S2E2 · Where Silence Has Lease

While on a charting mission, the Federation starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, discovers a zone of pure blackness in space; probes launched into the area simply disappear. As they continually move closer to study it further, the zone expands and soon envelops the Enterprise, leaving them in a black void with sensors reporting nothing outside. Picard orders the ship on a return course but they find that they cannot escape. They leave a stationary beacon behind them, only to have it reappear ahead of them.

A Romulan Warbird suddenly decloaks in front of the ship and attacks. Picard orders the crew to return fire; they destroy the Warbird, but Picard is suspicious of how easily this occurs. The crew then detect what appears to be their sister ship, the USS Yamato, approaching them, but it does not respond to hails. Commander Riker and Lt. Worf beam over to search the ship, where they find it empty with various inconsistencies in its construction, including more seemingly impossible physical loops. The Enterprise then detects an exit from the darkness but cannot lock onto the away team to retrieve them before the opening disappears.

The Yamato begins to fade away, but the Enterprise is able to beam Riker and Worf back just in time. More openings appear in the blackness, each closing as soon as the Enterprise approaches them. Picard realizes that they are being manipulated and orders a full stop.

An entity called Nagilum, appearing as a face, on the bridge viewscreen, announces its curiosity about humans has prompted it test the limits of the human body. After causing Ensign Haskell to die via intracerebral hemorrhage, it states that it wants to know everything about death. It estimates it will take between a third and a half of the crew to complete its experiments. Picard activates the ship's self-destruct sequence rather than to submit to Nagilum's whims. As the crew prepares for their end, Picard is tested once more by Nagilum via the peculiar behavior displayed by doppelgangers of Counselor Troi and Lt.

Commander Data, both of whom question the self-destruct order. Once the duplicates are gone and the countdown nears zero, the void vanishes, leaving the Enterprise in normal space. Picard orders the ship to move away at high speed, but cancels the self-destruct only when he is satisfied that they are truly free.

As the Enterprise continues on its mission, Nagilum appears on the ready-room computer. It offers its dismissive evaluation of humanity. Picard disagrees, pointing out that their recent encounter shows that both species are curious. Nagilum concedes this point before disappearing.