Containment and First Revival — Welcome to the Twenty‑Fourth Century
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The staff quickly eliminates practical options — they cannot return the humans to their ship nor refreeze them — and Picard orders Security, calling for Worf to report, shifting the problem from medical triage to controlled stewardship.
Beverly awakens the first frozen woman with a hypospray; the woman scans the alien surroundings, collapses back into unconsciousness, Worf enters sickbay, and Picard issues a terse, ironic greeting: 'Welcome to the twenty-fourth century.'
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Perplexed and concerned but outwardly controlled — internally balancing moral discomfort with the need for decisive, humane policy.
Enters Sickbay abruptly, questions Dr. Crusher about the presence and condition of the recovered people, summons Data to Sickbay via the com panel, weighs medical facts against chain-of-command concerns, and issues a corrective order: treat them as living and summon Security.
- • Establish clear command responsibility and accountability for Data's unilateral action.
- • Define an operational and ethical stance for the crew on how to treat the thawed subjects.
- • Protect the ship and crew by ordering Security present before awakening the patients.
- • Resolve immediate practical options (refreeze, return, or treat) to prevent further deterioration or diplomatic fallout.
- • Chain of command matters and unexpected unilateral actions must be justified.
- • Living beings — once restored to life — deserve the protections of Starfleet and must be treated humanely.
- • Security presence is necessary whenever uncertain, potentially volatile contacts are involved.
Calm and concerned — focused on preservation and the factual justification of his rescue decision rather than on interpersonal conflict.
Explains from Science Station Two that he beamed the frozen people aboard because the vehicle and crypts were deteriorating, requests and receives permission to leave the bridge, and accompanies events in Sickbay as the crew processes the moral consequences.
- • Ensure the preserved subjects were not abandoned to decay and that evidence of their condition is secured.
- • Explain and justify his actions to command to maintain trust and procedural integrity.
- • Assist medical staff with technical or archival data about the recovered subjects.
- • Leaving deteriorating remains to waste is unacceptable when preservation and recovery are possible.
- • Objectivity and preservation of material condition are primary duties when encountering derelict life-support systems.
- • Following protocol is important, but immediate moral choices sometimes require initiative.
Alert and professional — ready to act on orders but not emotionally reactive.
Responds to Picard's order to report to Sickbay as Security presence, enters when the first patient briefly awakens, assumes a watchful, protective posture to ensure safety for staff and patients.
- • Provide security for medical staff and the revived individuals.
- • Ensure any awakening does not present a safety, medical, or diplomatic incident.
- • Follow Picard's orders and maintain shipboard order.
- • Security must be present when unknown or vulnerable individuals are introduced aboard.
- • Duty to protect the crew and ship parameters overrides individual curiosity.
- • Orderly chain-of-command ensures safety and compliance.
Businesslike and procedural—trusting of his subordinate's judgment and quick to facilitate needed action.
On the bridge, listens to Data's request and promptly grants permission to leave the bridge so Data can report to Sickbay; remains at his post while the situation is handed off.
- • Maintain bridge operations while enabling Data to perform necessary off-bridge duties.
- • Support crew initiative without interrupting command tempo.
- • Ensure information flows to senior officers promptly.
- • Trusted officers should be allowed discretion when acting in good faith.
- • Bridge operations must continue even as discrete emergencies are delegated.
- • Procedural clearance (permission to leave post) is sufficient to validate immediate action.
Protective and quietly urgent — defensive about her actions but earnest in advocating immediate care for the revived.
Explains she thawed and sedated three cryonics subjects beamed aboard, provides clinical details of terminal conditions and evidence they had been frozen post-mortem, defends her decision to revive them, and administers a hypospray that briefly awakens the first patient.
- • Stabilize and assess the revived patients medically as soon as possible.
- • Convince command that immediate medical intervention was the correct ethical choice.
- • Prevent the patients from being mishandled (no refreezing, no returning to decayed crypts).
- • Preserve patient dignity while arranging security and further care.
- • Medical ethics obligate physicians to treat any living patient regardless of origin.
- • Refreezing or returning them to deteriorated conditions would be unethical and impractical.
- • Immediate humane care is preferable to bureaucratic delay.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Beverly grips the hypospray and applies it to the first woman's neck to deliver a rapid, non‑invasive stimulant that brings her briefly out of sedation. The hypospray functions as the physical means to convert an inert body into an aware human, catalyzing the scene's moral impact.
Picard uses the com panel to summon Data to Sickbay and to issue orders (including summoning Security); the panel functions as the technological conduit that connects command decisions on the bridge to action in Sickbay.
The medical equipment console supplies vitals and displays used by Beverly and serves as the locus where Picard steps to call for personnel; it frames the medical triage and the moment command intersects the clinic.
The glass‑covered crypts are referenced as the original failing containers from which Beverly recovered the subjects; they explain Beverly's decision to thaw the patients and provide the forensic clue that the bodies had been frozen post‑mortem.
Plain clinical sheets cover the three recovered patients, serving as both a literal and symbolic veil between past and present; they are moved or lifted when Dr. Crusher examines and awakens the first patient.
The crippled shuttlecraft (source of the cryonics capsule) is referenced as the origin of the recovered people; Data cites its deteriorating condition as justification for beaming the subjects aboard, making it the inciting physical evidence for Beverly's action.
Three medical tables serve as staging platforms for the thawed cryonics subjects, holding them sedated, monitored, and physically central to the ethical debate—one table becomes the stage for the first patient's short awakening and collapse.
Data leaves Science Station Two and walks toward the forward turbolift doors to report to Sickbay after receiving permission; the turbolift functions as the physical connector between bridge and Sickbay, enabling rapid transfer of responsibility.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The bridge is the decision-origin point: Picard issues orders (via the com panel), Data requests leave from his station at Science Station Two, and Riker authorizes the science officer to respond, linking command protocol to the unfolding Sickbay crisis.
Sickbay functions as the intimate crucible where command, medicine, and ethics converge: clinical equipment and medical personnel transform salvage into pressing human care, and the first patient's awakening forces leadership to commit to a humane policy under security constraints.
The Cryonic Crypts are invoked as the physical origin of the recovered subjects; their failing state provides the immediate moral impetus for Data's retrieval and Beverly's decision to thaw the patients.
Science Station Two is where Data initially observes the deteriorating shuttlecraft and initiates the chain of events; it is the technical node linking sensor evidence to the rescue action that precipitates Sickbay's crisis.
Sickbay functions as the intimate crucible where command, medicine, and ethics converge: clinical equipment and medical personnel transform salvage into pressing human care, and the first patient's awakening forces leadership to commit to a humane policy under security constraints.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The preservation of a living subject in the derelict directly precipitates Beverly's decision to thaw and medically attend to the recovered person aboard Sickbay."
"The preservation of a living subject in the derelict directly precipitates Beverly's decision to thaw and medically attend to the recovered person aboard Sickbay."
"Early evidence of failed crypt seals foreshadows Beverly's justification for thawing the bodies."
"Early evidence of failed crypt seals foreshadows Beverly's justification for thawing the bodies."
"Beverly’s absence from the briefing foreshadows the Sickbay revelation of revived 20th-century patients."
"Beverly’s absence from the briefing foreshadows the Sickbay revelation of revived 20th-century patients."
"Beverly’s absence from the briefing foreshadows the Sickbay revelation of revived 20th-century patients."
"Picard's commitment to treat the revived as living persons leads to arranging compassionate transfer off-ship."
"Picard's commitment to treat the revived as living persons leads to arranging compassionate transfer off-ship."
"Picard's commitment to treat the revived as living persons leads to arranging compassionate transfer off-ship."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"BEVERLY: "The people Data beamed over.""
"BEVERLY: "I thawed them.""
"DATA: "I could not leave them there, Captain. The condition of the vehicle was deteriorating.""
"PICARD: "Before you wake them, I want Security here.""
"PICARD: "... Welcome to the twenty-fourth century.""