Its continuing mission,
to explore strange new worlds...
...to seek out new life
and new civilisations...
...to boldly go
where no one has gone before.
A few more seconds,
I could have saved him.
Commander, you did everything
you could. It was not your fault.
It was strange.
I felt as if
he didn't even recognise me,
although I was with him the other
day, supervising the refit.
How was he then?
Fine. I complimented him on getting
the refit done faster than expected.
He was pleased that I'd noticed.
I met with him six weeks ago
during crew evaluations.
He was very positive.
He was looking forward
to going to the nacelle tube.
He was a good officer
with a fine career ahead of him.
I don't understand why he wanted...
In my years as a Starfleet captain,
I've had to notify many parents
of the loss of loved ones,
but never before of a suicide.
I would like
to be able to offer Lt Kwan's parents
some explanation of what happened,
to help them make sense of this.
Maybe he left a message of some kind,
explaining why he did it.
I'd like you two to piece together
a picture of his last few days.
If he made personal logs,
it might help to look at them.
You are authorised to do so.
- La Forge to Captain.
- Go ahead.
I've finished my damage assessment.
We can be under way within the hour.
Mr la Forge, the medical situation
on Barson II has worsened.
We have permission
to exceed warp-speed limitations
to get on schedule.
We can give you warp eight
if we need it.
Acknowledged.
Geordi, would you agree that
the instinct for self-preservation
is shared by most life forms?
I'd say it's the most basic instinct,
Data.
Then I find it difficult
to understand
why someone would deliberately
terminate their own existence.
I don't know, Data.
Maybe Lt Kwan felt there was
something wrong with his life,
something he felt powerless to fix.
I believe I understand.
I have been in a similar situation.
Really?
The months after my activation
were a difficult period for me.
There were many problems
to do with my becoming sentient.
Because your neural net
was still forming?
As I acquired new skills,
neural pathways would form,
replacing other
less complex pathways.
It was very disorienting.
I bet.
As my systems grew in complexity,
it was difficult to integrate new
pathways into my existing neural net.
The probability of cascade failure
grew with each additional pathway.
I concluded it would be safer,
and easier,
to shut myself down
and start again.
But then you wouldn't have remembered
anything that happened to you.
In a way, it would have been
like committing suicide.
So what did you do?
I decided against the procedure.
I chose to treat the problems I was
having as challenges to overcome
- Not obstacles to be avoided.
- Great way to look at it, Data.
I wish Lt Kwan had been able to
look at his problems the same way.
This is a Napean design.
His mother's Napean.
His father's human.
It all looks so normal.
For some reason,
I half expected it to be a mess.
It is strange to think that someone
could have considered ending his life
and yet give no outward sign.
Just before he jumped,
he seemed almost calm.
He must have been in a lot of pain
to do what he did.
It could be that the prospect of
ending the pain felt like a relief.
- This is Ensign Calloway, isn't it?
- Yes, she is a medical technician.
It's always hard
to lose someone you care about,
but to lose them like this...
We should check his personal logs.
This is his last entry, made
before going on duty this morning.
Personal log, stardate 47622. 1.
We finished the nacelle tube refit
last night.
After pulling two double shifts,
I'm looking forward
to spending time with Maddy.
Ensign Calloway.
That doesn't sound like a man
planning to take his own life.
No, it does not.
I can't believe he's really gone.
I keep thinking he'll show up
and tell me there's been
some terrible