Object

Transporter Test Object — Swiss‑Cheese Specimen (with Suspicious Residue)

A palm‑sized calibration/test artifact that rematerialized into a grotesque, pockmarked shell 'like Swiss cheese.' Jagged perforations, ragged/thermally discolored edges, and a faint glittering/suspicious residue dusting several cavities characterize the wreckage. Geordi La Forge lifts the specimen in the transporter room, notices the deposit, and the crew treat the object and its residue as forensic evidence that reframes the incident as a physics‑level hazard.

3 appearances

Purpose

To serve as a standardized calibration/test subject for transporter dematerialization/rematerialization diagnostics during engineering experiments.

Significance

Acts as the immediate, tangible evidence that transporter signals are being shredded by exotic teremi‑thorons; its mutilation pivots the problem from routine debugging to an environmental/physics threat, precipitating Riker's command intervention and forcing a strategic shift toward evacuation and novel countermeasures.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

3 moments

S3E2 · The Ensigns of Command

Transporter Test Devastation — Teremi‑thoron Breakthrough

Suspicious residue adheres to the mutilated test sample examined by Geordi; it serves as an evidentiary trace linking the physical damage to an external high-energy source and prompting the pulsar/teremi‑thoron hypothesis.

Before: Present on the test sample immediately after rematerialization, visible to the engineers as anomalous deposit.

After: Set aside and observed by Geordi as he articulates the connection to a pulsar; retained as forensic evidence for further analysis.

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S3E2 · The Ensigns of Command

Transporter Shredded — Teremi‑Thorons Identified

A rematerialized test sample appears pockmarked 'like swiss cheese' and is picked up and inspected by Geordi; its mutilated condition and suspicious residue function as the immediate physical clue indicating exotic interference with the transporter pattern.

Before: One of six staged test objects awaiting rematerialization trials, intact and staged to the left of the transporter pad.

After: Now mutilated and in Geordi's hands; set aside after inspection as forensic evidence and as the catalyst for Wesley's teremi‑thoron diagnosis.

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S3E2 · The Ensigns of Command

Swiss-Cheese Transporter: Teremi‑Thoron Revelation

The suspicious residue adheres to the mutilated test sample and is explicitly observed by Geordi as an anomalous contaminant. It functions as an evidentiary trace linking the physical damage to an external energetic cause and shifts the discussion from mechanical failure to exotic-particle interference.

Before: Residue not yet observed or identified; the test samples were staged awaiting trials.

After: Residue is noticed on the ruined test object, prompting forensic attention and hypothesis about external causation (pulsar/teremi-thorons).

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