Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994): Season 1, Episode 18 - Coming of Age - full transcript
Picard finds himself facing a strenuous test of his loyalty to Starfleet, one which the other members of the crew are struggling to cope with, whilst Wesley faces an equally challenging entrance exam at Starfleet Academy.
PICARD:
Captain's log, stardate 41463. 9.
While mapping the Pleiades cluster,
we have been asked
by the Federation
to visit a group terraforming
Velara III.
Communications have been erratic,
and there is some concern
about their welfare.
Entering standard orbit now.
It takes very special people
to live in such desolation.
Visionaries who don't see the planet
as it is, but as it will be.
I've always wanted to see terraforming
in operation.
- Lieutenant Yar, hailing frequencies.
- Hailing frequencies open, sir.
Velara Ill base,
this is Captain Picard
of the starship Enterprise.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
No malfunctioning equipment on
either side, sir.
They are receiving us.
Velara Ill base, this is the Enterprise.
Come in, please. Over.
Maybe no one's home.
We are sensing life-forms, sir.
Velara Ill base, do you copy?
MANDL [OVER COM]:
Velara base to Enterprise.
Yes, captain, I'm Director Mandl,
and I'm sorry about the delay,
but we weren't expecting visitors.
Terraform Command has asked us
to see how you were getting along.
We were a little behind,
but we're back on schedule.
And I'd like to hope we'd be allowed
to maintain that schedule.
We alarm him for some reason.
Your staff are all well,
I presume, director?
Understandably tired.
We're working very hard, captain.
Well, if there is anything
that we can do to help,
you and your staff
are very welcome aboard
for a change of scene, rest.
We have some holodecks
which you might enjoy.
No disrespect, sir,
but we cannot afford the time.
COMPUTER: Channel closed.
- His fear is escalating.
MANDL: If you'll excuse me, sir,
I really must get back to work.
- I sense deliberate concealment, sir.
- Of what?
I don't know, but it's intense.
Director Mandl, we've heard
of your remarkable achievements
in terraforming.
My crew would very much appreciate
looking around.
This is not really the best time.
We're at a very critical phase
just now.
We would require
no special attention.
I'm trying not to be rude, sir,
but this is really very inconvenient.
[MONITOR BEEPS]
He is concealing something.
It's more than just being too busy.
Your announcement
about coming down
has sent him almost
to a point of panic.
Well, whether he wants us or not.
Director Mandl,
unless you're absolutely
refusing us permission
to land at your station,
prepare to receive our away team.
As you wish.
Counselor, perhaps you better
go along as well.
TROI:
Aye, sir.
Someone that tense
can be very unpredictable.
Stay on your toes, Number One.
PICARD:
Space, the final frontier.
These are the voyages
of the starship Enterprise.
Its continuing mission:
to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life
and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no one
has gone before.
Welcome to Velara III. Please.
I want you to remember it
as it is now
because in a couple of decades,
you won't recognize it.
Louisa Kim, Gardener of Edens.
Commander William Riker,
USS Enterprise.
This is Counselor Troi, Lieutenant Yar,
Lieutenant La Forge,
Lieutenant Commander Data.
Arthur Malencon, hydraulics specialist,
and Bjorn Bensen, chief engineer.
- An android?
- Third in command of the Enterprise.
Where were you manufactured?
Are there others like you?
Both matters are subjects
of protracted discussion.
Remarkable.
Excuse me.
We don't get many visitors.
It's exciting to have you here.
We weren't sure
how we would be received.
Director Mandl was less than
enthusiastic about our interests.
I should apologize for him.
We are at a critical phase.
- Usually he's quite charming.
- We'll try to stay out of the way.
We've never seen
a terraforming station
and we appreciate the opportunity.
How much do you know
about the process?
Theories, reports,
but nothing firsthand.
Oh, wonderful.
Let me show you what we do.
Newcomers find this imager helpful.
The other two are secretive,
but she is as open as she appears.
What we're doing is so exciting,
so inspiring.
We take a lifeless planet
and little by little, transform it
to an M-Class environment
capable of supporting life.
Terraforming
makes you feel a little godlike.
The first phase
involves selecting the planet.
That's very important.
It must have the right mass
and gravity,
a correct rate of rotation,
and a balanced day and night.
The planet must also be without life
or the prospect of life
developing naturally.
The Federation determines
if that's so.
Then we take over.
This station is phase two.
Phase three involves water.
Usually we create basins
using hydraulic landscaping,
but the water on this planet
is subsurface
and extremely high in salt content.
We're just about to begin pumping
and filtering the water,
removing the salt, oxygenating,
and replacing.
Next, we introduce microorganisms.
And when the process is complete,
we'll have a lush, arable biosphere.
You make it sound poetic.
I think it's the best job
in the universe.
The efficiency of your hydraulic
landscaping is quite elegant.
It isn't yet, but it will be.
Right now I'm disturbed
by the erratic power surges
in several of the servomechanisms
that control the hydraulic probes.
Could the increased conductivity
be caused by the high saline content?
- That was my first thought, but I--
BENSEN: Arthur.
The factors do not support
that conclusion.
I'm Director Mandl, and I'm sorry
about having been so abrupt
during our initial contact.
But being isolated,
one tends to forget the social graces.
Are you seeing everything
that you want?
What you're doing here
is miraculous.
What we are doing here is working
a difficult and demanding timetable.
And there will be no miracle
unless Malencon here
gets the hydraulic probes
back on line.
We are set to step up
to full conversion immediately.
Shouldn't you be
in the hydraulic chamber, Arthur?
N Ow?
Yes.
All right, Kurt.
- Geordi?
LA FORGE: Hmm?
This appears
to be the master subsurface pump.
You're right. Very impressive.
This is interesting.
The water table is a thin ribbon
between the sandy surface layer
and the rocks below.
LA FORGE:
Hmm, and those two surfaces
follow that contour so precisely
that the water maintains
a consistent depth between them.
Which would require extreme precision
from the probe controls.
Here we have something
that may be of interest to you.
A vegetation graph.
It is really the key center
for successful terraforming.
RIKER:
Incredible.
It's planned month-by-month,
decade-by-decade?
Every single thing
is specific and exact.
You see grand romantic concepts.
I see unyielding rock
under an ocean of sand.
— Commander.
RIKER: What is it, Deanna?
Malencon. He's in trouble.
MALENCON:
Help!
[LASER BLASTS
AND EXPLOSIONS]
Help! Help!
[MALENCON SCREAMING]
Can you open it?
MANDL:
It's jammed.
[LASER BLAST]
[SCREAMING STOPS]
R I KER:
First officer's log, stardate 41464. 3.
What began as a routine visit
to a terraforming site
has turned into something
far more serious.
Arthur Malencon,
the hydraulics engineer,
has been critically injured
by a laser drill
which appears
to have malfunctioned.
PICARD [OVER COM]:
Situation report, Number One.
For safety reasons,
we're shutting off all power
to the hydraulics room
before entering to recover the body.
Then we'll beam him up to Sickbay.
But from the look of his wounds,
it's probably hopeless.
PICARD:
Keep me informed.
LA FORGE [OVER COM]:
Data?
Go ahead, Geordi.
All set.
Data, we have your section
completely powered down.
Bensen has just locked
the master servomotor drive system,
so it should be safe in there now.
- I'm going in.
DATA: I will go with you.
Transporter Room,
this is Lieutenant Yar.
Two to beam up to Sickbay.
LOUISA:
I wanna go.
We should be with him.
Kurt, please come too.
Transporter Room,
this is Commander Riker.
Beam up four at my coordinates.
DATA [OVER COM]:
Geordi, this is intriguing.
I have seen malfunctions,
but this...
It is almost as if the laser drill
seemed to operate with a will
separate from its control console.
I can't explain it.
The laser blasts seemed to end
when the yelling stopped.
Well, maybe Arthur stopped it,
only not in time.
Not possible.
- Then what are you suggesting?
- Uncertain.
Geordi, please return power
to the control console in this room.
I wish to reactivate the program.
You got it.
[LASER POWERS UP]
I am now running
the base-drilling program.
- Geordi, servos off.
- They are off.
- Data, what's happening?
DATA: Too much to explain.
[LASER BLASTS
AND EXPLOSIONS]
Can you open that? Do it.
La Forge to Enterprise.
- We have a problem.
- Be specific.
Data's in the hydraulics room alone,
and we're hearing laser blasts.
- Get him out of there.
- It's not working again.
We gotta get this door open.
Data, we can't get in.
Data.
Data!
Data!
Away Team, now,
what is happening?
I'm gonna beam him out of there.
Bridge, this is Lieutenant
Commander Data.
No need to beam me up, sir.
The situation is under control.
- Are you all right?
- Yes.
What happened? Did you do anything
which might have set it off?
No, but the firing program
was dynamic.
The firing pro--
What? In what way?
It adjusted to my tactics.
It tracked with me, anticipating.
A fixed program
could not have done that.
Are you suggesting that someone
was controlling the aiming
and firing sequence?
That is exactly how it appeared.
There was a mind working against me.
BENSEN:
What did you do to this laser drill?
A year's work.
Destroyed.
I had no choice.
We were attempting
to trace the source of the malfunction
when it attacked me.
How much more of this useless
fantasy do I have to listen to?
None at all, Mr. Mandl.
Until this is resolved,
I've provided temporary quarters
for you and your staff.
Perhaps you'd like
to make use of them.
You're overstepping
your authority, Picard.
You have no right to interfere.
Mr. Mandl, an attack
on one of my crew gives me the right.
- I have a schedule to meet.
- Your schedule is on hold
until I have a satisfactory
explanation of this.
Director Mandl.
Lieutenant Yar, would you escort
the director to his quarters?
Aye, sir.
Go on with your report.
It would appear the laser's drilling
system was reprogrammed, sir.
As soon as its memory bank
received power,
it turned itself on and went after me.
Fortunately,
I was able to cope with it.
And not by much, from what I saw.
I believe it was programmed to destroy
any person moving in that room, sir.
- Certainty or speculation?
- Certainty.
That would have required the talents
of a master programmer.
But it was done.
And so the question becomes
not who,
since it clearly was one of the three
remaining terraformers.
The question becomes why.
What are they hiding?
What could be so important
that one or all of them
could be desperate enough to kill?
Shall I have them brought in, sir?
Not yet.
- Malencon?
- I couldn't save him.
The injuries were too severe,
the damage too extensive.
The entire Velara III facility
has been powered down, captain.
We've just completed a remote power
feed to the life support systems.
Good. Data, I want you and Geordi
to return for a more careful inspection.
What are we to look for, sir?
Evidence of tampering,
negligence, sabotage, whatever.
The answer's there on the planet.
Tasha, I want you
to provide Counselor Troi and me
with complete personnel records
of our three guests.
Psych profiles, training, everything.
I'm looking for motive, intent,
the psychological capacity
to commit one murder
- and to attempt another.
- Aye, sir.
It seems we are becoming detectives,
Number One.
LA FORGE:
Not much left of this drill.
[SOFT BEEPING]
Geordi,
I need some visual assistance.
Whoa. What is it?
Nothing but basic elements.
Inorganic.
No carbon, sandy texture.
Those flashes are almost musical.
I see color variations and rhythms
in complex harmonies.
Speculation.
Could it be alive?
How could it be alive? It's inorganic.
Whatever it is,
it could be what they are covering up.
And the reason
someone killed Malencon.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
On my order, Data's startling
discovery of a possible life-form
has been beamed aboard so that
its true nature might be uncovered.
But unlike life on Earth
and elsewhere,
it appears to be
completely inorganic.
— A test for inorganic life.
- It has never been done, doctor.
There are basic definitions
for organic life.
It must have the ability
to assimilate, respirate, reproduce,
grow and develop, move,
secrete and excrete.
- Would any of those apply here?
- Perhaps growth and development.
- Reproduction.
- Yes.
Those two may be basic
for any definition of life,
organic or inorganic.
- So how do we proceed?
- Since we're dealing
with a fundamental question,
let's use the basic scientific method:
observe, theorize,
and attempt to prove it.
Activate. Let's be sure
of what we're dealing with.
Is the sample organic?
COMPUTER:
Negative carbon.
Negative known life components.
- Substance inorganic.
LA FORGE: Mm-hm.
Recheck analysis, please.
COMPUTER:
Rechecking.
Analysis verified. Not organic.
Magnify to screen.
Factor five.
Hold surface.
Factor ten.
[HUMMING]
— What are we looking at?
- It's beautiful, whatever it is.
What's that hum?
It started after Dr. Crusher
ordered the scanner to magnify.
Computer, demagnify.
Resume normal scan.
Everyone, stand back.
[HUMMING SOFTENS]
Step back again.
[HUMMING SOFTENS]
It's us.
Yes. We're causing it. Why?
DATA:
Unknown.
But it is definitely reacting
to our presence.
Perhaps it is picking up
the electrical impulse of our systems.
The flashes haven't changed.
Could the hum be connected
to the flashing?
Computer, magnify.
What is the magnification?
COMPUTER:
Twenty-five hundred diameters.
Analyze the pattern of the flashes.
CO M P UTE R:
Not repetitive or sequential.
Pattern not recognized.
What is the source of the flashes?
COMPUTER:
Unable to specify.
Theoretically not possible
from this substance.
Disregard incongruity
and theorize as to source.
COMPUTER:
Life.
What do you mean, a life-form?
What life-form?
A Federation recon expedition
certified Velara III lifeless.
Understandable,
given this particular life-form's
- novel nature.
- What is that nature?
Dr. Crusher
is still making her determination.
Mr. Mandl,
you know the Prime Directive.
Are you saying
that I knowingly defied it?
That's what I have to find out.
You're a man obsessed
with what you do.
Who knows what an obsessed man
will do to keep going?
Ki", perhaps?
I create life.
I don't take it.
You hit him pretty hard, captain.
What do you think, counselor?
It was useful.
I felt two levels.
He did know about the life-form,
but the idea of murder
seemed to shock him.
Whether it was the whole idea
orjust being accused of it, I can't tell.
What about his file, Lieutenant Yar?
Could he have accomplished the
reprogramming Data says took place?
Mandl holds advanced degrees
in computer science
as well as artificial intelligence.
It's possible.
What about the others,
including the victim?
Well, only the victim
had the required expertise.
Malencon did work
where the whatever it is was found.
Trying to suppress that knowledge
would be motive for murder.
If Mandl were obsessed enough.
Terraformers are often obsessive.
It frequently goes with
the career profile.
How do you read the designer?
She is possessed
of highly abstracted reality.
Lovely visions, little data.
But you might do better than I.
[DOOR CHIMES]
It's not locked.
Mind a visitor?
Is it true?
Did you really find a life-form?
Well, the debate is still going on
in some quarters,
but I think so, yes.
What's it like?
We have nothing
we can compare it with.
It's microscopic.
It seems colonial, simple.
But it's inorganic.
Which is why the recon scouts
missed it.
It was not your mistake.
Everything I've worked so hard for
is falling apart.
Louisa.
It's very beautiful.
I could arrange for you to see it
if you like.
Perhaps later.
[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]
CRUSHER [OVER COM]:
Captain, this is Dr. Crusher.
I think you'd better come
to the medical lab.
- What is it?
- Geordi observed movement.
Not movement exactly,
but a definite shift
in the energy pattern.
— Why?
- Unknown, sir.
Perhaps it is scanning us.
Scanning us? Why?
What could it hope to learn?
Unknown at this time, sir.
It's changing.
- I don't see anything.
- The infrared range is increasing.
[H|GH—P|TCH HUMMING]
COMPUTER:
Warning, input overload.
- The hum is back.
- It is projecting an energy field.
And it's intensifying.
COMPUTER:
Magnification deactivated.
CRUSHER:
Two of them.
Only life can replicate itself, doctor.
Inorganic or not, it is alive.
Activate quarantine field.
Quarantine field full.
Full shield backup.
Evacuating lab.
COM PUTE R:
Translation request being patched.
Translation? From whom?
[INDISTINCT VOCAL NOISE]
Evacuate.
What's wrong
with the translator circuit?
PICARD:
Bridge, this is the captain.
Request emergency power
to initiate lab quarantine seal.
- Do it, Mr. Worf.
- Aye, sir.
What's the nature of the problem,
captain? We've lost visual.
We have confirmed
that Data's discovery is life.
But more than that,
it is intelligent life.
How do you know, sir?
It's trying to communicate with us.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
The inorganic life-form
from Velara Ill
has apparently taken over
our medical lab.
It generates enough energy to
interfere with the surrounding systems.
Mr. La Forge,
can we see into the lab yet?
Negative, captain.
Reducing the backup
to the quarantine seal might help.
- Doctor?
- I wouldn't.
PICARD: Continue quarantine.
- Aye, sir.
TASHA: Director Mandl and the others
are in the Observation Lounge
as you requested.
Counselor, I shall need you.
You have the Bridge, Number One.
Director Mandl, I put it to you again.
What do you know
about these life-forms?
MANDL:
Not a thing.
Enough.
Sit down, lieutenant.
You are deliberately evasive
and it must stop.
You have kept information from me
since our first communication.
An alien life-form has taken
possession of my medical lab.
You knew of its existence.
Yes.
Is this true?
You knew there was life
on Velara Ill?
I knew that there were
random energy patterns,
yes, I knew that.
But not life.
Not by any definition
that I have ever heard.
But you tried to keep that knowledge
from us.
No.
They are meaningless silicon crystals
which rebroadcast sunlight.
It is a life-form
and it has intelligence.
WW do you say that?
It's trying to communicate with us.
Communicate with you?
When did you first
become aware of them?
Tell him about the pattern
in the sand.
Oh, yes, do tell us.
When we first arrived,
we noticed that in certain areas,
the sand had a sparkling effect,
like sunlight
bouncing off new fallen snow.
What did you think it was?
Honestly, we did not give it
any thought.
Picard, I must point out again
that we were assured not once,
but many times
by the best scientific minds
in the Federation
that this planet has no life.
No life.
And we were not looking.
And therefore, we did not see.
All right. At first you dismissed it.
But then you began to understand
that there was something
that was different about them.
You can't know that.
Your apprehension suggested it
when we first arrived.
Tell me about these patterns.
At first, we thought it was just natural
phenomena unique to Velara III.
Refraction in its thin atmosphere
is interesting but certainly not life.
Why was I never told about this?
Because it's not
particularly important.
As the building of the
terraforming station went forward,
the patterns in the sand
ceased being random.
They became very specific.
Geometric shapes
suddenly appearing, disappearing.
Changing location, changing size.
Did you ever feel that these patterns
were attempting to communicate?
No. Never.
Bensen?
I don't know.
At the time, I didn't think so.
But now after hearing
what you just said...
Now...
I don't know.
RIKER [OVER COM]:
Captain, we've regained magnification
on the life-form. It's divided again.
Patch visual to Observation Lounge.
There was no indication of any of this
on Velara Ill?
Absolutely none.
- I cannot understand the patterns.
- Hmm. Neither can I.
Please show me spectral analysis,
magnification, 12K.
COMPUTER: Silicon, germanium.
- Transistor material.
- Gallium arsenide.
- Emits light when charged.
COM PUTE R:
Cadmium selenide sulfide.
Emits charge when lit.
COMPUTER:
Water, impurities, sodium salts.
Conductor.
- But is it alive?
COMPUTER: Probability positive.
I wasn't asking you.
ENGINEER [OVER COM]:
Engineering to Bridge.
This is Commander Riker, go ahead.
The backup on the lab seal
is fluctuating, sir.
I think you should come down here.
On my Way-
Data, you've got the Bridge.
Inform the captain.
Status, ensign?
The quarantine seal
is getting weaker, sir.
Every time I try to redirect backup,
it goes somewhere else.
I think I've...
No, no, it's locked three people
in a turbolift
and two more
in the programmers‘ restroom.
If that reading is right,
there is no seal.
— Give me lab interior image.
- Yes, sir.
Magnify.
Picard, this is Riker.
We see it too, Number One.
Get that seal back up.
But, sir, no matter what I do,
the energy goes somewhere else.
- What if it hits the Sickbay or nursery?
- Hold off.
Impossible, captain,
we haven't got the power.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
The life-form, which has
significantly increased in size,
is again attempting
to communicate with us.
The universal translator
is coming online, sir.
TRANSLATOR:
Ugly, ugly giants.
Bags of mostly water.
Bags of mostly water?
An accurate description
of humans, sir.
You are over 90 percent water
surrounded by a flexible container.
Life force, do you understand us?
TRANSLATOR:
We understand.
We ask that you be gone.
We call. We talk. You do not listen.
We didn't hear you.
We come in peace.
TRANSLATOR:
Ugly bag of mostly water.
We try at peace.
You still do not listen.
Bag who drill in sand of home
had to die.
It killed Malencon.
We see and hear you now.
We didn't know you were there.
You are beautiful to us.
All life is beautiful.
TRANSLATOR:
Bag in dome did know.
Caused much death.
Made us kill.
War is now with you.
DATA:
The translator is off-line, sir.
Can you hear us now?
[RUMBLING]
- Mr. La Forge?
- Restabilizing, captain.
Sir, that chaos
when we were studying it in the lab
must have been the energy surge
of a reproductive cycle.
It is now a colony of single cells
which organize as a computer.
And like any computer...
More is stronger.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
We have regained visual contact
with the lab,
but our attempts
to restore communication
with this microbrain,
as we have come to call it,
have been unsuccessful.
One thing that is certain, however,
this life-form has declared war on us.
The range of influence appears to be
concentrated in the medical lab.
All non—essentia| personnel
have been moved
to the most distant areas of the ship.
Data, any analysis
on those bolts of light it emits?
That seems to be its method
of reprogramming, captain.
Each bolt of light consists
of negatively-
and positively—charged ions.
A series of program instructions,
as it were.
It seems to have a quicker rapport
with our computers than we have.
What do you expect?
It is a computer.
Have we disabled
the medical lab computer console?
Aye, sir. As soon as Data determined
the microbrain's method of operation.
Captain, picking up a decrease
in infrared intensity.
Maybe the life-form
has reached its energy level.
Or maybe that's not the end of it.
With single-celled life-forms,
at least organic ones,
cell division is preceded
by a resting state.
The calm before the storm?
Medical lab on main viewer.
Let's use this calm.
It does seem dormant, captain.
Tasha.
Set coordinates
to beam it back where it came from.
Coordinates set, sir.
Energize.
Transporter power
being redirected, sir.
We are unable to affect it.
Life-form or not, intelligent or not,
the safety of this ship
and everyone aboard her
is my primary responsibility.
Data.
Evacuate all the air
from the medical lab.
I want a vacuum there.
[PANEL BEEPING]
Environmental systems
fail to respond to command, captain.
It appears the microbrain
has successfully interfaced
with our computers.
Picard, if it did try to communicate
with us, we didn't understand that.
It has declared a state of war
and we are on the defensive.
We have no control over
our medical lab, nor our computer.
At this moment,
it has the power to destroy this ship
and everybody on it.
- I need your help.
- Unbelievable.
It said you were trying to kill
some of them. I need to know how.
I don't know.
What was Malencon doing
when he was killed?
There is a very thin layer
of highly saline water
under the sandy topsoil.
He was siphoning that off.
Perhaps somehow,
that saline water sustained them.
It connected them.
I don't understand.
The microbrains
may be like our own brain cells.
Individually, a cell has life,
but not intelligence.
Yet when interconnected,
their combined intelligence
is formidable.
The saline fluid is their circuitry.
And to prevent its loss,
they killed Malencon.
If we had continued
to remove that water,
we would have destroyed them all.
A reason enough
for anyone to go to war.
RIKER [OVER COM]:
Captain, it's happening again.
I think you'd better get in here.
If this keeps up,
it will tear up the Enterprise.
- What can you determine, La Forge?
DATA: Captain,
our sensors indicate
that the microbrain
expends a tremendous amount
of energy during its reproductive cycle.
Yet, there is no discernible power drain
on our own systems.
- What is feeding the damn thing?
- We found traces of cadmium salts.
Now, cadmium is a conduit
for converting infrared
- into electricity.
- Meaning?
Meaning, the microbrain
might be photoelectric.
Kill the lights in the medical lab,
Mr. La Forge.
Let's see if darkness
will neutralize it.
Ugh. Sorry, sir,
it still has control of the computer.
We can't do it by remote.
- Number One.
- Aye, sir.
The life-form must have evolved
at that narrow layer
where the light got through the sand
to the water.
Drop the water a centimeter
below the light penetration level
and they starve.
Killing the lab lights now.
It's slowing down.
LA FORGE:
It's getting dimmer too.
TRANSLATOR:
More light, please.
Only if you will talk to us.
TRANSLATOR:
We die.
Bags of water kill us.
You are like others.
We have no wish to kill you.
We never have.
TRANSLATOR:
You do not say truth.
We will end this war
if you will end the war.
TRANSLATOR:
Darkness, death, terrible.
Must go home to wet sand.
War over.
Agreed.
We will send you home
to your wet sand.
Picard to Riker,
bring up the lights in the lab,
just a bit.
Are you better?
TRANSLATOR:
Better.
PICARD:
We mean you no harm.
Do you believe me?
TRANSLATOR: Yes.
- Good.
It is important that you trust us.
TRANSLATOR:
Not yet.
You are still too arrogant,
too primitive.
Come back three centuries.
Perhaps then, we trust.
We understand what you are saying.
We will leave you.
We will send you home.
Riker to transporter chief.
Pick up the coordinates of the bell jar
in the medical lab
for return to Velara III.
TRANSPORT CHIEF [OVER COM]:
Coordinates entered, sir.
Riker to Bridge.
Captain,
we're ready to beam it back
to the planet.
I wish we were able
to learn more about them, sir.
In time, Mr. Data,
when we are better prepared.
I wanted to create a place
where living things could thrive.
And all the while, I was about
to destroy the life that is there.
Our apologies.
And respects.
— Lieutenant Yar?
- Coordinates set, sir.
Energize.
PICARD:
Captain's log, stardate 41464.8.
I have declared an indefinite
quarantine for Velara Ill,
and we are now returning to starbase
with the three surviving terraformers.
Perhaps the lesson we have learned
from this near tragedy
will prevent it from happening
elsewhere.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
Captain's log, stardate 41463. 9.
While mapping the Pleiades cluster,
we have been asked
by the Federation
to visit a group terraforming
Velara III.
Communications have been erratic,
and there is some concern
about their welfare.
Entering standard orbit now.
It takes very special people
to live in such desolation.
Visionaries who don't see the planet
as it is, but as it will be.
I've always wanted to see terraforming
in operation.
- Lieutenant Yar, hailing frequencies.
- Hailing frequencies open, sir.
Velara Ill base,
this is Captain Picard
of the starship Enterprise.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.
No malfunctioning equipment on
either side, sir.
They are receiving us.
Velara Ill base, this is the Enterprise.
Come in, please. Over.
Maybe no one's home.
We are sensing life-forms, sir.
Velara Ill base, do you copy?
MANDL [OVER COM]:
Velara base to Enterprise.
Yes, captain, I'm Director Mandl,
and I'm sorry about the delay,
but we weren't expecting visitors.
Terraform Command has asked us
to see how you were getting along.
We were a little behind,
but we're back on schedule.
And I'd like to hope we'd be allowed
to maintain that schedule.
We alarm him for some reason.
Your staff are all well,
I presume, director?
Understandably tired.
We're working very hard, captain.
Well, if there is anything
that we can do to help,
you and your staff
are very welcome aboard
for a change of scene, rest.
We have some holodecks
which you might enjoy.
No disrespect, sir,
but we cannot afford the time.
COMPUTER: Channel closed.
- His fear is escalating.
MANDL: If you'll excuse me, sir,
I really must get back to work.
- I sense deliberate concealment, sir.
- Of what?
I don't know, but it's intense.
Director Mandl, we've heard
of your remarkable achievements
in terraforming.
My crew would very much appreciate
looking around.
This is not really the best time.
We're at a very critical phase
just now.
We would require
no special attention.
I'm trying not to be rude, sir,
but this is really very inconvenient.
[MONITOR BEEPS]
He is concealing something.
It's more than just being too busy.
Your announcement
about coming down
has sent him almost
to a point of panic.
Well, whether he wants us or not.
Director Mandl,
unless you're absolutely
refusing us permission
to land at your station,
prepare to receive our away team.
As you wish.
Counselor, perhaps you better
go along as well.
TROI:
Aye, sir.
Someone that tense
can be very unpredictable.
Stay on your toes, Number One.
PICARD:
Space, the final frontier.
These are the voyages
of the starship Enterprise.
Its continuing mission:
to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life
and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no one
has gone before.
Welcome to Velara III. Please.
I want you to remember it
as it is now
because in a couple of decades,
you won't recognize it.
Louisa Kim, Gardener of Edens.
Commander William Riker,
USS Enterprise.
This is Counselor Troi, Lieutenant Yar,
Lieutenant La Forge,
Lieutenant Commander Data.
Arthur Malencon, hydraulics specialist,
and Bjorn Bensen, chief engineer.
- An android?
- Third in command of the Enterprise.
Where were you manufactured?
Are there others like you?
Both matters are subjects
of protracted discussion.
Remarkable.
Excuse me.
We don't get many visitors.
It's exciting to have you here.
We weren't sure
how we would be received.
Director Mandl was less than
enthusiastic about our interests.
I should apologize for him.
We are at a critical phase.
- Usually he's quite charming.
- We'll try to stay out of the way.
We've never seen
a terraforming station
and we appreciate the opportunity.
How much do you know
about the process?
Theories, reports,
but nothing firsthand.
Oh, wonderful.
Let me show you what we do.
Newcomers find this imager helpful.
The other two are secretive,
but she is as open as she appears.
What we're doing is so exciting,
so inspiring.
We take a lifeless planet
and little by little, transform it
to an M-Class environment
capable of supporting life.
Terraforming
makes you feel a little godlike.
The first phase
involves selecting the planet.
That's very important.
It must have the right mass
and gravity,
a correct rate of rotation,
and a balanced day and night.
The planet must also be without life
or the prospect of life
developing naturally.
The Federation determines
if that's so.
Then we take over.
This station is phase two.
Phase three involves water.
Usually we create basins
using hydraulic landscaping,
but the water on this planet
is subsurface
and extremely high in salt content.
We're just about to begin pumping
and filtering the water,
removing the salt, oxygenating,
and replacing.
Next, we introduce microorganisms.
And when the process is complete,
we'll have a lush, arable biosphere.
You make it sound poetic.
I think it's the best job
in the universe.
The efficiency of your hydraulic
landscaping is quite elegant.
It isn't yet, but it will be.
Right now I'm disturbed
by the erratic power surges
in several of the servomechanisms
that control the hydraulic probes.
Could the increased conductivity
be caused by the high saline content?
- That was my first thought, but I--
BENSEN: Arthur.
The factors do not support
that conclusion.
I'm Director Mandl, and I'm sorry
about having been so abrupt
during our initial contact.
But being isolated,
one tends to forget the social graces.
Are you seeing everything
that you want?
What you're doing here
is miraculous.
What we are doing here is working
a difficult and demanding timetable.
And there will be no miracle
unless Malencon here
gets the hydraulic probes
back on line.
We are set to step up
to full conversion immediately.
Shouldn't you be
in the hydraulic chamber, Arthur?
N Ow?
Yes.
All right, Kurt.
- Geordi?
LA FORGE: Hmm?
This appears
to be the master subsurface pump.
You're right. Very impressive.
This is interesting.
The water table is a thin ribbon
between the sandy surface layer
and the rocks below.
LA FORGE:
Hmm, and those two surfaces
follow that contour so precisely
that the water maintains
a consistent depth between them.
Which would require extreme precision
from the probe controls.
Here we have something
that may be of interest to you.
A vegetation graph.
It is really the key center
for successful terraforming.
RIKER:
Incredible.
It's planned month-by-month,
decade-by-decade?
Every single thing
is specific and exact.
You see grand romantic concepts.
I see unyielding rock
under an ocean of sand.
— Commander.
RIKER: What is it, Deanna?
Malencon. He's in trouble.
MALENCON:
Help!
[LASER BLASTS
AND EXPLOSIONS]
Help! Help!
[MALENCON SCREAMING]
Can you open it?
MANDL:
It's jammed.
[LASER BLAST]
[SCREAMING STOPS]
R I KER:
First officer's log, stardate 41464. 3.
What began as a routine visit
to a terraforming site
has turned into something
far more serious.
Arthur Malencon,
the hydraulics engineer,
has been critically injured
by a laser drill
which appears
to have malfunctioned.
PICARD [OVER COM]:
Situation report, Number One.
For safety reasons,
we're shutting off all power
to the hydraulics room
before entering to recover the body.
Then we'll beam him up to Sickbay.
But from the look of his wounds,
it's probably hopeless.
PICARD:
Keep me informed.
LA FORGE [OVER COM]:
Data?
Go ahead, Geordi.
All set.
Data, we have your section
completely powered down.
Bensen has just locked
the master servomotor drive system,
so it should be safe in there now.
- I'm going in.
DATA: I will go with you.
Transporter Room,
this is Lieutenant Yar.
Two to beam up to Sickbay.
LOUISA:
I wanna go.
We should be with him.
Kurt, please come too.
Transporter Room,
this is Commander Riker.
Beam up four at my coordinates.
DATA [OVER COM]:
Geordi, this is intriguing.
I have seen malfunctions,
but this...
It is almost as if the laser drill
seemed to operate with a will
separate from its control console.
I can't explain it.
The laser blasts seemed to end
when the yelling stopped.
Well, maybe Arthur stopped it,
only not in time.
Not possible.
- Then what are you suggesting?
- Uncertain.
Geordi, please return power
to the control console in this room.
I wish to reactivate the program.
You got it.
[LASER POWERS UP]
I am now running
the base-drilling program.
- Geordi, servos off.
- They are off.
- Data, what's happening?
DATA: Too much to explain.
[LASER BLASTS
AND EXPLOSIONS]
Can you open that? Do it.
La Forge to Enterprise.
- We have a problem.
- Be specific.
Data's in the hydraulics room alone,
and we're hearing laser blasts.
- Get him out of there.
- It's not working again.
We gotta get this door open.
Data, we can't get in.
Data.
Data!
Data!
Away Team, now,
what is happening?
I'm gonna beam him out of there.
Bridge, this is Lieutenant
Commander Data.
No need to beam me up, sir.
The situation is under control.
- Are you all right?
- Yes.
What happened? Did you do anything
which might have set it off?
No, but the firing program
was dynamic.
The firing pro--
What? In what way?
It adjusted to my tactics.
It tracked with me, anticipating.
A fixed program
could not have done that.
Are you suggesting that someone
was controlling the aiming
and firing sequence?
That is exactly how it appeared.
There was a mind working against me.
BENSEN:
What did you do to this laser drill?
A year's work.
Destroyed.
I had no choice.
We were attempting
to trace the source of the malfunction
when it attacked me.
How much more of this useless
fantasy do I have to listen to?
None at all, Mr. Mandl.
Until this is resolved,
I've provided temporary quarters
for you and your staff.
Perhaps you'd like
to make use of them.
You're overstepping
your authority, Picard.
You have no right to interfere.
Mr. Mandl, an attack
on one of my crew gives me the right.
- I have a schedule to meet.
- Your schedule is on hold
until I have a satisfactory
explanation of this.
Director Mandl.
Lieutenant Yar, would you escort
the director to his quarters?
Aye, sir.
Go on with your report.
It would appear the laser's drilling
system was reprogrammed, sir.
As soon as its memory bank
received power,
it turned itself on and went after me.
Fortunately,
I was able to cope with it.
And not by much, from what I saw.
I believe it was programmed to destroy
any person moving in that room, sir.
- Certainty or speculation?
- Certainty.
That would have required the talents
of a master programmer.
But it was done.
And so the question becomes
not who,
since it clearly was one of the three
remaining terraformers.
The question becomes why.
What are they hiding?
What could be so important
that one or all of them
could be desperate enough to kill?
Shall I have them brought in, sir?
Not yet.
- Malencon?
- I couldn't save him.
The injuries were too severe,
the damage too extensive.
The entire Velara III facility
has been powered down, captain.
We've just completed a remote power
feed to the life support systems.
Good. Data, I want you and Geordi
to return for a more careful inspection.
What are we to look for, sir?
Evidence of tampering,
negligence, sabotage, whatever.
The answer's there on the planet.
Tasha, I want you
to provide Counselor Troi and me
with complete personnel records
of our three guests.
Psych profiles, training, everything.
I'm looking for motive, intent,
the psychological capacity
to commit one murder
- and to attempt another.
- Aye, sir.
It seems we are becoming detectives,
Number One.
LA FORGE:
Not much left of this drill.
[SOFT BEEPING]
Geordi,
I need some visual assistance.
Whoa. What is it?
Nothing but basic elements.
Inorganic.
No carbon, sandy texture.
Those flashes are almost musical.
I see color variations and rhythms
in complex harmonies.
Speculation.
Could it be alive?
How could it be alive? It's inorganic.
Whatever it is,
it could be what they are covering up.
And the reason
someone killed Malencon.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
On my order, Data's startling
discovery of a possible life-form
has been beamed aboard so that
its true nature might be uncovered.
But unlike life on Earth
and elsewhere,
it appears to be
completely inorganic.
— A test for inorganic life.
- It has never been done, doctor.
There are basic definitions
for organic life.
It must have the ability
to assimilate, respirate, reproduce,
grow and develop, move,
secrete and excrete.
- Would any of those apply here?
- Perhaps growth and development.
- Reproduction.
- Yes.
Those two may be basic
for any definition of life,
organic or inorganic.
- So how do we proceed?
- Since we're dealing
with a fundamental question,
let's use the basic scientific method:
observe, theorize,
and attempt to prove it.
Activate. Let's be sure
of what we're dealing with.
Is the sample organic?
COMPUTER:
Negative carbon.
Negative known life components.
- Substance inorganic.
LA FORGE: Mm-hm.
Recheck analysis, please.
COMPUTER:
Rechecking.
Analysis verified. Not organic.
Magnify to screen.
Factor five.
Hold surface.
Factor ten.
[HUMMING]
— What are we looking at?
- It's beautiful, whatever it is.
What's that hum?
It started after Dr. Crusher
ordered the scanner to magnify.
Computer, demagnify.
Resume normal scan.
Everyone, stand back.
[HUMMING SOFTENS]
Step back again.
[HUMMING SOFTENS]
It's us.
Yes. We're causing it. Why?
DATA:
Unknown.
But it is definitely reacting
to our presence.
Perhaps it is picking up
the electrical impulse of our systems.
The flashes haven't changed.
Could the hum be connected
to the flashing?
Computer, magnify.
What is the magnification?
COMPUTER:
Twenty-five hundred diameters.
Analyze the pattern of the flashes.
CO M P UTE R:
Not repetitive or sequential.
Pattern not recognized.
What is the source of the flashes?
COMPUTER:
Unable to specify.
Theoretically not possible
from this substance.
Disregard incongruity
and theorize as to source.
COMPUTER:
Life.
What do you mean, a life-form?
What life-form?
A Federation recon expedition
certified Velara III lifeless.
Understandable,
given this particular life-form's
- novel nature.
- What is that nature?
Dr. Crusher
is still making her determination.
Mr. Mandl,
you know the Prime Directive.
Are you saying
that I knowingly defied it?
That's what I have to find out.
You're a man obsessed
with what you do.
Who knows what an obsessed man
will do to keep going?
Ki", perhaps?
I create life.
I don't take it.
You hit him pretty hard, captain.
What do you think, counselor?
It was useful.
I felt two levels.
He did know about the life-form,
but the idea of murder
seemed to shock him.
Whether it was the whole idea
orjust being accused of it, I can't tell.
What about his file, Lieutenant Yar?
Could he have accomplished the
reprogramming Data says took place?
Mandl holds advanced degrees
in computer science
as well as artificial intelligence.
It's possible.
What about the others,
including the victim?
Well, only the victim
had the required expertise.
Malencon did work
where the whatever it is was found.
Trying to suppress that knowledge
would be motive for murder.
If Mandl were obsessed enough.
Terraformers are often obsessive.
It frequently goes with
the career profile.
How do you read the designer?
She is possessed
of highly abstracted reality.
Lovely visions, little data.
But you might do better than I.
[DOOR CHIMES]
It's not locked.
Mind a visitor?
Is it true?
Did you really find a life-form?
Well, the debate is still going on
in some quarters,
but I think so, yes.
What's it like?
We have nothing
we can compare it with.
It's microscopic.
It seems colonial, simple.
But it's inorganic.
Which is why the recon scouts
missed it.
It was not your mistake.
Everything I've worked so hard for
is falling apart.
Louisa.
It's very beautiful.
I could arrange for you to see it
if you like.
Perhaps later.
[DOOR OPENS THEN CLOSES]
CRUSHER [OVER COM]:
Captain, this is Dr. Crusher.
I think you'd better come
to the medical lab.
- What is it?
- Geordi observed movement.
Not movement exactly,
but a definite shift
in the energy pattern.
— Why?
- Unknown, sir.
Perhaps it is scanning us.
Scanning us? Why?
What could it hope to learn?
Unknown at this time, sir.
It's changing.
- I don't see anything.
- The infrared range is increasing.
[H|GH—P|TCH HUMMING]
COMPUTER:
Warning, input overload.
- The hum is back.
- It is projecting an energy field.
And it's intensifying.
COMPUTER:
Magnification deactivated.
CRUSHER:
Two of them.
Only life can replicate itself, doctor.
Inorganic or not, it is alive.
Activate quarantine field.
Quarantine field full.
Full shield backup.
Evacuating lab.
COM PUTE R:
Translation request being patched.
Translation? From whom?
[INDISTINCT VOCAL NOISE]
Evacuate.
What's wrong
with the translator circuit?
PICARD:
Bridge, this is the captain.
Request emergency power
to initiate lab quarantine seal.
- Do it, Mr. Worf.
- Aye, sir.
What's the nature of the problem,
captain? We've lost visual.
We have confirmed
that Data's discovery is life.
But more than that,
it is intelligent life.
How do you know, sir?
It's trying to communicate with us.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
The inorganic life-form
from Velara Ill
has apparently taken over
our medical lab.
It generates enough energy to
interfere with the surrounding systems.
Mr. La Forge,
can we see into the lab yet?
Negative, captain.
Reducing the backup
to the quarantine seal might help.
- Doctor?
- I wouldn't.
PICARD: Continue quarantine.
- Aye, sir.
TASHA: Director Mandl and the others
are in the Observation Lounge
as you requested.
Counselor, I shall need you.
You have the Bridge, Number One.
Director Mandl, I put it to you again.
What do you know
about these life-forms?
MANDL:
Not a thing.
Enough.
Sit down, lieutenant.
You are deliberately evasive
and it must stop.
You have kept information from me
since our first communication.
An alien life-form has taken
possession of my medical lab.
You knew of its existence.
Yes.
Is this true?
You knew there was life
on Velara Ill?
I knew that there were
random energy patterns,
yes, I knew that.
But not life.
Not by any definition
that I have ever heard.
But you tried to keep that knowledge
from us.
No.
They are meaningless silicon crystals
which rebroadcast sunlight.
It is a life-form
and it has intelligence.
WW do you say that?
It's trying to communicate with us.
Communicate with you?
When did you first
become aware of them?
Tell him about the pattern
in the sand.
Oh, yes, do tell us.
When we first arrived,
we noticed that in certain areas,
the sand had a sparkling effect,
like sunlight
bouncing off new fallen snow.
What did you think it was?
Honestly, we did not give it
any thought.
Picard, I must point out again
that we were assured not once,
but many times
by the best scientific minds
in the Federation
that this planet has no life.
No life.
And we were not looking.
And therefore, we did not see.
All right. At first you dismissed it.
But then you began to understand
that there was something
that was different about them.
You can't know that.
Your apprehension suggested it
when we first arrived.
Tell me about these patterns.
At first, we thought it was just natural
phenomena unique to Velara III.
Refraction in its thin atmosphere
is interesting but certainly not life.
Why was I never told about this?
Because it's not
particularly important.
As the building of the
terraforming station went forward,
the patterns in the sand
ceased being random.
They became very specific.
Geometric shapes
suddenly appearing, disappearing.
Changing location, changing size.
Did you ever feel that these patterns
were attempting to communicate?
No. Never.
Bensen?
I don't know.
At the time, I didn't think so.
But now after hearing
what you just said...
Now...
I don't know.
RIKER [OVER COM]:
Captain, we've regained magnification
on the life-form. It's divided again.
Patch visual to Observation Lounge.
There was no indication of any of this
on Velara Ill?
Absolutely none.
- I cannot understand the patterns.
- Hmm. Neither can I.
Please show me spectral analysis,
magnification, 12K.
COMPUTER: Silicon, germanium.
- Transistor material.
- Gallium arsenide.
- Emits light when charged.
COM PUTE R:
Cadmium selenide sulfide.
Emits charge when lit.
COMPUTER:
Water, impurities, sodium salts.
Conductor.
- But is it alive?
COMPUTER: Probability positive.
I wasn't asking you.
ENGINEER [OVER COM]:
Engineering to Bridge.
This is Commander Riker, go ahead.
The backup on the lab seal
is fluctuating, sir.
I think you should come down here.
On my Way-
Data, you've got the Bridge.
Inform the captain.
Status, ensign?
The quarantine seal
is getting weaker, sir.
Every time I try to redirect backup,
it goes somewhere else.
I think I've...
No, no, it's locked three people
in a turbolift
and two more
in the programmers‘ restroom.
If that reading is right,
there is no seal.
— Give me lab interior image.
- Yes, sir.
Magnify.
Picard, this is Riker.
We see it too, Number One.
Get that seal back up.
But, sir, no matter what I do,
the energy goes somewhere else.
- What if it hits the Sickbay or nursery?
- Hold off.
Impossible, captain,
we haven't got the power.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
The life-form, which has
significantly increased in size,
is again attempting
to communicate with us.
The universal translator
is coming online, sir.
TRANSLATOR:
Ugly, ugly giants.
Bags of mostly water.
Bags of mostly water?
An accurate description
of humans, sir.
You are over 90 percent water
surrounded by a flexible container.
Life force, do you understand us?
TRANSLATOR:
We understand.
We ask that you be gone.
We call. We talk. You do not listen.
We didn't hear you.
We come in peace.
TRANSLATOR:
Ugly bag of mostly water.
We try at peace.
You still do not listen.
Bag who drill in sand of home
had to die.
It killed Malencon.
We see and hear you now.
We didn't know you were there.
You are beautiful to us.
All life is beautiful.
TRANSLATOR:
Bag in dome did know.
Caused much death.
Made us kill.
War is now with you.
DATA:
The translator is off-line, sir.
Can you hear us now?
[RUMBLING]
- Mr. La Forge?
- Restabilizing, captain.
Sir, that chaos
when we were studying it in the lab
must have been the energy surge
of a reproductive cycle.
It is now a colony of single cells
which organize as a computer.
And like any computer...
More is stronger.
P I CARD:
Captain's log, supplemental.
We have regained visual contact
with the lab,
but our attempts
to restore communication
with this microbrain,
as we have come to call it,
have been unsuccessful.
One thing that is certain, however,
this life-form has declared war on us.
The range of influence appears to be
concentrated in the medical lab.
All non—essentia| personnel
have been moved
to the most distant areas of the ship.
Data, any analysis
on those bolts of light it emits?
That seems to be its method
of reprogramming, captain.
Each bolt of light consists
of negatively-
and positively—charged ions.
A series of program instructions,
as it were.
It seems to have a quicker rapport
with our computers than we have.
What do you expect?
It is a computer.
Have we disabled
the medical lab computer console?
Aye, sir. As soon as Data determined
the microbrain's method of operation.
Captain, picking up a decrease
in infrared intensity.
Maybe the life-form
has reached its energy level.
Or maybe that's not the end of it.
With single-celled life-forms,
at least organic ones,
cell division is preceded
by a resting state.
The calm before the storm?
Medical lab on main viewer.
Let's use this calm.
It does seem dormant, captain.
Tasha.
Set coordinates
to beam it back where it came from.
Coordinates set, sir.
Energize.
Transporter power
being redirected, sir.
We are unable to affect it.
Life-form or not, intelligent or not,
the safety of this ship
and everyone aboard her
is my primary responsibility.
Data.
Evacuate all the air
from the medical lab.
I want a vacuum there.
[PANEL BEEPING]
Environmental systems
fail to respond to command, captain.
It appears the microbrain
has successfully interfaced
with our computers.
Picard, if it did try to communicate
with us, we didn't understand that.
It has declared a state of war
and we are on the defensive.
We have no control over
our medical lab, nor our computer.
At this moment,
it has the power to destroy this ship
and everybody on it.
- I need your help.
- Unbelievable.
It said you were trying to kill
some of them. I need to know how.
I don't know.
What was Malencon doing
when he was killed?
There is a very thin layer
of highly saline water
under the sandy topsoil.
He was siphoning that off.
Perhaps somehow,
that saline water sustained them.
It connected them.
I don't understand.
The microbrains
may be like our own brain cells.
Individually, a cell has life,
but not intelligence.
Yet when interconnected,
their combined intelligence
is formidable.
The saline fluid is their circuitry.
And to prevent its loss,
they killed Malencon.
If we had continued
to remove that water,
we would have destroyed them all.
A reason enough
for anyone to go to war.
RIKER [OVER COM]:
Captain, it's happening again.
I think you'd better get in here.
If this keeps up,
it will tear up the Enterprise.
- What can you determine, La Forge?
DATA: Captain,
our sensors indicate
that the microbrain
expends a tremendous amount
of energy during its reproductive cycle.
Yet, there is no discernible power drain
on our own systems.
- What is feeding the damn thing?
- We found traces of cadmium salts.
Now, cadmium is a conduit
for converting infrared
- into electricity.
- Meaning?
Meaning, the microbrain
might be photoelectric.
Kill the lights in the medical lab,
Mr. La Forge.
Let's see if darkness
will neutralize it.
Ugh. Sorry, sir,
it still has control of the computer.
We can't do it by remote.
- Number One.
- Aye, sir.
The life-form must have evolved
at that narrow layer
where the light got through the sand
to the water.
Drop the water a centimeter
below the light penetration level
and they starve.
Killing the lab lights now.
It's slowing down.
LA FORGE:
It's getting dimmer too.
TRANSLATOR:
More light, please.
Only if you will talk to us.
TRANSLATOR:
We die.
Bags of water kill us.
You are like others.
We have no wish to kill you.
We never have.
TRANSLATOR:
You do not say truth.
We will end this war
if you will end the war.
TRANSLATOR:
Darkness, death, terrible.
Must go home to wet sand.
War over.
Agreed.
We will send you home
to your wet sand.
Picard to Riker,
bring up the lights in the lab,
just a bit.
Are you better?
TRANSLATOR:
Better.
PICARD:
We mean you no harm.
Do you believe me?
TRANSLATOR: Yes.
- Good.
It is important that you trust us.
TRANSLATOR:
Not yet.
You are still too arrogant,
too primitive.
Come back three centuries.
Perhaps then, we trust.
We understand what you are saying.
We will leave you.
We will send you home.
Riker to transporter chief.
Pick up the coordinates of the bell jar
in the medical lab
for return to Velara III.
TRANSPORT CHIEF [OVER COM]:
Coordinates entered, sir.
Riker to Bridge.
Captain,
we're ready to beam it back
to the planet.
I wish we were able
to learn more about them, sir.
In time, Mr. Data,
when we are better prepared.
I wanted to create a place
where living things could thrive.
And all the while, I was about
to destroy the life that is there.
Our apologies.
And respects.
— Lieutenant Yar?
- Coordinates set, sir.
Energize.
PICARD:
Captain's log, stardate 41464.8.
I have declared an indefinite
quarantine for Velara Ill,
and we are now returning to starbase
with the three surviving terraformers.
Perhaps the lesson we have learned
from this near tragedy
will prevent it from happening
elsewhere.
Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.