After all, she had already participated in an artistic pursuit when she sang in Ten Forward. When Mr. Okona had invited her to perform, she had initially demurred, but her father had proposed that she reconsider; he had made the case that joining the crew in their recreational activities could aid in her socialization. She had agreed, but at a loss for what to do, she had decided on singing “Beyond Antares” only when Mr. Okona had suggested it.
I need a suggestion, Lal realized. In striving to engage in artistic endeavors, she lacked well-defined procedures. When she solved an equation, she could proceed from one step to another following the logical dictates of mathematics, but to create a painting, no definitive step ensued after collecting and setting up the needed materials. When her father arrived home after his shift on the bridge, she would ask him to tell her what she should paint.
Lal stood up and began to clear away her canvas, palette, and brush, but as she did, she caught sight of a painting hanging on the wall. It showed a pair of dark brown orbs, each connected by small spokes to an outer rim, an artistic representation by her father of Zylo eggs. Lal wondered if anybody had suggested the subject of the painting to him, or if he had chosen it on his own. She hypothesized that, to truly engage in humanlike behavior, he would have executed the work completely on his own.
Why then can I not do that? Lal asked herself. She needed only to pick a subject, and then she could set it down on canvas to the best of her ability. That choice rested at the heart of her struggles, but she saw that it need not; she would simply paint the current object of her attention: her father’s canvas of Zylo eggs.
Lal moved the easel so that it stood in front of her father’s painting. Then she retrieved her palette and brush. She inspected the color of the Zylo eggs in her father’s work, then mixed red and black on her color tray. Not entirely satisfied, she cut the blend with a minute amount of yellow. Collecting the result on her brush, she at last reached forward and swiped an arc of brown across the canvas.
It gratified Lal to have finally begun an artistic expression she had conceived on her own, and she wanted to continue. She carried the arc around until she approximated a circle, and she realized that there would be complexities for her to resolve as her work progressed. She strived to represent, in two dimensions, a two-dimensional representation of three-dimensional objects. She stepped past her easel for a moment and scrutinized her father’s painting, searching for clues to the techniques he had employed.
A brief series of electronic tones sounded in the room, and Lal recognized the door chime. She accessed her social-skills subroutines, then said, “Please enter.”
The door opened, and Captain Riker and Counselor Troi stepped inside. “Hello, Lal,” the counselor said.
“Hello, Counselor Troi,” Lal replied. “Hello, Captain Riker.” The captain nodded.
“You’re painting?” the counselor said, moving over to glance at her canvas.
“I have just begun,” Lal said.
“I think it’s wonderful that you’re exploring your creative side,” the counselor told her. “You know, it took your father a lot longer in his life before he did anything like this.”
“I have the benefit of my father’s guidance,” Lal said. She thought for a moment, consulting the information she maintained on manners. Then she placed her palette and brush on the table and invited her guests to sit down.
“Thank you, but I’m afraid we can’t stay,” the captain said. Where Troi had smiled and spoken warmly to her, Riker appeared preoccupied, perhaps even concerned. “We’ve come to ask you a few questions.”
“I will do my best to answer them,” Lal said.
“Did Commander Data tell you what he would be doing when he went on duty today?” the captain asked.
“Only that he would be assuming his regular duties as operations officer for alpha shift,” Lal said, “and that he would return to our quarters immediately afterward.”
“Did he do or say anything out of the ordinary this morning?” the captain asked. “Have you noticed him acting … differently … in any way? Today or any other time recently?”
Lal considered the question, looking off to the side as she recalled and analyzed her interactions with her father that morning, and then for the past week. “No,” she ultimately answered, peering back up at Riker.