Object

Local Artificial Power Source

Referenced as a missing or nonfunctional energy installation on the settlement: there are no visible generator housings, power conduits, energized panels, or lit infrastructure. The bridge discussion treats the power source as absent rather than damaged—its lack shows up as an environmental clue, indicating the community runs without ship‑scale electrical systems and lacks the physical trappings of sustained artificial power.

3 appearances

Purpose

To generate and distribute electrical power for a settlement's buildings, systems, and tools, enabling powered lighting, communications, machinery, and environmental controls.

Significance

Its absence explains the colony's centuries of isolation, frames cultural practices constrained by low energy availability, and drives command decisions aboard the Enterprise (the urgency to evacuate and suspend cultural protocol arises in part because no local artificial power infrastructure exists).

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

3 moments

S2E18 · STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION — Up the Long Ladder

Transporter Stampede: Bringloidi Barnyard Chaos

The local artificial power source is noted by Worf as absent; its nonexistence explains the colony's isolation and reinforces the urgency — a climatic driver behind Picard's decision to evacuate rather than attempt prolonged aid.

Before: Nonexistent or inactive on the planet — the colony lacks ship-scale electrical infrastructure.

After: Remains absent; its absence continues to justify extraction rather than long-term support.

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S3E12 · The High Ground

Data's Tracking Pitch and Moral Questioning

The 'local artificial power source' is referenced indirectly as the potential target Data hopes to trace using the echogram; it functions as the remote objective implied by sensor work, anchoring the technical proposal to a concrete investigative end.

Before: Inferred existence off-world from earlier sensor anomalies; not physically present on the bridge and not yet localized.

After: Remains an inferred target; Data suggests the echogram could yield data to locate it but nothing definitive is produced in this scene.

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S3E12 · The High Ground

Data's Moral Calculus

The local artificial power source is invoked implicitly as the target the echogram could help locate; it functions as the inferred endpoint of the technical hunt for Ansata infrastructure.

Before: Absent as a physical object on the bridge; present only as an inferred remote signature under investigation.

After: Remains an inferred investigative target; Data's proposal strengthens its priority as a locus for future detection efforts.

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