- Wesley's latest science project escapes the lab, threatening the Enterprise and an eminent scientist's life-long project.
- The Enterprise brings eminent scientist Dr. Paul Stubbs to the site of a binary star system, expecting a massive stellar explosion to occur in a few hours. He has waited many years for this event and has devoted his entire life to its study. The Enterprise, however, begins to suffer a series of malfunctions, some minor but others far more serious. Wesley may be responsible for all the problems on the ship due to his experiment in nanotechnology escaping the lab. Fearing that the attack on the ship might prevent him from completing his experiments, Stubbs takes matters into his own hands, making matters worse. Meanwhile, Dr. Beverly Crusher, returned to the Enterprise after a year at Starfleet Medical, is concerned over her presence limiting son Wesley's development. Can a 17-year-old boy develop normally if his mother is always around him?—garykmcd
- When the Enterprise becomes subject to a series of glitches, the crew desperately tries to find the cause so as to help a scientist fulfill his lifelong ambition to see and explore a very rare natural phenomenon which occurs once every 196 years.—The_Sandheaver
- Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart); Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes), First officer; Lt. (j.g.) Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Helmsman; Lt. (j.g.) Worf (Michael Dorn), a Klingon; Counselor (Lt. Cmdr.) Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), Psychic; Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner), Android; Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton), Ensign; Dr. (Cmdr.) Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Medical officer; Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney), Transport Chief;
The Enterprise brings eminent scientist Dr. Paul Stubbs (Ken Jenkins) to the site of a binary star system in the Kavis Alpha sector, expecting a massive stellar explosion (that occurs only once every 196 years) to occur in a few hours. He has waited many years for this event and has devoted his entire life to its study.
The Enterprise, however, begins to suffer a series of malfunctions, some minor but others far more serious. The Enterprise destabilizes for a few minutes leading to the ship heading into the path of the star matter from the red giant to the neutron star. This does not allow the Enterprise to launch Dr Stubbs probe into the red giant as intended, although there will be another window before the explosion. Food slots don't work properly. Sensors indicate the approach of a Borg vessel. Wesley may be responsible for all the problems on the ship due to his experiment in nanotechnology escaping the lab. The ship's computers are not able to determine the cause for these malfunctions as according to the computers the ship didn't malfunction.
Picard informs Stubbs that the Enterprise may not be able to complete this mission and head for the nearest star base for repairs. But Stubbs has everything on the line for this one experiment and says he would rather die than leave. Geordi analyzes the ship's circuits under microscope and finds them disintegrating at a rapid rate. He suspects that something is eating the circuits alive. Wesley is alarmed and goes back to his room and finds his Nano experiment missing. He confides in Guinan that he took 2 Nanites from the sickbay, who were designed to repair human cells and wanted to see how they work in pairs, but they escaped.
At the next launch window, Geordi has the probes, but the shuttle bay doors fail to open and they still can't launch Stubbs probe. Wesley confides in Beverly, who escalates the matter to Picard. Since the 2 Nanites interacted, they have evolved. Now they are eating computer circuits and replicating themselves, accelerating the attacks on the ship. Picard assigns Data to work with Wesley to remove the Nanites safely from the computers, while Stubbs wanted them eradicated immediately. Fearing that the attack on the ship might prevent him from completing his experiments, Stubbs takes matters into his own hands, making matters worse. He throws high gamma burst at the main circuits to destroy the Nanites. The Nanites in that core die, but the other Nanites see this as an attack on their "colony" and attack the Enterprise more ferociously by stopping the life support systems. The Nanites thus prove that they are a life form.
The Nanites then isolate Stubbs in his cabin and attack him specifically with electrical bolts. Picard asks Data to figure out a way to communicate with the Nanites. Data volunteers to have a few of the Nanites enter his body and take control of his voice functions to communicate with the bridge. The Nanites say that they need raw materials to replicate, meanwhile Picard says that they endangered the ship with their actions. Both apologize to each other. Stubbs uses his connections at Starfleet to designate planet Kavis Alpha V as the new home for the Nanite civilization as they have evolved beyond the need of human assistance. They reconstruct the computer core of the Enterprise and leave the ship.
Meanwhile, Dr. Beverly Crusher, returned to the Enterprise after a year at Starfleet Medical, is concerned over her presence limiting son Wesley's development. She confides into Picard, who asks Beverly to give Wesley more time to adjust to her presence on the ship.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content