Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Previously on Star Trek Strange New Worlds...

I am calling to let you know that we have chosen

not to offer you a fellowship.

I've been trying to tell you I just need some personal time.

I am having difficulty watching you experience

such obvious distress.

I want to help. But it would appear all that I'm doing is making it worse.

- James? - You two know each other?

I have to insist that you not share

any of what you experienced from this time.

Those events were never supposed to happen,

and you were never meant to be aware of them.

Neither was your companion.

I was wrong.

I don't deserve you.

But I'm asking. Will you forgive me?

Communication Officer's Log, Stardate 2398.3.

Traveling in the far edges of the Alpha Quadrant,

we have encountered an unusual phenomenon...

A naturally-occurring subspace fold.

Lieutenant Spock posits it could be used to

triple the speed of subspace communications in the sector.

But his experiment requires so much computer power

that the rest of the ship has to communicate...

Hailing frequencies open.

...the old-fashioned way.

On it.

I'll route that right to you.

Pike to Uhura. Have you hailed Captain Batel?

Hailing now, Captain.

I'll send her to your quarters when I have her.

Transporter to Uhura.

Has the U.S.S. Farragut confirmed Lieutenant James Kirk's arrival?

Checking on that now, Commander.

Medical to Uhura.

Is there a message from Dr. Korby yet?

Just arrived. Stand by.

Engineering to Uhura.

Are you ready to continue our experiment?

Yes, Lieutenant, momentarily.

You want to go to Crivo for our first vacation together?

- I know it's cliché... - And touristy.

Chris, I have always wanted to see the Crivian Planetary Museum,

and there are day trips to the Glass Islands

and Smoke Lakes. I know you love a lake.

What's wrong?

Uh, maybe the timing is bad.

I-I'm just not sure I can get away right now.

Is there something you're not telling me, Chris?

Of course not. No. Uh...

But let's just put a pin on planning for a few days?

Whenever you want. I'll be here.

Lieutenant Kirk's captain sent a report

in advance of his arrival.

"Show him the ropes.

"Kirk's full of talent, but still has one or two issues

"to work out before he begins his commission."

Yeah. Punctuality being one.

You have...

An energy.

What? I'm just waiting for our visitor to arrive,

so I can run a security clearance on him.

I'm aware, but you came in here hot.

On fire. It's making me sweat.

I-I'm fine. This is just standard operating procedure.

Lieutenant Kirk! Welcome back to the Enterprise.

Thank you, Commander.

No Sam? Thought he'd be here.

He's busy. We'll find him later.

Thank you for agreeing to do this, even if it's not fully necessary.

When I took my commission, I spent a week shadowing Pike.

It made all the difference.

Hopefully it'll do the same for you on the Farragut.

Good to see you again, La'An.

You still owe me that drink, if I'm not mistaken.

You... know each other?

Um...

Ye-Yes, but I still need to do a security clearance.

Lead the way.

Oh, sorry. I...

And what if it's another rejection?

Forget those Vulcans and their science academy.

They don't deserve you.

Ah, but this fellowship is different.

Dr. Korby's a genius.

Am I supposed to know who that is?

He's the Louis Pasteur of archaeological medicine.

Yeah, no. Still means nothing.

It means that thousands of people apply for this fellowship every year,

and only five are accepted.

This could change my life.

Okay.

Oh... Oof.

You got it. I knew it.

What will I do without you for three months?

Oh, my God.

You're not the only one who's gonna miss her.

Oh, I have to talk to Spock.

Unfortunately, we have had another communication failure.

That's our 12th attempt at sending a message

through the subspace fold.

13!

That's not exactly what I would call a lucky number.

What makes you think that this particular fold

will lead to faster communication?

Frequencies propagate through it three times faster than normal.

- Ah. - With our current relay network,

it takes weeks to send a message across the quadrant.

Imagine being able to do it in moments and getting a near-instant reply.

Real-time communication across thousands of light years.

Only, so far, no one's heard us.

Have you tried sending music through?

We have not.

Do you believe music may yield a different result?

Well, you are trying to communicate

through a medium with different laws of physics,

so, perhaps, fundamental harmonics are the answer. Hmm?

You know, it was just a thought.

But perhaps an excellent one.

You pick the song, Nyota.

Well, let's see if subspace is a fan

of the Great American Songbook, huh?

Mitchell, what just hit us?

No other ships in this sector, sir.

It looks like it came from that subspace fold.

Ensign Uhura, are you patched into comms?

Aye, sir.

I need a full status report. All stations.

Apologies. Reporting from Engineering first, sir.

Mr. Spock?

Why?

Where's that music coming from?

Not from anywhere on the ship.

I have sickbay for you, sir.

Lieutenant Ortegas, status report.

Space.

The final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission,

to explore strange new worlds...

to seek out new life

and new civilizations,

to boldly go where no one has gone before.

So... that happened.

Reports of musical outbreaks have come in from every deck.

Honestly, I assumed it was something you had all rehearsed,

but I sang, too.

So did I.

And I do not sing.

The surge came from your subspace fold.

Help me connect the dots.

We sent a series of transmissions through.

The final one was a song.

You sent in a song, and then we all... sang?

Why are we singing?

I believe the song created a resonant frequency

and dislodged something from the fold,

a quantum uncertainty field.

Okay, why would that make us sing?

Imagine an area of space where quantum uncertainties collapse

so rapidly and randomly that new realities are created.

In one such reality, people sing uncontrollably.