| The Next Generation | |
| 131 | |
| Schisms | |
| 46154.2 | |
Finally they're going somewhere where no-one has gone before - even if it is just to chart a dense globular cluster! Clusters are big. You may think that it's a long way to the corner store, but that's just peanuts compared to clusters! It's going to take 3 days just to scan 10% of it, so Geordi does the obvious lets-channel-warp-energy trick to boost the sensor array.
I had the most horrific vision: Riker in his pyjamas! He's been having trouble sleeping, so much so that he started snoring during Data's touching poetry reading of "Ode to Spot". Can Dr Social Conscience determine what is troubling Laughing Boy? Of course not! She tells him that there's nothing physically wrong with him and that he aught to try a hot run toddy before bed. How many years did she go to medical school?
Once again Geordi is exceeding the Enterprise's design specification by routing warp power to various subsystems. This time it's caused an explosion in cargo bay four. The security and medical teams dawdle down the corridor, expecting to find bits of crew all over the place, and are most amazed when instead they discover... nothing! The crew working there didn't notice anything and Geordi puts it down to a sensor glitch. It certainly saves having to investigate further...
It's bedtime for Billy-Bob, and before he goes to bed, he asks his pal Geordi to wake him up in the morning. As soon as his head hits the pillow, Geordi arrives at the door. Rise and shine happy campers! Where did the night go?
Worf is scheduled for a trimming of his tresses by Mr Mott. "You no know those away missions really do damage your hair - maybe you should try some conditioner!" prattles the blue barber. Worf is unimpressed and stomps off after nary a cut. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen...
Data and Geordi are working together when Geordi's visor momentarily cuts out. Since he doesn't want a good explanation, he too goes to see Dr Social Conscience. She claims that it's a previously unknown bacterial infection in his visor inputs. A quick shot of penicillin and a warning to use protection the next time sends him back to Data - who has mysteriously got no memory of the ninety minutes that Geordi was gone. Weird.
A strange subspace particle emission is detected in cargo bay four, but aren't they all. It looks like an alien energy flux is causing a subspace intrusion into normal space! So it wasn't really a sensor glitch at all. Maybe they should beam the entire bulkhead into space as a precaution...
Troi discovers that recently many people have been having problems - especially strong emotional responses to otherwise normal objects. It's time for group therapy! "Hi, my name's Wil Riker and I'm a nutcase." Each of the crew-members who've had these experiences report similar things - remembering a cold, smooth table. When in doubt, holodeck it! After some prompting from the counsellor, the holodeck reconstructs what looks like an operating table with restraints on it. Either they are all in for some heavy dental work, or it's a case of alien abduction!
Where are Scully and Mulder when you need them?
Bev finds traces of a neuro-sedative in the abductee's brains, and Data's self-diagnostic confirms that he wasn't on the Enterprise during his lost ninety minutes. In fact two of the crew are missing now, and scanning Wil's arm shows that it has been severed and surgically reattached! The cattle mutilators are alive and well in the 24th century. One of the missing crew-members finally comes back, but his blood has been changed into a liquid polymer. Bummer.
Remember the subspace incursion in cargo bay four? Well now it's started to rupture and will cause a hull breach in the next six hours. Of course it's too late to beam the whole area into space. I told you so!
Laughing Boy is convinced that he will be taken again tonight, so he wants to take a homing device that will allow the Enterprise to track which subspace universe he's been abducted to. That way they'll know where to fire a graviton pulse to disrupt the subspace rupture. He'll also need something to keep him awake - four bottles of Jolt later he lies down and waits for the show to start. The curtain raises to a strange light in his quarters that he's dragged into...
...and into an alien operating theatre. The other missing crew-member is also here, and she's got tubes sticking out of her body. At least he's still conscious enough to recognise his abductors - Jawas! The Enterprise has the signal and starts firing graviton pulses into subspace, much to the disappointment of the Jawas. It's a real distraction to your work when you have to compensate for the your victim fighting back. This gives Riker enough time to gets up off his slab, grab the girl, phaser the aliens and dive through the mystic gate...
...into cargo bay four! He only just made it in time, as the final graviton pulse closes the gate for good. Unfortunately they couldn't stop something from getting through. Was it just a probe, or something more malign...
