detective Sherlock Holmes, and determines that the delegates were not responsible. Meanwhile, Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) uses hypnosis on both Worf and Crusher, finding that both recall being invaded by some entity during their blackouts. The ship suddenly drops again out of warp, and as Picard investigates the readouts at a bridge console, the strange energy transfers into him. The bridge crew becomes suspicious of Picard's actions after noting that all Enterprise systems are back to normal and that Picard has ordered them to return to the cloud. The senior officers attempt to plead with Picard to undergo a medical examination and to step down from command, but he refuses. When they return to the cloud, Picard announces that they had picked up an entity previously when they passed the cloud, and now Picard and the entity are one. Under its influence, Picard plans to transport his energy back into the cloud, and he shoots energy at the bridge crew when they try to stop him. The crew are unable to prevent Picard from beaming off the ship. The crew spend hours trying to locate Picard to no avail, so they are forced to accept he is beyond recovery and prepare to leave. However, Troi senses the Captain's essence nearby, and Picard manages to signal the crew through the ship's computers. Data is able to reverse the transport, reconstituting Picard without the entity. After determining that Picard is himself again, lacking the memories since he was taken over by the entity, the Enterprise continues on to Parliament. Production Writing and casting The original story by Michael Halperin contained a different subplot involving a problem with the dilithium in the warp drive of the Enterprise. The diplomatic conference was added by D.C. Fontana when it was developed into a teleplay. Fontana had previously worked on Star Trek: The Original Series, including the episode "Journey to Babel". "Lonely Among Us" was subsequently compared to "Journey to Babel", which Fontana denied, saying, "I wrote 'Journey to Babel' and I wrote this too, and I feel there is a difference. There's a definite delineation and separation here, both in intent and content." Director Cliff Bole did not recall much of the episode later, but did not think much of the script, saying "The subject matter affects the end product. There's some better written shows, obviously." It was the first episode of The Next