Fabula
Object
Object

Sickbay Diagnostic Wall Display (Riker Neural Rendering)

A recessed, wall‑mounted diagnostic display in Sickbay: a broad, near‑black, high‑resolution medical panel set in a brushed alloy bezel that projects life‑size anatomical renderings and animated neural tracings of William Riker. The face overlays Riker's leg and sciatic nerve (and in some renderings a full‑body schematic), highlights puncture points and spreading vine‑like growth, and streams neurovital percentages and waveform readouts. Narrow tactile pads and a slim status strip control stimulators and drug delivery; Pulaski manipulates the controls while Picard, Data, and Geordi/La Forge lean in to read decisive status updates. Serves as the primary visual fulcrum for the medical urgency in the episode 'Shades of Gray.'
8 appearances

Purpose

To present real‑time medical imaging and layered diagnostics—display anatomical scans, highlight affected nerves and tissues, and provide clinicians with visual data to inform urgent treatment decisions.

Significance

Serves as the story's pivotal diagnostic clue: the visualization reveals the microbe's neural invasion, defines surgical and transporter limits, escalates the fatal stakes for Riker, and propels Picard to mobilize an off‑ship retrieval mission that drives the episode's investigation.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

8 moments
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Diagnosis: Neural Invasion and the Call to Action

Pulaski activates the wall‑mounted diagnostic display to project a life‑size rendering of Riker's body and neural tracings; she highlights the puncture point and shows the microbes' spread along the sciatic nerve, using the visualization to justify prognosis and the need for an off‑world sample.

Before: Mounted and idle in Sickbay, displaying default diagnostic standby imagery.
After: Actively engaged and highlighted, showing the point of entry and nerve invasion while remaining in use as the medical team digests the prognosis.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Nerve‑Bonded Microbe: Diagnosis and Dispatch

The wall-mounted diagnostic display projects an animated rendering of Riker's body, highlights the leg puncture and the course of the infected sciatic nerve, and visually confirms Pulaski's spoken diagnosis — making the microscopic invasion narratively visible and persuasive to command.

Before: Idle but functional in Sickbay, available for clinical readout.
After: Actively engaged as diagnostic reference and remains the authoritative visual evidence for Picard and the medical team's decisions.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Endorphin Leverage

The wall-mounted diagnostic display continuously visualizes the vine-like growth and neural tracings, providing the crucial diagnostic evidence that growth has slowed but remains active; it functions as the visual proof that endorphin-linked stimulation is the organism's weakness.

Before: Mounted and actively rendering a life-size overlay of Riker's leg and neural tracings, indicating organism presence and growth rate.
After: Continues to display reduced but persistent organism activity; remains the primary visual reference for Pulaski and Troi's decisions.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Half‑Hour Memory Protocol

The wall‑mounted diagnostic display continuously visualizes the organism's presence and spreading neural tracings; it functions as the objective evidence that the infection persists and that progress is marginal, focusing Pulaski's decisions and the crew's urgency.

Before: Displaying a life‑size overlay of Riker's affected nerve with a visible vine‑like growth; unchanged over the immediate period.
After: Remains active and unchanged in the text — continuing to show the organism's presence and informing that the infection still threatens Riker.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Fragile Stabilization — Tricordrazine Injection

The wall-mounted neural-invasion display provides the decisive data point — highlighting and reporting that the alien growth rate has slowed to seven percent. Pulaski reads it to gauge progress and justify immediate pharmacological action; it anchors medical judgment.

Before: Mounted, active, and displaying animated anatomical renderings and neural tracings showing organism progress.
After: Still mounted and displaying updated data; used as reference for Pulaski's decision but not physically altered.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Escalation: Tighten the Pattern

The neural‑invasion wall panel visually tracks the vine‑like growth and provides the diagnostic overlay Pulaski reads to determine the organism's progress; it also functions as the control reference Pulaski uses when she decides to intensify the stimulator current, linking information to action.

Before: Mounted and actively displaying animated anatomical renderings and growth highlighting, indicating steady organism advancement.
After: Continues to display updated diagnostics showing growth slowed to seven percent, used as reference for subsequent escalations.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Pulaski's Final Surge

The Sickbay diagnostic wall panel renders the infection's neural trace and growth rate; Troi reads its near-zero growth and Pulaski watches as its highlighting—the visual indicator of invasive spread—vanishes after the convulsion, providing objective confirmation of eradication.

Before: Displaying animated neural tracings and a highlighted spreading vine‑like growth; readout shows growth rate nearing zero.
After: Highlighting absent; display indicates the neural invasion has receded and diagnostic readouts trending toward normal.
View full event
S2E22 · Shades of Gray
Traumatic Memory Surge — Pulaski's Last‑Resort Push Eradicates Parasite

The Sickbay diagnostic wall panel projects live neurovital tracings and highlights the infection's growth rate. Troi reads it, Pulaski checks it for progress, and its highlighting disappears at the decisive moment, visually signaling eradication and prompting Pulaski's confirmation.

Before: Active and highlighting Riker's affected neural region; displaying growth rate and abnormal tracings.
After: Highlighting gone; live display returns to normal levels indicating the infection has been cleared.
View full event