Diagnostic Impasse
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
A crewman delivers a data chip; Pulaski slots it into the library console and reads the verdict—every result comes back negative.
Picard presses for a cure; Pulaski concedes the microorganism remains opaque, even its basic life support unknown.
Picard hunts for a way to kill it; Pulaski fires back that she can, but only by destroying the very nerves the organism inhabits.
Pulaski's frustration breaks the surface; Picard offers steadiness, and she admits fear that her best won't be enough.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Surface professionalism masking exhaustion and acute helplessness — frustration that mixes scientific curiosity with moral distress.
Pulaski inserts the delivered data chip into the library console, reviews the screen, announces uniformly negative results, and bluntly states that destroying the nerves is the only way to kill the organism, her frustration visible.
- • obtain diagnostic or treatment data that will allow a non‑destructive cure
- • communicate medical reality clearly to command so an informed decision can be made
- • protect the patient from unnecessary harm while seeking alternatives
- • medical interventions must minimize harm to the patient whenever possible
- • institutional databases and protocols are the first and best recourse for unknown pathogens
- • destroying the nerves to kill the organism equates to sacrificing the patient
Calm, neutral and focused on protocol — no visible panic, performing duties with routine competence.
A medical crewman enters briefly, professionally hands Pulaski an isolinear data chip, and withdraws; he functions as the practical link delivering external data to Pulaski's diagnostic process.
- • deliver requested diagnostic media to the chief medical officer quickly and correctly
- • adhere to medical chain of command and protocol during an acute case
- • following procedure is the correct way to support clinical decisions
- • medical staff will interpret and act on delivered data appropriately
Concerned and supportive on the surface, carrying the weight of responsibility and the urgency to save a senior officer without violating ethical limits.
Picard stands over Pulaski's shoulder, asks pointed questions about a cure, absorbs the negative results, attempts to reassure her, and presses for options while translating medical facts into command decisions under emotional strain.
- • determine whether a viable, non‑destructive cure exists for the infected officer
- • support and empower medical specialists to attempt experimental treatments
- • maintain crew morale and ethical command posture under crisis
- • specialists (like the chief medical officer) have primacy in technical decisions
- • the value of a crew member's life requires exhausting non‑destructive options first
- • clear, honest communication between command and medicine is essential for sound decisions
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Medical Isolinear Data Chip is handed to Pulaski and inserted into the library console; it serves as the trigger for the diagnostic search whose uniformly negative results crystallize the crisis and eliminate straightforward technical cures.
Pulaski's Office Library Console receives the data chip and executes medical database queries; its screened readout returns negative matches and becomes the physical locus where technical failure produces ethical urgency.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Pulaski's Office functions as the controlled clinical workspace where diagnostic tools, medical authority, and command presence intersect; the constrained room concentrates tension and transforms technical failure into an ethical crucible.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Pulaski’s all‑negative database search pressures her into initiating the radical neural stimulation."
Key Dialogue
"PULASKI: All negative."
"PICARD: There's nothing that will cure this infection?"
"PULASKI: Oh, I can kill it... but not without destroying the nerves it's inhabiting."