“Masks” is episode seventeen of season seven of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Troi is with some children who are making things from clay. She tells one that she’s there to help them convoy feelings in their sculpture. Data has made a perfect replica of a PADD. Troi reminds him he’s there to work on his imagination. Try something abstract. Like music. What it makes others feel. Data quickly sculpts a treble clef. She tells him it’s a start. Then Riker calls Data to the bridge.
The Enterprise is investigating a rogue comet not native to the area and there’s no previous record of it on any Federation charts. Data reports it has come from two sectors away and has been en route for 87 million years. The captain orders it scanned and the details sent to the Federation Astrophysical Survey. Light fills the bridge and Data says there’s a distortion in the comet’s inner core. He believes the light was an intense sensor echo. He’s compensated and dialled back the sensors; it will take 39 hours to complete the scan.
Doctor Crusher and Troi arrive at Troi’s quarters on their way to a workout with Worf. There’s a strange sculpture there and the doctor suggests a secret admirer left it. After they leave, the top glows and a symbol appears.
Data is working with clay again and has made a strange mask. He tells Troi he used his imagination. The image of the mask was clear in his mind. Troi asks Data if he’s been in her quarters. Because someone left an object with a symbol on it very similar to one on the mask. Data doesn’t know anything about it. Then the boy Troi spoke to earlier says they need to look at something. Strange symbols are floating across the display.
In engineering, Data is looking at a display whilst Riker and Geordi discuss the symbols. They came from the sensor array from the comet. Riker and Geordi discuss finding out what’s inside the comet using phasers to melt the exterior away. Data, when asked what he thinks, says he thinks he recognises the symbols. It’s possible his systems have been affected; he’ll run a full diagnostic. Data explains what the symbols mean. The final one, that looks to have his mask in the centre, means death.
When the comet’s exterior is melted away, an artefact is discovered inside it. Data reports it’s older than the comet. Riker asks if someone from the originating system built it. Captain Picard tells him that there are no technology advanced cultures there now. But 87 million years ago, perhaps there were. Maybe the cometary exterior accumulated on the object.
Geordi reports that the comet is definitely responsible for the anomalies; the sensor beam is being used as a carrier to transmit information. Data says he believes the device is an informational archive. But he doesn’t know why. Geordi can’t see why Data would be certain. The captain asks Data if he’s in communication with the archive. Data will run a diagnostic to check. The captain says to allow the device to try to make contact, but to sever the connection if the ship is in danger.
The captain is in his ready room examining artefacts when Riker enters. The system corruption has been confined but there are more artefacts like that. Primitive and with no function. The captain disagrees; they are ceremonial and deceptively primitive. The artefact is advanced, and he thinks the artefacts played a ritualistic role in society. He thinks the artefact is designed to be more than a library. He talks about the designs, and a common symbol, and another one that is often in the background.
Geordi and Data are checking Data out when Data asks how you know if you’re losing your mind. Geordi disconnects him, then turns and finds Data’s head has sealed over. There’s a symbol on his forehead, a plaque on his chest, and Data announces ‘Masaka is waking!’ with a smile.
The captain arrives in engineering. Whoever is inside Data says Data is gone. The captain calls for Troi. The one in Data says he comes from Masaka City. He won’t explain who Masaka is, only that they need to leave before she comes or they will know pain and death. Troi arrives and Not Data kneels and calls her Masaka. Then speaks in a different voice with a different plaque on his chest.
Geordi briefs the others; Data’s positronic net is being reconfigured. He thinks the archive is using Data to create different people from its culture. There’s no telling how many more personalities will emerge. The captain wants Geordi to try and access the archive whilst he goes to speak to those occupying Data.
According to the one the captain speaks to again, Masaka is lazy and spends most of her time sleeping. The problem is what happens when she’s awake. Only Korgano can speak to her, but he no longer chases Masaka. Then a third personality takes over. He’s afraid of Masaka. The ship shakes and Riker reports a tractor beam from the artefact is overriding the ship’s systems.
The personalities aren’t a huge amount of help, because they are speaking in riddles. And the artefact is busy transforming the ship. Eventually, there will be no ship left, if it isn’t stopped.