The hospital facility will be located there,
facing north in that grove of trees.
And the school and the arts centre
will be there, centrally located among the residential pods.
Very good.
We'll be able to bring the next wave of colonists in six months.
I envy you. This is a beautiful place to put down roots.
Somehow, you don't strike me as the kind that puts down roots.
No? How do I strike you?
As a free spirit. As an adventurer.
An adventurer? Aren't you pioneers adventurers?
Of course, but we also have this nesting instinct.
It's exciting to find a new world, but the joy is making it a home.
Building houses, having children.
Very interesting.
I'd love to discuss this further with you. Dinner tonight?
If you want to share camp rations, I'd be delighted.
- Haven't we got you a replicator? - No, we haven't.
But I've been saving up my ration of dried chicken curry.
It should go nicely with that bottle of wine I know you brought.
This is sounding better.
And, as you know, I provide the most memorable desserts.
My favourite part of dinner.
Will? Carmen?
We've been going over the hospital schematics. The location is fine.
When the Enterprise comes back, we'll get a crew started.
- Carmen, has construction started? - No.
- What is that? - Data?
I do not recognize the sound. I believe it is coming from above.
Will, what is it?
Data, what's our best bet for cover?
Subterranean caverns to the east. Doctor.
Gather everyone together.
We've seen this before. We know what it is. Get moving.
Follow him! Let's go!
- Come on! - Hurry up!
No, stay together!
This way!
I got you.
Will!
Help us!
Data!
Carmen!
Sensors indicate a disturbance near the outpost on Melona IV.
- What kind of disturbance? - I cannot tell.
It could be an electrical storm.
- See if you can contact the colony. - Aye, sir.
Captain, there is no response, but the disturbance is increasing.
- How far are we? - At current speed, 27 hours.
- Bridge to La Forge. - La Forge here.
Are there any readings from Melona?
Yes, sir. Something strange is going on.
Violent disruptions in the atmosphere.
Ensign, increase to warp eight.
Come on! Keep moving.
Watch your step, but keep moving.
Let's go. Keep moving.
Deeper into the cave. Come on.
Deeper into the cave.
Will this cave protect us?
The refractory metal in the rock may act as a barrier.
Let's seal off this entrance.
Let's hope there's enough air in here.
There's got to be a ventilation source somewhere.
We need some light.
How are the others?
Just scrapes and bruises. Where's Carmen?
She didn't make it.
She was trying to save an old man who had fallen.
I'm sorry.
I think we'll be alright in here. I'm not sure about the air supply.
So stay put. Don't move around. Don't expend any unnecessary energy.
With any luck, we'll be able to wait this thing out.
Riker to Enterprise.
- Riker to Enterprise. - Commander.
The refractory metal in the rock may affect communication.
We've only seen the crystalline entity once.
How do you know the metals will protect us?
I am not certain they will.
I was afraid you were going to say that.
Sir, the disturbance on Melona is becoming more intense.
Keep hailing them. All channels, Mr. Worf.
The fact that they are not responding doesn't mean anything is wrong.
The disturbance could be jamming the signal.
I know, Counsellor.
Still no response, sir.
Increase to warp nine.
- How long, Mr. Worf? - Six hours.
I've got one man unconscious. We can't stay in here much longer.
If we open that entrance and it's out there, we're dead.
If we all stay in here, we're dead.
It has been over an hour since we heard the entity. It may be gone.
Or it may be waiting out there for us.
Everybody stay here.
Commander! Cmdr Riker, are you there?
Lt Worf, I've never seen a more beautiful sight.
It's good to see you're alright. What happened here?
The crystalline entity paid us a visit.
We lost two colonists. We got the rest in here.
Captain's log, star date 45122.3.
We have notified Starfleet Command
of our intention to pursue and investigate the crystalline entity.
We have been joined by Dr Kila Marr,
a xenologist who has made studying the entity her life's work.
Welcome. I'm Cmdr William Riker.
- Dr Kila Marr. - Glad you're here.
You were on the surface during the attack?
- That's right. - Remarkable.
Your group are the only known beings to survive an assault by the entity.
- We were lucky. - I should say. Your android.
- He was there, too? - Lt Cmdr Data was there, yes.
- Well, shall we get started? - I'll show you to your quarters.
A chance to talk to survivors so soon after an attack.
I've been waiting years for this. I don't want to waste a moment.
And when we came out of the cave, there was nothing left.
Everywhere we looked, there was devastation. Trees gone, nothing.
That's typical. It could take years for anything to grow again.
Doctor, I ran a full spectrographic analysis.
Trace elements confirm it is the entity which destroyed Omicron Theta.
The crystalline entity functions
like a gigantic electromagnetic collector.
It needs a lot of power to keep going,
so it strips every form of life and converts it all into energy.
There is no vegetation, no insects, not even soil bacteria.
Except witnesses, for the first time in 11 recorded attacks.
Now why, I wonder, did it spare your group?
It didn't spare everyone, Doctor.
Two of the colonists did not survive.
My point is, until now, there have never been any survivors.
The cave in which we hid was made of rock
which contained heavy concentrations of kelbonite and fistrium.
The entity seemed unable to penetrate that barrier.
I would like to interview each of the survivors,
collect as much specific detail as I can.
Of course.
I'd like to inspect the remains of the colony.
Data, accompany the Doctor to the surface.
- Yes, sir. - I prefer to choose my own team.
There is no one with more knowledge of the entity than Cmdr Data.
He originated on Omicron Theta.
I am aware of his origins.
I am aware that his brother Lore worked with the entity,
led it to Omicron Theta, where it killed every living thing.
It is not unreasonable that I prefer to make another choice.
You may request additional team members,
but in the best interests of this investigation,
I think you should work with Data.
As you wish, Captain.
Well?
You don't need an empath to sense that woman's feelings.
She has transferred hostility from Lore to Data.
Perhaps you shouldn't have forced them together so soon.
If her discomfort is going to affect her judgement, or her objectivity,
I need to know now.
Doctor, there is evidence of bitrious matter in the soil.
It was not present before the attack.
Doctor?
Dr Marr, you have made it clear that my presence disturbs you.
But I do not see how we can achieve our task if you ignore me.
I can hear everything you say to me.
If there is anything worth my response, I will not be silent.
Then I do not understand your lack of interest in the bitrium.
It's old news to me. I found bitrium on the last three attack sites.
It seems to be a residual that the entity produces
after it absorbs living matter.
I am actually more interested in this cave.
It still amazes me that your group was spared.
As I speculated, the presence of refractory metals...
Refractory metals, yes, I know.
On two separate occasions, settlers sought refuge in caves.
Some of them deeper than this one.
They perished anyway.
Were those caves laced with kelbonite or fistrium?
The tunnels on Forlat III had strong deposits of kelbonite, yes.
Perhaps the combination of the two metals prevented...
Perhaps it was you.
I do not understand.
Maybe your presence made the entity pass over the people in this cave.
Did that occur to you?
I cannot see what effect my being here...
If you had been in contact with the entity,
if that's the reason Melona was attacked, it would not kill its ally.
Do you believe that I lured the entity here?
- Did you? - No, Doctor.
Because Lore betrayed the colonists on Omicron Theta,
you believe that I am capable of the same behaviour.
You are mistaken. My programming is different from Lore's.
I am accusing you of collaborating with that monster!
I am attempting to explain to you it is impossible.
Amazing! You can't feel anything, can you?
- Nothing I say to you hurts you! - That is true, Doctor.
I'm getting a slight elevation
on monocaladium particulates in this cave wall.
- Are you making note of it? - Yes, Doctor.
My son died on Omicron Theta.
He was 16 when the colony was attacked.
That is the reason I have become an expert on the crystalline entity.
I have spent my life studying it,
tracking it and hoping, one day, to find it.
And if I learn you have been helping that thing in any way whatsoever,
I will see to it that you are disassembled piece by piece.
We've input the data you collected on the surface.
I have cellulose readings from soil samples that weren't included.
You handle that unit like a veteran.
If you spend your life gathering information,
you learn your way around computers.
Hydrocarbons slightly elevated.
Bitrious filaments in trace amounts, lanthanides, nitrates. All normal.
Nothing different.
Everything is within the parameters I established at other attack sites.
Did you expect a different result this time?
I never surveyed a site so soon.
I thought I'd find something new that would make a difference.
Doctor, have you ever scanned your samples for gamma radiation?
Why would I do that?
High-energy reactions may show up in a gamma scan.
If they do, we might find a marker left behind by the entity.
That's a good idea, Data.
Frankly, I don't see what that would get us.
If the entity left a trace of antiproton in the samples,
a gamma scan would reveal that.
Getting that read-out now, Data.
A logarithmic scale will give better resolution.
- There it is. Do you see it? - Yes.
Doctor?
A sharp spike at 10 keV. Another. A pattern.
So, the entity leaves antiprotons behind.
If it also deposits them in space as it travels, can we detect them?
Sure. We can set the ship's sensors for gamma radiation.
Well, let's get to it, shall we?
It seems I owe you thanks.
The thanks go to Dr Clendenning of Omicron Theta
who did the first experiments with gamma scans.
That wasn't in his records.
Correct. But I possess much of his knowledge.
He was working on new detectors
at the time of the attack on Omicron Theta.
I heard you were programmed with the colonists' experiences.
But I find it hard to believe. Bridge.
It is true.
Their logs and journals were transferred into my memory cells.
The man who created me
scanned the synaptic patterns of their temporal lobes
and programmed them into my neural nets.
- You possess their thoughts? - To some degree.
Dr Soong hoped to give me an amalgam of the colonists' memories.
Interesting.
There. A spike. At 10 keV.
And again. It's the same pattern we saw in Engineering.
Data, can you project a course?
There are two possible destinations.
The Brechtian Cluster and the Argos system.
- Is either populated? - Yes, sir.
The Brechtian Cluster has two inhabited planets.
Set a course for the Brechtian Cluster.
I've done some estimates on a firing pattern to destroy the entity.
The photon torpedoes require reprogramming.
With your permission, I'll give the calculations to Lt Worf.
Reprogram the torpedoes, but let's hope we don't have to use them.
I beg your pardon?
- If we can avoid firing on it... - Aren't you going to kill it?
Perhaps you should join me in my ready room.
Why are we pursuing the entity if not to destroy it?
We're not hunters. Nor is it our role to exact revenge.
Do you propose we track it down, greet it warmly
and ask it if it would mind not ravaging any more planets?
I don't deny that it may be necessary to fire on it.
- But that is a last resort. - Why? Why not just kill it?
I want to communicate with it.
What?
We know, from our own experience, that our shields will protect us.
So long as we are in no danger, I will try to communicate.
To what end?
If we determine its needs, we might find other sources to supply it.
Its needs are to slaughter people. It is a giant killing machine!
The sperm whale on Earth devours millions of cuttlefish.
It is not evil. It is feeding. The same may be true of the entity.
Small comfort for those who died to feed it.
This isn't about cuttlefish. It's about people!
The crystalline entity has as much right to be here as we do.
Cmdr Data has some theories on how we might communicate.
Please confer with him.
Come in.
- Am I disturbing you? - Not at all.
Commander, there's something I want to say.
You have been helpful to me and kind.
And I repaid you with accusations. I realize I may have been wrong.
That is gracious of you, but I have not been injured by you.
Capt Picard said you are trying to communicate with the entity.
That is true.
I have produced vibrations in crystals with graviton pulses.
- Like tapping on a crystal goblet? - Exactly.
I will call up the results I have achieved for you to study.
Alright.
Commander,
just what kind of memories do you retain of the colonists?
I do not possess minute-to-minute remembrances,
although intense recollections are in my memory banks.
Do you have any of my son's memories?
Marr, Raymond. Called Renny. Yes, I do.
I see.
And his journals?
Yes.
I was wondering...
Do you know...?
Did he blame me?
Blame you?
For going away. For leaving him on Omicron Theta.
There are no records of any blame.
I left him with friends. I chose to pursue my own career.
I planned to go back, but things kept interfering.
I kept thinking, "I'll go next month."
But there weren't any more "next months".
There are no records of any negative thoughts about you.
His journals indicated he was proud that you were such a fine scientist.
He was?
What else do you know?
Cmdr Data, Dr Marr, report to the bridge immediately.
We are being chased by an unidentified entity.
A distress call from the Kallisko.
It's being pursued by an unknown object.
Sensors indicate a crystalline structure of indeterminate matter.
How strong are your shields?
We are a transport ship. Our shields are minimal.
- Do you carry weapons? - Only low-level phasers.
Do you know what this thing is?
Change course. Do whatever you can to outrun it.
We are under attack!
Captain, notify our people on Boreal Ill.
Mr. Worf, try to re-establish.
I cannot, sir. There is no response.
The crystalline entity is moving away, sir.
Set a course for the Kallisko. Mr. Riker, prepare an away team.
Captain's log, star date 45125. 7.
An away team has conducted a thorough survey of the Kallisko
and has returned to the Enterprise to report.
As we expected, sir. No survivors.
No trace of anything that was ever alive,
not even a seed in their storage.
The engines are down but can be restarted.
We could take the ship to a star base.
We don't have time.
Mr. Worf, ask the nearest star base to dispatch a crew.
Mr. La Forge, make sure we're picking up gamma radiation from the entity.
Have you and Data found a means of communication?
I believe so. There are things to iron out.
Work at it. We may need it soon.
Deck 17.
Doctor, you have seemed preoccupied since we surveyed the Kallisko.
I've found it easy... to talk to you, Commander.
Do you mind if I tell you something?
Not at all.
After hearing the screams of those men,
I found it hard not to think about my son.
About what happened to him.
I've read stories
about soldiers in the battlefield, wounded, dying.
They call out for their mothers.
And I've often wondered if my son called out for me.
If he died wondering why I didn't come to him.
Come.
It's still heading for the Brechtian Cluster.
- We've re-established our course. - Very well.
One thing, Number One.
Starfleet will return Carmen's effects to her parents.
Would you care to enclose a letter?
Yes, sir. I'd like that very much.
Is there something more, Number One?
- Permission to speak freely, sir? - Of course.
I've been thinking maybe Dr Marr's right.
Maybe we should destroy the entity.
- Why do you think that? - It's already killed thousands.
It will continue to kill. I don't want those deaths on my conscience.
Are you sure that that's it,
or are you being influenced by personal feelings?
With all due respect, sir, I'm not a raw cadet.
I've lost people on missions before.
If we take time to try to communicate with it,
we may lose our chance to destroy it. I don't think we can risk that.
I think I'll go write that letter to Carmen's family.
We should vary the emissions we direct toward the entity.
I'll write a subroutine that will allow us
to change the frequency of the graviton beam.
Data, you told me you carried some of my son's memories.
That is correct, Doctor.
What can you tell me about Renny? What were those thoughts?
Was he happy at all on Omicron Theta?
I have some vivid memories of sporting events.
He played parisses squares with schoolmates.
He started parisses squares when he was young. Too young, really.
But the older children kept asking him to play. I couldn't stop him.
He had this natural gift.
Yes. He was pleased to have won a championship emblem.
He wrote me about that. He was so proud.
I'm characterizing pulse widths in nanoseconds. Sound right to you?
Yes, Doctor.
Your son's most intense memories revolve around a woman named Janina.
A girlfriend? I never knew about that.
The last person he would tell would be his mother.
What was she like?
He enjoyed her kindness, her gentleness,
her physical attributes.
There. Now we can vary all the parameters directly from the bridge.
Yes, Doctor.
Could you do something for me? It would mean a lot.
I would be happy to be of help.
You see, all I have left of Renny,...
..the only connection I have of him is there,
inside your head.
I was wondering if you would talk to me in his voice.
I know you have the ability to sound like other people.
It is true. But what would you have me say?
Maybe... something from his journals?
Many of his journal entries are letters to family and friends.
I could access one of those.
I took my last exam today.
I think I did alright on everything except cellular biology.
I know you think it's important, Mom,
but I don't see how I'm ever gonna use that stuff.
A bunch of us are going on an archaeological dig in the mountains.
The Wallaces said it would be OK
as long as we had adult supervision, so don't worry!
They're looking out for me.
They're really great people, and I like them a lot.
But they're kinda serious.
They don't have your sense of humour, Mom.
Mom, I miss you.
Captain's log, star date 45129.2.
We are in pursuit of the crystalline entity.
Data and Dr Marr are prepared to attempt communication
when we intercept it.
I am uncertain about the prospect.
It could prove to be a triumph, or a catastrophe.
The Brechtian Cluster is now five light years away.
- Are we picking up the entity? - Yes, but not its exact whereabouts.
We believe it's between here and the cluster.
If I emit the graviton beam now, it may serve as a lure. A beacon.
Make it so.
Start with a pulse width of five nanoseconds.
Frequency, one pulse per second.
Commencing graviton emissions now.
- No change in sensor readings. - Let's ramp the frequency.
Emissions now at ten pulses per second.
Sir.
What is it? You have something?
A large mass, approaching at warp speed.
Full stop. Doctor, continue the signals. Mr. Worf, on screen.
Shields up.
- Magnify. - It's beautiful!
What's it doing? Checking us out?
Possibly. Just as we're checking it out.
Dr Marr, do you wish to change the frequency?
Dr Marr?
Yes. Yes, proceed, Commander.
Changing to 20 pulses per second.
- Is it responding to us? - Let's test that.
Ramp the frequency again, Commander.
Emissions now at 30 pulses per second.
I'm reading a transmission from the entity. Graviton pulses.
It's working! That's a response to our signal.
- Remarkable. - Captain!
A pattern is emerging from the signals.
It's trying to communicate with us.
I believe so, sir. But it will take time to decipher the patterns.
Then it's possible. Communication, understanding.
Let me try something else. A continuous graviton beam.
Pulses from the entity have stopped.
Maybe it doesn't like what we're doing.
Doctor, return to the intermittent signal.
Doctor? Dr Marr?
Dr Marr, we must return to the intermittent signal.
- Counsellor? - Something's very wrong.
The entity is beginning to resonate. Vibrations are increasing.
Dr Marr, stop the transmission. That is an order.
Dr Marr, do you hear me?
It's for you, Renny. I did it for you.
Data, shut down the transmission.
Vibration is increasing. It can't last much longer.
I cannot stop the signal. Dr Marr has isolated the access code.
Maybe I can create an override sequence. Shut it down from here.
The amplitude is rising.
Resonance is critical.
I can override, but it'll take time.
Mr. Worf, escort the Doctor to her quarters.
Yes, sir.
It will never hurt anyone again.
Perhaps I should escort the Doctor, sir.
Fine. But don't leave her unattended.
- Please come with me, Doctor. - Of course.
I will stay with you, Doctor.
How long will you live, Data?
There has been no predetermined limit placed on my existence.
I'm glad.
As long as you're alive, he'll be alive.
I need your help, Data.
- In what way, Doctor? - Like you did before.
Tell me that you understand, Renny.
That you know I did it for you. Cos I love you!
Because I wanted to give you peace at last.
I do not find such a file in your son's journals, Doctor.
However, from what I know of him,
by his memories and his writing,
I do not believe he would be happy.
He was proud of your career as a scientist.
Now, you have destroyed that.
You say you did it for him,
but I do not believe he would have wanted that.
Yes, I believe your son would be very sad now.
I am sorry, Doctor, but I cannot help you.