Object

Workmen's Sabotage Tools (Picks and Shovels)

A set of heavy picks and shovels used by disguised saboteurs (three interphasic aliens) to dismantle warp plasma conduits aboard the USS Enterprise-D. The tools serve a dual purpose: first as sabotage instruments (prying apart conduits in dimly lit corridors or Freud's office) and later as improvised bludgeoning weapons during violent confrontations. In one scene, the workmen use them to attack Data, wrenching his arm from its socket amid his shrieking dismemberment. In another, the tools are raised to strike Picard and Geordi before being dropped unused due to Data's intervention. Their dual function—maintenance tools repurposed as weapons—heightens the episode's tension and underscores the saboteurs' brutality.

2 appearances

Purpose

Hack into warp plasma conduits and tear android limbs

Significance

These picks transform silent intruders into agents of grotesque violence, mirroring Data's nightmares and revealing the interphasic threat's physical destructiveness against the ship's core systems and crew.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S7E6 · Phantasms

Data’s violent dismemberment by interphasic intruders

The workmen’s picks are wielded with savage force, transforming ordinary maintenance tools into weapons of destruction. One pick is used to tear Data’s arm from its socket, the metal edge biting into his synthetic flesh and circuits. The tool’s heavy, jagged design allows for brutal leverage, ripping apart servos and wiring in a spray of sparks. The picks symbolize the workmen’s dual role—as saboteurs and as agents of violence—blurring the line between maintenance and mayhem.

Before: Gripped by the workmen, ready for use in dismantling the conduit.

After: Covered in Data’s torn circuitry and synthetic fluids, now repurposed as instruments of dismemberment.

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S7E6 · Phantasms

Data's shriek weaponizes against enemies

The workmen’s shovels are used to pry apart the warp plasma conduit before they turn violently on Data, Picard, and Geordi. Their tools symbolize both their labor and their aggression, serving as extensions of their interphasic threat.

Before: Gripped by the workmen, ready for use in sabotage.

After: Dropped by the workmen as they are incapacitated by Data’s shriek, lying useless on the floor.

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