Blink Of An Eye : Episode 132 Part A :: EPISODE GUIDES

episode title
Part A

On Voyager's bridge, Janeway and Chakotay stand a little distance behind Paris. They look at the viewscreen as they approach a most unusual planet.
Paris: "That's one planet that never showed up on the multiple-choice exam."
Tuvok: "Its gravimetric readings are similar to that of a collpased dwarf star. It also resembles a quasar in that it has a high rate of rotation - approximately 58 revolutions per minute."
Janeway to Chakotay: "Shall we take a closer look?"
Chakotay: "It's what we're here for."
Janeway: "Tom, put us in a high orbit."
Paris: "Aye." Voyager heads for the planet."
Suddenly there is a problem. Tuvok reports: "Our warp drive is offline."
Chakotay: "Why?"
Tuvok re-checks his instruments. "Unknown."
Janeway: "Back us off."
Paris: "Our impulse engines aren't responding."
Janeway: "Then use the auxiliary thrusters."
Kim: "We're in some kind of gravimetric gradient. It's pulling us towards the planet."
Voyager hurtles toward the planet!

The planet's society is at a primitive stage of development. At that moment, somewhere on the planet surface's night side, one of the natives brings a basket of specially chosen fruits to sacrifice to one of the star deities, Tahal.

Suddenly the ground shakes violently and the tribal alien falls over. When he gets up, he is amazed - a new and very bright star-god appears in the sky!
music, sound of ground tremor and music heralding Voyager's appearance

The tribe's shaman walks out to the altar. He observes: "The new one is brighter than Tahal or any of his brothers in the Sky."
Worshipper: "What does he want from us?"
Shaman: "To answer that, we must learn the nature of this god. We must understand the reason for his arrival. You were making an offering to Tahal."
Worshipper: "I placed the fire food on his altar, then the ground shook. I looked up, and the new one was there."
Shaman: "The fire fruit. Where is it?"
The other picks it up from where it had fallen on the ground when the earth shook. Respectfully he presents it to the shaman.

"The new one doesn't want Tahal to have the fire fruit." Having made his religious interpretion, he commands: "Make an altar for him, as big as Tahal's. The fire fruit is only for the new one, no more for the people." An attendant nods - it will be done.

The shaman holds out the fire fruit in his hands, looking Skywards, and prays to the new god. "Ground-shaker, Light-bringer, take this today and every day. Accept our offering. Do not harm us."

On the Bridge, Janeway orders: "Report."
Tuvok: "We're in synchronous orbit, fifty-seven thousand kilometres above the planet's equator."
Chakotay: "Good work, Tom. Now let's see if"
Paris: "You're patting the wrong guy on the back."
Janeway: "Explain."
Paris: "Our thrusters went offline halfway through our descent. We just stopped, like we were caught in something."
Tuvok: "I'm picking up a strong tachyon field along the hull. It could be what's holding us."
A com. signal sounds. comms. signal "Seven of Nine to the Bridge."
Janeway: "Go ahead, Seven."
Seven, via comms: "Please report to Astrometrics. There's something you must see."
Janeway: "On my way. Chakotay." She and Chakotay head for the turbolift to go down to deck 8, Astrometrics.

In the Astrometrics, Seven, Janeway and Chakotay gather at the main control console. Information about the planet is displayed and updated on the main viewscreen in front of them.
Seven: "This planet has a tachyon core. It's produced a subspace particle field which runs between the poles. Voyager's arrival disrupted that field."
Chakotay: "It looks like the ship's been caught in an eddy of some kind."
Janeway interprets more readings. "It's worse than that. Voyager seems to have become the planet's third pole."
Seven: "The imbalance is affecting the outer crust. I've picked up indications of high frequency seismic activity."
Janeway: "Caused by our presence?"
Seven: "Possibly."
Janeway: "Does anybody live down there?"
Seven checks the sensor readings. "The atmosphere is having a scattering effect on our sensors."
Chakotay, interested by something on the main screen display: "Is that vegetation?"
Seven: "According to sensors, yes."
Janeway: "The tachyon core has created a space-time differential between the planet and the surrounding space. We're watching the seasons change in a matter of seconds."
Seven: "For each second that passes on Voyager, nearly a day goes by on the planet."
Janeway: "Scan for inhabitants."
Seven does so then reports: "I can't isolate individual lifeforms. It'll take time to correct for the space-time differential."
Chakotay: "A couple of hundred years maybe?" To Janeway: "If our orbit starts to decay, Voyager will become to feel the effects of the differential and we'll begin aging hundreds of times faster than we would in normal space."
Janeway, realising the terrible significance: "Unless we want to live our lives in the blink of an eye, I suggest we find a way out of here."

Chakotay is with Torres in Engineering.
Chakotay: "How's our warp core?"
Torres: "The matter-antimatter reaction is still active. This field we're stuck in is raising hell with the nacelles. Until we break orbit, warp drive is offline."
Chakotay: "And without warp drive, we'll never leave orbit."
Torres: "That does pose a bit of a problem, doesn't it."

Chakotay: "Maybe the key is to learn more about this planet, in case we're missing something."
Torres: "Sensors aren't having an easy time of it either."
Chakotay: "Then let's modify a class 5 probe to a low orbit, see what we can pick up. Configure the program to scan along all subspace bands and set it for visual images every ten milliseconds."
Torres: "Snapshots? Why do I get the feeling you're not just interested in tachyon fields?"
Chakotay: "This could be the greatest anthropological find of my career. If there's an intelligent species down there we'll be able to track their development, not just for days or weeks but for centuries."

Torres: "Watch them discover new and better ways of hitting each other over the head."
Chakotay smiles. "They won't necessarily follow the Klingon model."
Torres: "As opposed to the human model?"

Torres prepares to start work reconfiguring the class-5 probe. "It'll take a few hours to make the adjustments."
Chakotay: "A few hours?" Lightly, "We might miss the rise and fall of a civilisation."
Torres is practical, and answers in similar light vein. "So we'll watch the next one."

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	The tribe's shaman walks out to the altar. He observes: "The new one is brighter than Tahal or any of his brothers in the Sky." Worshipper: "What does he want from us?" Shaman: "To answer that, we must learn the nature of this god. We must understand the reason for his arrival. You were making an offering to Tahal." Worshipper: "I placed the fire food on his altar, then the ground shook. I looked up, and the new one was there." Shaman: "The fire fruit. Where is it?" The other picks it up from where it had fallen on the ground when the earth shook. Respectfully he presents it to the shaman.
	"The new one doesn't want Tahal to have the fire fruit." Having made his religious interpretion, he commands: "Make an altar for him, as big as Tahal's. The fire fruit is only for the new one, no more for the people." An attendant nods - it will be done.
	The shaman holds out the fire fruit in his hands, looking Skywards, and prays to the new god. "Ground-shaker, Light-bringer, take this today and every day. Accept our offering. Do not harm us."