Home Soil

Further investigation reveals that a microscopic crystalline life form lives in a water layer just beneath the sands on the planet and had been trying to communicate to the scientists, whose terraforming project was gradually destroying its habitat.

When a sample of the crystal is beamed aboard, it begins to display rapidly increasing growth and energy levels. It quickly overpowers the containment field holding it, and is threatening to break out of sickbay. Analysis indicates that the crystal is photoelectric in nature, and is drawing its power from the sickbay lighting systems. When the lights are dimmed the creature loses power, allowing it to be safely contained.

Data manages to establish communication with the crystal life form, which is understandably angry at the "ugly bags of mostly water", it's name for Humanoid life forms. Picard is able to convince it that the harm done was unintentional, and that all terraforming efforts will now be halted. The creature agrees to a cessation of hostilities, and is beamed back down to the surface. The Enterprise departs the planet, having been informed by the aliens that full contact between the two races will be established in three hundred years, when it feels that Humans will be ready.

Where it all falls apart is in the last ten or fifteen minutes. The writers have decided that for dramatic purposes, the Microbrain is going to threaten the Enterprise. Having it grow bigger and more powerful is a reasonable way to accomplish this, but you have to wonder why the microbrains on the surface don't do the same thing to give us a planet littered with big fist sized crystals.

And then we get the explanation of how the brain is growing... it's drawing energy from the lighting systems in sickbay. As noted in the YATI, this just isn't possible. The amount of energy the brain puts out can't be any greater than the amount that goes in, and the average lightbulb doesn't put enough power out to heat a kettle in a reasonable time, let alone overcoming forcefields and such. The only way to get around this is to assume that the brain uses the tiny amount of energy it absorbs to do something technobabbly... create an energy field that draws power out of subspace or something. That wouldn't be a very satisfactory answer either, but at least it would be something! In a way I feel bad for complaining about this, because what I'm basically saying is that we needed more technobabble in this episode, and as a general rule technobabble isn't a good idea. But in this case, I think something was required.