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Disaster

Captain's Log, Stardate 45156.1.

Our mission to Mudor Five has been completed.

And since our next assignment will not begin for several days

we're enjoying a welcome respite from our duties.

If it's a boy, Michael, after my father.

Wait a minute, we decided on Hiro, after my father.

We talked about this last night.

That's right, and we decided on Hiro.

Wait. I've got it.

William. It's a great name-- William O'Brien.

It's got a nice ring to it.

Oh... oh, it's all right.

He's just doing somersaults.

Here, feel.

Right there.

Oh. Going to be a hell of a gymnast.

May I?

Sure. There. Feel it?

When he's not turning, he's kicking or punching.

When I want to sleep, he wants to wake up.

At this point, I just wish it were over.

I have to go.

I have a transporter simulation on the bridge.

Bye-bye, Michael.

No.

Come on, Geordi.

No.

Just try it once.

It is not as hard as you think.

I'm telling you, you will be terrific.

( sighs )

All right.

( sighs ) It's silly.

♪ I am the very model of a modern major general ♪

♪ I've information vegetable, animal and mineral... ♪

Nah, I can't-- I can't do this.

Yes, you can!

I cannot sing in front of people!

You were terrific!

You were a little off pitch but I think I can take care of that.

Okay, La Forge is the Modern Major General.

Captain, I'd like to introduce you to the winners of the primary school science fair.

This is Marissa, Jay Gordon, and Patterson.

They're here for their tour.

Hello.

Can we see the Battle Bridge and Torpedo Bay?

No, I'm afraid not, but we will be visiting the hydroponics and the astrophysics laboratories.

I'm sure you'll have a wonderful time.

Well... if you'll come with me.

I'm not sure who to feel sorry for-- the captain or the kids.

I want you to know that we're very proud of our science fair winners.

Perhaps some of you will... choose to pursue a career in Starfleet.

Well, then, um...

What did you do for your science projects?

I planted radishes in this special dirt, and they came up all weird.

I see. That's very... very commendable.

And you?

An analysis of the lifespan of the swarming moths on Gonal Four.

They only live for 20 hours.

Then they all die.

How interesting.

And you?

( crashing )

( kids screaming )

PICARD: We're falling!

( kids screaming )

( people shrieking )

Uhh!

Agh!

( crashing )

( alarm blaring )

What happened?

Sensors are picking up subspace distortions and high-energy particles directly to starboard.

Looks like we ran into a quantum filament.

Damage report?

We've lost primary life-support.

Switching to secondary systems.

Impulse and warp engines are off-line.

There's another filament moving toward us, sir.

All decks brace for impact.

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.

Counselor.

I'm all right.

Medical team to the bridge.

Troi to sick bay.

TROI: Counselor Troi to Captain Picard.

Troi to engineering.

Counselor Troi to any crew member.

Please acknowledge.

Medical team to the bridge.

The computer's down.

It looks like we still have impulse power, but not much else.

Lieutenant Monroe.

Chief O'Brien... the turbolifts aren't working.

We're trapped up here.

( kids crying )

Are you... are you children all right?...

Bridge, this is Picard.

This is the captain.

Does anyone read me?

(crying) Why don't they answer?

I don't know.

They're all dead.

PICARD: They're not dead.

Communications down, that's all.

We're going to die too.

We most certainly are not.

Now, listen to me.

No one here is going to die.

The bridge will be sending a rescue party as soon as possible so I want you all to stop crying!

Everything is going to be all right!

( crying )

( kids sobbing )

This is the Federation Starship Enterprise calling any vessel within range.

We are in distress, and need assistance.

Please respond.

( static )

I'm still not sure if we're transmitting.

I'll set the message on auto-repeat and see if we get a response.

You all right?

I'm alive, what the hell happened?

We were hit by a quantum filament.

Most of our systems are down.

We haven't been able to contact anybody off the bridge.

Well, don't count on leaving through there.

An emergency bulkhead closed just beneath that lift.

Confinement mode.

Right, isolation protocol.

I'm not really familiar with that protocol.

If the computer senses a hull breach it automatically closes emergency bulkheads to isolate the breach.

Until we can clear those bulkheads we'll be cut off from the rest of the ship.

MANDEL: I have partial sensors back on line.

I'm picking up sporadic life signs throughout the saucer section.

There are definitely survivors.

What about ten forward?

Ten forward?

My wife's there.

I'm sorry, Chief.

The readings are not that specific.

Can you scan the drive section?

I'm not reading any life signs in the drive section.

Could the sensors be malfunctioning?

There's no way to know-- without the main computer

I can't run a full diagnostic.

Can you sense anything, Counselor?

There are a lot of people still alive.

Many of them are hurt, but I can't tell where they are.

We need to start emergency procedures.

Who's the duty officer?

Lieutenant Monroe was in command, but she's dead.

I believe counselor Troi is the senior officer on the deck.

Counselor Troi?

She carries the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

I'd, uh... I'd appreciate some suggestions.

I recommend we initiate emergency procedure Alpha Two.

Bypass computer control, and place all systems on manual override.

Very well.

Aye-aye, sir.

May I suggest that our next priority be to stabilize life-support and to try to reestablish internship communications.

Yes. Mr. Mandel, I'd like you to assist Ensign Ro.

Yes, sir.

How are you feeling?

Okay. A little foggy.

Just lie still for a while.

We're going to get you to sick bay as soon as we can.

Okay.

Report.

I have surveyed all the turbolifts and service crawlways on this deck.

Access to the bridge has been completely severed by emergency bulkheads.

Sick bay?

Heavy damage to section 23-A has cut off access to sick bay.

I have ordered a security team to bring casualties here until further notice.

I think we should assume the worst.

That everyone on the bridge is dead.

There's no one in control of this ship.

In that circumstance, reestablishing control of the ship should be our top priority.

Agreed. Can we get to engineering?

No, sir. The most direct route is blocked.

But I believe we can use the starboard service crawlway.

Okay--you and I will try to get there.

Mr. Worf, this room is about to fill up with wounded in a few minutes, and they're going to need help.

I want you to stay in charge here.

Yes, sir.

Let's go.

Over here.

Yes, sir.

Okay. Clear the power shunt.

COMPUTER: The shunt is cleared.

Right. And bypass flow current, and...

The computer still won't release the doors.

Can we force them open?

Yeah, we can try.

There's an emergency hand actuator.

Geordi...

Yeah?

This wall is hot.

Where?

I'm all right.

But I think we've got a new problem.

One of the energy conduits must have ruptured and ignited the polyduranide inside the bulkhead.

That's a plasma fire.

It's putting out a lot of radiation.

We can't stay here much longer.

Yeah, but we've got a bigger problem than that.

The quaratum in those containers is used in emergency thruster packs.

It's normally pretty stable stuff, but when you expose quaratum to radiation it has a way of exploding.

The external power is cut off.

We're going to die.

Wh-What was that?

PICARD: I don't know.

( sighs )

Your name is Marissa, that right?

Well, Marissa, I need a first officer to help me.

You're the oldest and so that makes you my number one.

Number one?

That's what I always call my first officer.

So...here.

There.

Now, number one, we need a crew to help us get that hatch off.

Don't you think that Jay here would make an excellent science officer?

What do you say, Jay?

Will you join our crew?

It's Jay Gordon.

Of course. Forgive me, Jay Gordon.

I accept.

Here.

There.

Can I be an officer too?

Well, let me see.

Your science project involved radishes, did it not?

Yes, sir.

Then I shall appoint you my executive officer in charge of radishes.

There.

Right!

Then let's get to work.

13-65 Baker.

That should put us right behind shuttlebay two.

That is correct, sir.

We have approximately 52 meters remaining in this crawlway before we can safely exit into a main corridor...

( whooshing )

Coolant leak!

( quiet hissing )

We can withstand this level of radiation for another three or four hours without any permanent damage.

We'll need a few days of hyronalin treatments.

What are the radiation levels in the quaratum?

They're at 83 rads and rising at a rate of about four rads per minute.

That stuff gets unstable at about 350 rads.

I still haven't been able to get any power in this transporter.

The radiation level is about 20% lower at this end of the bay.

Let's move the containers over to here.

That's a good idea.

It'll buy us some time.

You know, we're going to have to do this by hand.

With all the radiation floating around in here we can't trust the anti-grav units.

There, just before the second time we were hit.

See the subspace distortion?

Yes.

How big is a quantum filament?

Well, it could be hundreds of meters long but it has almost no mass which makes it very difficult to detect.

So it's like a cosmic string.

No, that's a completely different phenomenon.

How did you do that?

I diverted power from the phaser array and I dumped it into the engineering control system.

You what?!

Engineering stations on-line, counselor.

But that's a completely improper procedure.

You can't just dump that much raw energy into a bridge terminal without...

We're not going to get out of this by playing it safe.

What is our engine status, ensign?

We've got half impulse power available.

But I'm getting some odd readings from the warp drive.

I'm reading a spike in the warp field array.

It looks like a containment deviation.

Switch to primary bypass.

Nothing.

Field strength's at 40% and falling.

We've got a problem.

The quantum resonance of the filament caused a polarity shift in the anti-matter containment field.

When the filament hit us, the ship was momentarily charged as if it had come in contact with a live electrical wire.

That weakened the containment field surrounding the anti-matter pods.

The field strength is at 40% and it is still falling.

If it falls to 15%, the field will collapse and we'll have a containment breach.

Which means?

Which means the ship will explode.

Commander, the current cannot be shut off from this relay box.

We can't just sit here.

If the energy flowing through that arc were interrupted by a non-conductive material, it is likely the circuit would be broken.

I don't see anything in here that'll handle that much current.

Commander, much of my body framework is made up of tripolymers, a non-conductive material.

Are you suggesting we use your body?

Yes, sir.

Data, there's half a million amps going through that arc.

Could your body handle that much current?

The power surge would cause a systems failure in my internal processors and melt my primary power couplings.

However, there is a chance that the damage would not be irreparable.

No.

Commander... our options are very limited.

First of all, android or not,

I wouldn't ask anyone to take that kind of risk.

Second, if the computer is not working in engineering

I'm going to need your help to get control of the ship.

My positronic brain has several layers of shielding to protect me from power surges.

It would be possible for you to remove my cranial unit and take it with you.

Let me get this straight.

You want me to take off your head?

Yes, sir.

Is something wrong, sir?

Well, Data...

Would you be all right?

My memory core and neural nets are self-contained.

I would be fine, sir.

Well, like you said... our options are limited.

Data!

Oh... Data.

Data.

A remarkable experience, commander.

Are you all right?

Did the shielding work?

Apparently so, sir.

My neural nets are fully operational.

You may begin by opening the ventral access panel located two centimeters below my right ear.

(Jay Gordon) Ah!

Can you climb up?

Yes, I think so.

Good.

Now look down the sides of the lift.

Can you see two big clamps?

Yes, I see them.

Can you see if those clamps are attached to... long beams inside big grooves?

Yes.

But one of them looks broken.

It's half out of the groove.

All right, come down.

All right.

Guh! Uhh!

Number one.

Those big clamps are part of the emergency system.

If anything goes wrong they're designed to hold the turbolift in place.

But it would seem that they're damaged.

Is that why we keep shaking?

That's right.

Now, when they give way, we shall fall, so you've got to get your crew out of here before that happens.

Now there's a ladder that runs along the wall of the shaft.

You can climb up that until you come to an open doorway.

( creaking )

Well... what about you?

My ankle is broken.

I will just slow you down, and you need to move quickly.

Now you are the leader, and that's an order.

We have to climb up the shaft.

I want to stay here with you, Captain.

Patterson, you're an officer. You have to obey orders.

I don't want to be an officer anymore.

I want to stay here with you.

If the captain stays here, we won't make it.

We'll all die.

We don't have time to argue.

You must go now.

The crew has decided to stick together.

We all go or we all stay.

All right, I'll try.

But I want you to know this is mutiny.

Now, number one, look at that control panel.

Now, the yellow control pad, hit that once.

Now, the one below it, hit it twice.

Now that should release the panel underneath.

Yes, it did.

Now, you can pull it away.

Okay.

Good.

Now that bundle of wires, that's optical cabling.

See how much of that you can pull out.

The levels are still rising.

There must be some way to put that fire out.

The energy's fed by the ship's internal power grid.

And we can't get near that.

The only way to stop it would be to eliminate its oxygen supply.

Wait a minute.

Doctor, I've got an idea.

Now it's kind of wild, but we just might be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Let's hear it.

Okay. We open the external door.

That would depressurize the cargo bay and suck all of these containers out into space.

At the same time, the lack of oxygen should put out the plasma fire.

What about us?

We just need to find something in here to hold onto while the air is evacuating.

Then we close the door, repressurize the bay.

What about this?

Yeah.

Yeah, that ought to do it.

There, that should do it.

There will be a sharp pain as I set the bone.

Prepare yourself.

Agh! Ooh!

Good.

Good, you bore that well.

Ohh.

WORF: Keiko?

I'm all right...

I think.

Perhaps you should lie down.

Ohh!

Ohh! Uhh!

I'm having contractions.

I believe that is not uncommon in the late months of pregnancy.

No, I mean contractions.

I'm going into labor.

You cannot.

This is not a good time, Keiko.

It's not open for debate.

Like it or not, this baby is coming.

If the containment field strength continues to drop at its present rate, we still have at least two hours before it becomes critical.

But you're ignoring the fact that the power coupling is also damaged.

If that coupling overheats, the field strength could drop a lot faster.

We could have a containment breach in a matter of minutes.

What do you suggest?

We should separate the saucer now and put as much distance as possible between us and the drive section.

Excuse me, sir, but that's damn cold-blooded.

What about the people down there?

There's no evidence that anyone is alive in the drive section.

No evidence they're dead, either.

If you were trapped down there, would you like us to cut you loose and just leave?

No, of course not.

But I also wouldn't expect the Bridge crew to risk the safety of the ship and hundreds of lives in a futile effort to rescue me.

You said there was no way to stabilize the containment field from the bridge.

Could it be done from engineering?

Yes, but my readings indicate there's no power there.

They don't even have monitors to tell them there's a problem.

Could we divert energy from the bridge to those monitors?

Yes, sir.

I will say it again: there is no reason to believe that anyone is still alive in engineering.

We're wasting time even talking about this.

We have to separate the ship now.

I believe there are still people alive down there... and I'm going to give them every chance.

Assuming they're alive, they'll be hoping there's someone up here who can help them, so we'll help them.

Chief, divert the necessary power to engineering.

Aye, sir.

I remind you, Counselor, that power coupling could overheat at any moment.

By not separating the ship now, you could be responsible for all our deaths.

Thank you, Ensign.

Proceed.

I can't open this door.

We're going to have to climb up to the next deck.

(sighs)

What if that one doesn't open, either?

Then we'll never get out.

MARISSA: Quiet! Both of you!

That's an order.

PICARD: We're going up.

Ready?

Ready, sir!

( loud clatter )

The lift's falling. Hang on!

( distant crash )

PICARD: We're all right.

We're going to keep on climbing.

Just don't look down.

( crying )

What's wrong?!

He's scared.

We're right with you, Patterson.

You're not going to fall.

Everything will be all right if you just keep climbing.

( grunting )

What we need... is a climbing song.

Marissa, is there a song that you sing at school?

Um... "The Laughing Vulcan and His Dog"?

I'm afraid I don't know that one.

I know!

"Frere Jacques."

That's a song I used to sing when I was at school.

Patterson?

Do you know that one?

Good! Goes like this:

♪ Frere Jacques, frere Jacques ♪

♪ Dormez vous ♪

♪ Dormez vous ♪

ALL: ♪ Sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Ding, ding, dong, ding, ding, dong ♪

Very good. Now, keep singing.

ALL: ♪ Frere Jacques, frere Jacques ♪

♪ Dormez vous, dormez vous ♪

♪ Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Ding, ding, dong, ding, ding, dong ♪

♪ Frere Jacques, frere Jacques ♪

♪ Dormez vous, dormez vous ♪

♪ Sonnez les matines, sonnez les matines ♪

♪ Ding, ding dong, ding, ding, dong ♪

♪ Frere Jacques, frere Jacques... ♪

WORF: Your contractions are now only 30 seconds apart.

Oh! Ohh!

Dilation has gone to seven centimeters since the onset of labor.

That did not take long.

It's easy for you to say.

Ahh!

( panting )

You are doing very well.

I'm sure the child will arrive soon.

Whew! Ahh.

Worf, has the baby turned?

Turned?

So the head is down.

Dr. Crusher told me a few days ago that it hadn't.

She wasn't worried because I still had a month to go.

I am not certain.

Can't you tell?

Worf, have you ever done this before... delivered a baby?

Yes... no.

I took the Starfleet emergency medical course.

In a computerized simulation,

I assisted in delivery of a human baby.

Sometimes it doesn't go by the book, Worf.

( groaning )

I am sure everything will be fine.

Once the air is vented, the first thing you'll feel is an extreme pressure on your lungs.

You have to resist the temptation to exhale.

Next, our hands and feet will get cold, then numb.

And some of the capillaries on the exposed sections of the skin may burst.

Sounds like fun.

We will have about 15 seconds of useful consciousness, then about ten seconds of extreme disorientation, then we pass out.

Okay. Once the air is evacuated, one of us is going to need to get to that panel to repressurize the bay.

We're ready.

Are you okay?

( inhaling and exhaling )

( panting )

( breathing heavily )

RO: The field strength is down to 20%.

We cannot run the risk of staying here any longer.

We're in no danger till it drops below 15%.

We can afford to wait and see if someone in engineering notices those monitors.

Have you made preparations to separate the saucer section?

Yes, sir. We're in stand-by mode for docking latches...

Ensign, there's a thermal inversion in the power coupling!

Quick! Cross connect it to the transfer coil.

That was close.

What happened?

Exactly what I said might happen-- the power coupling overheated and the entire containment field almost collapsed.

O'Brien's fixed it temporarily, but this could happen again at any moment, and next time we might not be able to stop it.

You can't let wishful thinking guide your decision, Counselor.

It's time to leave.

We will separate the ship when I decide that it's time and not before.

Is that clear, Ensign?

Yes. Perfectly.

Okay, try it.

Very good, Commander.

You have established a connection.

I can now raise the door.

There's no power on this entire deck, and yet somehow these monitors are working.

The power reaching those monitors has been diverted from the bridge, sir.

But why?

Unless there's something they want us... something they need us to see.

Wait a minute. Data, the containment field strength is down to 18%-- can you stabilize it?

No, sir. I do not have access to the containment field.

You will have to establish a new link.

Locate the O.D.N. conduit, sir.

Got it. Yes, sir.

You must now change the input matrix of my secondary optical port and then connect the O.D.N. conduit.

That is not the correct port, sir.

Sorry.

You must hurry, Commander.

The containment field has dropped to 16%.

I'm trying. You need a bigger head.

The field continues to drop, sir.

Collapse is imminent.

Try it now?

I have made a connection, sir.

I am now stabilizing the containment field.

O'BRIEN: Sir, the field strength is stabilizing.

18%...

20...

25...

I guess they got our message.

I was wrong, Counselor.

You could have easily been right.

( strenuous breathing )

( grunting )

( gasping )

WORF: Congratulations.

You are fully dilated to 10cm.

You may now give birth.

Ohh! That's what I've been doing.

Well, bearing down is the next stage.

It should start at full dilation.

Why has it not begun?

I don't know!

I don't think it's up to me.

It happens when it happens!

My computer simulation was not like this.

That delivery was very orderly.

Well, I'm sorry!

Uhh! Uhh!

( groaning )

Did you feel an uncontrollable urge to push?

( groans loudly )

Good. You are bearing down.

Now you must push with each contraction and I must urge you gently but firmly to push harder.

Push, Keiko.

Push hard.

Push, Keiko.

Push. Push!

Push!

I am pushing!

The baby is emerging head first.

One more contraction.

( straining ) Oh-kay. Agh!

That's good.

Push.

Push.

Hard!

( wails )

I have the baby.

Ohh!

(laughing) Oh. Oh.

Now I will smack the child to induce breathing.

( light smacking )

( baby crying )

I will cut the umbilical cord.

Blanket.

I believe she looks like Chief O'Brien.

( laughing )

Ohh.

You were wonderful, Worf.

I couldn't have done it without you.

Hello. ( baby cooing )

( giggling ) Hello.

Captain's Log: Supplemental.

We are en route to Starbase 67 to undergo repairs.

Life aboard the Enterprise is slowly returning to normal.

Now just wait here.

You just can't stay away from the big chair, can you?

I don't think I'm cut out to be Captain.

First Officer, maybe.

I understand there aren't many qualifications.

Captain Picard to the bridge, please.

Hello.

It's good to see you again.

What brings you to the Bridge?

In appreciation for the way you helped us get out of the turbo shaft and the way you helped us not be scared, we want to present to you this commemorative plaque.

Give it to him.

Well, thank you.

Thank you very much.

I made the back piece.

Oh, and a wonderful job you did of it, too.

Well, later this afternoon we're going to finish the tour I promised you, starting with the Battle Bridge.

I'll see you at 1400 hours.

You have the Bridge, number one.

RIKER AND MARISSA: Aye, sir.