[Bridge]

DAL: Well, Rok?
ROK: For the last time. I'll tell you when we're there!
DAL: Okay, okay. It's just... I can't believe we're going to see the Protostar again.
POG: Huh. If it's even there.
ZERO: It has to be. If we don't restore the past by returning it to Tars Lamora, we may lose Gwyn forever.
ROK: Approaching designated coordinates. That means we're here, Dal.
DAL: Oh. Oh, right. Lock on target and let's take her out of warp.
(Debris field.)
DAL: That's disappointing.
ZERO: Are you certain this is the location? Unless my new eyes are failing me, I don't see anything.
ROK: One hundred percent sure. This is where all of Chakotay's clues wanted us to go.
POG: Whoa, whoa, whoa! We went on a wild Targ chase for this? It's a whole bunch of nothing.
ROK: Hold on. According to these readings, these asteroids are orbiting some kind of strange attractor, indicating there is something out there.
MURF: Yeah. Yeah.
GWYN: What if the whole planet is out of phase, like me. Stuck between quantum realities.
ZERO: A hidden planet.
ROK: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. If we use the transporter's Heisenberg compensators to remodulate the shields, it would allow our ship to collapse the superimposed wave function!
DAL: Er... huh?
ROK: You know, pull the planet out of its hiding spot.
DAL: And how are we not already in Starfleet Academy?
POG: Let's do this.
ROK: Remodulating.
(The 'asteroids' vanish.)
GWYN: What?
(A planet appears.)
ROK: It worked.
ZERO: Do my eyes deceive me?
GWYN: It's real.
DAL: Then take us down, before it disappears.
POG: Jankom's picking up one lifesign. Oh boy, it's in there.
GWYN: Chakotay.

[Ziggurat

(Infinity descends through the open middle of a big structure.)
ROK: I can't tell. Was this built in the past or the future?
DAL: Kind of looks like both.
POG: Hey, Jankom thought Chakotay needed our help, but apparently he's been living the high life. You sure we got the right place?
GWYN: Only one way to find out.
VOICE: Space. I merely open the door for your...
ROK: Is it just me or is anyone else getting a creepy feeling?
ZERO: Oh, so that's why there's hairs rising on the back of my neck. I like it.
DAL: Seems like nobody's home.
POG: Er, hey, Starfleet guy, are you here?
ROK: Really?
DAL: I'm starting to question if leaving Voyager to chase down mysterious coordinates from a man lost in time was a good idea.
VOICE: They're coming.
VOICE 2: But we can't just abandon...
ZERO: Oh, goodness.
VOICE: There are other realities, others who need us. This plane is doomed.
GWYN: I get the sense there's much more to this than we realise.
(It is a giant statue of a humanoid.)
ZERO: The lifesign does appear to be in that direction.
VOICE: It is not our place to interfere. We must go.
DAL: Oh, wow.
VOICE 2: I won't leave. I'll find a way.
DAL: Oh, that's one big door.
ZERO: Appears to be some kind of vault from mid-20th century Earth.
ROK: What's it doing here?
DAL: Should we open it?
POG: Well, like you said, only one way to find out. Huh? Er...
(The vault door opens itself.)
DAL: Captain Chakotay?
WESLEY: Not exactly. I'm Wesley Crusher, and I've been waiting for you.
JANEWAY [OC]: Admiral's log, supplemental. The hunt for our missing recruits continues, and the Infinity's warp trail has led us to an abandoned Borg transwarp conduit. We can only hope our young Protostar crew are safe on the other side.

[Ready room]

JANEWAY: Come.
EMH: We've continued to study the missing time surrounding the attack on Gwyn's holographic duplicate, and were able to isolate the ship's security feed before she went offline.
NOUM: Then we found this doozy.
JANEWAY: That's the sound she was afraid of.
EMH: We believe some sort of entity manipulated time to enter Voyager undetected, specifically targeting Gwyn.
NOUM: But it was fooled, just as you all were. I always knew it was a hologram.
JANEWAY: An entity that can manipulate time, hunting a crew member displaced by time. As if I needed another reason to dislike time travel. If this predator is after one of our own, we'll need to hunt them down first before it's too late.
TYSESS [OC]: Bridge to Janeway.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
TYSESS [OC]: You have an incoming message from Admiral Jellico.
JANEWAY: In my ready room.
JELLICO [on screen]: Vice Admiral Janeway, last I checked, your orders were to return to Earth. So why are you leaving Federation space?
JANEWAY: Admiral, some of my crew have gone missing, and I don't know why. I have reason to believe there's a strange entity in pursuit.
JELLICO [on screen]: I believe that you believe that, Kathryn, but after your recent performance, you're under strict orders. You can come back and file a formal request with Starfleet Command if you want, but we can't keep having you zip off like this when there are larger matters at stake here.
JANEWAY: Edward, I only have three rules when captaining a starship. Keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew.
JELLICO [on screen]Janeway... (distorted)
JANEWAY: Edward?
JELLICO [on screen]: I order you to...
JANEWAY: Edward? I'm losing you. We're going through a transwarp tunnel. (ends comms) What? Technically, we are.

[Ziggurat]

WESLEY: Ah, thank the cosmos you made it. One, two, three, four, five. Okay, good, all six of you. Perfect! Good. That's great. Oh, oh, wait. I'm sorry. This is the first time we've met, isn't it? I'm so rude. Time is such a funny thing. I'm sorry that it's so draughty in here. Does anybody need a sweater? I have got more sweaters than you would believe. Of course I didn't forget about our little talks, Murf. This guy, he's such vulgar language.
DAL: Er... I don't want to be rude, but where's Chakotay and where's our ship?
WESLEY: They're not here. But, but, you are halfway there, which is exactly where you need to be.
POG: Halfway? Who is this guy?
WESLEY: I'm Wesley Crusher. I thought I told you that. I... Look, think of me as your guardian angel, or if you don't have angels where you come from, think of me as the interdimensional equivalent of a guardian angel.
ROK: Wait...
WESLEY: That made sense in my head.
ROK: The Wesley Crusher? Member of Nova Squadron? Genius of the Enterprise D? Made acting ensign at age 15?
WESLEY: Well, I mean, not in that order, but yeah. Listen, long story short, I am a time traveller who's run out of time. I just, I just want to... The doctor's version is fine. The doctor's done a great job with you. You're totally fine for now. Sort of.
GWYN: Okay, but why are you helping us? And why all the secret clues? Where's Chakotay?
WESLEY: Right, sorry. I forgot the most important part. There is so much going on up here. Man, linear time. This is such a trip. Hey, I should have said this out loud. You should all be following me.
DAL: Should we?
POG: Oh boy. This guy is one nebula short of a galaxy.
ZERO: We've come this far. Perhaps we should hear him out.

[Vault]

WESLEY: I know. This is the best I can do. Ah! Yes, the important stuff. Okay. When I was a young man on the Enterprise, I met an advanced being called the Traveller. He was part of a secret faction of explorers who watch over the cosmos. Very cool. They invited me to become one of them, helping where we could by manipulating reality itself with the powers of space, time, and the most overlooked variable, thought.
GWYN: I heard knowledge is power, but I didn't think it was literal.
WESLEY: Oh, thought is everything. Thought is a very powerful tool, beyond what most beings understand. Like, a lot of folks, turns out they need our help, and they don't even know it.
ROK: So you're like the interdimensional version of Starfleet.
WESLEY: Kind of, but we do more of our own thing. Hey, could you point this at that for like, I want to say 30 seconds in a counter-clockwise motion for me.
ROK: I don't know what this is, but totally. One tribble tribble, two tribble tribble...
WESLEY: You're doing great. Okay, once I learned how to move across time and dimensions, the Travellers taught me when I could intervene and when I couldn't, since time is a fragile thing. And that is the hardest part of it for me. The Travellers have this hands-off approach to maintaining the cosmic balance between the different universes, but right now, in this moment, I do not. Okay, now you hold this, and whatever you do, don't look at it.
DAL: Whoa, whoa, back up. I just wrapped my head around time travel.
POG: And now you're saying there's different universes?
WESLEY: Oh, sure, tons. Quantum timelines, alternate realities, planes of existence, take your pick, I've been to all of them. There's the Prime Universe we're in right now, there's the Mirror Universe, the Narada Incursion, Fluidic Space, the Mycelial Plane. Ooo, you're not supposed to know about that. Okay, forget I said anything about that, it doesn't exist. But all of it together, it forms a grand tapestry. It is exquisite but fragile, and it is always one tug away from completely unravelling. It's sort of like your favourite sweater. So sometimes a loose thread or a paradox pokes a hole in it, which causes the cosmic tapestry to fray.
DAL: A paradox?
ROK: An impossible situation.
ZERO: Like, if the Protostar never arrived on Tars Lamora, so therefore...
GWYN: I can't exist, but yet I do.
WESLEY: Exactly. Right now, we're living in an impossible time. Thanks to that wormhole shielding snafu, this universe is trying to exist in two states at once, and that's causing it to unravel. First in small ways, like Gwyn, but it doesn't stop there. These holes in the universe, they can't stay open forever, or they also let cosmic scavengers in. They feed on dying timelines, like moths drawn to an old sweater.
POG: Did you just say feed?
WESLEY: I did. Like vultures, but way worse. You, me, and everyone whose lives you touched will be on the menu. After the Temporal Wars, there just aren't many of us left to repair timelines. Sadly, the Travellers found the paradox created by the missing Protostar too impossible to fix. But this universe is my home. My mom lives here, and I am not gonna let it die.
DAL: Er... tiny question. How do we not all die?
GWYN: If these cosmic scavengers devour me, will everyone else be saved?
WESLEY: It's bigger than just you, Gwyn. It's bigger than all of us now. But there is a way to fix the sweater, by closing the time loop and sending the Protostar back to the past where it belongs.
POG: Sorry, but didn't we already know that?
WESLEY: Yes, you did, but what you didn't know, it can't go back just yet. So after scouring infinite timelines, I finally glimpsed one eventuality where the Prime Universe gets through this without endless suffering. Now, I don't know how to make it happen yet, but what I do know is that the six of you must stay together.
GWYN: Great. So I don't get eaten.
POG: Or we all get eaten together.
ROK: I like the future where there's no eating at all.
WESLEY: Don't worry. I've got a plan. I have most of a plan. That's why I brought you here. Actually, you're supposed to be over here. I think I can figure out what you're supposed to do next and where to go. I just need to align your quantum signatures. Take a few readings first.
POG: Told you. One nebula short of a galaxy.
DAL: Okay, okay. Time out, time guy.
WESLEY: You were supposed to stay in your spot. And you can totally call me Wes.
DAL: Look, Wes, I appreciate you trying to help us and all, but is there, like, a supervisor we can talk to or something?
WESLEY: How do you know about the Supervisors?
DAL: Er...
WESLEY: You know what? Forget it. You don't know about the supervisors. And we don't have time for that anyway.
GWYN: What's wrong?
WESLEY: It's too soon. They shouldn't be here.
DAL: Er... he stopped talking. I thought I wanted that, but it's scarier when he's not talking...
(Time slows and stops.)
GWYN: Dal? Rok? What did you do to them?
WESLEY: It's not me. Oh, it doesn't make any sense. We're supposed to be hidden from them.
GWYN: From who? Wesley, what are you talking about?
WESLEY: Remember those cosmic scavengers I told you about? The ones that feed on broken realities?
GWYN: I know that sound.
WESLEY: Oh, no. They found us. Come on, quick. With me.

[Tunnels]

WESLEY: I thought I had more time. You never do when you need it.
GWYN: I can't leave my friends behind with those time monsters.
WESLEY: They're called the Loom, and they've frozen reality so they can feed. Luckily, you're not the only one with a temporal stabiliser. I have more stashed away, but we've got to get to them. They're the only way to free your friends from the Loom's time manipulation.
GWYN: How did they find us?
WESLEY: Well, unfortunately, we're time aberrations, which, for the Loom, is like a subspace navigational beacon transmitting across all frequencies. They can smell us a mile away.
GWYN: Great. We're walking paradoxes.
WESLEY: Yeah, but we should really be running paradoxes.
GWYN: That's why you didn't contact us directly. It would have lured these things.
WESLEY: I tried reaching out in undetectable ways, like through Murf or Chakotay's symbol. I mean, clearly it's all a moot point now.
GWYN: Why are we stopping?
WESLEY: Ah ha! I found it!
(Pulls open the rock wall.)
GWYN: What did you just do?
WESLEY: Space, time, thought... and gadgets. Here, hold these.
(Closes the wall.)
WESLEY: Quick, pretend to look scared.
GWYN: Who's pretending? I am scared!
(Repeats via Wesley's gadgets as diversions as they run. The Loom are visible.)
WESLEY: Not that way.
GWYN: We're trapped!
WESLEY: Trapped is only a state of mind. Put your hand next to mine. Okay, focus, breathe, and push... now!
(They push the rock to make a new tunnel to where they left the others.)

[Ziggurat]

WESLEY: Ah ha!
(Wesley closes the tunnel just as the Loom get there.)
GWYN: Talk about mind over matter.
(She puts a temporal stabiliser on Zero.)
ZERO: Oh.
(Wesley has a giant one for Rok. Gwyn does Dal.)
DAL: What the...? What just happened?
(Everyone is restored.)
WESLEY: The Loom happened.
ROK: What are the Loom?
WESLEY: Interdimensional scavenger beings that can manipulate time in order to eat dying timelines like this one.
GWYN: They're bad, Rok. Real, real bad.
(The Loom arrive.)
WESLEY: Stay back. Get behind me.
(One drops to the floor.)
DAL: Ah! Ah! Use your phasers!
ZERO: They seem unphased.
WESLEY: Put your hands on the door, now!
(More Loom approach.)
WESLEY: Hang on!
(They spin down a vortex.)

[Apartment]

(A record player starts.)
GWYN: Where are we?
WESLEY: Someplace safe. For now. Wow! Wow! That was a close call. I don't know about you guys, but I could sure use a snack. Uh, Earth grapes, anybody?

[Voyager bridge]

(Voyager arrives at the debris field.)
TYSESS: Remodulating long-range scanners.
JANEWAY: Ingenious. Hidden within a pocket of subspace. Prep an away team to beam down and investigate. Who knows what's waiting for us down there?