Duane/Reaves "Where None Have Gone Before" (outline) 2/13/87
*STAR TREK*
"Where None Have Gone Before"
TEASER
1. Tension and excitement are high on the bridge as the
*Enterprise* prepares for the first long-range use of the new
subspace drive -- a device which will allow the ship to travel
directly through "wormholes" in subspace and move hundreds of
lightyears in the wink of an eye. RIKER is tremendously
excited about this. "The whole galaxy will be open to us!
This will be the end of warp drive!"
PICARD agrees. The possibilities of this new drive are
limitless -- they might even one day travel far enough to learn
if the universe was created or if it just "happened". Picard
tends toward the former theory; Riker the latter.
DATA'S reaction to the new drive is a little dubious:
"The laws of reality don't work the way we expect them to in
subspace," he tells LT. TROI. "Even though this has been
tested before, we're still not a hundred per cent sure what the
effects of a journey this long might be." Troi reminds him
that nothing is ever gained without risk.
2. PETER KOSINSKI, the specialist who designed the Subspace
Drive, is on board for this historic voyage, with his nine-year
old son, KARL. Kosinski is beaming with pride and anticipation
-- if this works, he'll be known as the man who opened up the
universe. His son isn't so happy, however. WESLEY, also on
the bridge, tells Karl, "You must be real proud of your dad.
He's gonna be famous." Karl shrugs. "I guess," he says. "I
really don't like space very much." Wesley is nonplussed --
how can *anyone* not like space?
3. The countdown reaches zero; they make the jump in a blaze
of EFX. It's a very uncomfortable, almost painful experience
-- but it works! When they emerge from subspace, the forward
viewscreen shows a spectacular vista -- they're within a few
lightyears of the galactic core, a multi-colored tight-packed
aggregation of millions of stars, so close together that you
can't see the darkness of space between them. It's like being
in a sea of luminous jewels.
There's jubiliation on the bridge -- everyone congrat-
ulates Kosinski. In one moment they've travelled halfway
across the galaxy, to a place where none have gone before!
Peter nudges his son. "Smile! Aren't you proud of your
dad?" The kid smiles wanly, but we see it's an effort.
Something's bothering him -- something his father is either
ignoring or doesn't have time for.
4. The plan is to jump back to Federation Space as soon as
they've charted the immediate area. But suddenly the Con
officer looks up, face pale. "We're in trouble," he tells
Riker. "None of our instruments are functioning properly!"
The mood on the bridge changes quickly from celebration to
concern. Data punches buttons, calling up readouts. Kosinski
helps him. Wesley stands next to BEVERLY, watching. "What's
wrong, Mom?" She puts an arm around him. "Don't worry, Wes.
I'm sure it'll be all right."
Data faces Picard. "We're getting improper readings," he
says. "The gravitational fluxes of all these stars are
throwing our sensors off. We can't plot a course home!"
Tight on Picard as he realizes that the *Enterprise*, and
her entire crew, are trapped thousands of lightyears from home, as
we:
END TEASER
ACT ONE
5. "We've got to get out of the immediate area of flux, where
our instruments will work again," Picard says. Riker turns to
Kosinski. "You'll have to chart a new course through subspace,
because we'll be jumping from a different starting point," he
says. Kosinski nods and begins his work. His son comes up to
him and asks to talk to him. "Not now," Kosinski tells him;
"I'm busy. It'll have to wait until later."
"It *always* has to wait 'til later," Karl says.
Just then Riker, who's checking the readouts along with
Data, says, "We've got more problems." He punches up another
view on the monitor -- they see a blaze of light stretching
across the screen. "That's a wall of radiation -- the
shockwave of an exploding star! It'll hit us in ten minutes --
and it'll go through our shields like a laser through butter!"
6. Picard orders everyone to stations as the "Red Alert"
klaxon begins to sound. "Can we outrun it?" he asks Riker.
"Negative -- we're on impulse power only. The warp engines
have been redirected to help power the Subspace Drive."
There's only one way to avoid having the ship and everyone
in it incinerated by the onrushing *tsunami* of radiation --
they'll have to use the Subspace Drive to jump again, fast.
There's no time for Kosinski to make new calculations. "I
don't care where we come out," Picard tells him. "Anywhere is
better than right here, right now!" Kosinski resets the
controls, and the *Enterprise* disappears just before the
radiation front can engulf it.
7. When they come out of the jump this time, the experience
is even more wrenching than the previous one. Riker looks
particularly shaken. When Picard asks him what's wrong, he
says he can't quite remember -- like a nightmare that's
forgotten when you awake. When he turns away, however, he
gasps in pain and pulls up his sleeve -- on his arm are a set
of red welts that look very much like teeth marks! No one has
any explanation for them, least of all Riker.
8. This odd happening, however, is quickly forgotten as they
all stare at the forward monitor, which shows an awe-inspiring
whirlpool of stars and gas clouds -- an entire galaxy, spread
out before them! They are "above" it, having jumped to
intergalactic space. "All right," Picard says; "nothing's
going to hurt us up here." He looks at Kosinski. "Plot us a
course home."
Kosinski looks uncomfortable. "The last jump was a random
one," he reminds the Captain. "I'll have to know where we are
before I can figure out how to get back to Federation Space."
Riker orders the astrography department to start looking for
"lighthouse" stars -- pulsars that will tell them where they
are.
Meanwhile, Beverly, at her station in Sick
Bay, calls Picard. "We've got some strange injuries down
here," she says. "People with bruises and contusions all over,
and no idea how they got them." Also -- and this is something
everyone on the bridge, save Data, is noticing as well -- the
effects of the last jump are a *lot* harder to shake off.
Everyone feels nervous, ill-at-ease, and generally weak.
And Troi reports something odd: the faint mental "background
noise" that she usually experiences, the product of millions
of minds of sentient creatures, suddenly seems very far
away, almost inaudible. Picard is concerned by all these
reports, and tells Beverly to keep looking for the cause for
the crew's malaise.
9. Meanwhile, Karl approaches his father again. "What's
wrong with your invention?" he asks. "Didn't it work?"
Kosinski takes Karl into the lounge. "A few things have gone
wrong," he says, "but everything will come out all right. You
just sit tight in here and when I have time we'll --"
"We *never* have time," Karl interrupts. "You were always
too busy -- that's why you and Mom split up, isn't it? I wish
I was back on Earth with her. I came on this trip to be with
you, but you're *always* too busy!"
At this point the loudspeaker announces that the Captain
wants to see Kosinski in Sick Bay -- *now*. "I don't have time
to argue with you!" Karl's father says. "Stay here!" He
leaves his sullen son in the lounge.
10. In Sick Bay, Kosinski is surprised to receive a hypospray
shot as he walks in. "You're low on potassium," Beverly tells
him. "So is everyone on board the ship." "Is it possible,"
Picard asks him, "for jumps of this length to be somehow
draining us of potassium?" Kosinski shrugs nervously.
"*Anything's* possible where subspace is concerned," he admits.
At this point a crew member is brought in by two burly
medical techs -- the man is struggling and shouting "Keep them
away! They're after me!" It takes both techs to hold him down
until a sedative can be administered. Beverly tells Picard and
Kosinski that there've been several cases of hallucinations and
violent paranoia after this last jump. She's wondering if the
altered states of reality in subspace might have anything to do
with this.
Again, Kosinski has no certain answer. Picard turns to
him and says, "You'd better start *finding* some answers, Mister
-- this ship is in trouble, and your new Drive might be the
cause of it!" He reminds him that, if the Drive is indeed
endangering the people on board the ship, they may have to
disconnect it and attempt to return to Federation Space via
warp drive -- and, at the distance they are from the galaxy,
even at Warp Ten the journey could take *years.*
11. At this point, however, they get a call from Riker on the
bridge. "You'd better get back up here right away, sir," he
tells Picard grimly.
Picard and Kosinski return to the bridge, where Riker
gives them the bad news. The astrographers have searched in
vain for recognizable stars by which to plot a return course.
There are none. There is only one conclusion -- the unplotted
jump may have put them outside a completely *different* galaxy!
There is no way of telling where in the universe they are!
END ACT ONE
ACT TWO
12. "How could this happen?" Picard asks Kosinski. "Where did
we get the power to make that kind of jump?" Data quickly checks
Kosinski's calculations. "There's no evidence that we used any
more power than he programmed for," the android says. "There
must be some kind of random uncertainty factor in subspace
itself that's the cause." Kosinski protests: "We've tested
everything before. There was a small plus or minus factor -- a
lightweek or so -- but that's nothing compared to this!" Data
shrugs. "We still know very little about subspace. We have to
deal with the fact that this has happened, and we have to
assume that it may happen again."
"Which means," Riker says, realizing the magnitude of the
problem, "that if we make another jump there's no telling *where*
we'll come out!"
Riker is for keeping Kosinski out of any further plans.
They have to find a way home other than subspace. "There *is* no
other way," Data says. "We don't even know which direction
home is!"
13. Meanwhile, in the lounge, Wesley finds Karl. "C'mon, I'll
show you around the ship," he says. "You don't have to stay
here, do you?" Karl looks back at the closed door to the
bridge. His father told him to stay, but he doesn't feel much
like doing what his father says. "No, I don't have to," he
agrees. "Let's go."
Wesley shows him a game the shipboard kids play: "Lift
roulette". The idea is to take one of the turbolifts anywhere
on the ship, and, when the doors open, immediately identify
where you are. Wesley can do this with ease -- he knows the
ship inside out. Karl is unimpressed, however. He came on
this trip to be with his dad, not to play hide and seek on some
dumb ship. And now his father's too busy for him. Wesley,
somewhat stung by Karl's disinterest in the ship, offers to
take him where no child has gone before -- into the service
corridors and access passageways that are supposedly off-limits
to unqualified personnel. This, too, fails to interest Karl,
although he does admit that the Jeffries tubes are kind of
neat. But when Wesley starts talking about what a great man
Karl's dad must be, Karl's reaction is to ditch Wesley -- he
ducks behind some pipes and heads off on his own.
Wesley shrugs -- okay, let him be that way. He can find
his own way to the crew area. Wesley heads back to the bridge.
14. Things are getting crazier faster in Medical -- Crusher
and Troi are hard put to keep up with the influx of patients.
Giving everyone on board potassium supplement shots has
seriously depleated the shipbard stores of the vital mineral.
And in addition to that, more and more of the crew are
succumbing to what Troi has dubbed "Instant Madness Syndrome"
-- sudden, inexplicable visual and aural hallucinations, many
so intense as to have somatic consequences -- for example, if a
crew member relives a fight in which he got a bloody nose, his
nose might spontaneously start to bleed. Some people recover
from these episodes; others have to be sedated.
15. Crusher heads back to the Bridge to bring Picard up to
date on this. As they talk, Picard suddenly gasps, and we go
to his POV -- he sees the lifeless body of Jack Crusher lying
on the deck! An instant later, the vision is gone. He tells
Beverly this. All the guilt and remorse he experienced at the
time he failed to save Jack's life was brought back with the
sight of the body.
He describes this theory to the others. Riker looks at
the teeth marks on his arm again and says that they match the
time he was severely wounded by the bite of a Draconian sandcat
on an away mission. He may have relived the experience during
the jump.
16. Things don't look real good for the *Enterprise* and her
crew right now. It's obvious that they have only one chance of
returning home -- they will have to use the Subspace Drive
again. "If we do," Crusher tells Picard, "there's no telling
what effect it might have on the crew. They might not
survive." "If we don't, they *definitely* won't survive," Picard
replies. Riker wants to know how the jump can be programmed to
return them to their own galaxy when they don't know where they
are now. Data has a suggestion: reverse the coordinates of the
previous jump. By allowing a small margin of error, perhaps
they can return to the area they left without encountering the
deadly radiation bow wave. "But what about the uncertainty
factor?" Riker asks. "We can't be sure of *anything* in
subspace." Data shrugs. "There's no way to figure that into
the calculations."
While this decision is being reached, Kosinski goes into
the lounge to have a further word with his son -- and finds him
gone. Wesley returns to the bridge and explains what happened.
Kosinski activates a wrist monitor bracelet he wears -- like
most children on the ship, Karl also wears one, enabling lost
children to be easily found.
Deep in the service passageways of the ship, Karl's
bracelet beeps. Without stopping his wandering, he takes it
off and throws it away. He'll come back when he's good and
ready.
17. Kosinski has no further time to deal with his son's
whereabouts -- Picard tells him they're ready to make another
subspace jump. He alerts the crew, warning them that there's
every reason to expect that this one will be as rough as the
last one. Everyone braces themselves grimly as Kosinski
activates the Drive again. The *Enterprise* winks out of normal
space and plunges once more into the visual lightshow of the
wormhole.
This time, during the transition through subspace, we see
the hallucinations return -- and they're worse this time.
Riker suddenly finds himself crouched against a rock under
blazing double suns, trying to fend off some unseen predator
whose bestial roars we hear. Beverly finds herself on the
devastated deck of the *Stargazer* -- and before her is Picard,
holding her husband's lifeless body in his arms. A quick pan
of Kosinski and the rest of the crew indicates that they're
having similar experiences. Only Data seems to be unaffected.
18. And then the wormhole experience is over once again. The
bridge crew is very shaken -- some are unconscious. Riker's
arm is dripping blood. Crusher ministers to him and the others
while Picard asks for damage reports. It sounds pretty bad --
no physical damage to the ship, but many members of the crew
experienced intense moments of reality breakdown. Everyone
also feels drained and weak -- the results of potassium
depletion.
For the first few moments, no one has looked at the
screen. Then suddenly, Riker says in a low voice, "My God --
where *are* we?"
19. Cut to the screen -- it shows total blackness. No stars,
no nebulae -- it's like being in the darkest cave on the night
side of Pluto. "Aft screen!" Picard orders. Still nothing but
blackness. They can find no indications of anything in any
direction.
Riker orders sensor reports of the immediate area. The
results are unbelievable -- there is literally *nothing* out
there, not even so much as a single free hydrogen atom. No
radiation, not even the characteristic "hum" of the Big Bang
that permeates every corner of the universe.
Picard is about to ask Kosinski for his opinion, when he
notices Troi. The Betazed has her eyes closed, and seems to be
*listening* with every fiber of her being. The Captain asks her
what's wrong. "It's so *quiet*," Troi says. "Nothing -- no
sense of any life anywhere beyond the ship. Except -- *there*."
She points.
"Turn the ship that way," Picard says. "But what --"
Riker starts to ask; Picard cuts him off. "*Do* it!"
The *Enterprise* turns slowly in the blackness. Picard
orders increased magnification on the screen. It still shows
nothing. "Again." The tension is palpable. Con increases
magnification until the screen is actually showing the
electronic equivalent of grain.
"There!" someone shouts. In the center of the screen, so
faint that they actually have to leave their stations and crowd
up to the screen to make it out, is a tiny, fuzzy blot.
"Readings!" Picard snaps. Data bends over the instrument
panel, studying it, while everyone holds their breath. After a
long moment, he looks at Picard and says, in a voice full of
awe and wonder, "That, sir, is the universe -- as seen from the
*outside*."
END ACT TWO
ACT THREE
20. "How can we be *outside* the universe?" Picard demands of
Data and Kosinski. "What we appear to have done," Kosinski
says, "is to have emerged several gigaparsecs beyond the
farthest expanding galaxies." "Now the big question," Riker
says. "How do we get back?"
"Warp drive is out of the question," Data says. "It would
take so long that the heat death of the universe would have
occured long before we could reach even the outermost galaxy."
"We *can't* use the Subspace Drive again," Crusher says
hotly. "The crew can't stand another jump! We're having to
ration potassium now --"
Kosinski suddenly goes pale. "Karl! My son's somewhere
in the service corridors -- without a potassium shot, he'll
die!" Picard quickly opens shipwide com and orders Karl,
wherever he is, to answer this call immediately.
21. We go to Karl, somewhere in the bowels of the ship. It's
obvious that the jump affected him as well -- he's weak from
potassium loss, and thoroughly lost. He hears Picard's order
on one of the innumerable ship coms, but by now he's not
thinking clearly. "Go back? What for?" he mutters, and
continues his aimless wandering.
When there's no reply to Picard's broadcast, Kosinski
grows even more worried. Granted, a single lost boy isn't
their biggest problem at the moment, but it's still *his son*.
Picard orders MACHA and GEORDI to head a search party.
22. "There *has* to be something wrong with your calculations!"
Riker tells Kosinski. "There isn't," Data says. "I've checked
and rechecked them." "You're not perfect, you know," Riker
snaps, "even if you *are* an android." Data steps back,
affronted. "Because of what I am," he says coolly, "I seem to
be the only one on board who's functioning normally. Which
makes me someone worth listening to."
Riker turns away from him. The stress and physical and
mental affects of the Drive have affected everyone adversely
except Data. Several of the crew have come to consider
Kosinski as the cause of their problems. While under normal
circumstances no crew member would resort to violence, these
are not normal circumstances. The Ops officer succumbs to
Instant Madness Syndrome and attacks Kosinski. The others on
the bridge quickly pull the two away from each other, and
Crusher sedates the officer. But other members of the crew may
feel the same way. Kosinski has suggested that he go down to
Engineering and check the Drive mechanism itself -- maybe
there's been some physical malfunction. Picard sends Data and
Riker with him as an escort.
23. As they lead the search team through the ship's service
passageways, Macha tells Geordi that she had a particularly
nasty hallucination during the last jump -- she remembered a
time during her childhood spent hiding in a pile of rubble from
the sector police on her homeworld. She recalled vividly how
lost, alone and vulnerable she felt.
Wesley has come with them to show them the last place he
saw Karl. Wes feels responsible for having left the new kid,
and wants to help find him. They track down the locator
bracelet, which is still sending -- and find it lying on the
floor. Geordi uses his visor to track the boy's
footsteps. He follows them to an air conditioning duct, in
which the cold air has dissipated any remnant of Karl's body
heat. They've lost the trail.
24. In Engineering, Kosinski checks the Subspace Drive
mechanism -- a device powered by a quantum black hole. It
takes the full power of the warp engines to keep the infinitely
heavy speck of collapsed matter from swallowing the entire ship
(which is what it does, essentially, under controlled
circumstances during the jumps). As Kosinski had thought,
there is nothing mechanically wrong with the Drive. But they
discover a problem that's just as bad -- the reaction mass in
the matter-antimatter nacelles is becoming somehow *deactivated*
due to repeated exposure to the altered reality of subspace.
Kosinski estimates that they can safely attempt only one more
jump -- anything beyond that, and they won't even have enough
power for life support. The *Enterprise* will be dead in space!
END ACT THREE
ACT FOUR
25. Deep in the service corridors, little Karl continues on
his weary way. He climbs service ladders, crawls up Jeffries
tubes, and eventually emerges from an access hatch and into
near-total darkness. He can barely make out an automated food
dispenser with several bananas in the dispenser rack.
Ravenous, he eats them; then, feeling his way around, he
discovers a couch and curls up onto it. He falls asleep almost
immediately.
26. Back on the bridge, Picard listens to the report, then
turns to Kosinski and says, "All right. Do it."
Riker is aghast. "You're not serious! Who knows where we
might come out this time -- right in the middle of a supernova,
or --"
"At least it would be over quickly," Data cuts in. Riker
glares at him; this wasn't what he wanted to hear.
"We have no choice," Picard tells his first officer.
"We'll just have to pray that this jump brings us home --
because if it doesn't, we're out of luck."
27. Meanwhile, Macha and Geordi continue the search for Karl,
with no results. There are thousands of places small enough
for a kid to hide in. The ship's sensors can't pinpoint one
specific lifeform reading out of over nine hundred.
Macha contacts Troi, asking her if her telepathic
abilities can help locate Karl. "It doesn't work that way,"
Troi says; she can sense emotional upset or anger, but she
can't home in on them. She suggests to Macha that the latter
is going about this the wrong way -- instead of thinking like
an adult looking for a child, perhaps she should think like a
child looking for a place to hide. Put herself in Karl's
position, as much as she can.
It's worth a try, Macha decides. She asks Wesley for any
clues at all, and Wesley remembers that Karl showed some
interest in the Jeffries tubes. With only this to go on, Macha
continues the search alone.
28. The hallucinations continue -- now people are suffering
from them even though they aren't in subspace. It's hard to
tell what's real and what's an illusion at times -- at one
point a panicked crewman, thinking he sees a snake, backs into
a control panel and nearly messes up the life-support settings.
There's dissension on the bridge -- Riker and Beverly want
to wait before attempting the next jump, to give themselves a
chance to recuperate and possibly find another alternative.
Data and Kosinski say that this is impossible. The reaction
mass in the nacelles is seriously depleted now -- if they wait,
the situation will only get worse. "But if we jump again, we
may be out of power *completely*!" Riker protests. "Yes -- but
we also may wind up where a distress call will bring help."
Data replies.
Picard intervenes. It's his decision, and there still is
only one choice -- they must continue to jump until they run
out of power, or until they find the way home. "We have to
stand together on this," he tells the crew on an open channel.
"This next jump is the last one -- it will decide if we live or
die. Hold fast to that -- one way or another, it will be over
soon." He looks back at Riker, who nods slowly. "I hate it
when you're right," he says.
29. Kosinski, sick at heart at the thought of what this last
jump may do to his son, throws the switch. Once more, the
*Enterprise* plunges into the insanity of the wormhole.
This time, however, it looks as if they may not survive
the jump. The power levels are dangerously low -- they could
lose control of the black hole that is powering the Drive, and
the entire ship could be crushed! The ship begins to shake and
shudder, as do the hallucinatory effects of subspace, as we:
END ACT FOUR
ACT FIVE
30. And then, just when it looks most hopeless, they emerge
from the wormhole again -- and into a blazing inferno of light
and shifting colors! The shields go up automatically, and,
according to the readings, they're the only thing that keeps
them from being instantly annihilated right down to the last
subatomic particle -- whatever they've emerged in the middle
of, its temperature and pressure are right off the scale.
The screens are backed down to their lowest input, and
what we see is a shifting, roiling palette of primal colors.
Kosinski looks at the readings in astonishment. "It can be
only one thing," he says. "We've emerged into a monobloc!"
Incredible as it seems, they're inside an unhatched
"cosmic egg" -- a proto-universe, like the one that exploded
billions of years ago to form our own universe. They don't
have the power to jump again -- there's barely enough to keep
the shields up. Soon they'll fail, and then . . .
31. Troi comes to the bridge at this point. She tells Picard
that, instead of feeling more alone than before, she says that
her perception of "background sentience" has returned -- and
more intensely than she's ever felt it before.
It's only a matter of time before the indescribable
temperature and pressure cause the shields to collapse. In
addition, the last jump has left everyone very weak indeed from
lack of potassium and the nightmares that have plagued them.
Medical reports that there are nearly two hundred people under
sedation, with more coming in all the time.
32. After some desperate dicussion, Riker suggests trying to
siphon power from the monobloc so that they can recharge the
engines and jump again. Kosinski agrees that they could, in
effect, "drill" a wormhole right into the monobloc itself and
use the its energy to recharge the engines.
Riker admits that the prospect of direct contact with such
awful power -- the potential mass and energy of an entire
universe -- makes him uneasy. "I'd as soon plug a coffeepot
directly into God." Very gravely, Picard asks Kosinski, "If it
works -- what happens then?"
Kosinski looks just as grave as the Captain. "I wouldn't
want to hang around, sir," he says. "The siphoning will
probably imbalance the monobloc -- and possibly explode it."
Data says, "Imbalancing and exploding a monobloc in this way
may cause the creation of a new universe. Some scientists
suspect that's the way ours started."
Riker points out that this still doesn't guarantee that
they'll get home, even if they survive the mega-explosion.
Kosinski says, "It's possible that, since the monobloc is in a
way *outside* time and space, its explosion could be used to kick
us into our own universe again."
Picard looks skeptical. "It could also simply destroy us."
A silence. "Captain," says Kosinski, "*Please trust me.*"
Picard looks at Riker, reads "no" in his face, then looks
back at Kosinski, a long look with an unreadable expression.
Then he nods. Kosinski heads hurriedly for a computer console
to begin setting the drive up for the siphoning.
33. They accomplish the siphoning, although the influx of the
proto-matter/energy of the monobloc very nearly overloads the
systems. Alarms wail, gauges hit the red, and Engineering is
hard-pressed to deal with keeping the energy surge under
control. But it works -- the stuff of creation recharges the
engines in less than an instant.
34. As this happens, Macha finally tracks Karl down -- to the
lounge! The room is no longer dark, but now flooded with light
through a wall-to-ceiling window full of the coruscating colors
of the monobloc.
35. The siphoning process is complete. "Prepare for jump!"
Picard snaps, and everyone hurries to their stations. Even as
the sensors show a terrifying sudden rise in the ambient
temperature of the monobloc, the *Enterprise* jumps for the last
time -- and the monobloc blows up "behind" them in a spectacular
blast of darkness and stars -- the creation of a new universe.
36. And the *Enterprise* comes out of the wormhole in Federation
Space -- her crew weary and sick, but nonetheless jubilant at
finally seeing familiar stars. Kosinski accepts the
congratulations of the crew for having finally come through.
He refuses to take credit, however. No one could have
calculated such a precise return -- the odds against it are
literally astronomical. Picard says to Riker, "Maybe we had
help. Maybe, in that moment of creation, someone or something
realized we weren't supposed to be there and sent us home."
"Or," Riker replies, "maybe *we* were the creators." Both
are silent for a moment, thinking about the fact that,
somewhere in the infinite dimensions, a new universe is
a-borning.
37. At this point, Macha enters the bridge and motions for
Kosinski to come with her. She shows him his sleeping son in
the lounge, with several banana peels on the floor. Beverly
aims a diagnoster at him. "He's okay," she says. "He filled
up on bananas -- they're loaded with potassium."
38. Kosinski kneels beside his son. He tells him that his
life's work is worthless -- the Subspace Drive is impractical
for long-range journeying. But strangely enough, he doesn't
care about that any more. All that matters is that his son is
all right. "We're going home now," he tells Karl. "I'll take
you back to your mother. Forgive me for putting you through
this." His son smiles at him. "It's okay," he says. "After
all, I'll have something really neat to tell the kids back
home . . ."
39. The hallucinations have worn off now. As a course is
plotted for the nearest Starbase with emergency medical
facilities, Riker and Picard check the computer and find that,
in Galactic Mean Time, exactly six days have elapsed since
they left. Picard says to Riker, with a straight face, "I
think we should take the seventh day off."
THE END
