Ode to Spot
written by Brannon Braga
Data (Brent Spiner): Felis catus, is your taxinomic nomenclature, an endothermic quadraped, carnivorous by nature? Your visual, olfactory, and auditory senses, contribute to your hunting skills, and natural defenses.
I find myself intrigued, by your subvocal oscillations, a singular development of cat communications, that obviates your basic hedonistic predilection, for a rythmic stroking of your fur, to demonstrate affection.
A tail is quite essential, for your acrobatic talents. You would not be so agile, if you lacked its counterbalance, and when not being utilized to aid in locomotion, it often serves to illustrate, the state of your emotion.
Oh Spot, the complex levels of behavior you display, connote a fairly well developed cognitive array, and though you are not sentient, Spot, and do not comprehend, I nonetheless consider you, a true, and valued, friend.