"Warp 5... warp 6... warp 7." "I've reached critical velocity." "Okay, everything looks good on this end." "Fire up the new engines." "acknowledged." "Engaging transwarp drive in four... three, two..." "Transwarp on Iine!" "Warp 9.2... 9.3..." "My vector's drifting." "Try to stabilize your field symmetry." "Got it." "Warp 9.6... 9.7..." "I'm reading a fracture in the port nacelle pylon." "full power to structural integrity." "Warp 9.9... 9.95..." "I'm approaching the threshold." "But the nacelle isn't holding." "Tie in auxiliary power." "It's no use." "I'm breaking up!" "I'm breaking..." "You're dead." "It's the pylon again." "Every time we get close to crossing the threshold, the subspace torque rips a nacelle off the shuttle." "What about a duranium alloy?" "We could try using it to reinforce..." "I thought about that already." "It's too brittle." "More coffee?" "well, you look like a happy bunch." "We've hit a wall." "Oh." "well, maybe I can help." "Great." "Do you know anything about quantum warp theory or multispectral subspace engine design?" "No, but I'm a quick study." "What are we working on?" "Do you have anything to eat?" "Sure." "There's some KaIavian biscuits somewhere in the kitchen." "I guess I'II go find them myself." "fill him in." "NeeIix... it wouId take too long to..." "What are you saying?" "I'm not smart enough?" "I'II have you know I did two years as an engineer's assistant aboard a TrabaIian freighter." "I'm weII-versed in warp theory." "Okay, okay, we'II tell you." "We're trying to break the maximum warp barrier." "Nothing in the universe can go warp 10." "It's a theoretical impossibility." "In principle, if you were ever to reach warp 10, you'd be traveling at infinite velocity." "Infinite velocity." "Got it." "So, tha-that means very fast." "It means that you would occupy every point in the universe simultaneously." "In theory, you could go any place in the wink of an eye." "Time and distance would have no meaning." "If Voyager achieved warp 10, we could be home in as long as it takes to push a button." "Wow!" "And you're working on this?" "We discovered a new form of dilithium in the asteroid field we surveyed last month." "It remains stable at a much higher warp frequency." "The problem is, every time we simulate crossing the transwarp threshold, the nacelles get torn off the ship." "I remember there was a time when I lost a warp nacelle going through a dark-matter nebula." "This is a very different problem." "I realize that." "I'm just using it as an example." "As the ship went through the nebula, it sent out a dark-matter bow wave." "eventually, so much pressure built up, it tore the nacelle from its housing." "Now, maybe the same thing is happening to you." "No." "The simulations don't indicate any kind of subspace stress on the nacelles." "Wait a minute." "What about the shuttle itself?" "What do you mean?" "Maybe we've been looking in the wrong place." "What if the nacelles aren't being torn from the ship?" "What if the ship is being torn from the nacelles?" "The hull of the shuttle is made of tritanium alloy." "At the speeds we're talking about, that alloy could depoIarize..." "And create a velocity differential." "The fuselage would be traveling at a faster rate of speed than the nacelles." "That means, we just have to set up a depolarization matrix around the fuselage." "That's it!" "NeeIix, you're a genius." "I have no idea what they just said." "Warp 9.92." "The pylons are secure." "Everything looks good." "9.97... eight... nine..." "Warp 10." "You've crossed the threshold." "You've done it!" "And there's been no damage to the nacelles." "When you came to me a month ago and said you had a way to cross the transwarp threshold," "I thought it was more of a fantasy than a theory." "congratulations to all of you." "So we can try a manned test flight?" "What's your flight plan?" "I'II bring the shuttle up to speed." "The second I cross the threshold," "I'II cut the engines, drop out of warp and come about." "After that, we'II analyze the shuttle's sensor logs." "Once we know it's safe to travel at transwarp, we'II try a more extended flight." "To be honest, it's almost frightening." "Up till now, it's all been theory." "I never thought it wouId actually happen." "Are we ready for it?" "In the Iast couple of centuries, we've always managed to use new technologies wisely." "I'm confident this time won't be any different." "Besides, there's no way to put the genie back in the bottle." "AII we can do now is keep moving forward... carefully." "well, good luck, Mr. Paris." "If this works, you'II be joining an elite group of piIots" "OrviIIe Wright, neil Armstrong, Zefram Cochrane... and Tom Paris." "I kind of like the way that sounds." "I thought you might." "Come in." "Oh." "Captain!" "I, um..." "At ease, Mr. Paris." "I know it's late." "Can I... get you anything?" "No." "Thank you." "Now, why do I get the feeling this isn't just a social call?" "I've just spoken to the Doctor and it's his opinion that we let Ensign Kim make the test flight." "May I ask why?" "He checked over your biometric readings from the shuttle simulations." "He says you have a slight enzymatic imbalance in your cerebellum." "So?" "I know it doesn't sound like much, but he can't predict what'II happen when you cross the threshold." "He believes there's a small chance that you could suffer a brain hemorrhage under the subspace stress." "How big a chance?" "Two percent." "Two percent?" "!" "I'II take that chance." "There's no reason to." "Ensign Kim is capable of piloting the shuttle for this mission." "Yeah, he's capable." "That's not the point." "What is the point, Mr. Paris?" "well, it's hard to explain, but... this is my flight." "Your flight." "When I was a boy, my father used to tell me that I was special, that one day I'd do something significant." "My teachers at school, all the kids, everyone used to say, "Tom Paris is going to do something important when he grows up."" "obviously, that didn't happen." "This isn't about personal redemption." "We're talking about medical risk." "Your life could be in danger, and we need you." "Captain, this is the first time in ten years" "I feel I have a life to risk." "You're sure about this." "Captain, I've never been so sure about anything." "please." "please, Iet me make the flight." "Good luck, Lieutenant." "Torres to Bridge." "The prelaunch sequence is complete," "Captain." "acknowledged." "Ensign Kim, depressurize the shuttle bay and open the space doors." "Aye, Captain." "Bridge to ShuttIecraft Cochrane." "You're cleared for launch." "Aye, Captain." "See you at warp 10." "Cochrane to Voyager." "AII systems are nominal." "I'm increasing speed." "We'II keep up with you as long as we can." "Warp 7, warp 8..." "How's his diIithium matrix holding up?" "There's a slight variance in the warp field, but nothing to worry about." "Okay." "Torres to ShuttIecraft Cochrane." "You're clear for transwarp velocity." "acknowledged." "Engaging transwarp drive in four... three... two..." "Warp 9.7... 9.8... 9.9..." "He is exceeding our maximum velocity." "I am switching to Iong-range sensors." "Warp 9.95!" "He is approaching the threshold." "Engine output at maximum." "velocity... warp 10." "Yes!" "Transwarp engines are stable." "So are the nacelle pylons." "I'm going to..." "Oh, my God...." "Oh, my..." "Lieutenant, can you hear me?" "Captain, he just... just disappeared off sensors." "Increase sensor gain to maximum." "Nothing." "I can't find him." "He's gone." "I've done three full sensor sweeps." "No sign of the shuttle within five parsecs." "Tuvok, could the shuttle have been destroyed?" "I don't believe so." "Sensors indicate that he did cross the warp threshold." "If that's true, then he could be anywhere in the universe." "We'II just have to keep searching our small corner." "Run a multispectral sweep." "I want to see if..." "Captain, there's a quantum surge off the port bow." "Something is coming out of subspace." "Janeway to Paris." "He's alive, but his life signs are weak." "Bridge to Transporter Room 2." "Beam Mr. Paris directly to Sick Bay." "Commander, bring the shuttle aboard." "I'II be in Sick Bay." "Aye, Captain." "His life signs are normal." "A few elevated serotonin readings in the hypothalamus." "From what I can tell, he's just... asleep." "Can you wake him?" "I don't see why not." "Wake up, Lieutenant!" "Are you all right, Tom?" "I'm back." "We tracked you until you crossed the threshold." "Then you disappeared from our sensors." "Do you remember what happened?" "Oh, yeah." "I was..." "I was staring at the velocity indicator." "It said warp 10." "And then, as I watched it," "I suddenly realized that I was... watching myself as well." "I couId see the outside of the shuttle." "I couId see Voyager." "I couId see inside Voyager." "I couId see inside this room." "For a moment, I was everywhere." "I mean, everywhere, Captain." "With the Kazon... back home, with the klingons, other gaIaxies-- it was all there." "I don't know how else to explain it." "It was like..." "well, no, it wasn't like anything." "well..." "I'm glad you had a good time." "How did you get back to Voyager?" "." "I saw that you were looking for me, so I took the new engines off-Iine and ended up back where I started." "But..." "Oh, it's starting to slip away." "It all was so vivid, and now..." "Tom!" "Oh, I'm fine." "How's the shuttle?" "You brought it back without a scratch." "The onboard sensors confirm that you did it." "You made it to warp 10." "congratulations, Mr. Paris." "You just made the history books." "We should download the shuttle's sensor logs, analyze the telemetry they picked up during the flight before we make another attempt." "You're not going anywhere-- at Ieast not for a few hours." "I have some tests I'd Iike to run on your majesty before I release you back into the realm of ordinary humans." "You may... proceed." "We'II download the logs." "I'II let you know what we find." "Janeway to Kim." "We're ready." "acknowledged." "I'm downloading the logs into the Engineering computer core." "This data describes, literally, every cubic centimeter in this sector." "It's over five billion gigiquads of information." "It would appear that the theory of infinite velocity is correct." "It may be possible to occupy every point in the universe simultaneously." "Then, it's just a matter of navigation." "If we could figure out how to come out of transwarp at a specific point... this could get us home." "Oh, it could do more than that." "It could change the very nature of our existence." "Think of it." "There would be nothing beyond our reach." "This telemetry is giving us an invaluable record of the sector." "We can use it to make a star chart." "Transfer the shuttle logs to stellar Cartography for analysis." "Right." "This is a new blend." "I'm calling it "Paris delight."" "It's in honor of you." "What?" "Oh!" "Oh, thanks." "That's very flattering." "I can tell." "well, you might as well get used to it." "You're a hero now." "I wish I couId say it was nothing." "Oh!" "Oh, I wish NeeIix would name something after me that tasted a little better." "It smells okay." "No." "Trust me." "You're taking your life into your hands." "So I think the next step is to try to duplicate the first shuttle fIight-- verify our results." "I agree." "We have to confirm that none of this was a fluke." "But I do think that we should increase the shuttle's memory core by at Ieast..." "What?" "What's wrong?" "I don't think that coffee is settling too well." "You want to go back to Sick Bay?" "No, no." "I've seen enough of the Doctor for one day." "Oh... on second thought, maybe I should..." "Torres to Transporter Room 2." "medical emergency." "Beam Lieutenant Paris directly to Sick Bay." "I can't lock on to him." "His pattern keeps changing." "Torres to Sick Bay." "We need a medical team in the Mess hall right away." "Hang on, Tom." "Hmm." "It looks like he's having an allergic reaction." "What did he ingest?" "Just a cup of NeeIix's coffee." "It's a miracle he's still alive." "This is strange." "What is?" "He's definitely having an allergic reaction... to the water in the coffee." "He's allergic to water?" "I don't know how this is possible, but... it appears that his entire biochemistry is changing." "His electrolytes are breaking down, interstitial fluids are congealing." "The alveoli in his lungs are mutating." "He's no long processing oxygen." "What should we do?" "Stand back." "Computer, erect an isolation field around the surgical bay." "Computer, remove all the air from within the force field and replace it with 80 percent nitrogen and 20 percent acidichIoride." "He can breathe... for now." "What's happening to him?" "I have no idea, but I assume it had something to do with his experience on the shuttle." "His cellular membranes are deteriorating." "He's dying." "I need to know more about what happened on that shuttle and I need to know it now." "Radiation levels, unexplained anomaIies-- anything." "You're losing me, aren't you?" "I'm going to die." "You're too stubborn to die, Mr. Paris." "I want to try high-saturation radiometric therapy." "It might slow down his cellular mutation." ""Here lies Thomas Eugene Paris beloved mutant."" "A fitting epitaph, but I don't intend to let you use it just yet." "Radiometric emitters are charged and ready." "Begin with 45 rads per second." "Great." "Now it'II read "beloved radioactive mutant."" "No effect." "Increase the dosage to 85 rads per second." "I'm going to try inhibiting the cell mitosis with a bio-suppressor field." "A big funeral with lots of pretty girls all crying... except Torres." "Torres doesn't cry." "Do you ever notice that?" "I don't trust people who don't cry." "Of course, my father... he'd say, "Crying is a sign of weakness."" "I never believed that." "Do you cry?" "It's not in my program." "Shame." "You know, it's funny." "What I remember most about being a kid are the times I spent in my room crying." "I liked my room, though." "It was quiet in there." "people'd leave me alone." "I'd keep the door Iocked-- read, play games." "I lost my virginity in that room." "Seventeen." "Parents were away for the weekend." "I'II note that in your medical file." "His lymphatic system is collapsing." "Increase dosage to 98 rads per second." "Pepperoni!" "God, I'd love a pepperoni pizza with Kavarian olives right now." "I'm starving!" "His life signs are criticaI-- maximum dosage." "Oh... kiss me." "What?" "Not you." "Her." "She can't breathe the atmosphere in here." "Consider it a last request." "Sorry, Tom." "If we let down the force field, you'II suffocate." "Oh, what's the difference?" "I'm dying anyway." "Do me a favor." "When I'm gone... call StarfIeet Headquarters... and tell Dad that I did it." "tell him..." "Prepare to activate the neural stimulator." "Ready." "Now." "Again." "Again!" "No neural activity." "We can try to revive him." "His cell membranes have degraded." "There's nothing more we can do." "Computer... remove the acidichIoride gas from the isolation field... and deactivate the field." "It will be necessary for us to perform an autopsy on the Lieutenant's body in the morning." "until then, I... suggest you get some rest." "You're alive." "Wha-- what's happening?" "AII of your internal organs are functioning again." "In fact... you seem to have an extra one." "What?" "You have... two hearts." "I have 30 seconds before Security picks up this transmission." "I'm sending you all current information on the warp 10 shuttle flight." "Warp 10?" "That's impossible." "Not anymore." "Lieutenant Paris crossed the threshold this morning." "He survived?" "In a manner of speaking." "It's all in the file." "This should prove my worth to you, Rettik." "We'II see." "His body is going through some sort of mutation." "His DNA is rewriting itself." "To what end, I don't know." "Does this have anything to do with the enzymatic imbalance you found?" "No." "Can you stop it?" "So far, nothing has worked." "The mutations are unlike anything in starfleet medical records." "His internal organs are being rearranged." "Some have atrophied and been absorbed into his body." "And there are at Ieast three others that have appeared and have no identifiable function at all." "What about his brain?" "There are neuro-eIectricaI transmutations at work." "His synaptic patterns are changing almost every second, but he does still recognize me... the ship." "He knows who he is." "Can I talk to him?" "Of course." "But I feel I should caution you that while he still is Tom Paris, he's becoming something else as well." "His personality is erratic, unpredictable." "There are moments of lucidity interspersed with almost... deranged behavior." "I'II keep it in mind." "Pretty disgusting, huh?" "You've looked better." "How do you feel?" "Like a lab experiment gone wrong." "well, we're trying to put that experiment right." "The Doctor's working on a way to restore your DNA to its..." "Why?" "Excuse me?" "Why?" "What I'm becoming will probably be better than who I was." "Lieutenant, you know that's not true." "Oh, yes, it is." "Admit it." "Part of you will be glad to see me gone." "I'm the Maquis traitor who sits on your Bridge and insults your uniform, remember?" "We're all concerned about you, Tom." "We're here to help you." "No, you're not." "You're trying to take this away from me." "Take what away from you?" "What I'm becoming." "How do you know this isn't good for me?" "How do you know this isn't the best thing that's ever happened to me?" "That's a possibility, and then again, it could kill you." "We need to find out what's going on." "You're lying... just like him... just like everyone around here, always lying, always telling me that I'm doing a good job, that you're glad I'm on the ship, but none of that's true." "Why can't you just say it?" "!" "You're jealous that I broke the transwarp barrier and now you're hoping I'II die!" "You're right, Doctor." "I don't think there's anything I can do here." "Wait, Captain." "I'm sorry." "please come back." "I know you're doing what you can." "It's just..." "I'm scared." "I didn't mean to lash out at you." "What you're going through would scare any of us, but you have to hang on, Tom." "We're doing everything we can to help you." "I know you are." "And I know you'II fall!" "You know..." "I used to look up to you, but now you seem so small, so insignificant." "You don't even know what... what... what..." "Doctor?" "The rate of genetic mutation has accelerated by 12 percent." "I want you to run a nucIeogenic scan to determine how much of his original DNA is left intact." "In the meantime," "I'm going to see about treating him with..." "Doctor!" "What is it now, Mr. Paris?" "I need to talk." "So I've noticed." "Is it urgent?" "I'm rather busy right now." "Urgent." "Yes, urgent." "Let... me out of here." "I'm afraid that's not possible." "please..." "I can't stay here." "I have to get off this ship." "Leave Voyager?" "." "Why?" "I... understand." "It's all so clear now." "What do you understand?" "The present... the past... they're both in the future." "The future is in the past." "I beg your pardon?" "Listen to me!" "I am more..." "I'm everything." "Let me go." "Go where, Tom?" "I can't..." "please?" "please!" "Something tells me we'd better hurry." "I believe the answer lies in forcing his DNA to revert to its original coding." "Once that occurs, his body should return to its former state." "How do we do that?" "We destroy all of the new DNA in his body." "His cells will have to use the original coding as a blueprint." "But the only way to destroy the mutant DNA is with highly focused anti-proton radiation." "Anti-protons?" "The only place on this ship which generates anti-protons is the warp core." "exactly." "I'd Iike to place Mr. Paris in an isotropic restraint and then infuse it with controlled anti-proton bursts-- a tricky venture, but I see no other alternative." "We'II have to take the warp core off-Iine." "Then I'II need about three hours to set up an interface." "In three hours, there won't be anything left of Mr. Paris to save." "We have to make the attempt within an hour-- at the most." "Get moving." "What's your status, Lieutenant?" "The interface is charged and ready." "Infuse him with a two-second anti-proton burst." "Take the warp engines off-Iine." "bleed off .057" "AMUs of anti-proton radiation." "Shunt it through the interface." "Transfer underway." "Doctor, the mutated DNA in his liver cells has begun to deteriorate, but the original coding isn't taking over." "I don't understand." "This should be working." "We'II have to increase the duration of the bursts." "Lieutenant, prepare a five-second burst." "also you'II need to begin depoIarizing..." "My God." "Lieutenant!" "call Security!" "Lieutenant, what's happening?" "I got it right now!" "Shut it all down." "This is a IeveI-3 security alert." "AII hands report to duty stations." "Janeway to Bridge." "Report." "Paris broke out of confinement in Engineering." "He used a phaser on the port plasma conduit." "We have power failures all over the ship." "Where is he now?" "We're having trouble tracking him." "We can't get power to the internal sensors." "Tuvok has security teams searching deck by deck." "I'm on my way to the Bridge." "Oh, oh..." "Phaser discharge on Deck 6." "localize it." "I'm still having trouble with internal sensors." "It came from somewhere between Sections 21 and 27-AIpha." "Tuvok doesn't have any security in that area." "Chakotay to Tuvok." "We think Paris may be on Deck 6." "deploy security to Sections 21 through 27-AIpha." "Commander, someone's depressurizing shuttle Bay 2." "What?" "!" "There's a launch in progress." "Tractor beam." "It's off-Iine." "Tuvok to Bridge." "We found the Captain's phaser on Deck 6, but there's no sign of her." "Maintain a sensor lock on that shuttle." "I've got main power back." "Engage warp engines." "follow them." "Aye, Commander." "They're approaching warp 9.9." "Increase speed to match." "Warning." "Nearing maximum warp velocity." "structural collapse is imminent." "Are we in tractor range?" "No." "And they're still accelerating." "Warp 9.97." "Warning." "At present speed, structural failure in 45 seconds." "Reduce speed to warp 9.5." "Keep a sensor lock on them as long as you can." "I've lost them, Commander." "They've gone to transwarp." "First Officer's Log, Stardate 49373.4." "It's taken us three days to locate the shuttle." "It appears to have dropped out of transwarp in an uninhabited star system." "I've re-examined the data on Mr. Paris' transformation and I think I understand what's happening to him." "The mutations we observed are natural." "natural." "The changes in his DNA are consistent with the evolutionary development of the human genotype observed over the past four million years-- increased brain capacity, the loss of vestigial organs..." "Are you saying Lieutenant Paris is evolving?" "That's my theory." "The only difference between natural evolution and what happened to Mr. Paris is that his changes took place over a 24-hour period." "Somehow, traveling at infinite velocity accelerated the natural human evolutionary process by millions of years." "It's possible that Mr. Paris represents a future stage in human development." "although I can't say it's very attractive." "What do we do about it?" "I think my anti-proton approach was correct." "However, I'II need to intensify the treatment to restore his original DNA." "Bridge to Chakotay." "Bridge to Chakotay." "Go ahead." "I think I found the shuttlecraft, Commander." "It's on the fourth planet in one of the jungles near the equator." "acknowledged." "Tuvok, have a security team meet us in Transporter Room 3." "There are traces of human DNA." "It's them." "But I have to admit" "I'm not sure which one is the Captain." "The female... obviously." "I don't know how I'm going to enter this into the log." "I Iook forward to reading it." "First Officer's Log, supplemental." "We've transported the Captain and Mr. Paris back to Sick Bay." "As for their "offspring,"" "I've decided to leave them in their new habitat." "I've eradicated all traces of the mutant DNA from your system and restored your original genome." "congratulations." "You're human again." "Thank you, Doctor." "Captain, it'II take some time for your genetic codes to stabilize." "I'd Iike you to remain in Sick Bay for the next three days... just to be safe." "Excuse me." "Captain, uh..." "I've thought about having children." "But I must say" "I never considered having them with you." "Captain, I'm sorry." "I-I don't know what to say except..." "I don't remember very much about... uh... you know." "What makes you think it was your idea?" "Sometimes it's the female of a species that initiates mating." "But apology accepted, nonetheless." "You may be interested to know I'm putting you in for a commendation." "regardless of the outcome, you did make the first transwarp flight." "Thank you, Captain." "Is there something wrong, Lieutenant?" "I don't know." "I guess this whole experience has left me feeling a little overwheImed-- flying at warp 10... evolving into a new Iife-form, mating, having alien offspring..." "You've broken more than one record." "That's for sure." "Breaking the threshold." "It was... incredible." "But somehow, it doesn't mean as much as I thought it wouId." "Oh?" "I guess I went into this looking for a quick fix." "I thought making history would change things-- not just my service record... my reputation." "If I'm not mistaken, you've changed quite a few minds on this ship." "You've earned a Iot of people's respect and admiration." "Yeah." "But I'm starting to realize that it's not other people's opinions" "I should be worried about." "It's mine." "It seems, Captain, that I still have a few barriers to break." "I just hope they're not theoretical impossibiIities." "Somehow..." "I don't think they will be."