Selective Tampering Revealed — A Second Preserved
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
DATA moves down the line of crypts and wipes aside a covering to reveal the perfectly preserved face of a forty‑seven‑year‑old male, escalating the mystery from selective removal to the presence of additional intact occupants.
Worf challenges the selective taking and destruction; Data concedes the motive may remain unknowable, and the mystery thickens.
Data wipes frost from another crypt and exposes a second perfectly preserved male, expanding the pool of potential survivors and questions.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Clinically curious with a subtle urgency; his calm analytical posture drives the scene's shift from puzzlement to evidentiary concern.
Methodically examines the refrigeration container and the row of crypts, explains technical limitations, catalogs opened and empty units, and wipes rime to reveal a second perfectly preserved occupant, shifting tone from analysis to urgent data gathering.
- • Assess the function and capabilities of the container to determine intent and origin.
- • Gather and preserve forensic information from the crypts to inform the Enterprise's next actions.
- • Physical evidence (design, opened crypts, preserved occupants) will yield the most reliable conclusions.
- • The container's refrigeration-only design suggests the occupants were not intended for long‑distance transport, making their current location anomalous.
Alert and agitated on the surface; his suspicion masks an undercurrent of professional alarm and a readiness to treat the situation as a security threat.
Standing beside the preserved woman, Worf interrogates the logistics and agency behind the derelict's presence, voices blunt suspicion, and presses the interpretive question of who moved or opened the crypts.
- • Determine whether the derelict represents an active threat to the Enterprise or its crew.
- • Identify whether an intelligent actor is responsible and who might be culpable.
- • Deliberate tampering implies an outside intelligence with motive and capability.
- • Preserved humans in foreign space are potential targets or evidence; the situation must be treated as hostile until proven safe.
Unresponsive (physically inert); symbolically represents a silent ethical imperative and a potential rescue obligation for the crew.
Lying inert and unresponsive in her crypt; her untouched preservation provides a counterpoint to the opened and damaged units and becomes physical evidence that something—or someone—chose to leave her intact.
- • (As an inert subject) Serve as evidence prompting medical, ethical, and investigative response from the crew.
- • Anchor the scene emotionally by personifying the human cost of whatever removed or destroyed the other occupants.
- • N/A (inert agent) - her condition implies that preservation was possible and that selective decisions were made regarding occupants.
- • Her intact state suggests she may still be rescued or examined for clues, influencing crew behavior.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The glass‑covered crypts function as a visual inventory of abuse and selection—some panes scratched or pried, one cover lifted, some empty, others holding desiccated remains, and two containing perfectly preserved bodies. They provide immediate, legible evidence that occupants were selectively removed, destroyed, or preserved.
The short-term refrigeration crypt is the central forensic object: Data identifies it as refrigeration-only, not designed for navigation or long voyages. Its design undercuts the idea of autonomous transit and strengthens the inference of external relocation; it houses preserved occupants and shows evidence of tampering.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
This section of the galaxy functions as the remote, hostile context that makes the derelict's presence inexplicable. The emptiness of surrounding space magnifies the wrongness of Earth‑origin cryopods appearing here and frames the derelict as a displaced artifact, increasing the mystery and political implications.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The inexplicable 'scooping' of entire outposts resonates with the derelict satellite scene where some crypts were opened and occupants removed — both suggest an external actor selectively taking people/objects."
"The inexplicable 'scooping' of entire outposts resonates with the derelict satellite scene where some crypts were opened and occupants removed — both suggest an external actor selectively taking people/objects."
"Questions about selective taking and destruction prefigure the 'scooped off' outposts mystery."
"Questions about selective taking and destruction prefigure the 'scooped off' outposts mystery."
Key Dialogue
"WORF: Has she been frozen for an extended journey?"
"DATA: If that were the purpose, there would be evidence of a more sophisticated monitoring system. This container is designed solely for refrigeration."
"DATA: These crypts were opened. The occupants in those were taken."