Last-Resort Neural Shock
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Pulaski logs the crisis with clinical bite—Riker remains critical—even as she preps the device, admitting she’s found a way to reverse the infection but may already be too late.
Troi names the fear; Pulaski checks the monitor and confirms the slide—shallow respiration, wildly irregular heartbeat.
Pulaski shoves past hesitation—Troi nods assent and she hits the device, driving current through Riker’s body as it locks rigid.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Determined and urgent with a grim underside—Pulaski shows clinical composure masking worry and the heavy awareness that this is a last‑ditch gamble.
Pulaski narrates a supplemental medical log while physically preparing and then activating an improvised neural stimulator; she reads Riker's monitor, assesses collapsing vitals, and deliberately triggers a high‑current zap despite grim odds.
- • Arrest or reverse the infection's growth rate in Riker's nervous system.
- • Buy time for a more definitive cure or containment protocol to be developed.
- • Document the procedure and its effects for Ship and medical records.
- • She believes she has discovered a viable method that could slow or reverse the pathogen.
- • She believes delay will guarantee failure; immediate action offers any chance of success.
- • Medical duty requires taking calculated risks to save a life even when probability is low.
Unconscious and physiologically distressed—any emotion is manifest only in the body's involuntary responses rather than conscious expression.
Riker is unconscious on the biobed as Pulaski prepares and delivers the shock; physiologically critical, he grows rigid under the applied current and is the passive focus of the medical gamble.
- • At a biological level: stabilize vital functions and regain consciousness.
- • At a narrative level (implied): survive the infection and return to duty or himself.
- • Implicit trust in the medical team to act in his best interest.
- • Implicit resilience—his body and crew will attempt aggressive measures to save him.
Concerned and anxious but steady—Troi's empathy sharpens her alarm while she deliberately defers to Pulaski's medical authority.
Troi stands at Riker's bedside observing both the monitors and Pulaski's actions, voices concern about Riker's weakening condition, nods agreement to proceed, and provides empathic witness to the moral weight of Pulaski's decision.
- • Ensure Riker's emotional and physical welfare is considered during the intervention.
- • Support Pulaski and lend assent so the procedure can proceed without delay.
- • Monitor for any psychic or physiological changes in Riker that may inform immediate adjustments.
- • She believes the risk is high but that immediate action is preferable to certain decline.
- • She believes Pulaski's clinical judgment is trustworthy even under improvised conditions.
- • She believes Riker's life and the crew's wellbeing justify taking dangerous medical measures.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A compact, jury‑rigged apparatus—repurposed as an experimental neural stimulator—is prepared and activated by Pulaski to deliver a high‑current zap through Riker's nervous system. Functionally it is the instrument of the gamble, converting Pulaski's procedure into an immediate, violent intervention intended to halt the organism's growth.
The bedside vital signs monitor provides the real‑time diagnostic readout that drives decision‑making: it displays shallow respiration, irregular heartbeat and the rapid deterioration that compels Pulaski to act. Its alarms and traces contextualize the risk and mark the physiological consequences of the procedure when Riker grows rigid.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Enterprise Sickbay functions as the pressured arena for this ethical medical escalation: its clinical lighting, diagnostic consoles, and isolation atmosphere concentrate authority and intimacy while Pulaski improvises a dangerous procedure under time pressure. The space transforms from routine clinic to moral battleground where professional duty and personal risk collide.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"‘Beyond this place there be dragons’ anticipates the perilous plunge into Riker’s darkest memories."
"‘Beyond this place there be dragons’ anticipates the perilous plunge into Riker’s darkest memories."
"The high‑intensity push cascades into survival‑fear memories beginning with engaging auto‑destruct."
Key Dialogue
"PULASKI (V.O.): Medical log, supplemental. Commander Riker's condition is still critical."
"PULASKI (V.O., cont'd): I've discovered a way to reverse the infection's growth rate -- but I may be too late."
"TROI: He's getting weaker, isn't he?"
"PULASKI: Respiration shallow, heartbeat extremely irregular."
"PULASKI (cont'd): But we can't delay any longer..."