RECAP | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 309 - 'Terrarium'

In the of , the Enterprise completed a mission requiring as to not violate the . However, new problems arose when it was time for them to change back into humans.

Now, in Episode 9, "," when Lieutenant Ortegas crash lands on a deadly toxic moon, where the chances of survival are slim to none, she finds herself stranded and forced to challenge her most closely held beliefs in order to survive.

The U.S.S. Enterprise investigates a peculiar area of uncharted space that is legendary for its tales of strange phenomena. In the Science Lab, Lt. Spock is perplexed by the gravity waves present in this parsec, so Lt. Erica Ortegas plans to get to the bottom of the gravimetric volatility by piloting a retrofitted shuttle into it. Other than a number of unverified signals, Starfleet knows little about this region and wants to deploy a subspace monitoring buoy.

After declaring, "Let's light this candle," Ortegas makes her way to the Shuttlecraft Archimedes, lowering the ship's blast shields and starting her survey run. The data is transmitted to the Enterprise, but a wormhole pops up and pulls the shuttle into its maw.*

The Archimedes emerges on the other side, caught in the gravity well of a gas giant. Ortegas launches the relay buoy and broadcasts a mayday before crash landing on a small moon. The lieutenant awakens in her damaged shuttle and scavenges parts to make a water condenser.

Back aboard the Enterprise, Captain Christopher Pike hosts a meeting in the Ready Room, where Spock notes that the wormhole has remained non-variant for nearly two days. Ensign Nyota Uhura insists that a lack of debris could mean Erica is alive, but they have not detected a transponder signal or any lifesigns. If Ortegas survived the trip, she could be anywhere in the universe. Trying to reach her with a narrow subspace beam has failed, as the wormhole's event horizon keeps reflecting the communications back. Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley reminds Pike that they need to rendezvous with the U.S.S. Constellation to deliver a vaccine for the colonists on Epsilon Indi III.

Through the wormhole, Ortegas ventures out into the barren terrain and realizes the moon's orbit is a flat ellipse. Its perigee will bring it too close to the gas giant's thermosphere and render the atmosphere toxic. As Ortegas searches for food, she spots a light in the distance. Meanwhile, Uhura picks up the buoy's faint distress call, but Spock posits that it could be a signal ghost. Gravimetric refraction prevents them from verifying that Ortegas sent the message after she entered the wormhole, so Uhura suggests they send probes to strengthen the connection to the Archimedes. Pike orders Number One to inform Captain Decker that Enterprise will keep its schedule to meet the Constellation.**

Ortegas locates a makeshift structure but reacts with horror upon recognizing that its returning inhabitant is a Gorn. In Enterprise's Ready Room, Lt. La'An Noonien-Singh states that the communications probes dispatched into the wormhole have failed to conduct a signal. The deployments may also be the reason that the aperture is shrinking. Number One urges Pike to consider the 4,000 colonists suffering from a pandemic, but Pike assures Uhura he will approve another shuttle mission if she can provide hard data to back it up.

Concealed near the habitat, a distracted Ortegas is surprised by the Gorn, but her opponent releases her to capture a carnivorous, pit-creature that tries to pounce on them. In the Science Lab, Uhura's navigation simulations fall short, and Spock deduces that a successful rescue is a statistical improbability. However, the Vulcan supports Uhura's continued efforts.

On the small moon, the Gorn feasts on the creature's corpse, and Ortegas notices her counterpart has a serious wound on its leg. The Gorn tosses the lieutenant a piece of meat for her to dine on. Later, as the Gorn sleeps, Ortegas steals the Gorn's comms array in a bid to hail the Enterprise. Ortegas observes an odd light blinking in the sky, and a sudden seismic disturbance sends her shuttle plunging into the depths below. More carnivores now surround her, but the Gorn intercedes to protect Ortegas, incurring another leg injury in the process.

Uhura presents her unorthodox plan to Pike in the Science Lab, believing they must take the Enterprise into the wormhole and establish a stable warp field to wedge the aperture open.*** Uhura subtly alters the projections for scan capabilities within the anomaly, tricking the captain into agreeing to the mission.

The Gorn and Ortegas retreat to the habitat, where the Gorn utilizes a repurposed power source to establish a personal deflector shield around the structure. Ortegas treats the Gorn's wound with a ground up crystal paste, and the Gorn repays her with another serving of the "pit-monster sushi." The lieutenant notices a helmet nearby, believing that the Gorn is also a pilot. Since playing charades isn't the best way of communicating, Ortegas modifies her tricorder to act as a rudimentary universal translator that allows the Gorn to give "yes" or "no" responses.

The Gorn shocks Ortegas with the revelation that it already understands her language, as its species studies its enemies. The Gorn introduces herself as a female, and the lieutenant is amazed at the notion that she is stranded on a flying tombstone and joking with a Gorn. Ortegas scratches a makeshift chess board into the rocks, and the Gorn tries to teach her fellow pilot a game enjoyed by her species.

Ortegas turns the Gorn comms array into an SOS beacon but remains confused by the distant flashes of light in the sky. They both feel as if they're being watched, and the wounded Gorn reveals that her people will perceive her as broken. Ortegas offers to bring her to the Enterprise, which unbeknownst to her, Pike is piloting toward the wormhole. The ship props the aperture open, detecting the gas giant and its 396 moons on the other end.

As the Enterprise scans for her, Ortegas eyes the enigmatic light and questions its purpose. The pit-monsters converge on their position, leading the battery powering the beacon and shield to malfunction. Ortegas brainstorms, deciding that the collision between the gas giant and moon's atmospheres will cause them to become flammable. If they use the propellant from the Gorn's thruster tank to ignite part of the planet's atmosphere, they can create a burning SOS across the planet.**** They harness the heat shield from the Gorn escape pod for protection, and the Gorn encourages a forlorn Ortegas to persevere — they agree that they are friends. Ortegas launches the thruster manually, setting the sky aflame.

On the Enterprise Bridge, Pike divulges that he is aware Uhura fudged the numbers for this mission but would have searched for Erica anyway. Spock picks up an unusual atmospheric eruption on one of the moons, and the crew comprehends that it is a signal from Ortegas.

La’An beams to the surface with a landing party, but her instinctive reaction to seeing a Gorn behind Ortegas causes her to fire upon it. Ortegas screams in agony as her Gorn friend falls dead, calling out in anguish to the point of light that has been watching all along.

La'An requests a beam out, but the entire scene freezes around Ortegas in mid-transport.

A luminous being coalesces in front of her, identifying its people as the Metrons.***** Having inhabited this region of space since before humanity walked upright, the Metrons were curious about the humans and the Gorn. Deeming them to be two barbaric species determined to destroy the other, the Metrons forced them together with a need to survive as an experiment. The Metron explains that the Gorn kept Ortegas alive because it was lonely, while Ortegas managed to work past her pain and trauma.

The Metron sees this as a hopeful development, but Ortegas' fury is not quelled. La'An's violent response to the Gorn has caused the Metrons to realize they need more data to determine if the human and Gorn will ever find peace. The Metron states that Ortegas will not remember him and that the Metrons might need to reset the Federation's perception of the Gorn, as well. All Ortegas will recall is the time she spent bonding with the Gorn. The Metron waves his hand and allows the beam up to resume.

In Ortegas' quarters aboard the Enterprise, she expresses her appreciation for Uhura's dedication to finding her. Ortegas knows the Gorn saved her, describing both Gorn and the La'An as her friends. The lieutenant admits she doesn't know how to process that, but Uhura suggests that they both wanted to protect her. Uhura recommends that Ortegas remember the Gorn. After Uhura leaves, Ortegas turns to look at the piece she kept from the Gorn gameboard, displayed on a shelf alongside other precious memories and mementos.

* "Emissary" — In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine premier episode, the Bajoran wormhole was discovered by Jadzia Dax and Benjamin Sisko.

** "The Doomsday Machine" — In this Original Series episode, the Enterprise comes across the U.S.S. Constellation, commanded by Matt Decker.

*** "Relics" — In this Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, Geordi La Forge and Montgomery "Scotty" Scott use the U.S.S. Jenolan's shields to prevent the Dyson Sphere's doors from closing so the U.S.S. Enterprise-D could escape.

**** "The Galileo Seven" — Spock jettisons the Galileo's fuel to create a flare-like distress call in this Original Series episode.

***** "Arena" — In this Original Series classic, the Metrons react poorly to the Enterprise and a Gorn vessel intruding in its space. As a result, they force Captain Kirk and a Gorn captain to settle their differences on a planet as they observed.