The Inner Light ( episode ) An alien probe controls and disables Captain Picard , who wakes up as " Kamin , " a resident of the planet Kataan . While the crew of the " Enterprise " tries to jar the probe ' s influence , " Kamin " lives through the final , dying decades of his homeworld in the span of approximately twenty minutes in the form of an interactive " ancestor simulation " . Summary . Teaser . As the encounters an unknown space probe , it emits a low level nucleonic beam at Captain Jean - Luc Picard . Picard faints , and Commander Riker catches him assuring the Captain that he is safe . Medical assistance is summoned . Captain Picard soon awakens with a strange woman tending to him and calling him " Kamin " . Act One . He quickly learns that he is not on a holodeck simulation ; in fact , he is no longer on the " Enterprise " , and nobody has even heard of the " Enterprise " . Going outside , he meets a councilman , Batai , who knows him and seems to be a friend . He confusingly explains to him , when Picard presses him , that the woman is his wife Eline , the community is named Ressik , and the planet is Kataan . He leaves Batai to walk around , convincing himself it ' s not a dream . He arrives back " home " at night to a worried Eline , and discovers more about this " new " existence . He is an ironweaver who enjoys playing his flute but has never been able to master it . Picard also learns that the world that has never made contact with any alien species . Eline tries to convince him to come to bed , but then Picard sees her necklace , a miniature of the satellite . She says Kamin gave it to her . Back on the " Enterprise " , Riker calls sickbay for help , as Picard has fallen into a coma . Act Two . Dr . Beverly Crusher arrives with Ogawa and Martinez and discovers Picard is undergoing tremendous neurological activity - his neurotransmitter levels are off the scale . It seems the alien probe has locked itself onto Picard . Dr . Crusher advises Riker against destroying the probe in that the captain may be injured , so they wait . Meanwhile , five years have passed on Kataan , and " Kamin " has become integrated into his new society , though has not let go of his past life . He suggests to the visiting administrator that atmospheric condensers are needed to survive the extended drought they are currently experiencing . His ideas are rejected , but Batai notes that it is the first time Kamin has spoken as a member of the community in years . Later that evening , Batai and Kamin sit outside while Kamin plays " Frère Jacques " on his flute . After Eline asks Batai to leave for his home , she and Kamin begin to plan for a family , starting with the construction of a nursery . Back on the " Enterprise " , Geordi La Forge has launched a probe to follow the alien probe ' s ion trail back to its source . Data has determined a method of disrupting the beam , and they make plans to implement Data ' s idea and cut the connection to Picard . Act Three . Once again , several years have passed on Kataan . Kamin and Eline are in the middle of a " naming ceremony " for their second child , named ( for their late friend , who had passed a year before ) . Right after the ceremony , as the reception begins , Kamin suddenly collapses . On the " Enterprise " , Ogawa finds Picard is suffering somatophysical failure with the connection cut . Dr . Crusher tries in vain to save Picard with delactovine and cardiac induction , but he needs the beam back . Data reestablishes it , thereby stabilizing Picard ' s condition . Ten years have passed on Kataan , and Kamin , together with his adult daughter Meribor , have found that the soil in their yard is simply dead . The sun ' s radiation has sterilized the dirt making it incapable of supporting life , a process that is implied to be wiping out all plant life on the planet . Kamin jokingly tells her that he should have filled her mind with trivial things instead of devoting so much time to scientific study of things she can ' t change . He mentions Dannick , a man who is in love with her . Meribor ominously says she should marry him sooner rather than later . La Forge has managed to trace the alien probe ' s path back to the unmapped Kataan star system in the Silarian sector . It contains no habitable planets as the star went approximately one thousand years earlier . Act Four . Many more years have passed on Kataan , and Kamin is visibly elderly and now on the council himself . Using his telescope , he has discovered that the drought will continue indefinitely , and the planet may be doomed . Eline comes and encourages Batai to tell him he wants to concentrate on his music instead of school . Kamin is startled , but ultimately accepts his decision , musing after he leaves that there may not be much time to follow any dream . The next day , he argues with a government administrator , who tells him in confidence that the government scientist s had come to the same conclusion two years earlier . Kamin pleads with him that an evacuation , even of a handful of people , must be attempted , but the pained administrator points out to Kamin that they simply do not have the technological capability for spaceflight of that magnitude , having only recently started launching unmanned missiles into orbit . Reluctantly , the administrator shares with Kamin that there is an effort underway to save " some " piece of the civilization , though he will reveal no more about it . Kamin ' s son Batai arrives and informs him that something is wrong with his wife Eline , and the pair rush home . Shortly afterward , Eline dies a natural death , and Kamin grieves . Act Five . Years later , a very elderly Kamin is playing with his grandchild , Meribor ' s son , Kamie . He laments that his grandson deserves a long and full life , but like the rest of their world , he will not survive . Kamin reluctantly goes along with the pair to join everyone in the community to view " the launching " , which only he seems not to know about . Kamin asks , " " What is it they ' re launching ? " " His daughter , Meribor : " " You know it , father . You ' ve already seen it . " " " " Seen it ? What are you talking about ? I haven ' t seen any missile . " " Batai : " " Yes , you have , old friend . Don ' t you remember ? " " Kamin turns to see his old friend , Batai , but in the prime of his life . Batai explains , " " You saw it just before you came here . We hoped our probe would encounter someone in the future – someone who could be a teacher , someone who could tell the others about us " . " " " Oh … oh , it ' s me … isn ' t it ? I ' m the someone . I ' m the one it finds . That ' s what this launching is – a probe that finds me in the future ! " " " " Yes , my love … " " Stunned , Kamin turns and sees Eline , glowing in youthful beauty , with the rest of his family . She says , " " The rest of us have been gone a thousand years . If you remember what we were … and how we lived … then we ' ll have found life again . " " " " Eline … " " As the missile launches … " " Now we live in you . Tell them of us … my darling … " " Picard regains consciousness on the bridge of the " Enterprise " as the alien probe breaks contact by ceasing its beam . After the initial disorientation , he discovers that he has lived an entire lifetime in the course of twenty to twenty - five real - time minutes . Riker orders the probe brought into a shuttlebay with a tractor beam onboard the ship for further study . As Picard approaches the entrance to the turbolift to accompany Dr . Crusher to sickbay , he instinctively raises his right hand to touch the door mechanism he remembers from Ressik . Later , Riker delivers to Picard a small box found inside the alien probe in his quarters . Picard opens it to find the flute which he still vividly remembers from his life as Kamin . Once Riker leaves , he plays the tune he had played at his " son ' s " naming ceremony . Memorable quotes . " " Computer , freeze program . Computer , end program ! " " " " Are you in charge here ? ! " " " " In charge ? " " " " I want to be returned to my ship immediately ! " " " " What . . . ship is that ? " " " " You think that this . . . your life is a dream ? " " " " This is not my life ! I know that much . " " " " You ' ve been dreaming about that starship of yours again , haven ' t you ? " " " " I ' m not brooding . I ' m immersed in my music ! . . . I find that it helps me to think , but the real surprise is that I enjoy it so much . " " " " No , the real surprise is that you may actually be improving ! " " " " I always believed that I didn ' t need children to complete my life . Now , I couldn ' t imagine life without them . " " " " Go carefully , Batai " " " " Seize the time , Meribor - live now ! Make now always the most precious time . Now will never come again . " " " " Remember . . . put your shoes away . " " " " Now we live in you . Tell them of us . . . my darling . " " Links and references . References . administrator ; anaerobic bacteria ; atmospheric condenser ; blood pressure ; botany ; cardiac induction ; cc ; ceramic alloy ; cortical stimulator ; crystalline emiristol ; Dannick ; deflector shield ; delactovine ; dream ; drought ; Federation ; fever ; fibrogenic activity ; " Frère Jacques " ; holodeck ; hospital ; iron weaver ; isocortex ; Kamin ; Kataan ; Kataan native ; Kataan probe ; Kataan star system ; magnetic wave survey ; mathematics ; missile ; music ; naming ceremony ; neurotransmitter ; Northern province ; ; nucleonic beam ; nursery ; paricium ; Parvenium system ; porch ; probe ; radioactive ; Ressik ; Ressikan flute ; Shuttlebay 2 ; Silarian sector ; skin protector ; somatophysical failure ; soup ; sun ; Starbase 218 ; star chart ; Starfleet ; synaptic response ; talgonite ; telescope ; thruster ; tree ; vegetable stew ; voice - transit conductor ; water Unreferenced material . Gustafson ; Parvenium sector ; Ring cycle ; Starbase 218 ; Starbase 243 ; Wagner , Richard