Tag Archives: 726

Data’s Dog

Data, Star Trek: The Next Gen­er­a­tion’s android sci­ence offi­cer, shared his star­ship quar­ters with a sleek cat named Spot. Data wanted to be human, wanted to under­stand what makes some of us choose choco­late over vanilla, what makes us gig­gle when tick­led, the strange and etheric con­nec­tions that tie our species together. A cat’s fiercely

726

When my youngest son, Mar­tin, chased gap-toothed girls through a dusty school­yard, he car­ried a tiny Star Trek shut­tle­craft in the front pocket of his jeans. “Vroooooooooom! Ba-ba-ba-ba-bing! Bing!” The shut­tle­craft — tor­pe­dos armed and ready — made the noise of a boy’s pursed lips. It flew grace­ful arcs, one hand over head, around body, swooped