Face to Face with the Future
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard enters Sickbay and observes the unconscious duplicate, his quiet inquiry about P2’s condition masking mounting dread as the duplicate reacts with sudden agitation at his presence.
P2’s silent, Goya-esque agony breaks into a visceral reaction — he turns toward Picard, strains to focus, then recoils with a guttural, otherworldly sound, embodying the horror of a man caught between timelines.
Picard presses the duplicate for answers about the Enterprise’s destruction, his voice shifting from clinical curiosity to raw desperation — his questions pierce the veil between present and doomed future.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Concerned and pensive; professionally detached but privately worried about escalating pressure on Picard and crew.
Standing beside P2, reporting on his vitals and mental state, cautions about limits of human tolerance, frames a duty to the ship above personal loyalty, and states she could relieve the captain if he becomes compromised.
- • Stabilize P2 medically and monitor his tolerance for stress
- • Protect the ship and crew by anticipating when command might be impaired
- • Assert medical authority and readiness to act if Captain Picard becomes compromised
- • The welfare of the ship and crew supersedes individual command prerogatives
- • Prolonged exposure to P2’s psychological trauma could break even experienced officers
- • Medical intervention and, if necessary, removal of command are legitimate and necessary options
Terrified, overwhelmed by fragmented visions and remorse; intermittently attempts communication but is trapped by his perceptions.
Lying/positioned in sickbay, physically present but psychologically distant; fixes and avoids Picard’s gaze, leans forward briefly as if trying to focus, then recoils into a frozen, agonized expression; emits a strange, otherworldly sound.
- • Orient himself amid nightmarish images and recognize present stimuli
- • Attempt to bridge the perceptual 'chasm' enough to register the present
- • Avoid reliving or intensifying the trauma of what he witnessed
- • He is not fully in the same experiential dimension as those around him
- • What he saw (or will see) carries weighty consequences and guilt
- • Direct attempts to force communication may worsen his condition
Calm and compassionate, though quietly troubled by the depth of P2's psychic trauma; focused on interpreting and mitigating its effects.
Arrives unbidden, reads P2’s mental/emotional state aloud for Picard and Pulaski, explains the 'chasm' imagery, assesses that P2 is filled with remorse and fear, and offers reassurance about Picard’s command capacity.
- • Translate P2’s subjective experience into actionable insight for command and medical staff
- • Provide emotional support and perspective to Picard to prevent paralytic doubt
- • Facilitate conditions for P2 to communicate when (or if) possible
- • P2’s experiences are best understood as fragmented psychological visions rather than deliberate deception
- • Doubt in a captain can be healthy but also dangerous if it leads to paralysis
- • Empathic framing can stabilize both patient and command decisions
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
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.
The sickbay entry doorway functions as the physical threshold where Picard halts, Troi appears, and movement is choreographed; it frames entrances and exits and concentrates emotional beats into a single staging moment that punctuates the confrontation.
The Enterprise functions as the institutional subject behind the crisis; references to its future doom and Pulaski’s duty to the ship infuse the scene with stakes, making the encounter about more than two men — it's about the survival of the vessel and crew.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The sickbay ward functions as the crucible for this encounter: a clinical, instrumented space where medical containment, forensic questioning, and personal confrontation collide. It provides the technical resources to monitor P2 and the ethical frame for Pulaski to threaten relief of command.
The sickbay doorway serves as a narrow, charged threshold where Picard pauses, where Troi materializes, and where exits are staged; it isolates the encounter and frames the emotional choreography of the scene.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Picard’s plea to let P2 remain conscious (a rejection of medical control) precedes Pulaski and Troi’s debate on P2 as embodiment of doubt — establishing that Picard’s compassion becomes the catalyst for the psychological threat to his command. His emotional vulnerability directly enables the erosion of his authority."
"Picard’s plea to let P2 remain conscious (a rejection of medical control) precedes Pulaski and Troi’s debate on P2 as embodiment of doubt — establishing that Picard’s compassion becomes the catalyst for the psychological threat to his command. His emotional vulnerability directly enables the erosion of his authority."
"Pulaski’s warning that she may relieve Picard if his doubt compromises command escalates the tension from internal psychological strain to institutional crisis. This foreshadows his later override of her orders — he rejects control not just from others, but from his own fear — making his subsequent phaser shot an act of defiant autonomy."
"Pulaski’s warning that she may relieve Picard if his doubt compromises command escalates the tension from internal psychological strain to institutional crisis. This foreshadows his later override of her orders — he rejects control not just from others, but from his own fear — making his subsequent phaser shot an act of defiant autonomy."
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: "LOOK AT ME!""
"TROI: "He doesn't understand you.""
"PULASKI: "Part of my job is to anticipate problems. I have a duty to the captain, but first to the ship and its crew.""