Unnatural Selection (Episode)

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Unnatural Selection
"Unnatural Selection" (TNG133)

"Unnatural Selection" (TNG133)
Series Star Trek: The Next Generation
Season 2
Episode 7
Production Number 133


Previous Loud as a Whisper (TNG132)
Next A Matter of Honor (TNG134)
Released 30 Jan 1989
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Prime Timeline
(The root of all realities)


Stardate 42494.8: Pulaski suffers from a disease that induces rapid aging

Answering a distress call from the U.S.S. Lantree, the Enterprise finds by visual scans that the ship's entire crew has died of old age — even ensigns in their twenties. Mysterious "hyperaging" has also hit the ship's last stop, the Darwin Genetic Research Station, where the stricken staff begs to have its genetically engineered "super-children" rescued, after assuring the Enterprise crew that they do not carry the disease. A skeptical Picard wants the children checked anyway; to avoid contamination, Data pilots a shuttle so that Dr. Pulaski can examine one of the children in isolation.

The children — who appear much older than their actual age — turn out to be the cause of the disease, and the crew is shocked when Pulaski herself is quarantined at Darwin to help with the cure research. Picard is not willing to accept the loss of his Chief Medical Officer. He pushes his people to modify the transporter's biofilter to screen out the virus. A hair sample finally provides a necessary, uninfected DNA sample, and the doctor and lab staff are eventually cured. Unfortunately, the Darwin youth must be isolated forever. In one last gesture, the Enterprise returns to the Lantree, scuttling the infected ship with full honors.

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