- Captain Picard and some of his crew are caught in a deadly trap in the holodeck as the result of a ship-wide scan from an alien race.
- The Enterprise is sent on a diplomatic mission where Captain Picard has to master a very difficult language and deliver a welcome address faultlessly or face the end of any hope of establishing relations. Stressed and tired from his efforts, he decides to take Counselor Troi's advice and spend some time on the holodeck. He chooses his favorite program, that where he plays a private detective named Dixon Hill in 1940's San Francisco. Accompanied by the ship's historian, Dr. Crusher and Data they live out the wonderful world created for them in the holodeck but when they are scanned by aliens, it causes a malfunction that traps them there. Not only that, but the safety mechanisms malfunction as well leading to one of the participating crewmen being seriously injured. With the clock ticking away, time is growing short for Picard to make his address to their hosts.—garykmcd
- The Enterprise is sent on a diplomatic mission where Captain Picard has to master a very difficult language and deliver a welcome address faultlessly or face the end of any hope of establishing relations. The Jarada (an insect like race) consider the slightest mispronunciation as an insult. Stressed and tired from his efforts, he decides to take Counsellor Troi's advice and spend some time on the Holodeck. The Holodeck has been recently upgraded and Deanna says Picard needs the diversion.
He chooses his favorite program, that where he plays a private detective named Dixon Hill in 1940's San Francisco. Accompanied by the ship's historian Whelan (David Selburg) (Picard takes Whalen as he knows more about Dixon Hill than Picard himself), Dr. Crusher and Data they live out the wonderful world created for them in the Holodeck. The Jarada rendezvous is still 11 hrs away and Picard hopes to exit well before then. The characters in the Holodeck are meta-generated, but they feel real and interact with the crew in real time and autonomously.
Picard is retained by a wealthy lady Mrs Arthur Bradley to figure out who is trying to kill her. She suspects Cyrus Redblock (Lawrence Tierney). Picard charges $20/day as his retainer plus expenses. Soon, Picard learns about Mrs. Bradley's death in the newspapers. Picard is arrested as a suspect as he was one of the last men she saw.
Just then, the Enterprise is scanned by the Jarada. The long-range scan causes a malfunction that traps Picard and his crew in the Holodeck. Picard is being held by a police inspector who suspects Picard of shooting Bradley and is interrogating him at the police station. The whole experience is very lifelike. Not only that, but the safety mechanisms malfunction as well leading to one of the participating crewmen being seriously injured. Felix Leech (Harvey Jason) one of the characters in the story (Felix says Hill was hired to locate a certain object and demands to know where it is), confronts Picard and ends up shooting Whelan, but the bullet turns out to be real.
Picard knows they are in trouble when the computer does not answer him or provide him any exits from the Holodeck. Felix brings Cyrus with him, who strikes Picard and draws blood. Cyrus looks for some unnamed object and would kill Beverly unless Picard produces it.
The Jarada are early and demand their honor speech from Picard. With the clock ticking away, time is growing short for Picard to make his address to their hosts. Riker determines that Picard is stuck in the Holodeck and there is no way to communicate with him. Wesley and Geordi are tasked with studying the circuits and fixing the issue.
Wesley manages to find the bug and fixes the issue to open the exit door. Cyrus won't allow Picard to leave and threatens to shoot him down. Cyrus and Leech move through the exit into the real world, and they vanish as they are not real. Whelan is taken to sick bay. Picard says goodbye to his fantasy world and returns to the bridge to deliver his speech, flawlessly.
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