ÿþ<HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>The Child</TITLE> </HEAD> <BODY BGCOLOR=#000000"> <TABLE ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="595" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="3" BORDER="0"> <TR> <TD ROWSPAN="2" WIDTH="150" VALIGN=MIDDLE ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="STTNG Pictures/Next-Gen-Logo.gif" WIDTH="175" HEIGHT="117" BORDER="0" ALT="Star Trek The Next Generation Logo"></TD> <TD WIDTH="245" VALIGN=CENTER ALIGN=CENTER><FONT COLOR="#99CCFF" SIZE="3" FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Comic Sans"><B>'The Child'</B><BR><BR><FONT SIZE="3">(Story Code 127)<BR>by Jaron Summers,<BR>Jon Povill<BR>and Maurice Hurley</TD> <TD ROWSPAN="2" WIDTH="200" VALIGN=CENTER ALIGN=CENTER><IMG SRC="STTNG Pictures/STTNG S2 Cast.jpg" WIDTH="200" HEIGHT="142" ALT="Star Trek The Next Generation Cast"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> <P ALIGN=CENTER><FONT COLOR="#99CCFF" SIZE="2" FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Comic Sans"> The <I>U.S.S. Enterprise</I> is sent to give medical aid to the Rachelis System, where a deadly plague is sweeping the population. But while the ship is en route, a mysterious glowing ball of white light penetrates the vessel's hull and then impregnates Counselor Troi while she is asleep. Doctor Katherine Pulaski, the new Chief Medical Officer, confirms Troi  s pregnancy, and then stuns everyone by announcing that the foetus will reach full term within just thirty-six hours; Captain Picard s concern at the unnatural event prompts him to place his crew on security alert. Troi soon gives birth to a healthy baby boy, whom she names Ian; however, the apparently harmless child then matures from an infant to an eight-year-old in only one day. Ensign Wesley Crusher makes plans to leave the <I>Enterprise</I> to join his mother, who has left to become Head of Starfleet Medical; but his mind is soon changed after talking to Guinan, the enigmatic bartender of the ship s Ten Forward lounge, and he asks the captain to allow him to remain on the <I>Enterprise</I>. Meanwhile, in the cargo bay, Doctor Pulaski discovers that the plague specimen that is to be used to find a cure has now become contaminated by an unknown form of radiation, causing it to grow - and at its current growth rate, the deadly plague will kill everyone on the ship within two hours... <BR><BR> Patrick Stewart (<B>Captain Jean-Luc Picard</B>), Jonathan Frakes (<B>Commander William Thomas Riker</B>), LeVar Burton (<B>Chief Engineer Lieutenant Geordi La Forge</B>), Michael Dorn (<B>Security Chief Lieutenant Worf</B>), Marina Sirtis (<B>Councelor Deanna Troi</B>), Brent Spiner (<B>Lieutenant Commander Data</B>), Wil Wheaton (<B>Wesley Crusher</B>), Whoopi Goldberg (<B>Guinan</B>), Diana Muldaur (<B>Doctor [Commander] Katherine  Kate Pulaski</B>), Seymour Cassel (<B>Hester Dealt</B>), R.J. Williams (<B>Ian</B>), Colm Meaney (<B>Transporter Chief</B>), Dawn Arnemann (<B>Miss Gladstone</B>), Zachary Benjamin (<B>Young Ian</B>), Dore Keller (<B>Crewman</B>) <BR><BR><B>Directed by Rob Bowman <BR>Produced by Burton Armus, John Mason and Mike Gray <BR>Executive Producer Gene Roddenberry </B> <BR><BR><B>TX:</B> <FONT COLOR="#99CCFF" SIZE="2" FACE="Arial, Helvetica, Comic Sans"> <BR>21st November, 1988 <BR><BR><B>Notes:</B> <BR>*Featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Thomas Riker, Lieutenant Geordi La Forge, Security Chief Lieutenant Natasha  Tasha Yar, Lieutenant Worf, Doctor Beverly Crusher, Councelor Deanna Troi, Lieutenant Commander Data and Wesley Crusher <BR><BR>*The script for this episode was originally planned for inclusion in the aborted series 'Star Trek The Second Phase' <BR><BR><BR> </BODY> </HTML>