While rehearsing a scene from 'The Tempest' in the holodeck, Data and Picard are amazed when they are nearly run over by the Orient Express, the famed 19th century locomotive whose itinerary never once included Prospero's island. Investigation of this quirk is postponed by the Enterprise's sudden jump to warp speed, and a fortuitous exit from warp just in time to avoid the ship's destruction. When the crew concentrates the search to this problem, a strange modification of the ship's circuitry is discovered, one which seems to be tying many disparate systems together. When the ship's systems take measures to protect the growing anomaly, the truth becomes clear - this is no accident, but a new intelligence all its own taking form within the Enterprise's hull.
