All language subtitles for 01.18 Home Soil

Captain's log, stardate 41463.9.

We have been asked
by the Federation

to visit a group
terraforming Velara III.

Communications have been erratic,

and there is concern
about their welfare.

Entering standard orbit... now.

It takes special people
to live in such desolation.

Visionaries who see the planet
as it will be.

I'd love to see terraforming
in operation.

- Lt Yar, hailing frequencies.
- Frequencies open, sir.

Velara III base, this is Capt
Picard of the Starship Enterprise.

No malfunctioning equipment, sir.
They are receiving us.

Velara III base, come in, please.
Over.

Maybe no one's home.

We are sensing life forms, sir.

Velara III base, do you copy?

Velara base to Enterprise.

Yes, Captain,
I'm Director Mandl, and...

I'm sorry about the delay,
but we weren't expecting visitors.

Terraform Command has asked us
to see how you were getting along.

We were behind
but we're back on schedule.

I'd like to hope we'd be
allowed to maintain that schedule.

We alarm him for some reason.

Your staff are well, I presume,
Director?

Understandably tired.
We're working very hard, Captain.

If there is anything we can do...

You and your staff are very welcome
aboard for a rest.

- We have holodecks you'll enjoy.
- No disrespect,

but we cannot afford the time.

- Channel closed.
- His fear is escalating.

If you�ll excuse me,
I must get back to work.

I sense deliberate concealment,
sir.

- Of what?
- I don't know, but it's intense.

We've heard of your remarkable
achievements in terraforming.

My crew would appreciate
looking around.

This is not really the best time.
We are at a very critical phase.

We require no special attention.

I'm trying not to be rude, sir,

but this is really
very inconvenient.

He is concealing something.
It's more than being too busy.

Your announcement about coming down
has sent him to a point of panic.

Well, whether he wants us or not.

Unless you're absolutely refusing us
permission to land at your station,

prepare to receive our away team.

As you wish.

- Counselor, you'd better go too.
- Aye, sir.

Someone that tense can be
unpredictable. Stay on your toes.

Space, the final frontier.

These are the voyages
of the Starship Enterprise.

Its continuing mission,
to explore strange new worlds...

...to seek out new life
and new civilizations...

...to boldly go
where no one has gone before.

Welcome to Velara III. Please...

Remember it as it is now.

In two decades,
you won't recognize it.

Luisa Kim. Gardener of Edens.

Cmdr Riker, USS Enterprise.
This is Counselor Troi, Lt Yar,

Lt La Forge, Lt Cmdr Data.

Arthur Malencon,
hydraulics specialist,

and Bjorn Bensen, Chief Engineer.

An android?

And third-in-command
of the Enterprise.

Where were you manufactured?
Are there others like you?

Both matters are subjects
of protracted discussion.

Remarkable.

Excuse me.

We don't get many visitors.
It's exciting to have you here.

We weren't sure
how we would be received.

Director Mandl was less than
enthusiastic about our interest.

I should apologize for him.
We are at a critical phase.

- Usually he's charming.
- We'll stay out of the way.

We've never seen
a terraforming station and...

...we appreciate the opportunity.

How much do you know?

Theories, reports,
but nothing first-hand.

Wonderful. Let me show you
what we do. Newcomers find this...

The other two are secretive,
but she is open.

What we're doing is so exciting,
so inspiring.

We take a lifeless planet...

...and transform it
to an M-Class environment,

capable of supporting life.

Terraforming...

...makes you feel a little God-like.

The first phase involves selecting
the planet. That's very important.

It must have the right mass, gravity,

correct rate of rotation,
and a balanced day and night.

The planet
must also be without life

or the prospect of life
developing naturally.

The Federation determines
if that's so. Then, we take over.

This station is phase two.
Phase three involves water.

Usually we create basins
using hydraulic landscaping,

but the water on this planet
is subsurface,

and extremely high in salt content.

We're just about to begin pumping
and filtering the water.

Removing the salt,
oxygenating and replacing.

Next...
we introduce micro-organisms.

And when the process is complete,
we'll have a lush, arable biosphere.

You make it sound poetic.

I think it's the best job
in the universe.

The efficiency of your hydraulic
landscaping is quite elegant.

It isn't yet, but it will be.

Right now I'm disturbed
by the erratic power surges

in the servo-mechanisms
that control the hydraulic probes.

Could it be caused
by the high saline content?

- That was my first thought, but...
- Arthur!

The factors do not support
that conclusion.

I'm Director Mandl, and I'm sorry
about having been so abrupt earlier.

Being isolated,
one forgets the social graces.

- Are you seeing everything?
- What you're doing is miraculous.

What we're doing is working
a demanding timetable,

and there will be no miracle

unless Malencon here gets
the hydraulic probes back on line.

We are set to step up
to full conversion immediately.

Shouldn't you be
in the hydraulic chamber?

Now?

Yes.

- Alright, Kurt.
- Geordi.

This appears to be
the master subsurface pump.

You're right. Very impressive.

It's interesting.
The water table is a thin ribbon

between the surface layer
and the rocks below.

And the two surfaces
follow that contour so precisely,

the water maintains
a consistent depth between them.

Which would require extreme
precision from the probe controls.

Here we have something
that may be of interest to you.

A vegetation graph.

It is, really, the key centre
for successful terraforming.

Incredible.

It's planned month by month,
decade by decade?

Every single thing
is specific and exact.

You see grand, Romantic concepts.

I see unyielding rock
under an ocean of sand.

- Commander!
- What is it, Deanna?

Malencon. He's in trouble!

Help!

Can you open it?

It's jammed!

First Officer's log,
stardate 41464.3.

A routine visit
to a terraforming site

has turned
into something more serious.

Arthur Malencon has been
critically injured by a laser drill,

which appears
to have malfunctioned.

Situation report, Number One.

We're shutting off all power
before entering to recover the body.

We'll beam him up to sickbay,

but looking at his wounds,
it's probably hopeless.

Keep me informed.

- Data?
- Go ahead, Geordi.

All set.

Data, the section is powered down.

Bensen has locked the master
servomotor drive,

so it should be safe.

- I'm going in.
- I will too.

Transporter room, this is Lt Yar.
Two to beam up to sickbay.

I want to go.
We should be with him.

Kurt, please come too.

Transporter room, this is Riker.
Beam up four, at my coordinates.

Geordi, this is intriguing.
I've seen malfunctions.

But this...

It's almost as if the laser drill
seemed to operate

with a will
separate from its control console.

I can't explain it.

The laser blasts seemed to end
when the yelling stopped.

Maybe Arthur stopped it,
only not in time.

Not possible.

- Then what are you suggesting?
- Uncertain.

Geordi, please return power
to the control console in this room.

- I will reactivate the program.
- You got it.

I am now running
the base-drilling program.

- Geordi! Servos off!
- They are off!

- What's happening?
- Too much to explain.

Can you open that? La Forge to
the Enterprise. We have a problem.

Be specific.

Data's under fire
in the hydraulics room.

Get him out of there!

- It's not working!
- We've gotta get this door open!

Data!

Away team, now! What is happening?

- I'll beam him out of there.
- Bridge, this is Lt Cmdr Data.

No need to beam me up.
The situation is under control.

- Are you alright?
- Yes.

Well, what happened?
Did you set it off?

No, but the firing program
was dynamic.

The firing...? In what way?

It adjusted to my tactics.
It tracked with me, anticipating.

A fixed program could not do that.

Someone was controlling
the aiming-and-firing sequence?

That is how it appeared.
There was a mind working against me.

What did you do
to this laser drill?

A year's work destroyed!

I had no choice.

We were attempting to trace
the malfunction when it attacked me.

How much of this useless fantasy
do I have to listen to?

None. I have provided temporary
quarters for you and your staff.

Make use of them.

You're overstepping your authority.
You have no right to interfere.

An attack on my crew
gives me the right.

- I have a schedule to meet.
- It's on hold,

till I have an explanation of this.

Lt Yar,
escort the Director to his quarters.

Aye, sir.

Go on with your report.

The laser's drilling system
was reprogrammed, sir.

When its memory bank
received power,

it turned itself
on and went after me.

- I was able to cope.
- Not by much, from what I saw.

I believe it was programmed
to destroy any person in that room.

Certainty? Speculation?

Certainty.

That would require
a master programmer's talents.

But it was done.

So the question is not who,

since it was
one of the three terraformers.

The question is, why?
What are they hiding?

What could be so important

that one or all of them
could be desperate enough to kill?

Shall I have them brought in?

Not yet.

- Malencon?
- I couldn't save him.

The injuries were too severe.
Damage too extensive.

The Velara III facility
has been powered down.

We have a power feed
to the life-support systems.

Data, I want you and Geordi to
return for more careful inspection.

- What are we to look for?
- Evidence of negligence.

Sabotage, whatever.
The answer's there.

Tasha, I want you to provide
personnel records of our guests.

Profiles, training.
I'm looking for motive, intent,

the psychological capacity
to commit murder.

Aye, sir.

We are becoming detectives,
Number One.

Not much left of this drill.

Geordi,
I need some visual assistance.

What is it?

Nothing but basic elements.

Inorganic.

No carbon. Sandy texture.

Those flashes are almost...
musical.

I... see color variations
and... rhythms, in complex harmonies.

Speculation. Could it be alive?

How could it be alive?
It's inorganic.

Whatever it is, it could be
what they are covering up.

And the reason
someone killed Malencon.

Captain's log, supplemental.

Data's startling discovery
of a possible life form

has been beamed aboard so that
its true nature might be uncovered.

But unlike life elsewhere, it
appears to be completely inorganic.

- A test for inorganic life.
- It has never been done.

There are basic definitions
for organic life.

Must have the ability to assimilate,
respirate, reproduce,

grow and develop,
move, secrete and excrete.

- Would any apply here?
- Perhaps growth and development.

- Reproduction?
- Yes.

Those may be basic
for any definition of life,

organic or inorganic.

You're charting unknown seas.
How do we proceed?

Let's use the basic
scientific method.

Observe, theorize,
and attempt to prove it. Activate.

Let's be sure of what we're
dealing with. Is the sample organic?

Negative carbon.
Negative known life components.

Substance inorganic.

- Recheck analysis, please.
- Rechecking.

Analysis verified. Not organic.

Magnify the screen.

Factor five.

Hold surface.

Factor ten.

- What are we looking at?
- It's beautiful, whatever it is.

What's that hum?

It started after Dr Crusher
ordered the scanner to magnify.

Computer, demagnify.
Resume normal scan.

Everyone stand back.

Step back again.

It's us!

- Yes. We're causing it. Why?
- Unknown.

But it is definitely reacting
to our presence.

Perhaps it is picking up the
electrical impulse of our systems.

The flashes haven't changed.
Could the hum be connected to them?

Computer, magnify.

What is the magnification?

2,500 diameters.

Analyze the pattern of the flashes.

Not repetitive or sequential.
Pattern not recognized.

What is the flashes' source?

Unable to specify. Theoretically
not possible from this substance.

Disregard incongruity...
and theorize as to source.

Life.

What do you mean, a life form?
What life form?

A Federation recon expedition
certified Velara III lifeless.

Understandable, given this
particular life form's novel nature.

What is that nature?

Dr Crusher is still making
her determination. Mr. Mandl...

...you know the Prime Directive.

Are you saying
that I knowingly defied it?

You're a man
obsessed with what you do.

Who knows what an obsessed man
will do to keep going. Kill, perhaps?

I create life.

I don't take it.

You hit him hard, Captain.

- What do you think, Counselor?
- It was useful.

I felt two levels.

He did know about the life form.
But the idea of murder shocked him.

The idea, or just being accused,
I can't tell.

What about his file, Lt Yar?

Could he have accomplished
the reprogramming Data described?

Mandl has degrees in computer
science and artificial intelligence.

It's possible.

What about the others? The victim?

Only the victim
had the required expertise.

Malencon did work where
the... whatever it is was found.

Suppressing that knowledge
would be motive for murder.

If Mandl were obsessed enough.

Terraformers are often obsessive.
It goes with the career profile.

How do you read the designer?

She is possessed of highly
abstracted reality. Lovely visions.

Little data.

But you might do better than I.

It's not locked.

Mind a visitor?

Is it true?

Did you really find a life form?

The debate is still going on in
some quarters, but I think so, yes.

What's it like?

We have nothing we can compare it
with. It's microscopic. It...

It seems colonial, simple.
But it's inorganic.

Which is why the recon scouts
missed it. It was not your mistake.

Everything I've worked
so hard for...

...is falling apart.

Luisa...

It's very beautiful.

I could arrange for you to see it.

Perhaps later.

Captain, this is Dr Crusher. You'd
better come to the Medical lab.

- What is it?
- Geordi observed movement.

Not movement,
but a shift in the energy pattern.

- Without external influence.
- The hum has gone. Why?

Unknown, sir.
Perhaps it is scanning us.

Why? What could it hope to learn?

- Unknown at this time, sir.
- It's changing.

- I don't see anything.
- The infrared range is increasing.

Warning. Input overload.

- The hum is back.
- Projecting an energy field.

And it's intensifying.

Magnification deactivated.

Two of them!

Only life can replicate itself,
Doctor.

Inorganic or not, it is alive.

Activate quarantine field.

Quarantine field full.

Full shield backup.

Evacuating lab.

Translation request being patched.

Translation? From whom?

Evacuate!

What's wrong with
the translator circuit?

Bridge, this is the Captain.

Request emergency power to initiate
lab quarantine seal.

- Do it, Mr. Worf.
- Aye, sir.

- What's the problem, Captain?
- We know Data's discovery is life.

But more than that,
it is intelligent life.

How do you know, sir?

It's trying to communicate with us.

Captain's log, supplemental.

The inorganic life form
has taken over our Medical lab.

Its energy is interfering
with surrounding systems.

- Can we see into the lab?
- Negative.

Reducing backup
to the quarantine seal might help.

- Doctor?
- I wouldn't.

- Continue quarantine.
- Aye, sir.

Director Mandl and the others
are in the observation lounge.

Counselor, I need you.
You have the bridge, Number One.

Director Mandl, once again, what do
you know about these life forms?

- Not a thing.
- Enough!

Sit down, Lieutenant.

You are deliberately evasive
and it must stop!

You have kept information from me.

An alien life form has taken
possession of my Medical lab.

- You knew of its existence.
- Yes.

Is this true? You knew
there was life on Velara III?

I knew that there were random
energy patterns, yes.

But not life. Not by any definition
that I've ever heard.

You kept that knowledge from us.

No! They are meaningless silicon
crystals, which rebroadcast sunlight.

It is a life form,
and has intelligence.

- Why do you say that?
- It's trying to communicate with us.

Communicate with you?

When did you become aware of them?

Tell them about the pattern
in the sand.

Yes, do tell us.

When we first arrived,
we noticed that in certain areas

the sand had a sparkling effect,

like... sunlight bouncing off
new fallen snow.

- What did you think it was?
- We did not give it any thought.

Picard, I must point out again

that we were assured,
not once but many times,

by the best scientific minds
in the Federation,

that this planet has no life.
No life!

And we were not looking...
and therefore we did not see.

Alright. At first you dismissed it.

But then you began to understand
that there was something

that was different about them.

You can't know that.

Your apprehension suggested it,
when we first arrived.

Tell me about these patterns.

At first we thought it was just
a natural phenomenon of Velara III.

Refraction and a thin atmosphere
is interesting.

- But certainly not life.
- Why was I never told about this?

Because it's not
particularly important.

As the building of the terraforming
station went forward,

the patterns in the sand ceased
being random and became specific.

Geometric shapes suddenly
appearing, disappearing,

changing location, changing size...

Did you ever feel
that these patterns

were attempting to communicate?

No. Never.

Bensen?

I don't know.
At the time, I didn't think so.

But now, after hearing
what you just said...

Now, I don't know.

We've regained magnification
of the life form. It's divided again.

Patch visual to observation lounge.

There was no indication
of any of this on Velara III.

Absolutely none.

I cannot understand the patterns.

Neither can I.

Show me spectral analysis,
magnification 12K.

- Silicon, germanium.
- Transistor material.

- Gallium arsenide.
- Emits light when charged.

- Cadmium sulphide.
- Emits charge when lit.

Water, impurities, sodium salts.

Conductor.

- But is it alive?
- Probability positive.

I wasn't asking you.

- Engineering to bridge.
- Cmdr Riker. Go ahead.

The backup on the lab seal
is fluctuating, sir.

I think you should come down.

On my way.

Data, you've got the bridge.
Inform the Captain.

Status, Ensign?

The quarantine seal
is getting weaker, sir.

Every time I try to redirect
backup, it goes somewhere else.

I think I've... No...

It's locked three people
in a turbolift

and two more
in the programmers' restroom.

There is no seal.
Give me lab interior image.

Yes, sir.

Magnify.

Picard, this is Riker.

We see it too, Number One.

Get that seal back up.

No matter what I do,
the energy goes somewhere else.

What if it hits the sickbay?

Hold on. Impossible, Captain.
We haven't got the power.

Captain's log, supplemental.

The life form, which has
significantly increased in size,

is again attempting
to communicate with us.

The universal translator
is coming on line, sir.

Ugly... giant bags of mostly water.

"Bags of mostly water"?

An accurate description of humans,
sir. You are over 90 percent water.

Life force, do you understand us?

We understand.

We ask that you be gone.
We call. We talk. You do not listen.

We didn't hear you.
We come in peace.

Ugly bags of mostly water.

We try at peace.
You still do not listen.

Bags who drill in sand of home
have to die.

It killed Malencon.

We see and hear you now.
We didn't know you were there.

You are beautiful to us.

All life is beautiful.

Bag in dome did know.
Caused much death. Made us kill.

War is now with you.

The translator is off line, sir.

Can you hear us now?

- Mr. La Forge?
- Restabilizing, Captain.

Sir... that chaos when we were
studying it in the lab

must have been the energy surge
of a reproductive cycle.

It is now a colony of single cells
organized as a computer.

- And like any computer...
- More is stronger.

Captain's log, supplemental.

We regained visual contact
with the lab

but our attempts to restore
communication with this "microbrain"

have been unsuccessful.

One thing that is certain. This
life form has declared war on us.

Their influence is concentrated
in the Medical lab.

Non-essential personnel have
gone to distant areas of the ship.

Any analysis on those bolts
of light it emits?

A method of reprogramming.

Each bolt consists of negatively
and positively charged ions.

A series of program instructions.

It has a rapport with our computers.

What do you expect? It is a computer.

Have we disabled the Medical lab
computer console?

As soon as Data determined
its method of operation.

Captain, picking up a decrease
in infrared intensity.

Maybe it reached its energy level.

Or maybe it's not the end.

With single-celled life forms,

at least organic ones,

cell division is preceded
by a resting state.

The calm before the storm?

Medical lab on main viewer.
Let's use this calm.

It does seem dormant, Captain.

Tasha...

Set coordinates to beam it back
where it came from.

- Coordinates set, sir.
- Energize.

Transporter power being redirected,
sir. We are unable to affect it.

Life form or not,
intelligent or not,

the safety of this ship
is my primary responsibility. Data!

Evacuate the air from the lab.
I want a vacuum there.

Environmental systems
failed to respond to command.

It appears the microbrain has
interfaced with our computers.

If it did try to communicate,
we didn't understand!

It has declared war
and we are on the defensive!

We are without a lab or a computer.
It has the power to destroy this ship

and everybody on it!

- I need your help.
- Unbelievable!

It said you were
trying to kill them. How?

I don't know!

What was Malencon doing
when he was killed?

There is a thin layer
of saline water under the topsoil.

He was siphoning that off.

Perhaps somehow that saline water
sustained them.

It connected them.

- I don't understand.
- They may be like our brain cells.

A cell has life,
but not intelligence.

Yet interconnected, their combined
intelligence is formidable.

The saline fluid is their circuitry.

To prevent its loss,
they killed Malencon.

If we had continued
to remove that water,

we would have destroyed them all.

Reason enough
for anyone to go to war.

Captain, it's happening again.
You'd better get in here.

It'll tear up the Enterprise.

- What can you determine?
- Captain,

the microbrain expends
a tremendous amount of energy

during its reproductive cycle.

Yet there is no power drain
on our systems.

- What is feeding it?
- We found traces of cadmium salts.

Cadmium converts
infrared into electricity.

- Meaning?
- It might be photoelectric.

Kill the lights in the lab.
See if darkness will neutralize it.

It still has control
of the computer. We can't do it.

Number One, lights.

The life form must have evolved

where the light got through
the sand to the water.

Drop the water a centimeter below
the light-penetration level

and they starve.

Killing the lab lights... now.

It's slowing down.

It's getting dimmer, too.

More light, please.

Only if you will talk to us.

We die. Bags of water kill us.

You are like others.

We have no wish to kill you.
We never have.

You do not say truth.

We will end this war,
if you will end the war.

Darkness. Death. Terrible.

Must go home to wet sand.

War over.

Agreed. We will send you home
to your wet sand.

Picard to Riker.

Bring up the lights
in the lab... a bit.

Are you better?

Better.

We mean you no harm.

- Do you believe me?
- Yes.

Good. It is important
that you trust us.

Not yet.

You are still too arrogant.

Too primitive.

Come back three centuries.

Perhaps then we trust.

We understand what you are saying.

We will leave you.

We will send you home.

Riker to Transporter Chief.

Pick up the coordinates
of the jar in the lab

for return to Velara III.

Coordinates entered, sir.

Riker to bridge.

Captain... we're ready
to beam it back to the planet.

- I wish we learnt more about them.
- In time, Mr. Data.

When we're better prepared.

I wanted to create a place
where living things could thrive,

and all the while I was about
to destroy the life that is there.

- Our apologies.
- And respects.

- Lt Yar?
- Coordinates set, sir.

Energize.

Captain's log, stardate 41464.8.

I have declared an indefinite
quarantine for Velara III.

We are returning to Starbase
with the surviving terraformers.

Perhaps the lesson we learned
from this near-tragedy

will prevent it
from happening elsewhere.