 On its way to the artificial asteroid Memory Alpha, a central library storage facility for the Federation s entire freely available memory banks, without shielding, the Enterprise suddenly faces a strange phenomenon, which is experienced as a storm, but also affects the crew s brains. Spock finds its cause, which reappears soon, contains ten intelligent aliens. Lieutenant Mira Romaine, the only person with whom Chief Engineer Scott -a first ever- was forming a romantic attachment, is more deeply and lastingly affected. She foresees the ship s finding that everyone on Memory Alpha is dead, and is found improbably closely linked mentally with an alien, from Zetar, and probably the only chance to stop the aliens...