The Nth Degree ( episode ) After an encounter with a mysterious alien probe , Lieutenant Barclay begins to exhibit signs of profound intelligence , ultimately hooking himself into the ship ' s computer and hurling the " Enterprise " into apparent danger . Summary . Teaser . Reg Barclay and Dr . Crusher perform a scene from " Cyrano de Bergerac " in the theater room before a handful of crew , including the senior officer s . Crusher ' s performance is great as Cyrano ' s love interest but who is a woman already in love with another man , Cyrano ' s compatriot . But Barclay ' s performance , as Cyrano himself , complete with long prosthetic nose , is awkward , halting , and somewhat embarrassing to watch . Despite this lackluster performance , the crew present claps for both Crusher and Barclay . Data joins in after a quick question to Riker about why everyone is clapping and Riker ' s reply , " " because it ' s polite " . " Troi compliments Barclay , saying it takes a lot of confidence to put himself out there and act , but Barclay doesn ' t feel too confident , awkwardly remaining on the play ' s set after everyone else has left . The arrives at the Argus Array , a gigantic subspace telescope with reactor s going critical . A huge amount of time is estimated for its repair , but of more pressing concern is the probe now holding station near the array , determined to be the cause of its malfunctions . Geordi La Forge is assigned to examine the probe using a , and he decides to take Barclay along to help . As the two conduct some unsuccessful scans , Barclay thanks La Forge for selecting him for the mission . La Forge assures Reg that he ' s one of his best engineers and deserves to get to the " interesting stuff " sometimes . Suddenly the probe emits a super - bright flash and knocks Barclay unconscious . Act One . The " Enterprise " tries to tow the probe with them back to a starbase to examine it . Barclay , in sickbay , awakens to the news from Crusher that the flash overloaded his optic nerve s , and that was what knocked him unconscious ; La Forge ' s VISOR must have filtered out the bright light . Dr . Crusher allows him to leave , but as he does Barclay , in an uncharacteristic show of self - confidence , makes a suggestion about how to get a read - out of his sero - aminos . Dr . Crusher brushes him off because she thinks that his suggestion is something that can be applied only to technology and not Human scan s . Suddenly , the " Enterprise " goes to red alert . The probe is beginning to follow the " Enterprise " . An energy field starts to form around the probe and the " Enterprise " leaves it because the ship may not have the shield strength to withstand the intensity of the energy field . Barclay adjusts the phaser s before La Forge can tell him to do so but they have no effect , and the ship will be badly damaged if they try firing photon torpedo es at such a close range . Picard orders Ensign Anaya to take the ship to warp two but as it becomes clear the ship won ' t outrun the probe , Picard asks for suggestions . Suddenly the " Enterprise " drops to impulse as Barclay has diverted the power to the shields without authorization which , using a new equation he ' s just thought up , have been reinforced by 300 % . He tells Captain Picard to fire full photon torpedoes knowing that the shields will hold . Unsure , but with no other options , Picard gives Worf the command to fire and the probe is destroyed with no damage to the ship . Barclay apologizes for overstepping the bounds of authority to La Forge , but Geordi is more surprised than angry . Act Two . Captain Picard calls a meeting in the observation lounge to discuss the repair of the Argus telescope . La Forge says that it would take approximately two to three weeks to repair the telescope . Barclay , who has been called into the meeting because of his recent success , suggests that they could repair all eighteen of the telescope ' s generators simultaneously , instead of one by one . Data says it would take seven weeks to implement Barclay ' s method , but everyone is incredulous when Barclay confidently says he can have it ready within two days . Barclay then rehearses another scene from " Cyrano de Bergerac " with Dr . Crusher . This time , his performance is so riveting that there are tears in Crusher ' s eyes and she momentarily forgets her own lines . Troi , who has been watching the scene , is also very surprised . She follows him to Ten Forward , where she tells him that he has improved greatly . Barclay tells Troi that he is aware that he has changed , and is full of confidence . He then makes a pass at Troi , who as counselor says that it would be inappropriate for them to have a romantic relationship . Barclay is still insistent that they take a walk in the arboretum , but Troi ends the conversation with , " " Good night , Mr . Barclay " . " The next morning Barclay is late for the meeting that he called . He is in Holodeck 3 correcting a virtual Albert Einstein . La Forge says that something must have happened from the probe ' s light in order for him to have suddenly gained the confidence as well as the intelligence and takes Barclay to sickbay for an examination . Dr . Crusher is astounded by what she finds . . . Barclay ' s intellect has increased in all areas of study , eventually reaching hypercognitive levels ( with Barclay estimating his IQ as being between 1200 and 1450 ) . His new intelligence is caused by neurotransmitter s hypersecreting in his brain . His corpus callosum is so active that the effect is as though the two hemispheres of his brain are fused . It ' s not just Barclay ' s raw intelligence that ' s been enhanced , as he is also exhibiting enhanced creativity , imagination and resourcefulness . Crusher says that Barclay must be the most advanced Human being ever to live . Barclay is not surprised at this . Act Three . The senior officers are called into the ready room and they discuss how to take care of this new problem that is affecting Barclay . Riker suggests confining Barclay to quarters , but Picard decides that since nothing he has done has been menacing , Barclay will still be allowed to perform his duties , especially since he is needed to repair the Argus . La Forge is called to engineering because one of the Argus ' s reactors is about to overload . The crew try everything to stop the overload , and Barclay executes La Forge ' s commands before he can give them . Finally , Barclay decides he needs a newer , faster interface , so he goes to the holodeck to create a neural scan interface . The computer , however , does not have that kind of program on file so Barclay then instructs the computer how to build one . The Argus is seconds away from being overloaded and will take the " Enterprise " with it , but all of a sudden , the Argus reactors shut down . Riker asks the computer how the reactors shut down , but it is Reginald Barclay ' s voice which answers . Barclay , interfaced with the computer , is now running the functions on the " Enterprise " . In doing so , he locks out the main bridge from using the computer . Barclay now acts as the computer , and this causes discomfort among the crew . Act Four . Barclay tells the senior officers why he did it . Picard instructs Barclay to remove himself from the computer at once , but Barclay says that his higher brain functions are now in the computer and that if he is removed from the computer , he will die . Picard calls an emergency meeting , and has La Forge disconnect the audio and visual nodules in the observation lounge so that the computer / Barclay cannot monitor their discussion . At this point , La Forge can ' t tell where the computer ends and Barclay begins . Also , with each second that passes Barclay is further taking control of the ship . Although Picard doesn ' t want to hurt Barclay , he is not willing to allow himself to maintain such total control over the computer and decides he must be removed by any means necessary . The crew decide to follow La Forge ' s plan to bypass certain nodules to allow them to at least keep control of propulsion systems to get them to a starbase . La Forge crawls into a Jefferies tube and tries to install an ODN bypass . Barclay asks why he is there , and La Forge lies about needing to do the level three diagnostic they discussed . They get on the topic of the change in Barclay which he believes it was a gift and he plans to do more for Humanity . Barclay is now trying new ways of traveling through space . Against Picard ' s orders , Barclay initiates a subspace distortion using the warp drive of the " Enterprise " . Troi elects to talk to him to try to put an end to all this . In the holodeck , she explains to Barclay that his actions have frightened the whole crew , which he rebuffs and likens their fears as young children being scared of the world . He pleads with Troi to trust him but she warns him that Picard will do everything in his power to stop him , and leaves . The beams over Barclay ' s head accelerate . The ship goes to red alert as La Forge is ready to install the bypass but Barclay comes on the comm and informs him that he is too late . The bypass is blocked , meaning there is no way to stop his actions . The " Enterprise " accelerates and moves towards the distortion . Act Five . With all communication between the bridge and Barclay cut , Picard has no choice but to disconnect him from the computer . He orders Worf to take a security team to carry it out . Worf and two security officers enter the holodeck with mere seconds before they reach the distortion . A crewman tries to approach Barclay but is stopped by a force field . Barclay informs Worf that he will not take his actions on him personally . When phaser fire is blocked , all three of them are thrown to the floor as the " Enterprise " enters the distortion . Upon arriving , they realize they have traveled over thirty thousand light years , to the center of the galaxy . They then see that all functions and computer control are back to normal . Just then , a Cytherian reveals himself to the bridge crew ; he comments in fascination at their physiology and command structure . Barclay ( who has been reintegrated ) explains that the Cytherians are on a similar mission to that of the " Enterprise " , in that they want to explore the galaxy to learn . But instead of the Cytherians traveling away from their home , they bring those they are interested in to " them " . The probe they had encountered was the instrument of this " summons " , but it ran afoul of incompatible Federation technology ; however , it had been able to find a suitable vessel : Barclay himself . The crew then realizes they are in no danger , as can be seen by Riker ' s grin . After ten days of exchanging information , which Picard notes will take Federation scholar s decades to fully analyze and appreciate , the Cytherians send the " Enterprise " back to Federation space and restore Barclay , who is left none the worse for his experience , to normal . Later , in Ten Forward , Barclay is with La Forge and Troi , and they are discussing how Barclay is back to his old self . Barclay , who can still remember everything he did even if he can ' t remember quite how he did it , can ' t help but feel a little let down but Troi reassures him that many people experience moments in their life when they exceed their own limits , and that it is possible to carry something from that experience with them for the rest of their lives . La Forge then reminds Barclay that he ' s still a valued member of the crew , and asks for his help with the level 3 diagnostic . Reg appears cheerfully ready to get back to work , but Troi interrupts , telling him that he owed her a walk in the arboretum . It appears that Barclay is back to normal , as he is nervous about the walk in the arboretum , but he goes up to a pair of officers playing three - dimensional chess , and tells them how to force mate in nine moves . Troi exclaims that she did not know Barclay played chess , and Barclay , in his nervous voice , states that he doesn ' t . Memorable quotes . " " Bravo ! " " " " Wonderful ! Wonderful ! " " " " Lieutenant Barclay ' s performance was adequate but clearly not rooted in the method approach . I do not understand why . . . " " " " Data . . . because it ' s polite . " " " " Worf , I have an opening in my workshop . " " " " It just occurred to me that I could set up a frequency harmonic between the deflector and the shield grid . . . using the warp field generator as a power flow anti - attenuator and that of course naturally created an amplification of the inherent energy output . " " " " Uh - huh , I see that . " " " " You just spent the entire night arguing grand unification theories with Albert Einstein ! " " " " I ' m sorry if I overstepped my authority . " " ( quietly ) " " Don ' t " mention " it . " " " " I ' ve finally become the person I ' ve always wanted to be . Do we have to ask why ? " " " " Lieutenant , you could very well be the most advanced Human being who has " ever " lived . " " " " Incredible ! The production of neurotransmitters in your brain has jumped over 500 % ! . . . I couldn ' t even guess at your IQ level now . " " " " Probably somewhere between 1200 and 1450 . " " " " Has Mister Barclay done anything that could be considered . . . potentially threatening ? " " " " Well . . . he did make a pass at me last night . " " ( looks from Riker and La Forge ) " " A good one . " " " " I ' d hardly consider that a threat . " " " " No , but it ' s certainly unusual behavior for Barclay . " " " " Tie both consoles into the " Enterprise " main computer core utilizing neural - scan interface . " " " " There is no such device on file . " " " " No problem , here ' s how you build it . " " " " I ' m afraid I can ' t do that , sir . " " " " I wish I could convey to you what it ' s like for me now ; what I ' ve become . . . I can conceive almost infinite possibilities and can fully explore each of them in a nanosecond . I perceive the universe as a single equation , and it is so simple . I understand . . . everything . " " " " Emotive electrochemical stimulus response ; cranial plate ; bipedal locomotion ; endo - skeletal contiguous external integument . " " " " I ' m Captain Jean - Luc Picard , of the Federation starship " Enterprise " . " " " " Hierarchical collective command structure . " " " " Who are you ? " " " " Interrogative ! " " " " How do you feel now ? " " " " Smaller . " " " " Just plain old Barclay , huh ? " " " " It always seems to come back to that , doesn ' t it ? " " " " May I ? " ( moves a piece ) " Checkmate in nine moves . " " " " I didn ' t know you play chess . " " " " I don ' t . . . " " Links and references . References . 47 ; alpha - numeric console ; ångström ; arboretum ; Argus Array ; baron ; Bergerac ; blackboard ; checkmate ; children ; corpus callosum ; computer core ; cornea ; cosmological constant ; crib ; " Cyrano de Bergerac " ; Cytherian ; Cytherian homeworld ; Cytherian probe ; ; ; electromagnetic band ; Federation ; ' ; French Guards ; fusion reactor ; ; German language ; Grand Unification theory ; graviton field ; helium ; iconic display console ; infinity ; intelligence quotient ; isolinear chip ; isolinear circuit s ; Jefferies tube ; Kohlan system ; level 3 diagnostic ; Method acting ; ' ; Milky Way Galaxy ; muon ; music school ; nanosecond ; neural scan interface ; neurotransmitter ; neutron densitometer ; neutrino ; nu ; Number one ; ODN ; optic nerve ; parent s ; passive high - resolution series ; photon torpedo ; Porte de Nesle ; positron emission test ; quantum principle ; red alert ; regiment ; rehearsal ; Roxane : Science Station 402 ; Socrates ; sero - amino readout ; shield grid ; subspace continuum ; subspace distortion ; subspace field distortion ; subspace flow matrix ; terawatt ; theater ; Theory of General Relativity ; three - dimensional chess ; violin ; VISOR ; warp nacelle ; ; zalnias