On his first day back at work in the ER, Carter (Noah Wyle) befriends a paraplegic youngster named Dennis (Alex D. Linz). Elsewhere, several patients are brought in after a freak accident at a sci-fi convention -- and are promptly placed under arrest. During an acute shortage of surgeons, Greene (Anthony Edwards) performs a delicate operation while receiving instructions via intercom hookup with Corday (Alex Kingston). Malucci (Erik Palladino) demands to know who the father of Chen's (Ming-Na) baby is. And Romano (Paul McCrane) fires Benton (Eriq La Salle). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi