Electroshock: Geordi's Bypass and Data's Clinical Rescue
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Geordi snaps a frustrated "Dammit!" and Data issues a precise instruction to try a bypass on the shield control interface, offering an immediate technical workaround as systems falter.
Geordi moves to bypass the protected area—fingers flying across key pads as he attempts direct access to the master program—when the console lashes out with a powerful electric shock; Data hauls him free and checks for a pulse, turning a technical gambit into a moment of immediate bodily danger.
Geordi, already recovering, asks "What happened?" and Data delivers a flat, analytical shrug—calling any precise explanation mere speculation and framing the failures as random results—while Geordi's sarcastic retort registers their helplessness against an inscrutable contagion.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Externally detached and methodical; internally focused on diagnostics and preserving crew welfare by applying logical procedure despite dangerous, unpredictable conditions.
Data first recommends a bypass on the shield control interface, then reacts instantly when Geordi is shocked: he pulls Geordi away from the console, checks for a throat pulse, and delivers a clinical, probabilistic assessment that highlights the uncertainty and randomness of the system's responses.
- • Prevent further bodily harm to Geordi and secure the engineering team.
- • Determine, through observation and analysis, the cause and pattern of the console's hostile behaviour.
- • Preserve system integrity by recommending safer, less exposed methods where possible.
- • The console's reaction is not predictable and may not yield clear causal data.
- • Objective, procedural checks are the best way to reduce harm and obtain useful information.
- • Speculation is dangerous; empirical observation and triage are necessary now.
In acute physical pain and momentarily stunned, masking fear with irritation and exasperation; driven by urgency and determination to fix the system personally.
Geordi ignores remote probes and physically accesses the master program by typing across the engineering key pads. The console discharges a powerful electric shock that pins him to the panel; he is pulled free by Data, quickly recovers, fends Data off, and answers with a sarcastic, pained retort.
- • Bypass or manually access the ship's master shield program to restore function immediately.
- • Find a definitive, hands‑on fix rather than rely on slower remote diagnostics.
- • Protect the ship by eliminating the active threat posed by the corrupt routine.
- • Direct, manual intervention can achieve what remote probes cannot.
- • Speed and personal technical skill are necessary when the ship's systems are failing.
- • Engineering can outwork an unfamiliar program through brute technical know‑how.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Master Shield Control Interface is the direct technical target of Geordi's intervention: its key pads are used for manual access and the console delivers a violent electric discharge when Geordi attempts a direct bypass. Functionally it behaves as an active defensive system, converting a software intrusion into a physical hazard and thereby forcing corporeal risk into the engineering response.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Try a bypass on the shield control interface.""
"GEORDI: "No go. Let me see if I can directly access the master program.""
"DATA: "Any answer would be mere speculation. This is just another example of how our actions have random results.""