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Timescape

( Crusher tsking )

Oh, you really did it this time, Will.

I mean, this is not just a scrape.

This is a very deep cut.

Well, I can heal it, of course but you've got to stop playing Parrises Squares as if you're 21 years old.

One of these days, you're going to fall and break your neck and I'm not going to be able to heal that as easily.

I wasn't playing Parrises Squares.

Worf's calisthenic 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 was putting 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 got to know how to handle them.

Maybe you'd like to do it.

I would be honored if I could...

WORF: Commander Riker to the Bridge.

On my way.

Oh, by the way... you'll need this.

Report.

We're 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 want to be ready for anything.

Aye, sir.

( alarm wailing )

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 automatic helm control.

Helm control activated.

I was just leaving the reception when this Ktarian walks up to me and says

( imitating ): "Hello, Diane.

"I understand you're an empath.

"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 really 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, Counselor?

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.

PICARD: Well, it was little better at the physiognomy workshop.

Dr. Fassbinder gave an hour-long dissertation on the ionization effect of warp nacelles before he realized that the topic was supposed to be... psychology.

Why didn't anybody tell him?

There was no opportunity.

There was no pause.

( droning ): 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.

LA FORGE: 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...

Oh, 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.

Its continuing mission--

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 a 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.

( sighs )

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...

Oh! Oh.

You all right, Counselor?

What happened?

You were motionless for three 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.

LA FORGE: 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 discrepancy?

LA FORGE: 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 logs-- see if I can find anything.

DATA: 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.

( low rumbling )

( warning beeps )

We have an engine-failure warning in...

Report!

The starboard nacelle just cut out.

Attitude control has been restored.

Full stop. What happened?

The 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.

47 days?

Aw... let's check that sensor.

It must be malfunctioning.

I'll check the fuel consumption logs.

( screaming )

What happened?

My hand.

Your cells are metabolizing at an incredible speed-- almost 50 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 50 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 on line.

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 zero.

Got it.

Reversing at 15 meters per second.

DATA: We are clearing the phenomenon.

( alarm beeping )

All stop.

What was that?

There is another temporal disturbance directly behind us.

Captain

I 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.

DATA: 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 nonexistent.

Take us to it.

Aye, sir.

DATA: 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.

LA FORGE: The fragments seem to be converging at 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.

TROI: 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 shot.

The Romulans could have de-cloaked before the Enterprise had a chance to respond.

There's a second energy beam.

It's coming from the Enterprise deflector array.

Do you have any idea what that could be?

DATA: 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 going to 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 II?

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-seven phase discriminator.

It should be possible to reconfigure their subspace emitters.

Yeah.

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.

LA FORGE: Captain, I think this is going to work but... it's going to 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.

Oh.

Counselor.

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.

You let me know if it gets any worse. Mm-hmm.

Beam us directly to the Enterprise Bridge.

Aye, sir.

Energizing.

There are three Romulans all of them with disrupters 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 Three and to Sick Bay.

Counselor, will you go to Sick Bay 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 Three.

Mr. La Forge.

La Forge here, sir.

Will you lock on to our signals?

I want you to transport Counselor Troi to...

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.

TROI: Maybe we can go around them.

No.

We'll find an alternative route.

Let's go back up.

( gasping )

( sighing )

( gasping )

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 Sick Bay 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 disrupter 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 flash point of a warp core explosion 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.

The 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 explosion 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...

( Picard laughing )

Captain?

( gasping )

Captain, are you all right?

My head.

Oh...

Dizzy.

I can't...

No!

No! No!

No!

Troi to la Forge! Get us out of here, now!

No! 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.

DATA: In much the same way deep-sea divers experience nitrogen narcosis you experienced a form of temporal narcosis.

PICARD: Can we modify the subspace isolators to give us better protection?

LA FORGE: 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...

( moaning )

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.

TROI: 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.

DATA: 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 attack.

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 the molecular configuration, it appears...

( tricorder beeping )

The aperture is beginning to fluctuate.

I believe...

ROMULAN 1: There is an energy buildup in the phase compensation levels.

ROMULAN 2: Check the main distribution matrix.

That's not it-- the matrix is clear.

It's the power transfer from the Enterprise.

I'm reading a massive feedback.

Systems are beginning to overload.

Notify the Enterprise to shut down the power transfer immediately.

They're unable to comply.

Their power interlocks won't disengage.

We'll have to interrupt it ourselves.

Disconnect the transfer beam.

ROMULAN 3: There is no pressure.

ROMULAN 2: There is an impending warp core breach.

Shut down all systems!

( voices speaking backwards )

DATA: 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?

( gasping )

( moaning )

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 biospectral 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.

DATA: 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...

( alien groaning )

TROI: Captain.

( deep, resonating voice ): 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.

DATA: 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.

PICARD: The Enterprise responded and found the warbird suffering from an apparent engine failure and they attempted a power transfer.

ALIEN: 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 attack the Enterprise?

Yes.

Had to stop power transfer.

Are there any others like you here?

One... 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-- beam it into space?

No, sir.

We would have to surround the core with a 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.

And then, when time goes forward again... the breach never happens.

DATA: I could attempt to remodulate 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.

DATA: I have reached Engineering, Captain.

Standing by.

Acknowledged.

Counselor, are you in position?

Ready, Captain.

All right, Mr. Data.

Initiating tricorder emissions.

( beeping )

( voices speaking backwards )

( alarm wailing )

Captain...

PICARD: 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.

( yelling )

RIKER: Damage report.

MAN: Shields down to 27%.

Oh!

MAN: Primary phaser array...

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 Sick Bay.

Step back, now.

CRUSHER: It's all right, Deanna.

He wasn't firing at me.

ROMULAN: There was an alien here who'd taken Romulan form.

I was firing at her.

The doctor got in the way.

Where did she go?

PICARD: Status, Mr. Data.

I was attacked 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 into the navigational control of the runabout.

Got it.

I'm bringing the runabout in.

PICARD: 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 attacked me has vanished, sir.

PICARD: The warbird has vanished as well.

Judging from the residual temporal fluctuations

I believe they have returned to their own time continuum.

Captain?

( sighs )

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 we're on course to the Neutral Zone

to bring them home.

( door chimes )

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 cross-check 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's different.

It depends on how you feel.

I have been testing the aphorism "a watched pot never boils."

I have 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.

Well, 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.

( kettle whistling )