Picard voice over wile camera pans around ship. " captains log star date ( later). We are piking up a new crew ember at star base 13. An grate engineer and the loan survivor of the u.s.s. tropics disaster. Dr Nick Ramage.

Captain Picard, Riker, and chief O'Brian stand it the transporter room.

Riker turns to Picard " I heard the doctor has a photographic everything"
" yes what an interesting ability, can you imagine remembering every detail of you life as if it just happend."
" all the amazing memory's at a thought."
" but it can't be all good you can never forget the bad thing either."
O'Brian " they are redy for transport"
" energize"

A young girl materializes on the pad. She wore a yellow dress uniform and blue tights with tall black boots. Her long curly hair had a streak of pink and had a blue backpack and a single black suit case.

The captain and riker are surprised

The girl stays on the pad smiling "hi ya."
Captain " hello ."
Riker " I'm sorry, are you doctor nick Ramage?"
Nick " I am"
O'Brian " nick?"
Nick "nick is short for Nicole."
Riker " but your like 14, "
Nick " 16 actually, but your guess was higher then most."
Picard " well any way I'm captain Jean-Luc picard this is commander William riker."
Nick " glad to meet cha" she jumped off the transporter pad and extended her hand.

They shake hands

Riker " let me help you with your bag doctor." Grabbing her suit case
Nick " thanks but pleas don't call me doctor I hate that. Make me feel odd. "
Picard " so what do you go by"
Nick " I like to go by nick or Nikki, but if you prefer I also answer to lieutenant Ramage.
Riker " lieutenant? When did you graduate star fleet academy?"
Nick " well I was given special admission at age 11 and graduated last year at 15"
Picard " and the doctorate?"
Nick " the sociology doctorate I earned in my free time at the academy and the other on board my first assignment."
Picard " quite an accomplishment for your age"
Riker " your parents must be proud."
Nick " I'm sure they would be"
Nick exits transporter room
O'Brian " would be?"
Picard " will make sure she gets to her quarters and revives her schedule."
Riker "yes sir"
Riker exits with nicks bag

O'Brian " well she should be interesting"
Picard "mm yes"

Scene later at ten forward

Riker and Geordie talk

Riker " how's the new girl, lieutenant Ramage"
Geordie " well she is an excellent officer, but the others seem irritate by her, maby it the whistling."
Riker " whistling? "
Geordie " yah she always whistles the same tune as she works"
Riker " what tune?"
Geordie " I'm not sure,"

Guinean joins conversation

Guinean " I don't think it's the whistling, look there"
She points to the oppiset end of the bar ware nick sits alone with a drink.
Guinean " she's been sitting there for twenty minutes. People will sit next to her for a second some times she says hi but it always ends the same way the give her a dirty look and walk away."

Riker " well let's go talk to her see what's wrong."

Geordie and riker walk over and sit down next to nick

Geordie " you don't seam to be getting along with the other officers, lieutenant."
Riker " we thought you might need some help."

Nick gets a big smile and pulls a pad from her lap an starts typing

Nick " perfect. Just what I needed. Thank you."

Geordie and riker give each other a questioning look.

Riker " I'm sorry did I miss something"
Nick " you just proved my hypothesis. Thank you."
Geordie " what hypothesis? What are you talking about"
Nick " I have been doing an experiment since I got on board. And you just finished it"
Riker " and what was this experiment?"
Nick. " my hypothesis was that lower ranking star fleet officers follow group mentality, wile higher ranking officers care more about the individual officers."
Geordie " how did you pull that off"
Nick " I asked a cupel of ensigns to help me out they started acting like they didn't like me. And as I expected others started to follow. And you guys just added the second half."
Geordie " so what if they don't stop disliking you."
Nick "well it was bound to happen eventually, I'm not well liked regardless."
Riker " glad we could help"
Nick " now if you'll excuse me I have to finish up this paper, oh and Guinean you'll be mentioned as an intervening variable."

She smiled and walked away.

Riker " what an odd ball"
Geordie " she will definitely be a hard one to figure out"
Guinean " maybe that's just what she wants"

Next day in engineering

Data: "Geordie there have been problems with consoles reported on several decks."
Geordie " why don't you check it out and uh..."

Looks around and sees lieutenant Ramage staring at a clearly malfunctioning console

Geordie " lieutenant what are you doing?"

Quickly turns around as if she's been caught doing some thing wrong

Nick " not talking to my self, that's for sure."
Geordie " okay why don't you and data go try to figure out what's happening."
Nick " yes sir"

Data walks over to nick

Data " I believe we should star with the console in the geology lab"
Nick "seams as good a place as any"

Walk to turbo lift

Data " geology lab"

Awkward silence for a moment

Nick " you're perfectly comfortable with this arnt you? A silent ride in the turbo lift. Most people would feel the need to produce small talk."
Data " I am not most people"
Nick " no you're not, you're much more interesting."

Turbo lift doors open

Nick " hey were here to fix your broken stuff am I to assume that's the broken one"

Pointing at the clearly broken console

Guy " yah"

They walk over to it

Data " the controls are unresponsive? lieutenant you should look in side the casing"
Nick " eye eye. And you can call me nick"

She sits and begins to take apart the console wile data try's the controls still.

Data " nick, that is usually a male name."
Nick " mines short for Nicole. I do respond to Nikki as well if you prefer a more feminine name.
Data " I do not mind"

Nick after getting the outer casing off the console lets out a sharp scream an scrambles back words

Data " what is wrong"
Nick " I I think I found the problem" voice shaking

She points inside the console her hand shaking. Data looks inside and we see tangled in the wires and things is a vary large spiders nest accompanied by a vary large spider.

Data using communicator
Data ' Geordie we found the problem. We need a senior staff meeting at 1300 hours"
Geordie over communicator " data that's In ten minutes"
Data " it's important Geordie '
Geordie " okay data I'll get it together'
Nick " well good luck with that"
Data " you misunderstand I intend to make the presentation with you"
Nick " rely oh oh okay"

Observation Lounge sin or staff sitting around table data and nick standing in front

Picard " this better be good to get us here on such short notice"
Data " it is sir, we found the source of the malfunctions"
Riker "and they are?"
Nick " an infestation "
crusher "on the enterprise?"
Troi " of what ?"
Data " unknown Aline species of enlarged arachnids"
Nick " in other words big space spiders"
Picard " and how do we get rid of them?"
Nick " call a space exterminator?"
Riker " we can't just kill them"
Nick " why not they're just spiders" she shudders
Troi " do I sense a bit of arachnophobia lieutenant?"
Nick " bugs arnt that bad except when their the size of my fist and chew through wires"
Riker " to be fair your hand is not that big"
Picard " I want to know where the things came from and how to get rid of them. Dismissed"

Sick bay doctor crusher writing as nick walks in.

Crusher " lieutenant,what can I do for you?"
Nick " I got bit by one of those space spiders and now I can't feel my hand yet some how it still hurts"

She holds up her right hand to shoe a large fang marks in her hand and the skin around them turning purple

Crusher " oh god, here sit down"

She Begins to scan her hand with a tricorder

Crusher " here this should help the pain" uses hypospray
Crusher " your hart rate is peculiar"
Nick "let me see" looks at tricorder " oh no that's normal I'm part Vulcan my bloods a funny color too "
Crusher " I didn't know that"
Nick '" ya well I usually have my hair cover my ears" she pushes back her hair to reveal a slight point.

Riker walks in

Riker " how you doing Nikki?"
Nick "oh I'm good. Sept for this pesky hand"
Crusher " will did you know that the lieutenant is part Vulcan"
Riker " I did not"
Nick " well as long as you interested in my heritage I'm one quarter Vulcan one quarter batazed and half human"
Riker " what an interesting family tree I would love you meet your parents"
Nick " sorry bout 10 years to late"
Crusher " what do you mean"
Nick " my parents both passed away when I was six"
Riker " I'm so sorry"
Nick " it's all right if I had them they prolly wouldn't let me be an officer at this age. Too dangerous"
Riker " starfleet is not that dangerous"
Nick " I'm sitting here with a space spider bite"
Riker " valid point, I'm not sure if I like the term space spiders"
Nick " how about astro arachnids, extraterrestrial exoskeleton, a pain in my ass."
Riker " interesting choices"
Nick " I'm starting to feel nausea"
Crusher " here lay down I have to run a few tests to see how to stop the venom from spreading"
Nick" Lovely"
Data on communicator " commander riker we need you in engineering"
Riker " on my way." " and I will check on you later"

Riker exits.

Engineering Picard walks in

Picard " have we found a way to get those spiders off my ship"
Nick with hand in a bandage " no of fence sir, but were engineers shouldn't you be asking an anthropologist or an exterminator? I mean the best we could do is beat them with a shoe"
Ensign " why don't we just kill them before they eat the ship from the inside out"
Picard " our mission is to find new life forms not to kill them"
Nick " I rely thought that only applied to intelligent life forms and as far as I can tell these are just big spiders"
Picard " no matter we are going to try all human options before resorting to violence now as you suggested I'm going to see a anthropologist"

Picard walks out as nurse comes in

Nurse " lieutenant Ramage ? "
Nick "that's my name don't were it out"
Nurse " doctor crusher would like to see you"
Nick " oh goodie"

Exits cut scene to her entering empty sick bay
She sits on bed

Nick " what's up doc"

Doctor crusher walks out of office

Crusher " I think I found a way to neutralize the venom"
Nick " yippy"
Crusher uses hypo-spry
Crusher " now you should regain feeling in about 5 minutes but leave the bandage on the skin may be raw"

On communicator riker " lieutenant Ramage report to the bridge Immidently"
Nick " gotcha be there soon" to doctor "au revoir,doctor"
Exits sick bay
Pullers a flask out of her boot and drinks
Nick " just a bit to numb the Pain"

Nick Enters bridge

Riker " Nikki good. The universal translator broke"
Nick " I'm sorry sir but things are going to keep braking till we get rid of those damn spiders"
Riker " yes I know but I believe data has just came up with away to nurolixe them so we can cage them and figure out were they belong"

Data walks in

Data " here commander i have finished the spry"
Nick " and it comes in a nice spray bottle"
Riker " alright now you can go fix it. Hopefully before we run in to somebody we can't talk to."
Nick " me I'm not going anywhere near those things"
Data " I can remove the spider sir"
Riker " go ahead"

Data opens panel below main screen sprays thing. Here struggling the data pulls the spider out of panel walks to riker and nick

Nick " screams" runs behind riker
Riker " laughs, it's unconscious it can't hurt you"
Nick " I don't care there creepy and I don't want it any where near me"
Data " I will take this down for caging"
Riker Tuning to face nick " now it's gone you can go fix it right?"
Nick " of corse"

They both walk over to panel nick inspects it

Riker " how long do you think it'll take"
Nick " I don't know, that thing rely did a number on it"
Pulls out severed wires
Nick " an hour. Maby more "
Riker " well get a move on then"
Nick " I m gonna have to go get some tools and..."
She looked insid it again
Nick " and some wire"
Riker "go ahead"

Ready room Picard at his desk riker talks to him

Riker " All the spiders have been removed and ..,.,..,,.,.,,., cave a now we have engineers working on fixing all the damaged areas"
Picard " excellent work will"
Comm " captain there's a ship heading directly at us"

Riker and picard enter bridge

Picard " on screen "

Image of a ship appears on the screen

Riker " data what kind of ship is that"

Data " it appears to be andronin"

Riker " what are they doing in this sector"

Worf " maybe they don't want to talk"

Picard " I doubt it"

Worf " sir were being hailed"

Picard " on screen"

Alien comes on screen and speaks an alien language.

Picard " I must inform you that our translator is not working at the moment"

Alien " how long before it is fixed, we do not like speaking in your language"

Picard " we apologize for the inconvenience. " looks at nick " lieutenant how long wile it be"

Nick inspecting the space " umm ten minutes... Probably"

Picard " ten minutes shall we hail you when it's done?"

Alien speaks in it's language

Nick moving to see the screen
Nick " incompetent! I'll have you know ten minutes is a short time for this!"

Picard " lieutenant, what are you talking about?"

Nick " he called me incompetent" pointing at screen

Riker "you speak andronin? "

Nick " I do indeed "

Riker " can u translate for us"

Nick " sure "

Picard " we've found a human translator"

Alien speaks in his language

Nick " he said that will suffice"

Riker " ask them what they want"

Nick translates

Alien responds

Nick " he said my name is captain grrglect of the raymuk we requesting you leave our space"

Picard "I'm captain Picard of the enterprise, your space sir your planet is several light years from here"

Nick translates

Alien speaks

Nick " he's said we are refuges form our home planet we now live on the planet below you"

Picard " why did you leave, we do not help criminals "

Nick translates

Alien speaks

Nick " he said we are not criminals, we left are home planet to maintain a simpler way of life that it no longer technology threatens our way of life we are asking you to leave"

Picard " if you are anti technology why do you have a star ship"
Nick translates

Alien speaks

Nick " he said-"

Riker cuts her off " you don't have to say that every time "

Nick "sorry, we keep this so we can warn off visitors. We do not like to use it but if you were to beam down to our planet you would ruin the children it is to keep as you say the prime directive"

Picard " we we leave as requested. We do not wish to interfere"

Nick started to translate data cuts her off

Data " captain perhaps we can help them. If we were to relies beacons around the plant proclaiming it's of limits. They would no longer need the ship."

Picard " ask them lieutenant"

Nick translates

Alien speaks

Nick responds

Nick " that would be great."

Riker " he said a lot more than that "

Nick " yah he just asked if you can see them from the ground. And then he apologized for calling me incompetent"

Alien speaks

Nick " he Said Thank you for the help enterprise good bye."

Worf " the transmission has ended "

Data " the beacons are ready to be placed

Picard "make it so"

Nick has gone back to fixing the translator

Picard " thank you lieutenant"

Nick forgetting she was Inclosed bangs her injured Hand wile trying to respond

Nick " swearing in French"

The captain has already left and did not here her

Riker " what was that "

Nick " oh that was French"

Riker " French? How many languages do you speak?"

Nick " hmmm well" counts on her fingers " all of them"

Riker " that's amazing "

Nick " yep it makes it essayer to talk back without getting in trouble."

Riker "Interesting well next Time I'll know"

Riker " ensign continue previous corse."

Ensign " corse laid in sir"

Riker "engage"

Ten forward nick sits alone on the floor next to a window she bounces a bouncy ball against the glass and catches it repeatedly

Riker walks up to her and pulls up a chair sits in it backward

Riker " is there a reason you're on the floor "

Nick " I prefer the floor"

Riker " okay , I bought you a drink"

Nick " why"

Riker " thought you could use some compony "

Nick " thx" Takes drink has a sip " is thins Appel juice?"

Riker " hey you got to be treated like a kid sometimes "

Nick " wow at least you didn't bring it in a sippy cup"

Riker " so what are you doing"

Nick "thinking"

Riker " about? "

Nick "how some things have come so far in so little time and other stay the same forever. Like this bouncy ball"

Riker " we only fix things that need it" takes ball " like this has no flaws it's perfect for what it does"

Nick " well not perfect, it only works on certain surfaces"

Riker " that would be cool"

Nick " I just got an idea " stand chugs juice and runs off

Riker looks at the ball " definitely an odd ball" bounces it

END