tlynch@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Timothy W. Lynch) (11/15/90)
WARNING: The following post contains spoiler infomation about this week's TNG episode, "Future Imperfect", so if you don't want to be spoiled... Riker's birthday party is interrupted when he has to lead an away team down to Alfa Onias 3. He, Worf, and Geordi find nothing of consequence, but a sudden gas buildup knocks Riker out before beam-up. He revives in sickbay, where a strangely altered Bev tells him that sixteen years have passed, and he is now CAPTAIN of the Enterprise. (Apparently, he picked up a disease on the planet which only recently became active, and caused the memory loss, which may or may not be permanent.) Riker encounters one surprise after another. First, on the bridge, he sees Geordi, VISORless; Worf, now a full Commander, sitting at Ops; Data, in red, as first officer; and a Ferengi helmsman. Suddenly, a Romulan Warbird uncloaks-- Riker instinctively orders red alert, then rescinds it after Data tells him that this ship, the Deseus, was expected. It hails them--revealing on board ADMIRAL Picard with his aide, Deanna Troi. Before long, they beam on board, and tell Will that his amnesia couldn't have happened at a worse time--a treaty with the Romulans is imminent, and due to his past actions, Will's the chief spokesman. Will insists he cannot continue the negotiations, but Picard tells him that, ready or not, he's needed. Deanna takes Will to his quarters, where he finds another surprise--a teenage son named Jean-Luc. (He finds out from Deanna that Jean-Luc's mother was killed 2 years ago in a shuttle accident, and was ship's counselor after Deanna left.) He doesn't remember Jean-Luc at all, but he soon starts to warm to the boy. The Romulan ambassador beams on board--and Riker is not at all pleased to discover it's Commander Tomalak, an old enemy. Still, everyone else trusts him, and Riker's main fear--that they're revealing the location of Outpost 23-- is discounted, as the outpost hasn't been strategically important for years. Then, Bev calls--Jean-Luc's been injured. After seeing him in sickbay, Riker leaves with him, and they talk about losing old memories and building new ones. Riker resolves to always be there for Jean-Luc, the way his father wasn't there for him. In his quarters, however, when he manages to call up a picture of his wife, he sees that it was _Minuet_--and he suddenly becomes very grim. On the bridge, he catches everyone in inconsistencies. Geordi couldn't possibly be as incompetent as he's been; Worf can't explain his scar; Data can't zip through calculations, and then uses a contraction. He demands that the charade end--and Tomalak nods, the "Enterprise" vanishes, and Riker finds himself in a Romulan holodeck. Tomalak claims that their neural scanners helped them make such a good mock-up, but is astonished to discover that Minuet, whom Riker harbors such strong feelings for, was only a holodeck creation herself. He demands the location of Outpost 23, and throws Riker in a cell with Ethan, a boy who "Jean-Luc" was modeled after. Riker and Ethan (who claims to have been taken from a nearby research station on a planet Riker thought was deserted) join forces, and manage to escape from their cell. Ethan leads Riker to a forgotten storeroom, but there slips himself when he says that only "Ambassador" Tomalak can activate the Romulan communications. Riker deduces that this scene is fake as well, and refuses to play the game any more. The Romulans dissolve, and Ethan tells him that he was left there by his mother when his planet was invaded so that he'd be safe from his enemies. The neural scanners let him enact anything he wants, and he took Riker because he wanted to see someone real. Riker, touched, takes Ethan (now revealed as a vaguely insectlike alien named Barash) with him when he leaves. NEXT WEEK: Picard and Wes are trapped on a desert planet, and Wes can only save Picard by mastering the spice melange...no, wait, that can't be right...:-) Tim Lynch (Cornell's first Astronomy B.A.; one of many Caltech grad students) BITNET: tlynch@citjuliet INTERNET: tlynch@juliet.caltech.edu UUCP: ...!ucbvax!tlynch%juliet.caltech.edu@hamlet.caltech.edu "Some things improve with age--maybe your trumpet playing will be one of them." --D. Troi, at Riker's birthday party. -- Copyright 1990, Timothy W. Lynch. All rights reserved, but feel free to ask...