I think, following the end of the season, it appeared very likely that Zora was indeed the sphere data having merged with the ships computer. That was my takeaway, anyway. And, I think that’s pretty damn cool, to be honest.
Quite why the crew abandon Discovery eventually, but don’t destroy it, starts to make a bit more sense if we assume that the sphere data will continue to play a big role. For one, we’ve seen that they weren’t able to self-destruct her, so that would be off the table later, too. And, given the history that is contained in the data, I think that as Starfleet officers they would simply look to preserve that information rather than destroy it, if they could ensure no one else could access it for nefarious means. For me, that would certainly fit with what we saw in Calypso.
It will be interesting to see if they find a way to work around what we saw, in Calypso. Will the crew come back, after the events of that short (and the joy of time travel), or is the Disco crews story over with that vessel exactly as was described in that Short Treks? I’d love to see them get creative, and it’s very interesting to be so early into a Trek show and currently know (or feel like we know) the fate of the ship.
