Will clung tightly to Deanna's hand as he watched Geordi expertly maneuver the instruments. "The worm hole should be perfectly aligned within about five minutes."

"I can sense your fear," Deanna told Will. "I'm afraid, too. But this is something we have to do."

"Oh, absolutely!" Will agreed.

"So your great times nine grandfather was a Siberian ice fisherman and fur trapper named Arkady Arkadevich Renko," said Geordi.

"He crossed the Bering Strait in a row boat in 2029 and later married an Eskimo woman," Will replied. "They had a daughter named Natalya who married Michael Stephen Riker in 2062."

"Well, here we are," Geordi told them. "Ready...set..." Will and Deanna took deep breaths and prepared themselves for the plunge. Suddenly brilliant lights were speeding past them, so quickly that they were only a blur. A feeling of euphoria swept through them both. Then came the nightmarish part they'd dreaded, the dark, the heat, the sensation of utter desolation. Then the reversal as the euphoria returned, and then they exited the worm hole to arrive inside a Moscow clinic in 1995, where a young woman was obviously in distress.

She was plump but very pretty, with wavy shoulder-length brown hair and pale blue eyes. Her face had turned beet red and was rapidly becoming a deadly purple as she struggled for each breath. Clasping the EpiPen Beverly had given him, Will quickly approached her and jabbed its business end into her thigh. Instantly her breathing began to return to normal as she stared at Will with wide eyes filled with fear. "Kto vy?"

"You're going to be all right," Will soothed. "The epinephrine will make you feel better."

"Who are you?" she repeated, sounding more curious than hostile this time. "And why are you dressed so strangely?"

"If I told you, you'd never believe me." Will was relieved that she spoke English, as he didn't understand a word of Russian.

"You're American." She sounded only slightly surprised. Will nodded. The woman turned to Deanna. "And you are as well?"

Deanna shook her head. "I'm from a place you've never heard of called Betazed."

"You're right. I've never heard of it." The woman frowned. "Is that why you're dressed like that?"

"It's really too complicated to explain right now, but these are star ship uniforms," Will explained. There wasn't time to say anything more, as another man, one who obviously shared a close bond with the woman, had just arrived.

"What happened?" Arkady had brought his wife to the clinic to be treated for a minor infection, and the last thing he'd expected was to find strangely dressed intruders in the examination room with her.

"They gave me a shot of ampicillin, even though I told them I was allergic to it," Irena told her husband. "I almost died, Arkasha." Her voice broke. Instantly he was right there, holding her, comforting her. Will and Deanna felt terribly awkward.

"That man over there saved me." She raised her head to look into his eyes. "He gave me a shot of epinephrine."

"Commander William T. Riker of the USS Enterprise." Will smiled and extended his hand to the other man. "And this is counselor Deanna Troi."

"Arkady Renko." Arkady shook Will's hand. "I've no idea what you're talking about, but I do thank you for saving my wife's life."

"I'm just glad I got here in time," Will replied.

"How did you get in here?"

"It's a long story. We can talk about it later. Right now your wife needs medical attention."

"But I feel fine," Irena protested.

"I still think you should be checked at the hospital, just to be sure. It would make me feel a whole lot better." Will and Deanna were touched by the twentieth century man's obvious concern for his wife.

At the hospital, Irena was given a quick physical and placed in a room, where an erythromycin drip was begun to clear up the original infection. Arkady never left her side and sat beside her as she rested. "What a strange experience," she reflected.

"Certainly one of the strangest I've ever encountered," her husband replied. "But I'm glad they showed up, as I can't bear to think what might have happened if they hadn't. Oh, I almost forgot to give you this." He handed the magazine to her, and she smiled.