Laforge: No question about it. She was bluffing, Worf.
Worf: Bluffing is not one of Counselor Troi's strong suits.
Laforge: I'm still reading some chlorinide leakage, but I can't pin it down.
Laforge: Maybe up here.
Worf: It would have been unwise to call. Yes. My hand was not strong enough.
Laforge: You had jacks and eights, she bluffed you with a pair of sixes.
Worf: How did you know what I had?
Laforge: Let's just say I had a special insight into the cards. Maybe next time you should bring a deck that's not transparent to infrared light. Not to worry, Worf. I only peek after the hand is over. Still nothing. I'll get a dynoscan. We'll try again.
Crewman: Commander, is that what you wanted?
Laforge: Yes. If anything changes, you let me know. Ensign, run a dynoscan.
Crewwoman: Look out!
Laforge: Worf!
Crewman: Commander, what happened?
Laforge: La Forge to Sickbay! Medical emergency in cargo bay three!
Worf: What happened?
Crusher: The containers you were checking fell on you. You're lucky to be alive.
Worf: Doctor, I will not attempt to leave Sickbay without your approval. The restraining field is not necessary.
Crusher: Worf, there is no restraining field.
Worf: But I can't move my legs.
Crusher: I know. You can't move because one of the containers shattered seven of your vertebrae and crushed your spinal cord. I'm afraid there's no way we can repair this kind of injury.
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45587.3. Lieutenant Worf has been removed from active duty following a severe injury. Although a neuro-specialist has arrived, Doctor Crusher believes his paralysis may be permanent.
Crusher: Welcome to the Enterprise, Doctor Russell. I'm Beverly Crusher.
Russell: A pleasure. I have some equipment aboard the Potemkin. Would you please have it sent to one of your medical labs.
Crusher: Of course. Send it to medlab four.
Crewman: Yes, Doctor.
Russell: Before we get down to business, I just wanted to say that I had the pleasure of reading your paper on cybernetic regeneration recently.
Crusher: Really? You're the first person to mention it.
Russell: I thought it was brilliant.
Russell: Your ideas on bio-active interfaces border on revolutionary. It's going to be a genuine pleasure working with you.
Crusher: Thank you. Have you had a chance to review Worf's case history yet?
Russell: Only briefly. I must admit, I was a little shocked to find the state of Klingon neurological medicine to be so primitive.
Crusher: It's a cultural bias. When I contacted the Klingon Medical Division, they informed me that they usually let the patient die in a case like this. As a result they've done almost no research on neurological trauma.
Russell: We'll be in uncharted waters.
Crusher: Worf is having a hard time dealing with his injuries. He's always been a difficult patient, but now. He's a little tough at first, but I'm sure you'll get to like him after you get to
Russell: Doctor, I know that as a starship doctor, you have to maintain close ties with patients, but I think it would be best if I maintain a diskreet distance. That way, I can give you a completely objective opinion regarding treatment.
Crusher: Yes. You're probably right.
Russell: Good. Well, I believe you said I'll be working in medlab four?
Crusher: Right. This way.
Riker: You look pretty good for someone who's been eating sickbay food for three days.
Worf: Please, sit down, Commander. Thank you for agreeing to see me in this condition.
Riker: I'm not a Klingon. I don't think there's any shame in someone being injured.
Worf: I am not merely injured, Commander. Doctor Crusher believes my paralysis to be permanent.
Riker: I'm sorry.
Worf: I have a personal favor to ask.
Riker: Name it.
Worf: I want you to assist me in performing the Hegh'bat ceremony. I want you to help me die.
Riker: What?
Worf: When a Klingon can no longer stand and face his enemies as a warrior, when he becomes a burden to his friends and family, it is time for the Hegh'bat. Time for him to die.
Riker: There must be other options.
Worf: No, there are not. I will not live as an object of pity or shame. My life as a Klingon is over.
Riker: Mister Worf, I will not help a friend commit suicide.
Worf: You and I have served together for many years. Fought side by side I know you to be a brave and honorable man. If you truly consider me a friend, help me now. Help me end my life as I have lived it, with dignity and honor. Please.
Crusher: The cortical spinal tract has continued to deteriorate over the last seventy two hours despite CPK enzymatic therapy.
Russell: What about alkysine treatment?
Crusher: Ineffective.
Russell: Overdesigned. Klingon anatomy. Twenty three ribs, two livers, eight-chambered heart, double-lined neural pia mater. I've never seen so many unnecessary redundancies in one body.
Crusher: Unnecessary? The Klingons refer to it as the brak'lul. Almost every vital function in their bodies has a built-in redundancy in case any primary organ or system fails.
Russell: It's a good design in theory, but in practice, all the extra organs means just that much more can go wrong. Let me show you something. I've been experimenting with DNA based generators. This is a genetronic replicator. It reads the DNA coding of damaged organs, translates that into a specific set of replicant instructions and then begins to grow a replacement.
Crusher: I've read of some of the preliminary work you've done.
Russell: The early results have been very encouraging. Beverly, the genetronic replicator can create a completely new neural conduit for your Lieutenant Worf.
Crusher: Replace his entire spinal column?
Russell: Exactly. Instead of splicing and pasting together broken connections like a couple of glorified tailors, we create a new living system.
Crusher: I had no idea you were already using this on humanoids.
Russell: I haven't been. This'll be the first time.
Crusher: First time?
Russell: I've done dozens of holosimulations. The success rate is up to thirty seven percent.
Crusher: Even a holographic patient would balk at those odds.
Russell: Sooner or later, it has to be tried on a living patient.
Crusher: You're talking about a spinal column. Even before we could replace it, we have to remove the existing one, and we don't know enough about Klingon neurological medicine to re-attach it. If something goes wrong, he'll die. I agree it has remarkable potential, but you're still in the most preliminary stages of research. No, I'm afraid I can't justify the risk to Worf. We'll have to do with more conventional approaches.
Russell: You're probably right. It's too radical an approach.
Picard: Doctor Crusher, please report to the Bridge.
Crusher: On my way.
Picard: Doctor, the transport ship Denver has struck a gravitic mine left over from the Cardassian war. They've sustained heavy damage.
Riker: Their last message said they were attempting to crash land on one of the planets in the Mericor system. We should arrive in just under seven hours.
Crusher: How many people were aboard?
Data: The Denver's standard crew complement is twenty three, but they were transporting five hundred seventeen colonists to the Beloti sector.
Crusher: I'll need to convert all three shuttlebays to emergency triage centers. I also want all civilians with medical training to report for duty.
Picard: Make it so.
Riker: Captain, may I speak with you in private?
Picard: Of course, Number One. You have the Bridge, Mister Data.
Data: Aye, sir.
Riker: I have always tried to keep an open mind, not to judge someone else's culture by my own, but for me to be a part of this ceremony.
Picard: I understand from Doctor Crusher that Worf will never regain the use of his legs.
Riker: That doesn't mean his life is over.
Picard: That's a very human perspective, Will. For a Klingon in Worf's position, his life is over.
Riker: I can't accept that.
Picard: Will, if you were dying, if you were terminally ill with an incurable disease and facing the remaining few days of your life in pain, wouldn't you come to look on death as a release?
Riker: Worf isn't dying and he is not in pain. He could live a long life
Picard: You or I could learn to live with that disability, but not Worf. His life ended when those containers fell on him. We don't have to agree with it, we don't have to understand it, but we do have to respect his beliefs.
Riker: I can respect his beliefs, but he is asking me to take an active role in his committing suicide.
Picard: He's asking for your help because you're his friend. That means that you're going to have to make your decision based on that friendship.
Riker: Which leaves me back where I started.
Picard: Will. Look, I'm sorry, I cannot help you to make this decision, but I can tell you this. Klingons choose their friends with great care. If he didn't know he could count on you, he never would have asked.
Alexander: Why won't you let me see him?
Troi: Alexander, I told you it's not my decision. Your father doesn't want to
Alexander: I don't believe you. My father wants to see me. You're the one keeping me away from him!
Troi: I think you know that's not true.
Alexander: Then why can't I see him?
Troi: Come here. He's been injured, and he's embarrassed. And to have anyone see him now would make him feel worse, even if it were you.
Alexander: This is part of that Klingon stuff, isn't it. My mother always said that Klingons had a lot of dumb ideas about honor.
Troi: Alexander, that Klingon stuff is very important to your father.
Alexander: Well, it isn't very important to me. I don't care about being Klingon, I just want to see my father.
Troi: It's been a long day. Why don't you get ready for bed and we'll talk about this again in the morning.
Troi: Alexander is scared, confused, hurt, all because his father is refusing to see him.
Worf: You know why I left those instructions.
Troi: Yes I do. It's not the Klingon way, right?
Worf: It is a question of honor, and I would ask you that you respect my wishes in this matter, Counselor.
Troi: All I care about at this moment is a little boy who's terrified he's going to lose his father.
Troi: Maybe it's time you stopped lying here worrying about your honor, and started thinking about someone else, like your son.
Crusher: Would you like us to come back later?
Worf: No. Please come in, Doctor.
Crusher: This is Doctor Toby Russell. She's from the Adelman Neurological Institute. She specializes in spinal injuries like yours. We've discussed a variety of surgical procedures. I'm afraid none of them will repair the spinal cord, but we have found a way for you to regain much of your mobility. We can implant a series of neural transducers in your lower torso and legs. They're designed to pick up the electrical impulses from your brain and stimulate the corresponding muscles. With a little work, you can eventually regain sixty to seventy percent of your motor control.
Russell: The first step would be to fit your legs with motor assist units like this one. They're a training device. Once you've mastered using them, we can move on to the implants.
Russell: Now try to move your leg.
Crusher: No, no, that's good for a first try. It will take some time before you get used to manipulating the
Worf: No! I will not live like that.
Crusher: These are very sophisticated devices. With enough time, they will give you
Worf: Sixty percent of my mobility. No, I will not be seen lurching through corridors like some half-Klingon machine, the object of ridicule and disgust.
Crusher: Perhaps this all seems a bit frightening to you know. I want you to take some time before making a decision. Think about it.
Russell: There is one other option I'd like you to consider. It's called genetronic replication. It's still in the experimental stage, but if it works, it will restore virtually all of your mobility and without the need for artificial implants.
Crusher: I thought we had discussed genetronics.
Russell: We did.
Crusher: I also thought we'd decided against recommending it.
Russell: You heard him. He'd rather die than live with the implants. I just gave him a better option than suicide.
Crusher: He's grasping for straws and you're giving him one. Now instead of dealing with his paralysis, he's going to be thinking about this miracle cure of yours.
Russell: There's a real chance this could work. And if it does, it'll be a major breakthrough in neurogenetics that will change a lot of people's lives.
Crusher: You're using the desperation of an injured man as an excuse to try a procedure that you couldn't do under normal circumstances. I checked with Starfleet Medical. They have turned down your request to test genetronics on humanoids three times already.
Russell: Are you really going to hide behind the rules of some bureaucracy? Beverly, your patient's life is at stake here.
Crusher: Look, before you do any of this
Picard: Picard to Doctor Crusher.
Crusher: Go ahead, Captain.
Picard: We've located the survivors from the Denver.
Crusher: We're ready down here. We have triage teams standing by.
Picard: Very well. We'll begin transporting the survivors on board immediately. Bridge out.
Russell: Beverly, could you use an extra pair of hands?
Crusher: Absolutely.
Alexander: Father?
Worf: Come in, Alexander.
Alexander: Deanna said you hurt your back, that you couldn't walk.
Worf: I am still struggling with my injury.
Alexander: I was worried about you.
Worf: There is much to discuss. There will be difficult times ahead. You must be strong.
Alexander: I understand.
Worf: Good. As Klingons, we must always be prepared for any
Alexander: Father!
Worf: Take him away.
Troi: Worf, let me help you.
Worf: Leave!
Troi: Alexander, go on. It'll be all right. I'll take care of your father.
Crusher: Use this to cauterize the tissue.
Medic: Yes, Doctor.
Crusher: What happened here?
Russell: He went into neural metaphasic shock.
Crusher: From leporazine? That's unusual.
Russell: He couldn't take leporazine, his blood pressure was too low. I had to try a different treatment.
Crusher: A morathial series?
Russell: No. I tried a new rybo-therapy I've been working with. It's called borathium. I've had some very good results.
Crusher: You used this man to test one of your theories?
Russell: Borathium is decades ahead of leporazine and morathial.
Crusher: Morathial would have saved his life.
Russell: His injuries were so severe I don't think any conventional treatment could've saved him.
Crusher: The point is, you didn't even try standard treatments.
Russell: I made the choice I thought gave him the best chance of surviving. Isn't that what you would have done?
Crusher: I think you used this situation in order to test one of your theories just like you're trying to do with Worf.
Russell: That's what this is really about, isn't it? Lieutenant Worf. I'm offering him a chance to recover fully. A chance you can't give him.
Crusher: What this is about is the kind of medicine you seem to practice.
Russell: I make no excuses for my approach to medicine. I don't like losing a patient any more than you do. But I'm looking down a long road, Doctor. This man didn't die for nothing. The data that I gathered is invaluable. It will eventually help save thousands of lives.
Crusher: I doubt if that will be any comfort his family.
Russell: Let me ask you this. If some years from now, borathium therapy were to save the life of someone you loved, would you still condemn me?
Crusher: I will not be drawn into a hypothetical argument, Doctor. Your research on this ship is over. You're relieved of all medical duties until further notice. Is that clear?
Russell: Perfectly.
Picard: Doctor? I'm on my way to look in on your patient.
Crusher: Be my guest. Just don't expect a lot of conversation. He's in full Klingon mode. Honorable, strong and closed minded.
Picard: I understand that you've relieved Doctor Russell of duty.
Crusher: That's right. She's irresponsible. I won't have her practicing medicine on this ship.
Picard: Beverly, maybe you should consider letting her go ahead with this genetronic procedure.
Crusher: How can you say that? She has a theory, based on a little empirical knowledge and a lot of supposition.
Picard: If he can't make a full recovery, Worf will to kill himself.
Crusher: Not in my Sickbay, he won't. I'll put him in a restraining field and post security around his door before I let him commit suicide.
Picard: And how long will you keep him there? A week? A month? A year?
Crusher: If I have to. Suicide is not an option. Putting aside for a moment the fact that a paraplegic can live a very full life, there is also a conventional therapy that could restore much of his mobility.
Picard: But not all of it.
Crusher: No, not all of it! There are some things I can't fix. Klingon or no, he is going to have to accept his condition.
Picard: Beverly, he can't make the journey you're asking of him. You want him to go from contemplating suicide to accepting his condition and living with the disability, but it's too far. The road between covers a lifetime of values, beliefs. He can't do it, Beverly. But perhaps he can come part of the way. Maybe he can be persuaded to forgo the ritual in order to take the chance at regaining the kind of life he needs. A Klingon may not be good at accepting defeat, but he knows all about taking risks.
Crusher: The first tenet of good medicine is never make the patient any worse. Right now, Worf is alive and functioning. If he goes into that operation, he could come out a corpse.
Picard: This may not be good medicine, but for Worf, it may be his only choice.
Worf: I am ready, Commander.
Riker: I've been studying this ritual of yours. Do you know what I've decided? I think it's despicable. I hate everything about it. The casual disregard for life, the way it tries to cloak suicide in some glorious notion of honor. I may have to respect your beliefs, but I don't have to like them.
Worf: It is not something I expect you to understand.
Riker: No. All you really expect me to do is bring you the knife and then walk away, so you can kill yourself in peace. Well, I'm not going to make it that easy for you.
Worf: It is not easy for me. But each of us must die in our own time, and my time
Riker: Remember Sandoval? Hit by a disruptor blast two years ago. She lived for about a week. Fang-lee? Marla Aster? Tasha Yar? How many men and women, how many friends have we watched die? I've lost count. Every one of them, every single one fought for life until the very end.
Worf: I do not welcome death, Commander.
Riker: Are you sure? Because I get the sense you're feeling pretty noble about the whole thing. Look at me, aren't I courageous? Aren't I an honorable Klingon? Let me remind you of something. A Klingon does not put his desires above those of his family or his friends. How many people on this ship consider you a friend? How many owe you their lives? Have you ever thought about how you've affected the people around you? How we might feel about your dying?
Worf: Will you, or will you not, help me with the Hegh'bat?
Riker: You are my friend, and in spite of everything I've said, if it were my place, I would probably help you. But I've been studying Klingon ritual and Klingon law, and I've discovered that it's not my place to fill that role. According to tradition, that honor falls to a family member. Preferably the oldest son.
Worf: That is impossible. He is a child.
Riker: The son of a Klingon is a man the day he can first hold a blade. True?
Worf: Alexander is not fully Klingon he is part human.
Riker: That's an excuse. What you really mean is it would be too hard for you to look at your son and tell him to bring you the knife. Watch you stab it into your heart, then pull the knife from your chest and wipe your blood on his sleeve. That's the rite of death, isn't it? Well, I'm sorry, Mister Worf. I can't help you. There's only one person on this ship who can.
Alexander: You said you wanted to see me?
Worf: I need you to help me.
Alexander: Anything, Father.
Worf: I have taught you about Klingon customs, the beliefs which we value. According to tradition, I must take my life after suffering this kind of injury. But I have decided to break with tradition. I have decided to live.
Alexander: I'm glad, Father.
Worf: I must still undergo a dangerous operation. I may still die, but it will not be by my own hand. Return this to our quarters.
Alexander: Yes, sir. Chief Medical Officer's log, supplemental. After further consultation with Starfleet Medical, and a great deal of soul searching, I have reluctantly granted Lieutenant Worf's request to undergo the genetronic procedure.
Alexander: We started doing multiplications today. The teacher said I'm faster than anybody else in my class.
Worf: We will speak again soon.
Alexander: Yes, Father.
Worf: If I die, he must be cared for.
Troi: I'll make sure he reaches your parents' home safely.
Worf: No. They are elderly. They cannot care for Alexander. Counselor, I have a serious request to make of you. Would you consider?
Troi: You want me to raise Alexander?
Worf: I have come to have a great respect for you, Deanna. You have been most helpful in guiding me since Alexander's arrival. I can't imagine anyone who would be a better parent to my son. If it is too much to ask.
Troi: I'd be honored.
Worf: I am ready.
Russell: Focus the drechtal beams on the anterior and posterior spinal roots.
Crusher: Focused.
Russell: Initiate.
Crusher: All neural connections below the first cervical vertebrae have been separated.
Russell: Microtome. I'm severing the brain stem now.
Ogawa: Cerebral cortex placed on life support at zero eight thirty one hours. Three hours twenty six minutes remaining until onset of primary brain dysfunction.
Russell: Okay, let's remove the support frame.
Crusher: Exoscalpel.
Riker: I've notified Starfleet that our survey of sector three seven six two eight will be delayed at least a week while we drop off survivors from the Denver.
Picard: Good. I understand from Mister La Forge there's a minor fluctuation in the starboard warp coil.
Riker: I've scheduled a stress simulation routine for this afternoon to check it out. Has there been any word?
Picard: No.
Crusher: Preliminary genetronic scans are complete.
Russell: Initiating DNA sequencer.
Crusher: Reading the initial sequences at ten to the ninth base pairs per second.
Russell: Once we're past the first two levels, we'll begin the encoding sequence. Increase TCH levels to
Crusher: What's happened?
Russell: The scanner is having trouble reading the Klingon dorsal root ganglia.
Crusher: Did this show up in your simulations?
Russell: Yes, but I thought I'd made sufficient adjustments. Bring me the detronal scanner. I can scan the ganglia manually. It'll just take a little longer.
Ogawa: One hour forty three minutes until primary brain dysfunction.
Russell: Retract the paraspinal muscle.
Crusher: Got it. Watch the proximal nerve endings.
Russell: I see them. Make sure the cranial segment is at least fifteen centimeters from the brain stem.
Ogawa: I'm reading a slight fluctuation in the isocortex.
Crusher: Twenty cc's inoprovaline.
Russell: Okay. Release retractors on the paraspinal. How much longer can we keep him on life support?
Ogawa: Twenty seven minutes.
Russell: Cover. Close, please.
Crusher: Ready.
Russell: Tissue growth proceeding at anticipated rates. No initial signs of rejection.
Russell: Okay. Ready. Terminate life support.
Ogawa: Life support disengaged.
Russell: Neural connections appear stable.
Crusher: Looking good so far.
Ogawa: Fluctuations in the isocortex.
Crusher: Forty cc's inoprovaline.
Russell: Synaptic response falling.
Ogawa: BP dropping. Now sixty over ten. VeK'tal response falling rapidly.
Crusher: Increase oxygen mixture to ninety five percent.
Russell: Beginning direct synaptic stimulation.
Ogawa: Respiration is shallow and rapid. No response in the isocortex.
Crusher: Seventy five cc's inoprovaline.
Ogawa: Heart rate is erratic.
Russell: He's going into cardiac arrest.
Crusher: All right, let's go to chloromydride. Fifteen cc's.
Russell: We're losing him. No BP, no pulse. Brain activity?
Ogawa: Showing no higher brain functions.
Crusher: All right twenty five cc's cordrazine.
Russell: That'll kill him.
Crusher: Looks like we've done a pretty good job of that already, Doctor.
Ogawa: No BP, no pulse. No activity in the isocortex.
Crusher: Cortical stimulator. Now. Again. Again. Again. Again.
Russell: Doctor.
Crusher: All right, make a note in the log. Death occurred at twelve hundred forty hours.
Russell: It was all going so well. No anomalies during replication, no initial rejection.
Troi: No.
Crusher: Alexander, I am so sorry.
Alexander: I want to see him.
Troi: Alex.
Alexander: No! I want to see him.
Crusher: Activate biomonitors. Twenty five cc's polyadrenaline.
Russell: What's going on?
Crusher: I'm not sure, but if I'm right, one of those unnecessary redundancies
Ogawa: Doctor!
Crusher: I don't believe it. Begin cardio-aid and ventilation. That's amazing. There must be a back-up for his synaptic functions as well.
Ogawa: Vital signs are stabilizing.
Crusher: Begin rybo-synetic therapy. Increase oxygen mixture to ninety percent. Let's prepare a thalamic booster series.
Russell: Well, I'd say your patient's recovery is going well. You're not even going to acknowledge what I did for him, are you. You just can't admit that it was my research that made this possible.
Crusher: I am delighted that Worf is going to recover. You gambled, he won. Not all of your patients are so lucky. You scare me, Doctor. You risk your patient's lives and justify it in the name of research. Genuine research takes time. Sometimes a lifetime of painstaking, detailed work in order to get any results. Not for you. You take short cuts, right through living tissue. You put your research ahead of your patient's lives, and as far as I'm concerned that's a violation of our most sacred trust. I'm sure your work will be hailed as a stunning breakthrough. Enjoy your laurels, Doctor. I'm not sure I could.
Crusher: This is going to take time, Worf. Your muscles are still sorting out their new signals. Don't rush it.
Troi: Alexander, remember what we talked about? Your father wants to do this by himself.
Worf: It's all right, Counselor. I would appreciate some help from my son. We will work together.
Alexander: Yes, sir.


Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45614.6. We have been contacted by an androgynous race called the J'naii to investigate the mysterious disappearance of one of their shuttlecraft.
Data: Captain, we are approaching the designated coordinates.
Picard: On screen. Long range scan, Mister Data.
Data: Sensors find no evidence of the shuttle anywhere within the star system.
Soren: It couldn't have traveled outside the system.
Riker: Mister Data, reconfigure high resolution sweep, radius one million kilometers. Check for any debris.
Data: Scan shows no debris within that radius.
Krite: I don't understand it. A shuttle doesn't simply vanish.
Soren: There has to be an explanation.
Data: Captain, I am detecting an unusual reading. It appears to be a neutrino emission with no visible source.
Picard: Explanation?
Data: I have none, sir. I recommend we launch a probe.
Picard: Make it so.
Worf: Probe is launched.
Data: Sensors show no evidence of any unusual phenomenon.
Data: The probe is no longer transmitting.
Soren: What happened? Where did it go?
Picard: Captain's log, supplemental. The sudden disappearance of our probe suggests that we may have found the first instance of what is called null space, an anomaly which until now had been only theoretical. Commander Riker has been working around the clock with a team of J'naii specialists to formalize this hypothesis.
Soren: During the creation of a star system, when clouds of interstellar dust and gas coalesce, turbulent regions of magnetic and gravitational fields may develop. If certain conditions occur, these fields can condense into abnormal pockets of space.
Riker: We think your system contains one of these null pockets. If we're right, the pocket would absorb electromagnetic energy from anything that entered it.
Soren: Like a shuttlecraft.
Riker: Or a probe. Making them powerless.
Soren: But outside the pocket, all the energy is bent around it, making it naturally cloaked. That's why we cannot see it, and our sensors cannot read it.
Noor: Is the shuttle still there?
Riker: We think so. The shuttle probably wasn't able to sustain its energy, but other than that it wouldn't be damaged.
Soren: Since our shuttles carry plestorene based backup systems, we think life support would sustain for as long as ten days.
Noor: Then perhaps our crew has survived.
Riker: We can send one of our own shuttles, but its energy would also be absorbed. Our Chief Engineer is working on a way to maintain the power reserves long enough to rescue your crew.
Noor: Commander, we're grateful for your help. Whatever resources we can provide are yours.
Soren: I've been thinking. When the time comes, I would like to pilot the shuttle.
Riker: It's a Starfleet craft.
Soren: I cannot ask you to put yourself in danger to rescue our crew.
Riker: You can't pilot a shuttle you're not familiar with.
Soren: I happen to be a good pilot
Riker: I happen to be a good pilot, too. And I know my way around the Starfleet shuttle. So what if we team up?
Soren: When can we go over the shuttle flight operations?
Riker: Right now.
Soren: Is this the one?
Riker: This is it. Short-range craft, two twelve hundred fifty millicochrane warp engines.
Soren: Looks like microfusion thrusters.
Riker: Right.
Soren: Armament?
Riker: None, usually. This one's been fitted with two type-four phaser emitters. We'll use those to chart the null space.
Soren: Chart it?
Riker: Mister La Forge wants to get an idea of the size of the pocket. He thinks the rate of energy absorption is linked to its size.
Soren: I'm not sure how we go about mapping something we can't see.
Riker: Well, that's where the emitters come in. We shoot out a series of photon pulses into the pocket and chart where each one disappears. From that we should get a fairly complete outline.
Soren: Let's take a look at the controls.
Riker: Later we'll try a flight simulation. Right now let's do a systems review. I'll talk you through it.
Soren: Let me try it. Propulsion system, transfer conduits. Where's the schematic reactor assembly? Oh, there it is. Engine nacelles. There's nothing here that's unfamiliar. Navigational deflector, redundant graviton polarity source generators.
Riker: You handle these controls like you grew up in a shuttle.
Soren: I did. My parents were pilots. I was flying with them before I could walk. And as soon as I was old enough, I entered flight school. Krite was my instructor.
Riker: He had a good student.
Soren: He? Commander, there are no he's or she's in a species without gender.
Riker: Okay. For two days I've been trying to construct sentences without personal pronouns. Now I give up. What should I use? It? To us, that's rude.
Soren: We use a pronoun which is neutral. I do not think there is really a translation.
Riker: Then I'll just have to muddle through. So forgive me if a stray he or she slips by, okay?
Soren: Well, if that's the systems review, I don't see any problem. What's next?
Riker: Lunch.
Soren: What is it?
Riker: Split pea soup. It's my father's recipe. I had it programmed into the replicators. Well?
Soren: Unusual, but I think I like it.
Riker: It's very healthy. Helps to keep you warm on cold Alaskan nights.
Soren: We prefer to stay warm by sleeping with a friend.
Riker: I see.
Soren: Not to mate. Just to sleep together for warmth.
Riker: Still sounds better than pea soup.
Soren: We are puzzling to you, aren't we?
Riker: A little. It's hard to grasp the idea of no gender.
Soren: It's just as hard for us to understand the strange division in your species. Males and females. You are male. Tell me about males. What is it that makes you different from females?
Riker: Snips and snails and puppy dog tails?
Soren: You have a dog's tail?
Riker: It's an old nursery rhyme. Girls are made from sugar and spice, and boys are made from snips and snails.
Soren: That makes it sound better to be female.
Riker: It's an old-fashioned way of looking at the sexes. Not to say that there's no real difference between them. Physically, men are bigger, stronger in the upper body. We have different sexual organs. Men can't bear young.
Soren: And what about feelings, or emotional attitudes? Are they different?
Riker: Most people think so. But that's the kind of question that would take a lifetime to answer. Let me ask you, what's it like on a planet where the people have no gender?
Soren: I'm afraid I don't understand.
Riker: Well, who leads when you dance? If you dance.
Soren: We do, and whoever's taller leads.
Riker: Without the battle of the sexes you probably don't have as many arguments.
Soren: Just because we don't have gender doesn't mean we don't have conflicts. We're very strong-minded. We love a good fight.
Riker: From the sound of it there's not that much difference between our species.
Soren: Maybe not. What kind of woman do you find attractive?
Riker: I like one who's intelligent and sure of herself, who I can talk with and get something back. But the most important thing of all? She has to laugh at my jokes.
Soren: Tell me, is that the kind of woman that all human males prefer?
Riker: Not at all. Some like quiet, demure women. Others prefer a lot of energy. Some only respond to physical attractiveness. Others couldn't care less. There are no rules.
Soren: You make it sound very complex.
Riker: Believe me, it is.
Soren: Well, perhaps it is that complexity which makes differences in the sexes so interesting.
Krite: Good evening, Commander.
Riker: Good evening.
Soren: Please take my place, Krite. I have to be going. Thank you for going over the flight protocols, Commander. It was very helpful.
Picard: Captain's log, supplemental. Commander Riker and the J'naii pilot have set out to chart the null space pocket. If they are successful, we can then proceed with a rescue attempt.
Soren: I've illuminated the delta four grid map. We'll start there and expand.
Riker: Stand by, forward phaser array.
Soren: Pulse vanished at delta four point two by point three.
Riker: Firing second burst.
Soren: Delta four point four by point five.
Riker: This is working. Initiating computer task hand-off.
Soren: Commander, tell me about your sexual organs.
Riker: Er.
Soren: Is that an uncomfortable subject for humans?
Riker: No, but it doesn't tend to be a topic of casual conversation.
Soren: I'm interested in your mating practices. What is involved with two sexes?
Riker: Correcting course. Zero two one mark zero.
Soren: Mating?
Riker: Right. Well, it's pretty simple. Men inseminate the women. Women carry the baby.
Soren: Our fetuses are incubated in fibrous husks, which the parents inseminate. From what we know of other species, our method is less risky and less painful.
Riker: And less enjoyable.
Soren: Less enjoyable?
Riker: For humans, the sexual act brings a closeness and intimacy. It can be a very pleasurable experience. Inseminating a husk.
Soren: That's just the last step. Mating is a long ritual for us, full of variety and invention. I assure you, it is extremely pleasurable.
Riker: I'm picking up a neutrino emission from within the null space.
Soren: That may be coming from our shuttle. I'll note these coordinates.
Soren: I wonder.
Riker: What?
Soren: If a human and a J'naii would be sexually compatible.
Riker: I don't know.
Soren: Of course it would never be permitted.
Riker: Why not?
Soren: The idea of gender. It is offensive to my people. You see, long ago we had two sexes, as you do. But we evolved into a higher form. I don't mean to sound insulting, but on my planet we have been taught that gender is primitive.
Riker: Primitive?
Soren: Less evolved.
Riker: Maybe so, but sometimes there's a lot to be said for an experience that's primitive.
Soren: Delta five grid map is fully plotted.
Riker: Adjusting course. Zero two nine mark zero.
Riker: The port engine's down.
Soren: Reducing power in the starboard nacelle.
Riker: That's not enough. I have to activate the maneuvering thrusters.
Soren: Thrusters aren't responding. I'll try to reroute the firing sequence.
Riker: Inertial dampers are failing. Hang on!
Laforge: Enterprise to shuttle, do you read me?
Riker: Affirmative. We've lost an engine.
Laforge: We'll try to get a tractor beam on you.
Riker: The sooner the better. Enterprise, we have an injury. Transport Soren directly to Sickbay.
Laforge: Right away, Commander.
Crusher: It's just a mild concussion. You're going to be fine. This will reduce the inflammation.
Soren: Doctor, you are female.
Crusher: Yes.
Soren: Forgive me, I do not mean to be rude, but I'm curious. What is it like?
Crusher: Well, it's just the way I am. I've never really thought about what it's like.
Soren: I've noticed you tend to have longer hair, and you arrange it more elaborately. And you apply color to your bodies.
Crusher: Color?
Soren: You put color on your mouths, and your eyes, your cheeks, your fingernails. The men don't.
Crusher: That's true.
Soren: Then it is up to women to attract the men.
Crusher: Oh, no. Men want to be attractive too, believe me. They just go about it differently.
Soren: No color.
Crusher: No color. They like to pretend they're not doing anything to attract a woman, even when it's the most important thing on their minds.
Soren: This is very confusing. Then, are women considered more superior, or are men?
Crusher: Neither. In the past, women were often considered weak and inferior. But that hasn't been true for a long time.
Crusher: Will, your co-pilot is going to be fine. The injury was minor.
Riker: I'm glad to hear it.
Soren: I'm afraid you're not rid of me yet, Commander. I will be able to complete the mission.
Riker: Glad you feel better.
Soren: What happened? What made the shuttle go into a spin?
Riker: The port nacelle must have nipped one of the protrusions from the null pocket and shut it down.
Soren: Are we still on schedule, then?
Riker: That depends on how you're doing.
Soren: I'm fine. We should go check the port engine.
Riker: Whoa. Maybe we should get the doctor's opinion first.
Soren: Doctor?
Crusher: I don't see any problem. But if you feel any symptoms, headache, dizziness, come back.
Soren: You have my word.
Troi: All right. This hand, the game is Federation Day.
Worf: What is that?
Troi: Well, the Federation was founded in Twenty One Sixty One, so, twos, sixes, and aces are wild.
Worf: That is a woman's game.
Troi: Oh? Why is that?
Worf: All those wild cards. They support a weak hand. A man's game has no wild cards.
Crusher: Let me get this straight. Are you saying it's a woman's game because women are weak and need more help?
Worf: Yes.
Crusher: And just this afternoon I was insisting to one of the J'naii that those attitudes were but a distant memory.
Worf: The J'naii. They bother me.
Troi: Why, Worf?
Worf: They just do. They're all alike. No males, no females.
Troi: Well I'm sure we're just as strange to them.
Crusher: Well one of them seems to be overcoming the differences, at least in regards to one of us.
Worf: What are you saying, Doctor?
Crusher: I could be wrong, but I get the definite impression that Soren is attracted to Commander Riker.
Worf: A human and a J'naii? Impossible.
Data: Why?
Troi: Good question. Worf?
Worf: With all these wild cards, it is difficult to know exactly what is in my hand. However, I will open with fifty.
Riker: The portable transporter array is in. When we get into null space, we'll need to initialize it before we can transport the J'naii crew to this shuttle. But there should still be enough power left to beam all of us back to the Enterprise.
Soren: Is the buffer field generator installled?
Riker: Not yet. Geordi thinks that'll be ready by oh eight hundred hours tomorrow. But before that, we should see if we can balance this engine. Can you access the starboard manifold thrust?
Soren: There.
Riker: Set the arc at six point three. I'll optimize the plasma flow.
Soren: Commander, I'd like to tell you something. Something that's not easy to say.
Riker: What's that?
Soren: I find you attractive. I'm taking a terrible risk telling you that. It means revealing something to you, something that, if it were known on my planet, would be very dangerous for me. Occasionally, among my people, there are a few who are born different, who are throwbacks from the era when we all had gender. Some have strong inclinations to maleness, and some have urges to be female. I am one of the latter.
Riker: I have to admit I had a feeling you were different.
Soren: I was hoping you would. But in front of Krite and the others, I must be careful not to reveal myself.
Riker: Why?
Soren: On our world these feelings are forbidden. Those who are discovered are shamed and ridiculed, and only by undergoing psychotectic therapy and having all elements of gender eliminated can they become accepted into society again. Those of us who have these urges live secret and guarded lives. We seek each other out, always hiding, always terrified of being discovered.
Riker: How long have you known that you were like this?
Soren: I've known I was different all my life. But I didn't understand how or why until I was older.
Riker: And when you realized, what then?
Soren: I remember when I was very young, before I knew what I was, there was a rumor in my school that one of the students preferred a gender, in that case, male. The children started making fun of him, and every day they were more cruel They could tell he was afraid and somehow that seemed to encourage them. One morning in class, he appeared, bleeding and in ripped clothes. He said he had fallen down. And of course the school authorities found out and took him away, and gave him psychotectic treatments. When he came back, he stood in front of the whole school and told us how happy he was now that he had been cured. After that, I realized how dangerous it was to be different. And once I got older, and knew what I was, I was terrified. I have had to live with that fear ever since.
Riker: Do you have relationships with others?
Soren: Yes, with those who have discovered they are male. I have had to live a life of pretense and lies, but with you I can be honest. Please, don't say anything. Just think about it.
Laforge: That's it, Commander, everything checks out. The energy buffer is installled and functioning. I estimate it should reduce the power drain to your systems by about forty percent.
Riker: Any guess how long we'll have?
Laforge: Lets just say you don't want to waste any time once you get in there. You'll have to give him continuous readouts on energy consumption. I can't even predict if the drain will be at a constant rate.
Soren: I understand.
Laforge: Then that's it. Commander, I'll monitor you as far as I can, but once you get inside that pocket you're on your own.
Riker: We don't have any idea what condition the shuttle crew is in, so we'll all beam directly to Sickbay.
Laforge: I'll notify Doctor Crusher to be standing by.
Laforge: La Forge to Bridge.
Picard: Picard here.
Laforge: We're ready to initiate shuttle pre-launch sequence.
Picard: Proceed, Mister Data.
Data: Initiating pre-launch sequence.
Riker: Request flight clearance.
Data: Clearance is granted. The shuttle is under way, sir.
Picard: Good hunting, Commander.
Riker: Thank you, sir. See you for dinner.
Soren: Heading confirmed. Energy readings are normal, with power reserves stabilized at one hundred percent.
Riker: Acknowledged.
Soren: It's dead ahead, approximately fifty kilometers.
Riker: Riker to Enterprise, we're taking her in.
Riker: Riker to Enterprise? Riker to Enterprise.
Soren: Power reserves are down to eighty four percent.
Riker: Look. Try hailing them.
Soren: Calling the Taris Murn. Do you read me?
Riker: Getting sensor readings. They're unconscious but they're alive. Stand by. I'm going to transport them over here.
Soren: Power reserves at sixty eight percent and dropping.
Riker: The null space must be affecting the annular confinement beam.
Soren: We used ten megajoules with that attempt. We're down to thirty four percent of reserves.
Riker: We can give it one more try. More than that, we won't have enough power to get ourselves out of here.
Soren: They need medical attention quickly.
Riker: Okay. Stand by to transport to the Enterprise. Here we go.
Riker: Energy consumption?
Soren: We're down to nine percent. We don't have enough to get back.
Riker: If we just sit here, we'll lose all of our systems within an hour, including life support. Okay, I'm rerouting the propulsion system to the transporter. Re-channel the navigation systems. Let's transfer every microjoule of energy we've got. Sensors, life support. This might give us one last shot.
Soren: But if we use an energy shift of that size, it'll overload the phase compensators. The shuttle
Riker: Will explode. But if we stay here, we're dead anyway. Maximum energy levels, five seconds. See you in a minute.
Crusher: They've been oxygen deprived. There doesn't seem to be any significant damage. Prepare some dexalin.
Medic: Yes, Doctor.
Krite: Commander, thank you.
Riker: Your colleague Soren was very helpful.
Krite: Captain, would you all join us this evening? We would like to express our gratitude.
Picard: We'd be happy to.
Krite: Noor will be eager to get a first hand report. We should return to the surface.
Soren: I will see you later tonight, Commander.
Soren: There you are, Commander. I wondered what had happened to our guest of honor.
Riker: I just needed some air. I can only take so much of these social functions, and then I need to breathe a little.
Soren: I would think you had attended so many affairs like this that it would become second nature to you.
Riker: I was raised outdoors. I'm never been very comfortable in crowded rooms.
Soren: What do you think of our planet? Isn't it beautiful?
Riker: Yes, it is. It's beautiful.
Soren: We have many varieties of plant life. Perhaps you would like to inspect some of them?
Riker: Yes, I would. I've always been interested in exobotany.
Soren: Please, let me take you on a tour.
Riker: Thank you. It's kind of you.
Soren: One of my favorites is this menellen tree. The leaves first turn pure white, and then blue, when the weather gets cold. This is called a falla bush. It produces a fragrant flower on only one day of the year.
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45620.4. In the hope that a detailed map of null space will prevent the loss of other ships, we remain in orbit of J'naii, charting the anomaly.
Troi: Come in. Hello, Will.
Riker: What's all this?
Troi: Wonderful things. My mother sent me a box that belonged to one of my father's ancestors. It was stored on Earth and just recently turned up.
Riker: Do you know who any of these people are?
Troi: No. Some of the pictures have names on, but most of them don't. I look at these faces and I wonder who they are and if they could be related to me.
Riker: This one looks like you. Deanna, I have something on my mind. I had to see you.
Troi: Has something happened?
Riker: I've met someone. Someone who's becoming important to me.
Troi: Soren.
Riker: Yes. You're my friend. I thought, I don't know, I thought I should tell you.
Troi: I'm glad you did.
Riker: Nothing will change between us, will it?
Troi: Of course it will. All relationships are constantly changing. But we'll still be friends, maybe better friends. You're a part of my life, and I'm a part of yours. That much will always be true.
Riker: Hello. I'm here to see Soren.
Krite: I know.
Riker: We had an appointment. We were going to discuss
Krite: I don't think so, Commander.
Riker: Excuse me?
Krite: We know about the two of you. We know what you're doing.
Riker: Where is Soren?
Krite: We're going to make sure it doesn't happen again.
Riker: Answer me. Where is Soren?
Krite: In custody, and there's nothing you can do about it.
Riker: The hell there isn't.
Noor: You are aware of the charges against you?
Soren: Yes.
Noor: Do you intend to dispute them? Well? What is your response?
Noor: Commander Riker, these proceedings are closed to everyone.
Riker: I think I just opened them.
Noor: Sir, this is a private matter. We are grateful for your recent help, but that gives you no right to interfere with our personal concerns.
Riker: I want you to know what really happened. It's all my fault. I was attracted to Soren. I pursued. I insisted. I didn't understand your ways until she explained them to me and rejected me. Nothing happened between us. I ask your forgiveness. I behaved inappropriately.
Noor: Is this true?
Soren: No.
Riker: Soren.
Soren: I am tired of lies. I am female. I was born that way. I have had those feelings, those longings, all of my life. It is not unnatural. I am not sick because I feel this way. I do not need to be helped. I do not need to be cured. What I need, and what all of those who are like me need, is your understanding and your compassion. We have not injured you in any way. And yet, we are scorned and attacked. And all because we are different. What we do is no different from what you do. We talk and laugh. We complain about work and we wonder about growing old. We talk about our families, and we worry about the future. And we cry with each other when things seem hopeless. All of the loving things that you do with each other, that is what we do. And for that we are called misfits and deviants and criminals. What right do you have to punish us? What right do you have to change us? What makes you think you can dictate how people love each other?
Noor: I congratulate you, Soren. Your decision to admit your perversion makes it much more likely that we can help you.
Riker: Wait, wait, wait. You don't have to do this.
Noor: Commander?
Riker: Let me take her with me. She can go back to the Enterprise. We would give her asylum. You would never have to see her again. That would solve the problem, wouldn't it? You'd be rid of her. She would never be able to influence anyone again.
Noor: Commander, after Soren's diatribe, you must think that we are a cruel, repressive people. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Riker: I'm just trying to find a solution that would satisfy everyone.
Noor: We are concerned about our citizens. We take our obligations to them seriously. Soren is sick, and sick people want to get well.
Riker: Did it occur to you that she might like to stay the way she is?
Noor: You don't understand. We have a very high success rate in treating deviants like this. And without exception, they become happier people after their treatment, and grateful that we care enough to cure them. You see, Commander, on this world, everyone wants to be normal.
Riker: She is.
Noor: Take Soren to quarters. Treatment will begin tomorrow.
Riker: Don't do this. Soren!
Noor: No more, Commander.
Riker: Riker to Enterprise. One to transport.
Riker: I can't just leave her there. They'll give her these psychotectic treatments. I don't know what to do.
Picard: Well, I could talk to Noor. Perhaps there's a way to work something out.
Riker: Sir, their minds are set. They don't want to hear another alternative.
Picard: Then I'm not sure that there's much that we can do.
Riker: There has to be. My relationship with Soren is not trivial. She's very important to me. It's my fault that this happened. I have to help her.
Picard: Will, if you've come here for sanction to take matters into your own hands, I can't give it to you.
Riker: I know that, but I have to do something.
Picard: Interfering in the internal matters of the J'naii is prohibited by the Prime Directive.
Riker: I'm aware of that.
Picard: If you violate it, you may jeopardizing your career. Starfleet doesn't take these matters lightly, Will. I can't defend you if you go too far. Do you understand that?
Riker: You've made yourself very clear, sir.
Picard: Don't risk everything you've worked for.
Riker: Thank you. May I be excused now?
Riker: Who is it?
Worf: Lieutenant Worf.
Riker: Come in.
Worf: Commander, I have the plan for deploying warning buoys around the null space.
Riker: Fine. Leave it, I'll take a look at it later.
Worf: Yes, sir.
Riker: Thank you. You're dismissed.
Worf: Commander, I am aware of what transpired on the planet surface. Are you by any chance considering an unannounced visit? I will go with you.
Riker: Lieutenant.
Worf: Sir, you are my commanding officer. If you order me to stay on board, I will obey. But I ask you not to give that order. A warrior does not let a friend face danger alone.
Riker: Something's happening. They're leaving.
Riker: Okay. Excuse me. I need to speak to her alone for a moment.
Soren: Wait.
Riker: Don't worry. We'll be out of here in a minute.
Soren: Please. don't.
Riker: All right, 1e're almost there.
Soren: You cannot do this.
Riker: I won't let them hurt you. You'll be safe on the Enterprise.
Soren: I am so sorry. It was my fault that you got involved in all this.
Riker: Everything's going to be all right. Everything's going to be fine.
Soren: No, it is not.
Riker: What are you talking about?
Soren: It was all a mistake, and I should have realized it from the beginning.
Riker: What?
Soren: That I was sick. I had these terrible urges, and that is why I reached out to you. But it was wrong, and I see that now. I do not understand how I could have done what I did.
Riker: Maybe Doctor Crusher can treat you and bring you back to the way you were.
Soren: Why would I want that?
Riker: Soren. I love you.
Soren: I'm sorry.
Picard: How long to the Phelan system, Mister Data?
Data: At warp six, fifty three hours, sir.
Picard: Commander?
Riker: Captain.
Picard: Starfleet has sent a message asking us to proceed to the Phelan system to negotiate a trade agreement.
Riker: Yes, sir.
Picard: I didn't know when to tell them we will be there. Is our business with the J'naii finished?
Riker: Finished, sir.
Picard: Very well. Ensign, take us out of orbit. Set a course for the Phelan system, warp six.
Ensign: Aye, sir.
Picard: Engage.


Riker: Damage report!
Crusher: Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship.
Data: The starboard nacelle has sustained a direct impact. We are venting drive plasma.
Laforge: Initiating emergency core shutdown.
Ro: Inertial dampers failing. We're losing attitude control.
Riker: This is the Bridge. All hands to emergency escape pods.
Data: Core shutdown is unsuccessful. We are losing antimatter containment.
Laforge: We've got to eject the core!
Data: Ejection systems offline. Core breach is imminent.
Picard: All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45652.1. The Enterprise has entered an area of space known as the Typhon Expanse. We're the first Starfleet vessel to chart this unexplored region.
Riker: Sometimes I wonder if he's stacking the deck.
Data: I assure you, Commander, the cards are sufficiently randomized.
Worf: I hope so.
Data: Eight, Ace, Queen. The dealer receives a four.
Worf: No bet.
Data: Ten. Seven. No help there. A pair of ladies for the Doctor. The dealer receives a nine. Doctor? May I remind you since you show the highest hand, you control the next bet.
Crusher: Thank you, Data. I bet ten. Worf?
Data: Jack. Four. Deuce. Six.
Crusher: Twenty.
Riker: Your twenty, and fifty more.
Worf: Fifty?
Crusher: I'm in.
Data: I will also see the bet. Seven. A possible straight for Commander Riker. Jack. Still no help for the Klingon. Eight. Nine for the dealer.
Crusher: Twenty.
Data: Too rich for my blood.
Riker: Your twenty, one hundred more.
Worf: Fold.
Crusher: Two hundred.
Riker: Your two, and three hundred more.
Worf: He does not have a straight.
Crusher: We'll soon find out, won't we. Let's see your cards.
Riker: Take it. How'd you know I was bluffing?
Crusher: I just had a feeling.
Riker: I guess it's better to be lucky than good.
Crusher: It's the way your left eyebrow raises when your bluffing. Just kidding, Commander.
Ogawa: Ogawa to Doctor Crusher.
Crusher: Go ahead.
Ogawa: Commander La Forge needs you in Sickbay.
Crusher: On my way.
Laforge: At first I thought the catwalk was spinning. As it turns out, it was me. Luckily Ensign Fletcher was there to grab me. It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core.
Crusher: You have all the symptoms of an inner ear infection. That would explain the dizziness and the headaches. But there's no physical evidence. My guess is you've been working too hard.
Laforge: I have been putting a lot of extra hours on this Typhon Expanse project.
Crusher: I'll give you twenty cc's of vertazine. That should clear up the dizziness. But finding time to relax is up to you.
Laforge: What? What is it?
Crusher: Geordi, have you had these symptoms before?
Laforge: No.
Crusher: You're sure?
Laforge: Yeah, I'm positive. Why?
Crusher: It's funny. I feel like we've discussed this before, and I remember giving you a hypospray for dizziness.
Laforge: I've never had these symptoms before today, so you must be thinking about another patient.
Crusher: No. I'm sure it was you. Well, try to get some rest, and try to stay away from high places for a few days, just in case.
Laforge: Thanks, Doc.
Crusher: Goodnight.
Laforge: Goodnight.
Laforge: As you can see, the Typhon Expanse is huge. If we want to chart the most remote star system, we'll have to launch a probe within the next few hours.
Riker: Fine. What about the luminosity studies?
Laforge: That may pose a problem.
Picard: How so?
Laforge: The flux spectrometers are still down for re-alignment.
Riker: I thought they were supposed to be back online yesterday.
Laforge: They were, until the stellar dynamics lab decided they needed to installl new modules.
Data: I recommend we use a gravitron polarimeter. It will perform a similar function.
Picard: Make it so, Mister Data.
Crusher: Captain, I have something I'd like to report.
Picard: Yes, Doctor?
Crusher: I heard voices in my room last night. I was alone, so at first I thought I was imagining things. But this morning, ten other people reported hearing them at the same time I did.
Troi: What were the voices saying?
Crusher: I couldn't make them out.
Riker: Data, did the sensors pick up anything unusual last night?
Data: No anomalous readings were reported.
Riker: When we're through here, re-check the sensor logs.
Data: Aye, sir.
Picard: Counselor?
Troi: I sensed nothing unusual last night.
Laforge: Maybe it's a problem with the comm. system.
Worf: Bridge to Captain Picard.
Picard: Go ahead.
Worf: We are getting unusual readings twenty thousand kilometers off the starboard bow.
Picard: On our way.
Picard: Report.
Ro: Sensors didn't detect the phenomenon until we were almost on top of it, sir.
Worf: It is a highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.
Riker: On screen.
Picard: Back us off, Ensign. Nice and slow.
Ro: Aye sir. Captain, maneuvering thrusters are not responding.
Data: The distortion field is fluctuating.
Laforge: All main systems just went down. Power levels are dropping rapidly.
Riker: Red alert.
Data: There is an energy build up in the distortion field.
Troi: We have to get out of here now.
Data: Captain, something is emerging.
Riker: Shields up. Evasive maneuvers.
Worf: Shields inoperative.
Ro: The helm's not responding.
Data: The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: Hail them.
Worf: No response.
Picard: Suggestions?
Riker: Decompress main shuttlebay. The explosive reaction may kick us out of the way.
Data: Captain, I suggest we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory.
Picard: Mister Worf, make it so.
Worf: Engaging tractor beam.
Riker: Damage report!
Crusher: Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship.
Data: Starboard nacelle sustained a direct impact. Venting drive plasma.
Laforge: Initiating emergency core shutdown.
Ro: Inertial dampers failing. We're losing attitude control.
Riker: This is the Bridge. All hands to emergency escape pods.
Data: Core shutdown was unsuccessful. We are losing antimatter containment.
Laforge: We've got to eject the engine core!
Data: Ejection systems are offline. Core breach is imminent.
Picard: All hands, abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45652.1. The Enterprise has entered an area of space known as the Typhon Expanse. We are the first Starfleet vessel to chart this unexplored region.
Riker: Sometimes I wonder if he's stacking the deck.
Data: I assure you, Commander, the cards have been sufficiently randomized.
Worf: I hope so.
Data: Eight. Ace. Queen. The dealer receives a four.
Worf: No bet.
Data: Ten. Seven. No help there. A pair of ladies for the Doctor. Dealer receives a nine. Doctor? May I remind you since you show the highest hand, you control the next bet.
Worf: Is there something wrong, Doctor?
Crusher: No. I bet ten.
Data: Jack. Four. Deuce. Six.
Crusher: Twenty.
Riker: Your twenty and I'll raise you fifty. You're going to call my bluff, aren't you. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.
Crusher: How did you know I was going to call your bluff?
Riker: I just had a feeling.
Crusher: Me too.
Ogawa: Ogawa to Doctor Crusher.
Crusher: Go ahead.
Ogawa: Commander La Forge needs you in Sickbay.
Crusher: On my way.
Laforge: At first I thought the catwalk was spinning. As it turns out, it was me. I was lucky Ensign Fletcher was there to grab me. It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core.
Crusher: You have all the symptoms of an inner ear infection. That would explain your the headaches and the dizziness. But there's no physical
Laforge: What? What is it?
Crusher: Geordi, have you ever had these symptoms before?
Laforge: Now that you mention it, I think I have.
Crusher: Do you recall when?
Laforge: No, I don't.
Crusher: We've had this discussion before and I know I've given you this examination. Let's check the medical logs. You've been treated several times for headaches related to your visor, but I read no mention of dizziness.
Laforge: Must be déjà vu.
Crusher: Both of us? About the same thing?
Crusher: Crusher to Captain Picard.
Picard: Yes, Doctor?
Crusher: Do you have a minute, Jean-Luc?
Picard: My Aunt Adele cured a lot of sleepless nights with this steamed milk.
Crusher: Thank you. Mmm, nutmeg.
Picard: Whenever I get insomnia, I try to perfect the recipe.
Crusher: It was the eeriest feeling. When the glass broke, it triggered the sensation even more intensely that I'd done it all before.
Picard: You know, earlier, I was reading this book, and I had the distinct feeling I'd read certain paragraphs before. But I assumed I'd read the book years ago and I'd forgotten.
Crusher: I've had this feeling for hours. And then the voices.
Picard: Well, it could be nothing more than the result of a sleepless night. But let's be sure. Have Data and Geordi run a shipwide diagnostic, concentrating on the time and place you heard the voices, and we'll discuss the results tomorrow at seven hundred hours.
Crusher: Thank you. For everything.
Picard: Thank Aunt Adele.
Data: The internal scans were negative. There was no evidence of auditory anomalies anywhere on the ship.
Laforge: As far as the sensors are concerned, nothing unusual happened last night.
Crusher: Ten other people reported hearing voices at the same time I did.
Worf: Bridge to Captain Picard.
Picard: Go ahead.
Worf: We are getting unusual readings twenty thousand kilometers off the starboard bow.
Picard: On our way.
Picard: Report.
Ro: Sensors didn't detect the phenomenon until we were almost on top of it, sir.
Worf: It is a highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.
Riker: On screen.
Picard: Back us off, Ensign. Nice and slow.
Ro: Aye sir. Captain, maneuvering thrusters are not responding.
Data: The distortion field is fluctuating.
Laforge: All main systems just went down. Power levels are dropping rapidly.
Riker: Red alert.
Data: There is an energy build up in the distortion field.
Troi: We have to get out of here now.
Data: Captain, something is emerging.
Riker: Shields up. Evasive maneuvers.
Worf: Shields inoperative.
Ro: The helm is not responding.
Data: The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: Hail them.
Worf: No response.
Picard: Suggestions?
Riker: Decompress main shuttlebay. The explosive reaction may blow us out of the way.
Data: Captain, I suggest we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory.
Picard: Make it so, Mister Worf.
Worf: Engaging tractor beam.
Riker: Damage report!
Crusher: Casualty reports coming in from all over the ship.
Data: Starboard nacelle has sustained a direct impact. We are venting drive plasma.
Laforge: Initiating emergency core shutdown.
Ro: Inertial dampers failing. We're losing attitude control.
Riker: This is the Bridge. All hands to emergency escape pods.
Data: Core shutdown was unsuccessful. We are losing antimatter containment.
Laforge: We've got to eject the core!
Data: Ejector systems are offline. Core breach is imminent
Picard: All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45652.1. The Enterprise has entered an area of space known as the Typhon Expanse. We are the first Starfleet vessel to chart this unexplored region.
Riker: Sometimes I wonder if he's stacking the deck.
Data: I assure you, Commander, the cards are sufficiently randomized.
Worf: I hope so.
Riker: Something wrong, Mister Worf?
Worf: I am experiencing nIb'poH, the feeling I have done this before.
Riker: Yeah, last Tuesday night.
Worf: That's not what I mean.
Crusher: I've been having the same feeling. Keep dealing, Data.
Data: Eight. Ace.
Crusher: A Queen. You're going to give me a Queen. And you're going to get a four. Deal, Data.
Data: But no one has bet.
Crusher: Forget the bet. Just deal. Ten, seven, queen.
Worf: Nine. Jack. Four.
Riker: Deuce. Six.
Data: This is highly improbable.
Riker: How did we know?
Crusher: Wait. Crusher to Sickbay.
Ogawa: Sickbay here.
Crusher: Is Commander La Forge there?
Ogawa: No, Doctor, he's not. Wait a minute. He just came in.
Picard: You wanted to see me, Doctor?
Crusher: Yes. Captain, have you been getting the feeling that you've experienced certain things before? A sense of repetition?
Picard: Yes, recently. While I was reading. Why do you ask?
Crusher: There have been similar incidents reported all over the ship. Feelings of déjà vu. I had a premonition Geordi was going to come in to Sickbay. A few seconds later he did, with the symptoms of an ear infection. I was going to run the standard tests, but somehow I had a feeling they would turn out negative. So I ran an optical diagnostic which traced the problem to Geordi's visor. His dizziness is being caused by a phase shift in his visual receptors. It's causing him to see images that aren't there.
Laforge: They're like blurry after-images.
Crusher: I ran a scan to see if I could detect what he was seeing. I picked up miniscule distortions in the surrounding dekyon field. Somehow, his visor is translating those distortions into visual impulses.
Laforge: It could be a malfunction in the ship's warp field generator. I'll check it out.
Picard: Run a localized subspace scan to look for anything else.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Picard: Keep me advised.
Crusher: Crusher to Commander La Forge.
Laforge: La Forge here.
Crusher: Geordi, I just heard what sounded like voices in my room, but no one else is here.
Laforge: Sensors just picked up something strange, too. We're checking it out.
Crusher: I'm on my way.
Laforge: Looks like you managed to record six point two seconds worth. Let's see if we can filter the signal and clear it up a little bit.
Crusher: Then I wasn't just hearing things?
Data: The sound itself appears to have been real. However the acoustic energy does not correspond to any ship's system, nor to any voice communications sent at the time you heard it.
Crusher: Then where did the sound come from?
Laforge: You heard the voices at the same time our localized subspace scan picked up a dekyon field distortion. The two may be related. Let's give another listen.
Data: Computer, perform a narrow bandwidth analysis. Eliminate all non-vocal waveform components.
Crusher: Can we isolate the voices? Find out what they're saying?
Data: Computer, continuous playback please. There are approximately one thousand voices overlapping. The voices are those of the Enterprise crew. Our voices.
Crusher: I'm sorry to call you here so early, but we couldn't wait until oh seven hundred hours. We think we may have an explanation for the odd occurrences around here. Commander.
Laforge: This is going to sound pretty wild. Somehow, we've entered what seems to be a temporal causality loop. We think we're stuck in a particular fragment in time, and we've been repeating that same fragment over and over again.
Troi: Is this what's causing our déjà vu?
Crusher: Yes, but it's more than that. In déjà vu, you only think you're repeating events. We actually are.
Laforge: Our theory is this. Every time the loop begins again, everything resets itself, and starts all over. We don't remember anything that happened before, so each time through the loop, we think it's the first.
Riker: You mean we could have come into this room, sat at this table and had this conversation a dozen times already?
Laforge: A dozen, a hundred, it's impossible to tell. We could have been trapped here for hours, days, maybe years.
Crusher: If what we're saying is true, those voices I heard might have been echoes from previous loops.
Laforge: It's the same thing with the phase shift in my visor. After-images in time.
Picard: If you're right about this, how did it happen? How did we get there?
Data: I have a hypothesis that may explain that, Captain. I have analyzed the recording Doctor Crusher made. Most of it is quite ordinary. One hundred fifty discussions about ship operations, two hundred fifty two conversations of a personal nature, five couples engaged in romantic encounters.
Picard: Your point, Mister Data?
Data: There is evidence of some sort of disaster aboard the Enterprise, severe enough that the Captain ordered all hands to abandon ship. I have isolated three segments of the recording that are crucial.
Worf: A highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.
Data: Collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: All hands, abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon
Laforge: Worf refers to a distortion. If this were a temporal distortion, and if we were close enough to it, it's possible that a large enough explosion might've ruptured the space-time continuum. We collided, exploded, then got stuck in this repeating loop of time.
Picard: If you're right, perhaps we could escape the loop by avoiding the collision.
Laforge: That's our guess.
Worf: Maybe we should reverse course.
Riker: For all we know, reversing course may be what leads us into the crash.
Picard: No. We can't afford to start second guessing ourselves. We'll stay on this course until we have reason to change it. But let's do everything we can to avoid the collision.
Laforge: Captain, we might not be able to figure out how to avoid this accident until it's too late. And if the loop begins again, we'll forget everything we've learned this time around.
Picard: What do you suggest?
Laforge: If we do find a way to avoid this collision, we should try to send that information into the next loop.
Riker: Is that possible?
Data: We have seen that echoes, or after-images, from previous loops appear as distortions in the dekyon field. We may be able to send a deliberate echo into the next loop.
Troi: Like a message in a bottle.
Laforge: Exactly. We could enhance a dekyon emission to create a specific pattern and send ourselves a message. Not a long one, probably only a few characters. Maybe one word.
Riker: How do we know we'll pick up that word the next time through?
Data: If the dekyon emission is modulated correctly, it will set up resonances in my positronic subprocessors. I will receive the information on what you would call a subconscious level.
Laforge: Now there's the catch. We have no way of knowing how this information will be perceived by Data. It might be like a posthypnotic suggestion.
Picard: Even with all these uncertainties, we've got to try. Take whatever steps are necessary to send a message. Dismissed.
Laforge: You know, it's possible we've tried this a thousand times and it's never worked.
Crusher: Do you have a feeling that you've done this before?
Laforge: No, I don't.
Crusher: Neither do I. Maybe that's a good sign.
Laforge: Let's test the emitter.
Data: Particle accelerators at full power.
Laforge: Dekyon field active. Particle flux nominal. We're in business.
Crusher: All we need now is a message.
Riker: Senior officers, report to the Bridge.
Crusher: On our way.
Riker: We've got to figure out how we've handled this before.
Picard: Back us off, Ensign. Nice and slow.
Ro: Aye sir. Captain maneuvering thrusters are not responding.
Data: The distortion field is fluctuating.
Laforge: All main systems just went down. Power levels are dropping rapidly.
Data: There is an energy build up in the distortion field.
Troi: We have to get out of here now.
Data: Captain, something is emerging.
Riker: Shields up. Evasive maneuvers.
Worf: Shields inoperative.
Ro: The helm's not responding.
Data: The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: Hail them.
Worf: No response.
Picard: Suggestions?
Riker: Decompress main shuttlebay. The explosive reaction may blow us out of the way.
Data: Captain, I recommend we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory.
Picard: Make it so, Mister Worf.
Worf: Engaging tractor beam.
Riker: Damage report!
Crusher: Casualty reports are coming in from all over the ship.
Data: Starboard nacelle has sustained a direct impact. We are venting drive plasma.
Laforge: Initiating emergency core shutdown.
Ro: Inertial dampers failing. We're losing attitude control.
Riker: This is the Bridge. All hands to emergency escape pods.
Data: Core shutdown is unsuccessful. We are losing antimatter containment.
Laforge: We got to eject the core!
Data: Ejection systems are offline. Core breach is imminent.
Picard: All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon
Picard: Captain's log, stardate 45652.1. The Enterprise has entered an area of space known as the Typhon Expanse. We are the first Starfleet vessel to chart this unexplored region.
Riker: Sometimes I wonder if he's stacking the deck.
Data: I assure you, Commander, the cards are sufficiently randomized.
Worf: I hope so.
Riker: Something wrong, Mister Worf?
Worf: I am experiencing nIb'poH. The feeling I have done this before.
Riker: Yeah, last Tuesday night.
Worf: That is not what I mean.
Crusher: I've been having the same feeling. Wait. An eight, an Ace, a Queen and a four. Deal the cards, Data.
Data: Three. All threes.
Crusher: I was positive I knew what cards were going to be dealt.
Worf: I was also sure.
Riker: Finish dealing the hand.
Riker: Look at this, we've all got three of a kind.
Crusher: First we get a three, and then three of a kind.
Ogawa: Ogawa to Doctor Crusher.
Crusher: Go ahead.
Ogawa: Commander La Forge needs you in Sickbay.
Crusher: I'm on my way.
Laforge: At first I thought the catwalk was spinning. As it turns out, it was me. I was lucky Ensign Fletcher was there to grab me. It's a long way down to the bottom of the warp core.
Crusher: You have all the symptoms of an inner ear infection. That would explain the headaches, dizziness. But I don't see any physical
Laforge: What? What is it?
Crusher: Geordi, have you ever had these symptoms before?
Laforge: Now that you mention it, I think I have.
Crusher: Do you recall when?
Laforge: No, I don't.
Crusher: I know we've had this discussion before, and I remember giving you this examination. Let's check the medical logs. You've been treated several times for headaches related to your visor but there's no mention of dizziness.
Laforge: Must be déjà vu.
Crusher: Both of us? About the same thing? I'd like to run an optical diagnostic.
Laforge: For an ear infection?
Crusher: I have a hunch. Hold still. This pulse may be a little bright. Have you made any changes to your visor lately?
Laforge: No. Why?
Crusher: I'm detecting a small phase shift in your visual receptors.
Crusher: Crusher to Captain Picard.
Picard: Yes, Doctor?
Crusher: Can you come to Sickbay immediately? It's urgent.
Picard: I'm on my way.
Crusher: His dizziness is being caused by a phase shift in his visual receptors. It's causing him to see things that aren't there.
Laforge: They're like blurry after-images.
Crusher: I ran a scan to see if I could detect what he was seeing. I picked up miniscule distortions in the surrounding dekyon field. His visor seems to be translating those distortions into visual impulses.
Laforge: Could be a malfunction in the ship's warp field generator. I'll check it out.
Picard: While you're at it, run a localized subspace scan to look for anything unusual.
Laforge: Aye, sir.
Picard: Keep me advised, Doctor.
Laforge: Lateral sensors online. Subspace scanners active. Data, would you run a level two diagnostic on the warp subsystems?
Data: Certainly.
Laforge: All threes. that can't be right.
Data: I have encountered the numeral three an inordinate number of times over the last two hours.
Laforge: We have got a dekyon field fluctuation on deck nine, section twenty eight.
Crusher: Crusher to Commander La Forge.
Laforge: La Forge here.
Crusher: I just heard what sounded like voices in my room, but there's no one here.
Laforge: Sensors just picked up something strange, too. We're checking it out.
Crusher: I'm on my way down.
Laforge: Doctor Crusher, are you all right?
Crusher: I'm fine.
Data: I have isolated three segments of this recording that are crucial.
Worf: A highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.
Data: Collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: All hands, abandon ship! Repeat, all hands abandon
Laforge: Worf refers to a distortion. If this were a temporal distortion, and if we were close enough to it, it's possible that a large enough explosion might've ruptured the space time continuum. We collided, exploded, then got stuck in this repeating loop of time.
Picard: If you're right about this then perhaps we can escape the loop by avoiding the collision.
Laforge: That's our guess.
Worf: Perhaps we should reverse course.
Riker: For all we know, reversing course might be what leads us into the crash.
Picard: We can't afford to start second guessing ourselves. We should stay on this course until we have reason to change it. But in the meantime, I think we should do what we can to avoid a collision.
Laforge: Captain. We've been seeing the number three all over the ship. On consoles, in a poker game.
Data: To date we have encountered two thousand eighty five conspicuous examples of the number three.
Laforge: All of these threes can't be coming up by accident.
Crusher: Maybe somebody's trying to tell us something.
Laforge: We came to the same conclusion so we ran a shipwide diagnostic. The only unusual thing we found was a dekyon field modulation in Data's positronic subprocessors.
Riker: What could be causing it?
Laforge: I don't know, but if I wanted to send information from one loop to the next I might use a method like a dekyon emission.
Troi: You think we sent ourselves a message?
Laforge: It would make sense. Maybe we are trying to tell ourselves something.
Picard: If that were true, what could three indicate?
Riker: Maybe we should run a level three diagnostic on all key systems.
Laforge: It's a good idea. I'll have the computer run a pattern matching algorithm based on the number three.
Ro: Bridge to Captain Picard.
Picard: Go ahead.
Ro: We're getting unusual readings twenty thousand kilometers off the starboard bow.
Picard: On our way.
Picard: Report.
Ro: Sensors didn't detect the phenomenon until we were almost on top of it, Captain.
Worf: It is a highly localized distortion of the space-time continuum.
Riker: On screen. How do you think we handled this before?
Picard: Back us off, Ensign. Nice and slow.
Ro: Aye, sir. Captain, maneuvering thrusters are not responding.
Data: The distortion field is fluctuating.
Laforge: All main systems just went down. Power levels are dropping rapidly.
Data: There is an energy build up in the distortion field.
Troi: We have to get out of here now.
Data: Captain, something is emerging.
Riker: Shields up. Evasive maneuvers.
Worf: Shields inoperative.
Ro: The helm's not responding.
Data: The vessel is on a collision course. Impact in thirty six seconds.
Picard: Hail them.
Worf: No response.
Picard: Suggestions?
Riker: Decompress main shuttlebay. The explosive reaction may kick us out of the way.
Data: Captain, I suggest we use the tractor beam to alter the other ship's trajectory.
Picard: Make it so, Mister Worf.
Worf: Engaging tractor beam.
Data: The tractor beam will not be successful. I am decompressing the main shuttlebay.
Worf: We are clear of the distortion.
Picard: Data, what happened?
Data: At the last moment, I speculated that three might refer to the number of rank insignia on Commander Riker's uniform. That indicated to me that his suggestion might be the correct course of action.
Laforge: Data, you must have picked up a message we sent from the last loop, and stacked the deck in the poker game without realizing it.
Data: That is possible. I may also have been inadvertently responsible for the unexplained appearances of the number three.
Picard: Mister Worf, end Red alert. And try to access a Federation time base beacon. Let's see if we can find out how long we've been in this causality loop.
Worf: Time base confirms our chronometers are off by seventeen point four days.
Picard: Reset them, Mister Data.
Data: Aye, sir.
Worf: Captain, we are being hailed by the other vessel. The computer identifies it as the USS Bozeman, a Federation starship, Soyuz class.
Laforge: Soyuz class? They haven't been in service in over eighty years.
Picard: Open a channel.
Bateson: This is Captain Morgan Bateson of the Federation Starship Bozeman. Can we render assistance?
Picard: I'm Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We were just going to ask you the same thing.
Bateson: Captain Picard, your vessel is not familiar to us.
Picard: Captain, have you any idea what has just happened?
Bateson: Our sensors detected a temporal distortion. Then your ship appeared. We nearly hit you.
Picard: The Enterprise has been caught in temporal causality loop, and I suspect that something similar may have happened to you.
Bateson: You must be mistaken. We left starbase only three weeks ago.
Picard: Captain, do you know what year this is?
Bateson: Of course I do. It's twenty two seventy eight.
Picard: Perhaps you should beam aboard our ship. There's something we need to discuss.