You're wondering who we are. Why we have done this. I stand before you, the image of a being from so long ago. Life evolved on my planet, before all others in this part of the galaxy. We left our world, explored the stars, and found none like ourselves. Our civilization thrived for ages. But what is the life of one race, compared to the vast stretches of cosmic time? We knew that one day we would be gone, and that nothing of us would survive. So we left you. Our scientists seeded the primordial oceans of many worlds, where life was in its infancy. The seed codes directed your evolution towards a physical form resembling ours. This body you see before you, which is of course shaped as yours is shaped, for you are the end result. The seed codes also contained this message, which was scattered in fragments on many different worlds. It was our hope that you would have to come together in fellowship and companionship to hear this message. And if you can see and hear me, our hope has been fulfilled. You are a monument, not to our greatness, but to our existence. That was our wish. That you too, would know life, and would keep alive our memory. There is something of us in each of you. And so, something of you in each other. Remember us.
S1 E15Unfinished Business
That's all?! If she were not dead, I would kill her.
The very notion that a Cardassian could have anything in common with a Klingon... it turns my stomach.
It would seem that we are not completely dissimilar after all; in our hopes, or in our fears.
Yes.
Well then. Perhaps, one day…
One day…
Dr. Fesbinder gave an hour long dissertation on the ionization of warp nacelles before he realized that the topic was supposed to be psychology.
Why didn't anybody tell him?
There was no opportunity. There was no pause. (droning) He-just-kept-talking-in-one-long-incredibly-unbroken-sentence, moving-from-topic-to-topic-so-that-no-one-had-the-chance-to-interrupt, it-was-really-quite-hypnotic.
[Lt. Cmdr. Data is playing poker with holographic forms of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Sir Stephen Hawking.]
But then, I said, in that frame of reference, the perihelion of Mercury would have processed in the opposite direction.
[laughs] That is a great story!
Quite amusing, Dr. Hawking. [turns to Newton] You see, Sir Isaac, the joke depends on an understanding of the relativistic curvature of spacetime. If two non-inertial reference frames are in relative motion--
Do not patronize me, sir. I invented physics. The day that apple fell on my head was the most momentous day in the history of science.
Not the apple story again.
That story is generally considered to be apocryphal.
What?! How dare you!
Uh, perhaps we should return to the game, hmm? Now let's see, where were we? Yes, you [points at Hawking] raised Mr. Data four, which means that, um, the bet is...seven, to me?
The bet is ten. Can't you do simple arithmetic? [sighs] I don't even know why I'm here in the first place. What is the point of playing this ridiculous game?
When I play poker with my shipmates, it often appears to be a useful forum for exploring the different facets of humanity. I was curious to see how three of history's greatest minds would interact in this setting. So far, it has proved to be most...illuminating.
And profitable. Heh heh heh...
Can we get this over with, please? [to Hawking] It's your bet.
I raise fifty.
Blast. I fold.
I fold as well.
The Uncertainty Principle will not help you now, Stephen, hmm? All the quantum fluctuations in the universe will not change the cards in your hand. I call. You are bluffing. And you will lose.
Wrong again, Albert.
[a mechanical arm lowers, revealing that Hawking has a four of a kind.]
Well. Hmm...
[the comm beeps]
Riker (over comm): Red Alert! All personnel report to duty stations!
We will have to continue this another time. End program.
In his foreword to The Physics of Star Trek (p. xi), Hawking joked that after "winning" the holodeck card game, he called Paramount Pictures to try and cash in his chips, "but they didn't know the exchange rate."
Hawking's off-screen remark which Newton doesn't understand is an inside joke: Einstein understands the joke (and Data, who has no sense of humor, understands that a joke has been made and appreciates it), but Newton doesn't get it. Data explains that the joke is based on knowledge about the perihelion precession of the planet Mercury, before Newton angrily cuts him off, saying "Don't patronize me, I invented physics". The perihelion precession of Mercury could not be explained by Newtonian physics alone, and was regarded as a major flaw of Newton's theory, but it later was explained by Einstein's General Theory of Relativity.
Furthermore, Hawking's comment "Wrong again, Albert," when revealing his winning hand is a reference to the professor's life work in physics, in which he has disproved some of Einstein's theories.
Einstein has trouble with the math of how much the next bet is. Newton asked if Einstein could do "simple arithmetic". It is a commonly held myth that he could not. In fact, he was quite brilliant as a child, and began teaching himself higher math when he had outpaced his schooling.
Captain, incoming message from the New Berlin Colony. They have cancelled their distress call. Evidently a Ferengi trading ship entered their system and someone panicked.
Third time today. Stand down Red Alert. Reduce speed. Return to our patrol route.
Mister Worf, acknowledge the signal from New Berlin, transmit another copy of Starfleet's ship-recognition protocols - and tell them to read it this time.
Aye, sir.
They were fast, aggressive, almost vicious. It was more like fighting Klingons than... [realizes] ...Borg. [to Worf] No offense.
None taken.
[Lore is trying to escape after attempting to destroy Data]
Lore.
[chuckles nervously] You should be careful with that, brother. Someone could get hurt.
What are you doing?
I've got a way out of here. I'm willing to forget what happened back there. Take you with me. We don't need anyone else. We're brothers. [Data does not respond] I'll give you the chip our father made. It contains much more than just emotions. It has memories. Memories... our father wanted you to have.
[Lore lifs his fingernail and activates the emotion chip, Data flinches, Lore tries to fire his phaser at Data, Data fires back and approaches the fallen Lore]
Lore, I must deactivate you now.
Without me, you will never feel emotion again.
I know. But you leave me no other choice.
[shutting down] I... love you... brother...
Goodbye, Lore.
May I ask a personal favor?
Yes?
Will you take care of Spot for me?
Your animal?
I am concerned that if I have another waking dream, I may injure him.
Of course. Spot, come here.
Unlike a canine, Spot will not respond to verbal commands.
[Data picks up Spot and hands him to Worf, who is not quite sure how to handle the cat.]
Goodbye, Spot. He will need to be fed once a day. He prefers feline supplement one-twenty-five.
I understand.
And he will require water. And you must also provide him with a sand box. And you must talk to him. Tell him he is a pretty cat, and a good cat, and—
I will feed him.
Perhaps that will be enough.
[Wolf walks away still awkwardly holding Spot as we hear Worf sneeze and Spot hiss in response.]
What type of cake is that?
It is a cellular peptide cake.
[With mouth full] With mint frosting.
That's it! I can see that diplomacy is not going to get us anywhere today, and I do not have time to negotiate. So let's put all of our cards on the table. [to Lorin] You're concerned the Kes are going to be admitted to the Federation.
Correct.
As First Officer of the Enterprise, I think I can promise you it is not going to happen. The Kes will be denied membership.
You have no authority to make that decision! Despite whatever games you played with the Prytt when you arrived, we still plan to take our petition directly to the Federation Council! They'll listen-!
They will also listen to the reports of the Captain of the Enterprise and his First Officer! And I can tell you right now the First Officer's report will go something like this: "Kesprytt, a deeply troubled world with social, political, and military problems that they have yet to resolve. The Kes, while a friendly and democratic people, are driven by suspicion, deviousness, and paranoia. It is the opinion of this officer that they are not ready for membership."
[Data is trying to train Spot not to jump on his computer console.]
This is down. Down is good.
[Data picks Spot up.]
This is up. Up is no.
[Geordi and Data are discussing Data's attempts to train Spot.]
I suppose I must accept that possibility. It may be that Spot lacks the intelligence necessary to learn the appropriate responses to my commands.
[Spot looks up at Data and meows.]
Mmm?
[Spot meows again.]
Ah.
[Data takes a ball of yarn from his cabinet and lets Spot begin to play with it.]
I don't know about Spot, but it seems to me your training is coming along just fine. Let's go.
Captain, we're receiving two-hundred and eighty-five thousand hails.
[Picard is complaining about the art produced in his image by the ship's children for "Captain Picard Day," which he hates.]
Well, they seem to have a somewhat exaggerated opinion of me.
[Riker is holds up a child's sewn doll of Picard and imitates the captain's voice, as if the doll is speaking.]
Oh, I don't know, I think the resemblance is rather striking. Wouldn't you agree, Number One?
Isn't there something else you have to do?
I'll be on the bridge!
[Riker attempts to walk away with the Picard doll tucked in his arm.]
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Star Trek: The Next Generation pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.