FUTURE'S END
Episodes 50 and 51
Part B

 

Later, on the Los Angeles beach, Santa Monica, from an upper vantage point the away team survey the activity below them. Tuvok: "We could've worn our Starfleet uniforms. I doubt if anyone would've noticed."

Janeway, reading from her tricorder: "The subspace readings are coming from within a 100 metre radius of our position, but I can't pinpoint the source." Chakotay: "I find it hard to believe a ship from the 29th century could've 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." They separate.

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."

A girl on rollerblades pushes through: "Coming through. Sorry." Janeway gestures toward the girl who is receding into the distance: "For all I know, she could be my great-great-great-great-grandmother."

Chakotay laughs as they look back at the woman. "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 200 metres of water. It became one of the world's largest coral reefs, home to thousands of different marine species."

She looks dubiously at a punk rocker. Chakotay, following her gaze: "Some interesting species in this century."

Tuvok and Paris are on the beach. Tuvok is checking the shoreline for subspace readings using his tricorder.
Tuvok: "Subspace readings are weaker here."
Paris: "Let's head up to the board walk."

Paris: "Ah, the sun feels great!" He takes off his shirt and attaches it to his belt.

Tuvok, disapprovingly: "Thermal and ultraviolet radiation are at hazardous levels." Paris: "Uh! Lighten up, Tuvok, this was a great time and place and we're getting to see it first hand. Come on, take off your shirt." Tuvok: "And risk dermal displasia? No thank you." Paris: "Huh, Vulcans. Deep down you're all a bunch of hypochondriacs."

Not far from where people are on the beach playing ball games, Chakotay and Janeway are tracing the subspace readings.

They trace the subspace readings to a fast food outlet. Outside, a tramp is rummaging through a rubbish bin. Janeway: "The readings are coming from over there. Ten metres. There." She indicates the tramp!

Chakotay: "So much for the time ship." The tramp finds a large remnant of cardboard and salvages it.

Janeway: "There's no doubt about it. The subspace readings are coming from him." She pockets her tricorder.

Griffith Observatory.

Inside astronomer Rain Robinson's laboratory.

Rain Robinson is working, in a laid-back sort of way, in her laboratory. Suddenly her computer gives an audio alert.

Surprised she types commands on her computer and the screen displays an analysis, registering something in orbit! Rain, disbelievingly: "No way."

In a top floor office suite of the international computer corporation Chronowerx, the chief executive officer Henry Starling puts a computer chip on the 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 Mr Starling-" Starling: "We've 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."

He sits down. "Go home, Jim, lose some sleep over this. I want a full report middle of next week."

Rain is about to send the SETI message. SETI stands for Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence.

The intercom sounds. He presses the button. Testily: "What am I doing, Dave?" Dave, via intercom: "You are in a meeting, sir." Starling, via intercom: "And?" Dave, via intercom: "And I know I'm not supposed to interrupt, but there's a woman calling on line 3 from the Griffith Observatory. A Rain Robinson. She says it's urgent." Starling: "Put her through." He waves goodbye to Jim who leaves. The call is connected. Via phone: "Henry Starling." Rain, via phone: "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." Starling, via phone: "Yes, yes, what it is?" Rain, via phone: "OK, 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." Starling picks up the handset to continue his conversation. "Are you certain?" Rain, via phone: "Positive. I tracked the emission and guess what, the source is in orbit. It is right above us." Starling, via phone: "When did it show up?" Rain, via phone: "Er," checking her readings, "according to the raw data, about 90 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!" Starling, via phone: "Rain, that's a little premature, don't you think? This could be a close encounter, but then again, could be a flock of geese." Rain, via phone: "Geese don't park themselves 20,000 kilometres above North America. Let's send a message up there, see if there's any response." Starling: "No!" Restraining himself: "No. We don't know what we've found, and until we do, I'm not going to risk embarrassing myself, or the 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 E.T. likes Chateau Coeur?" Rain, via phone: "Well, if he doesn't I've got a six-pack in the fridge." Starling, via phone: "Good work, Rain. Stay in touch."

The call ends. He takes off his jacket and pours himself a glass of water. The tattoo on his now exposed arm shows he is the hippy who was camping in the High Sierras in 1967!

Starling is thoughtful. He knows Rain's discovery is certainly not "a flock of geese", but the real thing.

Rain to herself: "Oh, what the hell." She transmits the SETI message. "Anyone up there?"

USS Voyager, orbiting Earth.

Voyager's 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 sighs. "Pretty close. I'd say less than ten kilometres." Kim: "If we do that somebody's going to see us."

Ensign Kaplan: "Sir, I'm picking up an EM signal from the planet surface. It's directed at our co-ordinates." Kim: "On screen." The viewscreen displays the SETI message. "Greetings from the people of Earth." This is transmitted in numerous languages.

The greetings are followed by drawings of a man and a woman and a depiction of human DNA.

Kaplan: "Shall I respond, sir?" Kim tells her firmly: "Absolutely not."