Faces of Emotion

The door to Deanna's office chimed.

Rather than waiting to be interrogated, she had arranged a meeting with a cyberneticist named Valerie Richards who, under Deanna's initial empathic scan, had come across as being someone who was misinformed, rather than truly intolerant. It had appalled the counselor how many truly looked down upon the person they studied.

"Come in!" she said pleasantly.

The young auburn haired woman stepped in. "Counselor Troi?" she asked nervously.

"Yes, you're in the right place," the counselor replied kindly. "Have a seat."

She sat down opposite the counselor and picked up her data padd. "Is there some particular reason you asked to meet me?"

"I sensed you were a good person," Deanna said.

"Sensed—right, you're a Betazoid, and they're telepaths!"

"I'm only half-Betazoid, so I'm just an empath," Deanna corrected.

"Sorry," Valerie said, looking a bit embarrassed at her mistake but making a brave effort to hide it. "Can I ask you my questions? I prepared a special set, because you're the counselor."

"Go ahead," Deanna invited, feeling prepared, because Picard had also personalized the lists of probable questions.

"Does Commander Data ever need counseling?"

"Yes," Deanna said emphatically. "Sometimes he seems to need it more than those with emotions."

"How so?" Valerie inquired, surprised but deciding to go along with it.

Deanna smiled at the memory. "He considers me something of an expert on humanity, so if he doesn't understand something—which is a lot of the time—he comes to me, and I have to explain some human quirk in android terms."

"He's curious," Valerie concluded. "I mean—likes to collect his name."

"Curious is a good word for him," Deanna agreed, laughing.

"But he's curious about humanity? I'd think he'd be critical. You know, like a Vulcan. There's one of them who works with us, and he likes to tell us we're illogical."

Deanna pursed her lips. "Data does think things are illogical, but he isn't critical, he just wants them explained logically. Sometimes I have to disappoint him, because sometimes there just isn't a way to explain something logically."

"Why does he care?"

Finally, an easy question. "He wants to be human."

Valerie laughed in disbelief. "Really?"

"Really," Deanna confirmed. "And I think he knows that's impossible, so he tries to imitate humans instead."

"An android has an impossible desire?"

"I don't understand it either," Deanna admitted.

"Then—" she looked down at her data padd, "Can you sense him? I'd think not, because the 'desire' is probably just a programmed goal."

"You're right, I can't sense him," Deanna confirmed. "Sometimes it's comforting to have a blind spot, but sometimes I'd like to know what's going on inside him, because his expressions do seem almost emotional sometimes."

Valerie's eyebrows came together in confusion. "What does an emotionless android's emotional facial expressions look like?"

Deanna laughed. "Your expression right now."

Valerie's confusion increased. "What?" Her eyebrows came together more, and her mouth opened a tiny amount.

"If you close your mouth and tilt your head to the side, that's Data's confused expression."

She did so, then nodded. "What else?"

"He does this face when he thinks he's done something wrong." The counselor raised her eyebrows so they slanted downward (as opposed to the Vulcan slant upward) and pressed her lips together into a half-pout.

Valerie laughed. "When my little brother was a kid, he used that face to get out of trouble!"

Deanna laughed too. "Excited." Her eyebrows lifted, and the corners of her mouth seemed to twitch.

"Surprised." Her eyebrows shot up rapidly.

"Wistful, like when he talks about being human." Her eyebrows rose like earlier, but the corners of her mouth turned down.

"Serious," Her eyebrows came together, and she leaned forward slightly. Then she straightened up. "See?"

"Yes," Valerie nodded. "A lot of eyebrow movements." She looked thoughtful. "That's strange. You're an empath, and that means you know that Data doesn't have emotions. But you made all those faces that made it seem like he has emotions."

"Is that your next question?" Deanna asked.

"I'm done with my pre-prepared questions. They're kind of pointless now, because they were all about how an unemotional android could interact with the crew. But now it seems like Data has emotions. Only, it's impossible for a machine to have emotions, right?"

Deanna bit down on her lower lip in thought. Did Data have emotions? One would think that question would be easy for an empath, but it wasn't.

"I don't know," she said truthfully. "I can't sense anything from him, but as a counselor one learns other skills to help figure out what people are feeling, and sometimes he seems to have emotions that way."

"But androids can't have emotions." Valerie said firmly.

"I'm not saying that," Deanna insisted. "But I am saying that sometimes he seems emotional."

Deanna could sense that Valerie was still skeptical. "I'll go see if anyone agrees with you," she decided.

"You'll find many," Deanna replied confidently.

Valerie was still doubtful, but underneath, Deanna could sense that maybe she wasn't as close-minded as she now seemed.

"Maybe I'll talk to Data," she said.

"Go ahead," Deanna encouraged. "He's very kind."

Valerie nodded, then got up and left.

A/N Worf next!