RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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This week, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds turns into a 24 -esque real-time action thriller, complete with a ticking clock that gives immediacy to the trope.
Season four, episode six, “Off-Hour,” opens with Chapel’s voiceover counting down the minutes until the weekend begins. Viewers get a “Shipboard Chronometer” graphic to see how much time is left. We start with 48 minutes even. The U.S.S. Enterprise is headed back to Starbase 7 for repairs, where the ship will then become Beta shift’s problem and Alpha shift will get their break. Ortegas inputs Warp Factor 4, and they’re off.
Chapel is in sickbay, talking with Doc about how Dr. Boyce transferred back to the Enterprise . Doc explains that he requested Dr. Boyce's transfer in case Doc decides to leave. Chapel is distraught. “If you leave, I would have to leave, too. I wouldn’t do well with Boyce,” she says. Doc replies that she’s doing good work, but he’s concerned because she has one foot out the door.
Scotty is going over some stuff with his Beta shift counterpart, Lieutenant Early (Ziye Hu), when he notices the computer glitching. Lieutenant Early says it’s just some bad code and assures Scotty that he’ll take care of it.
Meanwhile, Pike turns over control of the ship to his Beta counterpart, Lieutenant Rahda (Abinaya Sivakumaran). As he’s about to leave, his counterpart notices that their warp trajectory has shifted by a few degrees. Pike decides it’s worth rechecking, which means Ortegas and Uhura are dragged back to work.
Chin-Riley, La’An, and Spock have already started their weekend, enjoying drinks in the port galley.
Scotty gets a call in the elevator from Lieutenant Early. There was a bigger problem with the computer glitch: the ship's warp shield has become unstable and they're headed for a slipstream wormhole. Scotty calls for power to be cut to the warp engines without telling the bridge, fearing that they will get caught in the slipstream, but he's too late.
In sickbay, Chapel is still giving Doc a hard time about his maybe-leaving. He points out she never applied to be a permanent member of the crew; whenever things get real, he tells her, “You run.” Their argument is interrupted by a Red Alert announcement. All hands brace for impact.
The ship is immediately thrust into chaos. On the bridge, everyone is knocked over and thrown around. Lieutenant Rahda has no control over the ship and they can’t get the shields up because everything is electrified. Pike decides to risk it—and is promptly shocked, causing him to flip backwards over the railing.
Scotty is stuck in the lift while Lieutenant Early determines that they have to evacuate engineering.
In sickbay, large pieces of equipment and furniture start flying across the room. Doc pushes Chapel out of the way but he gets slammed into a wall, held in place by a lab table. Chapel approaches, concerned, especially because of the gasping noises he is making. And that distant look in his eyes…
The shipboard chronometer is at 40 minutes and change. This is just getting started.
Ortegas and Uhura move across the bridge, slipping and sliding and struggling, trying to get to their stations. Ortegas levels out the ship, but it takes nearly all of the ship's power. She needs engineering, but she can't get in touch with anyone. Chin-Riley calls in from the port galley, asking what’s going on. Uhura says they have multiple injuries; Ortegas says they are bleeding fuel, all sensors are down but one, and they’re flying into… whatever that flashing light cluster is out the window.
Luckily, Spock knows what it is (Scotty already figured it out, obviously, but they can't get in touch with him right now): it’s a slipstream wormhole with extremely rare neutrino currents. Basically, they were “yanked off course by a giant vacuum cleaner,” one that spans countless lightyears and flows with radioactive dust. Chin-Riley says they’ll come to Ortegas on the bridge when things are stable in the galley, but Ortegas tells her it’s not safe to move about. Uhura is still trying to reach Scotty.
Scotty is still trapped in the lift; he bangs on the doors until Cadet A’Sha (Bianca Nugara) hears him and forces open the doors. Scotty thanks her and tells her he needs to get to engineering. She suggests using the transporter. He agrees, and they race down the hallway.
In the transport bay, Scotty sees that the ship is running out of power and the transporter doesn't work. Cadet A’Sha tells him they don’t have comms, either—this section of the ship is non-functional.
In sickbay, Chapel runs a diagnostic scan on Doc, which reveals some distressing news: he has a trans-lumbar severance, and it’s likely fatal. He’s only alive because the table is holding his organs in place. She goes to him, asks him a few questions, and finds that his memories are intact. The computers are down so she hasn’t gotten the X-ray results yet, she says. She tells him it’s too dangerous to move the table off of him until they know more. Doc senses that this is bad, but he agrees and goes along with it.
Over in the galley, the comms are back up and they’re all on an open line with Scotty and Ortegas. Scotty recommends everyone stay put for now. Suddenly, glasses break and the piano is crushed—there’s a gravity malfunction.
Spock says that the g-forces can be manually overridden from a panel on the other side of the galley. Chin-Riley volunteers to go, but Spock warns her that the g-forces are most intense over there. “Then let’s hope I’m stronger than a piano,” she says before she starts crawling over there.
The trip is not easy, but Chin-Riley makes it to the far wall. She pulls herself up until she is standing—but then her leg breaks, bone tearing through skin, and she screams. Somehow, though, she pushes herself up further, hits a button, and then collapses. Spock says the gravity is normalizing, and rushes to Chin-Riley’s aid.
Scotty is trying to get the transporter, but it’s a disaster. Cadet A'Sha suggests shu...
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