[Bridge]

(transcriber's note - the view of the ships hull after the credits, and the subtitles, clearly say Brittain, but some okudagrams say Brattain. Take your pick)
PICARD: On screen. Magnify.
RIKER: That's the Brittain, all right.
DATA: The ship is intact, sir, with no indication of structural damage.
RIKER: Engines?
DATA: All propulsion systems are shut down. The ship is drifting, sir.
PICARD: Life form readings?
DATA: Inconclusive.
PICARD: Counsellor?
TROI: There is life on board, but
PICARD: What is it?
TROI: I don't know. Something (she shrugs)
PICARD: Number One, assemble your team.
RIKER: Doctor Crusher, report to Transporter room three. Worf. Data.
TROI: Commander, I need to come too.

[Brittain Bridge]

DATA: There is no malfunction in any of the main systems, sir.
(Riker finds the captain dead in her chair, something impaling her through the chest)
WORF: Commander. Here's another one. This was done by a phaser on a setting of six or seven.
RIKER: And more over here.
CRUSHER: The entire Bridge crew.
RIKER: Whoever did this could still be on the ship.
TROI: There is someone alive, but he didn't kill these people. Here.
(a door opens)
TROI: I think he's Betazoid. It's all right. We're going to help you. Who did this? Who did this to you?

[Sickbay]

CRUSHER: We're almost finished with the autopsies, Captain.
PICARD: How long will it take to compile the data?
CRUSHER: It's complicated. The dead were found all over the ship. Some were found locked in their rooms, barricaded, with weapons piled all around them. Others were found in the corridors where they'd obviously had hand to hand combat. It's going to take some time to analyse and sort through the details. We've identified him as Andrus Hagan, from Betazed, scientific advisor. He's in a profound catatonic state.
TROI: I'm not getting much, Captain. A few words, disconnected phrases. I can feel his terror but I can't seem to get through to him.
PICARD: Stay with him, Counsellor. We're examining the Brittain for clues, but this man is the only one left who knows what happened there.
TROI [OC]: I'm here. I'm right here.
HAGAN [OC]: Are there voices?
TROI [OC]: Voices? What do they say?
HAGAN [OC]: Both things. No. No.
TROI [OC]: Keep talking to me. I'll try to understand.

[Brittain Bridge]

LAFORGE: All the engines check out perfectly, Commander. Once we get them started, the Brittain can get back to Starbase under her own power.
RIKER: Let's give it a try.
LAFORGE: Pre-heating injectors. Data, fuel flow?
DATA: Matter valves are open and operating. Magnetic containment of antimatter pods is constant.
LAFORGE: Okay, open injectors.
DATA: Injectors open. There is no engine activity at all, sir.
RIKER: What's wrong?
LAFORGE: Nothing's wrong. I don't understand it.

[Ready room]

PICARD: Come.
CRUSHER: I've been studying the autopsy reports. The conclusion is appalling. There was no outside source, no alien presence. All thirty four of them appear to have killed each other.
PICARD: What could have caused such an event? Drugs? A virus? Poison?
CRUSHER: Toxicological tests showed no unusual substances in their systems, and they all appear to be in good health. But for whatever reason, they seemed to turn against each other, using phasers and knives and bare hands. I'd like you to see this, Captain. It's from the logs of the Brittain. Captain Zaheva's mental condition deteriorated steadily once they'd became stranded. She began talking of plots and mutinies. This was the last entry log, made after they had been adrift for over three weeks.
ZAHEVA [on monitor]: First Officer Brink and his men were behind it. They got to the engines. They don't work anymore. Had to eliminate Brink. the ship is out of, out of, we're running out. Too dangerous! Out of Brink! And his men!

[Nightmare]

(Deanna is walking through a green fog, then she starts flying. Ahead are two lights, one large, one smaller)
VOICE: Eyes in the dark. One moon.
TROI: Where are you? I'm coming. Where are you?
VOICE: Eyes in the dark. One moon. Eyes in the dark. One moon circles. See the eyes in the dark. One moon.
TROI: Where are you?
(then she wakes up, gasping for air)

Captain's log, stardate 44635.8. Four days have passed, but we have made little progress in solving the mystery of the Brittain. I have decided we should return to Starbase two twenty, and to that end, Commander La Forge is rigging the Brittain for towing.

[Brittain Bridge]

LAFORGE: I'm going to try re-calibrating the field generators. I still don't see why we can't get the engines started. It just doesn't make any sense.
PEEPLES: Someone's still here.
LAFORGE: What did you say, Ensign?
PEEPLES: Can't you hear it? There's someone still alive on the ship! I heard, I mean, I thought I heard something.
LAFORGE: The ship was searched thoroughly. There's nobody left on board.
PEEPLES: Sorry, sir. My mistake.
LAFORGE: Don't worry about it. There were thirty four people were found dead on this ship. That's enough to make anybody uneasy.
PEEPLES: Thank you, sir.

[Sickbay]

TROI [OC]: I'm here. Can you hear me? Tell me about the voices you hear.
HAGAN [OC]: Bright. Bright out there.
TROI [OC]: I don't understand. Bright what? Tell me more.

[O'Brien's quarters]

(Miles is pacing when Keiko enters)
KEIKO: Boy, what a day this was. I'm doing an isozyme study on some populations of Cardilia but they're turning out to have these really weird polymorphisms. What a headache!
O'BRIEN: Is that why you're late?
KEIKO: Oh, no, I had a conference with Doctor Balthus. She wants to do a study on the laticifer ontogeny of the Kaladian Thorn Flower, but I don't have time to oversee another project.
O'BRIEN: Was Tom Corbin there?
KEIKO: What?
O'BRIEN: Tom Corbin from the science lab. Remember him?
KEIKO: Of course I remember him, but
O'BRIEN: You use any excuse you can to pay him a visit.
KEIKO: Miles, what are you saying?
O'BRIEN: I think you know exactly what I'm saying.
KEIKO: If I didn't know better, I'd say you were jealous.
O'BRIEN: Do you take me for a fool?

[Ten Forward]

GILLESPIE: Hello, Chief. Having coffee?
O'BRIEN: No, I'm drinking too much coffee.
GILLESPIE: I'm surprised to see you here at this hour.
O'BRIEN: Why's that?
GILLESPIE: You're not out of the honeymoon yet. Usually newlyweds can't keep their hands off each other.
O'BRIEN: She has work to do. She heads up the plant biology lab, you know.
GILLESPIE: Any strange things going on down there?
O'BRIEN: Like what?
GILLESPIE: I've been hearing things. Kenicki in Engineering told me he saw a man in an old Starfleet uniform riding the lift near the engine core. When the lift got to the top, there was no one on it.
O'BRIEN: Ghost stories.
GILLESPIE: There's more, there's lots more. There are strange things happening on this ship, O'Brien.
O'BRIEN: I'm surprised at you, Gillespie. A Starfleet officer. I have more things to worry about than shades and spirits.

[Ready room]

(doorbell)
PICARD: Come.
(doorbell)
PICARD: Come.
(doorbell, so he gets up. Doorbell again)
PICARD: Yes, yes.
(he gets to the door, it opens and there is no one there so he returns to his desk, and the doorbell chimes again, and again, and again. Then someone actually knocks at the door)
PICARD: Come.
(Beverly and Deanna enter)
PICARD: What?
CRUSHER: Captain, do you have a moment?
TROI: We're concerned. We're afraid whatever happened on the Brittain may be starting here.
PICARD: Explain.
TROI: Well, Beverly and I have been getting unusual reports. People behaving strangely, others hearing sounds that aren't there.
PICARD: Are we talking about hallucinations?
CRUSHER: In some cases. In others just erratic behaviour.
TROI: We can't track down any element that might be responsible.
PICARD: But everything started when we found the Brittain?
CRUSHER: Yes. Captain, we have to get the Enterprise away from here before it gets any worse.
PICARD: We're preparing to take the Brittain in tow. We'll be on our way within the hour.

[Bridge]

PICARD: Ensign, manoeuvre us into tractor beam range.
RAGER: Aye, sir.
DATA: Is there a problem, Ensign?
RAGER: I can't seem to remember how to enter the coordinates, sir.
RIKER: Ensign Lin.
DATA: Ready now, Captain.
PICARD: Report to Sickbay, Ensign Rager.
PICARD: Ready tractor beam, Mister Worf.
DATA: Captain, thrusters are losing power.
PICARD: Impulse engines. Ahead, minimum power.
LIN: Impulse engines are not responding, sir.
RIKER: Geordi, what's going on down there?
LAFORGE [OC]: I don't know, sir. Nothing's responding.
PICARD: Go to warp engines, factor one. Engage.
LAFORGE [OC]: Captain

[Engineering]

LAFORGE: We don't have warp drive either.

[Bridge]

PICARD: We have no functional propulsion systems?
DATA: No, sir. Apparently we do not.
LIN: We're adrift.
RIKER: Just like the Brittain.

Captain's log, stardate 44639.9. The Enterprise has now been adrift for a total of ten days. We have sent subspace distress calls, but because of our distant location, we cannot expect a response for at least another two weeks.

[Observation lounge]

DATA: After analysing the sensor logs of the Brittain and the Enterprise, as well as the data from the last series of probes, I conclude that we have become trapped in a massive rupture in space, into which energy is absorbed.
PICARD: You mean a Tyken's rift.
CRUSHER: A what?
DATA: A rare anomaly named after Bela Tyken, the Melthusian captain who first encountered it.
LAFORGE: Tyken's rift. That would explain why we don't have engine power.
DATA: The ship's energy is being drained into the fissure before we can utilise it.
(Worf enters)
WORF: I was detained.
DATA: When Tyken was trapped in the rift, his analysis determined that a massive energy release might overload and dislocate the anomaly. Fortunately, his cargo included anicium and yurium, which he used to detonate the explosion. He then escaped through the ruptured centre of the rift.
LAFORGE: But we aren't carrying anything that could produce that kind of explosion. Not even our photon torpedoes would be enough.
RIKER: Couldn't we replicate the elements that Tyken used?
DATA: No, sir. We no longer have the power to reproduce complex elements in the replicator. We must find a way to generate a violent energy release without using conventional means.
CRUSHER: Data, in Tyken's experience did the crew exhibit behavioural changes?
DATA: No. There were no reports of unusual conduct among the crew.
TROI: What about nightmares?
DATA: There were no records of sleep disturbances of any kind, Counsellor.
CRUSHER: Then, what is it? What's happening to us?

[Corridor]

RIKER: The only one who doesn't seem affected by all this is Data.

[Turbolift]

RIKER: Bridge.
PICARD: (looking old, drawn, tired) Number One, how?
RIKER: Sir?
PICARD: Any hallucinations, nightmares?
RIKER: No. I'd be a liar if I said I felt like myself. I've had to bite my tongue to keep from snapping at people. A couple of times, I've gone to my quarters and felt as if there was someone in there, waiting for me.
PICARD: I've had similar feelings. With everyone succumbing it's even more important that one of us attempt to keep control of his faculties. I want you to turn in, take a nap. I'll be on the Bridge. You can relieve me in four hours.
RIKER: Yes, sir. Deck eight.
(Riker leaves and Picard shudders)

[Riker's quarters]

(Riker keeps hearing floorboards creak behind him)

[Turbolift]

(Picard sees the ceiling coming down towards him)
PICARD: No!
(the doors open at the Bridge and Worf hears his screams)
WORF: Sir?

[Bridge]

PICARD: As you were. Mister Data, will you join me in my Ready room.

[Riker's quarters]

(a very twitchy Riker gets into bed, barely shuts his eyes and then rips the sheets back to reveal snakes around his legs. He leaps out of bed again, and of course there is nothing there)

[Ready room]

DATA: Commander La Forge and I have come up with a potential solution to our predicament. Perhaps the modifications used to increase firepower against the Borg could be effective here.
PICARD: Channelling power to the main, er, deflector dish.
DATA: Yes, sir. I believe that within six hours we could generate a concentrated burst of energy which might disrupt the Tyken's rift.
PICARD: Very well. Proceed. Mister Data?
DATA: Yes, sir?
PICARD: It appears that I am not immune to the strange forces that are at work on this ship.
DATA: Yes, sir.
PICARD: It's a terrifying prospect to lose control of one's mind. When I was young, I remember watching my grandfather deteriorate from a powerful, intelligent figure to a frail wisp of a man, who could barely make his own way home. Mister Data, it is my responsibility somehow to see that this ship is guided to safety. I will need to rely on you from now on. We may need to count on you for our very survival.
DATA: I will do my best, sir.

[Morgue]

(Beverly has a medic with her)
CRUSHER: I'd like to do more cross-sections on the brain tissue of some of these bodies. Set up the positron emission sensor in Sickbay, and I'll decide which ones I want to study.
MEDIC: Yes, Doctor.
(the medic leaves. Beverly starts scanning a woman, then hears a rustling behind her. She goes to another, and hears something again. She looks behind her, and all the bodies are sitting upright in their shrouds. She closes her eyes)
CRUSHER: Go away.
(and when she opens them again, everything is as it should be)

[Ready room]

CRUSHER: Captain, let me ask you this. Since we located the Brittain, can you remember any of your dreams?
PICARD: I hardly ever recall dreams.
CRUSHER: Most people don't, but think. Have you even had a dream in the last ten days?
PICARD: I don't recall.
CRUSHER: I'm willing to bet you haven't. What's more, neither has anyone else on board this ship, except for Troi. I began to realise that when she talked about having nightmares. I've done some additional brain tissue tests on, er, bodies, some of the bodies from the, er, the.
DATA: The Brittain, Doctor.
CRUSHER: Right. And I've also done some scans on a random cross-section from our crew. They both have the same results, a unique chemical imbalance.
PICARD: Caused by?
CRUSHER: Dream deprivation. Every night when we enter into sleep.
DATA: I believe the Doctor means is that humans enter what is known as REM sleep. Rapid eye movement. It is the level of brain wave activity at which one dreams.
CRUSHER: We have to dream in order to survive. If we don't reach REM sleep, we don't dream, we begin to lose our cognitive abilities, we find it hard to concentrate. We forget how to do the most ordinary task. Then we become irritable, paranoid. Some people experience hallucinations.
PICARD: You're describing the situation on this ship. But Counsellor Troi reported nightmares.
CRUSHER: Maybe it's because she's Betazoid. I don't know why. All I know is there's more going on here than being caught in a Tyken's rift, and I don't know how or why it's happening. But I do know this. There is an inevitable conclusion to this pattern, and if I can't find a way to stop it, we will all go insane.

[Sickbay]

(Troi is sitting by Hagan's bedside, falling asleep)

[Nightmare]

VOICE: Eyes in the dark. One moon circles.
TROI: Where are you?
VOICE: Eyes in the dark. One moon circles.

[Sickbay]

TROI [OC]: I'm still here. I haven't gone anywhere. Do you remember anything more?
HAGAN [OC]: Double. Double.
TROI [OC]: What does that mean? Is something doubled?
(she gets up and goes to where Beverly is checking out a crewwoman)
CRUSHER: Deanna, nothing's working. I've tried somatic drugs, I've tried inducing theta waves into the entorhinal cortex. No matter what I do, no one can reach REM sleep. No one can dream, except for you.
TROI: Except me. And all I have is nightmares. I can hardly sleep at all anymore. In the end, I'll be like him. Just like him.

[Ten Forward]

(Gillespie is holding forth to an audience)
GILLESPIE: Well, I think it's some kind of experiment. You see, Captain Picard is trying to see how long we'll take it, stuck here like rats.
GUINAN: You couldn't be more wrong.
GILLESPIE: It's like we're laboratory animals. I don't want to sit and wait for death to sneak up behind me.
GUINAN: What's that supposed to mean?
GILLESPIE: You heard about them on the Brittain. Shut in their rooms, dying alone. That's not for me. I'd rather go out fighting.

[Engineering]

LAFORGE: Okay, all the power has been channelled to the, er, the
DATA: The main deflector dish.
LAFORGE: Yes. Right. The deflector dish. So, what do we do now?
DATA: Data to Bridge. Mister Worf, activate the deflector.
WORF [OC]: Aye, sir.

[Bridge]

WORF: Deflector power banks approaching maximum. Discharge in fifteen seconds.

[Engineering]

LAFORGE: Data, this detonation better work. We're not going to last much longer.

[Bridge]

WORF: Discharge in three seconds, two, one.
(the blue beam streaks out, then dies away)
RIKER: Nothing. It just fizzled out.
DATA [OC]: Captain, it appears the energy output

[Engineering]

DATA: Has been absorbed into the rift.
PICARD [OC]: Data, can we try again?
DATA: No, sir. If we draw

[Bridge]

DATA [OC]: More power, we risk losing life support systems.
PICARD: Understood. Keep me appraised, Commander.
(a very agitated Worf rushes from the Bridge)

[Worf's quarters]

(Worf takes an ornate dagger from a box, anoints it with wine)
WORF: lujpu' jiH'e, Alexandrijn.
(he prepares to plunge the dagger into his throat when Troi runs in)
TROI: Worf, no!
WORF: You will not stop me.
TROI: Security to Lieutenant Worf's quarters, immediately.
WORF: No one can stop me.
TROI: Why? What is it?
WORF: I am no longer a warrior. I am no longer strong. I feel.
TROI: What? What do you feel?
WORF: I feel fear.
TROI: To admit that you're afraid gives you strength.
WORF: Something is waiting for us. I am not strong enough to fight it.
TROI: No, Worf. It's just an illusion. It's not real. Please, put down the knife.
(Security arrive)
SECURITY: Counsellor?
TROI: It's all right. Everything's fine, thank you.
(Security leave)
TROI: Let me take you to Sickbay.

Acting Captain's log, stardate 44642.1. I have assumed command of the Enterprise at the request of Captain Picard. Our situation is deteriorating. Many of the crew are unable to function and our life support systems are beginning to falter.

[Sickbay]

TROI [OC]: Once before you said double. What did you mean? What is double?
HAGAN [OC]: Mates, too bright. Twin. Cannot leave the twin. One moon circling.
TROI [OC]: What do you mean? you can't leave?
HAGAN [OC]: No, no, please. Can't.
TROI [OC]: You want to leave. Why can't you?
HAGAN [OC]: Can't go. Help. One moon circling. Eyes, that's it. Eyes in the dark.
TROI: Eyes in the dark. That's what the voice said in my dream. Is that where you heard it? In a dream? Over and over? Beverly, I know what it is. I know what's happening.
CRUSHER: What?
TROI: My nightmare. It's not a dream. It's not a dream at all. It's a message.

[Ready room]

TROI: REM sleep occurs at a different frequency for Betazoids than other humanoids. I believe the beings are using that frequency to communicate telepathically.
DATA: It is possible that this telepathic communication is creating interference in the REM sleep of other species. That would explain why the rest of our crew is not dreaming.
PICARD: Counsellor, what are these beings trying to tell us?
TROI: They're calling for help. I think they're trapped just like we are. Eyes in the dark could mean this twin star system.
DATA: Your hypothesis is certainly plausible. There may be another ship on the other side of the fissure, where we cannot detect it.
CRUSHER: Is there a way we could block their signals?
DATA: There is no technology to block telepathic transmissions, Doctor.
TROI: Maybe communication through dreams can work both ways. I could try to get them to stop.
DATA: Perhaps we can accomplish more than that. If there is another ship, and we can reach them, we might be able to coordinate our efforts to free ourselves.
TROI: It is conceivable. When working with patients with debilitating nightmares, I've often used a therapeutic treatment called directed dreaming. Dreamers can learn to control of their dreams, retain a conscious memory even while in REM sleep. I could remember a short message and deliver it to them.
PICARD: If it were possible, what would you say?

[Bridge]

(science station readout LCARS 40274, scrolling through molecules)
DATA: Working together with the aliens, we must discover a means by which we an produce an explosion more intense than either one of us could achieve alone.
TROI: What is it you're looking for?
DATA: These are the elements we have available. Some of them could be used in the creation of an explosive reaction. If we could communicate this inventory to the other ship, perhaps they would be able to
TROI: No, Data, no. This is too complex. This has to be a simple, clear message.
DATA: I am uncertain if a simple transmission will be adequate.
TROI: Stop. Go back. Further back. There. Stop. One moon circles.
DATA: Yes, Counsellor. One electron circles one proton. This is a hydrogen atom.
TROI: One moon circles. That's what they've been telling me over and over.
DATA: Perhaps the aliens are thinking as we are, to collaborate in producing an explosion. If hydrogen is combined with another element, calendenium for example, it is extremely volatile. But would the message mean they have hydrogen or they want hydrogen?
TROI: Well, if it's a distress call, I think they'd be asking for what they need, not what they already have.
DATA: Then the proper course of action would be to release hydrogen into the rift, and hope that they have a substance that will detonate it.
TROI: How do I tell them what to do?
DATA: If you are correct, Counsellor, I believe they have already told us what to do and are waiting for us to do it. When we are ready, the only message you should attempt to convey is, now.

[Sickbay]

CRUSHER: I can help keep you in REM sleep for a while with this cortical scanner. It will maintain electrical activity in your brain at the proper frequency.
(Troi lies down on a bed)
DATA [OC]: Counsellor

[Bridge]

DATA: You will have to communicate with the other ship within two minutes of entering REM sleep.
TROI [OC]: Two minutes.

[Sickbay]

TROI: Is that all, Data?
DATA [OC]: Unfortunately, yes.

[Bridge]

DATA: We have only enough power to emit a hydrogen stream for that amount of time. They must understand that they will have to detonate it immediately. Captain, we are ready to implement the plan.
PICARD: Proceed.
DATA: We will have to draw power from the life-support systems in order to discharge the collectors. This is Acting Captain Data. All personnel will report to designated shelter areas

[Ten Forward]

DATA [OC]: Immediately. Life support systems will continue only in emergency shelter areas.
GILLESPIE: Hear that? Get us jammed into shelter areas. We sit and wait to die. Nobody'll ever find us.
GUINAN: Relax, Gillespie. Everybody relax. Ten Forward is a designated shelter area. Relax.
GILLESPIE: Do we want to die here like helpless children?
GUINAN: Security to Ten Forward immediately.
GILLESPIE: We don't even know what we're dying for.
O'BRIEN: Sit down, Gillespie. You're not helping matters any.
GILLESPIE: What's wrong with standing up for ourselves?
(Security arrive)
GILLESPIE: Picard owes us some answers.
(Gillespie thumps O'Brien, the security men join in and there's a brawl. Guinan gets a Big Gun from behind the bar and fires at the ceiling)
GILLESPIE: What is that?
GUINAN: It's a little souvenir I picked up on Magus Three. That was setting number one. Anyone want to see setting number two?

[Sickbay]

CRUSHER: PGO signals steady. Visual cortex showing increased activity. Rapid eye movements commencing. Crusher to Bridge.

[Bridge]

CRUSHER [OC]: She's in REM sleep.
DATA: Thank you, Doctor. Activating Bussard collectors.
(red hydrogen streams out into the rift)

[Nightmare]

TROI: Where are you?

[Bridge]

DATA: Ninety seconds remaining.

[Nightmare]

VOICE: One moon circles.
TROI: Where are you? I have to find you. I have to tell you.

[Bridge]

DATA: Forty five seconds remaining.

[Nightmare]

VOICE: One moon.
TROI: Please, I must find you to tell you.

[Bridge]

DATA: Thirty seconds remaining.

[Nightmare]

VOICE: Eyes in the dark. One moon
(a figure surrounded by light appears)

[Bridge]

DATA: Ten seconds remaining.
(and the hydrogen runs out)
PICARD: Nothing. No explosion.
DATA: The Counsellor was unsuccessful.
(then the firework display starts up on the viewscreen, and the lights come up to full strength)
PICARD: Activate impulse engines.
DATA: Engines activated, sir.
(As the Enterprise rushes away, another ship, mostly lights, flies in the opposite direction)

[Bridge]

DATA: We have cleared the rift, sir. Warp engines are coming back online.
PICARD: Set a course to.
DATA: Setting a course for Starbase two twenty. Sir, as my final duty as Acting Captain, I order you to bed. I shall do the same for all personnel.
PICARD: Very well, Mister Data. And Mister Data, thank you.
DATA: Pleasant dreams, sir.