"Defense counsel, proceed with your case," called Admiral Paris.
"Prosecution counsel has done an admirable job in presenting her case that holograms are not and of no right ought to be persons," started the Doctor. "She has argued that holograms are not living beings because of lack of autonomy of will and lack of self-containedness. In cross examination I have, I hope, shown that organic beings are no more or less autonomous or self-contained. And certainly the prosecution's attempt to demonstrate the supposed mechanical compliantness of holograms only demonstrated that their behavior is imperfectly predictable, as that of life forms is.
"However, she has also attempted to show that holograms cannot relate to other beings as organic beings do. In this her case had an obvious and fatal flaw. In establishing that USS Voyager's EMH was unable to form deep and lasting relationships with his holographic family, it was established that he is capable of forming such relationships, having done so with Voyager's crew and thereby formed the basis of comparison.
"I shall expand on that and shall prove the prosecution wrong in its position that holograms cannot relate to other beings as organic beings do, and thereby prove that they are in fact life forms.
"I call to the stand Michael O'Sullivan."