Antedians Awake — Pulaski Alerts Picard
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
With the immediate need met, Pulaski taps her communicator and hails Captain Picard to report.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Urgent and focused; controlled professional urgency rather than panic, prioritizing stabilizing the patients and keeping command informed.
Pulaski diagnoses the Antedians' urgent need, issues an immediate order for vermicula, and touches the quarters-mounted communicator to report to Captain Picard, combining hands‑on triage with procedural command notification.
- • stabilize and calm the Antedian delegates quickly by meeting their physiological needs
- • delegate retrieval and feeding tasks to security/auxiliary staff to expedite care
- • notify Captain Picard with a concise medical status to re-engage command
- • Immediate provision of native food is medically necessary to calm and treat the Antedians
- • Clear, rapid communication with command is essential once an on‑scene emergency is under basic control
- • Orderly delegation (telling Worf to fetch vermicula) is the fastest route to resolution
Steady and professionally detached; focused on executing the physical task without visible agitation, conveying competence through action.
Worf obeys Pulaski's order: he takes the scoop net, plunges it into the containment tank, retrieves a load of writhing vermicula, and presents them to the Antedians, his movements calm, precise, and physically commanding the awkward task.
- • retrieve and deliver the vermicula quickly and safely
- • follow medical orders to help pacify the delegates
- • maintain order and minimize risk while handling live organisms
- • Medical authority's orders should be carried out without hesitation
- • Direct, tangible action will defuse the delegates' agitation
- • Duty and physical competence are the right response in crises
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Antedian Vermicula Containment Tank supplies the live organisms used to feed the delegates. It functions as both a medical storage device and a narrative prop: when Worf dips the net into it, the tank's contents become the literal balm that calms the delegation, transforming chaos into manageable triage.
The scoop net is the immediate, functional interface between containment and patient care: Worf uses it to extract a writhing mass of vermicula from the tank. It enables safe transfer of living foodstuffs and visually signals the start of de-escalation as the Antedians recognize their nourishment.
Mrs. Troi's quarters communicator (here used by Pulaski in Sickbay) is touched to activate a voice link to Captain Picard. It functions as the procedural conduit that moves this immediate medical vignette back into the captain's purview, signaling closure of the on‑scene emergency and re‑engaging command attention.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Rising metabolic rates in Sickbay culminate in the Antedians waking and demanding food."
"Early reveal of the Antedians' vermicular food foreshadows Worf feeding the same creatures when they awaken."
"Early reveal of the Antedians' vermicular food foreshadows Worf feeding the same creatures when they awaken."
"Pulaski's report to Picard interrupts the Holodeck refuge, pulling him back to duty."
"Pulaski's report to Picard interrupts the Holodeck refuge, pulling him back to duty."
Key Dialogue
"Antedians: "Food-food-food-food-food--""
"Pulaski: "Worf! The vermicula!""
"Pulaski (touching communicator): "Pulaski to Captain Picard.""