FUTURE'S END
Episodes 50 and 51
Part A

 

In 1967, somewhere in the High Sierras, California, a camper listens to the radio as he sits by the fire. He is a hippy, has long hair, and has a tattoo on his left forearm.

Radio news reader: "....demonstration at UC Santa Cruz campus last night. Tear gas was used to disperse a crowd of 3,000 angry students. The temperature right now in downtown Barstow is 75°-" During the news report, his listener bangs some of his cooking equipment to imitate playing drums.

Suddenly there is a loud sound and bright lights flash in the sky. The radio stops transmitting and there is only static. As the hippy bangs the radio, the ground shakes and a crashing sound. The hippy gets up.

Curious, he finds his way to the source. He exclaims: "Far out!"

On USS Voyager, in the present (year 2373), Janeway is practising tennis in the Captain's Ready Room.

The door signal sounds. "Come in!" The door opens. Tuvok enters, and catches the ball that Janeway mishits in his direction. Janeway: "Oh, sorry Tuvok. I was just practising my serve." Tuvok: "Your serve?"

Janeway: "Tennis. After 19 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 surmises: "You play tennis." Tuvok: "Simple physics, Captain." Janeway tries a serve again. "Not as simple as when I played on the high school tennis team. What can I do for you, Tuvok?"

Tuvok, handing her a PADD: "I've completed my monthly security evaluation." She looks at the report. "All systems and crew-" The com. signal sounds. Chakotay broadcasts shipwide, via comms: "Red alert! Captain Janeway to the Bridge."

She and Tuvok hurry from the Ready Room onto the Bridge. Tuvok goes to his post at security/tactical and Janeway sits in the captain's chair. She is still holding the tennis ball.

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."

The small ship emits an enormous beam of energy which strikes Voyager heavily. Chakotay: "Shields up! Hail them again." Tuvok: "Shields are down." Janeway: "Get us out of here."

Paris: "Helm control is offline."

Kim: "He's firing some kind of subatomic disruptor."

Janeway: "Return fire." Tuvok does so. "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." A human appears on the viewscreen: "Starship Voyager, I'm Captain Braxton of the Federation Timeship Aeon. I've come from 29th century Earth, 500 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." He leans forward. Forcefully: "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!"

Tuvok: "He's remodulating the subatomic disruptor." Braxton fires on Voyager. "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."
Braxton fires again and Voyager trembles violently on impact.
Chakotay: "Doesn't look like we're going to get it."
Janeway: "Adjust our deflector to try and match the frequency of his weapon. Try to overload his emitter."

Tuvok: "It seems to be working. His weapon's 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."

Inexorably, Voyager is pulled into the rift!

For a moment everything appears white, then returns apparently to normal. Janeway and the rest of the crew pick themselves up.

the tennis ball is lying beside Janeway where she dropped it

Janeway, tidying her hair: "Status?" Tuvok: "Primary systems are coming back online. The weapons grid and power array took heavy damage."

Kim: "The temporal rift is closed."

Chakotay: "Where are we?" Paris manipulates the controls to bring up a picture of their surroundings.

The viewscreen shows Earth! Paris: "Home."

Chakotay: "We just cut across half the galaxy!" Janeway: "The rift must have originated here." She is glad to be home! "Hail Starfleet Command."

Tuvok: "No response on standard frequencies. Curious. I am picking up a multitude of narrowband EM signals." Janeway: "Let's hear." Tuvok puts the signals on audio. It is a jumble of sounds ranging from music to spoken. But there are so many signals it is impossible to understand just one. She signals for the sounds to be cut off. She realises: "The question isn't where we are, it's when we are. Mr Kim." Kim: "According to astrometric readings, the year is 1996." Chakotay: "The late 20th 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 timeship? 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: "Could be our friend from the 29th 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. Mr Kim, you have the Bridge." Kim, pleased: "Yes, Ma'am!"

The away team gather in the turbolift. Janeway: "As I recall, Tom, you're something of an aficionado on 20th 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." The turbolift doors close.