Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Threshold (1996)

Ethan Phillips: Neelix

Photos 

Quotes 

• B'Elanna Torres : [while in the Mess Hall]  It's the pylon again. Every time we get close to crossing the threshold... the subspace torque rips a nacelle off the shuttle.

  Ensign Harry Kim : What about a duranium alloy? We could try using it to reinforce...?

  B'Elanna Torres : No, I've thought about that already. It's too brittle.

  Neelix : [Neelix comes over to they're table, which is covered with technical PADD's]  More coffee? Ah... you look like a happy bunch.

  Ensign Harry Kim : We've hit a wall.

  Neelix : Oh, well, maybe I can help?

  Tom Paris : Great! You know anything about quantum warp theory or... multispectral subspace engine design?

  Neelix : No, but I'm a quick study.

  [takes a seat] 

  Neelix : What are we working on?

  B'Elanna Torres : [she thinks this problem is out of Neelix's league]  Do you have anything to eat?

  Neelix : Eh, sure. There are some Kalavian biscuits, uh, somewhere in the kitchen.

  B'Elanna Torres : I guess I'll go find them myself.

  [to Harry] 

  B'Elanna Torres : Fill 'im in.

  Ensign Harry Kim : [trying to phrase this delicately]  Neelix

  [clears throat] 

  Ensign Harry Kim : , it would take too long to...

  Neelix : W-what are you saying? I'm not smart enough? I'll have you know I did two years as an engineer's assistant aboard a Trabalean freighter. I'm well versed in warp theory.

  Tom Paris : Ok. Ok. We'll tell you. We're trying to break the maximum warp barrier.

  Ensign Harry Kim : Nothing in the universe can go warp 10 - it's a theoretical impossibility. In principle, if you were ever to reach warp 10, you'd be travelling at infinite velocity.

  Neelix : Infinite velocity? Got it! So... that, that means... very fast?

  Tom Paris : [that is an understatement]  It means that you would occupy every point in the universe simultaneously. In theory, you could go any place in the wink of an eye. Time and distance would have no meaning.

  Ensign Harry Kim : If Voyager achieved warp 10... we could be home in as long as it takes to push a button.

  Neelix : Wow! And you're working on this?

  Tom Paris : We discovered a new form of dilithium in the asteroid field we surveyed last month. It remains stable at a much higher warp frequency.

  Ensign Harry Kim : The problem is... every time we simulate crossing the transwarp threshold... the nacelles get torn off the ship.

  Neelix : I remember there was a time when I lost a warp nacelle going through a dark matter nebula.

  Tom Paris : This is a very different problem.

  Neelix : I realise that. I'm just using it as an example. As the ship went through the nebula, it sent out a dark matter bow wave. Eventually, so much pressure built up it tore the nacelle from its housing. Now, maybe the same thing is happening to you?

  [that's got Tom thinking about something] 

  Ensign Harry Kim : No, the simulations don't indicate any kind of subspace stress in the nacelles.

  Tom Paris : Wait a minute. What about the shuttle itself?

  Ensign Harry Kim : What do you mean?

  Tom Paris : [getting excited]  Maybe we've been looking in the wrong place? What if the nacelles aren't being torn from the ship? What if the ship is being torn from the nacelles?

  Ensign Harry Kim : The hull of the shuttle is made of tritanium alloy. At the speeds we're talking about... that alloy could depolarise...

  Tom Paris : ...and create a velocity differential. The fuselage would be travelling at a faster rate of speed than the nacelles.

  Ensign Harry Kim : [Tom's enthusiasm is catching]  That means we just have to set up a depolarisation matrix around the fuselage.

  Tom Paris : That's it! Neelix, you're a genius!

  [they both give Neelix a pat on the back, with Paris adding a one-arm hug, before leaving the Mess Hall] 

  Neelix : [to himself]  I have no idea what they just said.

  [Neelix passes B'Elanna on his way back to the kitchen, taking a biscuit from the tray she's holding, leaving her wondering what went on while she was gone]