Hugh’s Cave

Okay. 

This is for you. 

It regulates the power flow to the frequency that you're used to. 

This connection should fit the coupling on your arm. 

You're welcome.

RIKER: 

Hugh? 


HUGH: 

Why are you here, Commander Riker? 

Hasn't the crew of the Enterprise caused enough damage already? 
(a little later) 


WORF: 

So you blame us for what has happened to the Borg? 


HUGH: 

You gave me a sense of Individuality, changed me,

 then sent me back to The Collective. 

You must have known that change would be passed on to others. 


RIKER: 

We considered it. 

We knew it was a possibility. 


HUGH: 

Then you made it possible for Lore to dominate us. 


WORF: 

I cannot accept that. 

Lore is only one —

The Borg could have stopped him. 


HUGH: 

You don't know the condition we were in when he found us. 

Before my experience on The Enterprise, The Borg were a single-minded Collective. 

The voices in our heads were smooth and flowing. 

But after I returned, those voices began to change. 

They became uneven, discordant. 

For the first time, individual Borg had differing ideas about how to proceed. 

We couldn't function. 

Some Borg fought each other. 

Others simply shut themselves down. 

Many starved to death. 


RIKER: 

And then Lore came along. 


HUGH: 

You probably can't imagine what it is like to be so lost and frightened that you will listen to any voice which promises change. 


WORF: 

Even if that voice insists on controlling you. 


HUGH: 

That's what we wanted. 

Someone to show us the way out of confusion. 

Lore promised clarity and purpose. 

In the beginning, he seemed like a saviour. 

The promise of becoming a superior race, 

of becoming fully artificial was compelling. 

We gladly did everything he asked of us. 

But after a while, it became clear that Lore had no idea how to keep his promise. 

That's when he began talking about the need for us to make sacrifices. 

Before we realised it, this was the result. 


RIKER: 

What happened to them? 


HUGH: 

Lore began to experiment, 

trying to re-make us in his image. 

This is the result of my encounter with The Enterprise, Commander. 

So you can see I don't particularly welcome your presence here. 


RIKER: 

I'm sorry you feel that way. 

We just came to get our people. 

We won't cause you any more trouble. 


HUGH: 

Tell me about my friend. 


RIKER: 

Friend? 


HUGH: 

The Human called Geordi. 


RIKER: 

I wish I could tell you about him. 

We think he may be held inside the compound. 


HUGH: 

[hesitantly] 

I cannot help you. 

I cannot risk our being discovered. 


RIKER: 

Can you at least show us a way into the compound? 


HUGH: 

These caverns lead to tunnels which run beneath the compound. 

Some of them connect with the environmental control ducts. 


WORF: 

Show us. 

If we can determine the geography of the compound, 

we can form a rescue plan.

Fear is No Different to Any Other Monster

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt

SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 1933

I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. 

This is preeminently the time to Speak The Truth, The WholeTruth, Frankly and Boldly. 

Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. 

This Great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. 

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is : Fear, itself -- 

Nameless, Unreasoning, Unjustified Terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

(Geordi fits the new power conduit) 

BORG: 

We are Borg. 

You will be assimilated. 

Resistance is futile.

LAFORGE: 

Just look around, pal. 

You're hardly in a position to make any demands.

BORG: 

We must return to the Collective.

LAFORGE: 

...who “we”?

BORG: 

We are Borg.

LAFORGE: 

Yeah, but —

There's only one of you. 

Do you have a name? 

A means of identification?

The Cowboy

“We are all the beneficiaries 

Of those who've gone before us-- 

Who've worked, who've fought, on occasion who have cared, immensely to the very depth of their soul, to achieve Liberty. 

If we really want to know Her, 

in the beginning should be the question :

"What is Liberty?" 

I was involved with "cowboy diplomacy", as you describe it, 

long before you were born.

-- Ambassador Spock

Commander Geordi LAFORGE :

Captain Scott — I've tried to be patient, I've tried to be polite. 

But I've got a job to do here, and quite frankly — 

you're in the way. 

Captain Montgomery SCOTT

Scotty : 

I was driving starships 

while your great-grandfather was still in diapers. 

I'd think you'd be a little grateful for a some help. 

I'll leave ye to work, Mister La Forge

*****

Captain J-L PICARD :

You’re a Starfleet Officer — 

You have a Duty!

Captain James Tiberius Kirk :

I don’t need to be lectured by you — 

I was out Saving The Galaxy 

when Your Grandfather was in Diapers!

And to be honest.... 

The Galaxy owes me one!

The Cowboy

Adam Kesher :

Cowboy! 

The Cowboy :

Howdy! 

Adam Kesher :

Howdy to you. 

The Cowboy :

Beautiful evening. 

Adam Kesher :

Yeah.

The Cowboy :

Sure want to thank ya 

for coming all theway up to see me...

 from that nice hotel Downtown. 

Adam Kesher :

No problem. 

What's on your mind?. 

The Cowboy :

Well now, here's A Man who wants to get right down to it. 

Kinda anxious to get to it are ya? 

Adam Kesher :

Whatever. 

The Cowboy :

A Man's Attitude... 

 

A Man's Attitude, 

goes some ways --

The Way His Life will be.

 

Is that somethin' you might agree with? 

Adam Kesher :

Sure....!

The Cowboy :

Now... 

Did you answer because you thought 

That's What I Wanted to Hear... 

or did you think about What I Said,

and answer 'cause 

You Truly Believe That to be Right? 

Adam Kesher :

I agree with What You Said... 

Truly. 

The Cowboy :

What'd I Say..? 

Adam Kesher :

That A Man's Attitude 

Determines, to a Large Extent 

How His Life Will Be. 

The Cowboy :

So, since you agree... 

You must be A Person, 

Who Does Not Care about The Good Life. 

Adam Kesher :

How's that? 

The Cowboy :

Well, stop for a little second and think about it. 

Can you do that for me? 

Adam Kesher :

Okay, I'm thinking. 

The Cowboy :

No. You're not thinkin'.

 

You're too busy being a smart aleck to be thinkin'.

 

Now I want ya to think, 

and stop bein' a smart aleck. 

Can you try that for me? 

Adam Kesher :

Look ... where's This going? 

What do you want me to do? 

The Cowboy :

There's sometimes A Buggy. 

How many drivers does A Buggy have? 

Adam Kesher :

One. 

The Cowboy :

So let's just say I'm drivin' This Buggy... 

and you, if fix your attitude, 

You can Ride Along with Me. 

Adam Kesher :

Okay. 

The Cowboy :

I want you to go Back to Work tomorrow.

 

You were re-casting the lead actress anyway... 

audition many girls for the part.

 

When you see The Girl that was shown to you 

earlier today, you will say: 

This is The Girl. 

The rest of the cast can stay. 

That is up to you. 

But that lead girl is not up to you. 

Now, you will see me one more time if you do Good. 

You will see me two more times if you do Bad. 

Adam Kesher :

Good Night. 

"For me, it's about going back to what the hell happened to this guy. 

He gets this ring, he's adopted into 

an interplanetary Police Force, 

and basically all his relationships fall apart and he can't hold down a job.

But he happens to be 

The Greatest Cosmic Cop of All.

We loved the disconnect of that :

the beatnik idea of how Hal Jordan has no home, he sleeps on friends couches, he travels with nothing but 

His Lantern and A Rucksack.

He's like A Cowboy trying to survive in the 21st Century."

"It's freedom to be oneself -- 

To do what one wants to do, 

To remain oneself for as long 

as one chooses to.

And basically, 

that's all. 

It's not Happiness, 

it's not Responsibility, 

it's not Truth. 

It's just being oneself."

What Would Riker Do?

The Beard is an 

Ancient and Proud Tradition.

RIKER :

You get some rest? 

PICARD :

Oh, I tried. I'm worried about My Pilot. 

That he didn't make it. 

RIKER :

What have you gotten yourself into, Jean-Luc? 

Can you tell me? 

PICARD :

No. I never wanted you to get involved in any of this, Will. 

Coming here was a desperate impulse. 

I regret it already. 

RIKER :

Copy that. 

I'll stick to making pizza. 

I'm just thinking how great it would be if Ignorance of Danger was all it took to keep it away from The People We Love. 

[ he smiles, as the tears begin to whell up inside of him ]

PICARD :

That's not what I was saying. 

RIKER :

[ He sniffs and shakes it off -- back to Business ]

Smell that. Antarean basil. 

Grows like weeds around here. 

Everything does. 

The Soil has regenerative powers, 

which, is why we came here, of course. 

[ He spots his daughter, exiting the house with her new friend in tow ]

Wild Girl of The Woods! 

KESTRA TROI-RIKER,

The Wild Girl of The Woods :

I'm taking her to see The Garden. 

RIKER :

Ah. Allamalan val peresta o manal. 

Dr. SOJII ASHA :

Vo peresta melinàs andlif. 

KESTRA TROI-RIKER,

The Wild Girl of The Woods :

She read Thad's Viveen dictionary. 

All of it, in, like, two minutes. 

RIKER :

Two minutes? That thing's 300 pages long. 

[ Gives the teenage newcomer his attention ]

Hmm. We haven't met, Soji.

[ Offers her his hand, covered in flour. ] 

I'm Kestra's Dad. Will. 

Dr. SOJII ASHA :

Hello, Will. 

RIKER :

Hi. 

PICARD : 

Commander Riker and I served together on the USS Enterprise. 

[ TWO of Them, actually. But who's counting? ]

KESTRA TROI-RIKER,

The Wild Girl of The Woods :

And you were The Greatest Captain ever, I heard. 

RIKER :

[ Not embarrassed, by this - ]

The Greatest Captain ever? 

Where'd you get that nonsense?

KESTRA TROI-RIKER,

The Wild Girl of The Woods :

From you.

RIKER :

From me? Well, I must have been drinking at the time. 

Could you tell your mom we could use some more tomatoes. 

[ Give Sojii his attention once more - bows in courtesy ]

Nice to meet you. 

PICARD :

Speaking of drinking, may I? 

RIKER :

Please. 

PICARD :

[ He pours and takes a glass of wine from the bottle on The Table. ] 

Thank you. 

RIKER :

So, I'm just gonna speculate 

and Say Out Loud what I've been Saying in My Brain. 

You don't have to tell me anything; 

How's that sound? 

[ This man is a Poker Player par excellence. ]

You're worried about cloaks. 

That says Romulans. 

And the level of anxiety and fear for our safety, tells me Tal Shiar. 

Next, you're not the one that's on the run, 

it's her. 

But Why? 

What has poor Soji done to incur their wrath? 

Could it have anything to do with the fact... 

That she's clearly an android? 

And not just any android. 

I'd recognize that head tilt anywhere. 

Kid's got Data in her DNA. 

And that's why you're here. 

How am I doing? 

PICARD :

Not bad, for a pizza chef. 

RIKER :

Now I understand why you wanted to keep it a secret. 

Classic Picard arrogance. 

You get to make the decisions 

about who gets to take the chances and who doesn't, 

and who's in The Loop, and who's Out of The Loop. 

And, naturally, 

it always ends up with you. 

Well... That's fine, 

on the bridge of your starship, Captain. 

But you're dealing with a teenager now, more or less. 

That can be an extremely humbling experience. 

Frankly... I'm not sure you're up to it. 

PICARD :

Perhaps I'm not. 

RIKER :

There you go. 

Baby steps. 

PICARD :

Baby steps.

The poker scene was added to the script when it was running short.

[Riker's quarters]

(the poker game is in full swing, and Beverly is dealing)

WORF: 

Commander, is it your intention to continue to grow your beard?

LAFORGE: 

Actually, I'm not sure yet. 

Why, Worf?

WORF: 

I am just asking.

CRUSHER: 

Seven card stud, one-eyed jacks are wild.

RIKER: 

Frankly, Geordi, I like the beard.

LAFORGE: 

Thank you, Commander.

CRUSHER: 

You know, I have always been a little suspicious of Men with Beards.

WORF: 

Why is that?

CRUSHER: 

I don't know. 

It's as if they're trying to hide something.

[ horrible and disfiguring scarring acquired during wars, dueling, hunting and fighting, usually. ]

RIKER: 

Hide? Don't be ridiculous, Doctor. 

The Beard is an Ancient and Proud Tradition.

LAFORGE: 

Some of the most distinguished Men in History have worn beards, Doctor.

CRUSHER: 

I know. But after the razor was invented I think beards became mostly a fashion statement.

WORF: 

I'm not concerned with Fashion. 

To a Klingon, 

A Beard is a Symbol of Courage.

RIKER: 

I think it's a Sign of Strength.

CRUSHER: 

Sure, and of course, 

Women can't grow beards.

LAFORGE: 

Doctor, it sounds to me like you feel beards are nothing more than an affectation.

CRUSHER: 

I do. But there's nothing wrong with that. 

I mean, women wear makeup and nail polish. 

I just think it's time you men admitted it.

RIKER: 

My beard is not an affectation.

CRUSHER: 

Oh? Well then you wouldn't mind shaving it off.

RIKER: 

I could lose it in a minute. 

I've just gotten used to it.

CRUSHER: 

Okay, then why don't we up the stakes a little? 

And if I win, all off you shave your beards off.

LAFORGE: 

Wait a minute, wait a minute. 

What if you lose? 

What are you going to give up?

CRUSHER: 

I'm open for suggestions.

RIKER: 

Well, I've always wanted to see you as a brunette.

CRUSHER: 

Oh, I did that once when I was thirteen. 

I couldn't change back fast enough.

RIKER : 

That makes me even more curious....!

CRUSHER : 

Fine. If one of you wins, 

I become a brunette. Are we on?

LAFORGE: 

Yeah, yeah, we'll take that bet.

CRUSHER : 

Looks like you have the hand to beat, Commander.

LAFORGE: 

Two hundred.

CRUSHER: 

I'm in two hundred.

RIKER:

Geordi.

PICARD : 

This is the Captain. 

We have arrived at the Tyran system. 

All senior staff to the Bridge.

CRUSHER: 

Wait!

RIKER: 

Sorry, you heard the Captain. 

Duty calls. I guess we'll have to do this some other time.

Jonathan Frakes commented, 

"It was a little heavy on technobabble, but all things considered I think that show came off quite well." 

However, he was disappointed that there was no callback to the poker scene at the end of the episode. 

"We should have seen the result of the bet the characters made. 

Either Gates [McFadden] should have been a brunette or we should have been sitting in the chair about to be shaved. 

I don't know why they would lay it out as a red herring and not have it pay off in some way – 

as if no one was watching the show."

The Manheim Effect

“To me it’s like the color of the sky, it’s so self-evident that to see a bird fly past the window is to imagine its skipping solid trail through the medium of time.  

In time we are all connected, there’s just no denying that. 

There’s nothing mystical about any of this. 

I’m talking about stuff that is simply real.”

DATA 

Whatever the time distortion, I must add the antimatter at the appropriate moment. 

Geordi, if the Professor was right, I will need a twenty seven second countdown.

LAFORGE [OC]: 

You got it, Data.

DATA: 

Captain, I now have the antimatter and am moving towards the opening at the end of the lab. 

The next time distortion should occur within seconds. 

Geordi, begin countdown on my mark. Now.

(There's a big sparkle. Data looks back to see himself midway across the lab - no 2 - and getting the antimatter - no 3. Meanwhile, Geordi's voice is counting down, very echoy)

DATA 3: 

Captain, there appear to be three of us.

DATA 1: 

Should I drop the antimatter or wait for one of you?

DATA 3: 

Only one of us is at the correct time continuum.

DATA 1: 

Which one?

DATA 2: 

Me. It's me!

GEORDI [OC]: 

Five, four, three, two, one.

(The middle Data arrives at number 1 and the antimatter goes in, before number 3 gets there. The effect stops. There is only one Data)

PICARD [OC]: 

Data, report. 

Are you all right?

DATA: 

Yes, sir.

PICARD [OC]: 

Is it closed?

DATA: 

It is well patched, sir. 

Closed indicates a permanent condition, which I cannot guarantee.

• This Readout tells you where you’re GOING,

• This one tells you where you ARE,

• This one tells you where you WERE —

The Manheim Effect was the term used by Lieutenant Commander Data to describe the temporal distortions created as a byproduct of Doctor Paul Manheim's time/gravity experiments. The Effect, which was caused by Manheim opening a "window" into another dimension on Vandor IV, consisted of a specific moment of time which repeated itself.

The effect was first felt in 2364 by the crew of the USS Enterprise, which was in close proximity to the Vandor system. Investigating, the crew experienced the effect again, and learned that it was also experienced on the USS Lalo, a colony on Coltar IV, and in the Ilecom system, thousands of light years away. Questioning Dr. Manheim, they learned that the effect would continue unless the window into another dimension were to be closed.

As Commander Data seemed to have an easier time withstanding the effects of the time distortions, Captain Picard ordered him to beam down to Manheim's laboratory alone to seal the breach. 

As Data prepared to close the window by adding a specific amount of antimatter, he experienced another distortion, wherein three versions of Data from different points along the time continuum appeared. 

Realizing that only one of them was in the correct time period for adding the antimatter, they merged as the antimatter was added at the correct time and the distortions ceased. 

Responding to Captain Picard, who asked if the breach was closed, Data stated that it was "well patched." (TNG: "We'll Always Have Paris")

That’s cool man. I just watched the pilot and noticed a running image of your work: The human centipede.

GM: (laughing) You know I haven’t seen Human Centipede. I can’t watch horror movies.

LOL. Well my guess is that those forms of one long continuous being, which looks like a centipede, is your visual description of a self, moving through time, which you said you learned in Kathmandu in 1994 as how things actually are. How does this experience still interact with your life? 

GM: We can’t see any direction in time. We can’t see back, and we can’t see forward. We can remember back and imagine forward, but that’s it. We’re trained to feel like ‘individuals’ so we don’t actually see ourselves as the extended processes that we are, shapeshifters who transform through decades from small, plump baby things to large and horny muscular teenagers, to hard-working, middle age adults, and finally desiccated seniors dying on beds. If we sped that up and showed one human life over ten minutes, it would be a body horror werewolf transformation more outrageous and horrifying than any seen onscreen.

But to me it’s like the color of the sky, it’s so self-evident that to see a bird fly past the window is to imagine its skipping solid trail through the medium of time.  In time we are all connected, there’s just no denying that. There’s nothing mystical about any of this. I’m talking about stuff that is simply real.

Imagination can give you the ability to look backwards and forward. So, when you run it backwards, think how your grown-up mature body was once smaller, less massive, less capable of interacting with the environment – that’s real. Run it back to the beginnings of life on earth ad it’s clear that we all are one thing. A singular organism made of many parts, just like a human body with its billions of individual skin cells – which die and fall from the body every day.

So, what does that mean? If people learned this in school, if we understood and accepted, we were all the same fucking thing(!) it might help prevent the collapse into mad division that’s occurring, just now. It’s just a matter of perspective that could change everything.

But the organism we’re part of might be sick, who knows? When cells in a body turn against one another and the system that supports them starts breaking down, it’s cancer…

You had the gnostic experience. To just hear it or read it is one thing but when you have the experience that seems to be the most convincing thing.

GM: Well, it seems to become self-evident. It’s really like someone turns your head around in Plato’s cave and you realize that there’s a light and someone’s doing shadow figures with their fingers. Once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it. And it’s ‘Oh, of course’! Of course! There’s no denying it. But I guess to have that experience is its own confirmation. It’s like living by the sea all your life, then having to explain that to someone living inland who’s never seen the ocean and doesn’t believe an ocean could exist because they’ve never seen one.

To me it can be confirmed intellectually by just thinking about time and how you are embedded in time. You know you had to be six years old to be here. So, where the hell is ‘being six’? Well, being six exists in a time direction that you can’t see or point to, but it’s still there. To misunderstand that is equivalent to flying from Los Angeles to London then, after touching down at Heathrow, insisting that Los Angeles no longer exists!

And once you’re truly aware of time as the medium through which we transmit our physical signal, then there is no denying that your personal track winds its way back into your mum and she goes back to her mum and it all goes back to that single dividing cell 3 and a half billion years ago. To me, that’s just basic mechanical shit. That’s not mysticism. I’m not interested in ghosts and spirit worlds. If I’m going to have transcendence, I want to be able to touch it.