Picard: Captain's log, stardate 41249.3. We have orbited the two major planets of the Beta Renner system taking aboard delegates from those two worlds. Since achieving space flight, their major life forms, the Anticans and the Selay have become deadly enemies. But both have also applied for admission into our Federation. We are to deliver these delegates to this sector's neutral conference planet, called Parliament, in the hope their dispute can be resolved.
Picard: I'm Captain Picard. Welcome aboard. We hope your journey will be pleasant and comfortable. Arranging that will be my First Officer, Commander Riker.
Riker: Welcome aboard. If you'll follow me I will show you the accommodations that we've
Selay: We can already smell the Anticans. They were taken aboard first?
Picard: Only because their world was the first on this heading to Parliament.
Selay: Will our quarters be near the Anticans?
Riker: About one hundred meters apart.
Picard: Is that all right?
Selay: No. Unsatisfactory.
Riker: I believe we can accommodate your wishes. We'll rearrange the suite assignments. If you'll follow me.
Selay: And we must be upwind from the Anticans.
Riker: Of course, sir.
Tasha: Neither seem like very promising Federation candidates, sir.
Picard: Even Parliament's peacemakers may find this case a little difficult.
Picard: But do you understand the basis of all this nonsense between them?
Riker: No sir. I didn't understand that kind of hostility even when I studied Earth history.
Picard: Really? Oh, yes, well these life forms feel such passionate hatred matters of custom, God concepts, even, strangely enough, economic systems
Data: Sir, my sensors are picking up an unusual energy object ahead.
Picard: On screen.
Tasha: Confirmed, sir. My sensors read nothing solid but considerable energy in changing patterns.
Data: Also traveling at warp speed, sir. Intriguing. I can find no match with anything in our records, sir.
Picard: Change course to make a close sensor pass. We can then increase warp speed and reach Parliament on schedule.
Data: Aye, sir.
Laforge: So, Worf, why the interest in this? It's just routine maintenance on the sensor assemblies.
Worf: Simple, Geordi. Our Captain wants his junior officers to learn, learn, learn.
Laforge: Not just the junior ones. Okay, you hold this relay offline while I adjust these sensor circuits.
Tasha: Security to Sensor Maintenance.
Laforge: Lieutenant La Forge here.
Tasha: We're making a close sensor pass on an unusual object, Geordi. Any problems?
Laforge: Not at all, Lieutenant. All equipment on line and functioning.
Tasha: Sensors ready, sir.
Picard: Life form reading?
Data: No life form reading, sir.
Picard: Begin the pass.
Data: Sir, it is changing shape.
Picard: Any readings of matter there?
Data: Negative, Captain. Energy only.
Laforge: Worf! La Forge to Sickbay. We havd a medical emergency in sensor maintenance. I repeat, this is a medical emergency.
Crusher: What happened?
Laforge: I don't know. He got hit by some sensor feedback, maybe.
Laforge: You got it, Doc?
Crusher: I got it. Lieutenant Worf, can you hear what I'm saying? Let's get him up.
Laforge: Okay. Come on, big guy. On your feet. Here we go. That's it.
Crusher: Are you okay?
Laforge: He was just monitoring the sensor console when he jerked as though something hit him. What my sensors showed was a glow, just for a second. I can't explain it.
Picard: Could your Visor device have malfunctioned?
Laforge: I doubt it, sir. It seemed what I was seeing was something real.
Tasha: Sorry to call you, sir. Not strictly security. It's about the dietary requirements of the Antican delegates.
Riker: I thought that had been taken care of in advance, Tasha.
Tasha: So did we, sir. Their live animals were beamed aboard. We were going to preserve the meat for them, but they say we must bring it to them alive.
Riker: Then do so. Lieutenant Yar was confused. We no longer enslave animals for food purposes.
Antican: But we have seen humans eat meat.
Riker: You've seen something as fresh and tasty as meat, but inorganically materialized out of patterns used by our transporters.
Antican: This is sickening. It's barbaric.
Troi: He's reading normal now. How did you manage that?
Crusher: Yes. Normal.
Troi: Are you all right?
Crusher: Yes, perfectly. Both of us. Quite normal now.
Worf: What? Where am I?
Troi: Don't you remember? You were in the sensor maintenance room.
Worf: I remember monitoring the sensor console. What am I doing here?
Troi: That's a story the Doctor will tell you.
Picard: Obviously you feel it's something we should look at more carefully.
Data: A mystery is only a mystery as long as it remains uninvestigated, sir.
Picard: I love a mystery, Data, but this one will have to to wait until we deliver the delegates to their peace conference on Parliament. Time and tide, Lieutenant La Forge. Go to warp eight.
Laforge: Warp eight, sir.
Wesley: Him Mom. You're back early.
Crusher: Yes.
Wesley: Physical sciences class. We're studying Doctor Channing's theory on dilithium crystals.
Crusher: Tell me about it.
Wesley: Really? You never seemed that interested in warp theory before. Doctor Channing thinks it's possible to force dilithium into even more useful crystals. If as shown here, matter and antimatter could be aligned even more efficiently
Crusher: Would that affect navigation?
Wesley: This is engineering, not helm control.
Crusher: Oh yes, the helm's located on the Bridge.
Wesley: Mom, is something wrong?
Crusher: This is the helm.
Laforge: Unless there have been some changes I don't know about.
Picard: Doctor Crusher?
Crusher: You will wish to know Lieutenant Worf is much improved. Ready to return to duty.
Picard: What was the diagnosis?
Crusher: A temporary mental aberration.
Picard: Doctor, when such a diagnosis concerns a bridge officer, I expect a better explanation.
Crusher: Then I will first have to run some crosschecks on the library computer. Klingons are so unusual in their reactions, aren't they?
Picard: Use Science Station two, Doctor.
Data: Intriguing, Doctor. What does helm control have to do with medical crosschecks?
Crusher: Why am I?
Data: Is something wrong, Doctor?
Picard: Doctor, are you all right?
Crusher: Yes. Yes. I'll do my work in my office. That's where I should be.
Picard: Do you want someone to accompany you?
Data: Captain? There is a malfunction in this station. I cannot bring any information up on it. Science two does not function either, sir.
Singh: Engineering to Captain Picard.
Singh: We have something wrong with warp drive circuitry, sir.
Chief: Transporter room six to Bridge. Reporting transporter console malfunction, sir.
Picard: Data, this ship is less than a year out of Spacedock. What are the chances of this occurring?
Data: It is a virtual impossibility, sir.
Picard: So what the hell is going on here?
Picard: And you are telling me there are no explanations for these malfunctions?
Riker: At least, sir, all the department heads have reported the damage repaired.
Picard: That was not my question, Number One. What caused the malfunctions?
Singh: I believe it was a rampant electronic short that jumped from system to system, sir. But the only thing is, er
Picard: Yes, Mister Singh?
Singh: That shouldn't be possible. The affected systems don't generally interact with each other. And where they do, it wasn't an interlink that was malfunctioning.
Picard: Have you spoken with Chief Engineer Argyle about this problem?
Singh: With all the Engineering staff, sir. They're just as puzzled.
Picard: Well, I'm not satisfied. I want an explanation of this by the time we reach Parliament.
Singh: But, sir.
Picard: By the time we reach Parliament, Mister Singh.
Riker: These weapons were taken from two of your people who were loitering out of sight in the vicinity of the Selay delegation quarters. Would you care to explain, sir?
Antican: These are not weapons, First Officer. They are tools. We use these to dispatch the animals we consume.
Tasha: Your food supply is not on the same deck as the Selay delegation, sir.
Riker: And you have to admit that these could kill.
Antican: I admit some of my people are impulsive. and we all have reason to hate the Selay.
Tasha: They appear to have the same feelings about you, sir.
Antican: The nature of politics.
Riker: Nevertheless, Chief Delegate, you're on notice that all of your weapons, no matter what their basic function, are being confiscated. Violence will not be tolerated on the Enterprise.
Antican: Of course not. And if any does occur, let me assure you it will not be we Anticans who start it.
Tasha: Thank you, sir.
Antican: But we will finish it.
Worf: Sir, warp power is fading.
Picard: Picard to Engineering.
Picard: What is the problem?
Singh: We have lost the warp engine computer tie.
Worf: Warp five, four, three, two
Picard: State of the art vessel? Data, signal Parliament we'll be delayed. We will send a new arrival time as soon as it is determined.
Data: Sir, subspace radio is out.
Picard: All right, gentlemen, your theories on this sudden vulnerability of these systems.
Data: If the Enterprise were really this fragile, sir, she never would have left Spacedock. Therefore, her systems' failures are not endemic to the ship, but are the result of the actions of an unknown adversary.
Riker: We have a saboteur aboard.
Data: I believe I said that.
Picard: Gentlemen. The question is, who? I can't believe it's one of our people.
Riker: Agreed. It must be someone from either alien delegation. Now, if the Ferengi could have bought or bribed even one of them, that's all that they'd need.
Data: Ferengi contacts have been detected on both Selay and Antica, sir.
Picard: Can any of you suggest any other suspects?
Riker: You're sounding like a private eye, sir.
Data: Inquiry. Private eye?
Picard: A private consulting investigator, Data, who solves crimes.
Data: A most interesting occupation.
Picard: In the world of fact, probably not. However, in literature, criminal detection can be a fascinating exercise. The immortal Sherlock Holmes would have an interesting view of our mystery, I believe.
Riker: But I'm afraid we're going to have to find our solution without history's greatest Consulting Detective.
Wesley: How about here, Mister Singh? If the control network breaks at this point
Singh: It bleeds warp engine commands off into dead ends. Excellent. I believe I can handle it from here, Mister Crusher.
Wesley: But, sir
Singh: You are scheduled for class work now. Sorry.
Wesley: Yes, sir. But I don't learn nearly this much in school.
Singh: I tend to agree, but the captain's orders on this are very clear.
Crusher: Hi. Solve any new problems today?
Wesley: I was starting to, maybe. Mister Singh sent me off to class.
Crusher: Wes, you're only an acting ensign. You've got to let the commissioned officers do some of the work.
Wesley: Mom, I've learned a more than they understand. For example, the Channing's dilithium crystals theory I was telling you about?
Crusher: When were you telling me about that?
Wesley: This morning. Don't you remember?
Crusher: Honestly, I don't remember.
Worf: Engineering to Captain Picard. Security alert.
Picard: Picard.
Worf: Lieutenant Worf, sir. I just found Mister Singh. He's dead.
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 41249.4. I've ordered an immediate investigation into the death of Assistant Chief Engineer Singh. We continue to run on impulse power.
Wesley: He could have been working there, restoring warp power.
Laforge: According to these readings, we could go back to warp speed now.
Wesley: Those aren't the same readings as when I left.
Worf: Singh probably repaired it just before he was killed.
Wesley: He couldn't have repaired, sir. The problems were inside the engine.
Laforge: Who else could have corrected it, Wes? Inform the bridge of engine status.
Worf: Engineering to Bridge. We now have warp capacity, sir. All power on line.
Picard: Well done. Warp engines ready on previous heading. Warp factor six.
Antican: I tolerate these questions, Lieutenant Yar, because I need this vessel to get us to Parliament. Your shipboard problems do not concern me.
Tasha: They should. Our delays are your delays.
Antican: The peace conference will wait for us.
Tasha: I must ask where you were during this vessel's Earth hours of eighteen hundred last night and zero seven hundred this morning.
Antican: Eating.
Tasha: Sir, we're talking about hours here.
Antican: It was a large meal, Lieutenant Yar. And a very interesting animal.
Worf: You wanted me, Doctor?
Crusher: Yes, concerning your memory blackout.
Worf: I still don't remember having one.
Crusher: The same thing happened to me.
Troi: I want to try hypnosis on both of you. It may restore your memory as to what happened.
Tasha: One thing is clear. Almost all of the peace delegates answered our questions with lies.
Data: Imprecise, Lieutenant. They omitted certain truths, which in itself tells us something.
Tasha: We can learn something from non-disklosure?
Data: Indubitably, my good woman.
Riker: It's something the Captain mentioned. Sherlock Holmes. Indubitably, Data has been studying him.
Data: Has studied, sir. Every case. As Holmes would've pointed out, during the time in question, something was afoot.
Tasha: Afoot?
Data: While both sets of delegates say they were in their quarters, our crew locator sensed them passing here and here.
Tasha: But since it doesn't show where they went, we're still in the dark.
Data: On the contrary, dear colleague. On their return, they drew medical supplies appropriate to the treatment of minor wounds and abrasions on these life forms.
Riker: Which, leaves us with only one conclusion.
Data: Exactly. That they were too engaged in their own affairs to have disabled our ship and murdered the Engineer. Given a choice, they'd rather kill each other than any of us. It's elementary, my dear Riker. Sir.
Troi: Beverly, can you hear me?
Crusher: Yes.
Troi: I want you to go back in your mind to the moment when you first recall this sensation of memory loss. Picture it exactly as it occurred.
Crusher: He's lying on the hospital bed sedated. I'm walking up to him. I.
Troi: How do you feel at this moment, as you lean over him to take the specimen?
Crusher: I feel someone else. There's someone else who's there. Not alone. Get out. Get out of my mind.
Troi: That's almost exactly what you said. As though there was something else inside you.
Troi: Which confirms the feeling of duality that I sensed earlier in both of them.
Picard: Why didn't you report it?
Troi: Because, sir, I assumed at first it was the kind of duality we Betazeds feel in all of you. Even you, sir. When you approach a decision and ask yourself which way to go, who are you talking to?
Picard: Your hypnotism revealed another form of duality?
Troi: Yes, sir. I believe something invaded them.
Crusher: It seems the only possible conclusion.
Picard: Data, let's proceed without the pipe.
Data: Yes, sir. If you wish, sir. But I ask if you'd take it as incontrovertible that it cannot be a family member or one of our crew?
Picard: Yes. Very unlikely.
Data: Then our investigation was worthwhile, sir. We have eliminated both the delegates and the ship's regular complement.
Picard: Data, what are you suggesting?
Data: I am referring to the great detective's credo, sir. I quote, we must fall back on the old axiom that when other contingencies fail, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
Wesley: That engine computer net wasn't repaired, sir. It just suddenly became all right.
Laforge: Sometimes it's the result that counts, you know. What the? Oh, no.
Worf: What is it?
Laforge: Helm control just went down. She won't respond.
Worf: Bridge to Captain. You're needed here immediately.
Laforge: Wes, alert Engineering from your panel, alright?
Wesley: I'm trying.
Picard: Report.
Worf: Helm is down, sir. There's no apparent reason.
Laforge: Captain, we've just dropped to impulse power.
Laforge: Sir, are you all right? I thought I just saw
Picard: I'm fine. Everything is fine now. Why the drop to impulse power, Lieutenant?
Laforge: The helm is suddenly malfunctioning, sir.
Picard: Malfunctioning? You're wrong. Look again.
Laforge: Sir, I was just
Riker: Mister La Forge?
Laforge: Well, there's nothing wrong with it now, sir. Everything is just as it should be.
Picard: In that case, make our heading nine two five mark three seven.
Laforge: Sir?
Picard: You have a problem with that heading, Lieutenant?
Laforge: You want to double back on our course, sir?
Picard: Isn't that what I ordered?
Laforge: Yes, sir.
Riker: Sir, I'm puzzled about your reversing our course.
Picard: That energy cloud, Commander. I believe it important we have another look at it.
Riker: But we're behind schedule for Parliament already.
Picard: I believe a very important scientific discovery awaits us on this heading.
Troi: Perhaps you'd like to share your reasoning on that, sir?
Data: Yes, since we obtained only minimal information on our sensor pass of it.
Picard: Right, Data. We must go back to learn more. Counselor, do you believe a ship Captain should explain every order?
Troi: Of course not, sir.
Antican: I demand to see the Captain.
O'Brien: Stop! Return to your quarters.
Selay: What is that doing on our deck?
Antican: I demand to know why this starship has changed its course!
O'Brien: Please, return to your quarters, delegates!
Data: A mere change of direction hardly justifies mutiny.
Crusher: Exactly what do you believe you're sensing from him?
Troi: It's just a feeling that he's, well, that he's closed part of his mind to me. I just feel that the Captain has become, perhaps dangerous.
Riker: If he's dangerous. If.
Laforge: Then he'd have to be relieved of command. Which you could do, Doctor, but it's beaucoup trouble if you're wrong.
Data: And at the moment it is all pure speculation. He has done nothing to subject the Enterprise to danger.
Crusher: I'd need a medical log citing clear evidence of incapacity. You could do it without that problem.
Riker: Only if all command officers agreed it vital to do so. But he has not been showing any overt unusual behavior.
Troi: Ultimately, I believe he will.
Crusher: As second in command, it's still in your corner. I'll order medical and psychiatric exams. You'll have to back me up somehow. First Officer's log, supplemental. After meeting with the senior officers, Doctor Crusher and I decided to approach the Captain regarding his recent behavior.
Picard: Yes?
Crusher: I'd like you to come to Sickbay for some examinations, Captain.
Picard: Oh? I'll be glad to do when I'm free.
Crusher: I'd like to conduct them now, sir.
Picard: Why? What can I do for you, Number One?
Riker: Sir, Counselor Troi has recommended the examinations.
Picard: Same question. Why?
Riker: It is my duty to inform the Captain we believe he may be under some kind of alien influence which may constitute a danger to this ship.
Picard: I consider it equally possible that the two of you, and Counselor Troi, are overworked, and possibly suffering hallucinations. Now this is an order. You will arrange medical and psychiatric exams of both yourself and them. Doctor, are you aware everybody is behaving strangely?
Crusher: I'm concerned that you've suddenly turned the ship away from it's course.
Picard: What's happened to your mind, Doctor? The search for knowledge is always our primary mission. I'm sorry, I really am too busy for this kind of nonsense. Do I have to call Security to force you to report to the Sickbay?
Crusher: No, sir.
Riker: What the hell?
Selay: Sorry. Wrong species.
Riker: Riker to Security Chief.
Tasha: Yar here.
Riker: Security guard to the Engineering deck.
Riker: Selays are playing hide and seek down here, obviously with the Anticans. It's a lethal game. I want them returned to their quarters under guard.
Tasha: Right away, sir.
Picard: Come.
Picard: What do you want?
Crusher: Here are the results from the exams you ordered, sir. You don't care to inspect them? Please, are you Jean-Luc?
Picard: He is here.
Crusher: The Jean-Luc I know?
Picard: And more.
Crusher: The more frightens me.
Picard: And elates us. We wish you could understand the glorious adventure ahead.
Crusher: You and?
Picard: Soon we'll both be home. First officer's log, supplemental. On the orders of Captain Picard, we have returned to the vicinity of the energy pattern cloud. I am personally convinced that something from this cloud now shares the Captain's mind. But there seems to be nothing we can do, at least within regulations.
Laforge: We're now approaching the cloud, sir.
Riker: Very well, Mister La Forge. Bring us to within ten thousand kilometers and hold us there.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Riker: Shall we begin the scientific tests you wanted, sir?
Picard: Oh, they're already underway. I have an announcement for the entire Bridge. As many of you suspected, when our ship passed through the edge of this, it accidentally carried away a sentient being. Much like these energy patterns we're seeing here. A terrifying experience for any intelligent being. As if a great claw had reached down and scooped one of you from your home world. Drawn into the energy circuits of this vessel, it found its way to you, Worf. Frantic at being carried from its home world, and recognizing you as sentient beings, it pleaded for help, but in ways you couldn't understand. Desperately going from person to person, and then discovering the computer intelligence in this ship's memory circuits. Oh, simplistic intelligence, but it furnished it enough to slow this Enterprise thing that had captured it. And it very much regrets the accidental death of Engineer Singh.
Troi: Captain, do you exist in combination with this entity?
Riker: Is it in control of you, sir?
Picard: Very soon after we combined we had learned much about each other. A passion for exploration, for the unknown. We found we had similar dreams, and it offered your Captain a way to realize them beyond human expectations.
Riker: Captain, I must speak to you privately now.
Data: I understand. As an energy pattern, free of the limitations of matter, he might travel anywhere, at any velocity.
Riker: Captain, do you hear me?
Data: Sir, I see no way for you to journey with an energy form.
Picard: Isn't there?
Troi: He's planning to beam himself and the entity into that cloud.
Picard: The transporter need not pattern your Captain into matter. We'll beam energy only, and we will become a combined energy pattern of our life forms. A resignation from this command and from Starfleet has been appropriately recorded.
Riker: I refuse to allow this, sir.
Picard: How does this resignation threaten the ship and its crew in any way?
Crusher: Captain Picard, you are now relieved from duty. I judge you to be disabled and mentally incapacitated.
Riker: Security! Red Alert! Restrain the Captain!
Tasha: Where is he?
Troi: This is blinding me.
Worf: Captain! I'll help you if you'll let me.
Riker: Someone restrain the Captain!
Scene: First Officer's log, supplemental. More than an hour has passed since the Captain beamed out, energy only. Every effort has been made to determine his whereabouts.
Tasha: The Transporter Chief has no idea what the coordinates were, sir.
Laforge: So he's just floating around out there? How can we settle for that?
Riker: Give me a choice then.
Data: Still no readings, no sign of anything.
Riker: Mister La Forge, it's time to set a course for Parliament. Warp eight.
Laforge: We're really leaving him?
Troi: Commander, wait! It's the Captain. But only the Captain. He's out there alone!
Riker: The entity, has it abandoned him?
Troi: No, but the combination wasn't possible out there. He's in trouble, sir. We have to beam him back.
Riker: Beam him back as what? He's nothing but energy now.
Data: Sir, the entity was caught in the ship's circuitry. The Captain might try to get in the same way if he's in trouble.
Riker: Bring us in closer, La Forge.
Laforge: Moving in, sir, but where?
Riker: There's no way to know. Let's hope he can come part way himself. Troi, is there any way you can get a message to him?
Troi: I wish I could.
Laforge: Sensors monitoring the perimeter, ship's circuitry, sir. Nothing.
Riker: Bring us right into the edge of it, La Forge.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Worf: Sir? On my sensor controls.
Troi: There's something's here. I feel it.
Data: Just as before, going to Worf first.
Laforge: Something crazy on my panel. Commander Riker. Static?
Riker: P for Picard!
Data: He's in the ship's circuitry. Come to the Transporter room, please. There might be a way, sir. Hurry!
Riker: Is it a wild theory, Data?
Data: I knew we had to have the Captain's physical pattern here, sir. He was the last one to beam out.
Riker: Is what you're thinking possible?
Data: Unknown at this time, sir. I hope the Captain remembers his physical pattern is here. If he has, his energy has moved into the transporter relays by now.
Riker: I wish we had some sign that he's in here. I guess we have no choice but to risk it.
Data: Energizing, sir.
Picard: What the devil am I doing here?
Riker: Sounds like our Captain.
Troi: But confused. This Picard pattern was formed before he went out there.
Picard: What's happening to me, Number One? I was preparing to beam out to somewhere. And I remember there was talk of an entity? But it all seems so vague.
Data: I believe the Captain is now his separate self, sir. Much of what happened is naturally missing.
Picard: What are you talking about, Data? Is this still Sherlock Holmes?
Data: Indubitably, sir, Indubitably.
Picard: Well, at least you got rid of the damn pipe.
Riker: Doctor Crusher asked me to steer you past Sickbay. She said you've been looking very tired.
Tasha: Captain!
Picard: Yes, Lieutenant.
Tasha: Sorry, Commander, but Security Team Two reports they've discovered a puddle of blood outside the Selay Quarters and they can't find one of the delegates and so
Riker: Lieutenant. This couldn't have waited a moment?
Tasha: It's good to see you, sir. The problem is that one of the cooks has just been asked to broil reptile for the Anticans, and it looks like the Selay delegate.
Picard: Riker, with the peace delegates and all, I think I do need a rest. Take charge, Number One.


Picard: Captain's log, stardate 41255.6. After delivering a party of Earth colonists to the Strnad solar system, we have discovered another Class M planet in the adjoining Rubicun star system. We are now in orbit there, having determined it to be inhabited as well as unusually lovely. My first officer has taken an away team down to make contact and they are in the process of returning to the ship.
Picard: Riker says the planet's life forms are almost identical to us.
Troi: He's very enthusiastic.
Crusher: Captain? Sorry, Troi.
Troi: The Doctor has something very important to tell you, Captain.
Picard: You've been talking about it for days. Shore leave for the crew.
Crusher: Establishing that colony has been exhausting for the entire crew, Captain. We're not a supply vessel. Settling all those people has been a strain on everyone. I'm tired myself.
Picard: Is it as good as your report suggests, Number One?
Riker: As per report, sir. Class M, Earth-like, beautiful. It will startle you.
Crusher: It sounds wonderful for the children. The holodecks are marvelous, of course, but there's nothing like open spaces and fresh air.
Tasha: I've listed my report on their customs and laws, sir. Fairly simple, common sense things.
Laforge: They're wild in some ways, actually puritanical in others. Neat as pins, ultra-lawful, and make love at the drop of a hat.
Tasha: Any hat.
Picard: But the happiest report has its negatives. Let's start with them, Number One.
Riker: There are none, sir. Not that any of us can find.
Data: But there is a problem here, sir.
Worf: It's the faulty reading I reported, sir.
Data: I'm reading something off the starboard bow, but there is nothing there.
Tasha: Sensor technicians are working on it, sir. They've identified it as a glitch in the system.
Picard: I take it you find no glitch at all in this planet, however?
Riker: No, sir.
Tasha: If you approve shore leave, sir, we could start with a small group.
Picard: Of course. Wesley? If we go down, I'd like you to join the away team to evaluate this world as a place for young people to relax.
Wesley: Yes, sir.
Picard: If our scans and observations confirm the report, of course I'll approve it. Let's hope it is not too good to be true.
Picard: Captain's log, supplemental. We are in orbit of a planet designated Rubicun Three, the home of a life form who call themselves the Edo. Our away team, including Wesley Crusher, has beamed down to make arrangements concerning some well-deserved recreation.
Worf: Careful, sir.
Riker: No, it's all right, Lieutenant. Those are the Edo we met before. They certainly are fit.
Troi: They certainly are.
Rivan: Health and happiness.
Liator: A pleasant day to you.
Rivan: You did return as promised.
Riker: Rivan, Liator. Also from our vessel, Troi.
Liator: Slowly, slowly. I must also welcome this lovely one.
Liator: Nice to see you again.
Tasha: My pleasure.
Riker: Counselor?
Troi: Healthy sensuality, sir. I feel mainly friendship, and happiness.
Rivan: And I welcome this huge one. Oh, yes.
Worf: Nice planet.
Riker: Yeah.
Rivan: But you are a young one. I do not know your custom regarding love.
Wesley: Er. I guess, whatever you usually do.
Riker: There are others who would like to visit here, if you would give us a limit on the numbers.
Liator: Whatever pleases you. We can discuss it at the Council Chambers.
Rivan: Shall we go there now or remain in play?
Riker: Play?
Rivan: At love. Unless you don't enjoy that. Perhaps you do?
Liator: And you? Yes, I can see that you do.
Wesley: Maybe I should just go on ahead.
Rivan: Oh, this is unfair to him. We'll go to the Council Chambers. You'll find young people your age there.
Wesley: Well, I can't make any promises.
Liator: You don't have to. Our rules are simple. No one does anything uncomfortable to them.
Rivan: Come! Our people will want to know you.
Liator: Rivan, perhaps they can't run.
Wesley: Can't run? Sure we can run. Right, Commander?
Riker: That's the custom here, running. Lead the way.
Riker: When in Rome, eh?
Worf: When in where, sir?
Edo: Good health to you!
Tasha: Happiness to you! It's like an Eden here.
Rivan: Good health! I thought you might be out of breath.
Riker: We may surprise you in a lot of ways.
Liator: Children, we've brought you a new friend!
Boy: Well, hello. Join us.
Girl: Yes, please.
Rivan: And now it's time for you to meet some new friends.
Rivan: Everyone! We've brought the visitors!
Liator: Please enjoy what we have!
Data: I've traced it through our sensor channel, sir It is not a glitch or any other form of error or malfunction.
Laforge: Confirmed by my readings, Captain. It's a shadow something.
Data: Exactly. As if it were neither in or out of our dimension.
Picard: What is, Commander?
Data: Whatever is sitting out there without triggering our alarm relays, sir.
Picard: Center main viewer on that area. I see nothing, Commander.
Data: Enterprise to object off our starboard bow. Request that you identify yourself.
Laforge: Shields and deflectors up full, sir. Main phaser banks ready.
Picard: Hailing frequencies. Any reply?
Data: It was something unintelligible, Captain. Now running it through language and logic circuits.
Picard: Geordi.
Laforge: Sir.
Picard: Have a real look.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Officer: Sir, my sensors read it. Well, it's half there. It does look as if it were partly transparent.
Picard: Data, what the hell is it?
Laforge: Lieutenant La Forge to Captain.
Picard: Go ahead, LaForge. What can you make out?
Laforge: This is something I've never seen before, sir. After complete spectral analysis, well it's as if it's not really there.
Laforge: I don't understand it.
Data: I've got some information on its first transmission, sir. It translates as stand by.
Officer: Sir, I see show something coming out of that ship.
Data: Verified, sir. Something very small.
Officer: Intruder alert, sir. I don't show a location.
Data: The away team signal's been cut off, Captain. We've lost contact with our people.
Officer: Intruder relays do show something.
Picard: Why has everything become a something, or a whatever?
Edo: State the purpose. State the purpose of what you have done.
Picard: I'm Captain Picard, commanding this Federation starship.
Edo: State the purpose of your visit here.
Picard: We have sent down what we call an away team to make peaceful contact here.
Edo: Do you plan to leave life forms here?
Picard: No. We are merely visiting here.
Edo: But you did more at the world you just left. Why have you left your own life forms there?
Data: The colony we just planted, sir.
Picard: We found that world uninhabited. The life forms we left there had, had sought the challenge. At least, that is the basic reason. Had sought the challenge of creating a new lifestyle, a new society there. Life on our world is driven to protect itself by seeding itself as widely as possible.
Edo: Do not interfere with my children below.
Data: Captain, I do not understand how, but it is asking me if I was constructed for information exchange.
Picard: If there is any way of finding out whatever is out there, Data.
Boy: Watch! I bet you can't do this!
Wesley: Watch this.
Girl: I want to do something too. With you.
Wesley: Er. What?
Girl: It's something you can teach me. Will you?
Wesley: Er. Well, actually, there are some games I don't quite know yet
Girl: It's playing ball. Will you teach me?
Wesley: Oh, sure! If you have a bat for the ball, I can show you my favorite. A bat? A stick or branch, about this thick, this long.
Girl: We can get it in the gardens. Come on.
Man: This will please you. Join us.
Riker: Thanks. Another time.
Woman: Joy and happiness.
Riker: It certainly is. The good life, Worf.
Worf: I am not concerned with pleasure, Commander. I am a warrior.
Riker: Even Klingons need love now and then.
Worf: For what we consider love, sir, I would need a Klingon woman.
Riker: What about plain old basic sex? You must have some need for that.
Worf: Of course, but with the females available to me, sir, Earth females, I must restrain myself too much. They are quite fragile, sir.
Riker: Worf, if anyone else had said that, I'd suspect he was bragging.
Worf: Bragging, sir?
Riker: I think I'll pass on that. I'd better check in. Enterprise, come in. Captain, do you read me? Let's. This may be nothing, but let's move all our people together.
Worf: Including Wesley, the boy? He's outside.
Troi: Is there a problem?
Riker: We've lost contact with our ship.
Troi: It's nothing these people have done. I'm certain of that. Their minds are so open.
Riker: Help me locate Wes. He's wandered off.
Tasha: That is extraordinary.
Worf: Can I take a moment of your time, Lieutenant?
Tasha: Yes, Worf, but you've got to hear this. Are you telling me that there's no crime here whatsoever? No one breaks any laws?
Liator: Once they did. Long, long ago there was much disorder. But not now.
Tasha: But I seen no sign of police. Those who enforce laws.
Rivan: Oh, we have very few. They are called Mediators. And they are needed only in one place each day.
Liator: The punishment zone. An area that's selected for a period of time.
Tasha: It's a completely random selection?
Liator: No one but our Mediators know what place or for how long. We're very proud of the wisdom of our ancestors. No person ever knows where or when a zone will be.
Rivan: And so no one risks death.
Worf: Death?
Rivan: by breaking any law.
Tasha: Wait. Explain this.
Liator: Only one punishment for any crime.
Worf: Anyone who commits any crime in the punishment zone dies?
Liator: The law is the law. Our peace is built on that.
Tasha: Even a small thing? Such as ignoring the rule, keep off the grass?
Rivan: Then no one breaks that rule. Who wants to risk execution? And there's always a white wall or fence to remind anyone of a forbidden area like that.
Tasha: And just who tells visitors about these rules?
Worf: We'd better find Wesley.
Girl: You're very clever at this.
Wesley: At home we play a lot of it. Here, toss the ball ahead of me.
Girl: No, Wes!
Boy: No! It's forbidden to disturb new plants!
Boy: Couldn't you see the fence? It's for new plants. Don't ever go past a white marker.
Wesley: It's okay. I'm fine.
Girl: Oh, no! Oh, please, no!
Mediator 2: Speak the truth. We are mediators.
Wesley: I said I was fine.
Girl: He doesn't know. He's from another place.
Mediator 2: How very sad. But this zone has been selected.
Boy: But he doesn't understand.
Mediator: It's always sad. Now doubly so.
Wesley: I was chasing a ball and I fell into that. I'm really sorry!
Mediator: You admit you did that? Freely?
Wesley: I'm with Starfleet. We don't lie.
Riker: It won't happen again. We apologize.
Mediator: We're sorry, too. But that changes nothing.
Tasha: Careful, Commander. They've got some strange laws here.
Riker: I thought you reviewed their laws.
Tasha: But they listed nothing about punishment.
Mediator: One moment, please. Is there a witness to this transgression?
Boy: But it was my fault. I threw the ball past him.
Mediator: We have a visible transgression, ample witnesses, and an admission of guilt. And though it deeply pains us to do it, we must.
Mediator: Are you prepared for punishment?
Worf: Punishment? If you mean what the others were talking about.
Riker: What punishment? Name it!
Mediator: Death, of course. Don't make it difficult for the boy.
Worf: Drop it. Drop it now!
Tasha: It's a kind of syringe.
Riker: What is this? You said death. Is this poison?
Mediator: But of course it is. Completely painless. The boy would have felt nothing. But look at him now. You've frightened him.
Wesley: He was going to kill me?
Mediator 2: And if this Zone were still in effect, you would all deserve death.
Mediator: It was announced you came as friends. Is this how friends act?
Riker: Enterprise from away team, come in. Are you receiving us, Enterprise?
Picard: Condition?
Crusher: No sign of consciousness, but the balance of the readings are quite normal for him.
Picard: I believe this is some form of information exchange with whatever is over there. At least, I hope it is.
Crusher: Any communication from the away team?
Picard: Something is blocking communication both
Tasha: Security. Urgent. Repeating. Enterprise from away team.
Laforge: This is the Enterprise, Lieutenant. We're receiving you now.
Tasha: This is an urgent call for Captain Picard.
Riker: We may need your presence here, Captain. We have serious trouble with a member of our away team and an unusual law they have here.
Picard: Captain to Riker, stand by. Signs of consciousness?
Crusher: Not yet. Could be minutes or hours. It's unclear what's happened to him.
Picard: Take him to Sickbay. Let me know the instant he's awake. Anything new on that that thing out there?
Laforge: Negative, sir.
Picard: Captain to First Officer. I'm beaming down.
Picard: Would you care to comment privately how you read any of this?
Troi: Unnecessary, sir. These people are honest, almost to a fault. And they have great pride in their ways.
Liator: You're the Captain. We're ready. This way, please.
Liator: Welcome to our world, Captain.
Picard: Thank you.
Liator: We regret that our system of justice is troubling you.
Picard: The boy, Wesley Crusher, where is he, please?
Riker: In accord with the Prime Directive, I've allowed them to hold him pending the outcome of this.
Rivan: He is safe and unharmed. We promise that. Captain Picard, I do not know how you Earth people conduct law and justice, even if you respect such things.
Picard: We do.
Liator: Good, so do we. Our precepts have been handed down from long ago. The tranquility you see in our lives has been made possible by our laws.
Rivan: We are a people of law. They do sometimes bring us sadness, but we have learned to adjust to that. Perhaps your laws work as well.
Picard: They haven't always, but now they do.
Liator: Do you execute criminals?
Picard: No, not any longer.
Rivan: But you did once?
Picard: Unfortunately, yes. But since then
Rivan: But when you did, was it believed necessary to do so?
Picard: Some people felt that it was necessary. But we have learned to detect the seeds of criminal behavior Capital punishment, in our world, is no longer considered a justifiable deterrent.
Liator: So, we are not yet as advanced as they are. And since you are advanced in other ways too, I suggest you use your superior powers to rescue the Wesley boy. We will record him as a convicted criminal out of our reach, an advanced person who luckily escaped the barbarism of this backward little world.
Picard: Unfortunately, we have a law known as the Prime Directive.
Rivan: Riker has explained it to us.
Picard: Is the boy in any danger from you at this moment?
Liator: Until sundown?
Rivan: Because you are strangers, we are delaying enforcement of the law. But we must act by sundown.
Picard: Then I have another question. While orbiting, while circling high above your world, as we do, we have encountered a strange object. A vessel perhaps. Have you any idea what it is? It's not entirely real. At least, it's not completely solid.
Rivan: Do you mean God?
Picard: God?
Liator: God is said to be somewhere up there, protecting us.
Picard: Exactly, exactly how would you describe God?
Rivan: As you just did. As existing both here and in another place also.
Liator: But when God wants to show its power, it can make itself felt most fully.
Crusher: Captain, come in please.
Picard: Picard here.
Beverly: CMO Crusher, sir.
Crusher: Commander Data has just regained consciousness.
Picard: What condition? Can he talk?
Beverly: He's insisting on it, sir. Urgently.
Troi: Wesley.
Picard: Stand by. Picard out. I want to speak to her personally about her son. So you promise that Wesley Crusher is safe until sundown?
Liator: You have our word.
Picard: Then, will one of you return with me to our vessel?
Rivan: Of course. I'll go as a hostage for the boy's safety.
Picard: No, no, no. That's not it. I want you to identify something for me, if you can. Captain to Transporter Room. Three to beam up.
Rivan: I'm frightened.
Troi: There's no reason to be.
Picard: Transporter Room, energize.
Rivan: But this is a city. A great city.
Crusher: Captain, I've just seen the away team report about Wesley.
Picard: In a moment, Doctor.
Crusher: In a moment?
Picard: Exactly. In a moment. You were about to say?
Rivan: Since you have all this power, why be concerned about our laws? You could take the boy from us.
Picard: It's not that simple. From the starboard lounge, you can see whatever is outside this vessel.
Rivan: Do you mean my world? You said we'd be high above it.
Picard: And something else that's circling your world. It's very important to us, and perhaps to you, to know what it is.
Picard: I'm sorry, Rivan, but this was necessary. Do you know what that is?
Troi: Can you tell us what it is?
Picard: Is it God? Now, it's very important you answer something. How do you recognize what it is?
Troi: Nothing will harm you, I promise. Just tell us how you recognize it.
Rivan: It has appeared before.
Picard: Can you speak to it? Does it speak to you?
Troi: Captain!
Edo: Return my child.
Crusher: Return?
Troi: It's coming toward us.
Picard: Picard to Transporter Room, come in.
Troi: Yes, do that. But hurry!
Crusher: It's still coming toward us.
Chief: Transporter Chief to Captain.
Picard: One to beam down to away team location. Hurry! Engage! Transporter Room. Urgent! Engage!
Crusher: It seems the Edo's god is very protective of its children.
Picard: I had no choice but to learn about that thing from her. I'm sorry I had to. She was so frightened.
Troi: It's understandable, sir. Sharing an orbit with God is no small experience.
Picard: Let's go see your patient, Doctor.
Crusher: What do you intend to do about my son?
Picard: He's being held safely until sundown.
Crusher: When he faces execution! Although he's committed no crime, certainly none that any sane and reasonable person would
Picard: You saw what that thing was about to do.
Crusher: I apologize, sir, but this is very difficult for me. If he were your son, you'd be as frightened
Picard: But I am.
Crusher: Data is in Sickbay here. You'll find him able to talk to you.
Medic: He's checking out fine, Doctor.
Crusher: Thank you. Finish it later, please.
Data: I was an excellent choice for them, Captain. They were able to communicate with me quite. I was about to say quite easily, but there was nothing easy about it. Fortunately, they stopped short of overloading my circuitry.
Picard: You're saying they. It is a vessel of some sort.
Data: Definitely not a single entity if that's what you mean, sir, although they know the Edo worship them as a god thing.
Picard: They know?
Data: They recognize that this is quite expected and harmless at the present Edo stage of evolution.
Picard: What sort of vessel?
Data: It is perhaps not what we would understand as a vessel, sir. The dimensions this one occupies allows them to be, well, to be in several places at once. But they consider this entire star cluster to be theirs. It was probably unwise of us to attempt to place a human colony in this area. Of course, there are three thousand four other planets in this star cluster in which we could have colonized. The largest and closest
Picard: Data, don't babble.
Data: Babble, sir? I'm not aware that I ever babble, sir. It may be that from time to time I have considerable information to communicate, and you may question the way I organize it.
Picard: Please, organize it into brief answers to my questions. We have very little time. Do they accept our presence at this planet?
Data: Undecided, sir.
Picard: Data, please, feel free to volunteer any important information.
Data: I volunteer that they are now observing us, sir.
Picard: To judge what kind of life forms we are?
Data: No, it is more curiosity, sir. I doubt that they expect us to abide by their value systems.
Picard: Do they know of our Prime Directive?
Data: They know everything I know, sir.
Picard: And, if we were to violate the Prime Directive, how
Crusher: That's not a fair question.
Picard: How would they react?
Data: It would be a case of judging us by our own rules, sir. If we violate our own Prime Directive, they might consider us to be deceitful and untrustworthy. You do recall they cautioned us not to interfere with their children below. What has happened?
Crusher: The Edo want to execute my son. I will not allow that to happen, Jean-Luc.
Data: Most interesting, sir. The emotion of motherhood, compared to all others felt by
Crusher: Shut up!
Data: You were right, sir. I do tend to babble.
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 41255.9. Whatever the object or vessel in orbit with us, it hangs there like a nemesis. It is one thing to communicate with something mysterious, but it is quite another to be silently observed by it. I am concerned whether it understands the same concept of reason that we do?
Data: You sent for me, sir?
Picard: Let's have more talk, Data.
Data: Yes, sir.
Picard: Sit down.
Data: What level of communication, sir?
Picard: Any. My apologies for saying that you babbled.
Data: But I do, sir.
Picard: You also see things in a way we do not, but as they truly are. I need help, my friend. I cannot permit that boy or any member of this vessel be sacrificed. The Prime Directive never intended that.
Data: The problem, sir, is there. Although they've learned of the Prime Directive from my mind, how will they evaluate it? How do they reason? What are their values? Remember their warning to us, sir.
Picard: Exactly. How do I explain my refusing to obey their laws down there. Not permitting the Crusher boy to be executed. And by so doing do I endanger this vessel and more than a thousand other lives?
Data: Would you choose one life over one thousand, sir?
Picard: I refuse to let arithmetic decide questions like that. Did you learn anything about the relationship between that and the Edo? Why are they so certain it's a god?
Data: Any sufficiently advanced life form would appear to others to be that, sir. But when they were probing my thoughts, Captain, I could feel that whatever they are now, they once existed in this dimension, just as we do. Perhaps in the same kind of flesh and blood form. Since then, however, they have evolved considerably. Their present existence in multi-dimensions no doubt has advantages we do not understand.
Picard: Then in some earlier flesh and blood form they might have shared our kind of values.
Data: We know the Edo share them, sir.
Picard: Why would such an advanced thing feel obliged to protect the Edo?
Data: Perhaps the Edo are a child race by comparison. Possibly a race which those life forms have planted here. Much as we plant human colonies on Class-M planets.
Crusher: Having fulfillled my professional obligations regarding Commander Data
Picard: You now request permission to beam down to the planet. Permission granted. You can accompany me while I try and resolve this. And you should know that whatever the cost, I will not allow them to execute your son.
Crusher: Thank you, sir.
Picard: Data, take command.
Data: Aye, sir.
Riker: It's almost time. I want the boy brought here now.
Tasha: I'll go along with you.
Liator: Of course.
Rivan: Captain Picard. I saw you share the sky with God. You must be Gods.
Picard: No, no, we're not gods.
Wesley: Mother. I guess you know a lot has happened here.
Crusher: I know.
Wesley: Captain Picard, are you going to let them kill me?
Picard: No. But I must find some way to prevent it that you understand.
Mediator: How can we let this happen, Liator? They threaten everything we respect. Our law, our peace, our tranquility and order.
Mediator 2: You are powerful, but do not do this to us, we beg you. At least study what we were without law. Hurtful to each other, savage, thieving.
Picard: I understand. Perhaps your system of law and punishment is better than any system we once had. But we do now have a law I must obey. And part of it says I must protect my people from harm.
Liator: We did not ask you to come here.
Riker: Which has to do with another law that we must obey.
Picard: We are all sworn not to interfere with other lives in the galaxy. If I save this boy, I break that law.
Mediator: And you should be executed if you do so!
Picard: I may suffer almost as much. Starfleet takes the Prime Directive very seriously.
Mediator 2: No, it is God who will punish you.
Picard: That thought has crossed our minds. Your god up there may insist that we obey our non-interference directive.
Wesley: Sir, does this mean if you save me the entire crew could die?
Picard: You're not involved in this decision, boy.
Wesley: I'm sorry, sir, but it seems like I am.
Picard: Picard to Transporter room. Lock into this signal. Stand by for six to beam up. Wesley, Lieutenant.
Liator: Our laws have been violated. What of justice?
Tasha: What of justice to Wesley? Does he deserve to die?
Picard: I'm truly sorry, Liator, but I must have justice for my people too. Transporter room, energize.
Picard: Transporter room, come in.
Chief: We can't energize the beam, sir. Everything checks out but we're getting no results.
Mediator: God has prevented your escape.
Crusher: Then your god is unfair. My son had no warning that his act was criminal.
Mediator 2: We cannot allow ignorance of the law to become a defense.
Picard: I don't know how to communicate this, or even if it is possible, but the question of justice has concerned me greatly of lately. And I say to any creature who may be listening, there can be no justice so long as laws are absolute. Even life itself is an exercise in exceptions.
Riker: When has justice ever been as simple as a rulebook?
Picard: It seems the Edo Lord agrees with you, Number One.
Riker: Main viewer on.
Picard: Hailing frequencies.
Tasha: Open, sir.
Picard: To the object in orbit with us. We will remove the human colonists from the adjoining solar system if you signal us to do so. Please tell us.
Data: Captain.
Laforge: Is that a signal?
Picard: I suppose, I suppose it must be. I was hoping for more.
Laforge: More of what, sir? I'm glad it's gone.
Riker: Agreed, sir. Short and sweet. God-like efficiency.
Picard: I was hoping we'd learn more about it. But since we can't, take us out of here, Number One.
Riker: Gladly, sir.


Picard: Captain's log, stardate 41723.9. In response to a Starfleet order we are in the Xendi Sabu star system, having rendezvoused with a Ferengi vessel which has requested a meeting. Although we arrived here and made appropriate signals to the Ferengi three days ago, they have so far responded only with the message, stand by Enterprise.
Crusher: You sent for me, sir?
Picard: Yes, Doctor. Sit down. Look, this perhaps may be nothings, but I've been feeling a bit odd of late. Fatigued. And now I've got this damned headache.
Crusher: A what?
Picard: Headache. Headache. Surely you know what a headache is.
Crusher: Of course. But I don't often encounter them.
Picard: The reason is obvious, of course. What are the Ferengi up to? Stand by, Enterprise. Stand by for what?
Crusher: I don't see a thing wrong.
Picard: No, neither can I. Unless they're baiting some kind of trap.
Crusher: With your head. I see nothing physically wrong, but I want to run some additional scans in Sickbay.
Picard: Doctor, all I've got is
Crusher: Is an order to report to Sickbay. From the one person aboard this ship who can give you an order.
Riker: Captain from First Officer. They're finally sending a message.
Picard: On my way, Number One. Sorry, Doctor. Duty calls.
Riker: They're prepared to talk, sir.
Picard: Have they given any hint of what they've been waiting for?
Tasha: Negative, Captain. They've identified their Captain as Bok. DaiMon Bok.
Laforge: You'll be able to see him now, sir. They're willing to communicate on visual.
Picard: Open hailing frequencies.
Tasha: Hailing frequencies open, sir.
Picard: Ferengi vessel. This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Enterprise. We are transmitting visually.
Bok: Is this the Captain Picard?
Picard: Do we know each other?
Bok: I know you, Picard.
Picard: Then you have the advantage. Is this Bok?
Bok: I am Bok, DaiMon of the Ferengi. I have asked you here to discuss a mutual problem, Captain.
Picard: What problem is that, DaiMon Bok?
Bok: I insist on speaking of that matter in person. Shall we meet on your vessel or mine?
Tasha: Hailing frequencies closed.
Troi: Captain, I sense considerable deception on Bok's part. And danger.
Riker: Then we should meet him here. Keep him under our control.
Tasha: Now open, sir.
Picard: I appreciate your offer, DaiMon Bok. We would like you to be our guest here.
Bok: As you wish, Picard. Perhaps this will begin a new era of cooperation for both our peoples. In one Earth hour, then?
Picard: In one hour, DaiMon Bok. End transmission.
Worf: I can't believe they're coming here.
Picard: They did agree a bit easily. Well, in one hour we shall know why.
Picard: Are you always accustomed to getting your way, Doctor?
Crusher: Only when my way makes sense, Captain. There are still forty minutes before the Ferengi beam over. I'll have these scans done in ten.
Picard: It seems an awful lot of effort for something as simple as a headache.
Crusher: As simple? You should not have a headache unless there's something wrong, sir. It may be true that headaches were once quite common, but that was in the days before the brain was charted, before we understood the nature of pain. When we were suffering from such things as the common cold.
Picard: So what's the cause of my headache?
Crusher: I haven't the slightest idea. Feel better.
Picard: The pain's gone.
Crusher: Medical fakery. The pain is actually still there. It's just cloaked. I'll want further exams.
Picard: Doctor!
Crusher: When the Ferengi matter is settled.
Wesley: Commander, you'll soon be getting an intruder alert.
Riker: What? Wesley, if you've something to report.
Wesley: If you'll scan heading four four mark one six three, Lieutenant, you'll find
Tasha: Intruder alert, sir.
Laforge: I've got something, sir.
Wesley: It's an old style starship, Constellation Class, heading this way under impulse power, sir.
Riker: Says who?
Picard: Ensign, answer the First Officer's question.
Wesley: Says the long distance sensors, sir. I was in Engineering, playing around with boosting sensor output.
Data: Boosting it? How? We will discuss this later.
Laforge: I read it now, sir, as a Constellation class starship heading this way under impulse power. Sending no call letters, sir.
Picard: The correct procedure,
Riker: What's wrong, sir?
Picard: Oh, it's nothing. It's just a, just a mild headache. The correct procedure, Ensign, would have been to signal the Bridge of your finding immediately.
Wesley: Yes, sir.
Riker: Bringing it here personally, perhaps with the idea of being on hand for the Ferengi beam over, might have imperiled this vessel had it been something hostile approaching.
Wesley: Yes, sir.
Worf: We are receiving no signal at all from the approaching starship, sir.
Data: Time, sir.
Picard: Time? Oh, for the Ferengi to beam over. Do you see any problems connected with this old starship coming in, Number One?
Riker: Suggest it would be safer, sir, to have the Ferengi here whatever happenings.
Picard: Concur. Stand by.
Tasha: Hailing frequencies open, sir.
Picard: Welcome you in peace to the Enterprise, DaiMon Bok.
Bok: It is our pleasure, Captain Picard. Might I introduce my First Officer, Kazago, and my Second, Rata?
Picard: This is my First Officer, Commander William Riker. Second in command, Data. Counselor Troi.
Bok: We have heard that you use females. Clothed females. Most interesting.
Riker: They are that, sir.
Kazago: And the android was mentioned too. What is its price? We should like to purchase it.
Picard: He is not for sale. Commander Data is, um, is, um
Riker: Is second-hand merchandise. You wouldn't want him.
Data: Second-hand, sir? Oh, of course. A human joke.
Tasha: Excuse, Captain, but the unidentified starship is coming in. Still no signal at all.
Bok: Think nothing of it. It is under our control.
Picard: One of our starships under your control?
Bok: Do not be alarmed, Captain. It is a gift from us. With which we honor the Hero of Maxia.
Picard: Who?
Bok: Why you, Picard, of course. Do you not remember the Battle of Maxia?
Picard: I'm sorry, I do not remember it, DaiMon Bok. Data?
Data: Captain, he may refer to an incident which occurred nine years ago in the Maxia Zeta star system, in which an unidentified starship
Bok: Unidentified? That fine vessel was Ferengi.
Data: Which you destroyed, sir.
Picard: The Battle of Maxia. I've never heard it referred to so dramatically before. My sincere regrets, Bok, but that vessel refused to identify itself. It simply attacked us. We defended ourselves.
Bok: Such mistakes happen in space.
Data: Hardly a mistake, sir. Your report shows that it deliberately attacked.
Tasha: Do you want the arriving vessel on main viewer, sir? It is only a thousand kilometers away now.
Bok: Put it on your viewer.
Picard: Main viewer.
Bok: There is no one aboard it.
Rata: The log should be downloaded into the Enterprise's records. At a price.
Bok: No price!
Kazago: No price?
Picard: For what purpose? What
Troi: I just felt something too, Captain.
Bok: Perhaps it is his conscience?
Riker: Bridge to Sickbay.
Picard: No, no. I'm fine
Troi: It felt as if it were something from your past.
Picard: It's right. I'm fine. What is this all about?
Bok: It is about the battle I mentioned, Captain. A gift, in honor of that occasion. Look at that ship closely.
Picard: Magnify please, Lieutenant La Forge.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Picard: Why, it's the Stargazer. It's my old ship. How did you find it?
Bok: It was a derelict, adrift in space on the far side of this star system. How it got there is none of my business, Captain. But now, that vessel is yours, if you wish to have it.
Kazago: We are not selling it to him?
Bok: Consider it an act of friendship.
Rata: At no cost? Oh, ugly. Very ugly.
Picard: Captain's log, supplemental. Bok and his officers have returned to their vessel, inviting us now to officially take possession of the Stargazer.
Crusher: Like before?
Picard: No. It hit with more impact.
Troi: Hit? I'm sorry, but anything could be important.
Crusher: You said you felt something yourself.
Troi: I believe so. Like a thought, but rather mechanical in nature.
Picard: Are you sure it wasn't one of my thoughts? At that moment, I was remembering being at the helm of the Stargazer. A maneuver was being made. We were hit. Something's burning. I can smell smoke. Can you smell it?
Crusher: There's nothing burning, Jean-Luc.
Picard: That was just part of my memory.
Troi: Memory or nightmare?
Picard: Well, it was strong, whatever it was. Are you ready, Number One.
Riker: Staff's waiting, if Doctor Crusher approves.
Crusher: I'll do better than that. I'll go along.
Picard: We were traveling at warp two through the Maxia Zeta star system when this unidentified starship suddenly appeared and fired on us, point-blank range.
Riker: Where did it come from?
Picard: It must have been lying in some deep moon crater. First attack damaged the shields. In the confusion, they hit us a second time.
Tasha: No clue who they were?
Picard: No names, no reason. Can you identify them, Vigo? If they come in a second time with our shields damaged
Troi: Sir? Who's Vigo?
Picard: He's my weapons officer on the Stargazer. I'm getting quite caught up in this.
Riker: Your shields were failing, sir.
Picard: I improvised. With the enemy vessel coming in for the kill, I ordered a sensor bearing, and when it went into the return arc
Data: You performed what Starfleet textbooks now refer to as the Picard Maneuver.
Picard: Well, I did what any good helmsman would have done. I dropped into high warp, stopped right off the enemy vessel's bow and fired with everything I had.
Riker: And blowing into maximum warp speed, you appeared for an instant to be in two places at once.
Picard: And our attacker fired on the wrong one.
Riker: I did what any good helmsman could have done. You did it first, sir.
Picard: It was a save our skins maneuver. We were finished. On fire. We had to abandon ship. We limped through space in shuttlecraft for weeks before we were picked up. I haven't thought about this for years.
Data: Sir, the Ferengi are standing by for us to take possession of the Stargazer.
Picard: I want to go over to her.
Riker: I understand, sir. As soon as my people have made certain she's safe.
Crusher: And after I have another look at you, Captain.
Data: USS Stargazer. Constellation Class. Starfleet Registry NCC 2893.
Laforge: I activated the emergency power cells. Amazing they still work.
Worf: The rest of the ship is clear of surprises, Lieutenant Yar.
Laforge: I read about this ship at the Academy, I never dreamed I'd ever be on her.
Tasha: Yar to Enterprise. All clear, sir.
Picard: Hello, old friend.
Data: You'll find this most intriguing, sir.
Picard: What did you find, Data?
Data: The last entry dated nine years ago, sir. By you. We are forced to abandon our starship. May she find her way without us. Apparently she did, sir.
Crusher: How do you feel, Captain?
Picard: Oh, I'm fine, Doctor. Lieutenant Yar, run a structural analysis on the Stargazer for an impulse tow. Data, download all computers to the Enterprise and file. I'm going to look at my old cabin.
Bok: Try this, Hero of Maxia.
Crusher: Captain? Another headache? This really worries me. I want you back on the Enterprise.
Picard: But my things
Crusher: I'll see they're sent to your Enterprise quarters.
Riker: Enterprise now taking possession of Stargazer, Kazago.
Kazago: Permission granted, Riker.
Riker: Actually it was quite a bargain, Kazago. I thought the Ferengi always made a profit on things.
Riker: Set sub-warp speed for towing, LaForge.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Data: Starfleet has responded to our request, sir. A tug will rendezvous with us and tow the Stargazer back to Xendi Starbase Nine.
Picard: Very well, Data.
Riker: How was it, Captain?
Picard: Very strange, Number One. Like going back to the house you grew up in, but no one's home, except the phantoms of the past.
Troi: It has troubled you?
Picard: Not half as much as this damn headache. Take over, Number One.
Riker: Aye, sir.
Riker: What's wrong?
Troi: I wish I could say.
Voices: Shields weakening, Captain. Torpedoes armed. Where are they? Oh my god, sir! Fire! Fire!
Riker: What is it, Data? Why all the mystery?
Data: The records of the Stargazer, sir. What the Ferengi call the Battle of Maxia. It seems the Captain's personal log contains a much different version of that conflict than the official historic account.
Riker: What are you saying?
Data: It would appear that the starship which Captain Picard attacked, had in fact, been under a flag of truce.
Riker: What?
Data: And apparently, the Captain destroyed the ship without notice or provocation.
Riker: Impossible. What about the fire aboard the Stargazer?
Data: An accident in Engineering.
Riker: And what proof?
Data: It is logged in his own voice, sir. Would you care to hear it, sir? Sir?
Picard: This is a confession given by me, Jean-Luc Picard commanding USS Stargazer.
Picard: What does this mean?
Riker: I don't know, sir. It sounds like your voice.
Picard: It is, Number One.
Riker: I refuse to believe you ever said that.
Picard: I admit I must have mistaken their subspace antenna for a weapons cluster. Unfortunately, I fired our main phasers and our direct hit destroyed the unknown vessel.
Riker: I've assumed they've simulated your voice somehow. I've already put Data to work on it.
Picard: Thank you, Will. I never made that log entry, of course, but it still leaves you with a duty to perform.
Riker: I know, sir, I must report it to Starfleet. That's at least one full day for subspace communications to reach there.
Picard: And one more full day for their answer to return. I'd like the truth on this by then. I'd hate to have to prepare a formal defense.
Riker: I can't believe they'd ask for your command.
Picard: Why wouldn't they? With the Ferengi making these friendship overtures, I could become a severe embarrassment to Starfleet.
Riker: I'm certain the Ferengi are behind the faked log. No wonder they're waiting out there. Headache back, sir?
Picard: Damn! I'll call the Doctor again.
Riker: It's no wonder, with all this going on. Try to relax.
Picard: This is a confession given by me, Jean-Luc Picard, commanding USS Stargazer, in the hopes that my belated honesty will be taken into account by Starfleet when judging my actions during a confrontation with an unidentified vessel.
Riker: Open hailing frequencies, Geordi.
Laforge: Open, sir.
Riker: I'll take it in the Ready room. Secure channel, La Forge.
Laforge: Secure, Sir.
Riker: Starship Ferengi, this is Commander Riker here. I'd like to speak to First Officer Kazago.
Kazago: A problem, Riker?
Riker: Are our channels secure on your end?
Kazago: It is now.
Riker: Are you aware of the details of the Battle of Maxia?
Kazago: Captain Bok has just made me aware of it, Riker. The infamy of your Picard is now fully known.
Riker: Infamy?
Kazago: I would call the wanton destruction of an unarmed vessel infamy.
Riker: And if I produced evidence that Captain Picard's log entry was falsified to indicate that?
Kazago: I can hardly imagine you contacted me to discuss an ancient battle. What do you want of me?
Riker: Just one question.
Kazago: As you humans say, I'm all ears.
Riker: First Officer to First Officer, Kazago, if your Captain Bok knew about this, then why this peaceful meeting to present us with the Stargazer?
Kazago: We freely give you back your derelict warship and now you accuse us of crime, Riker? I can bear no more insults!
Picard: Yes? Who the hell is it?
Crusher: Not resting, Captain?
Picard: More like dying, Doctor.
Crusher: Over here.
Picard: What is wrong with me?
Crusher: I wish to hell I knew, Captain, but something unusual has definitely been happening to you.
Picard: Why do doctors always say the obvious as though it's a revelation?
Crusher: Why do captains always act like they're immortal?
Picard: No.
Crusher: You didn't tell me it had been this bad.
Picard: It wasn't this bad. But it's getting worse.
Crusher: This should help a little. It's got to be some kind of emotional pressure connected with the Stargazer.
Picard: I got this headache long before I even knew my old ship still existed. Still, perhaps you're partly right.
Crusher: Want to talk about it? I'm here.
Picard: The fight at Maxia. I destroyed an entire vessel. An entire crew.
Crusher: Did you have a choice?
Picard: I don't know anymore. I just don't know.
Crusher: Commander Riker's told me about the altered log, if that's what's troubling you.
Picard: The last three nights I've, I've heard these voices. I'm on the bridge of my old ship. There's fire all around me. The klaxons, smoke. And then I give the order. And now the Stargazer is really here!. And that log. Am I going crazy? How do I know I was in my right mind at Maxia? How do I know I'm in my right mind now?
Picard: What was that?
Crusher: Something to let you sleep.
Picard: Yes sleep. Sleep.
Voices: Shields weakening, Captain. Torpedoes armed. Where are they?
Bok: And now, dear Captain, you are ready to live the past.
Voices: Where did they come from? Phasers, sir? Sir? Sir? What should we do, sir? Should we fire back? Fire, Captain? Fire!
Bok: You will injure yourself as you once injured me.
Voices: Sir!
Picard: Damage report!
Voice: Fusion generator under surge control, sir! Power systems failing!
Picard: Sensor beam bearing on hostile ship!
Voice: Seven mark nineteen, sir!
Voice: Phasers, sir? Sir?
Picard: Ready phasers, and lock! Stand by on warp nine. Heading seven, seven mark twenty. Engage.
Picard: Steady. Now, reverse and stop! Phasers fire, torpedoes away! Fire. Fire.
Data: By comparing the Stargazer's main computer log with Captain Picard's personal log, I have found checksum diskrepancies, sir.
Riker: What does that mean?
Data: All information is time-coded by entry, and the bits when totaled produce an aggregate amount which
Riker: I don't want a computer science lesson, Data. Bottom line.
Data: One of these two logs is a forgery, sir.
Laforge: Correction. The log just found aboard the Stargazer is a forgery.
Data: As I said, that is one of them, is it not?
Laforge: Captain. You're looking better, sir.
Picard: A little sleep, thanks to the good Doctor, works wonders. What report on the logs?
Data: Yes, sir. Whoever tampered with your personal log was clever.
Laforge: But a bit clumsy. It's definitely a fabrication, sir.
Crusher: Number One, I'd like you to take a look at this brain scan graph. What are you doing here?
Picard: I thought I was Captain of this starship.
Crusher: Of course you are, but I
Picard: Thank you for the confirmation, Doctor. But now, except for Riker, I would like you all to return to your stations. Is that clear?
Data: Sir.
Picard: You too, Doctor. I have business with the Commander.
Crusher: Under protest, Captain.
Riker: You have orders for me, sir?
Picard: Release the Stargazer from the tractor beam, Number One.
Riker: Sir?
Picard: The tractor beam.
Riker: Sir, are you abandoning?
Picard: No, but her inertia will carry the Stargazer along with us. Or did you sleep through the Academy lecture on conservation of tractor beam power?
Riker: No, sir. I'll release her, of course.
Crusher: Obviously, there's some thought process disorder, but I can't find a physical reason for it. Anything?
Troi: I'm puzzled too. I keep sensing random thoughts but two sets of them. As if they were his, but intermixed other thoughts which are also his.
Crusher: I'm busy at the moment, Wesley.
Wesley: I know, Mom, but this is important. When I went back to the main sensors in Engineering to try some more sensitivity experiments
Troi: Does this have something to do with Captain Picard?
Wesley: Yes, ma'am, if this is what you're talking about here. I don't know much about brain scans but I glanced at these when you were studying them, and I noticed that these patterns are the same as those picked up from the low-intensity transmissions from the Ferengi ship. I went back and checked, and they're exactly the same.
Troi: What kind of transmissions?
Wesley: I don't know. Engineering has nothing like it on record.
Troi: Let's get to the Captain.
Crusher: No, they might be affecting the Captain. To Riker.
Wesley: You're welcome, ladies. Adults.
Crusher: The captain, Commander?
Riker: Resting in his quarters after ordering both of you to your duty stations.
Troi: There have been some, did he say low intensity? Some unusual low intensity transmissions from the Ferengi vessel.
Riker: Did who say?
Crusher: My son. Transmissions which exactly match certain anomalies found in the Captain's brain scans. Something over there is affecting the Captain's thought patterns.
Riker: Computer, give me a location on Captain Picard.
Computer: Captain Picard is in Transporter room three.
Riker: What? Computer, emergency order to Transporter room three.
Computer: New information. Captain Picard is no longer aboard the Enterprise.
Bok: Welcome back, Captain.
Picard: What is happening?
Bok: Shields up, computer.
Picard: What are you doing?
Bok: Collecting on an old debt.
Riker: Stargazer, Captain, respond!
Tasha: Shields up, sir. No way to beam over any help.
Laforge: Commander, I'm reading something very strange here. A low intensity beam of intermittent pulse inside this starship.
Data: I have a fix on it, sir. Inside Captain Picard's quarters.
Tasha: You transferred some of his belongings from the Stargazer?
Worf: Yes. Including a fairly heavy chest.
Riker: Go take a look, fast!
Laforge: Commander, Stargazer is now powering up, sir.
Bok: I have been waiting a long nine years for this, Picard.
Picard: I don't know what you're talking about.
Bok: Do you not, human? Can you not remember the crime you committed against my very blood? You murdered my only son.
Picard: Your son?
Bok: He was the commander of the ship you destroyed! On his first voyage as DaiMon.
Picard: The ship? The Ferengi ship that attacked me. Or is it about to attack me?
Bok: And I have spent these years searching, seeking a proper blood revenge! And I found it! I am rich, Picard, yet two of these cost me the profits of an entire life. You are back in command of the Stargazer, Picard. Its computers will answer your orders. Die well, Captain. First officer's log. Captain Picard has beamed himself to the Stargazer, which is now moving away from us under its own power.
Riker: Enterprise to Stargazer, please respond. Enterprise to Captain Picard aboard Stargazer. Please answer. Mister Data, what was Stargazer's condition?
Data: Considerable fire damage to interior surface reported, sir. But none of her main systems were crippled.
Riker: Armaments, Lieutenant Yar?
Tasha: Six photon torpedoes short, sir, probably used when the Captain destroyed his Ferengi attackers nine years ago. Otherwise fully armed.
Riker: What do you make of it, La Forge?
Laforge: It seems to be a network of miniature circuitry, sir. Incredibly complex. Maybe an amplifier.
Riker: Where was it in the Captain's quarters, Mister Worf?
Worf: His chest from the Stargazer, sir? Just where I had left it. He hadn't yet unpacked.
Crusher: So, he may not have even known it was there. And if this is able to pick up or magnify thought-altering transmissions
Troi: It could have prepared him for whatever is happening now.
Riker: Let's find out, or try to. Contact the Ferengi vessel, Lieutenant.
Tasha: Hailing frequencies open, sir.
Riker: Enterprise to Ferengi vessel, we transmit visually. Do you respond?
Kazago: Why is our gift to you under power, human?
Riker: I will discuss that with your captain.
Kazago: He is working in our ship's laboratory. Where is your Captain?
Riker: He's beamed himself aboard the Stargazer, and I'm wondering if this has something to do with it.
Kazago: How do you have possession of that?
Riker: It was found in our Captain's chest, which brought over from the Stargazer.
Kazago: It is a forbidden device. A thought maker. If your Captain is criminal enough to own one
Riker: Kazago, you know who controls those spheres. Now I ask you again, First Officer to First Officer. What's going on?
Kazago: It is not seemly to question one's own DaiMon, Riker. I am not prepared to do that.
Tasha: Sir, I have the Stargazer.
Riker: Switch, now! Enterprise to Picard.
Picard: Do not attack again! We are on a peaceful mission. Give your identity. You force us to defend ourselves. Phasers full up. Arm torpedoes. Why aren't the shields at full power?
Tasha: We've lost him, sir.
Laforge: When he put up the shields, sir.
Picard: Damn, I said put fusion generators under surge control. You're moving too slowly. Arm the torpedoes, man! Vigo! Get a fire control party up here!
Voices: Shields weakening, Captain! Fusion generator online.
Picard: Weapons report!
Voice: Phasers coming to full charge, sir. Torpedoes armed!
Picard: Who are they? Identify them!
Voice: They're coming for a third pass at us, sir!
Voice: We can't take another hit, Captain!
Troi: Sir, I now feel anger from our Captain. Fury over whatever it is he is reliving out there.
Laforge: The Battle of Maxia, sir. That's what it is.
Riker: The Picard Maneuver. What is the defense against that, Data?
Data: There is no defense, sir.
Riker: Then devise one, fast!
Kazago: First Officer Kazago to human Riker.
Riker: Not now, Kazago.
Kazago: We do not wish to become involved in what has become clearly a Federation matter.
Riker: Fine, fine, Enterprise out!
Kazago: You should also know that DaiMon Bok no longer commands this vessel. His First Officer has confined him for engaging in this unprofitable venture. Good luck, First Officer Riker.
Data: I have computed a possibility, Commander. Since even deep space contains trace gasses, sir, a vessel in the Picard maneuver might seem to disappear, but our sensors could locate any sudden compression of those gasses.
Riker: And use it as an aiming point and blow our Captain to bits?
Data: This class starship has enough power to use our tractor beam on it. Seize it, limit it's field of fire.
Riker: Right. Concentrate shields at that point. Make it so. I hope you're right, Data.
Data: No question of it, sir.
Riker: Stand by!
Riker: Lock on tractor beam.
Picard: Ready phasers.
Riker: Captain Picard, listen to me.
Picard: Vigo, is that you?
Riker: It's Commander Riker, sir!
Riker: Captain, hear me! Look around you, the Ferengi are using their thought devices on you.
Picard: Stand by. Who is this?
Riker: It's Riker, sir. Your Number One. Look for a silver sphere. Destroy it with your phaser.
Picard: Phaser. A sphere. Bok used it.
Riker: Destroy it!
Picard: Phaser. Destroy the sphere. Destroy the sphere.
Riker: Are you all right, Captain?
Riker: Captain? Captain, are you all right? Captain, are you all right?
Picard: Where am I, Number One?
Riker: Aboard the Stargazer, sir. The sphere you destroyed, it's been controlling your
Picard: Bok! Where is Bok?
Riker: Removed from command, sir. Placed under guard for his act of personal vengeance. Seems there was no profit in it.
Picard: In revenge, there never is. Let the dead rest. And the past remain the past. Enterprise, lock on. Beam me home, Riker.