History Recap / StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E11Contagion

Geordi confirms that the Romulans weren't responsible for the ''Yamato'''s destruction, but Picard isn't convinced, and after a thorough study of the ship's logs, determines its previous mission: its captain believed he had found Iconia, a [[CounterEarth mythological planet]] of "Demons of Air and Darkness," on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone. They met... something... that seems to have caused their system failures. Since Iconia is said to have insanely powerful technology that the Romulans could use to crush the Federation, Picard sets course to the planet the other ship's captain believed was the fabled planet.

Geordi confirms that the Romulans weren't responsible for the ''Yamato'''s destruction, but Picard isn't convinced, and after a thorough study of the ship's logs, determines its previous mission: its captain believed he had found Iconia, a [[CounterEarth mythological planets]] of "Demons of Air and Darkness," on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone. They met... something... that seems to have caused their system failures. Since Iconia is said to have insanely powerful technology that the Romulans could use to crush the Federation, Picard sets course to the planet the other ship's captain believed was the fabled planet.

The ''Enterprise'' is called into the Neutral Zone to help a fellow ''Galaxy''-class ship, the USS ''Yamato'', which is in the grip of a series of system malfunctions. They arrive LateToTheTragedy and RocksFallEveryoneDies. Oh, and the Romulans appear to deny everything.

Interestingly, Geordi confirms that the Romulans weren't responsible for the ''Yamato'''s destruction, but Picard isn't convinced, and after a thorough study of the ship's logs, determines its previous mission: its captain was leading his crew on a wild goose chase for Iconia, one of a bajillion [[CounterEarth mythological planets]] out in the ''Trek'' universe, and he thought to have found it on the Romulan side of the Neutral Zone, where they met... something... that seemed to have caused their system failures. Since Iconia is said to have insanely powerful technology that the Romulans could use to crush the Federation, Picard sets course to the planet the other ship's captain believed was the fabled planet.

Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise'' starts coming down with its own set of systems failures, which Data and Geordi fail to solve or determine the cause of (possibly because Data is acting way OutOfCharacter). Once they get to what is believed to be Iconia, a probe is launched from the planet's surface, which Geordi--finally realizing what's going on by that time--convinces Picard to destroy before it has a chance to do anything. [[IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect By his calculations]], the probe contained an Iconian computer program that transferred itself into the ''Yamato's'' systems when it visited the planet, then into the ''Enterprise'' with the ship's logs, and which is attempting to rewrite all of the ''Enterprise's'' software in its own image; unfortunately, since Starfleet doesn't have so much as Norton Antivirus to fend off what's essentially a Trojan horse virus, there's no way for them to fix the problem.

Running out of options, Picard takes Data and Worf down to the surface, into an underground installation discovered by the ship's sensors, and proceeds to scout around, looking for anything they can use to determine the origin of or a means to destroy the program. What they discover is something more complex and sinister; an ancient transport union ripping open holes in the space-time continuum to travel through, thus earning the Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness" by their enemies. Picard is convinced this violation of physics was used for peaceful purposes only (yeah, right), but can see how it could be used as a weapon by the Romulans, who conveniently show up to harass the ''Enterprise'' and lay claim on the planet. Fortunately for all involved, aside from the Romulans, the Romulan ship has come down with the Iconian computer flu as well, preventing them from acting on their threats.

Unfortunately, however, Data becomes infected with the virus as well, and is forced to be taken back to the ''Enterprise'' for repairs, but not without informing Picard on how to destroy the compound and the technology within. The episode ends with Picard managing to use the rip in space and time to escape onto the Romulan ship (stuck on auto-destruct, at this point) before being beamed off, and Geordi showing we will not use system restore in the future by forgetting he could reboot and purge the ship's computer core after Data does the same to his systems, sharing the solution with the Romulans (who don't know how to use it, either) before spiriting off.

* BlindJump: Played with. Picard sets the gateway console to explode, planning to use the gateway to escape. Even if he can't get to ''Enterprise'', which the gateway will cycle to eventually, wherever he ends up it'll be better than being blown up. Fortunately, the gateway cycles to the nearby Romulan ship, which Picard figures is better than nothing. By this point, the Romulans have computer failure so bad that their ship is going to blow itself up and the commander doesn't feel shooting Picard is even worth the effort. He's beamed off when ''Enterprise'' detects his signal.
* ButtMonkey: Geordi gets thrown around in a turbolift, gets electrocuted, and completely fails to recognize the easy solution to the ''Enterprise'''s problems until Data gets infected and then fixes himself.

** Elaboration—What Geordi proposed was more akin to a shutdown, offline hard-drive reimaging ("restore from protected archives"), and ''then'' booting back up again. Closer to Windows System Restore.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Iconians' nickname of "Demons of Air and Darkness". Though Picard does put forth the theory that they were only called that because their technology appeared to be magic to those they interacted with, and those species were frightened enough to attempt to destroy the Iconians.

%%* PortalDoor: "Contagion", in which [[spoiler:an Iconian gateway]] is critical in the resolution of the plot. needs more context; a rock would be CoolGate, not PortalDoor.

** Picard finagles one to destroy the gateway, by launching all of the probes and forcing the launch bay doors to channel the rocket exhaust into the gate room.

** Elaboration—What Geordi proposed was more akin to a shutdown, offline hard-drive reimaging ("reloading from protected archives, and ''then'' booting back up again. Closer to Windows System Restore.

Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise'' starts coming down with its own set of systems failures, which Data and Geordi fail to solve or determine the cause of (possibly because Data is acting way OutOfCharacter). Once they get to what is believed to be Iconia, a probe is launched from the planet's surface, which Geordi--finally realizing what's going on by that time--convinces Picard to destroy before it has a chance to do anything. [[IfMyCalculationsAreCorrect By his calculations]], the probe contained an Iconian computer program that transferred itself into the ''Yamato's'' systems when it visited the planet, and transferred itself into the ''Enterprise'' with the ship's logs, and which is attempting to rewrite all of the ''Enterprise's'' software in its own image; unfortunately, since Starfleet doesn't have so much as Norton Antivirus to fend off what's essentially a Trojan horse virus, there's no way for them to fix the problem.

* ElevatorFailure: When the comm system fails before Geordi tells Picard to destroy the probe, he hurriedly tries to take the turbolift to get to the bridge in time. However, the turbolifts are also messed up, so he's thrown around sideways, upwards, ''and'' downwards before being flung out of once it miraculously reaches the bridge.

* BlindJump: Played with. Picard sets the gateway console to explode, planning to use the gateway to escape. Even if he can't get to ''Enterprise'', which the gateway will cycle to eventually, wherever he ends up it'll be better than being blown up. Fortunately, the gateway cycles to the nearby Romulan ship, which Picard figures is better than nothing. By this point, the Romulans have computer failure so bad that their ship is going to blow itself up and the captain doesn't feel shooting Picard is even worth the effort. He's beamed off when ''Enterprise'' detects his signal.

* MortonsFork: Riker isn't keen on Geordi's plan, since it involves turning everything off including the deflector shields while they're "nose-to-nose with a Romulan Warbird." Geordi points out whether it's Romulan disruptors or their own warp engines, they're just as dead if they don't do this.

* NotWorthKilling: When Picard suddenly teleports onto the Romulan bridge, security surrounds him before the captain calls them off, as the ship is about to self-destruct anyway. Picard is then beamed away by the ''Enterprise''.

* SelfDestructMechanism: Picard finagles one to destroy the gateway, by launching all of the probes and forcing the launch bay doors to channel the rocket exhaust into the gate room. The Romulans have to deal with theirs being triggered (and then locked) by the Iconian Trojan horse.

* ContinuityNod: Geordie references Bruce Maddox from "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]" after futilely attempting to repair Data, saying someone with his level of expertise on androids might have had a better chance at figuring out how to set up a proper repair.

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders "Tea, Earl Grey, hot.". Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise's'' computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant instead.

* LostLanguage: Iconian is a lost language, the Iconians having been wiped out roughly 200,000 years prior to the episode "Contagion". The language is not known by any living being, though Data is able to approximate a rough translation by comparing Iconian glyphs to three other ancient languages (Dewan, Dinasian and Iccobar) believed to be derivatives of it. Very rough.

* ContinuityNod: Geordie references Bruce Maddox from "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man}}]]" after futilely attempting to repair Data, saying someone with his level of expertise on androids might have had a better chance at figuring out how to set up a proper repair.

* ContinuityNod: Geordie references Bruce Maddox from "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man}}" after futilely attempting to repair Data, saying someone with his level of expertise on androids might have had a better chance at figuring out how to set up a proper repair.

* ContinuityNod: Geordie references Bruce Maddox from "The Measure of a Man" after futilely attempting to repair Data, saying someone with his level of expertise on androids might have had a better chance at figuring out how to set up a proper repair.

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders [[DrinkOrder "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."]] Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise's'' computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant instead.

* DrinkOrder: This episode marks the first time Picard orders [[TrademarkFavoriteFood "Tea, Earl Grey, hot."]] Unfortunately, the ''Enterprise's'' computer is so messed up it gives him a potted plant instead.

** Wesley references this trope during his conversation with Picard when he says the ancient Iconian's technology sounds more like magic. This is no doubt in part because the other species of the time described it as such, despite it not being that much more incredible than the Federation's technology.

Unfortunately, however, Data becomes infected with the virus as well (which, combined with impulsively throwing Geordi across the room to free him from an electrified panel earlier, and shoving his arm into the Iconian middle finger to Einsteinian physics--a stunt even ''Picard'' admits was ridiculously stupid of him--is pretty much par for the course for his CharacterDerailment, here), and is forced to be taken back to the ''Enterprise'' for repairs, but not without informing Picard on how to destroy the compound and the technology within. The episode ends with Picard managing to use the rip in space and time to escape onto the Romulan ship (stuck on auto-destruct, at this point) before being beamed off, and Geordi showing we will not use system restore in the future by forgetting he could reboot and purge the ship's computer core after Data does the same to his systems, sharing the solution with the Romulans (who don't know how to use it, either) before spiriting off.