Nexus

File:Nexus2371.jpg

The energy ribbon, entrance to the Nexus, in 2371

The Nexus is an extradimensional realm in which one's thoughts and desires shape reality. Inside the Nexus, time has no meaning, allowing one to visit any time and any place that one can imagine. The entrance to the Nexus was a violent temporal energy ribbon which crossed through the galaxy every 39.1 years.

Enterprise-B incident

The SS Lakul as she was caught in the Nexus-energy ribbon in 2293

The first known contact with the Nexus was in 2293 when two ships transporting El-Aurian refugees were caught up by it. The just-christened USS Enterprise-B responded to the ships' distress calls despite being unprepared for service. The El-Aurian ships were destroyed by the ribbon but the Enterprise crew were able to save 47 of the refugees from the SS Lakul. At least two people from that transport ship – Guinan and Tolian Soran – were swept into the Nexus itself during transportation, before being beamed directly to sickbay in the Enterprise-B. Captain James T. Kirk, who was a guest aboard the Enterprise and had been implementing modifications to allow its escape, was lost into the Nexus when it struck and severely damaged the ship. At the time this was thought to be Kirk's death. (Star Trek Generations)

Soran's attempt to return to the Nexus

Soran enters the Nexus

Soran became obsessed by the idea of returning to it, and in 2371 was prepared to destroy an entire planetary system just to return. He found that there was no guaranteed way to safely travel into it; one had to be just 'in its path'. His plan was to destroy two stars, first Amargosa and then Veridian; the resultant gravitational waves would alter the course of the Nexus, forcing it to pass through the planet Veridian III, where he would situate himself. However, destroying the star Veridian meant the destruction of that system and its planets, killing the 230 million inhabitants of Veridian IV. Captain Jean-Luc Picard discovered the nature of Soran's plan and set out to stop him, though he failed and was swept up into the Nexus himself.

However, with help from the 2293 Guinan, a shadow of whom had remained in the Nexus after the rest of her left, Picard recalled his reason for being in the Nexus and set out to find help, which he found in the form of Kirk. Although Kirk initially seemed content to remain in the Nexus, he eventually decided to return with Picard to prevent Soran from destroying the Veridian system. Kirk had realized that the Nexus could never give him what he really wanted in his life: the chance to make a difference. Using the power of the Nexus one last time, the two were able to return to the planet just before Soran destroyed it. Captain Kirk was killed during this encounter and was buried under a cairn by Captain Picard, but Soran's plot was successfully thwarted. (Star Trek Generations)

In the Nexus

When speaking about the Nexus to Picard in 2371, Guinan described it as "like being wrapped inside joy", a totally euphoric experience. The Nexus itself, once one is inside, causes reality to shape itself according to personal desires. Time itself has no meaning, and any reality one wants becomes fact. This makes the Nexus useful for time travel and transportation, if one is already inside.

Captain Kirk's reality was of his log cabin in the mountains. He lived life with his dog Butler and Antonia, the girl he wished he had married. He also was allowed to easily move to his uncle's stables in Idaho.

Captain Picard's reality was of a family. He had two sons – Matthew and Thomas – and three daughters – Olivia, Mimi, and Madison. They lived, with his wife, in a beautiful house, and his nephew René, who had recently died in a fire in the real world, was still alive. (Star Trek Generations)

Appendices

Background

Ronald D. Moore commented:

"Guinan, Soran, and the other El-Aurians are in some kind of transitional phase going into the Nexus when their ships begin exploding. The Enterprise-B beams them away at a crucial moment that brings their physical bodies back, but leaves behind some kind of "echo" (at least for Guinan – whether or not Soren also left behind an "echo" was the subject of much debate and many rewrites, some including a Soren doppelganger and some even including a meeting between the two Sorens in the Nexus). The momentary sensation of being in the Nexus leaves both Guinan and Soren with an almost overpowering desire to return. When Kirk is pulled into the Nexus, there's no transporter beam to yank him away and hence, he's completely left inside. When Picard and Soren enter the Nexus years later, they too are pulled in completely and the idea of an "echo" should not apply since it was the direct result of a transporter fluke in a very specific instance." (AOL chat, 1997)

Apocrypha

In the novel Engines of Destiny, a confrontation between an alternate Guinan and the Guardian of Forever reveals that the version of Guinan in the Nexus is the source of her constant "feelings," as this version of herself exists outside all time, and can thus reach out to her other selves and provide valuable insight into possible actions that must be taken, although even she is ignorant of what the definitive outcome will be in the end.

In The Next Generation - Q Continuum, it is revealed that the Nexus was created from a solar flare by a very much younger Q during an idle moment in his "childhood", but he was ignorant of what had become of it.

In the Star Trek: Stargazer novel Oblivion, chronicling Guinan's "first" meeting with Picard (discounting Picard's meeting with Guinan's past self in "Time's Arrow"), it reveals that, after her initial encounter with the Nexus, Guinan was left in a deep state of depression, mourning the loss of the reality she had in the Nexus, where all the family she lost to the Borg- including her youngest daughter, the one who was most like her- were restored to her. However, after meeting with Picard, who subsequently risks his mission to save her, Guinan overcomes her depression, realizing that the universe can still give her joy and friendship even outside the Nexus.

In Star Trek: Armada, a Borg Starbase is called a Nexus.

The novel The Final Nexus details a series of intergalactic transport gates called Nexuses, which operate much like the Iconian gateways.

External link

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