1 00:00:01,752 --> 00:00:06,173 Captain's log, stardate 41590.5. 2 00:00:06,340 --> 00:00:09,885 Having dropped off Counselor Troi for a visit home, 3 00:00:10,052 --> 00:00:13,305 we were fortunately close to the Sigma III system 4 00:00:13,472 --> 00:00:17,851 when its Federation colony made an urgent call for medical help. 5 00:00:18,018 --> 00:00:22,022 An accidental explosion has devastated a mining operation. 6 00:00:22,189 --> 00:00:24,107 Include a burn unit with each kit. 7 00:00:24,274 --> 00:00:28,153 Identify the most critically injured and beam them to cargo bay six. 8 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,074 - Dr Crusher, this is the Captain. - Dr Crusher here. 9 00:00:32,241 --> 00:00:37,120 Additional information. The number of colonists at the site is 504. 10 00:00:37,287 --> 00:00:40,582 - Are you prepared for that many? - We believe so, sir. 11 00:00:40,749 --> 00:00:43,710 Captain, we are now at warp 9.1, sir. 12 00:00:43,919 --> 00:00:46,880 We will be at the colony in 3.2 hours, sir. 13 00:00:48,298 --> 00:00:51,009 Schematics suggest the explosion was caused 14 00:00:51,176 --> 00:00:54,263 by a methane-like gas seeping in from underground. 15 00:00:54,429 --> 00:00:57,599 Captain, I'm picking up a force field. It's... 16 00:01:05,190 --> 00:01:09,194 The Q entity. It's identical to the grid we encountered... 17 00:01:09,361 --> 00:01:12,281 - It reads solid, sir. - Emergency. Full stop. 18 00:01:12,447 --> 00:01:13,991 Reversing power, sir. 19 00:01:14,658 --> 00:01:16,326 Not now, damn it, Q. 20 00:01:16,493 --> 00:01:18,912 Shields and deflectors up, sir. 21 00:01:26,795 --> 00:01:28,714 Now reading full stop, sir. 22 00:01:30,465 --> 00:01:33,468 Humans. I thought by now you'd have scampered back 23 00:01:33,635 --> 00:01:35,470 to your own little star system. 24 00:01:38,557 --> 00:01:42,811 If this is Q I'm addressing, we are on a mission of rescue... 25 00:01:42,978 --> 00:01:47,191 We the Q have studied our contact with you, and are impressed. 26 00:01:47,357 --> 00:01:48,942 We have much to discuss, 27 00:01:49,109 --> 00:01:53,447 including perhaps the realization of your most impossible dream. 28 00:01:53,614 --> 00:01:58,452 Intriguing as that is, we are on an urgent journey. After, perhaps... 29 00:01:58,619 --> 00:02:03,582 You will abandon it! My business with you takes precedence. 30 00:02:04,500 --> 00:02:09,713 If my magnificence blinds you, then perhaps something more familiar. 31 00:02:13,884 --> 00:02:17,012 Starfleet Admiral Q, at your service. 32 00:02:40,619 --> 00:02:43,705 Space, the final frontier. 33 00:02:45,415 --> 00:02:49,336 These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. 34 00:02:49,503 --> 00:02:53,590 Its continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds... 35 00:02:55,425 --> 00:02:59,096 ...to seek out new life and new civilizations... 36 00:03:00,013 --> 00:03:03,684 ...to boldly go where no one has gone before. 37 00:04:06,035 --> 00:04:08,120 Captain's log, supplemental. 38 00:04:08,287 --> 00:04:12,541 Our rescue mission to Sigma III has been halted by an immense grid 39 00:04:12,708 --> 00:04:15,753 and an untimely visit from Q. 40 00:04:16,837 --> 00:04:19,507 You're no Starfleet Admiral, Q. 41 00:04:19,632 --> 00:04:24,804 Neither am I an Aldebaran serpent, Captain, but you accepted me as such. 42 00:04:24,970 --> 00:04:26,889 He's got us there, Captain! 43 00:04:27,056 --> 00:04:30,601 The redoubtable Cmdr Riker, whom I noticed before. 44 00:04:30,768 --> 00:04:33,145 You seem to find this all very amusing. 45 00:04:33,312 --> 00:04:38,359 I might, if we weren't on our way to help some suffering, dying humans... 46 00:04:38,567 --> 00:04:41,403 Your species is always suffering and dying. 47 00:04:41,570 --> 00:04:45,908 No, Lt Worf! Make no move against him unless I order it. 48 00:04:47,118 --> 00:04:50,704 Pity! You might have learned an interesting lesson. 49 00:04:50,871 --> 00:04:54,250 Macro head with a micro brain! 50 00:04:56,168 --> 00:05:03,092 You said you had the realization of impossible dreams to offer us. 51 00:05:04,427 --> 00:05:08,514 When this rescue is completed, I will listen to your proposal. 52 00:05:08,681 --> 00:05:10,933 Subject to its being acceptable... 53 00:05:11,100 --> 00:05:15,729 Subject to foolish human values? Picard, why do you distrust me so? 54 00:05:16,355 --> 00:05:20,860 Why? At our first meeting, you seized my vessel. 55 00:05:21,026 --> 00:05:23,696 You condemned all humans as savages 56 00:05:23,863 --> 00:05:28,325 and tried us in a post-atomic 21st-century court of horrors, 57 00:05:28,492 --> 00:05:31,454 attacked my people and again seized my vessel! 58 00:05:31,620 --> 00:05:35,624 And that angered you? "Seized my vessel!" 59 00:05:35,791 --> 00:05:38,711 You interfered with our Farpoint mission. 60 00:05:38,878 --> 00:05:42,339 You threatened to convict us as ignorant savages, 61 00:05:42,506 --> 00:05:45,426 if, while dealing with a powerful life form, 62 00:05:45,593 --> 00:05:48,471 we made any mistake, and when we didn't... 63 00:05:48,637 --> 00:05:50,890 The Q became interested in you. 64 00:05:51,056 --> 00:05:54,560 Does no one here understand your good fortune? 65 00:05:54,769 --> 00:05:56,645 "Seized my vessel!" 66 00:05:56,812 --> 00:05:58,898 The complaints of a closed mind, 67 00:05:59,064 --> 00:06:01,776 too accustomed to military privileges. 68 00:06:03,527 --> 00:06:08,699 But you, Riker, and I remember you well, what do you make of my offer? 69 00:06:08,866 --> 00:06:11,368 We don't have time for these games. 70 00:06:12,286 --> 00:06:16,165 Games? Did someone say games? 71 00:06:17,083 --> 00:06:21,045 And, perchance for interest's sake, a deadly game? 72 00:06:23,547 --> 00:06:25,549 To the game. 73 00:06:34,683 --> 00:06:35,893 Where are we? 74 00:06:40,898 --> 00:06:45,319 A Class-M world. Gravity and oxygen within our limits. 75 00:06:46,529 --> 00:06:49,824 Twin moons. Where are we? 76 00:06:51,659 --> 00:06:57,081 Considering the power demonstrated by Q the last time... anywhere. 77 00:06:58,082 --> 00:07:00,251 Assuming this place even exists. 78 00:07:00,418 --> 00:07:05,756 But it won't be boring. If Q is anything, he's imaginative. 79 00:07:05,923 --> 00:07:08,634 Seems our Captain wasn't meant to be here. 80 00:07:10,302 --> 00:07:12,304 Security, this is the Captain. 81 00:07:13,889 --> 00:07:15,474 Security? 82 00:07:18,686 --> 00:07:20,896 Engineering, this is the bridge. 83 00:07:51,844 --> 00:07:54,054 Turbolift control, do you read? 84 00:07:55,014 --> 00:07:56,599 This is the Captain. 85 00:08:02,730 --> 00:08:04,315 Sir! Over there! 86 00:08:05,441 --> 00:08:09,320 Join me, Riker. A good game needs rules and planning. 87 00:08:10,654 --> 00:08:12,490 Didn't your own Hartley say, 88 00:08:12,656 --> 00:08:15,993 "Nothing reveals humanity so well as the games it plays"? 89 00:08:17,536 --> 00:08:19,246 Almost right. 90 00:08:19,413 --> 00:08:22,875 Actually, you reveal yourselves best in how you play. 91 00:08:26,921 --> 00:08:31,217 Sir, what he has in mind might provide us with vital information. 92 00:08:59,912 --> 00:09:04,708 Incredible. I was just thinking about an old-fashioned lemonade. 93 00:09:05,543 --> 00:09:09,755 And so it became that. An excellent thirst-quencher. 94 00:09:09,922 --> 00:09:12,675 It gets rather hot out here on this plain. 95 00:09:12,883 --> 00:09:14,677 What about my people? 96 00:09:14,844 --> 00:09:17,054 Whatever they'd like, of course. 97 00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,033 "Drink not with thine enemy." 98 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:42,955 The rigid Klingon code. That explains something of why you defeated them. 99 00:09:45,249 --> 00:09:50,337 Still fascinated with the human past? Perhaps you're not that original. 100 00:09:50,546 --> 00:09:53,924 Au contraire. It's the human future which intrigues us. 101 00:09:54,091 --> 00:09:56,427 And it should concern you the most. 102 00:09:56,594 --> 00:10:00,181 Of all the species, yours cannot abide stagnation. 103 00:10:00,347 --> 00:10:04,769 Change is the heart of what you are. But into what? That's the question. 104 00:10:04,935 --> 00:10:08,147 That is what humans call... a truism. 105 00:10:08,314 --> 00:10:13,235 - You mean hardly original? - You're the one who said it. 106 00:10:13,402 --> 00:10:17,907 While we're at it... this isn't part of any human future. 107 00:10:18,073 --> 00:10:21,911 True. I borrowed this from your stodgy Captain's mind. 108 00:10:22,078 --> 00:10:25,039 This is the dressing for a game we will play. 109 00:10:25,206 --> 00:10:27,875 Now, games require rules, rewards, 110 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,128 dangers, familiar settings. That sort of thing. 111 00:10:31,337 --> 00:10:34,215 This isn't that familiar to me. Data? 112 00:10:35,341 --> 00:10:40,596 This is from Europe's Napoleonic era. Late-18th, early-19th centuries. 113 00:10:40,763 --> 00:10:43,432 This is a campaign-headquarters tent. 114 00:10:43,557 --> 00:10:46,477 His uniform is that of a French Army marshal. 115 00:10:46,644 --> 00:10:48,437 Outranking even an admiral. 116 00:10:48,604 --> 00:10:52,274 Would I go from a Starfleet admiral to anything else? 117 00:10:52,441 --> 00:10:54,235 Of course you wouldn't. 118 00:10:54,944 --> 00:10:57,738 But Napoleonic equipment on an alien planet, 119 00:10:57,905 --> 00:11:00,241 one so different it has twin moons? 120 00:11:00,407 --> 00:11:03,285 As you said, I am nothing if not imaginative. 121 00:11:03,452 --> 00:11:05,413 The game should reflect that. 122 00:11:05,579 --> 00:11:10,918 Shall it be a test of strength? Meaningless, since you have none. 123 00:11:11,210 --> 00:11:15,631 A test of intelligence, then? Equally as meaningless! 124 00:11:15,798 --> 00:11:20,594 But it needs risk, something to win. And something to lose. 125 00:11:21,137 --> 00:11:24,598 If we must play a game, what would we win? 126 00:11:24,765 --> 00:11:28,144 The greatest possible future you can imagine. 127 00:11:28,310 --> 00:11:31,856 Which requires something totally disastrous if you lose. 128 00:11:32,022 --> 00:11:34,525 The point of this game shall be, 129 00:11:34,692 --> 00:11:37,361 can any of you stay alive? 130 00:11:37,528 --> 00:11:40,406 If your game is fair, we will. 131 00:11:41,031 --> 00:11:42,950 For shame, Worf! 132 00:11:43,117 --> 00:11:47,079 Fairness is such a human concept. Think imaginatively! 133 00:11:47,246 --> 00:11:50,916 This game shall in fact be... completely unfair. 134 00:11:51,125 --> 00:11:54,253 - You've gone too far! - Game penalty! 135 00:11:57,798 --> 00:12:01,051 Where is she, Q? You can forget your game... 136 00:12:01,218 --> 00:12:04,680 To use a 20th-century term, she's in a penalty box. 137 00:12:04,847 --> 00:12:08,851 She'll remain there unharmed unless one of you merits a penalty. 138 00:12:09,018 --> 00:12:11,437 Unfortunately, there's only one box. 139 00:12:11,604 --> 00:12:15,566 If any of you are sent there, dear Tasha must give the box up. 140 00:12:15,733 --> 00:12:17,777 And where does she go? 141 00:12:18,402 --> 00:12:20,279 Into nothingness! 142 00:12:21,155 --> 00:12:23,908 I entreat you to obey the rules of the game. 143 00:12:24,074 --> 00:12:29,205 The only one who can destroy your Tasha now is you. 144 00:12:57,027 --> 00:12:58,320 Captain's log... 145 00:13:02,574 --> 00:13:04,994 Damn it. I can't even make a log entry. 146 00:13:06,120 --> 00:13:08,330 I wish I could help you, Captain. 147 00:13:11,125 --> 00:13:12,751 Where is everyone else? 148 00:13:13,877 --> 00:13:15,337 Down on some planet. 149 00:13:15,504 --> 00:13:18,424 - Some planet? Why are you here? - Well, I... 150 00:13:21,010 --> 00:13:22,720 It sounds strange... 151 00:13:23,887 --> 00:13:26,473 ...but, I'm in a penalty box. 152 00:13:26,640 --> 00:13:28,517 A penalty box? 153 00:13:28,684 --> 00:13:33,814 Q's penalty box. It sounds strange, but it definitely isn't. 154 00:13:34,607 --> 00:13:36,942 I know that one more penalty... 155 00:13:37,943 --> 00:13:41,363 ...by anyone... and I'm gone. 156 00:13:41,530 --> 00:13:44,074 - Gone? - Yes! I am gone! 157 00:13:47,745 --> 00:13:51,790 It is so frustrating to be controlled like this! 158 00:13:54,877 --> 00:13:57,004 Lieutenant... 159 00:13:57,171 --> 00:13:59,089 Tasha, it's alright. 160 00:14:00,841 --> 00:14:04,303 What in the hell am I doing? Crying?! 161 00:14:06,889 --> 00:14:08,474 Don't worry. 162 00:14:10,225 --> 00:14:12,811 There is a new standing order on the bridge. 163 00:14:12,978 --> 00:14:17,441 When one is in the penalty box, tears are permitted. 164 00:14:21,070 --> 00:14:22,655 Captain... 165 00:14:25,032 --> 00:14:27,034 If you weren't a captain... 166 00:14:27,910 --> 00:14:30,829 Consorting with lower-rank females? 167 00:14:31,330 --> 00:14:36,168 Especially ones in penalty boxes? Destructive to discipline, they say. 168 00:14:36,752 --> 00:14:39,964 But then again, you're what? Only human. 169 00:14:40,506 --> 00:14:43,467 Penalty... over. 170 00:14:54,687 --> 00:14:56,480 A marshal of France? 171 00:14:57,606 --> 00:14:59,275 Ridiculous! 172 00:14:59,441 --> 00:15:02,486 One takes the jobs he can get. 173 00:15:02,653 --> 00:15:07,992 For example, starlog entry, stardate today. 174 00:15:08,909 --> 00:15:12,788 This is Q speaking for Capt Jean-Luc Picard, 175 00:15:12,955 --> 00:15:17,042 who we consider too bound by Starfleet customs and traditions 176 00:15:17,209 --> 00:15:19,295 to be useful to us. 177 00:15:19,461 --> 00:15:24,049 The Enterprise is now helpless, stuck like an Earth insect in amber, 178 00:15:24,216 --> 00:15:29,388 while its bridge crew plays out a game, whose real intent is to test 179 00:15:29,555 --> 00:15:35,102 whether the First Officer is worthy of the greatest gift the Q can offer. 180 00:15:35,269 --> 00:15:38,022 So, you're taking on Riker this time. 181 00:15:38,939 --> 00:15:41,817 Excellent. He'll defeat you, just as I did. 182 00:15:41,984 --> 00:15:46,822 Shall we wager on that? Your starship command against... 183 00:15:47,031 --> 00:15:50,826 Against your keeping out of humanity's path for ever! 184 00:15:51,493 --> 00:15:54,747 - Done? - Done. You've already lost. 185 00:15:54,914 --> 00:15:58,918 Riker will be offered something impossible to refuse. 186 00:16:13,807 --> 00:16:15,601 Geordi, can you see Worf? 187 00:16:15,768 --> 00:16:19,063 I'd see the freckles on his nose if he had them, sir. 188 00:16:19,229 --> 00:16:20,731 He's at the third ridge. 189 00:16:20,898 --> 00:16:22,483 The third ridge? 190 00:16:22,650 --> 00:16:24,234 Moving well, too. 191 00:16:26,779 --> 00:16:29,031 Good. He sees them. 192 00:17:04,775 --> 00:17:08,988 Listen to me, Q. You seem to have some need for humans. 193 00:17:09,780 --> 00:17:11,907 Concern regarding them. 194 00:17:12,074 --> 00:17:15,744 Why do you demonstrate it through this confrontation? 195 00:17:15,911 --> 00:17:20,040 Why not a simple, direct explanation, a statement of what you seek? 196 00:17:20,207 --> 00:17:22,001 Why these games? 197 00:17:22,626 --> 00:17:25,546 Why these games? Why, the play's the thing! 198 00:17:25,713 --> 00:17:30,134 I'm surprised you need ask. Your human Shakespeare explained it all. 199 00:17:30,301 --> 00:17:32,636 He did but don't depend on one view... 200 00:17:32,803 --> 00:17:35,889 A pity you don't know the content of your own library. 201 00:17:36,056 --> 00:17:38,225 Hear this, and reflect. 202 00:17:39,226 --> 00:17:41,937 "All the galaxy's a stage..." 203 00:17:42,146 --> 00:17:45,065 World, not galaxy. "All the world's a stage." 204 00:17:45,232 --> 00:17:49,028 You know it. If he were living now, he'd have said galaxy. 205 00:17:49,194 --> 00:17:53,949 How about this? "Life is but a walking shadow, 206 00:17:54,116 --> 00:17:58,746 a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage 207 00:17:58,913 --> 00:18:01,248 and then is heard no more." 208 00:18:02,041 --> 00:18:04,627 "It is a tale told by an idiot, 209 00:18:04,793 --> 00:18:08,964 full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." 210 00:18:09,757 --> 00:18:13,761 I see. So how we respond to a game tells you more about us 211 00:18:13,928 --> 00:18:18,891 than our real life? This... tale told by an idiot. 212 00:18:19,058 --> 00:18:20,225 Interesting. 213 00:18:20,392 --> 00:18:24,271 Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. Perhaps a little Hamlet? 214 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,652 I know Hamlet. What he might say with irony, I say with conviction. 215 00:18:29,818 --> 00:18:34,239 "What a piece of work is man. How noble in reason." 216 00:18:34,406 --> 00:18:36,033 "How infinite in faculty." 217 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,578 "In form, in moving, how express and admirable." 218 00:18:39,745 --> 00:18:44,667 "In action, how like an angel. In apprehension, how like a god." 219 00:18:45,793 --> 00:18:48,170 You don't see your species like that? 220 00:18:48,337 --> 00:18:51,548 I see us one day becoming that, Q. 221 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:54,885 Is it that which concerns you? 222 00:19:02,518 --> 00:19:06,814 Those soldiers have formed a skirmishing line, I think it is. 223 00:19:06,981 --> 00:19:09,358 And they're headed this way. 224 00:19:09,525 --> 00:19:12,027 Armed with ball-and-powder muskets? 225 00:19:12,194 --> 00:19:14,113 That's what they look like, sir. 226 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:18,284 Muskets are appropriate to the 1790-1800 French uniform, sir. 227 00:19:18,450 --> 00:19:20,911 But it is hardly a weapon by our standards. 228 00:19:21,078 --> 00:19:25,583 A lead ball propelled by gunpowder. 100 meters at best, with accuracy. 229 00:19:25,749 --> 00:19:30,588 Against phasers? Just one phaser could finish off an entire regiment. 230 00:19:30,754 --> 00:19:35,384 Except that it hardly sounds like Q to give us an advantage like that. 231 00:19:36,635 --> 00:19:38,304 Unless... 232 00:19:45,519 --> 00:19:46,812 Drop your weapons! 233 00:19:47,479 --> 00:19:51,734 That was me, Worf. I was checking that the phasers still operate. 234 00:19:53,152 --> 00:19:55,946 Incredible. He came out of nowhere. 235 00:19:57,406 --> 00:19:58,782 A warrior's reaction. 236 00:19:58,949 --> 00:20:00,993 Report. What did you find? 237 00:20:01,160 --> 00:20:06,206 They may wear old Earth uniforms, but they aren't human at all. 238 00:20:06,999 --> 00:20:09,168 More like vicious animal things. 239 00:20:15,382 --> 00:20:18,052 Those soldiers are moving in fast, sir. 240 00:20:21,180 --> 00:20:24,892 Data, if you've got a theory about what's happening... 241 00:20:27,478 --> 00:20:30,564 Think fast, Cmdr Riker, and move fast. 242 00:20:43,577 --> 00:20:45,704 Those aren't muskets! 243 00:20:51,543 --> 00:20:55,547 You have one chance to save them. Send them back to the ship. 244 00:20:56,215 --> 00:20:57,758 You'll let me beam them? 245 00:20:57,967 --> 00:21:01,595 Send them the same way I do. I've given you the power. 246 00:21:01,762 --> 00:21:05,599 Do you understand? I've given you the power of the Q. 247 00:21:06,433 --> 00:21:07,601 Use it. 248 00:21:12,982 --> 00:21:14,608 Use your power. 249 00:21:21,740 --> 00:21:23,325 Use your power. 250 00:21:58,465 --> 00:22:01,802 Lieutenant, take the conn position. Engineering? 251 00:22:01,969 --> 00:22:05,139 - Engineering, sir. - Are all systems back on line? 252 00:22:05,306 --> 00:22:07,766 Back on line, sir? They were never off. 253 00:22:11,020 --> 00:22:13,480 Captain, you'd better look at this. 254 00:22:14,481 --> 00:22:19,236 There's been no interruption in course or speed. Both are constant. 255 00:22:19,528 --> 00:22:21,697 It's as though we never stopped. 256 00:22:23,073 --> 00:22:24,867 We never did, Lieutenant. 257 00:22:25,993 --> 00:22:28,162 Q suspended time. 258 00:22:33,709 --> 00:22:36,962 - Where's Cmdr Riker? - He was with us. 259 00:22:37,129 --> 00:22:39,256 He must still be on the planet. 260 00:22:39,965 --> 00:22:43,844 We were under attack by these... animal things. 261 00:22:44,553 --> 00:22:49,058 - Animal things? - Maybe Data can explain better, sir. 262 00:22:50,392 --> 00:22:54,313 You may find it aesthetically displeasing. I'll file a report. 263 00:22:54,480 --> 00:22:55,231 Data... 264 00:22:55,397 --> 00:22:58,859 Sir, the important thing is why is Cmdr Riker missing? 265 00:22:59,068 --> 00:23:03,072 Understood. But I suspect Cmdr Riker is perfectly safe, 266 00:23:03,239 --> 00:23:05,157 at least in a physical sense. 267 00:23:05,741 --> 00:23:08,827 Q has an interest in him. 268 00:23:08,994 --> 00:23:12,623 In fact, Q's entire visit concerns our First Officer. 269 00:23:12,790 --> 00:23:15,918 - And the reason for that, sir? - I wish I knew. 270 00:23:16,085 --> 00:23:19,463 Q first became interested in him at Farpoint. 271 00:23:19,630 --> 00:23:21,632 I have no idea what it means. 272 00:23:21,799 --> 00:23:25,177 Meanwhile, we must proceed with our rescue mission. 273 00:23:43,779 --> 00:23:47,950 Something amuses you? Perhaps you'll share the joke with me. 274 00:23:48,117 --> 00:23:49,451 The joke is you! 275 00:23:50,202 --> 00:23:52,246 Strange gratitude, 276 00:23:52,413 --> 00:23:56,917 from one who has been granted a gift beyond any human dream. 277 00:24:00,087 --> 00:24:04,758 How can you not appreciate being able to send your friends to their ship, 278 00:24:04,925 --> 00:24:09,221 or send the soldiers back to the nothingness from which they came? 279 00:24:09,930 --> 00:24:14,435 You must understand that you can send yourself back to the ship, 280 00:24:14,643 --> 00:24:18,606 or to Earth, or change your shape, become anything you want to be. 281 00:24:18,772 --> 00:24:21,692 - What do you need? - Need? 282 00:24:21,859 --> 00:24:24,528 You want something from us. Desperately. 283 00:24:24,653 --> 00:24:29,491 Want something from you foolish, fragile nonentities? Come, Riker! 284 00:24:29,700 --> 00:24:32,411 You sound like your Captain. 285 00:24:32,578 --> 00:24:35,623 Now, that's a compliment, Q, but not an answer. 286 00:24:41,670 --> 00:24:46,800 Riker, we have offered you a gift beyond all other gifts! 287 00:24:47,718 --> 00:24:49,720 Out of the goodness of your heart. 288 00:24:54,934 --> 00:25:00,189 After Farpoint, I returned to where we exist, the Q Continuum. 289 00:25:00,356 --> 00:25:02,024 Which means what? 290 00:25:02,191 --> 00:25:05,986 The limitless dimensions of the galaxy in which we exist. 291 00:25:06,153 --> 00:25:09,240 - I don't understand. - Of course you don't. 292 00:25:09,406 --> 00:25:12,618 And you never will, until you become one of us. 293 00:25:12,785 --> 00:25:16,038 Until? Would you mind going over that again? 294 00:25:17,248 --> 00:25:19,792 If you'd stop interrupting me! 295 00:25:19,959 --> 00:25:24,797 This is hardly a time to be teaching you the true nature of the universe. 296 00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:28,342 However... 297 00:25:29,677 --> 00:25:34,181 At Farpoint... we saw you as savages only. 298 00:25:34,932 --> 00:25:38,519 We discovered instead that you are unusual creatures... 299 00:25:39,395 --> 00:25:42,565 ...in your own limited ways. 300 00:25:43,274 --> 00:25:46,277 Ways which, in time, will not be so limited. 301 00:25:46,443 --> 00:25:48,529 We're growing. 302 00:25:48,696 --> 00:25:52,908 Something about us compels us to learn, explore. 303 00:25:53,075 --> 00:25:54,952 Yes, the human compulsion. 304 00:25:55,119 --> 00:25:58,414 Unfortunately for us, this power will grow stronger, 305 00:25:58,581 --> 00:26:01,250 century after century, aeon after aeon. 306 00:26:01,417 --> 00:26:06,171 Aeons... Have you any idea how far we'll advance? 307 00:26:06,338 --> 00:26:11,552 Perhaps in a future that you cannot yet conceive, even beyond us. 308 00:26:12,553 --> 00:26:16,265 You see, we must know more about this human compulsion. 309 00:26:16,765 --> 00:26:20,185 That's why we selected you to become part of the Q, 310 00:26:20,352 --> 00:26:23,522 so you can bring to us this human need and hunger, 311 00:26:23,689 --> 00:26:25,941 that we may better understand it. 312 00:26:26,358 --> 00:26:29,153 I suppose that's meant as a compliment. 313 00:26:30,696 --> 00:26:33,240 Or maybe it's my limited mind. 314 00:26:33,407 --> 00:26:35,826 But to become a part of you? 315 00:26:36,535 --> 00:26:37,912 I don't even like you. 316 00:26:39,663 --> 00:26:41,665 You're gonna miss me. 317 00:26:54,303 --> 00:26:56,263 Come on! Not again! 318 00:27:05,147 --> 00:27:09,360 Cmdr Riker, what's going on? I was sitting in school and... 319 00:27:09,526 --> 00:27:12,238 Worf! My phaser's gone. Are you armed? 320 00:27:13,447 --> 00:27:14,448 No. 321 00:27:19,245 --> 00:27:22,915 Where is Q? lf you have an answer to any of this... 322 00:27:55,823 --> 00:27:56,991 Look out! 323 00:27:57,157 --> 00:27:58,659 Wesley! No! 324 00:28:02,705 --> 00:28:03,956 No, damn it! 325 00:28:04,123 --> 00:28:05,791 Damn it to hell! 326 00:28:10,004 --> 00:28:11,088 You... ! 327 00:28:11,255 --> 00:28:13,591 You did that! 328 00:28:14,466 --> 00:28:16,051 And that's not all! 329 00:28:31,942 --> 00:28:34,153 That grid, their wounds... 330 00:28:35,696 --> 00:28:37,698 Only the Q can do that. 331 00:28:47,599 --> 00:28:50,978 Captain's log, stardate 41591.4. 332 00:28:51,186 --> 00:28:53,647 1 minutes out from Quadra Sigma III, 333 00:28:53,814 --> 00:28:57,151 where the survivors of a disaster desperately need us. 334 00:28:57,317 --> 00:29:00,571 On the Enterprise, First Officer William T Riker 335 00:29:00,738 --> 00:29:02,823 needs help nearly as badly. 336 00:29:02,990 --> 00:29:06,535 But this is a subject far out of my experience. 337 00:29:06,702 --> 00:29:09,079 Out of any human's experience. 338 00:29:15,252 --> 00:29:17,379 How the hell do I advise you? 339 00:29:18,922 --> 00:29:21,592 You know the implications as well as I. 340 00:29:23,510 --> 00:29:27,097 No one has ever offered to turn me into a god before. 341 00:29:27,681 --> 00:29:31,560 What the Q has offered you has to be close to immortality. 342 00:29:31,769 --> 00:29:34,563 It's no lie about controlling time and space. 343 00:29:34,730 --> 00:29:38,567 - We've seen it in what they can do. - And in what I can do. 344 00:29:39,485 --> 00:29:43,614 If you are to refuse his offer, you must not use this power again. 345 00:29:43,781 --> 00:29:47,660 It's too great a temptation at our present stage of development. 346 00:29:47,826 --> 00:29:49,870 You fear I won't be able to say no? 347 00:29:50,037 --> 00:29:55,793 You tell me. Are you strong enough to refuse to use that power? 348 00:29:55,959 --> 00:29:57,002 Certainly. 349 00:29:57,169 --> 00:30:01,006 No matter how tempted? No matter how difficult Q makes it? 350 00:30:03,175 --> 00:30:04,843 You have my word. 351 00:30:05,552 --> 00:30:08,639 Good. I know what your word means. 352 00:30:08,847 --> 00:30:10,974 In orbit of Quadra Sigma III. 353 00:30:11,141 --> 00:30:15,437 Ready to beam down rescue team to underground emergency area. 354 00:30:29,618 --> 00:30:31,370 This way, sir. 355 00:30:49,972 --> 00:30:51,974 Are there any others? 356 00:30:52,141 --> 00:30:54,685 Gone. It's just us. 357 00:31:02,192 --> 00:31:03,777 Commander! 358 00:31:08,741 --> 00:31:10,951 There's somebody under here! 359 00:31:21,337 --> 00:31:23,255 You're getting close, Data. 360 00:31:40,356 --> 00:31:43,317 It's too late. She's dead. 361 00:31:46,945 --> 00:31:49,615 If only we'd gotten here a little sooner. 362 00:31:50,908 --> 00:31:54,370 Sir, if indeed you have the power of Q... 363 00:31:57,998 --> 00:32:02,044 I don't understand. Certainly you can't bring her back to life. 364 00:32:02,211 --> 00:32:06,674 I can't. I'm prevented from that by a promise. 365 00:32:32,449 --> 00:32:37,454 I was wrong to make that agreement. I could have saved that child. 366 00:32:37,621 --> 00:32:42,584 You were right not to try. Once you get accustomed to that power... 367 00:32:42,751 --> 00:32:46,088 When I used it before, I saved most of our bridge crew! 368 00:32:46,296 --> 00:32:48,841 And when you grow to like it too much? 369 00:32:49,883 --> 00:32:52,052 As soon as it's convenient, 370 00:32:52,219 --> 00:32:54,972 I want a meeting with you and your bridge staff. 371 00:32:55,139 --> 00:32:58,267 As soon as we are secure with this rescue operation, 372 00:32:58,434 --> 00:33:01,186 I'll discuss all that this new power... 373 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,090 We can confer here, if no one objects. 374 00:33:30,257 --> 00:33:33,635 The bridge is fine. I've called the entire staff. 375 00:33:33,802 --> 00:33:36,805 Correction. Knowing the decision you face, 376 00:33:36,972 --> 00:33:39,516 I have permitted you this gathering. 377 00:33:40,184 --> 00:33:41,477 Of course, Jean-Luc. 378 00:33:50,694 --> 00:33:52,821 Wesley, this meeting is not for you. 379 00:33:52,988 --> 00:33:56,325 Why not, sir? You helped make me a bridge officer. 380 00:33:57,284 --> 00:33:59,328 Acting Ensign. 381 00:33:59,495 --> 00:34:01,372 Alright. He stays. 382 00:34:11,382 --> 00:34:15,803 Because I've been given unusual powers, I'm not suddenly a monster. 383 00:34:15,969 --> 00:34:20,474 Except for these abilities, and I don't yet know how far they go, 384 00:34:20,641 --> 00:34:23,852 I'm the same William T Riker you've always known. 385 00:34:27,356 --> 00:34:28,732 Well? 386 00:34:32,903 --> 00:34:35,197 Everyone still looks uncomfortable. 387 00:34:36,115 --> 00:34:39,868 Perhaps they all remember that saying, "power corrupts." 388 00:34:40,035 --> 00:34:42,997 And absolute power corrupts absolutely. 389 00:34:43,205 --> 00:34:46,583 You believe I haven't thought of that, Jean-Luc? 390 00:34:46,750 --> 00:34:51,171 And have you noticed how you and I are now on a first-name basis? 391 00:34:52,631 --> 00:34:54,425 Number One. 392 00:34:54,591 --> 00:34:58,220 Will... something has happened already. 393 00:35:00,139 --> 00:35:01,724 In what way? 394 00:35:01,890 --> 00:35:05,894 Haven't you seen how much I regretted not saving that child? 395 00:35:06,061 --> 00:35:09,356 Using the power of Q to save her may not have been wrong. 396 00:35:09,523 --> 00:35:13,527 No more than it was wrong to save you from those soldier things. 397 00:35:13,694 --> 00:35:18,407 Let's keep in mind that that particular danger was invented by Q. 398 00:35:18,574 --> 00:35:23,329 What we represent to the Q, Commander, are lowly animals, 399 00:35:23,537 --> 00:35:27,124 tormented into performing for their amusement. 400 00:35:27,291 --> 00:35:29,877 Actually, they think very highly of us. 401 00:35:31,045 --> 00:35:35,174 We have a quality of growth which they admire. 402 00:35:35,341 --> 00:35:36,842 Or fear. 403 00:35:38,552 --> 00:35:42,431 No, we've learned the Q do not admire us. 404 00:35:43,557 --> 00:35:45,559 The Q has muddled your mind. 405 00:35:46,101 --> 00:35:50,022 Don't you understand his incredible gift to me? 406 00:35:51,273 --> 00:35:55,194 Are these truly your friends, brother? 407 00:36:09,778 --> 00:36:14,282 Let us pray. For understanding and for compassion. 408 00:36:14,449 --> 00:36:19,329 Let us do no such damn thing! What is this need of yours for costumes? 409 00:36:19,496 --> 00:36:21,498 Have you no identity of your own? 410 00:36:21,665 --> 00:36:23,833 I come in search of the truth. 411 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,920 You come in search of what humanity is! 412 00:36:27,087 --> 00:36:29,422 I forgive your blasphemy! 413 00:36:35,136 --> 00:36:36,721 Don't you see, Riker? 414 00:36:36,888 --> 00:36:41,309 He's nothing but a flimflam man. He has been since we met at Farpoint! 415 00:36:42,060 --> 00:36:43,603 Flimflam? 416 00:36:43,770 --> 00:36:46,147 You offer Riker jealousy. 417 00:36:46,314 --> 00:36:49,776 What I offer is clearly beyond your comprehension. 418 00:36:49,943 --> 00:36:52,404 How can you claim friendship for Riker, 419 00:36:52,571 --> 00:36:57,742 while obstructing the greatest adventure ever offered a human? 420 00:36:57,909 --> 00:37:01,913 Obstructing? Then it's not certain. He's not yet committed. 421 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:05,542 The truly evil part of this is your jealousy. 422 00:37:06,251 --> 00:37:08,837 You love each one of your people. 423 00:37:09,004 --> 00:37:12,048 Demonstrate it. You have the power 424 00:37:12,215 --> 00:37:16,219 to leave each one of them with a gift proving your affection. 425 00:37:16,636 --> 00:37:21,474 There'd be no harm to give them something I know they'd like? 426 00:37:22,517 --> 00:37:24,519 How touching! 427 00:37:24,686 --> 00:37:27,480 A plea to his former Captain. 428 00:37:27,647 --> 00:37:32,777 "May I please give happiness to my friends, sir? Please, sir?" 429 00:37:35,697 --> 00:37:39,784 In fact, I authorize and support your idea, Riker. 430 00:37:42,162 --> 00:37:45,832 Please, feel free to cooperate with him if you wish. 431 00:37:48,209 --> 00:37:50,712 - Are you certain, sir? - Quite certain. 432 00:37:50,879 --> 00:37:54,507 By all means, demonstrate your gifts of affection. 433 00:37:57,302 --> 00:38:01,473 Don't be frightened. There is no way I could harm any of you. 434 00:38:04,351 --> 00:38:06,228 Shall I guess your dreams? 435 00:38:10,982 --> 00:38:13,235 We'll leave now, Wesley. 436 00:38:13,401 --> 00:38:17,864 No! Wesley I may know best of all. Our friendship, our long talks... 437 00:38:18,031 --> 00:38:19,616 No, please! 438 00:38:19,783 --> 00:38:22,911 Have your favorite wish, my young friend. 439 00:38:26,223 --> 00:38:29,184 You're ten years older. A man! 440 00:38:37,276 --> 00:38:38,735 Not bad! 441 00:38:43,657 --> 00:38:45,075 No! 442 00:38:46,285 --> 00:38:47,411 No, sir. 443 00:38:47,578 --> 00:38:50,998 But it's what you've always wanted, to become human. 444 00:38:51,707 --> 00:38:53,584 Yes, sir. That is true. 445 00:38:54,710 --> 00:38:59,965 But I never wanted to compound one... illusion with another. 446 00:39:01,133 --> 00:39:03,719 It might be real to Q... 447 00:39:04,469 --> 00:39:06,054 ...perhaps even you, sir. 448 00:39:06,930 --> 00:39:08,932 But it would never be so to me. 449 00:39:09,850 --> 00:39:13,729 Was it not one of the Captain's favorite authors who wrote, 450 00:39:13,896 --> 00:39:17,316 "This above all: to thine own self be true"? 451 00:39:19,359 --> 00:39:22,362 Sorry, Commander, I must decline. 452 00:39:28,660 --> 00:39:32,748 And you, my friend. I know what you want. 453 00:40:07,157 --> 00:40:09,827 You're as beautiful as I imagined. 454 00:40:10,911 --> 00:40:12,871 And more. 455 00:40:13,956 --> 00:40:16,375 Then we can throw away the visor? 456 00:40:20,838 --> 00:40:22,506 I don't think so, sir. 457 00:40:22,673 --> 00:40:25,342 The price is a little too high for me. 458 00:40:25,926 --> 00:40:29,513 And... I don't like who I'd have to thank. 459 00:40:36,103 --> 00:40:38,105 Make me the way I was. 460 00:40:41,733 --> 00:40:43,235 Please! 461 00:41:00,752 --> 00:41:03,130 Proud warrior Worf! 462 00:41:04,047 --> 00:41:06,717 Without a single tie to his own kind. 463 00:41:56,058 --> 00:41:57,434 No! 464 00:41:59,520 --> 00:42:02,064 She is from a world now alien to me! 465 00:42:03,440 --> 00:42:06,735 Worf, is this your idea of sex? 466 00:42:07,402 --> 00:42:09,321 This is sex. 467 00:42:10,864 --> 00:42:13,450 But I have no place for it in my life now! 468 00:42:13,992 --> 00:42:17,246 No place, micro brain? What possesses you? 469 00:42:22,543 --> 00:42:25,796 Cmdr Riker, it's too soon for this. 470 00:42:25,963 --> 00:42:28,507 Is this because your mother objects? 471 00:42:28,674 --> 00:42:30,425 No. 472 00:42:33,178 --> 00:42:37,474 I just want to get there on my own. Honest. 473 00:42:40,894 --> 00:42:44,398 But it's easier, boy! Listen to Riker! 474 00:42:51,280 --> 00:42:53,157 How did you know, sir? 475 00:42:53,657 --> 00:42:55,534 I feel like such an idiot. 476 00:42:55,701 --> 00:42:58,036 Quite right. So you should. 477 00:43:03,458 --> 00:43:05,836 It's over. You have no business here. 478 00:43:06,003 --> 00:43:07,880 You have destroyed yourself. 479 00:43:08,046 --> 00:43:10,340 - Pay off your wager. - I recall none! 480 00:43:10,507 --> 00:43:14,136 Your fellow Q know you agreed never to trouble humans again, 481 00:43:14,344 --> 00:43:17,764 just as they know you failed to tempt a human to join you. 482 00:43:17,931 --> 00:43:19,975 No! lf I can do one more thing... 483 00:43:20,142 --> 00:43:24,271 I strongly suspect it's some explaining you have to do now. 484 00:43:46,418 --> 00:43:47,794 Extraordinary! 485 00:43:47,961 --> 00:43:51,882 Captain, we are showing that same hole in time again. 486 00:43:52,049 --> 00:43:56,136 Our instruments say we just beamed back from our rescue mission. 487 00:43:56,345 --> 00:43:59,765 Sir, how is it that the Q can... 488 00:44:00,682 --> 00:44:04,853 ...handle time and space so well, and us so badly? 489 00:44:05,020 --> 00:44:07,189 Perhaps someday we will discover 490 00:44:07,356 --> 00:44:11,360 that space and time are simpler than the human equation. 491 00:44:15,572 --> 00:44:18,116 No coordinates laid in, Number One? 492 00:44:19,159 --> 00:44:22,621 Yes, sir. You have my coordinates, La Forge. 493 00:44:22,788 --> 00:44:24,289 Aye, sir. 494 00:44:24,456 --> 00:44:26,041 On the board. 495 00:44:31,588 --> 00:44:33,257 Engage.