| The Next Generation | |
| 125 | |
| The Inner Light | |
| 45944.1 | |
What's this? A strange probe! Since it's old, it can't possibly hurt us - so why is it following like a lost puppy? I know, it's looking for someone's leg... Quick put the shields up! To late, it's broken through - and Picard faints. As his consciousness slips away, it seems as if Laughing Boy transforms into a beautiful woman, but why does she call him Kamin?
Has the Bald Avenger been taken captive? If so it's the sort of jail where we all might like to do a little time. No, this is his home, this is his wife, and he's been sick for a while. The sickness has conveniently removed his memory, but other people in the village seem to know him too. Was his life on the Enterprise no more than a fevered dream? I doubt it...
Medical emergency! Back on the bridge Picard is slipping into a coma, and to exacerbate the situation in rushes Dr Social Conscience. Will she kill him too? Probably, since she can't work out what's wrong with him. Let's hope his ContractShield™ will hold out! Worf is the only assertive member of the bridge crew: "We must destroy the probe!" No, says Bev, pulling the knife out is not always the best thing to do. Someone give me a blade...
Kamin's been dreaming about his ship - for five years! Time in the Twilight Zone does strange things to a man, one of which is prompting him to play the tin flute - badly. Since he's nothing better to do, he asks Eline permission to build a nursery. Wow, he's going to raise plants! No, not that sort of nursery! Can this be the same man who just 4 years before would have pulled his fingernails out with a pair of pliers rather than hug a child...
Time seems to be travelling at the normally expected speed on the bridge of the Enterprise, and a probe has been launched to track the origin of the alien ship. Meanwhile Data devises a way of reflecting the beam away from the Enterprise. Worf screams out: "We must act!" Right on Worf baby!
More years have passed for Kamin, and now he has a daughter, and a son! However his is still suffering from flautism, and doesn't show any signs of recovery. He can't imagine a life without children, and looks so happy, when... Pain! Data's reflected the beam, and the Chrome Dome Gnome is dying in both places. Data restores it just in time to hear Bev quip "I told you so."
Another two decades have passed for Kamin, and his daughter is now a definite babe. Actually she's a babe scientist, so it's a good thing that Geordi doesn't exist in this dream... The drought is still continuing, and 25 years of evidence suggests that it isn't going to end - the planet is dying. Seize the day, he asserts! Keats would have been proud.
The probe has finally located the origin of the alien vessel, a system where the star went nova more than a thousand years ago...
More years pass... The Bald Avenger is now very bald, and it looks like it would take him a long time to avenge anything. But he has a son, someone to take on the superhero mantle and save the universe! Nope, he's ditching school to become a bum musician.
The evidence is overwhelming, the Administrator must be told! Except he already knows - their scientists have known for two years that the planet is dying. There must be a way to save something of the civilisation. We have a cunning plan sire...
Still more years pass... There is to be a missile launched. A familiar voice echo's to him "you already know about it." It's his old - and very dead - friend Batai, and he's looking none the worse for the experience. The probe was sent out to find someone in the future and teach them about this world. Captain Picard, come on down!
Picard wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise, and starts to remember. He's been unconscious for only 20-25 minutes, but has somehow experienced nearly 40 years of life. Weird! Riker orders the probe brought on board, and inside it is the flute. He grips it tightly, raises it to his lips, and still isn't very good!
