'Silicon Avatar' (Story Code 204) by Jeri Taylor Story by Lawrence V. Conley

When Commander Riker, Lieutenant Commander Data and Doctor Crusher visit the Federation colony on Melona IV, they witness the sudden appearance of a huge, crystal-like structure; Riker recognises it as the Crystalline Entity, the voracious creature that Data’s evil brother Lore once unleashed on the colonists of Omicron Theta. As the entity begins cutting swathes through the countryside with deadly beams of light, the away team and colonists desperately race for shelter; however, only Riker, Data, Beverly and two colonists are able to reach the safety of a small cave and seal themselves in. After having laid waste to the planet the entity then departs, allowing the survivors to be saved by a rescue team just before their air runs out. Returning to the U.S.S. Enterprise, they are greeted by Kila Marr, a scientist who has spent her entire life studying the Crystalline Entity. Picard assigns Data to assist Marr in tracking down the creature, despite her protestations concerning Data's link to the entity; Marr soon accuses Data of collaborating with the entity, and reveals that her son was among those killed on Omicron Theta. As Data slowly wins Marr's trust, he informs her that he carries all the information from the colony on Omicron Theta in his positronic brain, including her son's journals; this enables Marr to hear her son's last thoughts and feelings, an experience that proves profoundly emotional to her. Meanwhile, Picard's intent to communicate with the Entity rather than destroy it is called into question when the Enterprise answers a distress call from a nearby spaceship, only to discover that the Crystalline Entity has destroyed the entire crew…

Patrick Stewart (Captain Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Thomas Riker), LeVar Burton (Chief Engineer Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Security Chief Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Doctor Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Councelor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lieutenant Commander Data), Ellen Geer (Doctor Kila Marr), Susan Diol (Carmen Davila),

Directed by Ciff Bole
Co-Produced by Joe Menosky, Ronald D. Moore and Peter Lauritson
Produced by David Livingston
Executive Producer Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Gene Roddenberry

TX:
14th October, 1991

Notes:
*Featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Commander William Thomas Riker, Chief Engineer Lieutenant Geordi La Forge, Security Chief Lieutenant Worf, Doctor Beverly Crusher, Councelor Deanna Troi and Lieutenant Commander Data