(Harry is dreaming.)
JANEWAY [OC]: Voyager to shuttlecraft Drake. Prepare for emergency transport. Mister Kim, can you hear me? We're attempting to lock on to you. Harry?
LIBBY: Harry? Hey, it's time to wake up. What's wrong?
KIM: Libby.
LIBBY: Yes?
KIM: This can't be happening.
LIBBY: What's wrong with you?
KIM: Libby, it's really you, isn't it?
LIBBY: Come on. You're going to be late.
KIM: What?
LIBBY: You have a meeting. Oh nine hundred, remember? You've only been obsessing about it for a week. I don't want Lieutenant Lasca blaming me because you weren't on time for the biggest meeting of your career. Now get dressed and I'll make you some breakfast.
(Later, Harry comes out of the bathroom in his uniform into his one room apartment. The bed has pride of place under the windows.)
LIBBY: Come on, the eggs are getting cold. What's with you today?
KIM: The date. What's the date?
LIBBY: The date?
KIM: What day is today?
LIBBY: 49011.
KIM: So this isn't the past. It's the present. San Francisco. This can't be a dream, it's too real. It's too clear. So what does that leave. A holodeck? A hallucination? Some kind of trick? The last thing, I remember was piloting a shuttlecraft on my way back to Voyager.
LIBBY: We both have a long day ahead of us. Could we play this little game another time, please?
KIM: No, you can't be Libby. It's not possible. My name is Ensign Harry Kim of the Federation Starship Voyager. Where am I? Is this some sort of simulation?
LIBBY: That's not funny, Harry, talking about Voyager like that. The memorial service was only two months ago. Danny was your best friend. How could you joke about it?
KIM: Danny? Danny Byrd?
LIBBY: I'm done with this conversation. Go to work. I'll see you tonight.
(Libby goes to get dressed.)
KIM: What is going on?

[Outside Cosimo's Coffee Shop]

(Harry leaves his apartment building in what according to a banner is the Mission District of the Old Town, which is having a festival on August 14. It is completely pedestrianised, with a subway entrance. Harry walks towards a coffee shop on the next intersection and the owner calls to him.)
COSIMO: Harry! Coming right up.
(Cosimo goes inside and comes back out with a take-away coffee for Harry.)
COSIMO: Here you go. Vulcan mocha, extra sweet.
KIM: Thanks.
COSIMO: So today's the big day, huh?
KIM: What do you mean?
COSIMO: You know, the meeting. The new ship you're designing. And don't forget. You promised to bring me a model. And I'm going to hang it right there in my window. And I'll tell everyone, Harry Kim, he designed that ship. He came into my shop every morning.
KIM: Look, I know this is going to sound a little funny, but how long have I been coming to this coffee shop?
COSIMO: How long? Well, let's see. Since you left the Academy. How is that? Eight? Eight months.
KIM: Eight months. And you've seen me every day?
COSIMO: Well, not every day. You like to sleep late on Sunday. But if I had your fiancée, I'd sleep late too.
KIM: Fiancée? We're getting married?
COSIMO: Ah, yes. There were many mornings I woke up, I said the same thing to myself when I was about to be married. But don't worry, it'll pass.
KIM: I don't think you've ever had a morning quite like this one.
(Another Starfleet officer calls to Harry.)
LASCA: Hey, Harry! You ready to go?
KIM: Er, where?
LASCA: Very funny. Come on. We'd better get moving if we're going to catch the transport to Headquarters.
KIM: I, I'm not sure I can go. I'm not feeling very well. Maybe I should just go home.
LASCA: Come on. Come on. It's just a case of the jitters. You'll do just fine.
(They walk back to the subway entrance for the Mission District Line of Trans Francisco.)

[Starfleet Headquarters]

(Silver haired senior officers in TNG black-shoulder uniforms sit on the other side of the big conference table. Lasca sets up his laptop for the presentation.)
LASCA: Relax, Harry. If all goes well, you'll walk out of this room a Lieutenant. Let me see that warp coil schematic.
KIM: The what?
LASCA: The coil diagram. The one with the new plasma flow equations.
KIM: I forgot to bring it.
LASCA: Forgot? Harry, we need that diagram to show that we worked out the dilithium fracture problem.
KIM: I'm sorry.
LASCA: Well, we'll just have to improvise.
(A middle aged Admiral enters.)
STRICKLER: Good morning. I have a meeting at eleven hundred hours with the head of Starfleet Security. She doesn't like to be kept waiting. Let's get this underway. Lieutenant Lasca?
LASCA: Thank you, Admiral.
(Lasca calls up a schematic on the wall screen.)
LASCA: Ladies and gentlemen, you are looking at the new runabout Yellowstone. It's equipped with tetryon plasma warp nacelles, and designed for a variety of mission profiles.
STRICKLER: Yes, Lieutenant. I've looked over your specifications. It's an interesting design. But how do you propose to address the dilithium fracture problem? Tetryon plasma tends to disrupt subspace.
LASCA: I'm actually glad you asked that question, sir. We've been working on the problem for several weeks, and I think you'll see that we have found an answer. I'd like to introduce you to the engineer who designed these new warp engines, and I might add, he is the most promising young engineer to come out of the Academy in a long time. Ensign Harry Kim. Harry?
STRICKLER: Is there a problem, Ensign?
KIM: Actually, sir, there is.
LASCA: (sotto) Come on, Harry. Pull it together. We've been waiting for this for six months.
STRICKLER: Ensign, are you ill?
KIM: Yes, sir. I'm very ill. I would like to continue this presentation at a later date.
STRICKLER: Well, unfortunately, Ensign, I'm leaving for a three week tour of the Cardassian border in a few days. It will have to wait until after then.
(The Admiral and senior officers leave.)
LASCA: Harry, you'd better be dying.

[Kim's office]

(A picture of him with Libby on the desk, a model of NCC1701D on a stand, various framed certificates on the wall. A massive computerised drafting board.)
KIM: Guess I'm pretty good. Computer, display my service record. (reads) Graduated Starfleet Academy stardate 47918. Requested duty on USS Voyager. Request denied. Requested transfer to Starfleet Engineering Corps. Transfer approved. Starship design specialist. Awarded the Cochrane Medal of Excellence for outstanding advances in warp theory. Computer, access Starfleet Science Academy database. Have there been any temporal anomalies in the space-time continuum reported in the last forty eight hours?
COMPUTER: Negative. No temporal anomalies have been reported.
KIM: Computer, has there been any contact with the starship Voyager since it was lost in the Badlands?
COMPUTER: Information on USS Voyager is classified. Security clearance level three or above is required to access files.
KIM: No problem. It's my ship, or at least I thought it was.
COMPUTER: Security authorisation accepted. Last recorded contact with USS Voyager prior to its disappearance was on stardate 48307.5.
KIM: Access Voyager crew manifest. Who was the operations officer on board?
COMPUTER: Ensign Daniel Byrd.
KIM: Danny.

[Outside Cosimo's Coffee Shop]

COSIMO: Harry! What are you doing back so early?
KIM: Oh, hi. I wasn't feeling too well, so I decided to come home.
COSIMO: Oh, you don't look sick to me. Coming home for a little visit with Libby, are we? Ah, to be young. Don't worry. I'll keep your secret.
KIM: Thanks. Listen, I know this is going to sound strange, but I forgot to look at the street number when I left this morning, and I don't remember which building I live in. Could you
COSIMO: Tell you where you live? You're not playing some kind of a prank on your old pal Cosimo, are you?
KIM: No, like I said, I haven't been feeling well, and everything's kind of foggy.
COSIMO: Okay, okay, okay. Well, you live right over there. Fourth floor, apartment four G.
KIM: Thanks.
COSIMO: Harry, don't look so concerned. Everything's going to work out. You have a wonderful job, a beautiful fiancée. Everything's going to be fine. Trust me, hmm?

[Kim's apartment]

(If this is the fourth floor they must be on a very tall hill, because they are looking down on the tops of skyscrapers through the window.)
LIBBY [OC]: Hello? Who's there?
KIM: It's just me, Libby.
(Libby comes in.)
LIBBY: Harry? Are you okay?
KIM: Yeah. I'm fine.
LIBBY: You feel a little warm. God, you're tense. Why don't you tell me what happened today?
KIM: Nothing. Everything. I'm not sure what happened.
LIBBY: But Harry, forget about work. Try to relax. You're home now. What can I do to help?
KIM: Just tell me you love me.
LIBBY: I tell you that every day. Aren't you getting sick of hearing it?
KIM: No. In fact, pretend I haven't heard you say it in a long time. Pretend that we haven't seen each other for months.
LIBBY: Okay. I love you, Harry. Welcome home. So, if we haven't seen each other for months, where have you been?
KIM: Oh, on a starship, thousands of light years away.
LIBBY: A mission?
KIM: Yeah. We got a little lost.
LIBBY: Oh. Sounds lonely.
KIM: You can't imagine.
LIBBY: Tell me something. You didn't stop at Risa along the way, did you?
KIM: No. No pleasure planet excursions, I'm afraid.
LIBBY: You thought about me the whole time?
KIM: Every day. Every nanosecond.
LIBBY: Do me a favour.
KIM: Hmm?
LIBBY: Don't ever leave me again.

[Kim's apartment - night]

(Candles flicker in tall holders. Kim disentangles himself from Libby and gets out of bed. He picks up his clarinet for a few moments then turns on the desk computer in the home office alcove. The database he looks at is Crew Manifest 74656.)
KIM: Orlando, Parsons, Peterson, Platt, Porter. Wait a minute. Paris. Where's Tom Paris? Computer, access service record of Starfleet officer Thomas Eugene Paris. (reads) Convicted of treason. Sentenced to eighteen months at the New Zealand Penal Settlement. Paroled on stardate 48702. Last reported whereabouts, Marseilles, France.
LIBBY: Harry? It's four in the morning. What are you doing?
KIM: Oh, I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd catch up on some work.
(He turns off the screen.)
LIBBY: When are you going to tell me what's going on?
KIM: There's nothing going on, okay?
LIBBY: You're not a very good liar, Harry. You've been acting strange all day. And I'm not the only one who's worried about you. Lieutenant Lasca called this afternoon. He said he's never seen you so agitated, so don't tell me there's nothing going on.
KIM: Libby, it's hard to explain right now. And I do want to tell you, but I need you to trust me.
LIBBY: I do trust you. I love you. That's why I'm marrying you. I would hope you would have the same trust in me.
KIM: All right. This, this is going to sound a little crazy from your perspective, but I am not who you think I am.
LIBBY: Oh?
KIM: All of this, it's not supposed to be happening. I don't belong here.
LIBBY: If you're having second thoughts about getting married, why didn't you just say so?
KIM: You don't understand. What I'm trying to say is, I'm from another reality.
LIBBY: Another reality.
KIM: That's right.
LIBBY: Harry, you're starting to scare me.
KIM: I know. I'm scared too.
LIBBY: Maybe you should talk to a counsellor, a neurologist. There may be something wrong with you.
KIM: I will, but there's someone else I need to see first.
LIBBY: Where are you going?
KIM: Marseilles, France.
LIBBY: What for?
KIM: I've got to see Paris.
LIBBY: But you just said you were going to Marseilles.
KIM: It's a long story. Trust me, okay?
LIBBY: Okay.

[Sandrine's, Marseilles]

(By the waterfront. An alien leaves as Kim enters the familiar location and leans against the infamous pool table.)
PARIS: Hey. Watch it, will you? I'm trying to set up a shot here.
KIM: Tom.
PARIS: Who the hell are you?
KIM: You don't know me, do you?
PARIS: Sure. We were at the Academy together, right?
KIM: No.
PARIS: Oh. Well, it must have been the Exeter. We served on the Exeter together?
KIM: Try Voyager.
PARIS: Ah, Voyager. Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I never set foot on that ship. And I can't say that I'm sorry, considering what happened to it.
KIM: You know about the mission to the Badlands?
PARIS: Oh, yeah. Captain Janeway asked if I'd help her track down that Maquis ship in exchange for an early release from the penal colony.
KIM: But you said no?
PARIS: What? Are you kidding? I said yes! It sounded better than Starfleet Rehab. Anyway, I got as far as Deep Space Nine, where I got into a bar fight with a Ferengi, and I was thrown into the brig by a very unpleasant shapeshifter. Janeway tried to get me released but my parole was revoked by Starfleet Command. Voyager left without me.
KIM: That Ferengi, was he trying to sell you Lobi crystals?
PARIS: Yeah. How do you know about that?
KIM: Because I was there. In my reality, anyway. Tom, I know this is going to sound crazy, but I was on Voyager and so were you. You never got into a bar fight with that Ferengi. You stopped him from selling me Lobi crystals. And you did lead us into the Badlands.
PARIS: You're right. That does sound crazy.
KIM: Something's happened. Somehow, reality has been changed. A temporal anomaly, an alien influence, I can't explain how. All I know is that it's true. I was in a shuttlecraft heading back to Voyager, and then I woke up here on Earth.
PARIS: What is it you want?
KIM: Come with me to Starfleet Headquarters. Help me run a computer simulation of what happened on that shuttle. You're the best pilot I've ever seen, and if anyone can figure it out, it's you.
PARIS: (laughing) You had me there for a minute. You really did. But then you blew it.
KIM: What are you talking about?
PARIS: You're not getting me to set foot inside Starfleet Headquarters. So you tell whatever admiral or captain who sent you that I'm not interested in being another pawn in one of their games.
KIM: It's not a game!
PARIS: Oh, it isn't? Oh, that's a shame. I like games.
KIM: You once told me that you used to treat life like one big game. Rules, players, winners, losers. You never took any of it seriously until you lost.
PARIS: You know, you're starting to annoy me.
KIM: You also told me you were afraid of what would happen to you if you didn't take Captain Janeway up on her offer. Now I see why.
PARIS: What do you see, Ensign?
KIM: A loser and a drunk.
(Paris tries to punch Kim, and ends up with his arm behind his back, pushed down onto the pool table.)
KIM: I guess in this reality, that's all you'll ever be.
(Someone just like Cosimo watches Kim leave.)

[Kim's apartment]

(Two Starfleet security officers are waiting as Kim enters.)
KIM: What's going on?
LASCA: Harry, just relax.
KIM: Why does everyone say relax when they're about to do something terrible?
LASCA: Starfleet knows what you've been doing.
KIM: Which is what exactly?
LASCA: Breaking into classified files, using forged security access codes.
KIM: I haven't forged anything. And I can explain.
LASCA: That's why we're here. We're going to take you back to Starfleet Headquarters. They want to ask you a few questions.
LIBBY: Harry, please. Just go with them. Tell them what you told me. Everything will be all right.
KIM: I don't think I have a choice at the moment. I'll see you later.

[Starfleet Headquarters]

STRICKLER: You claim to have Voyager security protocols because you were an officer on Voyager.
KIM: Yes, sir.
STRICKLER: Lost in the Delta Quadrant.
KIM: Yes, sir.
STRICKLER: And Ensign Daniel Byrd. You say that he's taken your place on that ship?
KIM: Yes, sir.
STRICKLER: And this is all because reality has been changed somehow?
KIM: Yes, sir.
STRICKLER: But you don't have a single shred of evidence to back up your claims.
(An aide brings the Admiral a PADD.)
LASCA: Harry, I don't doubt for a minute that you believe you're telling the truth, but we have to consider all the possibilities.
KIM: Like what?
LASCA: Like you could be delusional, or you could have had your memory centres altered so that you think what you're saying is the truth. Or you could be an alien masquerading as Harry Kim.
KIM: That's crazy. I am Harry Kim. Check my DNA if you don't believe me. Run a microcellular scan of my cerebral cortex to see if my memory's been altered. Everything I'm saying is true.
STRICKLER: Mister Kim, why did you travel to Marseilles, France this morning?
KIM: I went to look up an old friend.
STRICKLER: You have poor taste in friends. Thomas Paris is a convicted traitor and a Maquis sympathiser. Now, what did you talk about with him?
KIM: I tried to tell him what's happened. I wanted his help.
STRICKLER: His help to run a shuttle simulation. Why?
KIM: To figure out how I got here and how I can get back. There must be a temporal anomaly somewhere or. You think I'm a spy, don't you. You think I'm working for the Maquis.
STRICKLER: We're here to find the truth, Ensign, whatever that might be.
KIM: That's it! I'm not answering any more questions until I have legal counsel.
STRICKLER: You have that right.
LASCA: Harry, we want to help you but try to understand. What you are telling us doesn't make much sense. All we know so far is that you have been seen talking with a Maquis criminal, and you've broken into classified Starfleet records. Until there is something else, something concrete, those are the facts in this case, and you have to admit, the facts look pretty bad.
(A security officer enters and puts an ankle tag on Kim.)
STRICKLER: We will be monitoring your movements until further notice. I believe you know the restrictions. No off-world travel, and if you tamper with the anklet, Security will be immediately alerted and you will be formally charged. Do you understand?
KIM: Yes, Admiral.
STRICKLER: We'll be spending a lot of time together, Ensign. And I assure you, we will get to the bottom of this. You're dismissed.

[Outside Cosimo's Coffee Shop]

COSIMO: Troubles, Harry?
KIM: You could say that.
COSIMO: Let's have some coffee.
(They sit at a pavement table.)
COSIMO: I was sent here to watch you, to make sure that you were all right. But it's now clear that you are not.
KIM: Who are you?
COSIMO: We exist in what you would call a temporal inversion fold in the space-time matrix. It's not necessary to understand. It only matters that there was an accident. Your shuttle intersected one of our time streams, and boom! A few things were altered as the result of the accident. History and events were scrambled a bit, and you ended up here.
KIM: Well, you've got to get me back.
COSIMO: We don't know how.
KIM: What?
COSIMO: We only know that an accident occurred. We don't know how or why.
KIM: Well, that's not good enough. There's got to be something we can do. Where is this time stream of yours? Maybe I can use it to get back.
COSIMO: The time stream weaves through the galaxy like a thread. I could show you how to find it, and you could try to recreate the conditions that existed before the accident, and fly back into it, but there's no guarantee what will happen to you if you do.
KIM: What do you mean?
COSIMO: Well, you may be able to change reality again, but there's no way to predict how it would change. You could end up at any point in the space-time continuum. You might return to your original reality, or you might find yourself a billion years in the future. Or at some time before sentient life even existed on your planet.
KIM: I guess I'll have to take that chance, because somehow I have to get back.
COSIMO: Are you so sure? This is a pretty good place for you, Harry. You have a wonderful job with Starfleet, a beautiful woman who loves you. Why be so quick to turn your back on all this? Maybe this is your, er, fate. Isn't that the word your people use? That thing which was meant to be? Hmm? Seems to me you're actually a very lucky man.
KIM: What about Danny Byrd? He isn't so lucky. And Tom Paris? Fate wasn't so kind to him. No, it isn't supposed to be this way. I'm supposed to be on Voyager in the Delta Quadrant. And that's where I have to go.
COSIMO: Very well.
(Cosimo hands over a computer disc.)
COSIMO: This will tell you where the time stream intersects this region of space. That's as much as I can do for you.
KIM: Thanks.
COSIMO: Good luck, Harry Kim of Voyager. You're going to need it. Unless of course, you decide to stay. In which case, I'll see you in the morning, same time. Vulcan mocha, extra sweet.

[Kim's apartment]

(Kim works on removing the security anklet. Libby comes out the alcove.)
KIM: Libby. I didn't hear you come in.
LIBBY: Obviously. You're in enough trouble as it is. What do you want them to do, put you in prison?
KIM: No. I'm just trying to get back to where I belong.
LIBBY: Where you belong. You used to say you belonged here with me. But I guess everything's changed, hasn't it?
KIM: Look, I know the last few days must have been pretty tough on you.
LIBBY: Do you? Do you really know what it's like when the person you love suddenly changes?
KIM: It's still me. The guy who was in your seat at the Ktarian music festival. The guy who took three weeks to work up the courage to ask you out. The guy who still wakes up in the middle of the night and says your name out loud, hoping you'll answer back.
LIBBY: But if you're really Harry, you wouldn't be trying so hard to get away from me.
KIM: I'm not trying to get away from you. I love you. And I promise you, I want to stay here more than anything. But I can't.
LIBBY: I don't understand. I don't understand any of this.
KIM: I don't think anybody knows me as well as you do, so you of all people should know that once I've made up my mind about something, I can't let it go. In some ways, it'd be a lot easier to forget about Voyager, just settle in here and build a life. But that wouldn't be me. You wouldn't be getting the Harry Kim you fell in love with. Does that make any sense?
(The anklet starts beeping.)
KIM: The tampering alarm. Security will be here any second. I'd better go. I promise you, I'm going to try to get back. It may take a while, and I may not make it, but I swear, I will try.
(Security beams into the alcove. Kim gets out onto the fire escape. Libby closes the window and stops the security officers from following.) LIBBY: Sorry.

[Street]

(A security officer dives at Kim from a lower level window, and gets elbowed for his trouble. Kim makes it to ground level.)
SECURITY: Hold it!
(The chase is on.)

[Another street]

(Kim is rugby tackled to the ground, then the security guard takes out his phaser.)
SECURITY: Get up!
PARIS: Excuse me.
(Paris punches the security guard. Very hard.)
PARIS: Ow! There goes my bank shot.
(Paris takes the phaser.)
KIM: What are you doing here?
PARIS: Helping out a friend. Let's go.
(The crowd do not stop them.)

[Alleyway]

KIM: So, how did you find me?
PARIS: I still have a few friends at Starfleet. They told me you were in some serious trouble.
KIM: Yeah. Starfleet thinks I'm a Maquis spy.
PARIS: I know the feeling. Those security anklets really chafe, don't they?
KIM: You're the last person I expected to help me.
PARIS: Let's just say it's been a long time since anybody gave a damn about my future, including me. I don't know if I'm supposed to be on Voyager like you've told me, but it sounds a whole lot better than the life I have here. I'm willing to take my chances, Ensign.
KIM: Call me Harry. You always did.
PARIS: Won't be long before they find us. We better keep moving.
KIM: Wait. I found a way to get back to my reality. The problem is I'll need a ship to do it. I think I have access to a runabout, but I'm going to have to break it out of Spacedock.
PARIS: Sounds to me like you need a pilot.
KIM: Know anyone who's qualified?
PARIS: I know someone who used to be pretty good. And if I'm not mistaken, he still knows a few tricks.
KIM: I have an office at Starfleet Headquarters. I think we can access the runabout launch codes from there.
PARIS: Site-to-site transporter. With friends like mine, you never know when it'll come in handy. Where's your office?
KIM: Main complex, level six, subsection forty seven.
PARIS: I can beam us in. But we'll only have a few minutes before Security starts kicking down the door.
KIM: Let's do it.

[Kim's office]

PARIS: So, Harry, once we're on board the runabout, what's the plan?
KIM: The alien said that if I recreate the conditions of the accident and fly into the time stream, there's a chance I might be able to get back into my reality.
PARIS: Might?
KIM: He couldn't give me any guarantees.
PARIS: Security's just been alerted to an unauthorised transport in the building. It'll take them another twenty seconds to track it to this office. How are you coming?
KIM: Almost there. I've bypassed the runabout's security lockouts.
PARIS: They're onto us. We've got to go.
KIM: Hold on. I almost got it.
(Security enter.)
PARIS: Now!
(One of the security officers fires his phaser. They duck behind the drafting board and there is a transporter sound.)

[Runabout Yellowstone]

KIM: Overriding initialisation codes. Main power coming online.
PARIS: Let's get those engines going.
KIM: Powering up main fusion reactor.
COMPUTER: Intruder alert. Unauthorised launch in progress.
PARIS: Space doors closing.
KIM: Warp core and main propulsion are online.
PARIS: Releasing docking clamps. Moorings clear. Here we go.
(Paris does the traditional ninety degree roll to get through the gap in the space doors.)
PARIS: We're clear.
KIM: I'm entering the coordinates of the time stream into the main computer.
PARIS: Adjusting course to match. Going to full impulse.
KIM: We've got a starship on our tail. Nebula class.
PARIS: I'll try to lose them, Harry, but they're a lot faster than we are.
MAN [OC]: Attention runabout Yellowstone. Power down your engines or we will open fire.
KIM: They're going to try to do everything they can to stop us. They think we're trying to steal this prototype.
PARIS: They're closing to five thousand kilometres.
(Bang!)
KIM: Shields down to seventy percent. Fifty percent.
(Bang! Sparks.)
KIM: Twenty nine percent.
PARIS: I thought you said this ship was new and improved.
KIM: It is, but it looks like they haven't finished working on the defensive systems. In fact, some of the safety interlocks aren't even in place. A few more of those hits and I don't.
(Bang!)
KIM: We're losing antimatter containment. Attempting to stabilise the field.
PARIS: We're approaching the coordinates of the time stream.
KIM: The containment field is weakening. We could be looking at a core breach.
PARIS: The ship's closing to three thousand kilometres.
KIM: If we can't shake them off, maybe we can slow them down a little. This runabout is equipped with tetryon plasma warp nacelles.
PARIS: So?
KIM: Tetryon plasma emits multiflux gamma radiation. It disrupts subspace.
PARIS: We could vent the warp plasma. The second they hit the plasma cloud, their engines would stall. Give us a few seconds of breathing room.
KIM: Exactly.
PARIS: Unlocking the warp drive manifold.
KIM: Venting drive plasma.
PARIS: Any second. They've dropped to one tenth impulse. Our containment field's at critical. We'd better hurry.
KIM: All right. Let's recreate my shuttle accident. I think I was travelling at one hundred and forty thousand kph.
PARIS: You think?
KIM: Look, that was another lifetime. I'm doing the best I can.
PARIS: Increasing speed to one hundred and forty thousand kph.
KIM: Now, I also remember running a polaron scan. The scanning beam was sweeping at a radius of half a million kilometres. No, wait. A quarter million. Activating polaron scan. That should do it.
PARIS: Approaching coordinates. Impact in four, three, two.
KIM: Did we miss it?
PARIS: We passed through the coordinates, but the runabout was unaffected. The starship has repowered its engines. They'll be here in under a minute.
KIM: I have to get into that time stream. Wait a minute, I'm forgetting something. The emergency transport. The last thing I remember hearing was Captain Janeway's comm voice. She said she was trying to beam me off the shuttle. That's it. I've got to beam off the ship.
PARIS: Are you crazy?
KIM: We have to recreate all the conditions of the accident, including that one. We just lost antimatter containment. Twenty five seconds to core breach.
PARIS: I've locked onto the time stream. Get on the transporter pad.
KIM: Not yet. The core is breaching. We've got to shut it down first.
PARIS: There's no time. That ship'll be here in another thirty seconds.
KIM: In fifteen seconds this ship is going to explode. You'll be killed.
PARIS: Look. If you're right, then things will be changed back to the way they're supposed to be, and you'll find me back on Voyager.
KIM: And if I'm wrong, if this doesn't work, you'll be blown up right here.
PARIS: Go!
(Paris pushes Kim onto the transporter pad and activates it. Yellowstone goes KaBOOM!)

[Shuttlecraft Drake]

JANEWAY [OC]: Voyager to shuttlecraft Drake. Prepare for emergency transport. Mister Kim, can you hear me? We're attempting to lock on to you. Harry?
KIM: Kim here, Captain.
JANEWAY [OC]: Harry, we need you to drop your shields.
KIM: Stand by.

[Bridge]

KIM [OC]: Shields down, Captain.
JANEWAY: Lieutenant.
TORRES: The anomaly is sending out heavy subspace distortions. I can't get a positive lock on him.
PARIS: The hull is starting to buckle under the stress. He won't survive much longer.
CHAKOTAY: Tuvok, can you boost the transporter signal?
TUVOK: Negative. The signal is at maximum gain.
PARIS: Ten seconds to hull breach.
JANEWAY: He's just out of reach. B'Elanna, can you tie the transporter directly into the main deflector dish? Use it to extend the signal?
TORRES: I'll try.
PARIS: Hull breach in progress.
TORRES: We've got him, Captain.
JANEWAY: Mister Chakotay, analyse the sensor logs. I want to know what happened out there.
CHAKOTAY: Aye, Captain.
JANEWAY: Voyager to Transporter room two. Are you all right, Mister Kim?
KIM [OC]: I think so, Captain. Is Lieutenant Paris there?
JANEWAY: Yes, he's here. Why?
KIM [OC]: It's a long story.
JANEWAY: I look forward to hearing it. I'll be in my Ready room.
(A little later, Kim enters.)
CHAKOTAY: We think your shuttlecraft was caught in some kind of temporal anomaly.
KIM: A time stream?
CHAKOTAY: Yes, you could call it that.
KIM: I've already been briefed, Commander.
PARIS: Welcome back. Kind of a rough ride, huh? What is it, Harry?
KIM: I owe you one.