“Time Squared” is episode thirteen of season two of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Commander Riker is in his quarters preparing for a meal when Data, Geordi, Dr Pulaski and Worf arrive. Data asks if it would not be more efficient to have the ship prepare the meal. It would, but it doesn’t allow for flair and individuality. Riker says his father is why he cooks – because his father hated to do it. Worf comments that in most human families, the woman shares the cooking. Yes, but Riker’s died when he was young. Riker is using eggs he got at Starbase 73. However, by the looks of it, they are not really suitable for cooking with. Though Worf enjoys them.
Then the captain contacts Riker and asks him to come to the bridge. They are getting an automated signal from a Federation shuttlecraft. Even though they thought they were the only manned Federation vessel in the area. There’s one humanoid lifeform on the shuttle, but it’s without power. The shuttle is tumbling when they find it and it is tractored into a shuttle bay. Riker and Worf head there and the captain asks Pulaski to join them.
It is a Federation shuttlecraft. Moreover, it’s an Enterprise shuttlecraft – identical to one that’s still in the bay. The doctor arrives and opens it up, then calls Riker over. An unconscious Captain Picard is inside. Riker contacts the captain and asks if he’s still on the bridge. He is. Where else would he be? Right now, he should be in shuttle bay 2, and bring Data.
The doctor says that the new Picard’s lifesigns are confusing. She tells the captain that she wants to get the duplicate to sickbay before attempting to revive him. Troi says to Captain Picard that she’s never felt anything quite like this. But that person is you. Other than that, she’s sure of little. Picard tells Data he needs the shuttle’s logs. All power is gone, so they’ll have to get power from the ship. Geordi is called and Picard points at a mark on the shuttle’s hull. It looks like the damage caused by an antimatter explosion. Picard and Troi head to sickbay whilst Riker and Worf head to the bridge.
Data and Geordi rig the shuttle up to ship’s power. Which doesn’t work, as it’s not compatible. In sickbay, Dr Pulaski says that the other Picard is alive, but that’s all she’s sure of. Picard wants the other Picard reviving. This doesn’t work; the normal stimulant had the opposite effect.
Data and Geordi are now trying something that should blow all the shuttle’s circuits, but it doesn’t. Doing the wrong thing works, and power is restored. On seeing the stardate, Geordi contacts the captain. The shuttle’s clock is six hours in advance of theirs, and probably the other captain is as well.
Picard wants Pulaski to attempt to wake his duplicate again. This time it works, but Picard Two seems distraught and unable to speak. The captain calls a staff meeting. Data and Geordi have the shuttle’s logs, what they can retrieve. They show the shuttle bay door opening, revealing a vortex in space. The shuttle departs the bay as Riker watches. The Enterprise is in the vortex when something strikes it, destroying it completely. Going by the shuttle’s timestamp, that will happen in just over 3 hours. There’s an audio log from the captain, but the question is why Picard would be in the shuttle when the Enterprise was destroyed. No-one thinks that makes sense.
They are going to continue on the course; the charts show nothing of consequence in the area and there are no other vessels. There are questions about how the shuttle went back in time and what caused the destruction of the Enterprise. The captain starts second-guessing himself, unsure as to what decision he made caused the destruction, if it did. At one point, Dr Pulaski asks Picard if he knows what he’s doing. Getting told ‘No’ is not reassuring.