D ' Arsay archive The D ' Arsay archive was a spaceborne data - storage facility launched by the D ' Arsay over 87 million year s prior to the 24th century . Made of fortanium and other minerals , it contained records of artifact s and thousands of personalities from myths within the D ' Arsay culture . It had the capability of scanning foreign computer systems and imparting its data while re - programming it to exhibit its records . It also had a tractor beam . After launch , it spent 87 million years drifting in space for over two sectors and eventually was located in sector 1156 . It had accumulated minerals over time , completely obscuring its structure and making it appear as a comet . The discovered the comet in 2370 . After scan ning the starship , it began to use the replicator s on board to change parts of the vessel into different mythical settings contained within the records in the archive . These settings were from a drama involving Masaka , a sun god dess , and involved locations such as an aqueduct , a temple , and a swamp . The archive also altered Data ' s programming , giving him personalities of key mythical figures , such as a terrified D ' Arsay boy , a person named Ihat , an elderly man who portrayed Masaka ' s father , a victim of Masaka , and Masaka herself . Furthermore , the program turned the internal mechanism of a photon torpedo into snake s and turned engineering into an inferno . Captain Jean - Luc Picard sought to remedy this by playing along in the myth , using the persona of Korgano , another mythical figure , to persuade Masaka , and in turn the archive , to restore Data as well as the " Enterprise " - D to their normal states . Following the incident , the archive was placed under study by a Starfleet archaeological team . ( ) Background information . According to science consultant André Bormanis , the explanation given in the original script was that the archive was an " advanced Genesis Device " that mistook the " Enterprise " for a world on which to recreate the ancient society . ( " " ) Studio model . The archive was one of the first CGI model s , but not the first – as there were digital starship models previously constructed for evaluation purposes ( " see : here " ) – , of a space - bound artificial structure in the " Star Trek " franchise . It was however , the first one not realized as a physical studio model , but rather directly as a fully textured CGI model , and as such , the very first one actually seen by the general " Star Trek " audience . Based upon a foot - high sculpture Dan Curry made , Santa Barbara Studios ( SBS ) constructed a CGI model . " " I considered doing a drawing of the library but finally opted for a 3D approach that allowed me to determine how it would look from different angles . The art director Richard James wanted the architecture to have a hint of Mayan look so I created that by sculpting it from wooden blocks that I cut together in the shop of Image G . Ron Moore flew it up to Santa Barbara Studios and they translated it into the CGI model of the library that is revealed when the comet starts to melt . " " , Curry revealed . ( " Cinefantastique " , Vol . 25 , No . 6 / Vol . 26 , p . 58 ) The studio also provided the comet and " steam " effects in the episode when the archive was freed from its icy enclosure by the " Enterprise " - D ' s phaser fire . Curry has retained the mock - up sculpture as part of his personal collection . ( TNG Season 6 DVD - special feature , " Departmental Briefing , Year Six : " Dan Curry Profile " ) When the remastered version of the episode came along in 2014 , it turned out that the computer files for the archive most likely did not exist anymore , partly because SBS – who had constructed their model in their own proprietary – was no longer in existence , partly because it was discovered that SBS had not been in the habit to archive their digital models . The visual effects company responsible for the remastering project , CBS Digital , was left with no choice other than to faithfully recreate the structure in their own software , , as featured at the top of this entry .