The Survivors (TNG episode)

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Star Trek: TNG episode
"The Survivors"
Kevin Uxbridge is one of "The Survivors".
Episode no.
Prod. code	151
Airdate	October 9, 1989
Writer(s)	Michael Wagner
Director	Les Landau
Guest star(s)	John Anderson, Anne Haney
Year	2366
Stardate	43152.4
Episode chronology
Previous	"The Ensigns of Command"
Next	"Who Watches the Watchers?"

"The Survivors" is a third season episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation first broadcast on October 9, 1989. In this episode, the Enterprise reaches a Federation colony where all but two of the 11,000 inhabitants have been killed by a mysterious attacker. The two survivors (Kevin and Rishon Uxbridge, an elderly couple) refuse assistance and do not want to be rescued. The crew of the Enterprise must determine why only two survivors remain on an otherwise obliterated planet.

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The Enterprise arrives at Delta Rana IV in response to a distress call sent three days earlier from a Federation colony on the planet. Upon arrival, they find the planet utterly devastated, devoid of all water, vegetation, and buildings, and with no life signs — except for a small, perfectly square patch of trees and grass, with one building and two human life readings.

An away team beams down to the inhabited spot and find an elderly colonist couple, Kevin Uxbridge and his wife Rishon. Kevin is hostile and, holding a phaser, says he wants the landing party to leave them alone, but Rishon insists on being hospitable. The couple say that a huge ship appeared a few days earlier, opened fire on the colony, and then left. Rishon says they hadn't heard from anyone else in several days and is stunned to discover that they are the only survivors from the colony.

Lieutenant Worf comments to Kevin Uxbridge that he knew Kevin's phaser was nonfunctional and thought the colonist's effort to hold the away team at bay was "an act of unmitigated gall. I admire gall."

Commander Riker asks permission to check out the Uxbridges' house, which Kevin grudgingly grants. Lieutenant Commander Data is fascinated by a music box, on a shelf, which Rishon says has been in her family for generations. When Riker asks the Uxbridges to pack their belongings so they can be evacuated, Rishon insists she can't leave her home, and Kevin declines their offer and says they will be fine. Riker leaves a communicator with the couple, so they can contact the Enterprise should they change their minds in the next few days, and the away team returns to the ship.

Back on the Enterprise, the senior officers are trying to figure out why the Uxbridges would have been spared during the attack on the colony. Counselor Troi, however, is being driven to distraction by music in her head (the same melody that came from Rishon's music box), and before long she insists she is unwell and asks to be excused. Captain Picard stops by Troi's quarters later on and asks how she is doing; she confides in him that a piece of music has been playing incessantly in her head ever since the away team visited the planet, and it's driving her crazy. (Troi doesn't realize the melody is from the Uxbridges' music box because she wasn't on the away team.)

Picard and Troi are interrupted by a red alert: an unknown craft, evidently the same one that attacked the colony, has appeared from hiding and starts attacking the Enterprise with low-power energy weapons. The vessel begins to flee the system, with the Enterprise in hot pursuit, but after a brief chase at speeds exceeding Warp 9, Picard decides they are being toyed with and orders a return to Rana.

Beaming down to the planet, Picard and Worf offer the Uxbridges a matter replicator. Kevin says they don't need it and wants them to leave, but Rishon insists on extending hospitality and invites them to come in for tea. As they enjoy tea together in the living room, Rishon recounts how she and Kevin met and fell in love many years ago. When Picard steers the conversation to the subject of the attack on the colony, Kevin reiterates that they have no idea why they were spared. Kevin can think of one difference between him and the others — he is a pacifist and chose not to fight — but he can't imagine how the attackers could possibly have known that, and he had fully expected to die along with the other colonists. Once again, the Uxbridges insist they can't and won't leave their home on Rana.

As Picard and Worf return, the mysterious vessel reappears and fires on the Enterprise, causing some damage to its shields. Picard decides to leave, but the attacker remains in orbit around the planet. Riker is worried about the Uxbridges; Picard says they can't help the couple, but then adds that he suspects that Kevin and Rishon are not really in any danger.

Troi has continued to suffer, more and more, on account of the incessant music in her head, and Doctor Crusher has induced an artificial coma in order to provide her some temporary relief. Picard speculates that the Uxbridges may somehow be responsible for Troi's mental collapse — trying to keep the Betazoid counselor from sensing what is really going on. He orders Riker to keep the Enterprise on its present course away from Rana for another hour, then to turn around and go back to the planet. Upon their return, Picard intends to go back and confront the Uxbridges. The enemy ship is nowhere to be seen when they arrive once again in orbit, and Picard doesn't expect it to reappear until after Kevin and Rishon know he is back, because somehow — he doesn't understand how, but he intends to find out — the other ship is responding to the Uxbridges' wishes and is protecting the couple.

Picard shows up, unannounced, in the Uxbridges' home. He warns the couple once more than they are in grave danger, that the warship has returned and has inflicted damage on the Enterprise, and that many of his crew have been injured, including Troi — "a woman whose mind is being slowly destroyed by telepathic manipulation." Since Kevin still adamantly refuses to consider leaving, Picard asks Rishon if she wants to come to the Enterprise, but she insists she cannot leave her husband. As Picard turns to go, he vows that the Enterprise will remain in orbit around Rana to protect the couple, as long as they live, whether they want the protection or not.

Shortly after Picard returns to his bridge, the enemy ship reappears. Without any interference from the Enterprise this time, the warship obliterates the Uxbridge home — whereupon Picard orders his crew to fire a single photon torpedo, easily destroying the attacker. The Enterprise then moves to a higher orbit in order to continue observing the now-lifeless planet. A few hours later, the Uxbridge house abruptly reappears, totally unscathed, on the surface of Rana. Annoyed but feeling vindicated, Picard orders the transporter to lock onto the Uxbridges and has them beamed up without any advance warning.

Confronted by Picard's analysis of the situation and unable to keep up the pretense any longer, Kevin finally admits that things are not as they seem. He is a Douwd — a member of a race of advanced, immortal energy beings, who had been traveling the galaxy in human form many years ago when he met and fell in love with Rishon. When their colony came under attack by a warship belonging to the Husnock — "a species of hideous intelligence who knew only aggression and destruction" — Rishon went to help defend her home, but Kevin — secretly possessing unimaginable powers but having vowed long ago never to kill anyone for any reason — stayed behind. In the end, all the other colonists died in the battle — including Rishon, who died without ever knowing her husband's true nature.

Upon finding his wife's broken body, Kevin was consumed with grief and anger, and in a brief but overwhelmingly intense moment of insane rage, he lashed out with his mind and destroyed the attackers with a mere thought — not just the one Husnock ship that had attacked the colony and killed Rishon, but the entire Husnock species, all 50 billion of them, everywhere, all at once. Horrified at the enormity of his crime, devastated at having so completely abandoned his most cherished ethical principles, and unable to join his beloved wife in death, Kevin mentally created a replica of her and their home and retreated into self-imposed exile.

Picard, now understanding Kevin Uxbridge's true nature and realizing that the Federation is in no position to judge (much less punish) such a being, finally agrees to leave the alien in peace and allow him to find what solace he can in the companionship of his ersatz wife. Before leaving, however, Kevin stops in Troi's quarters and clears the music box melody from her mind so she can wake up in peace.