“Inheritance” is episode ten of season seven of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is at Atrea IV after the Atrean government required for assistance in stopping a disaster. Two scientists are onboard, one of them human. The two are meeting with Captain Picard, Geordi and Data in the observation lounge. The molten core of their planet is solidifying and if it continues, Atrea IV will be uninhabitable in 13 months. According to Geordi and Data, reliquefying the core is the only permanent solution. They suggest drilling down to magma pockets with phasors and putting ferroplasmic infusion devices in them. This will work for several centuries.
After the meeting, the human, Dr Juliana Tainer, speaks to Data. She asks if he has any idea who she is. No. Juliana says they thought he’d lose all his early memories. She was there at the beginning. She helped create him. Data asks if she was a colleague of Soong. Yes. And his wife. You could say she’s Data’s mother.
They head to Ten Forward and Juliana says Data’s processors were wiped clean after they’d finished refining his program. She asks what he remembers. His first memory is being activated by the Starfleet officers who found him. He mentions the colonists’ logs and Juliana says they were designed to help him after his childhood. He was a baby at first who had difficulty learning motor skills and processing sensory information. Soong uploaded the logs after his memory was wiped. They’d planned to reactivate him, but the Crystalline Entity attacked and they had to leave quickly. There was no room for Data in the escape pod.
Data has found only on Juliana on the colony, O’Donnell. She says that’s her. There’s no record that she married Soong and she says that her mother didn’t approve so they got married in secret. Data explains he met Soong, in “Brothers”, and she tells him that was the planet they fled to. She didn’t know he was dead; they didn’t part on the best of terms, because Soong loved his work as much, if not more, than her. Data wants to corroborate the story.
In engineering, Data is trying to find out if it’s true. He tells Geordi he neither believes nor doubts it. The registry office where the marriage happened lost many records, but Soong and Juliana did go there. Geordi thinks it’s almost as if Data is trying to prove she’s lying. As to why Soong never mentioned her, maybe it was too painful. But Lore said the emotion chip also contained memories; perhaps those were some. And why would Juliana lie? Data can’t see a reason and is curious to learn more.
He finds Juliana in Ten Forward, and says he’d like to get to know her better. Mother. They are chatting as they leave and stop outside Troi’s quarters. Juliana says Soong would be pleased; he was worried the sexuality program wouldn’t work. Data tries protesting this; she doesn’t believe him.
Data, Geordi and Juliana are in engineering and they’re getting ready to drill. Juliana is pleased Data has good manners. He used to be downright rude. Geordi finds that hard to picture. Juliana says that’s nothing compared to other problems encountered. But she doesn’t want to embarrass Data. He says he can’t be embarrassed so she tells him that he didn’t originally see any point in clothes and they had to write a modesty subroutine.
Riker contacts them; they’re in orbit over the drilling site. Pran Tainer asks Riker and says someone will have checked Data’s calculations of course. No. But he’s machine; someone should check up. Still no. Riker orders Worf to fire. According to Juliana, the calculations were perfect. They need to wait until the pocket cools enough to enter, and Juliana would love to see Data’s quarters.
He demonstrates a violin piece he’s playing at a recital. She thinks his playing is beautiful. His creative aspect was her idea; Soong didn’t see the point but she insisted. Data says when creating he feels closest to human. She would like to play with him at the recital. She also looks at some paintings. One is of Lal. Data explains who she was. In a way, Juliana was her grandmother.
Juliana wonders if Data will try again. Well, he still has the urge to procreate. Given that Lal had an unstable matrix, how does Data know the same won’t happen again? They lost several prototypes before Lore. Three of them. Data didn’t know that. Juliana then admits she’s feeling guilty about something. She didn’t want Data taking with them in case he turned out like Lore.
The episode is basically about Data’s interactions with Soong’s former wife; the attempt to restore the planet’s core is definitely a side plot.