(A waxing crescent moon hangs in the sky. A long-haired student is tending his campfire whilst listening to his transistor radio.)
RADIO: Demonstration at U C Santa Cruz campus last night. Tear gas was used to disperse a crowd of three thousand angry students. The temperature right now in down town Barstow is seventy five degrees.
(He retunes to music, then it cuts out. A strong wind picks up, then he watches a bright light crash-land nearby.)
STARLING: Far out!

[Ready room]

(Doorbell.)
JANEWAY: Come in!
(Tuvok enters and catches the only ball Janeway has managed to hit with her racket.)
JANEWAY: Oh. Sorry, Tuvok. I was just practicing my serve.
TUVOK: Your serve?
JANEWAY: Tennis. After nineteen years I've decided to take it up again. I'm a little rusty. I played in a novice tournament on the holodeck. I lost my first match in straight sets.
TUVOK: Perhaps if you maintained eye contact with the ball at the apex of its trajectory, your serve would be more effective.
JANEWAY: You play tennis.
TUVOK: Simple physics, Captain.
JANEWAY: Not as simple as when I played on the High School tennis team. What can I do for you, Tuvok?
TUVOK: I've completed my monthly security evaluation. All systems and crew
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Red Alert! Captain Janeway to the bridge.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Report.
CHAKOTAY: Some sort of spatial rift. It opened right in front of us.
JANEWAY: Analysis.
KIM: It's a distortion in the space-time continuum, but it's got a graviton matrix. It's being artificially generated.
CHAKOTAY: By whom?
KIM: Sensors can't get inside. The distortion field's fluctuating. Something's coming out.
TUVOK: It appears to be a small ship, approximately six metres in length.
JANEWAY: Magnify.
TUVOK: Sensors are reading one occupant, human. He is holding position at the perimeter of the rift.
KIM: There's a subspace signature emanating from the ship. Captain, it's Federation!
JANEWAY: Hail them.
TUVOK: No response. They appear to be charging weapons.
CHAKOTAY: Shields up! Hail them again.
(Whumph!)
TUVOK: Shields are down.
JANEWAY: Get us out of here.
PARIS: Helm control is offline.
KIM: He's firing some kind of sub-atomic disruptor.
JANEWAY: Return fire.
TUVOK: Full phasers. No effect.
KIM: Voyager's molecular structure is coming apart!
CHAKOTAY: Tuvok, divert all available power to the deflector. Send out a high energy polaron pulse. It might help to disrupt his weapon.
TUVOK: Emitting deflector pulse now.
KIM: It's working.
TUVOK: We are being hailed.
JANEWAY: On screen.
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: Starship Voyager, I'm Captain Braxton of the Federation Timeship Aeon. I've come from twenty-ninth century Earth, five hundred years into your future. Please disengage your deflector pulse.
JANEWAY: Why are you firing at us?
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: Your vessel is responsible for a disaster in my century. A temporal explosion that will destroy all Earth's solar system. I've come back in time to prevent that occurrence. My mission is your destruction. You must not resist.
JANEWAY: I'm going to need some more information before I allow you to
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: Debris from your secondary hull was found in the explosion.
JANEWAY: Captain, I simply
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: No time!
(Whumph!)
TUVOK: He's remodulating the sub-atomic disruptor. Our deflector is losing power, it won't hold much longer.
CHAKOTAY: Captain, if he's telling the truth
JANEWAY: I won't sacrifice this crew based on a ten second conversation. I need proof.
CHAKOTAY: It doesn't look like we're going to get it.
JANEWAY: Adjust our deflector to match the frequency of his weapon. Try to overload his emitter.
TUVOK: It seems to be working. His weapon is offline and his ship has been damaged. The rift is destabilising and he's being pulled back inside.
JANEWAY: Re-establish helm control.
PARIS: I'm trying, Captain, but we seem to be caught in some kind of graviton distortion. We're being pulled in too.
(The two ships fall into the rift. After some shaking and a white-out, in which everyone loses consciousness, they awake in normal space.)
JANEWAY: Status.
TUVOK: Primary systems are coming back online. The weapons array and power grid took heavy damage.
KIM: The temporal rift is closed.
CHAKOTAY: Where are we?
(The viewscreen shows a blue planet with white clouds.)
PARIS: Home.
CHAKOTAY: We just cut across half the galaxy!
JANEWAY: The rift must have originated here. Hail Starfleet Command.
TUVOK: No response on standard frequencies. Curious. I am picking up a multitude of narrow band EM signals.
JANEWAY: Let's hear it.
(A cacophony of radio stations and telephone conversations.)
JANEWAY: The question isn't where we are, it's when we are. Mister Kim.
KIM: According to astrometric readings the year is 1996.
CHAKOTAY: The late twentieth century.
PARIS: Captain, they had surveillance satellites during this time.
JANEWAY: Maintain a high orbit. And modulate the shields to scatter their radar. We don't want to alarm the natives.
CHAKOTAY: What about the time ship? Is it here too?
TUVOK: There is no sign of the vessel in orbit. Scanning the planet surface. I am picking up low frequency subspace readings emanating from the northern hemisphere.
CHAKOTAY: Subspace technology shouldn't exist for another hundred years or so.
JANEWAY: It could be our friend from the twenty ninth century. Localise it.
TUVOK: North American continent, Pacific coast. The city of Los Angeles.
JANEWAY: We've got to go down there. If it is Captain Braxton, he's the key to all this, and at the moment his ship is the only way we have of getting back to our own century. Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris, you're with me. Mister Kim, you have the bridge.
KIM: Yes, Ma'am!
JANEWAY: As I recall, Tom, you're something of an aficionado on twentieth century America.
PARIS: That's right.
JANEWAY: What will we need to pass as locals in this era?
PARIS: Simple. Nice clothes, fast car and lots of money.

[Los Angeles - beach - Santa Monica]

(A guy on a skateboard wearing a massive boombox around his neck knocks over a street vendor's wares. Other people are on motor scooters or stilts. The away team watch from the railing of the upper level.)
TUVOK: We could have worn our Starfleet uniforms. I doubt if anyone would have noticed.
(They walk down the ramp.)
JANEWAY: The subspace readings are coming from within a one hundred metre radius of our position, but I can't pinpoint the source.
CHAKOTAY: I find it hard to believe a ship from the twenty ninth century could have landed on this beach without being noticed.
JANEWAY: We have no idea what kind of technology they might have in the future. Maybe it's cloaked. Let's spread out. Tuvok, Paris, go check the shoreline. Chakotay and I will search the boardwalk.
TUVOK: Aye, Captain.
CHAKOTAY: Well, Kathryn, you got us home.
JANEWAY: Right place, wrong time. But it is good to be back, nevertheless.
CHAKOTAY: Maybe I should look up a few ancestors. As I recall, one of them was a schoolteacher in Arizona.
JANEWAY: I don't know what my relatives were doing this far back in history.
GIRL ON BLADES: Coming through. Sorry.
JANEWAY: For all I know, she could be my great, great, great, great grandmother.
CHAKOTAY: She does have your legs.
JANEWAY: Have you ever been to southern California, Chakotay?
CHAKOTAY: No.
JANEWAY: After the Hermosa quake in 2047 this entire region sank under two hundred metres of water. It became one of the world's largest coral reefs, home to thousands of different marine species.
(A punk couple walk past.)
CHAKOTAY: Some interesting species in this century.

[Beach]

TUVOK: Subspace readings are weaker here.
PARIS: Let's head up to the board walk. Ah, the sun feels great.
TUVOK: Thermal and ultraviolet radiation are at hazardous levels.
(Paris takes off his shirt.)
PARIS: Lighten up, Tuvok. This was a great time and place and you're getting to see it first hand. Come on, take off your shirt.
TUVOK: And risk dermal dysplasia? No, thank you.
PARIS: Oh, Vulcans. Deep down you're all a bunch of hypochondriacs.
(Elsewhere on the beach.)
JANEWAY: The readings are coming from over there. Ten metres. There.
(A down-and-out is scavenging in the bins outside the Hot Dog Stick.)
CHAKOTAY: So much for the timeship.
JANEWAY: There's no doubt about it. The subspace readings are coming from him.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

(A room decorated with B movie posters, moon landing photos and Sci-Fi figurines. The young lady has her feet up on her desk when her computer screen starts beeping.)
RAIN: No way.
(She triangulates the emission source. It is in orbit.)
RAIN: Way.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

(The long-haired student is now a short-haired suit. He puts a computer chip on the glass table.)
STARLING: It's crap. The component density is too low, the voltage variance is out of spec and I don't even like the colour.
JIM: But Mister Starling
STARLING: We've got less than six months before we introduce the HyperPro PC, and with a chip like this driving it we'll have to change the name to Edsel. I gave your company this contract because you're the best in the business, next to us of course. Go home, Jim. Lose some sleep over this. I want a full report middle of next week.
(The intercom beeps.)
STARLING: What am I doing, Dave?
DAVE [OC]: You're in a meeting, sir.
STARLING: And?
DAVE [OC]: And, I know I'm not supposed to interrupt, but there's a woman calling on line three from Griffith Observatory. A Rain Robinson. She say's it's urgent.
(Starling waves bye to Jim, who leaves.)
STARLING: Put her through. Henry Starling.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Hi, I don't know if you remember me. I'm one of the astronomers at the SETI lab you're funding. We met at the Griffith restoration party.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Yes, yes. What it is?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Okay. Well, it was my understanding you wanted to be notified immediately if I ever picked up a gamma emission that matched the frequency profile you gave me? Well, I did, so I am.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Are you certain?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Positive. I tracked the emission and guess what, the source is in orbit. It is right above us.

[Chronowerx -Starling's office]

STARLING: When did it show up?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: According to the raw data, about ninety minutes ago. I'm not picking up anything from the standard search parameters. Wow. That means no one else knows there's something up there. We've got to tell somebody about this. We've got to call NASA!

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Rain, that's a little premature, don't you think? This could be a close encounter, but then again, it could be a flock of geese.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Geese don't park themselves twenty thousand kilometres above North America. Let's send a message up there, see if there's any response.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: No! No, we don't know what we've found. And until we do, I'm not going to risk embarrassing myself, or your Observatory. Track the emission, get more data and keep me informed. In the meantime, I'm going to put a bottle of champagne on ice. Do you think ET likes Chateau Coeur?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Well if he doesn't I've got a six-pack in the fridge.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Good work, Rain. Stay in touch.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

RAIN: Oh, what the hell. Anyone up there?
(She transmits the standard SETI greeting.)

[Bridge]

TORRES: That trip through the rift is still affecting our primary systems. Weapons are offline, we blew three EPS conduits, and our main transporter buffer just crashed.
KIM: We've got an away team down there.
TORRES: I know. We've still got emergency transporters but they're short range.
KIM: How close to the surface would we have to get to beam them up?
TORRES: Pretty close. I'd say less than ten kilometres.
KIM: If we do that somebody's going to see us.
(Tuvok's replacement gets a beep.)
KAPLAN: Sir, I'm picking up an EM signal from the planet surface. It's directed at our co-ordinates.
KIM: On screen.
SETI MESSAGE [on viewscreen]: Greetings from the people of Earth.
KAPLAN: Shall I respond, sir?
KIM: Absolutely not.

[Santa Monica]

(The away team follow the tramp as he puts up The End Is Coming signs on lampposts.)
JANEWAY: He appears to live on the street. That pushcart seems to contain all his belongings.
CHAKOTAY: From what we can tell he spends most of his time putting up literature about the end of the world.
(Janeway's comm. badge beeps. She takes it out of her pocket.)
JANEWAY: Janeway here.

[Bridge]

KIM: Captain, we've got a problem. We received a signal from the surface. It looks like a standard

[Santa Monica]

KIM [OC]: Greeting designed for extraterrestrials.
JANEWAY: We've been detected.
KIM [OC]: It looks that way. We tracked the signal to

[Bridge]

KIM: An observatory about twenty kilometres from your location.

[Santa Monica]

JANEWAY: Transport Paris and Tuvok to those co-ordinates.
KIM [OC]: I can't do that right now, not without going into a lower orbit. The main pattern

[Bridge]

KIM: Buffer is offline. B'Elanna says it could take a couple of days to repair.
JANEWAY [OC]: In that case

[Santa Monica]

JANEWAY: Transmit those coordinates to Mister Tuvok's tricorder. He and Tom will have to get there using more conventional means.
KIM [OC]: Aye Captain, Kim out.
PARIS: Nobody walks in Los Angeles and they don't have much of a public transportation system. We're going to need some wheels.
JANEWAY: Do what you have to do. Find out who sent that message and get more information. Have we been detected, how many people know about us? We cannot risk contaminating the timeline.
TUVOK: Aye, Captain.
PARIS: See you later.

[Alleyway - Braxton's home]

(The shack has The End of the Future painted on the wall nearby.)
BRAXTON: Who the hell are you! This is my stuff!
JANEWAY: It's all right, we don't want your stuff. We just want to ask you a few questions.
BRAXTON: No, no, no, no, no more questions, no. No more surveys. Damn social workers coming around all the time. No, I don't need your advice, I don't need your. Voyager. I knew you'd show up. This is all your fault, this is all your doing!
(Janeway finds his comm. badge in his coat.)
JANEWAY: Captain Braxton?
BRAXTON: I told you to turn off your deflector pulse, but you wouldn't listen to me. Voyager. Fools!
JANEWAY: Captain, what's happened to you? The last time we saw you
BRAXTON: I was a younger man, confident in my mission. But you wouldn't listen to me. Bo, you were too concerned with yourselves!
CHAKOTAY: You were trying to destroy us.
BRAXTON: I was trying to save billions of lives. To stop a chain reaction that started with Voyager! It's too late now. All things are set in motion. The terrible explosion will occur. The end is coming! The future's end.
JANEWAY: Captain, how long have you been here in the twentieth century?
BRAXTON: Too long. Thirty years too long.
CHAKOTAY: And yet we just arrived. Why?
BRAXTON: Pure chance. When you knocked my navigational system off course there's no telling where we may have ended up. Who's been here? Who took my pencils? Oh, always something missing. Oh, always trying to steal things. Oh, greedy people. Post-industrial barbarians!
JANEWAY: Captain, we want to help you, but you've got to give us more information. You said that Voyager causes the explosion.
BRAXTON: Yes. No. Yes. That's the paradox, my dear. A leads to B leads to C leads to A. Juvenile minds. Oh, how can I make you understand, huh? A. There's an explosion in the twenty ninth century. Debris from Voyager's hull is found in evidence. I go back in time to destroy you. B. You try to stop me, disabling my weapon which causes me to crash-land back here in the twentieth century. C. Someone in this century steals my timeship and launches it. They go into the future and once there they make one critical mistake which causes a terrible explosion that takes us all the way back to A. There's an explosion in the twenty ninth century. The cycle of causality is complete.
JANEWAY: How do you know all this? What evidence do you have that it will be your timeship that causes the disaster?
(Braxton rummages for a piece of brown paper.)
BRAXTON: Ah, I've spent thirty years answering that very question. Ah, yes, when the explosion first happened, my sensors recorded a whole variety of chronometric data. The pulses were highly chaotic. At first I thought it was a warp core implosion, but then I found debris from Voyager and my theory seemed to be confirmed. It was you. But then someone here stole my timeship and it started to dawn on me. If someone were to fly my timeship into the future without recalibrating the temporal matrix then that could cause the kind of explosion that I witnessed in the twenty ninth century.
JANEWAY: So it really wasn't Voyager after all.
BRAXTON: No. No, no, I reconstructed all the chronometric data as best I could remember it and it proved I was right. My ship causes the catastrophe.
CHAKOTAY: Which raises the question, who has your timeship?
BRAXTON: Starling. Henry Starling, CEO Chronowerx Industries. Philanthropist, entrepreneur, outstanding citizen. Pa! Before I crashed in 1967 I made an emergency beam out, but he found my ship before I did in some remote mountain range. I've been following this corrupt little man ever since, tracking his movements. He's become too powerful. I can't get close to him. Of course, you can't accomplish anything in this wretched century. Nobody here listens. Do you know that once they put me in a mental institution and filled me with primitive pharmaceuticals.
CHAKOTAY: Maybe we can help you find Starling and your ship, and get us back to where we belong.
BRAXTON: Oh, I wouldn't do that if I were you.
JANEWAY: Why not?
BRAXTON: Haven't you been listening? A leads to B
JANEWAY: Leads to C. Yes, we heard you. Why shouldn't we try to stop Starling?
BRAXTON: Because somehow you're involved in the disaster. That's why I found debris from Voyager's hull at the explosion. You will be destroyed as well.
CHAKOTAY: Now that we know what's going to happen, maybe we can figure out
(A police car stops and sounds its siren.)
POLICEMAN: Hey, Captain, how you doing? Understand you've been putting these signs up around the city again.
BRAXTON: No. No, no, no. Not me. I would never do that.
POLICEMAN: Why don't you walk over here and we can talk about it.
BRAXTON: Stay right where you are, quasi-Cardassian totalitarian.
POLICEMAN: No need to get upset about this, we just want to talk to you about the signs. Now, there've been a few people complaining.
BRAXTON: Captain, tell them I'm not crazy. Tell them I'm from the future. They came from the future too, you know.
POLICEMAN: Okay.
BRAXTON: They came in on a starship.
POLICEMAN: All right.
(Janeway shrugs.)
BRAXTON: Traitors!
(Braxton runs off and the police chase him.)
JANEWAY: We'll have to worry about him later. Right now, we've got to find Starling.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

(Starling is making a phone call.)
STARLING: We're not quite at the little green men stage yet, but believe me, you'll be the first to know. What I think we have here is an overenthusiastic young lady. I'm afraid she's exaggerating. We don't have anything, not yet. Thank you, Professor.
(The call ends.)
STARLING: You know what that little brat did? She emailed a friend of hers at JPL, who called his professor at CalTech. She's a security risk. Go to Griffith, get the data, get rid of her.
DUNBAR: Yes, sir.
STARLING: Dunbar! If it's true, if they're here, it's only a matter of time before they find me. There's no telling what capabilities they'll have. You may have to use the weapon.
DUNBAR: I understand.

[Outside Griffith Observatory]

(Tuvok and Paris arrive in a big pickup.)
TUVOK: Perhaps we should find a more suitable parking place. This is, after all, a stolen vehicle.
PARIS: Nobody's around, Tuvok. We're fine.
TUVOK: A taxi cab would have been less worrisome and more ethical.
PARIS: We haven't stolen anything. We borrowed a car. And we'll return it to the dealership as soon as we're done.
TUVOK: I was referring to the ethics of time travel.
PARIS: Somehow I doubt that taking a test drive is going to alter the course of the universe.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

PARIS: Over here. These are radio wave readouts. It looks like radio telescope transmissions. Pretty basic.
TUVOK: Lieutenant, you are being careless.
PARIS: Tuvok!
TUVOK: I will not lighten up on the matter. Thus far I have tolerated your impulsive methods. At times they have worked to our advantage. But discretion is also a virtue. We must leave things exactly as they were.
(Paris uses his tricorder on Rain's computer.)
PARIS: They've found us all right. The orbital schematic matches Voyager's position.
TUVOK: According to this data, they are tracking the warp emissions from our engines.
PARIS: Nobody in this century even knows what warp emission are.
TUVOK: Nevertheless, it appears they have configured their telescope to scan for them.
RAIN: Excuse me. Do not enter, employees only. The sign on the door.
(Rain is carrying a pizza box.)
PARIS: I'm sorry, I think we're a little lost. We were on the museum tour and we took a wrong turn at the Saturn exhibit.
TUVOK: Perhaps you could tell us how to get back to the lobby.
RAIN: Go right down the hall, take a left at Mars, right at Halley's Comet and then just keep going straight ahead past the soda machine.
PARIS: This lab is er, pretty groovy.
RAIN: Groovy.
PARIS: What do you do here?
RAIN: We watch the skies.
PARIS: For what?
RAIN: Signs of extraterrestrial life. Nice meeting you.
PARIS: My name is Tom Paris, by the way.
RAIN: Rain Robinson.
PARIS: Your curves don't look so great.
RAIN: Excuse me?
PARIS: This is a Fourier spectral analysis?
RAIN: That's exactly what it is.
PARIS: You know, you might get better resolution if you adjust your amplitude parameters.
RAIN: You're probably right
PARIS: Or you might try using a theta band filter.
RAIN: You know a lot for someone who can't find his way past Saturn.
PARIS: I majored in astrophysics.
RAIN: Where?
PARIS: Starfleet Academy.
RAIN: Never heard of it.
PARIS: East coast school.
(He goes to one of her movie posters.)
PARIS: Orgy of the Walking Dead? That's a classic! Did you see the sequel, Bride of the Corpse?
RAIN: Let me guess. You minored in B movies.
PARIS: Something like that.
TUVOK: Pardon me, Tom. We should be going. Our friends are waiting for us.
PARIS: Yeah, right. Got to go.
RAIN: Hey, I do the planetarium show Tuesday nights, so er, you guys should come by, check it out, bring your friends. The best stars in Hollywood are right above us.
PARIS: Yeah, great, but I think we're busy on Tuesday. Thanks anyway.
(They leave.)
RAIN: No problem.
(Rain returns to her computer and sees it crash.)
RAIN: Whoa!
(Up comes a skull and crossbones - Fatal System Error. Error #0047)

[Outside Griffith Observatory]

TUVOK: I downloaded all of her data into the tricorder and disrupted her data storage device.
PARIS: Good. I hope she doesn't get in any trouble.
TUVOK: It will simply look like a computer malfunction.
PARIS: It's a shame, though. She was about to make the biggest discovery in human history. It could have changed her career.
TUVOK: And ended ours. I am curious, Lieutenant, what does it mean, groovy?
RAIN: Hey! Hey you, guys!
PARIS: Red alert!
RAIN: Hey! Hey! Just wait a minute! What the hell did you do to my computer? It is screwed up! The hard drive is wiped!
PARIS: Look, I don't have time to explain.
RAIN: Who are you people, and what is that thing in your pants?
TUVOK: I beg your pardon?
RAIN: That little gadget you put in your pocket, what is it, a Demagnetizer?
(Paris sees Dunbar point a phaser at them.)
PARIS: Get down!
(The borrowed pickup is atomised. Tuvok returns fire.)
RAIN: What the hell?
PARIS: Do you have a car?
RAIN: Yeah, over there.
TUVOK: We'll need to use it.
(Dunbar fires again, and Tuvok shoots the future phaser out of his hand, then retrieves the scarf that has come off, revealing his ears. They drive off in Rain's VW camper.)

Operations Officer's log, supplemental. We've been on full sensor alert looking for signs that anyone else has detected Voyager. As a precaution, I've also asked Neelix and Kes to monitor all media broadcasts.

[Mess hall]

(A wall screen has six displays constantly changing.)
KES: We've set up a computer algorithm to search for key words and phrases. Anything that might indicate Voyager.
KIM: Anything so far?
NEELIX: Not yet, although we have come across some very intriguing televised broadcasts. Take a look at this. It's a form of entertainment called a soap opera. The exploration of human relationships is fascinating.
KIM: I can't imagine just watching the story and not being a part of it.
KES: That's because you've been spoiled by the holodeck. There's something to be said for non-interactive stories like this, being swept away in the narrative.
NEELIX: Oh, I can't wait to see if Blaine's twin brother is the father of Jessica's baby.
KIM: Good work. Keep me informed, and don't get too swept away.
NEELIX: Er, aye, sir.
SHARON [on monitor]: Nobody'll know the difference.
JACK [on monitor]: I'll know, Sharon. He's my brother. How can I face him knowing that our son is his son?
SHARON [on monitor]: All you need to know, Jack, is that I love you!

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

(Night. A light is flashing red on the wall as Chakotay and Janeway break in with help from the tricorder. Chakotay turns it off.)
CHAKOTAY: So far, so good. We haven't set off any alarms.
JANEWAY: Our Mister Starling has built himself quite a corporate empire. Looks like he's got wealth, celebrity and an ego to match.
(She sits at Starling's computer. It asks for a password. She taps at the keyboard with one finger.)
CHAKOTAY: I see you never learned to type.
JANEWAY: Turn of the millennium technology wasn't a required course at the Academy. This is like stone knives and bearskins.
CHAKOTAY: Well, this isn't. I'm detecting a forcefield. I can't scan beyond this wall. I don't see an access port or a control panel.
JANEWAY: Maybe we can find something in his computer. Oh, he's got a massive database here, but it's protected by an encryption sequence. I'm going to try interfacing my tricorder.
CHAKOTAY: Looks like a series of pictographs. They must have used symbols to represent the different functions of the computer.
JANEWAY: Let's see what Henry's been up to all these years.

[Rain's Camper van]

(Paris is driving.)
TUVOK: The transtators were disrupted by that energy weapon. Our communicators are useless.
PARIS: That means we can't call the, our friends. What do we do now?
RAIN: You're going to take a right at the next light and a left at the taco stand, because you're taking me home! And you're not keeping the van!
TUVOK: I am afraid that is not possible, Miss Robinson. Your life may be in danger.
RAIN: I'm going to pop this hatch and I'm going to start screaming until you tell me what's going on. Who are you? What is that thing in orbit? Why did that guy try to kill us?
PARIS: I told you, we're secret agents.
RAIN: I'm opening the hatch.
PARIS: Look, we saved your life. Isn't it obvious we're on your side?
RAIN: I'm standing up. I'm taking a deep breath!
PARIS: Rain, you're not going to scream! I know you're frightened and you've seen some pretty strange things, but you have to trust me! We're not going to hurt you and I will explain everything. It's either that or take your chances with the guy who tried to vaporise you.
RAIN: The UFO, what is it?
PARIS: It's a Soviet spy satellite. Part of a massive KGB operation. We're trying to stop it.
RAIN: Soviet? The USSR broke up five years ago. The KGB doesn't even exist anymore.
PARIS: That's what they'd like you to think.
TUVOK: Perhaps we've told her enough for now.
RAIN: What about you, Agent Tuvok? What's up with those ears? Thought I didn't notice? I did. What about your weapons? What are they, lasers?
TUVOK: I'm sorry, that information is classified. And as for my ears, they are a family trait.
PARIS: He's very sensitive about them.
RAIN: Whatever.
TUVOK: We must find a way to contact our friends.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

JANEWAY: Incredible. Starling's computer designs were inspired by technology from the timeship. He introduced the very first isograted circuit in 1969, two years after Braxton's ship crash-landed.
CHAKOTAY: Any every few years there's been an equally revolutionary advance in computers, all from Chronowerx Industries, all based on Starling's crude understanding of twenty ninth century technology.
JANEWAY: Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Chakotay?
CHAKOTAY: I wish I weren't.
JANEWAY: The computer age of the late twentieth century
CHAKOTAY: Shouldn't have happened.
JANEWAY: But it did, and it's part a of our history. All because of that timeship. Look at this. Gantry, power conduits, telemetry consoles. This looks like a design for a launching bay.
CHAKOTAY: Braxton was right. The ship's going to be launched.
JANEWAY: We've got to send these schematics to Voyager for analysis. Janeway to Voyager.
KIM [OC] Kim here, Captain.
JANEWAY: We're in Starling's office. I want you to establish a comm. link with my tricorder and try to upload his computer database.
KIM [OC]: Aye, Captain. We'll need a few minutes to reconfigure to their binary system.
JANEWAY: Acknowledged. Let's see if we can find out where the location of that launch pad is.
CHAKOTAY: You're really getting the hang of this.
JANEWAY: I'm a quick study.
CHAKOTAY: You know, Captain, in a way Braxton was right. If we hadn't fought him when he tried to destroy Voyager, he wouldn't have been pulled back in time, his ship wouldn't have crash-landed on Earth, and none of this would have happened.
JANEWAY: Time travel. Ever since my first day in the job as a Starfleet Captain I swore I'm never let myself get caught in one of these godforsaken paradoxes. The future is the past, the past is the future. It all gives me a headache.
CHAKOTAY: Hold on. This looks promising. Try timeship security portal.
JANEWAY: Maybe it's linked to some kind of surveillance system. An image of the launch bay would give us a clue to it's location.
(It turns the world map on the wall into a window. They look down at the Aeon in the launch bay, then the lights are turned on.)
STARLING: I see you've made yourself at home. Welcome to the twentieth century. I know who you are. You're from the future. I knew you'd come back one day. I detected your vessel in orbit and Mister Dunbar here had a run-in with your friends. You're here to take the timeship.
JANEWAY: Mister Starling, you're about to cause a terrible disaster that will affect the twenty ninth century. An explosion that will cost billions of lives. We're here to stop you from doing that.
STARLING: What are you talking about?
CHAKOTAY: If you launch that ship and travel to the future, it will destroy Earth's solar system.
STARLING: How do you know this?
JANEWAY: Well, let's just say we talked to the ship's previous owner. He told us that if it's temporal matrix isn't precisely calibrated, you'll trigger a temporal explosion. That ship shouldn't be here. It belongs to another century. We have to take it back.
(Beep.)
STARLING: What's that?
JANEWAY: It's a communication device. Someone's trying to contact me.
STARLING: Answer it.
JANEWAY: Janeway here.

[Bridge]

KIM: Captain, we've established the comm. link. We're ready to upload on your signal.
JANEWAY [OC]: Do it.

[Chronowerx - Starling's Office]

STARLING: My database! Stop or I'll kill your Captain.

[Bridge]

KIM: Who is this?

[Chronowerx - Starling's Office]

STARLING: You've got five seconds.

[Bridge]

KIM: Break the link.
TORRES: Done.
KIM: What's our transporter status?
TORRES: The main pattern buffers are still offline. We can try an emergency transport from a lower orbit.
KIM: That's exactly what the Captain ordered us not to do. We'd be risking detection.
TORRES: Harry, we can't worry about that now. Their lives are in danger.
KIM: And if somebody sees a starship flying through the clouds?
TORRES: The Captain put you in charge. It is your decision.
KIM: Helm, get a fix on Chakotay and the Captain.
CREWMAN: Aye, sir.
KIM: B'Elanna, stand by emergency transporters. Get ready to beam them directly to the bridge. Take us down.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: You've taken over three thousand gigabits of information, including my launch plan. But that's not going to be a problem, Captain. I'll make a few changes to my travel itinerary. You're not going to stop me.
JANEWAY: If you don't give us that ship, we'll take it by force.
STARLING: In case you haven't noticed, I'm holding the gun.
JANEWAY: Not for long. I've got a starship in orbit that can vaporise this entire building in the blink of an eye.
STARLING: And you along with it.
JANEWAY: If necessary.
STARLING: Captain, you've got some cojones.
(Janeway is beamed away. Chakotay throws a chair at Dunbar.)
STARLING: Kill them!
(Chakotay is beamed away.)
STARLING: Damn!

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Helm, maintain present altitude. Keep us within transporter range. Chakotay, see if you can disable the forcefield around that timeship. B'Elanna, prepare to lock onto the timeship and beam it to cargo bay two. Ensign Kim, you have an impeccable sense of timing. Not bad for your first day in the big chair.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: The forcefield's down.
DUNBAR: Sir, the timeship!
STARLING: They're trying to teleport the ship!

[Bridge]

TORRES: The matter stream is modulating. He's disrupting transport.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Yes!

[Bridge]

KIM: Captain, I don't understand how, but he's using our transporter beam as a downlink. He's accessing our main computer.
TORRES: Every time I try to disable his downlink he comes up with a new command override.
JANEWAY: Starling is using twenty ninth century technology against us. We may not be able to keep up with him.
CHAKOTAY: Inertial dampers are offline. He's gotten into our propulsion systems.
JANEWAY: Disengage transporters.
TORRES: Destabilising matter stream. Transporters offline.
KIM: We've terminated the downlink, Captain, but he got at least twenty percent of our main computer files.
JANEWAY: Get us back into orbit and I want a full damage report.
STARLING [OC]: Captain Janeway, Henry Starling here.
JANEWAY: This is Janeway.

[Chronowerx - Starling's Office]

STARLING: USS Voyager, Intrepid class. Much bigger than I expected, and much less advanced. Says here your ship was launched in the year 2371? You're from the twenty fourth century? And here all this time I though you were from the twenty ninth. Looks like I have the home field advantage. Ooo, what's this?

[Bridge]

STARLING [OC]: Oh, now this is interesting.
CHAKOTAY: Damage reports are coming in. Some minor power fluctuations in the impulse drive and a few burned out circuits in the main computer core. Nothing we can't handle.
KES [OC]: Sickbay to bridge. Captain, I can't find the Doctor.
JANEWAY: Is his programme offline?
KES [OC]: No. His programme is gone.

[Chronowerx - Starling's Office]

EMH: Where am I?
DUNBAR: Who are you?
STARLING: Welcome.

[Mess hall]

NEELIX: Captain, this is Neelix. There's something on the television I think you should see.

[Bridge]

NEELIX [OC]: It's a current events programme.
KIM: I asked Neelix to monitor Earth broadcasts. I'm transferring it to the main viewer.
(Amateur footage of something crossing the night sky very quickly.)
ANNOUNCER [OC]: Incredible footage was caught just an hour ago by a man using his camcorder to tape a backyard barbeque. The massive unidentifiable object doesn't appear to be a meteorite, weather balloon or satellite, and one aviation expert we've spoken to has stated that it's definitely not any kind of US aircraft currently in use. We're waiting investigation by local authorities and we'll keep you updated as news develops on this incredible story.

To be continued...

[Kerbside - Metro Plaza]

(Paris is working on the camper van radio at a small table.)
RAIN: Let me guess. Someone broke into the van last night while I was sleeping, tried to snatch the stereo, you bravely fought them off and now you're repairing the damage.
PARIS: That's exactly what happened.
RAIN: My hero. What's it like? Life as a spy, I mean.
PARIS: Classified.
RAIN: Oh, right. I forgot. But you said secret agent and nobody says secret agent. And you do that a lot. You get things not quite right, like you don't belong here.
PARIS: Rain, you're fantasising.
RAIN: And you're insulting my intelligence. Yesterday afternoon I picked up a UFO in orbit. Today my life is completely out of control, so don't think I'm too stupid to notice.
PARIS: I apologise.
RAIN: Accepted.
PARIS: Would you also accept that there are lives at stake here? The more you keep asking me questions, the more difficult you make things. For everybody.
RAIN: I'll try.
PARIS: So, why'd you become an astronomer?
RAIN: My brother had a telescope, a little refractor. You could barely see in the tree house next door actually, but it was enough. It was enough to see the rings of Saturn. I remember. I remember I used to think that they looked like jewels from a pirate's treasure. All I ever wanted since then was to reach up and touch them.
TUVOK: Good morning.
(Tuvok returns bearing drinks and bags of fast food.)
RAIN: Agent Tuvok, what's up?
TUVOK: Breakfast is up. Have you made any progress?
PARIS: I think so.
RAIN: Chili burritos, foot long hot dogs and Goliath Gulps. This is not a breakfast, this is an afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
TUVOK: And that is a non-sequitur. Would you please hand me a burrito.
RAIN: Everything you guys do is just a little bit off.
(Smoke rises from the stereo.)
PARIS: These things are kind of crude. So much for sending a locator signal.
TUVOK: There is another option.
PARIS: The radio dish at the Observatory. We could use the same set up
RAIN: The same set up as I used to send that message to your whatever it is up in orbit.
TUVOK: We will require your assistance.
RAIN: No kidding.
PARIS: Well?
RAIN: Not on an empty stomach.

[Briefing room]

CHAKOTAY: Starling downloaded nearly twenty percent of our computer core while we were trying to beam the timeship out of his building.
TORRES: I'm replacing those programmes as quickly as I can, but some of it isn't retrievable.
KES: Like the Doctor. There's literally nothing left of him. He's just gone.
JANEWAY: Unfortunately the Doctor is only one of our problems. Our weapons are offline, Tuvok and Paris are still missing somewhere in Los Angeles, and we've confirmed Captain Braxton's hypothesis. If Starling does attempt a flight to the future, it will most likely end in disaster.
KIM: Captain. I've analysed Braxton's schematic. The temporal technology is incredibly complex.
TORRES: No matter how much a genius this Starling might be, he is not a trained pilot from the twenty ninth century.
CHAKOTAY: Without the exact calibration, that ship will rip the time-space continuum apart.
KIM: The instant he jumps to the twenty ninth century, there won't be a twenty ninth century. Not for Earth anyway. The entire solar system will be destroyed.
JANEWAY: I want that timeship.
TORRES: Long range transporters are still down. We'd have to drop out of orbit again.
NEELIX: Captain, I strongly recommend against that. The more legitimate news organisations have apparently decided that the Voyager image is fraudulent. However I've also been monitoring more official channels and the United States military is taking things just a little more seriously.
CHAKOTAY: If we risk another pass through the lower atmosphere, there's a chance of getting intercepted by the Air Force.
JANEWAY: If we can't get to the ship, maybe we can get to the man. Torres, I want
CREWWOMAN [OC]: Captain Janeway. I'm receiving a transmission from Lieutenant Tuvok, audio only.
JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok, report.
TUVOK [OC]: Lieutenant Paris and I are at the Griffith Observatory

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

(Tuvok is using Rain's cell phone.)
TUVOK: In the Hollywood Hills. We have modified the satellite dish transmitter to carry and receive Voyager communication frequencies. I regret the bad connection.

[Briefing room]

JANEWAY: That's quite all right, Mister Tuvok. What's happened?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

TUVOK: We have become associated with a young woman employed at the astronomical laboratory. It was she who sent the message to Voyager, but her lab is under the supervision of an individual

[Briefing room]

TUVOK [OC]: Named Henry Starling.
JANEWAY: Oh, we've met Mister Starling. He has the timeship and he's the one who will cause the disaster in the twenty ninth century.

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's Laboratory]

TUVOK: Then it would seem we must find a way to stop him.

[Briefing room]

JANEWAY: Tell me about this young woman. Can we trust her?

[Griffith Observatory - Rain's laboratory]

TUVOK: She and Lieutenant Paris appear to be bonding on a cross-cultural level. I would have to say yes.

[Briefing room]

JANEWAY: Ask if she'd be willing to help us.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

(Starling enters, goes to his computer and activates the EMH.)
STARLING: How's it going?
EMH: I find your interest in my well-being to be less than genuine.
STARLING: Try to be a little more grateful, Doc. The schematics I downloaded from your ship indicate you were stuck in the sickbay twenty four hours a day.
EMH: I recently suffered a severe programme loss and I'm still in the process of retrieving my memory files, but apparently on a few occasions I have been projected into other locations. Undoubtedly you're using a similar procedure.
STARLING: My holographic simulator. We use it to test our new microchip designs. I projected you through the emitters in the office. Your programme really isn't very sophisticated.
EMH: That is a matter of opinion. Now would you please return me to my vessel.
STARLING: Can't do that. Not yet. I've a few questions I want answered.
EMH: If you have need of medical expertise, I would refer you to a more local physician.
STARLING: All Captain Janeway's talk of a disaster I caused is just smoke. You came here to steal my timeship.
EMH: That is simply not the case.
STARLING: That timeship is from the twenty ninth century. Technology five hundred years more advanced than anything you've got. You'd love to get your hands on it. You figured I'd be any easy target. Some backwards twentieth century Neanderthal that doesn't know what he's got. But you found out otherwise, didn't you?
EMH: A paranoid response indicative of bipolar personality disorder. If my history is accurate, southern California in the late twentieth century had no shortage of psychotherapists, competent and otherwise. I suggest you find one. Now, return me to Voyager.
STARLING: I've learned your weapons are damaged, your ship's teleporter's half shot, but I didn't get all the personnel files. I have to know my enemy. Give me Captain Janeway's psychological profile.
EMH: I'm a doctor, not a database.
STARLING: I'd say you're a little bit of both. Start talking.
EMH: Or suffer the consequences? Hardly. I'm a hologram. I experience neither pain nor fear of death. You have no means of coercing me.
(Starling taps a key and proves him wrong.)
STARLING: Pain. It's an interesting sensation, isn't it.
EMH: I, I never realised.
STARLING: How unpleasant it could be? This is what burning feels like. For a human to experience what you're going through right now, he'd have to be on fire.
(Starling turns it off, and the EMH falls to the carpet.)
EMH: How?
STARLING: By reconfiguring your tactile response sensors. Easy as proverbial pie. Feeling more co-operative?
(The intercom buzzes. Starling picks up the phone.)
STARLING: I'm in a meeting, Dave. Put her through.

[Metro Plaza]

RAIN: Mister Starling. Oh my god, I'm so scared. They're going to find me. I don't know what to do.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Take it easy, Rain. Everything's okay.

[Metro Plaza]

RAIN: Everything's not okay. People are shooting at me! They're going to find me. I don't know what to do.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Yes, you do. You're going to jump in a cab and come to my office. You'll be safe here.

[Metro Plaza]

RAIN: No, they'll find me.
STARLING [OC]: Where are you?
RAIN: Metro Plaza, by the fountain. Please come get me. Please.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: I'll send somebody.

[Metro Plaza]

RAIN: No! You. I'm really scared.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: I'll be right there.

[Metro Plaza]

RAIN: He bought it, sort of.
PARIS: What do you mean?
RAIN: I don't know. His voice sounded a little suspicious.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Pack a lunch, Doc. We're going for a walk.
EMH: In case you have forgotten, I can only appear in a room equipped with a holographic projection system. In short, I am going nowhere.
(Dunbar drives Sterling to Metro Plaza, and opens the back door for his boss. The EMH gets out of the other side and gazes around in awe. He has a device on left arm. Starling has something futuristic in his hand. Paris and Tuvok see them.)

[Shuttlecraft]

TORRES: Interferometric dispersion is online. That should take care of any radar detection. And I've configured the shields to disguise our visual profile. Unless somebody gets right on top of us, we should look like a small twentieth century aircraft.
CHAKOTAY: Transporters are online. We should be within range in about ten minutes. You can see the entire Baja Peninsula. I'd forgotten how beautiful the view is from this altitude. I never thought I'd see it again.
TORRES: You trained as a pilot in North America, didn't you?
CHAKOTAY: That's right. My first year at the Academy. Then I went to Venus for a couple of months to learn how to handle atmospheric storms, and then I dodged asteroids for a semester in the belt.
TORRES: Sounds like you had a lot more fun at the Academy than I did. I remember dodging a few punches in the lab.
CHAKOTAY: Only you, B'Elanna, could start a brawl in Astrotheory 101.
TORRES: I guess I was just a little more enthusiastic in those days.
CHAKOTAY: I guess so.
TORRES: Chakotay, what if we're stuck here? What if we can't find a way back?
CHAKOTAY: There are still a few isolated places left in this century. We'd have to keep low profiles.
TORRES: We'd have to get jobs.
CHAKOTAY: I've thought about pursuing archaeology full time. Maybe I could teach at a university or work on one of the important digs in Central America. There were still a lot of important discoveries to be made in this century. I could win a Nobel prize.
TORRES: So much for a low profile.
CHAKOTAY: What about you?
TORRES: Highly qualified Klingon seeks position as engineer.
CHAKOTAY: I'd hire you in a second. Let's start our descent.
TORRES: Approach course laid in. Full power to thrusters.
CHAKOTAY: Watch out for birds.

[Metro Plaza]

PARIS: Paris to Chakotay.

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: Go ahead.
PARIS [OC]: Starling's arrived, with the Doctor.
TORRES: What? How is that possible?
PARIS [OC]: I don't know. Are you within range?
CHAKOTAY: Almost. Another two minutes.

[Metro Plaza]

STARLING: I don't know, Doc. You were awfully quiet on the ride over here.
EMH: I'm not programmed to make small talk.
STARLING: Maybe just a little bit anxious about being out in the real world.
EMH: It's just another environment to me.
STARLING: Mind your manners, Doc. If your shipmates start any trouble, you'll be holodust.
TUVOK: I have triangulated the position of the van, Chakotay. Stand by for tricorder uplink. You'll be able to lock on the moment Starling is inside.
(Rain goes over to Starling.)
RAIN: Mister Starling, I'm so glad you're here.
STARLING: Tell your new friends to come out or their colleague here's going to die.
RAIN: What are you talking about?
STARLING: Let's go.
RAIN: Oh, my van is this way.
STARLING: We're taking my car.
RAIN: I left my stuff in the van.
STARLING: I'll send somebody back for it. Is there a problem?
RAIN: No.
PARIS: He's heading in the wrong direction. They're not going to the van.
TUVOK: Mister Chakotay, there is a problem.
(Starling, Rain and the EMH walk to the car. Then Rain sees Dunbar, and stops.)
RAIN: That, that's the guy that tried to kill me.
STARLING: No, he was trying to rescue you.
RAIN: Where are we going?
STARLING: To my office. You'll be safe there.
RAIN: Office. Right.
(They get in the car, the EMH in the front passenger seat this time.)
PARIS: We're recalibrating Starling's position. You're going to have to take him out of his own car.
TUVOK: There may not be enough time. I've determined the coordinates.
PARIS: Now, Chakotay!

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: We've got a lock on Starling's position.
TORRES: Energising.

[Starling's car]

STARLING: Dunbar, take the surface streets. The 101's a nightmare at this time (begins to dematerialise)
RAIN: Oh my God!
(The EMH struggles with Dunbar.)
EMH: Run!
(Rain gets out and runs to Tuvok and Paris.)

[Shuttlecraft]

TORRES: The pattern buffer's overloading. He's activated some kind of device. It's interfering with the transport.
(Starling is finally beamed away, and the EMH punches Dunbar's lights out. He gets out and runs, too. Dunbar drives away.)

[Metro Plaza]

PARIS: Are you all right?
RAIN: I guess so.
TUVOK: Doctor.
EMH: I've been equipped with an autonomous self-sustaining mobile holo-emitter. In short, I am footloose and fancy free.

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: Captain, we've got Starling in our transporter buffers but we can't rematerialise him.
TORRES: The interference is disrupting computer pathways.
CHAKOTAY: Aft thrusters are down.

[Bridge]

KIM: Captain, we're close enough to the shuttle to use the short range transporter.
JANEWAY: Janeway to transporter room one. Lock directly onto the shuttle's pattern buffers and energise.
CREWWOMAN [OC]: Acknowledged.
JANEWAY: Chakotay, we're taking over from here. Mister Kim, let's go.

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: The buffers are purged. They've taken Starling off our hands.
TORRES: We're losing altitude.

[Transporter room one]

JANEWAY: He's got what looks like a tricorder. It's putting out some kind of interference signal.
KIM: I'm isolating it, and suppressing the amplitude. Got him.
STARLING: Ah. Damn it. (collapses)
JANEWAY: Janeway to sickbay. Medical emergency in Transporter room one.
KES [OC]: Acknowledged, Captain.

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: Propulsion is offline. Voyager, we're going down!

[Cellar]

(General tools on shelves, with cobwebs over them. Torres and Chakotay are lying on the floor, bound hand and foot. Torres wakes, then two men open the door and walk to the top of the stairs. The leader is carrying a honking big gun.)
TORRES: Where are we?
PORTER: This one looks like an Indian, and that one, I don't know what her story is.
BUTCH: What's that thing on her head?
(Butch, the one without a gun, goes to touch Torres' forehead, and she snarls at him. He recoils.)
PORTER: Careful, Butch, she looks like a fighter.
CHAKOTAY: Who are you?
PORTER: You first. Are you spying on us, Chief?
CHAKOTAY: No, just passing by.
BUTCH: In your new stealth plane? Who sent you?
TORRES: Nobody sent us. We had engine trouble.
BUTCH: I don't believe her. They're wearing military uniform, flying a secret plane. They're coming for us.
PORTER: USS equals Federal Government. The Federal Government is the Beast.
CHAKOTAY: We are not from the Beast. Just take us to our plane.
BUTCH: Shut up!
(Butch kicks Chakotay, and Torres kicks Butch's legs out from under him. Porter readies his gun.)
PORTER: That'll be all. Call for reinforcements.
(Butch leaves. Porter settles himself in a chair.)
PORTER: It's going to be a long day.

[Rain's Camper van]

(Rain is driving.)
RAIN: I've gone out with guys who've disappeared into thin air on the first date.
EMH: I assume she is speaking figuratively.
RAIN: But I have never actually seen it happen. And you, Mister Leisure Suit.
EMH: There's a name I hadn't considered.
RAIN: That guy punched you a bunch of times. You should have a black eye or a swollen lip, a broken nose.
EMH: Try to relax. You appear to be hallucinating.
RAIN: Oh, is that what I am? I'm hallucinating. Oh.
PARIS: Rain, I'm sorry you got dragged into all this.
(The cellphone rings.)
TUVOK: Tuvok here.

[Sickbay]

JANEWAY: Tuvok, we've got Starling, but we've lost contact with Chakotay and Torres. Their shuttle went down over Arizona. Mister Kim is transmitting the co-ordinates to your tricorder. I want

[Rain's Camper van]

JANEWAY [OC]: You to find them.
TUVOK: Aye, Captain. Tuvok out. Mister Starling is under control. I suggest you return to Chronowerx and continue the business there. The Doctor and I must make our way to Arizona.

[Sickbay]

KES: He suffered minor synaptic stress during the extended transport. Enough to cause unconsciousness but not any permanent damage.
JANEWAY: Can you bring him out of it?
KES: Yes, Captain.
JANEWAY: Welcome to the twenty fourth century. I took the precaution of removing your tricorder. That's what it's called, by the way.
STARLING: It didn't work. Should have blocked your ship's teleporter.
JANEWAY: It works perfectly. You just don't know how to use it.
STARLING: Give me some credit, Captain. I did pretty well for a primitive.
JANEWAY: That's all over now. I've won, so disable the forcefield around Chronowerx. I want that timeship.
STARLING: You're in no position to be making any demands, Captain.
JANEWAY: On the contrary.
STARLING: What're you going to do, shoot me?
JANEWAY: The thought has crossed my mind.
STARLING: Well, it wouldn't get you anything. I've rigged the timeship. If you try to teleport it again, if you even go near it, Los Angeles will look like the face of the moon.
JANEWAY: You'd destroy an entire city? You don't care about the future, you don't care about the present. Does anything matter to you, Mister Starling?
STARLING: The betterment of mankind.
JANEWAY: It doesn't look like that.
STARLING: Why do you think I want to go to the future, a vacation?
JANEWAY: To get more technology. That's why you're launching the timeship.
STARLING: I've cannibalised the ship itself as much as I can. There's nothing left to base a commercial product on.
JANEWAY: And the future is just waiting to be exploited.
STARLING: You just don't get it, do you? I created the microcomputer revolution.
JANEWAY: Using technology you never should have had.
STARLING: Irrelevant. My products benefit the entire world. Without me there would be no laptops, no internet, no barcode readers. What's good for Chronowerx is good for everybody. I can't stop now. One trip to the twenty ninth century and I can bring back enough technology to start the next ten computer revolutions.
JANEWAY: If you even attempt to travel to the future, you risk creating a temporal explosion that could cost billions of lives, including your own.
STARLING: I'm willing to take that risk.
JANEWAY: In my time, Mister Starling, no human being would dream of endangering the future to gain advantage in the present.
STARLING: Captain, the future you're talking about, that's nine hundred years from now. I can't be concerned about that right now. I have a company to run and a whole world full of people waiting for me to make their lives a little bit better.
JANEWAY: Computer, reactivate forcefield. Chronowerx' stock is about to crash.

[Cellar]

PORTER: There are two forces at work in the world. The drive toward collectivity and the drive toward individuality. You are the former, and I am the latter.
TORRES: We told you. We are not from the United States Government, and we are not
PORTER: The Beast has many heads and I'm looking at two of them.
CHAKOTAY: Listen, I used to think violence could be the solution to a problem, but it's not true.
PORTER: You are no patriot.
CHAKOTAY: I was a freedom fighter, so I thought. That gun will get you nowhere.
(Butch enters with more men.)
BUTCH: Porter, they're coming! The Feds.
PORTER: How many?
BUTCH: Three cars and a chopper. Two miles up Edgemile Road.
PORTER: This is it, men. Get into position behind the house. Butch and me'll take these two.
(The newcomers arm themselves.)
PORTER: Looks like your friends out there still believe in violence. Too bad for you.

[Rain's Camper van]

RAIN: Let's recap. UFO in orbit, laser pistols, people vanishing. I've seen every episode of Mission Impossible. You're not secret agents.
PARIS: I told you, I can't talk about it.
RAIN: You can't keep a girl from hypothesising. I'm a scientist. I'm thinking, I'm thinking alternate dimension. I'm thinking close encounter.
PARIS: Whatever.
RAIN: Talk about a motley crew. We have the Doctor, a guy with the worst, worst taste in clothing I have ever seen. Tuvok, what a freakosaurus. Has the guy ever tried to smile?
PARIS: Not that I can recall.
RAIN: And you, Tom Paris. Sexy, in a Howdy Doody sort of way. Pretty goofy, although sometimes I think you're the smartest man I've ever met. All this running around you do, your mission. You're so dedicated, you know? Like you care about something more than just your own little life.
PARIS: Is that so unusual?
RAIN: Yeah. Whoa, I missed the turn.

[Chronowerx - Timeship]

COMPUTER: SATCOM 47 activating.
DUNBAR: Engage Starling location sweep.
COMPUTER: Sweep underway.
(Starling is pacing the surgical alcove, under the watchful eyes of two security guards.)

[Bridge]

TUVOK [OC]: We're in Arizona. Chakotay and Torres are thirty kilometres north east of Phoenix.
JANEWAY: Good. Get to them as soon as you can.
KIM: Captain, there's a transport in progress.
JANEWAY: What?
KIM: Starling's gone. He's beamed to the surface.
JANEWAY: He's got some kind of satellite in orbit.
KIM: He sent a transporter signal through our shields like they weren't there.
JANEWAY: Where's Starling now?
KIM: Tracking the signal. He's back at the Chronowerx building.

[Chronowerx - Starling's office]

STARLING: Mister Dunbar, good work. I think it's time to get out of here.

[Rain's Camper van - outside Chronowerx]

PARIS: I guess this is goodbye.
RAIN: Guess it is. Listen, are you busy tomorrow night? Because, er, you know, we should hang together.
PARIS: I can't.
RAIN: Oh, well, what about this weekend? You're married.
PARIS: Absolutely not. Just very busy.
RAIN: Yeah, you've got to get back to Mars, right?
PARIS: Saturn.
RAIN: That's perfect! I told you I always loved Saturn! So, give me your phone number.
PARIS: Rain.
(The tricorder beeps.)
PARIS: Tachyon emissions.
(A big truck is leaving the area.)
PARIS: They're moving the timeship.
RAIN: Timeship? What are you talking about?
PARIS: You wouldn't mind hanging with me for a while longer, huh?

[Cellar]

POLICE [OC]: We want the aircraft, and the occupant from the aircraft.
PORTER: Get off my land!
TORRES: What are they going to do when they find a half-Klingon in here.
POLICE [OC]: Who the hell are you two?
TUVOK [OC]: Please stand aside, Officer.
POLICE [OC]: I'm warning both of you to
PORTER: They've got lasers! A black man and some bald guy.
(The EMH enters. Porter and Butch's bullets go straight through him.)
PORTER: God in heaven help us.
EMH: Divine intervention is unlikely.
(The EMH phaser stuns them, then unties Torres and Chakotay.)
EMH: Tuvok's at the shuttle. He's starting repairs.
CHAKOTAY: Doctor, how?
EMH: It's a long story, Commander. Suffice it to say, I'm making a house call.

[Bridge]

KIM: It's Paris again, Captain, on audio.
JANEWAY: Status report, Tom.
PARIS [OC]: We just turned off the main highway

[Arizona - Rain's Camper van]

PARIS: Onto a desert road.
RAIN: Hi, this is Rain Robinson. You don't know me, but the point is there is zero traffic on this road.

[Bridge]

RAIN [OC]: They're going to know we're following them.
JANEWAY: Thank you, Miss Robinson. I'll keep that in mind. Tom, we've scanned the area. There appears to be a small landing field about ten kilometres ahead of you.

[Arizona - Rain's Camper van]

PARIS: It could be his launch site.
JANEWAY: Stay on him.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY: Our weapons are still offline and Torres hasn't finished repairing the shuttle. It might all be up to you.

[Arizona - Rain's Camper van]

PARIS: I'll do my best. Paris out.
(Dunbar, who is driving the truck, makes a left turn and fires his phaser out of the window.)
PARIS: Look out!
(Paris grabs the wheel and they swerve, then follow.)
PARIS: Get in behind him.
RAIN: What?
PARIS: Right off his bumper. Little closer.
RAIN: Forget it.
PARIS: One more metre!
RAIN: Just shoot!
(Paris shoots out one of the truck's tyres. It swerves and brakes, kicking up a cloud of dust, and so does Rain. The camper engine stops and she cannot restart it.)
PARIS: It's flooded. Give it a second.
RAIN: Well, do you think we got him?
PARIS: I think so.
(The truck is heading back towards them over a crest in the road.)
RAIN: Come on.
PARIS: Jump!
(They do, then the shuttlecraft arrives and phasers the truck.)

[Shuttlecraft]

CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Paris. What's your status?

[Arizona - highway]

PARIS: We're fine. Good shooting.

[Shuttlecraft]

TORRES: Wasn't there supposed to be a timeship in that truck? Scanning the debris.
CHAKOTAY: There's a temporal transponder, set to give off tachyon signals. Chakotay to Voyager. The timeship's not here, Captain. It was a ruse. Starling's going to launch from a different site.

[Chronowerx - Timeship]

STARLING: Activate hyper-impulse.
COMPUTER: Hyper-impulse drive engaged.
STARLING: Let's do it.
COMPUTER: Command confirmed.
(The timeship Aeon smashes out of the penthouse floor of the Chronowerx skyscraper.)

[Bridge]

KIM: The timeship is entering the upper ionosphere.
JANEWAY: Track his course. Janeway to shuttlecraft, return to Voyager immediately.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Acknowledged, Captain.
JANEWAY: Phasers are still offline. I've armed the photon torpedoes but we still can't fire them. The launch activation sequencers aren't responding.
KIM: I think I can reroute fire command through the helm.
JANEWAY: There's no time. Take the bridge, Mister Kim. Should be second nature to you by now.
KIM: Captain?
JANEWAY: Open the access port to torpedo bay one. I'm going in there to reconfigure for manual launch.
KIM: Captain, with the activation sequencers down, you'd have to launch from inside the tube. It's too dangerous. The plasma exhaust will
JANEWAY: You have your orders.

[Shuttlecraft]

TORRES: I've got the transporters back online.
CHAKOTAY: Mister Paris, stand by. We're bringing you aboard.

[Arizona - highway]

PARIS: Acknowledged.
RAIN: Your spaceship's waiting.
PARIS: I've never met anyone quite like you, and I don't think I ever will.
RAIN: Same here. Say hi to Saturn for me.
PARIS: I will.
(Paris kisses Rain goodbye.)

[Timeship]

STARLING: Initiate temporal inversion.
COMPUTER: Initiating.

[Torpedo tube one]

KIM [OC]: Bridge to Janeway. The shuttle's back on board.
JANEWAY: Good. I'm nearly there.
KIM [OC]: Captain, the timeship has jumped to warp one.
JANEWAY: Go to warp. We can't loose him now.

[Bridge]

KIM: Welcome to the Bridge, Doctor.
EMH: Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here.
CHAKOTAY: Status.
KIM: The Captain's in torpedo tube one. She's preparing for a manual launch.
CHAKOTAY: Doctor, get down there.
EMH: How exactly to I get to torpedo tube one?
CHAKOTAY: Ensign Kaplan, go with him.
KAPLAN: Aye, sir.
TUVOK: The timeship is powering its temporal field generator. Starling will be able to open a rift within seconds.
KIM: Commander, the field he's creating? It's unstable.
TORRES: If he enters the rift like this the timeship will create a temporal explosion.
TUVOK: Events are occurring just as Captain Braxton predicted. The disaster may well be inevitable.
CHAKOTAY: Fate, Tuvok? I won't accept that. Close to within ten kilometres. We'll ram him if we have to.
PARIS: Aye, sir.

[Timeship]

COMPUTER: Temporal core has reached cascade potential.
STARLING: Penetration point at nine six mark zero four seven.

[Torpedo tube one]

JANEWAY: Janeway to Bridge. I've reconfigured for manual launch.

[Bridge]

JANEWAY [OC]: Arm the torpedo.
TUVOK: Torpedo armed.

[Torpedo tube one]

JANEWAY: Lock on target.

[Bridge]

TUVOK: Locked on.
CHAKOTAY: Hail Starling.
KIM: On screen.
CHAKOTAY: This is Voyager. Pull away from the rift.
STARLING [on viewscreen]: Or what? Your weapons are down, friend. See you sometime.
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Janeway. Captain, we have no other choice.
KIM: He's entering the rift.
CHAKOTAY: Fire!
(Janeway is knocked backwards by the launch gases.)

[Timeship]

STARLING: Uh oh!
(The Aeon goes KaBOOM just before it reaches the rift, which closes.)

[Turbolift]

EMH: Captain, I insist you come to sickbay.
JANEWAY: There'll be plenty of time for that, Doctor.

[Bridge]

CHAKOTAY: The Bridge is yours, Captain.
JANEWAY: Is there a chance in hell we can reopen that rift?
KIM: Captain, the rift is opening. There's something coming out. It's the timeship.
JANEWAY: Let's see it.
TUVOK: We are being hailed.
JANEWAY: On screen. Captain Braxton.
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: Do you know me?
CHAKOTAY: Yes, unfortunately.
JANEWAY: You tried to destroy our ship in the twenty fourth century and the next time we saw you, you were an old man, homeless, in 1996.
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: I never experienced that timeline.
PARIS: Then what are you doing here?
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: In my century we can scan time, much as you use sensors to scan space. The Temporal Integrity Commission detected your vessel over twentieth century Earth. I was sent to correct that anomaly. Prepare to follow me back into the rift. I'm returning you to your own time, to your previous coordinates in the Delta Quadrant.
JANEWAY: Captain, we've been trying to get home to Earth for the last two years. Can you return us to our century but keep us here, in the Alpha Quadrant?
BRAXTON [on viewscreen]: I'm sorry. Temporal Prime Directive. I'm afraid you're on your own. Braxton out.
KIM: The timeship is re-entering the rift.
JANEWAY: Mister Paris, follow him in.
PARIS: Aye, Captain.

Captain's log, stardate 50312.5. We are again in the Delta Quadrant, at the exact time and place we first encountered the timeship. I've resumed a course for Earth and I've ordered the crew to the Mess Hall for a toast.

[Mess hall]

JANEWAY: Cheers. To the future.
PARIS: Hear, hear.
JANEWAY: How long will you be out and about, Doctor.
EMH: If you're referring to my new found mobility, that is entirely up to me.
TORRES: I'm still trying to figure out exactly how the Doctor's autonomous emitter works, but it looks like downloading him back into the ship's computer isn't going to be much of a problem.
EMH: Apparently the reverse is also true. I will be able to make use of the emitter as casually as you might slip on a pair of shoes.
TORRES: It's a little more involved than that.
EMH: You know, Kes, now that I'll be to and fro, your responsibilities in sickbay will increase.
KES: I'm up to the challenge, Doctor, but what about you? There's going to be more to your life than sickbay.
EMH: Nothing I can't handle. You know, Captain, I've always wanted a little more privacy. Perhaps under the circumstances, my own quarters.
JANEWAY: One step at a time, Doctor.
PARIS: You should have seen it when the parking enforcement officer came over to the van. Tuvok tried to use pure Vulcan logic to talk her out of giving us a citation.
CHAKOTAY: Did it work?
PARIS: Of course not!
TUVOK: Given Mister Paris's alleged familiarity with twentieth century America, it is a wonder we survived the experience at all.
PARIS: Tuvok, has anyone ever told you you're a real freakosaurus.