Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Oh, you really did it this time, Will.
This is not just a scrape.
This is a very deep cut.
Well, I can heal it, of course.
But you've gotta stop
playing Parrises Squares
as if you're 21 years old.
One of these days,
you'll fall and break your neck
and I'm not gonna be able
to heal that as easily.
I wasn't playing Parrises Squares.
- Worf's calisthenics program.
- No.
I give up. What was it?
I was trying to feed Spot.
Data's cat?
I told him I would feed him
while he was gone.
I put down the bowl of food.
The next thing I know there's a hissing
ball of fur coming at my face.
- I hate cats.
- I love cats.
You know, you've just gotta know
how to handle them.
Maybe you'd like to do it.
I would be honored. If I could--
Commander Riker to the bridge.
On my WaY-
Oh, by the way,
you'll need this.
Report.
We are picking up a distress call
on long-range sensors.
- It is Romulan, sir.
- Romulan.
They claim they have suffered
a complete engine failure.
Power levels are dropping.
Life support is failing.
Could be a trick.
How long before we rendezvous
with Captain Picard?
Approximately 13 hours.
Lay in a course
for the Romulan ship.
Let's put up the shields
and go to red alert.
- I wanna be ready for anything.
- Aye, sir.
Captain's log, stardate 46944.2.
Commander Data, Mr. La Forge,
Counselor Troi and I
are en route to the Enterprise after
attending a three-day conference
on the psychological effects
of long-term deep space assignments.
Computer,
activate a*t*matic helm control.
Helm control activated.
I was just leaving the reception
when this Ktarian
walks up to me and says:
"Hello, Diane.
- I understand you're an empath.
- Ha-ha-ha.
I'm a very sensitive man myself.
I'm doing a thesis
on interspecies mating rituals.
Would you care to join me
in some empirical research?"
That's a very good impression
of Dr. Mizan.
How did you know?
He's notorious. But he is an expert
on interspecies mating practices.
Did you help him with his research,
counselor?
Absolutely not.
I thought it was a topic
you were interested in.
How did you enjoy
the rest of the conference?
To be honest, I was bored.
I spent most of my time
at Professor Wagner's
phylobiology seminar.
I thought the idea of the seminar
was that we would all participate,
bring different points of view
to the discussion.
He gathered 200 scientists
from all over the Federation
and all he did was put us to sleep.
I have a memory record
of the entire lecture, counselor.
I could repeat
the portions you missed--
No, thank you, Data.
Well, it was little better
at the physiognomy workshop.
Dr. Vassbinder gave
an hour-long dissertation
on the ionization effect
on warp nacelles
before he realized that the topic
was supposed to be psychology.
- Well, why didn't anybody tell him?
- There was no opportunity.
There was no pause.
He just kept talking
in one long,
incredibly unbroken sentence,
moving from topic to topic
so that no one had a chance
to interrupt.
It was really quite hypnotic.
Ha-ha-ha.
- Well, I had a great time.
The warp energy symposium
was fascinating.
I actually had an opportunity
to touch a plasma field.
- Really? What was it like?
- Oh, it was incredible.
I could feel the plasma
moving up my arm.
It was warm and there was this
amazing tingling sensation that--
Captain?
Data.
--Moved through my chest.
It was incredible.
It was like taking a bath
in pure energy.
- It was not painful?
- Oh, no, I--
Counselor?
Is there something wrong?
I'm not sure.
Space, the final frontier.
These are the voyages
of the starship Enterprise.
to explore strange new worlds,
to seek out new life
and new civilizations,
to boldly go where no one
has gone before.
Well, our bio-scans check out.
There are no physiological anomalies.
If something did happen,
it didn't leave any biological traces.
How long did it appear to you
that we were frozen?
I don't know.
Four, maybe five seconds.
You just stopped
and then started again.
I can't explain it.
My memory record does not indicate
a pause or disruption
during that time period.
My internal chronometer
and the ship's computer
are both perfectly synchronized.
There does not appear
to be a temporal discrepancy.
Data, let's run
a ship-wide diagnostic.
Maybe we missed something.
Let's go through all this again.
You were sitting there.
The rest of us were here.
Describe the exact moment
when we appeared to freeze.
Well, um,
Geordi was talking about what
it felt like to touch the plasma field.
And you were taking a sip of tea.
Did you sense something
from any of us at that time?
Any unusual emotion?
Not a thing.
I was empathically aware of you
right up to the moment when you froze
and then it all stopped.
The last few days
have been exhausting.
Maybe it was my imagination.
There were moments
in that lecture hall
when I thought
time was standing still there too.
Well, there is another possibility,
counselor.
This could be
nothing more than simp--
- Are you all right, counselor?
- What happened?
You were motionless
for 3 minutes, 11 seconds.
It appears to be the same effect
that you described in us.
Do you remember anything?
No.
One second I was talking to you,
and the next,
you were all standing around me.
Wait a second. This is weird.
What is it?
I had the tricorder run a comparison
between the bio-scan
I took on you earlier
and the one I ran just now.
In the time between the two scans,
you should have aged 23 minutes.
But according
to your cellular decay levels,
you've only aged 20 minutes.
- How do you account for this?
- I don't know, sir.
It's as if for Counselor Troi,
for three minutes, time just stopped.
Mr. Data, contact the Enterprise.
Tell Commander Riker to meet us
at the rendezvous point
as soon as possible.
Have him scan the region
for temporal anomalies.
Aye, sir.
I'll check the sensor log
and see if I can find anything.
Captain, may I see you?
The Enterprise is not responding
to our hails.
- Are we within sensor range?
- No, sir.
Increase speed
to the rendezvous coordinates.
Aye, sir.
We have
an engine failure warning in--
- Report.
- The starboard nacelle just cut out.
Attitude control has been restored.
Full stop. What happened?
Starboard antimatter pod
is completely drained.
The fuel reserves are empty.
Is there a fuel containment leak?
No, sir. The containment field is intact,
all engine systems are operational,
the fuel is just gone.
Geordi, I believe
I have an explanation.
According to the plasma
conversion sensor,
the starboard engine has been
in continuous operation for 47 days.
Forty-seven days?
Agh. Let's check that sensor.
It must be malfunctioning.
I'll check the fuel consumption logs.
What happened?
My hand.
The cells are metabolizing
at an incredible speed.
Almost 5O times normal.
The pain is going away.
Your metabolism's stabilizing.
It happened when I reached
for the bowl of fruit.
Captain,
I am detecting a temporal disturbance
intersecting the table.
It appears that within the disturbance,
time is moving at an accelerated rate.
Approximately 5O times faster
than normal.
The disturbance is spherical
in shape.
It is extending outward from the hull,
approximately 17 meters from the ship.
That would cover
the starboard nacelle.
No wonder it used up all its fuel.
Check the hull integrity.
It does not appear to be affected.
Mr. La Forge, see if you can move us
away from the disturbance.
Aye, sir.
Lateral thrusters online.
Data, plot a course
away from the disturbance.
Make sure it doesn't come in contact
with our other engine.
Course plotted.
Adjust pitch to 27.3 degrees.
Set heading 180 mark 0.
Got it.
Reversing at 15 meters per second.
DATA".
We are clearing the phenomenon.
- All stop.
- What was that?
There is another temporal disturbance
directly behind us.
Captain, think you'd better
come take a look at this.
Yes, Mr. La Forge?
The sensors are picking up temporal
disturbances throughout the region.
Different configurations,
different sizes.
They're everywhere.
Within each disturbance,
it appears that time
is moving at a different rate.
It's almost as if something has
shattered the space-time continuum.
The fragmentation effect continues
along a heading of 270 mark 15.
That's the direction of the Enterprise.
Can we navigate
around these fragments?
We'll have to limit our maneuvering
speed to one-half impulse,
but I think we can do it.
Get us to the Enterprise.
These are the coordinates.
Perhaps the Enterprise
has been delayed.
I've got the long-range sensors
on maximum, sir.
There's no sign of the Enterprise.
But I am picking up a faint reading,
possibly metallic, it's difficult to tell.
The energy levels
are practically non-existent.
- Take us to it.
- Aye, sir.
The fragmentation effect is increasing.
Slowing to one-eighth impulse.
There she is.
My God.
Mr. Data?
The Enterprise and the warbird
both appear to be trapped
within one
of the temporal fragments.
The fragments seem to
be converging in about this point.
I'd say we're looking at the center
of the temporal disturbances.
Scan for life signs.
Sensors cannot penetrate
the subspace field.
I am unable to scan
within the vessels.
It looks like the Enterprise
has been damaged.
There, on the port nacelle.
The warbird doesn't look
to have sustained any damage at all.
I wonder if the Enterprise
even had time to get off a sh*t.
The Romulans could've de-cloaked
before the Enterprise
had chance to respond.
There's a second energy beam
that's coming
from the Enterprise deflector array.
Do you have any idea
what that could be?
It is impossible to tell
from a visual inspection.
However, it appears to be focused
on the warbird's engineering section.
Well, we're not gonna be able
to determine anything from here.
We need to get on board
the Enterprise.
That would be inadvisable, sir.
In each of the three instances
we came into contact
with one of the temporal fragments,
we were integrated into its time frame.
If we beamed aboard the Enterprise,
we'd be frozen in time
just like they are.
Well, we have to find some way
of staying unfrozen.
Mr. La Forge, what about
a subspace force field
like the one
we used on Devidia ll?
Could something like that protect us
from the effects
of the temporal fragment?
Possibly. But we'd need an awfully
sensitive phase discriminator
in order to moderate
that kind of field.
The emergency transporter armbands
contain a type-7 phase discriminator.
It should be possible to reconfigure
their subspace emitters.
Yeah.
That would certainly isolate us from
the effects of the other time frame.
But if we wanted
to interact with that environment,
we'd have to restrict the field.
It would have
to be practically skintight.
Mr. Data?
I will attempt to narrow the field, sir.
But it's gonna take some time.
Well, Mr. La Forge,
it would seem that time is something
that we have plenty of.
I've channeled all communications
through the subspace relays
in the armbands.
That way we'll be able to be
in continual communication.
- How long will the fields last?
- About an hour, maybe less.
Don't worry,
I'll be monitoring you very carefully.
_ Qh__
- Counselor.
Oh, I got a little dizzy for a second.
We've created an artificial pocket
of time around you,
so it's probably playing tricks
with your equilibrium.
It might take a little while
to get used to it.
- Let me know if it gets any worse.
- Mm-hm.
Beam us directly
to the Enterprise bridge.
Aye, sir.
Energizing.
There are three Romulans.
All of them with disruptors.
One at Conn.
There are none
of our security officers on the bridge.
They must have taken us
by surprise.
It appears that we can move objects
in this time frame.
Maybe we could do something
to help Will.
I'm wary about making changes
in this time continuum
until we understand
more about what's going on.
Captain, the equipment
is no longer functioning.
However, the information
currently displayed
indicates there was a massive
power surge in Engineering.
Security teams had just been sent
to Transporter Room 3.
And to sickbay.
Counselor, will you go
to sickbay and investigate?
Mr. Data, go to Main Engineering.
See if you can determine
the cause of that power surge.
I'll be in Transporter Room 3.
Mr. La Forge.
- La Forge here, sir.
- Will you lock onto our signals?
I want you to transport
Counselor Troi--
I'd rather not, captain.
We've got limited power
and your isolation fields
consume a lot of energy.
Understood.
We'll use the Jefferies tube.
Let's go.
TROY.
Maybe we can go around them.
No. We'll find an alternative route.
Let's go back up.
Excuse me, Mr. Worf.
- Captain.
- Counselor, take a look at this.
It appears that Mr. Worf
had just beamed these three on board.
And according to this,
three other Romulans
had been beamed directly
to sickbay just seconds earlier.
I know. I just saw them.
What are we doing transporting
Romulans on board the ship
in the middle of a battle?
They don't have any weapons.
And that one looks injured.
If they were part of an invasion,
then why are they unarmed?
It doesn't make any sense.
Captain, there's something
I have to tell you.
Dr. Crusher has been hit
by a disruptor blast
at point-blank range.
If time returns to normal,
I don't see how she can survive.
Data to Captain Picard.
Go ahead, Mr. Data.
Please come to Engineering
immediately. It is urgent.
What's the problem, Mr. Data?
Captain, I believe I have found
the cause of the power surge.
There is a warp core breach
in progress.
It is the flashpoint
of a warp core expl*si*n.
- And it is expanding.
- Expanding?
I thought that time
was suspended on this ship.
We were incorrect, sir.
I have determined
that time is moving forward
at an infinitesimal rate.
Why didn't we notice it before?
Our initial conclusion was based
on our observations of the crew.
A warp core breach moves
at a much faster rate.
The motion of the cloud
is within my visual detection threshold.
At its current rate of expansion,
it will consume the Enterprise in
approximately nine hours, 17 minutes.
Is there anything we can do
to stop it?
It is no longer a question
of stopping it, sir.
The expl*si*n has already occurred.
The fact that it is moving slowly
changes nothing.
Astonishing to see it frozen like this.
Do we know
what caused the breach?
No.
However, the console displays
indicate a power transfer in progress
between the Enterprise
and the Romulan ship
at the moment time decelerated.
That is why there is a second beam
between the two ships.
Why would we be
sending them power?
Perhaps we should go aboard
the Romulan ship.
The answer to that question may--
Captain?
- Captain, are you all right?
- My head.
Ugh.
Dizzy.
I can't...
No, no, no!
Troi to La Forge!
Get us out of here now!
No!
It looks like you weren't
completely protected
from the effects
of the other time continuum.
The neuro-physical stress
must have been overwhelming.
In much the same way deep sea divers
experience nitrogen narcosis,
you experienced a form
of temporal narcosis.
Can we modify the subspace
isolators to give us better protection?
I don't think so.
I'd say the best thing
we can do right now is to be careful.
Limit our exposure
to their time frame.
I'd say no longer than
ten minutes per trip.
And we should probably stick together
while we're there, just in case.
Very well.
Well, the first step is to find out
why the Enterprise was transferring
power to the Romulan ship.
I think we should begin our search
in the Romulan engine room.
Counselor, you spent several days
on a Romulan vessel.
You probably know more
about the layouts than anyone here.
Perhaps...
Captain, it might be better
if you stayed here this time
and gave yourself
a chance to recover.
Yes. Very well, I will monitor
your progress from here.
But just remember,
ten minutes, no more.
Yes, captain.
Geordi, there should be a power
utilization monitor over there.
Data...
This is highly unusual.
The crew is not at battle stations.
The ship is on evacuation alert.
Is that why the Romulans were being
transported to the Enterprise?
Take a look at this.
There's an energy feedback returning
through the transfer beam.
It's probably what overloaded
the Enterprise's engines
and caused the core breach.
Perhaps the warbird was trying
to destroy the Enterprise.
I don't think so. According to this,
the Romulans were actually trying
to shut down the power transfer.
Whatever happened,
this is beginning to look
less and less like a Romulan att*ck.
Data, why don't we take a look
at their engine readouts?
Geordi, the engine core
is completely inactive.
That's impossible.
The Romulans use
an artificial quantum singularity
as their power source.
Once it's activated,
it can't be shut down.
Well, let's take a closer look.
I think we found the problem.
It appears to be a highly focused
aperture in the space-time continuum.
Its energy signature matches
that of the temporal fragments
we observed earlier.
However, it is approximately
1.2 million times as intense.
I believe this may be the origin
of the temporal fragmentation.
What are those dark spots?
I am not certain.
They exhibit
a complex bioelectric pattern.
- Very possibly organic.
- Organic?
From a molecular configuration,
it appears--
The aperture
is beginning to fluctuate.
There's
an energy buildup in the phase--
Check the main distribution matrix.
Matrix is clear.
It's the power transfer from Enterprise.
I'm reading a massive feedback.
Systems are beginning to overload.
Notify the Enterprise
to shut down the transfer immediately.
There is no pressure.
Shut down all systems.
I believe my tricorder emissions
caused the temporal aperture
to activate.
I suggest we avoid exposing it
to any further energy emissions.
When time resumed, did you observe
any activity in the engine room
that might suggest
what the Romulans were doing?
They may have been attempting
to eject their engine core.
I thought I heard one of the engineers
say something about a power transfer.
Something about
an energy feedback?
Yes, captain, it looks to me
like they were trying to stop
whatever was happening here.
Mr. La Forge, from where you are,
can you determine what
is happening on the Romulan bridge?
I think so, captain.
Wait.
Something's not right here.
Data, was this man
always standing right here?
- He's in neural shock.
- We must get him to the runabout.
There isn't time. He's dying.
At least this way he'll be alive
in the other time frame.
We might have a chance
to save him later.
Is the Romulan still alive?
Yes, but I am getting unusual readings
from his bio-scan.
I am not certain he is a Romulan.
His cellular structure does not conform
to any known species.
His bioelectric patterns
are in a state of temporal flux.
I do not believe this being
is native to our time continuum.
Mr. Data, you said that you found
organic matter in
the temporal aperture.
Correct, sir.
I'd like to take a closer look
at those readings.
This is a bio-spectral analysis
of the temporal aperture.
The organic readings originated
from these dark spots.
They appear to contain
some sort of energy patterns.
Can you isolate one of them
and magnify?
They look like cellular clusters.
Its bioelectric patterns are similar
to those of the alien's.
However,
they are significantly less complex.
Its cellular structure appears
to be in a state of mitosis.
Data, this could be some sort
of embryo.
It is possible.
If I could further scan the aperture,
it might be possible to--
Captain.
Must...save...no...
Who are you?
This body is not mine.
It was necessary to assume it
to exist in your time.
Why are you here?
We had to come to save them.
They were in danger.
Who were in danger?
Our young.
They will die in the gravity well.
It is artificial.
Artificial gravity well?
Do you mean
the Romulan engine core?
Yes. Our young are trapped.
We must get them out.
Return them to our time.
His molecular structure
is destabilizing.
How were your young trapped
in the core?
We must use a natural gravity well
to incubate our young.
We thought the Romulan core
would suffice.
It did not.
Captain, I believe the aliens
mistook the artificial singularity,
which the Romulans use
in their engine,
for a natural one, a black hole.
They tried to use it as a nest.
That's what deactivated
the warbird's engine core.
So the Romulans sent out
a distress call.
The Enterprise responded
and found the warbird suffering
from an apparent engine failure.
- And they attempted a power transfer.
- Power transfer.
We must stop power transfer.
Ruptured time destroy our young.
When the power transfer came
into contact with the alien nest,
I believe it disrupted
the space-time continuum.
Did you att*ck the Enterprise?
Yes.
Had to stop power transfer.
Are there any others like you here?
One other.
Do you know where he is?
Could he help us
restore normal time?
I estimate the core breach
will consume the Enterprise
in approximately seven hours,
two minutes.
Is it possible to lock onto the core itself
and beam it into space?
No, sir. We would have to surround
the core with subspace isolation field.
It is not possible to generate a field
of that magnitude from the runabout.
Mr. Data, when you scanned the
temporal aperture with your tricorder,
it caused time to move forwards
and then back again.
Correct, sir.
What if we could reverse
that process?
Cause time to move backwards
and then forwards?
We might be able to run time back
to a point before
the warp core breach occurred.
And then find a way
to prevent the power transfer.
- Then when time goes forward again--
- The breach never happens.
I could attempt to re-modulate
the tricorder's delta band emissions.
It should be possible to better control
the temporal aperture.
Make it so.
If this works,
we may not have much time
to prevent the power transfer.
We'll have to decide precisely
where to be and what to do
the very instant that time begins
to move backwards.
Captain's log, supplemental.
After placing the modified tricorder
on the Romulan ship,
we have returned to the Enterprise.
I have reached
Engineering, captain. Standing by.
Acknowledged.
Counselor, are you in position?
Ready, captain.
All right, Mr. Data.
Initiating tricorder emissions.
Captain.
Go ahead, Mr. Data.
The warp core breach
has been reversed, sir.
Be ready to stop
the power transfer, Mr. Data.
Aye, sir.
You must stop!
COMPUTER". Specified energy
systems have been initialized.
The power transfer
can now be engaged.
- Do not initiate that power transfer.
- I'm sorry, sir. I already have.
We must shut it down.
The transfer beam
is at saturation, sir.
It can't be disengaged.
Computer, place a level three
containment field
around the warp core.
Containment field activated.
Agh!
Damage report.
Shields down to 27 percent.
- Captain.
- No time to explain, Number One.
Continue the evacuation
of the Romulan ship.
You'll find La Forge
in the Romulan engine room.
Beam him directly to sickbay.
Step back, now.
It's all right, Deanna.
He wasn't f*ring at me.
There was an alien here
who'd taken Romulan form.
I was f*ring at her.
The doctor got in the way.
Where did she go?
Status, Mr. Data?
I was att*cked by another alien, sir.
I was unable to prevent
the power transfer.
It cannot be disengaged, sir.
A core breach is again imminent.
Can we move the ship?
The feedback from the transfer beam
would tear us apart.
Patch me to the navigational control
of the runabout.
Got it.
I'm bringing the runabout in.
Mr. Data?
The core breach
has been prevented, sir.
Data, it appears that severing
the power transfer
has not only prevented
the core breach,
but it has also restored
space-time to normal.
The alien who att*cked me
has vanished, sir.
The warbird has vanished as well.
Judging from
the residual temporal fluctuations,
I believe they have returned
to their own time continuum.
Captain?
It's going to take a little time
to explain, Number One.
Captain's log, stardate 46945.3.
We successfully evacuated
the crew of the Romulan ship
and are on course to the Neutral Zone
to bring them home.
Come in.
Where's that cat of yours?
Spot is sleeping, sir.
Why do you ask?
No reason.
I've worked out
the new rotation schedules.
I'd like you to crosscheck
the personnel assignments.
Notify the department heads.
Your bridge shift begins
at 2300 hours.
Understood, sir.
What are you doing?
Recent events
have compelled me to study
how humans perceive
the passage of time.
For example,
I have often heard people comment
that time seems to pass more slowly
in one instance
or more quickly in another.
In reality, the actual passage of time
remains fixed.
Hmm.
I suppose it depends
on how people perceive time.
Every situation is different.
It depends on how you feel.
I have been testing the aphorism,
"A watched pot never boils."
I've boiled the same amount of water
in this kettle 62 times.
In some cases,
I have ignored the kettle.
In others, I have watched it intently.
In every instance,
the water reaches its boiling point
in precisely 51.7 seconds.
It appears
I am not capable of perceiving time
any differently
than my internal chronometer.
- Why don't you turn it off?
- Sir?
Data, people do not have
internal chronometers.
Why don't you see what happens
if you turn yours off?
Thank you, sir. I will try that.
Just don't be late for your shift.
06x25 - Timescape
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Series is set 78 years after the original series -- in the 24th century.
Series is set 78 years after the original series -- in the 24th century.