"That is unlikely to work." Data had been on board long enough to access ship's records, and his father's data mining services, and to formulate his responses to whoever found him first. He had already set in motion several small actions which could lead to interesting things, and he was, for once, finding himself with nothing but time.

So he had wandered up to meet this strange man. After observing what the man was doing, Data thought it likely he was a scientist like many in this lab, but not of this time or place.