“Evolution” is episode one of season three of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Wesley is asleep with his head on a desk, apparently having fallen asleep whilst working, when Commander Riker contacts him and asks if he forgot to set his alarm. Wesley quickly leaves. The Enterprise is doing astrophysical research together with their guest, Dr Paul Stubbs, to study the decay of neutronium at relativistic speeds in a massive stellar explosion that will occur in a matter of hours.
Wesley arrives on the bridge and takes his station; Stubbs starts chatting to him. He says the explosion occurs every 196 years. Like clockwork. And it’s only 18 hours away; Data gives the precise time. According to Stubbs, this is the only predictable burst of energy and will allow him to accomplish his goal.
Captain Picard enters the bridge and starts asking Stubbs if he’d like to do a final inspection. No; Stubbs has been inspecting his ‘egg’ for the last 20 years. They may launch when ready. The captain gives the go-ahead when suddenly the ship lurches, throwing Stubbs down. The ship doesn’t respond and according to Geordi, the inertial compensators are supposedly working. Despite clear evidence that they are not. Worf states they are heading straight into the path of stellar energy being pulled from the star, and the shields are not up. That would be bad.
Riker manages to activate manual override on the shields and the captain orders reverse impulse. Things are stabilised to a degree and Riker summons medical personnel to treat Stubbs. Data’s console says all systems are perfect and when the computer is asked to explain the control malfunction, it states that none was reported. That’s odd.
Wesley heads to sickbay to report to Stubbs. His mother is back – nothing is said about where Dr Pulaski has disappeared to – and Stubbs talks about his own mother. Once fixed, he leaves, and Dr Crusher hears one of the food slots acting strangely. Though, according to the computer, it isn’t.
Geordi is analysing the data and not seeing anything unusual. The doctor arrives at the captain’s ready room; she wants to talk about Wesley. How would the captain feel if he was 17 years old and the only Starfleet officer whose mother was onboard. Inhibited, he supposed, but he’s not Wesley. The doctor wants to know about Wesley; not the officer, her son. Picard tells her Wesley is his father’s son. Dr Crusher wants to know if Wesley has friends, or has been in love. What was the captain doing at that age? Getting into far more trouble. As was the doctor; isn’t that what being 17 is about?
Stubbs and Wesley are inspecting Stubbs’ device when red alert sounds. There’s apparently a Borg ship approaching, but no visual contact. No shields, again, and no manual override this time. The Borg ship fires… then it vanishes from sensors. The ship starts shaking, doors start opening and closing and the computer starts reciting chess moves.
Captain Picard meets with Riker and Data in the conference room. He’s concerned about a potential breakdown of the main computer; there apparently hasn’t been one in 79 years. Troi enters, followed by Stubbs, who wants to know what’s going on. He wants the mission to go ahead, but Picard says the safety of the ship and its crew is his first concern. Stubbs accuses the captain of playing it safe; the captain replies that, in the Enterprise‘s current condition, when the star explodes, Stubbs will watch his experiment from the inside out. Stubbs would rather die than leave. Picard doubts he speaks for the majority of the crew. Afterwards, Troi says that Stubbs would rather die.
Geordi and Wesley are looking at diagnostics in engineering. When Geordi says that, if he didn’t know better, he’d think someone had climbed into the computer and started taking it apart, Wesley clearly has a horrible thought. He heads to his quarters to check on his experiment. Guinan then finds him crawling around Ten Forward, laying what Wesley calls traps. Wesley thinks the problems are his fault. He was working on a final project and was studying the nanites in the medical supplies. He had two, and he was attempting to make them better. Wesley was pulling an all-nighter and fell asleep. He woke up to find the container open. Guinan compares his science project to one by a man called Frankenstein. Wesley doubts they are responsible, but he will tell people if they are.
Of course, the missing nanites are responsible. Not only are they significantly improved over regular ones, there are many, many more than two now. And they are constantly evolving.
Given that what the Enterprise is investigating sounds awfully like a type of supernova, they seem to be dangerously close to it.
New opening credits for this season.