Bynars

Two Bynars

The Bynars are a race of humanoids native to the planet Bynaus in the Beta Magellan system.

The Bynars are shorter in height than most humanoids and have lilac skin and enlarged skulls. Their most definitive characteristic is that they are interconnected with a master computer on Bynaus. (TNG: "11001001")

When a Bynar is born, a surgeon removes the child's parietal lobe and replaces it with a synaptic processor. Doctor Phlox saw the procedure performed when he encountered the Bynars. He likened the Bynar system to, unknown at the time, a benign form of the Borg Collective. (ENT: "Regeneration")

Bynars always work and live in pairs. Because they are so interconnected with the master computer, the Bynars' language and thought patterns have become as close to binary code as is possible. They can speak English, usually finishing each other's sentences. For example:

One Zero: "It is a great pleasure..."

Zero One: "...to work on such a large mobile computer."

When they speak to each other, they use a high-frequency sound that is unintelligible to Humans. Every Bynar is equipped with a buffer to manage this rate of information transfer.

It is unclear whether the Bynars are members of the United Federation of Planets. Bynar crewmembers have not been seen on Starfleet vessels, although Starfleet employs them for computer upgrades on their ships. A team of Bynars was assigned to Starbase 74 under the supervision of Commander Orfil Quinteros. In 2364, those Bynars commandeered the USS Enterprise-D during a refit so that its computer could be used to restart their planetary computer, which had been damaged by the supernova of Beta Magellan. (TNG: "11001001")