06x08 - One Small Step

[bunniefuu]

Ares IV to Kumagawa.
How was the sunrise from down there?

Beautiful. There was
a little green mixed in today.

- It was spectacular.
- I'm sorry I missed it.

- Next time.
- Any luck drilling through that lava?

Roger. We broke through the iron oxide
barrier. We're down to eight metres.

We should have some samples today.

On to important matters.
Received an uplink from Houston.

- The Yankees won game five.
- You owe me 20 bucks.

There's still game six.
It's not just us making history today.

- Bokai broke DiMaggio's record.
- I don't believe it.

I'd say Houston's manipulating the stats.

Too many Kings fans
at Mission Control.

How else do you explain
Bokai b*ating out the Yankee Clipper?

Commander. We lost you for a second.

The ride got a little bumpy. Stand by.
Picking up some turbulence.

- At your altitude?
- Checking LIDAR.

- What the hell?
- John, what's going on?

There's an object closing on my position,
azimuth 121.6.

It's huge. It's over 1,000 metres across.

How could something that big
appear from nowhere?

I don't know, but I'm getting out
of its way. f*ring thrusters.

- It's probably a solar flare.
- Let's hope so.

It's no solar flare.

Come in.

Come in!

Chakotay to the bridge.

This is transporter room 2.

I want the bridge.

Your signal was routed here.

Can you patch me through?

Pardon me.

Patch you through where? Where?

Neelix?

Commander?

You're changing the computer core?

I've enhanced
the command sequencers.

You're wreaking havoc
with our secondary systems.

- Insignificant malfunctions.
- I didn't authorise any modifications.

The computer core
needed to be improved.

I appreciate your initiative,
but it's not up to you.

I've explained
the value of these enhancements,

but Lieutenant Torres ignored me.

- A demonstration might be persuasive.
- I doubt this will change her mind.

Clearly Voyager
is not yet ready for assimilation.

A joke. The Doctor suggested
I defuse tense situations with humour.

Good idea.

How about getting these systems
back up, so I can get back to my book?

We're experiencing
a shipwide power drain.

This is unrelated to my modifications.

Senior officers to the bridge.

It's two in the morning.
This better be more than turbulence.

Level 9 gravimetric distortions
closing on our position.

- They're emanating from subspace.
- On screen.

Shields.

- It's heading toward us.
- Evasive manoeuvres.

- Captain?
- 30 million terajoules of energy.

It's following us.
I can't outrun it at impulse.

- Go to warp.
- It's disrupting our warp field.

If it gets closer
it will rip off the hull's plating.

I recognise this phenomenon. Its Borg
designation is spatial anomaly 521.

It's attracted to electromagnetic energy.

We must cut power
and reverse shield polarity.

Do it.

That was close.

I recognise this anomaly too.
It's called a graviton ellipse.

It travels through subspace,
emerging occasionally without warning.

Ellipses have only been observed
a handful of times.

Ares IV.

- Commander?
- An early Mars mission.

The module and its pilot were engulfed
by this phenomenon in 2032.

I read about that. Two astronauts
were stranded on the surface for weeks.

No one's got this close to a graviton
ellipse and lived. This is remarkable.

Go to Yellow Alert.
Keep power output at minimum levels.

- Match its course but keep a distance.
- Aye, Captain.

Let's launch a probe
to see what makes it tick.

Make it fast. We don't know when our
visitor will burrow back into subspace.

I'm receiving telemetry from the probe.

It's in a stable core in the anomaly.
Gravimetric forces are negligible.

- The eye of the storm.
- An apt metaphor.

Computer, run a multispectral analysis
of the anomaly's core.

Analysis in progress.

The Borg had shields to penetrate
the gravimetric currents

and dissipate the anomaly from within.
Perhaps we should continue.

It would be short-sighted to destroy it.
We should study the phenomenon.

I didn't realise you shared
this crew's penchant for exploration?

I am a Starfleet officer.

When risks outweigh potential gain,
exploration is illogical.

We can't predict what we might find.

One must allow
for the unexpected discovery.

Core analysis complete.

There are more than
2.8 billion compounds in the core.

Fascinating.

The computer has isolated
synthetic alloys native to sector 001.

Titanium and polymer composites.
They date back to the 21st Century.

They were used
in Earth's early spacecraft.

Chakotay mentioned a space capsule
consumed by a graviton ellipse.

These alloys are consistent
with the hull of that capsule.

An unexpected discovery, indeed.

She was 46 metres, 92 metric tons,
powered by a third generation ion drive,

with a transpectral imager.

Ares IV was piloted by John Kelly.

His ground team, Rose Kumagawa
and Andrei Novakovich,

were close to mission completion when
Kelly reported an object on his position.

Then he disappeared off
NASA's LIDAR scopes.

That incident almost derailed
the Mars program.

Man's first encounter with an anomaly.

Seven, you said the Borg
worked on entering a graviton ellipse.

- Shield enhancements.
- We could apply them to the Flyer.

- Do you intend to find the module?
- What's left of it.

We have less than 16 hours before
the anomaly goes back into subspace.

Then let's work quickly. Harry, B'Elanna,
help Seven modify the Flyer's shields.

Tom, review the Ares IV mission.
It might tell us about this anomaly.

- We're going to need a mission leader.
- I volunteer.

I thought you might. Let's do it.

Something on your mind, Seven?

The anomaly is as dangerous now
as it was 300 years ago.

The Delta Flyer's more advanced than
Ares IV. We'll take every precaution.

That may not be enough.

I appreciate your concern,
but this is my call.

Searching for the module seems
more sentimental than scientific.

I can't argue with that. If scientific
knowledge was all we were after,

the Federation would have built
a fleet of probes, not starships.

Exploration is about seeing things.
In this case, we're exploring the past.

How will this enhance
your appreciation of history?

By making us part of it.

In the same way that excavating
the obelisks of Vulcan,

or finding the Shroud of Kahless made
those explorers part of their history.

Here's the crux of it.

As a Borg, you didn't study the past,
you ingested it.

You never developed
an appreciation for history.

This is an opportunity
to do some exploring of your own.

- Is that an order to join this mission?
- An encouragement to volunteer.

That's no solar flare.

John, can you describe it?

- It's 1,000 metres wide, bright...
- Your transmission's breaking up.

Its electromagnetic radiation
is interfering with systems.

I can't get away from it.

Activating the transpectral imager.
I'll record as much data as I can.

It's on top of me.
I'll transmit all I can...

That's all she wrote.

NASA received Kelly's last telemetry
at 0922 hours, October 19th, 2032.

I thought I was the Mars buff.
You know more about Ares IV than me.

Mars missions paved the way for space
exploration. Kelly was one of my heroes.

Mine too.

That's dedication. His life is about
to end, but he's taking readings.

They were made of sterner stuff than us.

- Do you think we have it easy?
- Are you kidding?

Warp drive, shields, transporters.
We travel in luxury.

Kelly and Kumagawa, Armstrong
and Glenn - they were the real pioneers.

- Am I interrupting?
- We're just admiring a fellow explorer.

Hero worship, the glorification
of an individual's accomplishments.

You didn't have many role models?

Personal accomplishments
are irrelevant.

Modifications to the Delta Flyer
are complete. We're ready.

We?

You'll need someone familiar
with Borg technology. I'm volunteering.

- You don't sound too happy about it.
- I'm not.

- But this mission needs my expertise.
- In that case, welcome aboard.

I've prepared an inoculant
to counter gravimetric radiation.

A hologram would simply adjust
its mobile emitter.

- That's what I did on Arakis Prime.
- I don't recall that.

This was before you came aboard.
An enchanting planet!

Crystalline glaciers,
magnesium vapour atmosphere.

I had to stop my scans
just to admire the beauty of it,

to smell the roses, to coin a phrase.

- An inefficient use of your time.
- Perhaps.

We're all finished here,
except for one thing.

Could you record some images
inside the ellipse?

- For those of us not lucky enough to go.
- You envy my participation on this?

- There isn't a crewman who doesn't.
- Why?

I can only tell you how I felt
when I materialised on Arakis Prime.

I left my footprints in the magnesite dust
and thought,

"One small step for a hologram,
one giant leap for mankind."

To coin a phrase.

I know the sentiment isn't original,
but the fact is I was exhilarated.

Chakotay to Seven of Nine,
report to shuttlebay 2.

Good luck.

We're approaching the perimeter
in five, four, three, two,

one.

We're within 2,000 km.
Gravimetric interference increasing.

It's nothing compared to them.
They're really getting knocked around.

- Shields weakening but holding.
- Keep the tractor beam on just in case.

They're approaching the anomaly's core.

- We've lost sensor contact.
- Harry?

The com-link is still active.

- Gravimetric sheer increasing.
- Diminished turbulence ahead.

Full thrusters, Tom. Punch us through.

Chakotay to Voyager.

We're in.

- I wish you could see it. It's incredible.
- We're all ears.

It's calm. No gravimetric distortions.
The EM activity creates a luminescence.

- Tom called it mood lighting.
- B'Elanna, it's romantic.

I'll take your word for it.

We detected asteroid fragments,

matter from every quadrant
of the galaxy.

We should call it
the kitchen sink anomaly.

The chemical interactions have
created a primitive atmosphere.

Nothing you'd want to breathe.

- What do you make of it, Seven?
- Well, I suppose it's intriguing.

Some of the matter
is extra-dimensional in origin.

- This anomaly has got around.
- Any sign of the command module?

Picking up traces of the hull,

but our sensor readings are being
refracted by all the debris in here.

That was a gravimetric surge caused
by the anomaly altering its course.

- We had a big jolt out here.
- We didn't feel a thing.

You have 5 hours 36 minutes before
the anomaly returns to subspace.

- Get a move on.
- Understood.

It's difficult isolating the debris
from the module.

I'll lay in a search pattern.
It may take a couple of hours.

Seven and I can take samples to get
an idea of where the anomaly's been.

We should focus on our objective
and returning to Voyager.

We're not here just for the module.
We're here to explore.

- I am familiar with our mission.
- In that case, let's get started.

The fossilised microbes in this ore
seem to have had metallic membranes.

We've speculated about metallic
life-forms, but never discovered one.

You're excited by this discovery?

This is billions of years older than Earth,
a time when the galaxy was forming.

- Here.
- Commander?

Take it.

You're holding a piece of history.
Maybe even the beginnings of life.

- Unlikely.
- More likely than you think.

This anomaly is as old as anything
we've encountered.

- I could spend my life studying it.
- Leave Voyager without a first officer?

They'd manage.

Palaeontology was my first love.
It's why I joined Starfleet.

- Why didn't you pursue it?
- My sense of responsibility.

First the Maquis, then Voyager.

What I wanted
always seemed to take a back seat.

What did you want to be
before you were assimilated?

I was assimilated as a child.

I knew I wanted to be
a palaeontologist when I was six.

A ballerina.

- Maybe it's not too late.
- It was a juvenile fantasy.

- Those are the ones that stick with you.
- Heads up. We're getting close.

I've isolated the module,
bearing 39, mark 15.

There.

- It's intact.
- I read hull breaches and corrosion.

But it's pretty well-preserved.

I wasn't expecting a fragment this big.
We can't just stow it in the aft section.

We'll use a tractor beam to tow it back.

The anomaly made a course change -
0.003 degrees.

- Something must be attracting it.
- There's nothing on the sensors.

- It enjoys being unpredictable.
- It likes electromagnetic energy.

What could generate an EM field
but still not show up on sensors?

- An energy burst from a pulsar...
- Dark-matter.

Realign the sensor array
to scan for EM fluctuations.

I've got a disturbance,
three million kilometres away.

- A dark-matter asteroid.
- The anomaly's heading for it.

- Time to impact?
- Four minutes.

We can't say how the impact
will affect the anomaly.

- It won't be a nudge.
- Delta Flyer, we've got a problem.

The anomaly's headed for
a dark-matter asteroid.

We've located the Mars orbiter.

- We're adapting a tractor beam.
- Get out of there.

- Captain.
- Now!

- Is the tractor beam ready?
- Just about, sir.

- Lock onto the module and take us out.
- We don't have time.

- I gave you an order.
- Commander.

We're not leaving without that module.

Tom!

Both the anomaly
and asteroid are accelerating.

- They're like magnets.
- At this rate, it'll impact in 56 seconds.

Chakotay, you've got less than a minute.

- The module's slowing us down.
- Maintain tractor lock.

- How long until we clear the anomaly?
- 40 seconds.

We can do it.

- 30 seconds to impact and not clear.
- Chakotay, status?

We're on our way.

20 seconds.

- Gravimetric distortions increasing.
- The Flyer?

I've lost the signal.

- How badly is he damaged?
- Concussion and internal injuries.

- We need to get him back.
- Not possible.

- Communication and propulsion off-line.
- He's stable. I'll give you a hand.

We can repair the shields,
but the engines are unsalvageable.

- It can't be that bad.
- It's worse.

The anomaly is returning to subspace.
We have less than two hours.

- He's regaining consciousness.
- Easy. Easy, lie still.

- Feels like ten rounds with an Andorian.
- More like 20.

You were hit with a plasma discharge.

The gravimetric surge from the asteroid

caught us at the anomaly's edge
and tossed us back inside.

The command module?

- It's adrift 300 metres off our bow.
- Then we can still salvage it.

We can't get engine or shields on-line,
not to mention a tractor beam.

- We'll be lucky to get out.
- I can help.

You're in worse shape than this ship.
Lie in the bed.

- Another gravimetric surge.
- I'll try and reinforce the integrity field.

- Draw power from auxiliary life support.
- The system was damaged.

- What about the secondary relays?
- Off-line.

Try re-routing the phaser couplings.

We did that while
you were unconscious.

- Then bring me up to date.
- There's no time. Recuperate.

- The situation's under control.
- It doesn't look like it.

I'm still in command of this mission.
I want to know what's going on.

We were ordered by the captain to
leave the anomaly, but you disobeyed.

Due to your obsession with the module,
we're trapped with it.

- We probably won't survive without...
- Point taken.

Now, why don't you continue,
without the attitude?

An inventory of the damaged systems.
Read it for yourself.

I made a mistake.

- I put the mission at risk.
- You put our lives at risk.

Well, if we don't make it out,

someone's bound to come looking
for us in a few hundred years.

Diffusing a tense situation with humour,
remember?

Voyager to Delta Flyer.

- They're using a probe to transmit.
- Chakotay, please respond.

- Captain, we can hear you.
- I'm matching their frequency.

- Voyager, this is the Delta Flyer.
- Are you all right? What's your status?

We've sustained heavy damage,
Captain, but we're alive.

It's good to hear your voice.

We could install shielding
on a class-2 shuttle and take it in.

It took hours to make the modifications
to the Flyer. We've only got 82 minutes.

A modified tractor beam might
cut through gravimetric interference.

You'll never get it to the core.

- Work on it anyway.
- All the energy conduits are fused?

We can't get power to primary systems.

If the replicators were working
we could whip up a plasma manifold.

- What about an old manifold?
- Excuse me?

The command module
may be three centuries old,

but the power distribution system
isn't that different from the Flyer's.

Right here.
This control panel in the main cockpit.

It was an called an ion distributor.

It could channel warp plasma.

We'd have to obtain the object
before we can adapt it.

Do you have enough power
to beam one of you to the module?

- Yes. I'll go.
- Not so fast, Tom.

If a gravimetric surge hits,
we need you at the helm.

- Seven.
- An encouragement to volunteer again?

You read my mind.

Come on... just a little closer.

I got us within transporter range.
Ready?

Stand by.

Ironic.

You're doing
what I've always dreamt of.

Remember, when you set foot
in that module, you'll step into history.

- History is irrelevant.
- Irrelevant?

Do me a favour.

When you're over there, download
whatever you can from their database.

And also, take a minute to look around,
so you can tell us what it was like.

There may not be time.

- But I'll try.
- Good luck.

- What's it like in there?
- Dark.

The ambient temperature
is minus 260 degrees.

There are fractures in the aft bulkheads.

- Is the cockpit intact?
- Yes.

I've brought the main computer on-line.

I've lost contact with the team on the
surface. I can't get a fix on my position.

- What was that?
- An active data file with log entries.

- Can you play them for us?
- I believe so.

Consider it my last request.

And I can't get a fix on my position.

But I'm alive
and the CM seems to be intact.

- I'm inside this whatever it is...
- Could you hear that, Chakotay?

It's amazing. Everyone assumed
he was k*lled instantly.

...got myself into. It's very calm,
like in the eye of a hurricane.

It's spooky, but if there's a way in
there must be a way out.

I'm f*ring up the transpectral imager
before I start an engine burn.

Collect as much data as I can.

Jeannie, I may not bring you back
the Mars rock,

but I promise,
I'll do everything I can to get home.

Ares IV, mission record, October 23rd.

I feel like Jonah.
How long was he in that whale?

Three days? I've got him b*at
by a day or two already.

EM interference is disrupting
communications and LIDAR.

I can't see the stars.
I can't get a fix on my position.

If this thing is moving as fast as it was,
I could be a long way from Mars by now.

The imagers have been cataloguing
the matter in here.

But a lot of it defies analysis.

We're going to need
to make room on the periodic table.

Where the hell am I?

Power levels have dropped another 15%
since my last systems check.

I think I just saw another spacecraft.

Either that, or all this dehydrated food
has gone to my head.

I got it! The hull's
made of a kind of alloy.

I can't make head nor tail of it.
I shouldn't have been so dismissive.

I gave Kumagawa a hard time when she
claimed she saw a UFO over the Gulf.

I told her it was a meteor
or another piece of MIR.

I guess I owe you an apology, Rose.

Ares IV mission record, October 25th.

This has been nice to visit,
but I'm ready to come home.

I prepped the ion drive,

channelled power from thruster reserves
to the main t*nk.

I have enough fuel
for one last engine burn.

Wish me luck.

Ignition sequence.

Five, four, three, two...

I'm losing pitch control!

Gyros aren't responding.

Power failure. I've got to abort.
I'm not going to make it!

All systems go.

Watch me, Dad. I'm flying.

Poooooogh!

Bad landing. Call the MedEvac team.

Paris to Seven, status?

I've located the device,
but it's fused to the hull.

- Make it quick. We've got 15 minutes.
- Understood.

All systems go.

Watch me, Dad. I'm flying.

Poooooogh!

Bad landing. Call the MedEvac team.

John Kelly's first flight.
Not exactly A-OK.

Remember that, Dad?

I jumped off the roof with a parachute
made out of blankets.

I guess I didn't calculate
the aerodynamics.

Of course, I was only six.

I guess this is John Kelly's last flight.

This time, I can't blame it on pilot error.

This time, no regrets.

What I've seen proves
we were right to come out here.

We're not alone.

I know that now.

The module's losing power.

I'm taking life support off-line.

Re-routing whatever's left to the imager.

Keep it running as long as possible.

Mission Control...

Dad...

Whoever finds this...

Do me a favour.

Take all the data I've collected.

Put it to good use.

I hope you don't look at this as a failure.

I don't.

Actually, I do have one regret.

I never found out who won
the World Series.

I'm tired.

And I can't...

- Paris to Seven, how's it going?
- I have a distributor.

- I'm downloading Kelly's database.
- Hurry. We're running out of time.

Lock onto my bio-signature
and combadge.

- Seven?
- Energise.

- Delta Flyer, report.
- We're integrating the distributors.

- How long do they have?
- Four minutes.

- Try bypassing the power couplings.
- No effect.

Resequence the ion modulators.
See if that does it.

- Power conversion in progress.
- We have propulsion, shields.

- Plasma flow is still fluctuating.
- Stay on top of it.

Paris to Voyager. Open the shuttlebay
doors we're coming home.

- Acknowledged.
- Laying in an escape trajectory.

- The ellipse is returning to subspace.
- The Flyer?

They're approaching the perimeter.
2,000 metres... 1,800...

The anomaly's submerging.

- Are we in tractor range?
- Not yet.

Take us closer. Do it.

- They're still out of reach.
- Closer.

- We'll be pulled in with them.
- Just a few more metres.

- We're too close.
- I've got a lock.

Reverse thrusters. Full impulse.

Captain's log, stardate 53301.2.

The away team collected
60 teraquads of data on the anomaly.

Before we analyse them, we've decided
to pay our respects to an old colleague.

Space.

Literally, it means "nothing".

A vacuum between stars and planets.

But it also means everything.

It's what connects all our worlds.

Vulcan, Kronos, Talax, Earth.

Centuries ago, mankind sent its first
wave of explorers into that void.

Astronauts like Mr Kelly. They paved
the way for the first colonies,

the first starships, for those of us
who've made space our home.

We commend the spirit and bravery
of Lieutenant John Mark Kelly

as we commit his body to space.

He will not be forgotten.

Captain.

I did not know this individual.

Had I encountered him as a Borg,
I would have found his technology

unworthy of assimilation.

But we are more alike
than one might think.

In a sense, his desire to explore
was not unlike a quest for perfection.

His contribution helped secure
humanity's future, and in a way, my own.

The Yankees... in six games.

All hands, attention.

Honour guard.