What's the nature of the Crystalline Entity's feeding beam?

[Unimatrix Q]

I know it's not technology in the true sense of the word, but i always wondered about the nature of this feeding mechanism.

What happens to the organic matter and why doesn't this beam apparently cause damage to inorganic matter at all?

 

[Timo]

Sometimes even the standard death ray of Trek, the phaser beam, exhibits transporter-like behavior. No, not just making the target disappear - in "Macrocosm" and the like, you can make the beam carry objects or substances. Perhaps phasers and the CE beams are weaponized transporters? Those can be awfully selective in what they beam up or make disappear.

What causes the delayed destruction on Omicron Theta is an extra mystery of sorts. But it could be as simple as the CE leaving when the Tripoli comes, and then returning to feed a bit more.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[matthunter]

It's composed of omnomnomnomitron particles.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Sometimes even the standard death ray of Trek, the phaser beam, exhibits transporter-like behavior. No, not just making the target disappear - in "Macrocosm" and the like, you can make the beam carry objects or substances. Perhaps phasers and the CE beams are weaponized transporters? Those can be awfully selective in what they beam up or make disappear.

What causes the delayed destruction on Omicron Theta is an extra mystery of sorts. But it could be as simple as the CE leaving when the Tripoli comes, and then returning to feed a bit more.

Timo Saloniemi

Yes, the delayed destruction effect is really mysterious. I doubt that the CE would return to Omicron Theta for feeding, as there must have been many inhabitated m class planets around in its feeding range.

It's composed of omnomnomnomitron particles.

ROFL

 

[Timo]

Yes, the delayed destruction effect is really mysterious. I doubt that the CE would return to Omicron Theta for feeding, as there must have been many inhabitated m class planets around in its feeding range.

Then again, the UFP doesn't know of the CE or the type of destruction it leaves behind before "Datalore", so it really isn't in the habit of snacking around. Perhaps it has developed a taste for specific feedstuffs, and humanoids are on top of that list, explaining why it goes after humanoid colonies and humanoid ships. Or then it's a balance thing, and it gets a really sour stomach if it cannot digest a certain amount of vegetation after a humanoid meal.

If Lore wasn't just delusional about being in contact with the CE, then perhaps the subspace smell of an android is what drew the CE to the planet, even after Lore's deactivation? Data would have been inedible, but associated with food nevertheless, so the CE would keep on feeding there until there was nothing left to eat - unlike later in "Silicon Avatar" where the colony was only locally devastated.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Then again, the UFP doesn't know of the CE or the type of destruction it leaves behind before "Datalore", so it really isn't in the habit of snacking around. Perhaps it has developed a taste for specific feedstuffs, and humanoids are on top of that list, explaining why it goes after humanoid colonies and humanoid ships. Or then it's a balance thing, and it gets a really sour stomach if it cannot digest a certain amount of vegetation after a humanoid meal.

If Lore wasn't just delusional about being in contact with the CE, then perhaps the subspace smell of an android is what drew the CE to the planet, even after Lore's deactivation? Data would have been inedible, but associated with food nevertheless, so the CE would keep on feeding there until there was nothing left to eat - unlike later in "Silicon Avatar" where the colony was only locally devastated.

Timo Saloniemi

Apparently there were twelve other encounters with the CE, one at Forlat III, as mentioned in "Silicon Avatar".

Let's assume it didn't return to Omicon Theta, what do you think is a possible explanation for the delayed destruction we learnt about in Datalore?

This effect could also be a proof against a similarity of the feeding beam to the transporter. What alternate explanations for the functionality of the beam are possible?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Maybe it's like a selective De-Materialization beam like a replicator does as part of it's transporter process, but only targets Organic stuffs?

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Maybe it's like a selective De-Materialization beam like a replicator does as part of it's transporter process, but only targets Organic stuffs?

But how could that explain what happened at Omicron Theta, after the entity had already left?

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

But how could that explain what happened at Omicron Theta, after the entity had already left?

You need to refresh my memory on what happened after the CE left!

It's been a while since I watched that ep.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

You need to refresh my memory on what happened after the CE left!

It's been a while since I watched that ep.

It seems that when the USS Tripoli arrived in the system after the attack of the CE, the planet was still a living world.

From Memory Alpha:
"In 2338, after the planet was attacked by the Crystalline Entity, the cruiser USS Tripoli picked up a signal, which led the starship to this planet. The cruiser's crew reported finding a world with farmlands. A landing party traced the signal to a signal device on the surface. Near the signal device, the party discovered Data. Upon discovery, Data was activated by the device. After his activation, the officers told Data that he was an android.

In 2364, the USS Enterprise-D visited the planet for a few hours. The ship's sensors found a Class M world with lifeless vegetation and devoid of insects and soil bacteria. An analysis by an away team from the starship ascertained that at the time the Tripoli discovered Data, everything on the planet was dead or dying."

 

[Timo]

Yes, LaForge speculates that back when the Tripoli briefly studied the place, "everything on this planet was dead or dying". But clearly everything wasn't dead (the ship reported farmlands and no death of vegetation), so LaForge is using the expression "at the time Data was found" more broadly than that. That is, the dead-or-dying bit would come slightly after the starship visit.

Which allows for the scenario where the CE simply returns after the annoying starship leaves, and then has its full side dish of salad.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Maybe the CE didn't want to fight a StarShip since it felt threatened by it so it ran and hid until the USS Tripoli left.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Maybe the CE didn't want to fight a StarShip since it felt threatened by it so it ran and hid until the USS Tripoli left.

It didn't seemed to be scared at both times when it encountered the Enterprise-D in "Datalore" and in "Silicon Avatar"...

And it feasted on the crews of starships before. It was mentioned in "Silicon Avatar".

 

[Timo]

Must be an acquired taste. From the POV of the CE, the Tripoli must have looked like a slow and dim but oddly muscular guy who ambled in, puked on the planet, and then ate his own vomit before leaving. Better not mess with those!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Another thing that makes it unlikely that there is a connection between the feeding mechanism and transporter or replicator technology is the fact that the beam, when dissolving organic matter, leaves behind residue like bitrium ashes.

Are there other explanations for how the feeding beam works?

 

[Timo]

Basic Trek technologies, in "natural" form, are fine. It could be a transporter or a phase beam that only takes what it needs (we haven't exactly seen the "Very funny, Mr Scott, now beam down my pants" thing in practice, but hand phasers achieve this sort of selectivity in, say, ST6:TUC). It could be a tractor beam that sucks in stuff first knocked loose by a death ray or poison spray of appropriate specs. It could be a jet of nanotech that consumes organic matter on the spot and then flies back to the CE on its own.

Our heroes are aware of teleporting techniques that aren't exactly Erickson transporters, though. The beam could be one of those as well. Or something way more exotic and Dr Whoish, such as a time leech that rapidly ages the target past the rotting point, and exploits the "stolen time"...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Basic Trek technologies, in "natural" form, are fine. It could be a transporter or a phase beam that only takes what it needs (we haven't exactly seen the "Very funny, Mr Scott, now beam down my pants" thing in practice, but hand phasers achieve this sort of selectivity in, say, ST6:TUC). It could be a tractor beam that sucks in stuff first knocked loose by a death ray or poison spray of appropriate specs. It could be a jet of nanotech that consumes organic matter on the spot and then flies back to the CE on its own.

Our heroes are aware of teleporting techniques that aren't exactly Erickson transporters, though. The beam could be one of those as well. Or something way more exotic and Dr Whoish, such as a time leech that rapidly ages the target past the rotting point, and exploits the "stolen time"...

Timo Saloniemi

These are very good points. Especially the nanotech aspect might provide an explanation for the possible delayed destruction effect that might have happened on Omicron Theta, after the CE had fed on the planet.

Maybe there were nanotech particles left in the ground that continued to destroy the fertile farmland.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Another question that remains is why the CE can only feed on organic matter? What makes up the difference between it and inorganic matter for the CE? Could there be an artificial way to feed it, to protect the life on the planets it might consume otherwise?

 

[Timo]

Marr thinks the CE is an "electromagnetic collector", but that's probably more a description of how it eats than what it eats.

Nevertheless, the heavy implication here is that the CE eats people first and foremost, and the vegetation is but a side dish. Marr has studied its doings extensively, and draws attention to the fact that there were survivors this time. Generally, then, there would seem to be victims. And if those aren't surviving witnesses, then Marr probably doesn't suffer from observer bias where she'd only concentrate on planets where people were eaten: she'd find out about CE visits by some separate means.

Perhaps the CE indeed eats electromagnetism - mainly of the classic "life force" type so often featured in Trek and other scifi? Many a space beast has had an appetite for minds. The CE could be of a type that feasts on humanoid minds but stuffs its stomach with the minds of bacteria and grass when there's nothing better available - and needs to eat so much that going after vegetation-only planets isn't worth its while, when eating a planet with hundreds of people still leaves it hungry for a whole planetful of vegetation.

Total loss of vegetation might not be all that noticeable, though: Marr seems to think it might grow back in "years", although out of what, we don't learn. Perhaps the CE also eats planets where there are no humanoids, and the Federation just fails to notice because the planets recover in an eyeblink and thus don't appear all that exotic?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Marr thinks the CE is an "electromagnetic collector", but that's probably more a description of how it eats than what it eats.

Nevertheless, the heavy implication here is that the CE eats people first and foremost, and the vegetation is but a side dish. Marr has studied its doings extensively, and draws attention to the fact that there were survivors this time. Generally, then, there would seem to be victims. And if those aren't surviving witnesses, then Marr probably doesn't suffer from observer bias where she'd only concentrate on planets where people were eaten: she'd find out about CE visits by some separate means.

Perhaps the CE indeed eats electromagnetism - mainly of the classic "life force" type so often featured in Trek and other scifi? Many a space beast has had an appetite for minds. The CE could be of a type that feasts on humanoid minds but stuffs its stomach with the minds of bacteria and grass when there's nothing better available - and needs to eat so much that going after vegetation-only planets isn't worth its while, when eating a planet with hundreds of people still leaves it hungry for a whole planetful of vegetation.

Total loss of vegetation might not be all that noticeable, though: Marr seems to think it might grow back in "years", although out of what, we don't learn. Perhaps the CE also eats planets where there are no humanoids, and the Federation just fails to notice because the planets recover in an eyeblink and thus don't appear all that exotic?

Timo Saloniemi

But how could it eat minds after disintegrating the bodies?