Schisms ( episode ) " Enterprise " crew members report that they go to sleep but wake up exhausted ; a mysterious subspace pocket forms inside a cargo bay . Summary . Teaser . William T . Riker is having trouble sleeping . He is late to his shift , as Geordi La Forge tells him how he is attempting to speed up the process of charting the immense globular cluster . He just listens , and struggles to pay attention . La Forge wants to boost the long - range sensor array using the warp drive . Afterward , Data asks Riker if he will be attending his poetry reading in Ten Forward . Riker tiredly tells him he " " wouldn ' t miss it for the world . " " Later that afternoon , Data reads some of his poetry . The rhyme and meter are perfect , but there is no emotional content to it . Riker is very obviously tired , falling asleep twice while Data recites " Ode to Spot " . Act One . Riker talks to Doctor Crusher , and explains how he has been on edge all day , and almost swatting away her scanning device on the medical tricorder . She finds nothing wrong with him , and suggests a warm milk toddy , a recipe from Captain Picard ' s Aunt Adele . La Forge , Data and Lieutenant Shipley execute their plan for the sensor array successfully . Data then takes La Forge aside to ask about his poetry , saying he noticed people were distracted . While his form was good , La Forge recommends focusing on what to say . Suddenly , there is a power grid overload in Cargo Bay 4 , the location where they were routing power to amplify the sensor s . When the damage control and medical teams arrive , they find nothing but people working . La Forge concludes that it was a glitch in the internal sensor s . That evening Riker asks La Forge to stop by his quarters in the morning , since he ' s having trouble waking up . After drinking a warm milk toddy , he lies down in his bed and quickly drifts to sleep . What seems to be moments later , he is awoken by La Forge stopping at his quarters to wake him the following morning , as asked . Despite the fact that Riker says he just went to bed , La Forge assures to him that it is actually morning , leaving Riker , not only exhausted , but completely puzzled . Act Two . While Worf is getting a haircut from Mot , the way the barber ' s scissors come at his face causes him to react strongly , but clearly he doesn ' t know exactly why . La Forge is trying to diagnose the sensor problem back in the cargo bay . He can ' t find it , so , at Riker ' s suggestion , he just disables the modifications . As he is about to run a structural integrity scan , his VISOR cuts out , making him dizzy . After another strange feeling , he goes to sickbay , leaving Data to continue the diagnosis . Doctor Crusher finds that there is a bacteria l infection around La Forge ' s neural implant s , interrupting the data stream , but it doesn ' t match anything in the medical database . She runs an additional scan to check that there are no other signs of infection . When La Forge returns , Data indicates he thought La Forge just left . He finds his internal chronometer off by more than ninety minutes . La Forge decides to have the cargo bay examined ; his VISOR , a sensor glitch , and now Data ' s chronometer are not a coincidence . On the bridge , Riker is about to teach Ensign Rager how to compensate for gravimetric interference for a course correction , when he sits down at the conn and suddenly has an odd reaction to the console . He gets out of the chair and resumes his seat , apparently deciding that Stellar cartography won ' t get their better angle . Later , La Forge and Data detect a subspace particle emission within Cargo Bay 4 . They locate a glow from the plasma conduit they were examining before . Act Three . They examine it , and conclude that this is a subspace rift , and on the other side is something that is so deep into subspace it shouldn ' t exist in this universe . Riker explains to Counselor Deanna Troi in Ten Forward that he suddenly felt trapped sitting in front of the conn console on the bridge , and she tells him he is the third person to mention having a fear response provoked by an object . When she gets everyone together in the observation lounge , including Worf , La Forge , and Kaminer , they all start to realize they are remembering the same thing . They all begin to describe a vague , but consistent , picture . On Riker ' s suggestion , they all go into the holodeck , and begin to reconstruct it . Everything was dark , there were clicking sounds . They were laying on an inclined table restrained at the chest , with a bright light above it . There was something scissor - like on the end of a swing arm hanging above them . As the pieces are physically created by the holodeck , their memories are jogged . In a few moments they complete the scene ; they have reconstructed a medical table equipped for experiments . They all conclude that they have been in that room before . Act Four . In sickbay , Picard is briefed on Crusher ' s findings . She has found high serotonin levels in each of those who had these strange memories , mainly in the hippocampus , suggesting they were exposed to a neuro - sedative . Furthermore , they each had minute tetryon particle traces in their subdermal tissues , the same traces as in the cargo bay . Data arrives and reports that , after completing his self - diagnostic , he has concluded he was not aboard the " Enterprise " for the lost time in the cargo bay . When Captain Picard asks the computer if anyone is missing , it identifies Lt . Hagler and Ensign Rager , who have been gone almost since 2332 hours . He immediately orders a security alert and decides to locate the source of the tetryon emissions to find the missing crew members . Most striking , it appears that Riker ' s arm has been surgically removed and then reattached , almost invisibly . La Forge ' s analysis of the cargo bay soon finds the tetryon emissions have intensified and coalesced , the beginning of a spatial rupture . They decide to put a subspace containment field around it in case it expands . The " Enterprise " s internal sensor s have not picked up anything unusual other than the rupture in cargo bay four . Picard orders that a metallurgical analysis be conducted on the ship ' s hull , as he believes subspace field incursions may have left a trace . Just then , Worf reports that Lieutenant Hagler has been returned to the " Enterprise " . When Dr . Crusher comes rushing to his quarters , she finds his blood turning into a liquid polymer . She calls for a plasma infusion unit to deck seven . At the next staff meeting in the observation lounge , La Forge tells them that the subspace containment field isn ' t working . There is no way to beam the affected sections into space since the transporter cannot get a positive lock on the affected sections due to severe nucleonic interference . La Forge also explains that the only way to close the rupture is with a coherent graviton pulse , but that has to be done at the source , and finding the specific tertiary subspace manifold where the abducting aliens dwell within the infinite number of domains which exist is almost impossible . Worf suggests creating a homing device , allowing them to track it when someone is taken . Riker volunteers to carry it , noting that he has been taken every night . The captain also asks Dr . Crusher if she can counteract the effects of the sedative the aliens have been administering . She gives Riker a neuro - stimulant . La Forge gives him a tricorder that ' s locked into a continuous cycle to record what they can of the subspace domain , and a modified sensor relay emitter to transmit a subspace beacon . Riker is laying in his bed wearing his uniform with his mission equipment and armed with a phaser , waiting for the inevitable . Suddenly , a bright rift appears in his quarters and he is levitated and pulled through it . Worf informs Picard that Riker is no longer on board the " Enterprise " . Act Five . Riker finds himself on an examination table in a room with hooded aliens who appear to be busy with other tasks . The clicking sounds is revealed to be their language . The missing Ensign Rager is unconscious on a similar table nearby . Riker looks around at what he can , feigning unconsciousness whenever they come by to work with him . La Forge has trouble finding Riker in subspace but eventually locks onto him , located at a subspace energy level of 16 . 2 keV as the rupture in the cargo bay continues to widen . When the field then fluctuates , the crew on the " Enterprise " are forced to begin the graviton pulse . The aliens attempt to counteract it , La Forge starts adding a random shift to the frequency , but it doesn ' t work . He is forced to channel all of the graviton energy into a single burst , which does work . As the aliens are concentrating on keeping the rift open , Riker frees himself from the table , grabs Rager , and jumps through the rift moments before it collapses , shooting one of the aliens who attempts to interfere . Just as the rift finally collapses , the aliens are able to send something unknown through , which passes through the hull and out into space . Data and La Forge examine the tricorder readings and conclude that these solanogen - based lifeform s had created a pocket of " normal " universe within their subspatial domain , allowing them to examine and experiment on their victims taken from the " Enterprise " . They ' d been attempting to establish a pocket of their subspace realm inside the ship ' s cargo bay . La Forge hypothesizes that they discovered the ship due to his modified sensor signal . Captain Picard decides that Starfleet will be notified not to perform such a modification on other vessels in the future . The alien intent behind the abduction and experimentation was unclear , and there is some discussion of whether or not the energy sent through the rift was a probe of some sort . Noting the death of Hagler and the experimentation on the various crew members , Riker believes that the motivation behind them was beyond mere curiosity . Memorable quotes . " " Felis catus is your taxonomic nomenclature , " " An endothermic quadruped , carnivorous by nature . " " " " Your hesitation suggests you are trying to protect my feelings . However , since I have none , I would prefer you to be honest . " " " " Oh , excuse me . " " " " I know the feeling . " " " " It ' s such a pleasure to cut sometimes I get carried away ! " " " " Good morning . " " " " Morning ? I just went to bed ! " " " " Commander , it ' s 0700 hours . " " " " I ' ve been in this room before . " " " " We ' ve all been here before . " " " " Whoever it was that sent that thing was more than simply curious . . . " " " " Have you dreamed about scissors recently ? " " Background information . " Star Trek : Online " . The first mission in the episode set known as " Solanae Dyson Sphere " draws heavily on this episode . During the course of the mission , the solanogen - based lifeforms were identified as servants of the Iconian s while the player rescues Starfleet , Klingon , and Romulan teams , with the aid of Ambassador Worf . One of the Romulan captors would end up slain by the same procedure ( and cause of death ) that killed Lt . Hagler . Links and references . References . Adele ; Amargosa Diaspora ; amino acid ; anapestic tetrameter ; anti - grav lift ; astrophysics ; auxiliary power ; bacteria ; barbershop ; beard ; bench ; blood ; bulkhead ; cargo bay 4 ; cat ; coherent graviton pulse ; conditioning agent ; conduit ; deflector grid ; denouement ; diagnostic ; diagnostic team ; dream ; keV ; EM signature ; EPS mains ; EPS explosion ; FGC - 13 ; fish ; force field ; globular cluster ; gravimetric disturbance ; gravimetric interference ; graviton ; graviton emitter ; haiku ; hedonism ; hippocampus ; holodeck ; honey comb ; internal chronometer ; internal sensor network ; isolinear chip ; joke ; Jorkemo ; ; Latin language ; liquid polymer ; medical tricorder ; metallurgical analysis ; milk ; muscle ; neural input ; neuro - sedative ; neuro - stimulant ; nucleonic interference ; Number one ; ode ; " " Ode to Spot " " ; oversleeping ; plasma infusion unit ; poetry ; probe ; quasi - molecular flux ; ; rectangular ; REM sleep ; resonance tissue scan ; scissors ; sector ; security alert ; sedative ; self - diagnostic ; sensor array ; sensor ghost ; sensor relay emitter ; sentience ; serotonin ; servo fluid system ; shore leave ; snoring ; solanogen ; solanogen - based lifeform ; sonnet ; spatial rupture ; Spot ; Starfleet ; stellar cartography department ; structural integrity ; subspace ; subspace containment field ; subspace energy ; subspace field tap ; sunflower ; taxonomy ; tertiary subspace manifold ; tetryon s ; tricorder ; ulna ; universe ; visual cortex ; warp field ; warp grid coupler ; warp - power transfer