Clues

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Clue.

Star Trek: TNG episode
"Clues"
Picard tries to figure out Data's secret in "Clues".
Episode no.	87
Prod. code	188
Airdate	February 11, 1991
Writer(s)	Bruce D. Arthurs(Story) Joe Menosky(Teleplay) Bruce D. Arthurs(Teleplay)
Director	Les Landau
Guest star(s)	Colm Meaney Rhonda Aldrich Pamela Winslow Whoopi Goldberg
Year	2367
Stardate	44502.7
Episode chronology
Previous	"Devil's Due"
Next	"First Contact"

"Clues" is the 87th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and the 14th episode of the show's fourth season. It was first broadcast on February 11, 1991. In this episode, the crew of the Federation Starfleet starship USS Enterprise become suspicious and mistrustful of Operations Officer Lt. Commander Data when it appears he is trying to deceive them. The episode has an average rating of 4.3/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of September 3, 2007).[1]

[edit] Plot

The Enterprise investigates a T Tauri class star system with a single Class M planet picked up on long range sensor scan near Ngame Nebula. As they approach the planet, the ship encounters a wormhole and everyone except Lt. Commander Data loses consciousness.

After the crew recovers, Data informs Captain Jean-Luc Picard that they were unconscious for 30 seconds; however, the ship's First Officer Commander William Riker notices that navigational readouts indicate a much longer period of travel, perhaps an entire day. Data quickly offers the explanation that the helm instrumentation may have been thrown off by the wormhole, and adds that wormholes are quite common in T-Tauri type systems. He advises that the ship not return to the area, due to the danger of the wormhole, and recommends that a probe be launched instead. Picard follows his advice, but as the probe approaches the system its sensors initially seem to indicate a frozen gas giant, not the class M planet indicated by the original long range scan. Again, Data offers the explanation that this irregularity is due to the effect of the wormhole, and Picard accepts this.

However, Enterprise's Chief Medical Officer Dr. Beverly Crusher soon comes to the Captain with an odd and unusual puzzle. It seems that some Diomedian scarlet moss she was growing in the science lab grew much more than it should have given the period of time it had supposedly incubated. Next, the ship's Chief of Security Lt. Worf shows up in Sick bay with a sore wrist, and Crusher is stunned to find that it has been broken within the last 48 hours and expertly reset by a medical professional. Worf has no memory of the injury. Realizing that the Enterprise seems to be suffering from a missing time syndrome, Picard begins to suspect that Data might be lying.

When Picard confronts Data with these inconsistencies, the android cannot offer a credible explanation. Now openly suspicious, Picard dismisses him from the room and orders an investigation by his other senior officers. Beverly quickly finds out that cellular scans show their bodies have aged far too long for Data's story to be true, indicating that the crew was unconscious or has no memory for a period of at least several hours, not 30 seconds. Enterprise Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge then discovers that the ship's chronometer has been tampered with, a feat only he and Data have the knowledge to accomplish. At this point Picard has no other choice but to accept that Data is covering up the truth of what actually occurred, so he orders Geordi to examine Data.

After failing to find anything out of order with Data, Geordi then analyzes the data from the probe Data launched. La Forge discovers the sensor readings returned by the probe have been tampered with, and the visual record of the planet was replaced by one from the Federation database that has been altered to make it unrecognizable. Meanwhile, the ship's Counselor Deanna Troi is terrified when she returns to her cabin after going off duty and gets the horrible feeling that someone else is looking back at her from her own eyes in the mirror.

In light of the mounting evidence Picard decides to return to the mysterious planet in an attempt to get some answers. Data requests that he reconsider, but will not explain why. Finally in frustration, Picard orders Data to reveal what is going on, and is shocked when Data tells him that Picard himself ordered Data to conceal the truth.

By this time the Enterprise has returned to the planet, and suddenly an unknown force begins to break through the ship's shields. The shields quickly give way and Troi is possessed by the force. When Worf tries to intervene he is thrown effortlessly across the Bridge, which is evidently how he was injured before. Troi begins to speak in a strange alien voice and informs Picard that he is now speaking with the Paxans, aliens who are rabidly xenophobic and possess very advanced technology. The alien explains through Troi that the Enterprise had been there earlier and that they had gone through exactly the same scenario once before. Evidently, whenever the Paxan's privacy is threatened they erase the memories of the "trespassers" and send them on their way via the wormhole, unaware that anything has happened. However, they had never encountered a being such as Data, and their technology had no effect on him. He was able to revive the crew before the Paxans could take control of the ship. In order to protect the Paxan's privacy, Picard agreed to have the crew's memories wiped and ordered Data to never reveal the existence of the Paxans.

Now that Picard's people are once again aware the Paxans exist, they have returned to the same conundrum they faced earlier: unless the Paxans can be concealed the Enterprise will be destroyed. Picard convinces the alien to try the original plan one more time, explaining that humans are curious by nature, and unable to resist solving a puzzle. He tells the Paxan that the first attempt failed because too many clues were left, creating a mystery which the crew wanted to solve. He says that the plan can work if they can do a better job of concealing what actually happened. The alien agrees to try again, and this time the entire crew works hard to hide all the evidence and not make the same mistakes as before.

Once again Data is ordered to silence, the crew's memories are erased, and the ship is sent through the wormhole. This time when the crew awakens they accept Data's explanation of what apparently happened without question and continue their mission without suspecting the truth.