- Everyone accurately pegs a visiting propulsion scientist as a charlatan, but only Wesley Crusher recognizes his alien assistant as the real deal.
- Although Riker considers maverick Federation scientist Kosinski's project to vastly boost the Enterprise's propulsion absurd, Picard obeys the Admiralty's orders. Fascinated, Wesley sits with his alien assistant and wins his confidence. The results surpass even Kosinski's wildest dreams, jumping the ship into a galaxy millions of light year away. Deciding against immediate study, Picard orders Kosinski to get them back. Only Wesley notices that his assistant, who 'fades' supernaturally, is the real key. The next jump brings them to where everyone's deepest hopes and fears come true. The alien assistant is ailing and reveals his 'Traveller' identity. Wesley's astuteness is noted and fittingly rewarded with an academy cadet future.—KGF Vissers
- The Enterprise is ordered to undergo a series of tests that will propel the ship at unfathomable speed, but Riker has misgivings surrounding the equations and theories presented by the arrogant designer, and someone, most unexpected, is the only one who puts his finger on the assistant as the one behind the whole scheme of things.—Moviedude1
- Picard and the Enterprise crew host Mr. Kosinski and his alien assistant (whose name is unpronounceable to humans but who later identifies himself simply as a traveler). Kosinski believes he has developed a method to re-configure the warp drive and vastly increase its speed. Though Riker and others look at his plans and think it's all rubbish, Picard agrees to allow the testing to go forward. On their first attempt to modify the engines, they are successful to the point of sending the Enterprise farther than any Federation vessel has ever traveled (or could hope to travel in their lifetime). Their second attempt strands them in unfamiliar space where thoughts can become reality. The traveler and Wesley Crusher form a close bond, and the question is whether the crew can return to their own space. The traveler also imparts some important information for Picard about young Wesley.—garykmcd
- Although Riker considers maverick Federation scientist Kosinski's (Stanley Kamel) project to vastly boost the Enterprise's propulsion absurd (Using Kosinki's parameters in a computer simulation by Data did not result in any improvements what-so-ever), Picard obeys the Admiralty's orders since tests on 2 other ships did result in improvement in engine efficiency. Kosinki achieves this by changing the intermix formula and the parameters of engine performance. Kosinski is a propulsion expert and have come aboard with his assistant (Eric Menyuk) to conduct experiments to boost the warp speeds of the Enterprise engines.
Fascinated, Wesley sits with his alien assistant (who is from the star system Tau Alpha C) and wins his confidence by suggesting improvements to performance parameters set by the assistant. The results surpass even Kosinski's wildest dreams, jumping the ship into a galaxy 2.7 million light years away. It will take 300 years to get home at max warp.
Deciding against immediate study, Picard orders Kosinski to get them back to their own galaxy. Only Wesley notices that his assistant, who 'fades' supernaturally, is the real key. Wesley senses that the assistant's equations means that space, time, matter, and thoughts are not separate as they appear to be. The assistant is impressed by Wesley's understanding of his work, but tells him to keep his thoughts to himself. Wesley tries to warn Riker abut Kosinki, but since everyone is on the edge, Riker ignores him.
The next jump brings them to where everyone's deepest hopes and fears come true. This time even Riker notices the assistant fading, sitting right next to Wesley. By the time the ship is brought back under control, the Enterprise has reached an uncharted and unknown location, a billion light years from the Milky way. Worf sees a pet from his home planet. Yar sees her cat. Picard finds himself stepping off the lift into a space void and so on. Yar finds herself facing the gangs of her colony, where she grew up. Picard has tea with his mother Yvette (Herta Ware).
The alien assistant is ailing (drained from the 2 ultra-warp journeys) and reveals his 'Traveller' identity. He explains that he has the ability to channel thought into a form of energy and power star ship engines to go wherever he thinks about. He has been using this ability to trade for transportation and allowed Kosinski to take credit for his work. But he made a mistake this time and they ended up far away from their own galaxy.
He also says that he is a time traveler and is from the future. His entire species has the ability to focus thought into a form of propulsion. Till date his species has not contacted humans, as they were not considered interesting. The Traveller admits that staying in this part of the Universe will result in chaos. This is a region where thoughts become reality and humans should not have been brought here until they had learned control, which would be much later in their evolutionary time line. The traveler promises to get the ship back to their galaxy, even though he is very ill and drained of energy. Before starting the Traveller has a private moment with Picard and tells him that Wesley is a boy genius and Picard should help his development.
On this attempt, the traveler vanishes while accelerating the Enterprise. They return to their galaxy, but the Traveller is gone. Wesley's astuteness is noted and fittingly rewarded with an academy cadet future, and a post of acting ensign on the Star ship Enterprise till that rank becomes permanent in the future with Wesley's graduation from Starfleet academy.
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