| The Next Generation | |
| 117 | |
| The Outcast | |
| 45614.6 | |
The Enterprise is trying to stake a claim in the galactic lost and found business. Their first clients for the morning are the J'naii - an androgynous race who have lost a shuttle-craft. Picard orders that a probe be dispatched, but it also disappears. Could it be NullSpace™? Is God indirecting through a zero? It looks like this is a job for the Bald Avenger, and his sidekick Laughing Boy!
Since they can't probe the NullSpace™, Riker is going to co-pilot a shuttle into it with a J'naii pilot named Soren. That makes sense. Maybe it's actually a small black hole, and we can wave goodbye to the bearded git forever. I doubt we could be so lucky.
Soren is a Libra, and she lists amongst her hobbies: "staying warm by sleeping with a friend". "Oh" says Riker, and goes on to comment that it's more fun than soup. Many things are. Soren pumps laughing boy for lots more personal details, and finally asks him what sort of women he finds attractive. They fall into roughly three groups: (a) non-humans; (b) ones he can phaser; (c) women of dubious morals.
Soren and Riker go off for a jaunt in their shuttle to map the NullSpace™ pocket. Soren passes the time by engaging in idle banter. "Tell me about your sexual organs". Riker nearly drops dead. "I'm interested in your mating practices". That stupid grin has returned. I wonder if they could be compatible? Where there's a Wil there's a way!
They manage to rescue the missing shuttle crew from the NullSpace™, and get to go to an official dinner as a mark of the J'naii's appreciation. Wow - what a thrill. Soren asks Riker if he would like to "go take a look at the plants" - I've never heard it called that before. In the privacy of the foliage he gives her an impressive tongue lashing. No sooner is he back on the Enterprise, he feels the need to go brag to Deanna. What a sensitive guy.
His happiness doesn't last long, as Soren has been arrested and put on trial for her deviance. Riker bursts into the hearing and blames himself. The ruse seems to be going well until Soren drops her clue and tells all - she wants to be female! She then enters into a diatribe about how her society doesn't have the right to mandate whom she can love. She just wants understanding. This smells of a morality interlude...
Riker offers her asylum, but the judge says that everyone wants to be normal, and her corrective treatment will start in the morning. Laughing Boy is shocked, and goes to see the Bald Avenger for guidance. As is his way, Picard offers no useful advice, but warns him not to break the Prime Directive. "Sod you Jimmy" says Riker, and beams down with Worf for a rescue raid.
It's too late for Wil as it looks like Soren has already had the treatment, and she (or better "it") doesn't know why it had the deviant feeling in the first place. "I love you" wails Riker to the departing Soren. It's not love Wil, it's just your glands - and I suspect that your glans has had a fair work-out anyway...
