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EPISODES >
EYE OF THE NEEDLE >
Synopsis
OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS from
StarTrek.com
When Ensign Kim finds a wormhole that might lead to the
Alpha Quadrant, the crew believes they may have found a
rapid route home. Although the opening to the tunnel in
space proves too small for Voyager to fly through, Janeway
decides to launch a microprobe into it to see what's on the
other side.
To Kim's disappointment, the probe gets stuck in a
gravitational eddy before it makes it all the way through,
but he's surprised by readings indicating the probe is being
scanned by someone on the other side. Janeway suggests they
transmit a message through the probe, hoping it will be
picked up by whoever is scanning it. Before long, they
receive a subspace response — from the Alpha Quadrant,
70,000 light years away!
In the meantime, Kes begins working closely with the Doctor
in Sickbay. She's surprised by how rudely Voyager's staff
treats him because he's "only a hologram." She asks the
Captain if the Doctor can be treated with the same respect
as crewmembers. Janeway agrees, and tells the Doctor he
should begin thinking of himself as a member of the crew.
What's more, she's giving him control over his own
deactivation sequence, and his first taste of independence.
When Voyager finally succeeds in achieving voice contact
with the Alpha Quadrant ship, they are surprised to find
it's a Romulan vessel. The Romulan captain, a scientist
named Telek, is suspicious of the communication from a
Starfleet vessel, thinking at first that they must be
Federation spies. But once they've established a visual link
and the two captains can communicate eye-to-eye, Telek
becomes more sympathetic to their plight, saying he'll
consider relaying messages to the crew's families back home.
Anxious to explore every avenue that will facilitate getting
home, Torres explains that she might be able to "piggyback"
a transporter beam onto the visual link, which theoretically
would allow the crew to beam to the Romulan ship in the
Alpha Quadrant. To test the theory, the Romulan captain
allows himself to be transported onto Voyager.
Regrettably, Tuvok discovers the crew has actually beamed
the Romulan from 20 years in the past, due to a time rift in
the wormhole. Knowing it's pointless to transport the crew
back in time because it would wreak havoc with the timeline
of that era, Janeway asks the Romulan to relay the crew's
messages to their families in 20 years. He agrees, and
returns to his ship. Later, a database check reveals that
the Romulan died four years before he was able to deliver
the messages. Although disappointed, the crew presses
forward.
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