“Where No One Has Gone Before” is episode six of season one of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
The Enterprise is meeting with the USS Fearless and a Starfleet propulsion expert and his assistant are beaming aboard to run some tests on the Enterprise‘s warp engines, similar to those already done on other vessels. Captain Picard is telling Commander Riker that they are simply tests. Riker is concerned because the stats sent are gibberish. Data put them into a computer and ran a controlled test. There was no improvement in the engines. Ajax and Fearless had both seen improvements, but Riker wonders if that’s simply because their engines are older than the Enterprise‘s. The captain tells Riker to meet with the expert, seeing as he’s concerned; Riker wants to take Counselor Troi with him.
The expert, Kosinski, asks where the captain is when he beams aboard. Riker instead introduces him to Lt. Com. Argyle, the chief engineer. Argyle has questions. The assistant tells them his name is unpronounceable to humans. He’s apparently a long way from home. Kosinski wants to set up in the engine room immediately and doesn’t need to be shown the way. After Kosinski leaves, Riker and Troi discuss him. Troi states all the negative traits Kosinski has, which boil down to he’s an unpleasant jerk. The assistant, though, she finds a puzzle. Most lifeforms she can feel. She may not know how to understand or interpret what she’s feeling, but with the assistant it’s as if he’s just empty space. Troi is concerned, but she doesn’t know why.
In the engine room, Kosinski is going to run his first test in 15 minutes. Wesley is also there, doing a school project; Kosinski’s assistant is talking to him. Kosinski doesn’t want to explain what he’s doing, because they won’t understand, but he won’t be allowed to run his tests unless he does. Essentially, it sounds like he’s going to tune the engines. The assistant and Wesley are still talking; Wesley is altering some of the formulae. The assistant seems impressed.
They start the first test at low warp. Then something happens and the assistant starts phasing. Only Wesley notices. The Enterprise passes Warp 10 and Kosinski doesn’t seem to be expecting what happens. The captain tells Data to reverse engines; to the response that no-one has ever reversed engines at that speed before, Picard states no-one has ever travelled at that speed. The Enterprise comes to a stop. 2.7 million light years from home. Oops. Kosinski is happy, when he comes to the bridge. It’s a mistake, but a wonderful one.
Wesley is speaking to the assistant, who seems in poor shape. He’s been away too long, but states he means no harm to the vessel or anyone in it. Wesley if Kosinski is a joke, like he sounds, but the assistant says that’s too cruel. He played a small part. Wesley theorises that space, time and thought are not separate things. The assistant warns him not to say that again; his world isn’t ready for it yet, and it’s too dangerous.
Kosinski is convinced he can do it again to get home. Afterwards, Troi informs the captain that Kosinski is convinced he’s right. The others also provide input, but Picard says that they need to get home. Kosinski is pontificating in the engine room, and Wesley is trying to speak to Riker who is too busy. They start again and it isn’t working. This time, Riker sees the assistant phasing. The ship comes to a stop someplace very weird. Over a billion light years from home, uncharted and unknown space. The captain heads to engineering. On the bridge, Worf sees his targ, a pet from when he was young. Tasha likens it to a kitty cat, then sees her own. In the turbolift, Picard starts to step out when it stopped into what appears to be open space.
The Enterprise, as well as being a long way from home, is also somewhere where thoughts become reality. Which is pretty dangerous. Kosinski has had a bit of the wind knocked out of his sales. The assistant, called the Traveler, is their means of getting home, and he’s very ill, possibly dying. The Traveler seems very impressed with Wesley.