“The Offspring” is episode sixteen of season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Commander Riker is away on personal leave (actually, Jonathan Frakes is directing the episode and barely shows up in it with primarily one amusing scene) and the Enterprise is charting an asteroid belt. Data has sent for Geordi, Wesley and Troi; it seems he’s been very mysterious since a cybernetics conference he attended. He’s spent every minute in the lab and Troi says it isn’t like Data to be so mysterious. Or to keep his lab locked every minute, according to Wesley. Geordi inquires how Wesley knows that.
When the door open, Data appears to be holding a foot and tells them they’re too early, shutting the door again. He then attaches the foot to something which slides up. Data opens the door again; he invited them to meet someone. A humanoid form slides down. This is Lal. Data introduces them to Lal and she calls him father. Which Wesley picks up on. Yes; Lal is Data’s child.
Captain Picard is informed and is examining Lal as Data explains that Lal has a positronic brain similar to his own. Geordi states that no-one has been able to do that since Data’s creation. There was something new at the conference and Data started programming Lal there. He’s transferred information to Lal’s brain from his own. The captain would have liked to have been consulted. Data has not observed anyone else approaching the captain regarding procreation. Data is going to allow Lal to choose her own sex and appearance. The captain would like to speak to Data in his ready room and wants to speak to Troi now.
Picard insists the new android isn’t a child; it’s an invention. Troi considers Lal to be a child; why should biology not technology be a determining factor and who are they to argue? The captain doesn’t understand how a 5′ tall android with heuristic learning and the strength of ten men can be a child. Troi comments that he has never been a parent.
The captain speaks to Data in his ready room. He didn’t anticipate objections and can deactivate La. Picard says he can’t; Lal is a life. The captain doesn’t know how Starfleet will react and, to Data, says he isn’t talking about parenting but the extraordinary consequences of creating a new life. Data thinks that describes becoming a parent. Data states he is the last of his kind; if he is damaged or destroyed, they will be lost forever. Just like other species, Data has sought to propagate his own.
Data, Lal and Troi head to the holodeck to allow Lal to choose her sex and appearance. Data has arranged several thousand composites. Troi seems shocked, and falls asleep in the process. Lal has narrowed it down to four and has chosen a human female, with more realistic skin and eye colour.
Data takes Lal home, explaining things to her, and trains her social skills. Data finds, as may teachers have, that teaching someone else enhances your own knowledge. Wesley suggests sending Lal to school, not for knowledge but to be with children her own age. Lal is only two weeks old. Well, close to her own age. When Lal gets on a ‘Why?’ bent, Data deactivates her – something parents likely wish they could do – and decides to send her to school.
The captain speaks to Admiral Haftel, from Starfleet Research, who wants Lal sent to his facility. They have superior facilities and personnel and a starship is hardly the best place for Lal. Picard is willing to release Lal and Data, but the admiral only wants Lal.
School does not go so well, according to the teacher. Lal knows so much she was put in with the older children, but that didn’t work. The younger children are afraid of her. Data seeks out Dr Crusher’s advice on parenting. Wesley also had a hard time making friends, and the doctor recounted her own problems as a child.
Admiral Haftel decides to head to the Enterprise to get Lal himself. He is adamant that Lal should be taken back with him. Captain Picard is not happy with this idea and reminds the admiral that, in “The Measure of a Man”, androids were defined as being living, sentient beings. A definition Picard helped with. Despite the admiral being a bit of a jerk – most Starfleet admirals seem to be – he is not a complete one.