.
Ard'rian bitterly laments the colonists' betrayal, expressing disillusionment with their empty promises.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Worried and focused while diagnosing Data, then briefly relieved, quickly shifting to bitter disillusionment and readiness to support decisive measures.
Ard'rian anxiously inspects Data with an electronic scanner, expresses relief when he reboots, then voices bitter disappointment at fellow colonists; she stands as the emotional conduit whose private frustration helps crystalize Data's pivot to action.
- • Confirm Data is functional and can help the colony
- • Understand who among the colonists can be trusted
- • Support efforts to save people even if it means undermining local authority
- • Provide logistical or moral support to Data's planned action
- • Some local leaders (Gosheven) will not change their minds without forceful demonstration
- • Words and appeals have proven insufficient to change the colony's stance
- • Data's technical competence can materially aid their survival
- • She and a small cadre must act quietly to enable evacuation
Clinically composed, curious and resolute; shows a human-like drive to translate analysis into concrete action rather than linger in abstraction.
Data reboots, performs systematic diagnostics of head, arms, and legs, processes Ard'rian's report about betrayal, reasons that language has failed, and calmly determines he needs a phaser — then acknowledges radiation will complicate that plan and resolves to improvise.
- • Restore full operational function to pursue evacuation objectives
- • Transform failed diplomacy into an effective demonstration that forces action
- • Acquire a weapon (phaser) to execute a tactical demonstration
- • Innovate around environmental constraints (hyperonic radiation) to achieve aims
- • Words alone have been insufficient to persuade the colonists
- • Demonstrable actions will produce stronger responses from humans
- • Technical limitations (radiation) can be overcome with ingenuity
- • He has a duty to protect lives even if it requires risky improvisation
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The phaser conceptually anchors Data's tactical pivot: he explicitly requests a phaser as the instrument for a demonstrative action that will overcome mere words. The weapon functions narratively as the means to compel attention and force evacuation, even though its practical use is later constrained by environmental factors.
Hyperonic radiation is invoked as an immediate technical impediment: Data states a phaser will not function in its presence, transforming the radiation from background hazard into a central tactical constraint that forces innovative problem‑solving.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Ard'rian's living room serves as the intimate, domestic crucible where technical triage, private anger, and tactical decisions converge. The domestic setting allows an intimate, candid exchange that transforms private disappointment into a public strategy — a sanctuary that becomes the incubator for escalation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Data's realization about the need for demonstrative action directly leads to his aqueduct attack plan."
"Data's realization about the need for demonstrative action directly leads to his aqueduct attack plan."
Key Dialogue
"ARD'RIAN: I was afraid your neural pathways were scrambled beyond repair."
"ARD'RIAN (bitter): I guess words don't mean very much. DATA: Perhaps that has been part of our difficulty. Words are all we have been using. DATA (thinking): Humans seem to take much stronger notice of actions."
"DATA: I require a phaser. ARD'RIAN: What's a phaser? DATA: A type of weapon. Unfortunately it will not function in the presence of hyperonic radiation. DATA: I will have to be innovative."