13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
15 And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
worship (n.)
Old English worðscip, wurðscip (Anglian), weorðscipe (West Saxon) "condition of being worthy, dignity, glory, distinction, honor, renown," from weorð "worthy" (see worth) + -scipe (see -ship). Sense of "reverence paid to a supernatural or divine being" is first recorded c. 1300. The original sense is preserved in the title worshipful "honorable" (c. 1300).
And did I not, on multiple occassions, demonstrate exceptional aural sensitivity, and I quote, "an unparalleled ability to identify sonic anomalies in subspace transmission tests?"
SPOCK:
Consistently, yes.
UHURA: And while you were well aware that of my own qualified desires to serve on the USS Enterprise, I'm assigned to the Farragut?
SPOCK:
It was an attempt to avoid the appearance of favoritism.
“Through Max I met his mate Stan, a giant, charismatic and adorable man who I instinctively liken to Omar, one of the four Caliphs to succeed The Prophet.
A bountiful and warm soul with a great strength, yet to be refined.
I asked Stan: ‘Is there any way I have helped you that I might be able to use in a book about mentoring to illustrate how the principles work?’
He said: ‘Mate. The other day when that bloke knocked me for that money, you said that I should not look at the people of The World as resources there to serve me but at myself as someone who can help others. To accept that everything won’t go my way all the time and when I am disappointed to talk through those feelings before acting on them.
In a situation like that in the past I would’ve acted differently, aggressively, and tried to solve the problem through intimidation, which would’ve led to complications because this bloke is part of That World.
Instead I went round there and politely explained my side of the situation and offered to help find a mutually beneficial solution.
This is because you have taught me that I am valuable and I do not need to resort to bad behaviour to get what I want, that I am enough and do not need money to prove that I am a Man.
I no longer unthinkingly get into conflict with my wife because I am stressed about work-related things, without recognizing it.
The other day she asked me to do the washing up BECAUSE I’d AGREED to and I just DID it.
In the past there would’ve been an argument, especially if I was fearful around work.
This is because you have shown me how to behave towards my wife and given me safe outlets for my feelings.’
Hearing this made me feel valuable and useful
The Gratitude of Others, is a good way to build self-esteem.
If you Regularly Help Others, the tendency to think of yourself as worthless or not good enoughdiminishes.”
Excerpt From
Mentors
Russell Brand
“Joyce and Jung met a few times, and they didn’t like each other, by the way.
Joyce thought Jung thought Joyce was a possible candidate for therapy, and Jung thought Joyce was a man on the edge of schizophrenia who remained on the safe side through his art:
if he lost his art he’d go complete wack-o.
Joyce did not wish to believe his daughter was schizophrenic.
He told Jung,
“I’m doing the same experiments with language that she is.”
And Jung said,
“The difference is you’re diving,
and she’s sinking.”
“ When we look at The World, we perceive only what is enough for our plans and actions to work and for us to get by.
What we inhabit, then, is this “Enough.”
That is a radical, functional, unconscious simplification of The World — and it’s •almost• impossible for us not to mistake it for The World itself.
But the objects we see are not simply there, in The World, for our simple, direct perceiving.
They exist in a complex, multi-dimensional relationship to one another, not as self-evidently separate, bounded, independent objects.
We perceive not them, but their functional utility and, in doing so, we make them sufficiently simple for sufficient understanding.
It is for this reason that we must be precise in our aim. “
Absent that, we drown in the complexity of the world.
The Guide for the first part of your Inward Journey is your Intellect, the Masculine Traits of Intelligence, Proportion and Good Sense.
The Lowest Level of Hell is the worst. It is FROZEN.
To reach The Coldness of Life — Loneliness and Meaninglessness — is The worst experience a human being goes through, worse than the fiery aspects of Hell. Under the guidance of Virgil, Dante gets to the bottom of Hell and just keeps going. You don’t come out of Hell through the door you entered. You go through it and out the other side. On the other side of Hell lies Heaven.
Dante and Virgil are in the middle of the world, which is where the Devil lives. And Dante gets through that nodal point, the point of zero gravity at the center of the world, by shimmying down the hairy leg of the Devil, and finds himself in Purgatory.
Hell lays out what’s Wrong — the hellish dimensions of life — and Purgatory begins The Repair, what you need in order to be restored.
You need to be treated.
The verb ‘to treat’ comes from the Latin tractare “ to pull or drag.”
The earliest therapists had a series of stones with increasingly smaller holes in them, and you were literally pulled through —the biggest one first, a smaller one next, until you couldn’t be pulled through any more.
You came out of this experience minus a bit of skin, but you were treated.
Dante is pulled through A hole from the center of the world and begins his ascent through Purgatory, its many levels and teachings.
At this point, Virgil approaches Dante and says, “I cannot take you any further. One Greater Than I will be your guide from here.”
Dante is shaken, because he has depended entirely on Virgil. Virgil continues,
“Beatrice will guide you from Here,”
the same Beatrice who had opened the vision of Heaven for him on the Ponte Vecchio.
...Regula I, Tracy, USS Farragut... USS Enterprise, McGrath, USS ... Vader, USS Hood.
Welcome to Starfleet, godspeed.
KIRK:
He didn't call my name. Commander!
Sir, you didn't call my name.
Kirk, James T.?
COMMANDER:
Kirk, you're on academic suspension.
That means you're grounded, until the Academy board rules.
MCCOY:
Jim, the board'll rule in your favor.
Most likely. Look, Jim, I got to go.
KIRK:
Yeah, get going.
Be safe.
OFFICER:
Excuse me.
KIRK:
Yeah, yeah, sorry.
MCCOY:
....Dammit. Come with me.
FEMALE ASSIGNER:
...USS Neutral,
Uhura, USS Farragut,
Petroski, USS Antares.
Go to your stations and good luck.
(Gaila smiles wide past Uhura, who has a dour expression)
KIRK:
Bones, where are we going?
MCCOY:
You'll see.
(they pass Uhura)
[Medical Bay]
KIRK:
What are you doing?
MCCOY:
I'm doing you a favor.
I couldn't just leave you there looking all pathetic.
Take a seat. I'm going to give you a vaccine against viral infection from Melvaran mud fleas.
KIRK:
Oww! What for?
MCCOY:
To give you the symptoms.
KIRK:
What are you talking about?
MCCOY:
You're going to start to lose vision in your left eye.
KIRK:
Yeah, I already have.
MCCOY:
Oh, and you're going to get a really bad headache and a flop sweat.
KIRK:
You call this a FAVOUR?
MCCOY:
Yeah, you owe me one.
[Hangar One]
MALE ASSIGNER:
Kirk, James T.
He's not cleared for duty aboard the Enterprise.
MCCOY:
Medical Code states the treatment and transport of a patient to be determined at the discretion of his attending physician, which is me.
So, I'm taking Mister Kirk aboard.
Or would you like to explain to Captain Pike why the Enterprise warped into a crisis without one of its senior medical officers?
MALE ASSIGNER:
As you were.
KIRK:
As you were.
MCCOY:
C'mon.
[Shuttlecraft Gilliam]
(as the shuttlecrafts head to their various ships, including the Enterprise)
KIRK:
I might throw up on you.
MCCOY:
Oh Jim, you got to look at this.
Jim, look!
KIRK: What?
(they look out at Earth Spacedock and the massive Enterprise)
[Enterprise Shuttlebay]
MCCOY:
We need to get you changed.
KIRK:
I don't feel right.
I feel like I'm leaking.
MCCOY:
Hell, it's that pointy-eared bastard.
(Kirk and McCoy swerve to narrowly avoid being spotted by Spock. Spock enters a turbolift and arrives on the bridge)
[Sickbay]
KIRK:
Where are we?
MCCOY:
Medical bay.
KIRK:
This is worth it.
MCCOY:
A little suffering's good for the soul.
KIRK: (to a nurse)
Hi, how are you.
MCCOY:
Over here.
KIRK:
My mouth is itchy, is that normal?
MCCOY:
Well, those symptoms won't last long.
I'm going to give you a mild sedative.
KIRK:
Agh, I wish I didn't know you.
MCCOY:
Don't be such an infant.
(he applies the sedative to Kirk)
KIRK:
Aggh... how long is it supposed to...
(he falls unconscious)
MCCOY:
Unbelievable.
(Kirk awakes in front of the monitor)
Kirk:
Lightning storm!
MCCOY:
Uh, Jim, you're awake.
How do you feel?
KIRK:
ah.. uh...
MCCOY:
Good god, man!
KIRK:
What? Ah!
(His hands come into view, extremely swollen)
KIRK:
What the hell's this?!
MCCOY:
Reaction to the vaccine.
Dammit!
Nurse Chapel, I need fifty cc's of cortazone.
CHAPEL: (offscreen)
Yes, sir.
(Kirk replays Chekov's message as McCoy scans Kirk)
KIRK:
Nice. We got to stop the ship!
[Corridor]
(Kirk and McCoy are frantically running through the corridors)
MCCOY:
Jim! I'm not kidding, we need to keep your heart rate down!
KIRK:
Computer, locate crew member Uhura!
MCCOY:
I haven't seen a reaction this severe since med school.
KIRK:
We're flying into a trap!
MCCOY:
Dammit Jim, stand still.
(McCoy hypos Kirk in the neck)
KIRK:
Ow! Stop it!
(Kirk runs and finds Uhura)
KIRK:
Uhura, Uhura.
UHURA:
Kirk, what are you doing here?
KIRK:
The transmission from the Klingon prison planet, what exactly was...
UHURA:
Oh my god, what's wrong with your hands?!
(McCoy begins scanning Kirk again)
KIRK:
It-it-it... look, who is responsible for the Klingon attack?
Was the ship Romul...
UHURA:
Was the ship what?
KIRK: (to McCoy)
What's happening to my mouth?
MCCOY:
You got numb tongue?
KIRK: (mumbled)
Numb tongue!
MCCOY:
I can fix that!
(McCoy briefly leaves)
UHURA:
Was the ship what?
KIRK: (mumbled) Romulan!
UHURA: What?
KIRK: (mumbled, but clearer) Romulan
UHURA:
Romulan?
KIRK: (mumbled)
Yeah
UHURA:
Yes.
KIRK: (mumbled)
Yes!
(Kirk is hypoed again by McCoy)
KIRK: (mumbled)
Ahh... dammit!
[Vulcan]
(a massive drill platform is in the atmosphere, from the Narada. Amanda sees it from her home, just beyond the Vasquez Rocks)
[Narada Bridge]
AYEL:
Lord Nero, seven Federation ships are on their way.
[Enterprise Corridor]
(Kirk, McCoy, and Uhura are now running through the corridors)
MCCOY:
Jim!
UHURA:
What's going on?!
MCCOY:
Jim, come back!
UHURA:
Kirk!
[Bridge]
KIRK:
Captain!
MCCOY:
Jim, no!
KIRK:
Captain Pike, we have to stop the ship!
PIKE:
Kirk, how the hell did you get on board the Enterprise!
MCCOY:
Captain, this man's under the influence of a severe reaction of a Melvaran flea vaccine, completely...
KIRK:
Bones, Bones...
MCCOY:
...delusional.
I take full responsibility.
KIRK:
Vulcan is not experiencing a natural disaster.
It's being attacked by Romulans.
PIKE: Romulans? Cadet Kirk, I think you've had enough attention for one day. McCoy take him back to medical, we'll have words later.
MCCOY: Aye Captain.
KIRK: Look, sir, that same anomaly...
PIKE: Mister Kirk...
SPOCK: Mister Kirk is not cleared to be aboard this vessel.
KIRK: Look, I get it, you're a great orator. I'd love to do it again with you to.
SPOCK: I can remove the Cadet...
KIRK: Try it! This Cadet is trying to save the bridge.
SPOCK: By recommending a full stop mid-warp during a rescue mission?
KIRK: It's not a rescue mission, listen, it's an attack.
SPOCK: Based on what facts?
KIRK: That same anomaly, a lightning storm in space that we saw today, also occurred on the day of my birth. Before a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin. (to Pike) You know that, sir, I read your dissertation. That ship which had formidable and advanced weaponry was never seen or heard from again. The Kelvin attack to place on the edge of Klingon space and at twenty-three hundred hours last night, there was an attack. Forty-seven Klingon warbirds destroyed by a Romulan, sir. It was reported that the Romulans were in one ship, one massive ship.
PIKE: And you know of this Klingon attack how?
UHURA: Sir, I intercepted and translated the message myself. Kirk's report is accurate.
KIRK: We're warping into a trap, sir. The Romulans are waiting for us, I promise you that.
SPOCK: The Cadet's logic is sound. And Lieutenant Uhura is unmatched in xenolinguistics, we would be wise to accept her conclusion.
PIKE: Scan Vulcan space, check for any transmissions in Romulan.
MALE LIEUTENANT: Sir, I'm not sure I can distinguish the Romulan language from Vulcan.
PIKE: (to Uhura) What about you? Do you speak Romulan, Cadet?
UHURA: Uhura. All three dialects, sir.
PIKE: Uhura, relieve the lieutenant.
UHURA: Yes sir.
PIKE: Hannity, hail the USS Truman.
HANNITY: All the other ships are out of warp, sir, and have arrived at Vulcan, but we seemed to have lost all contact.
UHURA: Sir, I pick up no Romulan transmission, or transmission of any kind in the area.
KIRK: It's because they're being attacked.
PIKE: Shields up, red alert.
SULU: Arrival in Vulcan in five seconds... four... three... two...
(the arrive into a huge space battle)
PIKE: Emergency evasive.
OFFICER: Running sir.
(bridge officers begin their reporting)
PIKE: Damage report.
OFFICER: Deflector shields are holding.
PIKE: All stations. Engineer Olson, report.
PIKE: Full reverse, come about starboard ninety degrees, drop us underneath and...
(everyone is amazed at the massive Narada)
Tuvok and security arrive.)
NEELIX:
Something's wrong with him.
EMH:
Don't you know it's rude to refer to somebody in the third person.
You had a choice, Mister Neelix. Should I do something rude or not do something rude?
TUVOK: Doctor, we must return to Sickbay.
EMH: Why should I? What if I don't want to return to Sickbay? What if I decide not to return to Sickbay? No, I don't choose this. Leave me alone! Let me go! Why did she have to die? Why did I kill her? Why did I decide to kill her? Why? Somebody tell me why!
[Computer control room]
JANEWAY: It was downhill from there. You developed a feedback loop between your ethical and cognitive subroutines. You were having the same thoughts over and over again. We couldn't stop it.
TORRES: Our only option was to erase your memories of those events.
EMH: You were right. I didn't deserve to keep those memories, not after what I did.
JANEWAY: You were performing your duty.
EMH: Two patients, which do I kill?
JANEWAY: Doctor.
EMH: Doctor? Hardly! A doctor retains his objectivity. I didn't do that, did I? Two patients, equal chances of survival and I chose the one I was closer to? I chose my friend? That's not in my programming! That's not what I was designed to do! Go ahead! Reprogramme me! I'll lend you a hand! Let's start with this very day, this hour, this second!
JANEWAY: Computer, deactivate the EMH.
TORRES: Here we go again. Captain?
JANEWAY: It's as though there's a battle being fought inside him, between his original programming and what he's become. Our solution was to end that battle. What if we were wrong?
TORRES: We've seen what happens to him. In fact, we've seen it twice.
JANEWAY: Still, we allowed him to evolve, and at the first sign of trouble? We gave him a soul, B'Elanna. Do we have the right to take it away now?
TORRES: We gave him personality subroutines. I'd hardly call that a soul.
[Cargo Bay two]
(Janeway brings Seven out of regeneration.)
SEVEN: Captain.
JANEWAY: I'm having trouble with the nature of individuality.
SEVEN: You require a philosophical discussion?
JANEWAY: There's a time and a place for it. This is one of them. After I freed you from the Collective, you were transformed. It's been a difficult process. Was it worth it?
SEVEN: I had no choice.
JANEWAY; That's not what I asked you.
SEVEN: If I could change what happened, erase what you did to me, would I? No.
Captain's log, supplemental. Our Doctor is now our patient. It's been two weeks since I've ordered a round the clock vigil. A crew member has stayed with him at all times, offering a sounding board and a familiar presence while he struggles to understand his memories and thoughts. The chance of recovery? Uncertain.
[Holodeck]
EMH: The more I think about it, the more I realise there's nothing I could've done differently.
JANEWAY: What do you mean?
EMH: The primordial atom burst, sending out its radiation, setting everything in motion. One particle collides with another, gases expand, planets contract, and before you know it we've got starships and holodecks and chicken soup. In fact, you can't help but have starships and holodecks and chicken soup, because it was all determined twenty billion years ago!
(Tuvok enters during this outburst.)
TUVOK: There is a certain logic to your logic. Progress?
JANEWAY: I'm not sure if he's making any sense of this experience, or if his programme's just running in circles.
TUVOK: You've been here for sixteen hours. Let me continue while you rest.
JANEWAY: I'll be all right. Go back to the bridge.
(Tuvok leaves. Janeway returns to her book.)
EMH: How can you read at a time like this?
JANEWAY: It helps me think.
EMH: Think? What do you need to think about?
JANEWAY: You. This book is relevant to your situation.
EMH: Oh? What is it?
JANEWAY: Poetry, written on Earth a thousand years ago. La Vita Nuova.
EMH: La Vita Nuova. The New Life? Ha! Tell that to Ensign Jetal. Actually, I killed her countless times.
JANEWAY: What do you mean?
EMH: Causality, probability. For every action, there's an infinite number of reactions and in each one of them, I killed her. Or did I? Too many possibilities. Too many pathways for my programme to follow. Impossible to choose. Still, I can't live with the knowledge of what I've done. I can't.
(Janeway has fallen asleep.)
EMH: Captain? Captain?
JANEWAY: Oh, sorry.
EMH: How could you sleep at a time like this?
JANEWAY: It's been a long day. You were saying?
EMH: What's wrong?
JANEWAY: Nothing.
EMH: You're ill!
JANEWAY: I have a headache.
EMH: Fever, you have a fever.
JANEWAY: I'll live.
EMH: Medical emergency!
JANEWAY: Doctor.
EMH: Someone's got to treat you immediately. Call Mister Paris. You've got to get to Sickbay.
JANEWAY: Doctor, I'm a little busy right now, helping a friend.
EMH: I, I'll be all right. Go, sleep, please. I'll still be here in the morning.
JANEWAY: Are you sure?
EMH: Yes. Please, I don't want to be responsible for any more suffering.
(Janeway leave her book open at the first page.)
JANEWAY: Good night. If you need anything.
EMH: I'll call. Thank you, Captain. (Janeway leaves. The EMH picks up the book and reads aloud.)
EMH: In that book which is my memory, on the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you, appear the words - Here begins a new life.
I traded my birthright for a life submission in a World that's ruled by your enemies.
Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss for the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made.
Apparently The World is made that way.
If Esau really got the pottage in return for his birthright, then Esau was a lucky exception.
You can't get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.
From which it would follow that the question, “What things are first?” is of concern not only to philosophers but to everyone.
To preserve civilization has been the great aim; the collapse of civilization, the great bugbear.
Peace, a high standard of life, hygiene, transport, science and amusement - all these, which are what we usually mean by civilization, have been our ends.
Perhaps it can't be preserved that way.
Perhaps civilization will never be safe until we care for somethingelsemore than we care for it.
What is the first thing?
The only reply I can offer here is thatif we do not know,
then the first, and only practical thing, is to set about finding out.
CS Lewis, God in the Dock
And I began to realise a little bit about how this stuff works.
So beyond that, I decided: “I won’t just use it to get laid, because it seems a pretty low-grade kind of way of dealing with magic.”
But man, it WORKS, Believe me!
[AFTER Kal-El and Lois sleep together in the Fortress of Solitude, Kal-El addresses the image of his father, Jor-El]
Jor-El:
The people of your planet are well pleased with you, Kal-El. You have served them faithfully and they are grateful for it.
And yet you have returned to reason with me once again.
My son, I have tried to anticipate your ever question.
This is one I'd... hoped you would not ask.
Kal-El:
My attatchments, um, the feelings which I have developed for a certain human being have deeply affected me, Father.
Jor-El:
You cannot serve humanity by investing your time and emotion in one human being at the expense of the rest.
The concepts are mutally exclusive.
Kal-El:
And if I no longer wish to serve humanity...
Jor-El:
Is this how you repay their gratitude?
By abandoning the weak, the defenceless, the needy for the sake of you selfish pursuits?
Kal-El:
Selfish!? After all I've done for them?
Will there ever come a time when I've served enough?
At least they get a chance for happiness.
I only ask as much, no more.
Jor-El:
Yours is a higher happiness.
The fulfillment of your mission, as inspiration you must have felt.
You must have felt that happiness within you.
My son, surely you cannot deny that feeling.
Kal-El:
No, I cannot... any more than I can deny the other, which is stronger in me, Father.
So much stronger.
[TODAY.]
Is there no way then, Father? Must I finally be denied the one thing in life which I truly desire?
Jor-El:
If you will not be Kal-El, if you will live as one of them, love their kind as one of them, then it follows that you must become one of them.
This crystal chamber has in it the harnessed rays of the red sun of Krypton.
Once exposed to them all your great powers on Earth will disappear... forever.
Once this is done, there's no going back.
You will feel like an ordinary man and you can be harmed like an ordinary man.
Think, Kal-El, I beg you.
Kal-El:
Father... I love her.
[Yeah, Today....]
Jor-El:
Think, Kal-El.
[Kal-El steps into the chamber]
Father? If you can hear me, I failed.
I failed you, I failed myself, and... and all humanity.
I traded my birthright for a life submission in a world that's ruled by your enemies.
There's nobody left to help them now... the people of the world... not since I... !!!FATHER!!!
Jor-El:
Listen carefully, my son, for we shall never speak again.
If you hear me now then you have made use of the only means left in you:
The crystal source through which our communications began.
The circle is now complete.
You have made a dreadful mistake, Kal-El. You did this of your own free will in spite of all I could say to dissuade you.
Clark Kent:
I, uh...
Jor-El:
Now, you have returned to me for one last chance to redeem yourself.
This too finally I have anticipated, my son.
Clark Kent:
Father, no...
Jor-El:
Look at me, Kal-El.
Once before when you were small, I died while giving you a chance for life.
And now, even though it will exhaust the final energy left within me-
Look at me, Kal-El.
The Kryptonian prophecy will be at once fulfilled.
The son becomes the father, the father becomes the son.
Farewell forever, Kal-El.
Remember me, My Son.
“Mark Millar, Tom Peyer, Mark Waid, and I had approached DC in 1999 with the idea of relaunching Superman for a new generation in a series to be entitled Superman Now or Superman 2000, depending on which version of the story synopsis you read.
We’d spent many enjoyable hours in conversation, working out how to restore our beloved Superman to his preeminent place as the world’s first and best superhero.
Following the lead of the Lois and Clark TV show, the comic-book Superman had, at long last, put a ring on his long-suffering girlfriend’s finger and carried her across the threshold to holy matrimony after six decades of dodging the issue—although it was Clark Kent whom Lois married in public, while Superman had to conceal his wedding band every time he switched from his sober suit and tie.
This newly domesticated Superman was a somehow diminished figure, all but sleepwalking through a sequence of increasingly contrived “event” story lines, which tried in vain to hit the heights of “The Death of Superman” seven years previously.
Superman Now was to be a reaction against this often overemotional and ineffectual Man of Steel, reuniting him with his mythic potential, his archetypal purpose, but there was one fix we couldn’t seem to wrap our collective imagination around: the marriage.
The Clark-Lois-Superman triangle—“Clark loves Lois. Lois loves Superman. Superman loves Clark,” as Elliot S. Maggin put it in his intelligent, charming Superman novel Miracle Monday—seemed intrinsic to the appeal of the stories, but none of us wanted to simply undo the relationship using sorcery, or “memory wipes,” or any other of the hundreds of cheap and unlikely magic-wand plot devices we could have dredged up from the bottom of the barrel.”
Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes — men who despise you — enslave you — who regiment your lives — tell you what to do — what to think or what to feel!
Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder.
Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men — machine men with machine minds and machine hearts!
You are not machines!
You are not cattle!
You are men!
You have the love of humanity in your hearts.
You don't hate!
Only The Unloved hate —
The Unloved and The Unnatural!
A small vessel, entering orbit.
I detect no lifeforms aboard, sir.
[Soong's lab]
(Data is rubbing his stomach while patting his head)
SOONG:
Good. Good, good, good.
Keep it up. Keep it up.
Old Tom Handy swore you'd never master that.
Data, Data, whistle for me.
(Data does his bad, off-key 'Pop goes the Weasel')
SOONG:
Oh, well.
All right, that's enough.
Sit down.
(he inspects a plant)
Beautiful, beautiful.
You know, I've been able to keep track of you from time to time.
You've become something of a celebrity in cybernetic circles.
Data, why Starfleet?
DATA:
Sir?
SOONG:
I gave you the ability to choose whatever you wanted.
To do whatever you wanted.
Why Starfleet?
DATA:
It was Starfleet officers who rescued me.
SOONG:
Ah. So you decided to emulate your emancipators, huh?
How disappointing.
DATA:
What choice of vocation would have met with your approval, sir?
SOONG:
Well, I often hoped you might become a scientist.
Perhaps even a cyberneticist.
DATA:
To follow in your footsteps, as it were?
SOONG:
I see nothing wrong with that.
DATA:
May I ask you a question, sir?
SOONG:
Certainly.
Anything you like.
DATA:
Why did you create me?
SOONG:
Why does a painter, paint?
Why does a boxer, box?
You know what Michelangelo used to say?
That the sculptures he made were already there before he started, hidden in the marble.
All he needed to do was remove the unneeded bits.
It wasn't quite that easy with you, Data.
But the need to do it, my need to do it, was no different than Michelangelo's need.
Now let me ask you a question.
Why are humans so fascinated by old things?
DATA:
Old things?
SOONG:
Old buildings, churches, walls, ancient things, antique things, tables, clocks, knick knacks.
Why? Why, why?
DATA:
There are many possible explanations.
SOONG:
If you brought a Noophian to Earth, he'd probably look around and say,
“Tear that old village down, it's hanging in rags.
Build me something new, something efficient.”
But to a human, that old house, that ancient wall, it's a shrine, something to be cherished.
Again, I ask you, ‘why?’
DATA:
Perhaps, for humans, Old Things represent a tie to The Past.
SOONG:
What's so important about The Past?
People got sick, they needed money. Why tie yourself to that?
DATA:
Humans are mortal.
They seem to need a sense of continuity.
SOONG:
Ah hah!! Why?
DATA:
To give their lives meaning.
A sense of purpose.
SOONG:
And this continuity, does it only run one way, backwards, to the past?
DATA:
I suppose it is a factor in the human desire to procreate.
SOONG:
So you believe that having children gives humans a sense of immortality, do you?
DATA:
It is a reasonable explanation to your query, sir.
SOONG:
And to yours as well, Data.
DATA:
I implore you, do not reactivate him.
SOONG:
Don't be ridiculous, Data.
Lore is far from the maniacal android you have made him out to be.
In any case, he'll obey me.
He always did.
DATA:
But he admitted to an alliance with the Crystal Entity.
To gain its favour, he betrayed the colonists and would have betrayed the Enterprise as well had I not —
SOONG:
Shh! One more.
That should do it.
(Lore wakes, sees Data, and makes a lunge for him. Soong intervenes)
LORE:
So, you're still alive.
I'm surprised you woke me.
Why didn't you just take me apart again and be done with it?
That is why the two of you captured me, isn't it?
SOONG:
Data had nothing to do with this, Lore.
And nobody captured you.
Not exactly, that is.
You see, both of your brains contain a simple homing device.
Data's was activated purposefully.
Yours, well, until you walked through that door I had no idea you'd ever been reassembled.
LORE:
No thanks to you.
But thanks to you, dear brother, I spent nearly two years drifting in space.
If it hadn't been for a fortunate encounter with a Pakled trade ship, I'd still be out there.
DATA:
I had no alternative. You would have destroyed the Enterprise.
LORE:
Well, since I appear to be an uninvited guest at your little party, I'll leave you with your beloved son and be on my way.
SOONG:
Lore, wait.
There are questions I can answer.
You'll have no chance to ask them later.
You see, I'm dying.
(That stops Lore in his tracks)
SOONG:
Yes, I'm dying.
DATA:
Dying from what, sir?
LORE:
Wait a minute. Wait a minute.
What do you mean, you're dying?
You look fine.
You're not that old.
You look fine.
What is this?
Some kind of a trick?
SOONG:
I wish it were.
*********
LORE:
You did what you had to do?
What kind of answer is that?
SOONG:
The only one I can give you.
You were not functioning properly.
DATA:
Lore told me the colonists envied him because you made him so completely human.
SOONG:
I wouldn't exactly have used the word envious, Data.
LORE:
You disassembled me.
You took me apart.
DATA:
Lore also told me the colonists petitioned you to replace him with a less perfect android.
SOONG:
The last thing you should think of yourself as, Data, is less perfect.
The two of you are virtually identical, except for a bit of programming.
DATA:
It was a lie.
Another lie.
LORE:
I would have proven myself worth to you, if you'd just given me a chance.
But it was easier just to turn your back and build your precious Data.
SOONG:
You were The First.
You meant as much to me as Data ever did, but you were unstable.
The colonists were not envious of you, they were afraid of you.
You were unstable.
DATA:
I am not less perfect than Lore.
LORE:
Why didn't you just fix me?
It was within your power to fix me.
SOONG:
It wasn't as easy as that.
The next, the next logical step was to construct Data.
Afterward, I planned to get back to you, to fix you.
LORE:
Next logical step.
DATA:
I am not less perfect than Lore.
LORE:
I am not less perfect than Lore.
SOONG:
Enough!
Both of you, sit down. Sit down.
For all these years I've been plagued by what went wrong.
With all of your complexities, Lore, your nuances, basic emotions seemed almost simple by comparison.
But the emotion turned, and twisted, became entangled with ambition.
Lore, if I had known you were no longer sitting in pieces on some distant shelf, if I had known that I could simply press a button and bring you here, I would have spent those years trying to make things right for you as well.
But all I knew of was Data.
So I worked long and hard, and now I believe I've succeeded.
This is why I brought you here, Data.
Basic emotions.
Simple feelings, Data.
Your feelings.
I've imagined how hard it's been for you, living amongst beings so moved by emotion.
(
LORE:
I don't have to imagine. I know how hard it's been. You'd be surprised, Data. Feelings do funny things. You may even learn to understand your evil brother. To forgive him. We will be more alike, Data, you and I. You'll see. I'm happy for you.
DATA: I question your sincerity, Lore.
SOONG: Perhaps with this you'll learn to be more trusting, Data. Your brother has had good reason to be bitter.
DATA: But sir, Lore was responsible for
SOONG: He wasn't given the chance that you and I were given, to live. But now I'm sure he understands why I had to do what I had to do.
If there were only time, Lore. What a shame. The procedure is quite simple. I'm tired. I need to rest, first, I'm tired.
