Post by 10110011I believe it was in the script because Tom Riker held O'Brien responsible for
the transporter mishap that caused the cloning mixup in the first place. In
that case, Tom Riker would have good reason to be angry with O'Brien. Or maybe
he just has it in for Transporter Chiefs in general... a guilt by association
kind of thing.
My recollection was that O'Brien was completely baffled by 'Riker's' anger
and outburst and shrugged it off at the time as something Riker would
confront him about and explain later. It was crafty on the part of Thomas
Riker to do this to ensure that O'Brien would avoid him and bring up
anything about their service on Enterprise that Thomas wouldn't know and
would expose as an imposter.
The one thing about that episode that seems unlikely is how a military
officer could travel without confirmable orders. In a future where cloning
or other clever means could allow an imposter access to sensitive areas
knowing that the person you're dealing with is actually the person you think
it is would be critical.
The fact that Wil Riker had double and that double was (out of Starfleet or
AWOL? I can't remember) should have been a red flag in his service record. I
suppose it reflects that when the episode was written that the explosion of
identity theft and terrorist concerns hadn't entered our social
consciousness yet.
--
"All my life I wanted to be someone, I guess I should have been more
specific."
-- Jane Wagner