“The Masterpiece Society” is episode thirteen of season five of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise has been diverted to the Moab sector to track a stellar core fragment, part of a disintegrated neutron star. Captain Picard enters the bridge to be told there’s a problem. The fragment will pass close to Moab IV, which they knew. What they didn’t know was that there would be people living there. An artificial environment with human lifeforms. No response to hails, no starships missing in the sector. Geordi is sure the inhabitants know they’re there. He’s picking up wave patterns from an obsolete subspace relay. The captain wants communications opened on frequencies commonly used in the last century and hails again. The defensive shield increases in strength. When he says they will experience seismic activity the structure won’t withstand, he finally gets a response.
The responder says his name is Aaron Conor. They don’t want to interact with outsiders and only responded because of the warning. They know about the fragment and their biosphere will withstand earthquakes up to 8.7 on the Richter scale. Nowhere near enough, according to Data. They don’t want to evacuate and the captain wants to discuss it in person. Conor says their environment is sealed; access is not possible. He’s told about the transporter and agrees a small contingent can beam down.
A man who was lurking in the background during the call, Martin, tells Conor this is a bad idea. They meet Riker, Geordi and Troi as they transport in. Conor says that is incredible. Martin doesn’t look like he agrees.
Conor tells them it’s imperative they remain; leaving would destroy everything they’ve worked towards for two centuries. Their society is engineered, genetically; their ancestors came from Earth to create the perfect society. Selective breeding would create people without flaws which would create paradise. Martin claims they’ve extended the human potential. Evolved beyond them. No-one in this society is blind. Geordi says he can see Martin just fine. According to Conor, every lifeform is part of the master design. They can’t be separated without losing everything.
After Martin leaves, Conor explains he was doing the job he was designed to do, interpreting the founders’ intentions. Everyone is bred to fulfil a specific role; they grow up knowing exactly what society needs and expects of them. For them, it is the ideal existence. Conor introduces them to a scientist, Hannah, and Riker suggests Geordi remains whilst Riker and Troi return to the ship. Troi wants to remain, to see more of the colony. And, perhaps by her behaviour, more of Conor.
Geordi and Hannah have determined that the biosphere can’t withstand the quakes. Either they or the fragment need to move, and the Enterprise can’t move a stellar core fragment. Hannah had worked on an idea after spotting the fragment, but their colony doesn’t have enough power. The Enterprise does. Hannah is transported to the ship, over Martin’s objections.
Troi is in the captain’s ready room with only two days left. She says some won’t move no matter what and she doesn’t think their minds can be changed. The captain makes it clear he is not a fan of genetically engineering a society; it is a bad idea whose time is long past. Troi does think Conor will see reality.
Geordi and Hannah are in engineering not getting anywhere. Geordi takes his VISOR off to relax and Hannah asks if he has always been blind. Yes, he was born that way; he assumes on her world he wouldn’t have even been born. Their founders didn’t want anyone to suffer a life with disabilities. Geordi justifiably goes on one a bit. Then Hannah asks how the VISOR works. He explains, which gives him an idea for altering the tractor beam. Geordi sees the irony in the colony’s possible saving coming from technology designed to help someone who would never have been born on that colony.
The colony has another threat, though, not just the stellar core fragment. For the first time, they’ve come into contact with outsiders, and seen what those outsiders have created that their perfect colony hasn’t. New ideas always change the status quo and in a society that needs every member to survive, that could be very destructive.