Object

P2's Nightmarish Images

A sequence of non-material, high-contrast visual phantasms that assault P2’s perception in Sickbay: overlapping flashes of ruined starship interiors, warped close-ups of Picard’s face, and accelerating, fragmented future-catastrophe tableaux. The images shimmer at the edge of focus, lack physical edges or texture, and collapse into static when others attempt to engage. Characters recoil or register alarm: P2 withdraws, Troi interprets the visuals as a symptom, and Picard watches as these visions reshape P2’s recognition of him into accusation.

3 appearances

Purpose

To function as a psychological symptom — an involuntary visual manifestation of P2’s dislocation that signals mental rupture and obstructs normal interpersonal recognition.

Significance

These images drive the scene’s central conflict: they reveal P2’s estrangement from the future Picard represents, erode trust, justify Troi’s clinical intervention, and precipitate Picard’s emotional withdrawal and tactical concession to leave Troi with the duplicate, thereby escalating the moral and command stakes.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

3 moments

S2E13 · Time Squared

Face to Face with the Future

P2's nightmarish images are the non‑material visual phenomena assaulting his perception; Troi references them to explain his inability to respond, they account for his Goya‑like expression, and they narratively justify the communication gap between P2 and Picard.

Before: Active in P2's mind, already shaping his perception and behavior prior to Picard's arrival.

After: Persisting and continuing to disrupt P2's capacity for coherent communication; identified but not resolved by the attending crew.

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S2E13 · Time Squared

Fractured Reflection — Picard Relinquishes

P2's nightmarish images are the non-material object that govern behavior — they prevent direct rapport, cause P2 to avert his gaze, and are the symptom Troi interprets as a psychic chasm. Narratively, these images convert memory into accusation, rendering Picard both present and absent to his duplicate.

Before: Active within P2's perception; vivid enough to sever eye contact and coherence.

After: Persisting and unresolved, continuing to block direct communication and deepen the crisis of recognition.

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S2E13 · Time Squared

Sickbay Ultimatum: Doubt as Command Threat

P2's Nightmarish Images manifest in the duplicate's perception and behavior, creating the core obstacle to communication and the source of Troi's empathic readings. They externalize the temporal trauma and render the duplicate unreliable and frightening.

Before: Active in P2's perception, intermittently surfacing and distorting sensory engagement.

After: Persisting as an internal phenomenon; images continue to disrupt P2's ability to answer despite brief moments of focus.

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