Dear Johnny Fanboy,

In the episode The Quickening, in the Fourth Season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, there seems to be a mistake.

Dax and Bashir are on a planet that has been stricken by a deadly disease called the Blight. They stay behind to try and cure the disease. One of their patients is a pregnant woman. When Bashir asks her if she would like to see a picture of her unborn child, she asks: "Can your machines tell what he'll look like when he grows up?" To which Bashir replies: "Oh, no. Not really."

This seems odd, as we have technology at the moment that can do this pretty accurately. So why doesn't Starfleet have this technology in the 24th century?

Amanda Hughes

Johnny Fanboy replies:

There are a number of possible explanations for Bashir's reply.

1. Maybe his machines can tell what the baby will look like when he grows up, but bear in mind that Bashir is deeply engrossed in trying to cure the Blight. He doesn't really have time to mess about with such trivial matters.

2. A fully equipped Starfleet medical laboratory might be able to do as the woman asks, but the technology available on the planet is not that extensive. Bashir and Dax are the only members of Starfleet on the planet at the time and they don't even have access to a runabout.

3. The humanoids on the planet are a newly discovered species, and so their biological make-up is not stored in the Starfleet database. Therefore, such extrapolation as the woman is asking for is not possible.

4. Actually, today's technology cannot accurately render a baby's adult appearance. It can only make a guess. Perhaps Starfleet has so far failed to improve on such guesswork, hence Bashir's reply: "Not really."

5. Finally, between now and the 24th century a means may have been perfected to accurately determine a person's future appearance by scanning DNA. However, if you consider the 24th century's almost puritanical attitude towards genetic science, such developments might have subsequently been outlawed.

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