- [last lines]
- Lt. Commander Data: I witnessed something... remarkable. Individually, they were both so...
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Wounded. Isolated.
- Lt. Commander Data: Yes. But no longer. Through joining... they have been healed. Grief has been transmuted to joy, loneliness to... belonging.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Data? You *do* understand?
- Lt. Commander Data: Yes, Counselor. When Tin Man returned me to the Enterprise, I realized... this is where *I* belong.
- Lt. Commander Data: You said in the transporter room that you could not read my mind.
- Tam Elbrun: True enough. But I think I understand you pretty well. It worries you that I can't read your mind?
- Lt. Commander Data: Perhaps there is nothing to read - nothing more than mechanisms and algorithmic responses.
- Tam Elbrun: Perhaps you're just different. It's not a sin, you know. Though you may have heard otherwise.
- Tam Elbrun: Beautiful creatures, the Chandrans. Their minds are glacial. They have a lovely three-day ritual for saying 'hello'.
- Tam Elbrun: All my life I have waited for this - a chance to find peace. Finally all the voices are silent. Only Tin Man speaks to me now. Don't you see, Data? This... is where I belong.
- Counselor Deanna Troi: Captain, may I come with you to greet Tam?
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: You know him?
- Counselor Deanna Troi: I do. He was at the university on Betazed when I was studying psychology there.
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard: Oh, I see, he was a colleague of yours?
- Counselor Deanna Troi: No - he was a patient.
- Tam Elbrun: All right, all right! I should've... brought up the Romulans earlier, but I was... distracted.
- Tam Elbrun: [suddenly, to Riker] And no, Billy-boy, I wasn't distracted on Ghorusda. If Darson had listened to me, no one would have died!
- [he is about to leave, but turns around to Riker once more]
- Tam Elbrun: No? Well, I don't care whether you believe that or not!
- Tam Elbrun: [looking around Data's quarters as Data works] You do a lot of your work here?
- Data: Yes. I have configured these instruments to display information with greater speed and efficiency than stations used by the others.
- Tam Elbrun: Nice...
- [Tam strolls through a doorway, out of sight. Data pauses to look in his general direction. Tam peeks around the jamb]
- Tam Elbrun: A little Spartan.
- Data: "Spartan"?
- Tam Elbrun: Lots of work space; not much room to live. I don't guess you sleep.
- Data: I have tried it from time to time, but you are correct, I do not require rest.
- Tam Elbrun: But you paint!
- [Tam lifts the tarp from a painting of a wormhole and admires it. Data briefly reacts with a hint of modest embarrassment before proceeding]
- Data: The creature's anatomy appears... most peculiar.
- Tam Elbrun: [pauses, as if to filter out more voices] In what way?
- Data: It is indeed laid out as a vessel with what appear to be chambers and corridors. An internal environment suitable for carbon-based lifeforms is being maintained, yet there is no evidence of a crew aboard. Tin Man is a living being which has been bred, or has adapted itself to serve a purpose. I find that interesting.
- Tam Elbrun: Why? Must living beings have a purpose? Or do we exist for no reason but to exist?
- Data: [overwhelmed take] I do not believe I am qualified to express an opinion.
- Tam Elbrun: Oh, Data, you are uniquely qualified! You think a great deal about humanity. And, you're an honest researcher. You don't treat anything as trivial or irrelevant. You want to try it all.
- Data: [scrutinizing] You said in the transporter room that you could not read my mind.
- Tam Elbrun: True enough, but I think I understand you pretty well.
- [pause]
- Tam Elbrun: It worries you that I can't read your mind?
- Data: [turns attention to his displays again] Perhaps there is nothing to read. Nothing more than mechanisms and algorithmic responses.
- Tam Elbrun: Perhaps... you're just different. It's not a sin, you know; though you may have heard otherwise.
- Tam Elbrun: [first meeting Data; startled] Who... What are you?
- Lt. Cmdr. Data: I am Data. I am an android.