signal the endeavor to fall back. we'll cover them. bring us about. target borg ship alpha four, port side battery. fire. starboard battery -- fire. ready quantum torpedo. go ahead. understood. keep me informed. on screen. break off your attack. by now, you must realize you can't win. we'll see about that. fire. on screen. absolutely. mister data, set a pursuit course. maximum warp. go to impulse. where's the borg ship? what? and chronometric particles. it's as though they're trying to create a temporal vortex. time travel. they're attempting time travel. full power, mister data. worf, quantum torpedoes at my command! worf. torpedo. now! where's the sphere? contact starfleet command. on screen. life signs? they must've done it in the past. they went back and changed history. data, set a course for that vortex. we have to follow them back. repair whatever damage they've done to that time-line. steady as she goes. take us in! report. on screen. what year is it? intercept course, full impulse. weapons status? go to manual. track their weapons fire. mister worf? montana. fire! mister data, i want to know the exact date and time. give me a damage report on that missile silo. life signs? worf, have doctor crusher, mister la forge and a security team meet me in transporter room three. civilian clothes. in twenty-four hours, zephram cochrane is supposed to conduct the very first warp test. from a missile silo in montana. if i'm right, the borg were trying to change the course of human history by killing him or destroying his ship. normally, i would agree. but in this case, the mission requires a certain knowledge of 21st century history. you're many things, number one, but you're not much of an historian. i'll keep in contact. you have the bridge. montana. energize. let's go. we're here to find zephram cochrane. he may be injured or dead. yes. i'm afraid so. if the borg succeed in preventing first contact with the vulcans. earth will remain in the second dark age. an easy target when the borg arrive in the 24th century. how serious is the damage? probably from the nuclear warhead. cochrane was planning to use it to ignite the warp drive. there should be an access hatch nearby. i have the password right here. see if any of these men are cochrane. there should be some kind of manual release. get those fires out and then try to restore main power to the control room. it's cochrane. picard to enterprise. enterprise, please respond. mister la forge, listen very carefully. if you remember your history. in less than twenty- four hours, a vulcan ship will be passing through this system. when it does, this ship needs to be in space, flying at warp speed. it's not the radiation. and there's nothing wrong with the combadges. the enterprise just isn't responding. as i recall, the town of resurrection is about two kilometers east of here. they might have a hospital. it may not be that simple. this is an extremely difficult and paranoid time in human history. i'm saying they might shoot us on sight. you have to remember. these people have watched their entire way of life collapse around them. let's hope so. because if cochrane dies. the future may die with him. doctor crusher has been. studying some advanced medical theories. juice? beverly -- your tricorder. where's the battery room for the hospital? where? oh. just a little tinkering. how is he? yes. but until then, you'll have to make do with what you've got. there was some kind of explosion out at the missile silo. yes, he is. excuse me. i have a. telephone call. picard here. i'm on my way. picard out. i have to go back to the silo. will you be all right? oh. yes. ultraviolet protection. thank you. mister? jean-luc picard. yes. i was raised in england and here in the states. thank you for the. no zone. oh. here and there. you know how it is. california. san francisco. there's a few of us left. it wasn't a trick. i used to be an electrical engineer. i'm an old friend of cochrane's. i wanted to see how he was doing. yes. i think he was running a test on an old rocket engine. and one of the fuel cells burst. something wrong with that? thank you. but i've never had much trouble protecting myself. can you reconstruct the throttle valve? we need to launch this ship in under eighteen hours. there must be some design schematics. blueprints. wait a minute. could you reconstruct the throttle from a photograph like this. if that man wasn't blocking the view? if there are other photographs. i think i may know how to find them. ah. yes. but, i didn't realize that -- cochrane? i'm very sorry. yes. i wanted to ask you about some photographs i saw out at the silo. there were three of them. printed on some kind of fabric. did you take any other pictures of the rocket? yes. i don't have any money right now, but i may be able to get some. i can try. no. but sometimes i feel that way. what i meant was, i'd be willing to trade for the photographs. i'm an old friend. i met him when he was doing his undergraduate work at cornell back in -- what? what makes you say that? are you always sucha good judge of character? were the two of you. involved? how did you know about that? ruby. i need to talk to you about those photographs. it's very important. it can't wait until tomorrow. i'd say you already have. we're trying to repair doctor cochrane's ship. it's been damaged and -- myself. and a few other friends of zephram's. some. a key piece of the ship has been destroyed. and our only hope to reconstruct it is if one of your photographs shows us what it looked like. we have to launch his ship by tomorrow afternoon. or the shielding around the plutonium core will begin to deteriorate. within a day, the entire silo will become so radioactive that no one will be able to come near it for a hundred years. why are you being so difficult? all i'm asking for is to look at one of the photographs. it'll take five minutes. i am not a thief. no. he's a man with vision. he can see beyond the problems that surround us. he knows there's a better future out there for everyone. a future where crime, poverty and war are things of the past. a future where we reach out and seek our destiny in the stars. i believe in that future, too, ruby. i believe in it in every fiber of my being. and i'm telling you. if we don't launch that warp ship tomorrow, there's a very good chance that future will never happen. you won't regret this. where's you get the alloy for the throttle itself? mister lange -- have you brought the computer systems back on-line yet? good. all right. i'd better start familiarizing myself with the flight controls. let her in. that's right. i assure you, doctor, that after today. no one will ever call you that again. that's a promise. you actually performed surgery? how did doctor almack react to that? not yet. if they're not. we'd better get used to living in montana. what's that supposed to mean? regardless of how i may feel about ruby. our fates lie along different paths. nothing can change that. beverly, there were many reasons why you and i. i have a ship to launch. ready to make a little history? phoenix to control. initiating five minute countdown. mark. we can't leave her out there. when the ship launches. she'll be killed. she's a very. determined woman. phoenix to control. mister lange. let her in. this is picard. i've suspended the launch sequence. it'll have to wait. come on. geordi, can you see into the room? then we'll just have to assume it's still there. get a tricorder. you're going to have to track my exact position in that room. what do you want? invasion. there is no invasion. all right. you want the truth. the vulcans. are highly intelligent aliens. from another planet. oh, i almost forgot. they have green blood and pointed ears. i'm afraid you've caught me. i am a space-man. now, geordi! actually, you're full of shit. now, tell your men to drop their weapons. are you all -- altitude fifty kilometers. there's a red light on the second intake valve. as they used to say. all systems are go. bring the warp core on-line. i'll lay in a heading. engage. speed. twenty thousand kilometers per second. passing one-half light speed. the starboard nacelle's running a little hot. speed -- two hundred, seventy-five thousand kilometers per second. one minute to warp threshold. picard to enterprise. picard to enterprise -- do you read me? their com system must still be down. approaching light speed. we're crossing the threshold! bring us about. let's begin the landing procedure. captain's log, march 3rd, 2063. the voyage of the phoenix was a success. again. and it appears the vulcan ship has detected the warp signature and is now on its way to earth. doctor cochrane. this is your moment. that's right. and they're going to want to meet the man who flew that warp ship. zephram, you had the vision to build that ship when no one else on this planet could see beyond their own problems. you flew that ship. all i did was push a few buttons. i have to. no. it's a lot further than that. no. i'm from france. that's impossible. this may be hard for you to understand. but i'm duty-bound not to interfere with you, or anyone else here. any more than is absolutely necessary. ruby. i'm sorry. but our fates lie along different paths. picard to enterprise. one to. to hell with fate. enterprise. two to beam up. how's mister data? return to our own time? then make it so. have you determined how to recreate the temporal vortex? unless you'd like to stay. onscreen. admiral. what's the status of the borg fleet? we're fine, sir. it will take some. time to explain. welcome home.