I Have a Feeling They Will Choose to

 

Uncle BOB :

I didn't Hurt You, did I?

Cornelius :

Actually, you did.

Uncle BOB :

Thank You for This.

Thank you, Thank You, 

Thank You.

The Narrator :

Fight Club.

This was Mine and Tyler's Gift.

Our Gift to The World.

Man, I see in Fight Club The Strongest and Smartest Men who've ever lived.

I see all this Potential. 
And I see it SQUANDERED.

Goddamn it, an entire Generation 

pumping gas.
Waiting tables.
Slaves with white collars.

Advertising has us chasing Cars and Clothes.
Working Jobs We HATE 

so We can buy SHIT 

We don't NEED.

We're The Middle Children of History, Man. 

No Purpose or Place --
We have no Great WAR;
No Great DEPRESSION.

OUR Great War is A SPIRITUAL War --
Our Great Depression..... is Our LIVES.

We've all been raised on Television to Believe that one day We'd all be Millionaires and Movie Gods and Rock Stars.
But We WON'T......

We're slowly learning that fact.
And we're very, VERY 

pissed off about it....

TROI: 
You are a non-violent man, yet 

you committed Acts of Excessive Violence.

ROGA: 
You can learn to do it 

if you have to.

TROI: 
Did you have to?

ROGA: 
It was War.

TROI: 
So it started with The War?

ROGA: 
It started the day I volunteered, Counsellor. 
The day I began training. 

The day I met my first instructor. 
And he also called himself 

A Counsellor.

[Observation lounge]

TROI: 
Roga Danar was an idealistic Young Man 
who answered His People's Call to Service. 
He joined the military to fight 

for The Angosian Way of Life. 
What he didn't realise was that 

by doing so he would have to give up 

that Way of Life forever.

 
He's not the same man who left Home to go to War. 
He's been through intense psychological manipulation and biochemical modifications.

CRUSHER: 
At Troi's request I examined him. 
His cell structure has been significantly altered. 
They used a combination of cryptobiolin, triclenidil, macrospentol and a few things I can't even recognise.

RIKER: 
Was he A Prisoner of War? 

Who did this to him?

TROI: 
His Own Government. 
He's been programmed to be The Perfect Soldier. 
He can be absolutely normal, 

but when A Danger is perceived, 
The Programming clicks in 

and takes over. 

Memory, Strength, 

Intelligence, Reflexes, 

all become enhanced. 
He's conditioned to 

Survive at any cost.

CRUSHER: 
One of the new substances in his cellular structure 

even shields electrical impulses.

DATA: 
Perhaps that would explain why 

our sensors did not detect him.

PICARD: 
Why was he assigned to the Lunar Five facility?

TROI: 
He committed no crime. 
He says he was ordered there with others like him. 
When the first soldiers returned to Angosia, 

they had Trouble. 

The Rules changed too quickly. 
A lost temper could result in murder.

DATA: 
Counsellor, did no one try to adjust their programming?

TROI: 
They were just exiled to Lunar Five.

PICARD: 

Lunar Five, an orbiting gulag.

[Brig]

ROGA: 
What do you want?

DATA: 
Am I disturbing you?

ROGA: 

Yes.

DATA: 
Then I will leave.

ROGA: 
NO. Wait, wait. I'd rather talk to someone. 
Why do you have yellow eyes?

DATA: 
I am an android. 
I believe you and I 

have something in common.

ROGA: 
We do?

DATA: 
Yes. We have both been programmed.

ROGA: 
Ah, yes, yes. You've been talking to Counsellor Troi. 
It is not at all the same, android.

DATA: 
I do not mean to belittle your condition. 
I understand Your Dilemma. But I am curious. 

My Programme can be altered. 

Yours cannot?

ROGA: 
The Man I Was is still inside me, 
but this conditioning has been imposed. 
Woven together with my thoughts 
and my feelings and my responses. 

How do you separate 

The Programme from The Man?

DATA: 
Without further analysis of your condition from 

Counsellor Troi or Doctor Crusher, I cannot say. 

But I believe it is possible.

ROGA: 
Yeah, Doctors! The Angosian Doctors did this to me. 
If it could be undone, wouldn't they undo it?

DATA: 
I cannot answer that.

ROGA: 
Nor can I, yet I ask myself that question 
every moment of every day.

[Ready room]

NAYROK [on monitor]: 
Captain, what this man has been telling you 

is full of half-truths. 
He's A Prisoner. 

What do you expect him 

to say about us?

PICARD: 
Well, perhaps you would clarify it for me.

NAYROK [on monitor]: 
The soldiers were resettled on Lunar Five. 
It was to be their colony.

PICARD: 
Was it a resettlement of their choosing?

NAYROK [on monitor]: 
It was for their own protection as well as that of others. 
Most of them were quite happy there. 
We went to great lengths to give them a fine quality of life.

PICARD: 
Prime Minister, even the most 

comfortable prison is A Prison.

NAYROK [on monitor]: 
Unfortunately, a few agitators like Danar 

forced us to add security.

PICARD: 
My medical team suggests there may be alternative treatment.

NAYROK [on monitor]: 
Captain, I assure you that 

every alternative has been explored. 
And this discussion is now treading upon 

matters of internal security, 

which is not your concern. 
I have dispatched a ship to rendezvous with you 

to transport the prisoner back to Lunar Five. 

On behalf of Angosia, I thank The Federation 

for its assistance in retrieving our citizen.

(Transmission ends)

PICARD: 
'Matter of Internal Security.' 
The age-old cry of The Oppressor.

[Brig]
ROGA: 
Were you built for combat, android?

DATA: 
No. But My Programme does 

include Military Strategy. 
That is how I was able to anticipate your final tactic 
and capture you.

ROGA: 
You did that? 
Perhaps you would be better 

at combat than you think.

DATA: 
Except that I am not programmed to kill.

ROGA: 
My improved reflexes have allowed me 

to kill eighty four times. 
And my improved memory lets me remember 
each of those eighty four faces. 
Can you understand how that feels?

DATA: 
I am incapable of any feeling.

ROGA: 
Why, then I envy you.

(Picard and Troi enter)

TROI: 
Roga, this is Captain Picard.

ROGA: 
Captain.

PICARD: 
Mister Danar, I'm transferring you to Angosian security. They're en route. They will arrive shortly. 
I wanted to tell you I have No Choice. 
The Prime Minister insisted 
and We have No Right to refuse.

ROGA: 
You would be foolish to consider it otherwise, Captain, 
for they are very correct. 

I am dangerous. 
There is no place for me 

in A Civilised Society.

TROI: 
I do not believe that.

DATA: 
Nor do I.

PICARD: 
I respect my officers' judgements. 
I wish I could help further. 
If a way appears to me, I will.

ROGA: 
I appreciate your telling me that face to face.

PICARD: 
I thought you deserved that much.

ROGA: 
And you deserve to know 
that I must use whatever means I can to escape.

WORF [OC]: 

Captain, the Angosian transport vessel has arrived.

PICARD: 

Inform them the transfer will take place shortly. 

Picard out. Mister Data, to the Bridge please.
(Picard leaves)

ROGA: 

Take care of yourself, android. 

I enjoyed our talk.

DATA: I too.
(Data leaves)

TROI: 

Perhaps when this planet becomes a member of the Federation, we'll be able

ROGA: 

I will not be there to see it, Counsellor. 

Because even with this overwhelming Demand to Survive 

that they've built into my soul, 

I would rather die than return to Lunar Five.

orridor]
PICARD: 
And my understanding is these men are 

Programmed to Survive. Is that correct?

TROI: 

Yes, Captain.

PICARD: 

And that they will not kill 

unless Their Survival is at stake?

DATA: 

It is against Their Nature to do so, Captain.

PICARD: 

Then let us hope they do not believe 

Their Survival is at stake.

RIKER: 

Mister Worf, you are personally responsible 

for the Captain's safety.

WORF: 

I understand, Commander.

[Angosian Senate]
(Weapons are being handed out in a hurry)

NAYROK: 

I don't expect them to listen to reason. 

I loathe the idea of a violent confrontation, 

but we must be prepared.

(The away team beam in)

NAYROK: 

This is all you've brought? 

Where are your security men?

PICARD: 

We're not here to fight your wars for you.

NAYROK: 
They have been seen moving 

toward the center of the city. 
People are scared. 

Don't you understand, Captain? 
They're dangerous.

PICARD: 
You are Dangerous. They're only victims. 
You made Them What They Are. 
You asked them to defend your way of life 
and then you discarded them.

ZAYNAR: 

They were not happy here.

TROI: 

They were not welcome here.

ZAYNAR: 

It was the will of The People to resettle them.

NAYROK: 

No one was pleased with The Solution, 

but we had to act for the greater good.

DATA: 

Prime Minister, if you have the skills 

to create a master soldier, 

can you not contradict the effect?

NAYROK: 
The chemicals can be removed from their systems, 
but we're not convinced that the psychological conditioning can ever be entirely reversed.

DATA: 
Have you tried, sir?

NAYROK: 
We studied it thoroughly. 

Even before the training began, 

we knew there would be problems reversing it. 
It was a risk we had to take.

WORF: 
Did you reveal that risk to the men 

who volunteered for Service?

NAYROK: 
We were helping Them 

to Survive The War, 
you understand? 
They needed these skills.

PICARD: 
They're Your Brothers, Your Sons, 
and you turned Your Backs on them.

TROI: 
There are methods of treatment. 
Until you try them, how can you know they won't work? 
Even a partial recovery could give them some peace.

ZAYNAR: 
It was The Will of The People.

TROI: 
To allow them to suffer?

NAYROK: 
There was a referendum. 
The people weighed The Costs involved. 
They chose The Resettlement Solution.

ZAYNAR: 
Besides, we may need to use Them 

again some day.

PICARD: 
Have you understood one word that we've said?

(The rogue soldiers arrive)

ROGA: 

Freeze! Nobody move!

PICARD: 
No, Worf! All of you. Don't respond. 
Don't provoke them further. 
Keep those weapons down unless you wish to be killed.

NAYROK: 
Do as he says.

ROGA: 
No! Don't. Shoot Us. Destroy Us. 
Do What You Have to Do. 

But you will not ignore us. 

Go on, DO it!

(He shoots a hole in the wall next to Nayrok)

ROGA: 
Cowards.

PICARD: 
Yes, and you are not programmed 
to murder cowards.

 
So if they will not fight back, 

what will you do?

ROGA: 
We will not go back.

NAYROK: 
You are Programmed to Survive. 

You can Survive at the Lunar Five settlement.

ROGA: 

To Survive is Not Enough. 

To simply exist is Not Enough.

TROI: 
Roga, tell Them What You Want.

ROGA: 
We want Our Lives back. 
We want to Come Home.

NAYROK: 
I am not prepared to negotiate under threat, Danar, 
but if you will put down your weapons and return peaceably to Lunar Five, I would be willing....

ROGA: 
Mister Prime Minister, with all due respect, 
You will have to Force Us. 

Or at least try.

NAYROK: 
Captain, you must DO Something. 

Call Your Ship.

PICARD: 
Quite right, Prime Minister. 
Enterprise, prepare to beam the away team back.

RIKER [OC]: 
At your command, Captain.

NAYROK: 
Picard, you can't leave us like this.

PICARD: 
I have all the information I need for our report. 
Your Prisoner has been returned to you 

and you have A Decision to make. 
Whether to try to Force Them Back 

or Welcome Them Home. 

In your own words, 

This is not our affair.

 
We cannot interfere in the natural course 

of your society's development, 

and I'd say it's likely to develop significantly 

in the next several minutes. 

It's been an interesting visit. 

When you're ready for membership, 

The Federation will be pleased 

to reconsider your application. 

Mister Riker, four to beam up.

RIKER [OC]: 
Aye, sir.

[Bridge]

RIKER: 
Success, Captain?

PICARD: 
Number One, will you note in our report that 

if The Government of Angosia Survives The Night, 
we will offer them Federation assistance 

in their efforts to reprogram their veterans.

RIKER: 
And if The Government doesn't survive?

PICARD: 
I have a feeling they will choose to. 
Mister Crusher, set coordinates for Starbase Lya Three.

WESLEY: 
Coordinates set, Captain.

PICARD: 
Engage.