Data, we need to install that plasma conduit.
We're bringing the new warp core on line.
- I will go to deck 20. - I'll meet you in Engineering.
This ought to be a lot of fun.
Excuse me.
Do you have authorisation to work in this area?
You are dismantling a warp-plasma conduit.
I must ask you to stop.
Be quiet.
**Captain's log, stardate 47225.7.
Cmdr La Forge has completed the installation of our new warp core.
We are preparing to test its capabilities.
Something wrong, sir?
I've just got a message from Starfleet Command.
- Bad news? - You could say that.
I've been invited to the annual Starfleet Admirals' Banquet.
My condolences.
I managed to avoid it for six years, but now my luck has run out.
I can't think of anything more tedious.
50 admirals shaking hands,
making dull conversation, uninteresting food, boring speeches.
Can't you think of some excuse?
After six years, Number One,
I don't think I have any excuses left.
Geordi, have you ever had a nightmare?
Yeah, sure, everybody does from time to time.
I have had 111 dreams
since I discovered this program nine months ago.
In all that time, I have never experienced such disturbing imagery.
- I believe it was a nightmare. - Nightmares are part of dreaming.
Maybe you've discovered another level to your program.
Perhaps.
I note I am spending an inordinate amount of time
thinking about nightmare imagery.
One could almost say I am preoccupied.
It's normal. Sometimes, after a nightmare,
I can't shake that weird feeling for days.
- Cmdr La Forge. - Speaking of nightmares.
- I've recalibrated the EPS module. - That's great, Ensign. Thank you.
Just like you said. Reset the power tap and the module came on line.
You have a wonderful grasp of engineering principles.
I'm learning so much just being around you.
I'll tell you what. Help Farrell check out the deuterium cartridges.
I'm bringing the warp core on line.
Anything you say.
You do not seem to appreciate Ensign Tyler's enthusiasm.
Yeah, she's enthusiastic, alright. About me.
- I do not understand. - She's got a crush on me, Data.
You do not share her affection?
Exactly, and frankly, it's beginning to get a little bit uncomfortable.
I believe I understand.
You are concerned about unintentionally hurting her feelings.
Yeah, something like that.
It would appear that you require a third party to intervene.
- I will speak to her. - No, Data!
I'll take care of it myself. Thanks.
Geordi, when I first awoke from my nightmare, there was a moment...
Bridge to Cmdr La Forge. What's our status?
We're ready to bring the new core on line, Captain.
Alright. Let's do it.
Initialising deuterium-infusion sequence.
It's a thing of beauty. Isn't it?
Now let's see how fast she can run.
La Forge to bridge. Warp power at your discretion.
Acknowledged.
Ensign Gates, set course for Starbase 219, warp six.
Engage.
Bridge to Engineering. Why isn't my ship moving?
I'm on it, Captain. There's a warp-plasma conduit out of alignment.
But I think I've got it fixed now. Ready, sir.
Very well. Ensign Gates.
- Mr La Forge? - Stand by, Captain.
Captain, I am taking the warp-coil engines off line.
La Forge to bridge. Sorry, sir.
We'll have to refigure this plasma conduit.
It's gonna take at least a couple of hours.
Enter.
- Hello, Data. - Counsellor.
- What are you doing? - I have been watching Spot sleep.
In 15 minutes, he has had 12 muscle spasms. He was dreaming.
I have often wondered what Spot dreams about.
His twitching and rapid breathing would seem to suggest anxiety.
But Spot has never seen a mouse or any form of Rodentia.
He has never encountered an insect or been chased by a canine.
I understand you've had some interesting dreams recently.
Geordi was worried. He wanted me to check how you were doing.
That was thoughtful of him.
I have debated whether to initiate another dream sequence.
Because of the nightmares?
I have found them to be quite unsettling.
Data, you shouldn't be afraid of dark imagery in your dreams.
It's a natural expression of your unconscious, if you have one.
I'm not sure how your positronic brain works, but if it's like ours,
then a part of you is trying to express itself through dreams.
You should allow yourself to experience it.
As Sigmund Freud said,
dreams are the royal road to the knowledge of the mind.
Thank you, Counsellor. I will initiate a dream program now.
Let me know how it goes. Goodnight, Data.
Goodnight, Counsellor. Goodnight, Spot.
Computer, dim lights.
Delicious.
What cake are you eating?
It is a cellular peptide cake with mint frosting.
- Would you like a bite? - No, thank you.
Excuse me, Mr Worf.
- Aren't you going to answer that? - Sir?
That damned ringing. Answer it.
Yes, sir.
Please identify yourselves.
I must ask...
Be quiet.
Please, don't hurt me, Data.
- I am sorry, Counsellor. - No!
Don't. No. Data!
Data.
- What is wrong? - We've been trying to wake you.
When you didn't show up, I got worried.
My internal chronometer was supposed to wake me 35 minutes ago.
You must have overslept.
That is not possible.
Something is wrong.
I can't find anything wrong with your internal timebase.
Your primary systems are fine.
I will compare my logs with the ship's chronometer.
Perhaps we have overlooked something.
You know, there's a lot we don't know about your dream program.
Maybe it was designed to cause side effects.
For all we know, Dr Soong might have intended you to oversleep.
- It's part of the human experience. - It is a possibility.
But I want to make sure there are no anomalies in my neural nets.
You know, I'm curious.
What were you dreaming about?
I have not fully assimilated its impact.
I would prefer to study the images before discussing them.
Sounds like it must have been strange.
Strange is not a sufficient adjective to describe the experience.
Tell me more about this cake.
It is difficult to explain. Counsellor Troi's body was a cake.
Her upper body.
Describe the knife you used to cut the Counsellor.
It had a black handle and serrated blade. And it was quite long.
- How long? - 25 centimetres in length.
And what happened next?
One of the workmen pointed to her right shoulder.
At that moment, I had an overwhelming urge to cut a piece out.
- And did you? - Yes.
As I began slicing the cake,
she reacted as though I was causing her pain.
Yet I could not stop cutting.
That is when I woke up.
Dr Freud, I am curious...
I am curious. What do my nightmares mean?
I believe
you are experiencing a classic dismemberment dream.
Or, in your case, being a mechanical man,
a dismantlement dream.
I do not understand.
Your mechanistic qualities are trying to reassert themselves
over your human tendencies.
Ego and id, struggling for domination.
The workmen symbolise the ever-present id
constantly working to destroy the ego.
The image of Counsellor Troi,
a female, is devoured by you,
clearly indicating an unconscious desire
to possess your own mother.
- But I do not have a mother. - Do not interrupt.
The knife, in its violent connotation,
suggests a certain feeling of sexual inadequacy.
But I have no sexual desire.
Impotence on top of everything!
It is all becoming clear to me now.
There might be a paper in this.
I do not believe I am being helped by this session.
Classic transference.
Your anger towards me is, in fact,
the animosity you feel towards your father.
You are a polymorphously perverse individual, Mr Data,
and I recommend full psychoanalysis.
I believe I can fit you in next Tuesday.
That will not be necessary. Computer, end program.
Captain, incoming message from Admiral Nakamura.
On screen.
- Admiral. - Captain.
We were expecting you this morning. Is there a problem?
Actually, we have been experiencing
a few difficulties with our new warp core
but my chief engineer assures me we'll be under way within the hour.
You're not trying to avoid this engagement, are you?
No, no. Certainly not. I'm really looking forward to it.
Good. I'll expect you soon. Nakamura out.
I think he's on to you, sir.
- La Forge to bridge. - Go ahead.
We've just started up. All systems are holding steady.
- Ready when you are. - Ensign Gates.
Set a course and engage.
Engineering, report.
The warp field has collapsed, sir.
It looks like we've blown the entire power converter.
Impulse engines are down, too. We're not going anywhere.
But I know how to fix this. Two, three hours, tops.
Talk about going nowhere fast.
Mr Worf, open a channel to Starbase 219.
Advise Admiral Nakamura I'll be a little later than I thought.
Aye, sir.
Tyler, how is the relay diagnostic?
Almost done, sir.
Excuse me, I need the plasma inverter.
Ensign Tyler still has a crush on you. You did not speak to her.
Data, I haven't had the time.
Listen, take this brace coil and run a metallurgical scan.
See if there are any microfractures.
Something wrong?
I am reminded of a recent dream.
This brace is reminiscent of...
Are you going to answer that, Commander?
What are you waiting for? Answer it.
Hello?
Kill them. You must kill them all, before it's too late.
Data.
What's wrong?
I do not know.
Everything seems to remind me of the nightmare.
Objects, sounds, smells...
Now I have seen elements of the dream in a waking state.
I cannot explain it.
Data, if you were a human patient, I might be concerned right now.
I'd say you'd had a waking dream or a hallucination.
But you're not human.
I think it might be a technological problem.
I have run three complete self-diagnostics.
All of my systems are functioning normally.
Perhaps Dr Freud was correct.
The knife embodies my unconscious desire to inflict violence.
Data, even Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
But the bottom line is,
you're developing an obsessive interest in your inner workings.
I'd almost call it the beginnings of a neurosis.
- That is not possible. - Why not?
You've eliminated all the technical explanations.
It makes sense that as your neural net
becomes more complex, more human, you might experience
the same psychological complexities as a human.
Do you really think so?
Data, you must be the first person in my office
excited at the prospect of a new neurosis.
But, yes, it is possible.
I'd like to start counselling you regularly.
- Daily? - No, we'll start weekly.
As a first step, I'd like you to shut down your dream program,
just to be safe.
Give yourself a chance to reflect on this experience.
Thank you, Counsellor. I look forward to our next meeting.
Data.
Next time, see me before you see Sigmund.
- Admiral, I can explain... - Let me guess.
Your new warp core is malfunctioning again?
Unfortunately, the problem has affected our impulse systems.
At the moment, we are adrift.
Are you expecting to fix this soon,
or shall we send a tow ship to bring you in?
That is not necessary. I have confidence in my engineers.
I will be at the banquet on time. Picard out.
Have you reconfigured the plasma conduits?
Yes, Captain. Two hours ago.
What about the relays?
Are you certain you don't need a new phase inverter?
I am running a level-three diagnostic.
We will have the results in ten minutes.
I see.
Perhaps I could refigure these isolinear chips.
No, sir, please don't touch that.
Captain, Cmdr Data and I have the situation under control.
If you let us take care of it, it would go faster.
Captain, we could use an extra hand moving the containment pods.
- If it wouldn't be an imposition. - No, I'd be delighted.
Good work, Tyler. I thought he'd never leave.
Data, give me a hand with this plasma conduit...
Data?
Deck 36.
Hello, Data.
Are you alright?
- What are you doing? - Hold very still, Counsellor.
No!
Ever since you gave Alexander that music,
he's been playing it all night, every night.
I just wanted to broaden his horizons. He likes it.
It is screeching, pounding dissonance. It is not music.
Worf, it's better than music, it's jazz.
- Medical emergency, deck 17. - We're on our way.
I believe I had another waking dream, sir.
But this time, I had an uncontrollable urge
to eliminate the image.
And what you saw was some sort of mouth on Troi's shoulder?
Yes, sir.
For a reason I cannot explain, I had the need to destroy it.
Did you see a mouth on my head as well?
No. I saw a straw coming from your head.
- A straw? - As I said before,
these are all images I experienced in my dream program.
I do not have a rational explanation.
Mr La Forge?
We've run every possible diagnostic on Data's positronic net.
We can't find anything wrong.
I could run a subpolymer scan but it would take time.
Make it so.
In the meantime, Mr Data, I'll have to relieve you of duty
and confine you to your quarters.
A sensible precaution, sir.
Data.
Deanna, you're in sickbay. It's alright.
- Data... - He's not here.
Try to relax.
This pad healed the wound but you've lost a lot of blood.
I would like you to lie still.
That's odd. There shouldn't be any discoloration after treatment.
- This looks like a rash. - What is it?
I'm picking up cellular degradation.
But it doesn't appear to be related to the lacerations.
There's also some kind of residual interphasic signature.
Nurse.
Bring me an interphasic scanner. I want a closer look at this.
Commander.
I will have to confiscate your side arm.
Of course.
May I ask a personal favour?
Yes.
Will you take care of Spot for me?
Your animal?
I am afraid if I have another waking dream, I might injure him.
Of course.
Spot, come here.
Unlike a canine, Spot does not respond to verbal commands.
Goodbye, Spot.
He will need to be fed once a day. Feline supplement number 25.
- I understand. - And he will require water.
And provide him with a sandbox.
And you must talk to him.
Tell him he is a pretty cat. And a good cat.
I will feed him.
Perhaps that will be enough.
Captain, we have a problem. Look at this.
Her tissue is breaking down on a cellular level. It's spreading.
At first, I thought it was a rash from the coil brace.
But when I used the interphasic scanner, I found this.
What is it?
The question is, what are they?
I've tested all the medical staff.
I found them on almost everyone so far.
The cellular decay is accelerating in all cases.
I haven't found a way to stop it or even slow it down.
Looks like you're infected, too.
The organisms are attached to our epidermal layers
with osmotic tendrils.
They tap directly into the bloodstream.
And from what I can tell, they're spreading.
What are we dealing with? Are these creatures feeding on us?
Yes, in a very particular way.
They extract our cellular peptides.
It's analogous to the way leeches consume haemoglobin.
If they're not removed soon,
our bodies will lose their cellular cohesion.
We'll collapse into nothing but a few pounds of chemicals.
Alright. Is there any way that we can affect these organisms?
We've tried EM radiation, subspace fields,
thermal protons, nothing's worked.
They seem to exist in some interphasic state
just beyond our visual and sensor acuity.
We can only see them with an IP scanner.
Tricorders can't see them.
- Do we know where they came from? - I scanned the vicinity.
There was no sign of similar creatures
or any unusual interphasic activity.
What about Mr Data?
There must be some connection with his odd behaviour.
- Is he infested as well? - I scanned him but I found nothing.
Data attacked Troi because he saw a mouth on her shoulder.
It was in that same area that we first saw one of the organisms.
Data saw a straw in my head. Beverly discovered an organism there.
Those images are all part of Data's dream.
Maybe somehow he's unconsciously perceiving these creatures.
Perhaps it is time we took a closer look at Mr Data's dreams.
It is an interesting hypothesis.
If I am being affected by these interphasic creatures,
it may also explain my waking dreams and my antisocial behaviour.
We want to link your neural net to the holodeck
and activate your dream program.
As you dream, we can observe the dream images.
Perhaps we can learn about these creatures
by interpreting your dreams.
I see. The concept is similar to directed dreaming.
Exactly. How soon can you have the link ready?
We need an hour to establish the parameters.
Make it so.
In the meantime, Mr Data, I suggest that you prepare for bed.
I think we're ready, Captain.
The link is active.
The holodeck has been calibrated to Data's neural net.
- Ready, Mr Data? - Yes, sir.
Normally, I would wish you pleasant dreams.
But in this case, bad dreams would be more helpful.
I understand, sir.
Initiating dream program. Stand by.
Let's be very observant.
Even the most insignificant image could be important.
Right.
Here he comes.
Hello.
Can we speak to Data, or would that wake him up?
He perceives us as part of his dream.
Anything we say will be taken in that context.
That sounds like a telephone ringer but I don't see a receiver.
- Cake? - Thank you.
Look at that. Her right shoulder. That's where Data stabbed her.
In his waking dream, there was a mouth on her shoulder.
They are both symbols of consumption.
Mouth, food.
Mr Data, what cake is this?
- It is a cellular peptide cake. - With mint frosting.
Cellular peptides. That's what the creatures are extracting.
Will someone answer that damn ringing?
Captain, the ringing is getting worse.
What could the ringing symbolise?
A bell. A sound.
An old-fashioned way of communicating?
Do you want some? It's delicious.
Will someone please get that?
Yes?
It's for you.
Picard.
Kill them.
- Kill who? - Kill them, before it's too late.
- Who is this? - I am Dr Sigmund Freud.
How does he fit into all this?
If I were to interpret my own appearance in this dream,
I would say I am the symbolic representation
of Data's unconscious mind
trying to warn him about the dangers he perceives around him.
The interphasic organisms?
- Of course. - Tell me, how do we kill them?
Answer it.
Nein.
Do not be so literal.
When I say answer it, I mean respond to it, to them.
Be quiet.
- What do they represent? - I don't know.
But I do recognise that junction they're working on.
It's the plasma conduit we installed with the new warp core.
Respond? Respond to them? What does that mean?
- What is it that you're doing? - Go away. Leave us alone.
Who are you?
We are...
...your enemies.
Stop. You must not hurt my friends.
Be quiet.
Data, the shrieking noise you made causes them pain.
Be quiet.
I believe I understand.
- Geordi. - Yes, Data?
Adjust my positronic subprocessor to emit an interphasic pulse.
Data, what's going on?
The workmen represent the organisms trying to demolish this ship.
The incessant ringing of the telephone, Dr Freud's cautions,
were warnings of the dangers.
What about the shrieking noises?
My subprocessor detected interphasic signatures from the organisms,
which were symbolically represented by a high shriek.
When you made those noises, the workmen reacted in pain.
That is why I asked Geordi to adjust my subprocessor.
If I can produce an interphasic pulse, it may affect the creatures.
- We're ready. - Picard to sickbay.
Beverly, we're going to sweep the ship with an IP pulse.
- Will you monitor the creatures? - Understood.
It's working.
Captain's log, supplemental.
The creatures infesting the Enterprise have been eliminated.
We believe the infestation originated within the warp core
we obtained on Starbase 84.
This conduit was made on Thanatos Vll
using an interphasic fusion process.
That process attracted the organisms to the conduit,
where they lay dormant in the warp core.
The core wouldn't go on line because they disrupted the plasma flow.
How long before warp power?
We have to manufacture a new conduit. That's six hours' work.
Six hours?
The banquet will be over by then. Very unfortunate.
- I can speed things up a bit. - No.
I wouldn't want to sacrifice the safety of the ship.
Understood, sir.
Enter.
Counsellor.
I did not have a chance to apologise.
Data, don't worry about it. Geordi explained everything to me.
It wasn't your fault.
But somehow, I thought turnabout would be fair play,
so I made us a little something to snack on.
I wonder...
What would Dr Freud say about the symbolism of devouring oneself?
Data, sometimes a cake is just a cake.