million she's alive...
I'm sorry, Geordi.
My decision is made.
I understand, sir.
We'll be ready to use the tractor
beam in less than an hour.
You didn't come all the way
down here to say that.
No, I didn't.
Geordi.
I may have seemed harsh about
the situation aboard the Raman.
But I don't want one of my best
officers in unnecessary danger.
I guess I feel I should decide
whether it's unnecessary or not.
My mother died when I was a baby.
All I have is pictures, and stories
my father used to tell me about her.
I begged him to tell those stories
over and over.
When I was five
and I went to school,
I told my new friends those same
stories, pretending she was alive.
Then I started believing she was
alive, that she'd just gone away,
that she was coming back.
The teacher got wind of this...
...and she and my father
had a talk with me.
They told me it was important
to accept the fact
that my mother was dead
and that she wasn't coming back.
And all the hoping in the world
wouldn't make it so.
In my mind, that was the day
that my mother actually died.
I cried all that night.
But after that,
it started feeling better.
Your mother was dead.
There was proof. A body, a funeral.
- It was a reality.
- Geordi...
If I could see a body, if there
were wreckage, I'd accept it,
but my mother has just disappeared.
And now, there's a possibility
that she is alive.
And I'm not gonna quit.
Not yet.
I suspected you would attempt
to operate the interface alone.
Did you?
I am familiar enough with your
behaviour to predict some decisions.
- I guess you know me pretty well.
- You are disobeying the Captain.
I can't do nothing when my mother
may be down on that planet.
I cannot allow you
to endanger your wellbeing.
Data, if I leave
without knowing for sure,
I'll have to live with that
all my life,
wondering if I left her to die.
I couldn't do that.
That's why I've got to do this.
I could have you
confined to quarters.
Then do it.
Nothing short of that will stop me
from trying to save my mother.
What are you doing?
I will monitor the interface
and attempt to keep you safe.
I cannot confine you to quarters
for something you have not yet done.
We could both
get in a lot of trouble.
There is a high degree
of probability that you are correct.
Thanks, Data.
- However, I do have a request.
- Yeah? What's that?
I ask you to consider the possibility
that what you see is not real.
I will.
I promise.
I am establishing the interface.
Mom?
- Mom?
- Hello, Geordi.
Mom! How did you get here?
I'm not really with you, Geordi,
I'm on my ship, on the surface.
- We were pulled into a warp funnel.
- That's just what I thought.
How are we communicating?
We found a way to cut through
the atmospheric interference.
Geordi, are you seeing
your mother's image?
Yes.
She's confirmed everything I said.
I am reading unusual subspace energy
similar to what the probe recorded
when you first met your mother.
That's how she's communicating.
It's the only signal that could
cut through the interference.
- We need your help.
- I've been thinking about this.
I'm going to take the Raman
into a low stationary orbit
and initiate
an inverse warp cascade.
Why?
The distortion from the cascade
should reverse the warp funnel.
Your ship will end up
back where it started.
The atmosphere is more turbulent
the farther down you go.
You may not get the Raman near
to the Hera before being destroyed.
I have to try.
We're running out of time.
Shield back on line.
We're starting our descent.
Thank God!
- Thank God?
- That you're alive.
That I was right about all this.
I can't wait to call Dad.
He and Ariana had given up.
We're going home.
Well, eventually, yes. Data!
Everything's fading in and out.
- I'm losing the interface.
- The probe moving is out of range.
Turn up the input gain
to keep me connected.
We are already
at 75 percent of tolerance.
Data! You can turn it all