Zathras did not know if he had travelled forward in time again, or further back. He did not want to be stuck on Babylon 4, he needed to find Sinclair. Besides that, eventually he would be running out of food. After considering the risk that he might unwantedly attract pirates or other unsavory characters, Zathras decided to send a distress call anyway. As far as he was concerned, the situation couldn't get any worse. He set the station's communication system to automatically broadcast the distress call on repeat and waited for any potential rescuers to arrive.
Fortunately for him the distress signal was picked up about three weeks later by a survey ship that was passing by, barely within communications range. The captain of the survey ship agreed to take Zathras to the nearest inhabited planet, where Zathras sold some of the tools and gadgets he carried with him for local currency. From the money he rented a shuttle and searched for any traces of Jeffrey Sinclair, until he ran out of money to pay for the shuttle or for fuel.
Having given up hope of ever finding Sinclair and fulfilling their mission, Zathras returned to the planet where the survey ship had dropped him off and started looking for a job. With his last money he bought himself a meal at one of the local fast food restaurants and sat down at a table. As he began to eat, an old man with long grey hair and a grey beard came walking by.
"Do you mind if I join you?" the old man asked.
"Zathras does not mind", Zathras responded.
"You seem to be having a bad day. Is everything alright?" the old man inquired.
"Long story", Zathras nodded.
"Would you mind telling me?" the old man inquired.
"Zathras was on important mission to end terrible war… ", he started
While they were eating, Zathras told the stranger the whole story how he and Jeff Sinclair had travelled back in time to take Babylon 4 to the Minbari, and how Sinclair got lost and Zathras had gone searching for him.
"But now Zathras has no money, no friends, and no hope. Zathras is very sad", he explained
"Well, you might be lucky, my friend. As it so happens, I am here looking to hire a few skilled lads to work with me on my next great project," the stranger told him.
"Please tell more about great project. Maybe Zathras can help", Zathras offered
"I happen to work for a business that manufactures custom- made planets for wealthy customers who can afford such a luxury." The man explained.
"You make whole planets? Zathras asked.
"Yes, my friend. We make entire planets. I am in charge of the coastlines. In fact, my coastlines are famous across the entire galaxy. My name is Slartibartfast, by the way."
"Pleased to meet you, Mr. Slattibreakfast. My name is Zathras, but you already know. Zathras can help make planets. How much you pay?"
"The pleasure is entirely mine. Well, err, what were we talking about? Oh, yeah. We pay prevailing union wages, but how much exactly you will make is based on your education and previous job experience", Slartibartfast explained.
"Zathras has much experience working with Great Machine. Draal says Zathras is good worker. Draal says he is very proud of Zathras", Zathras explained and told the stranger about his work with Draal running the Great Machine. Slartibartfast was so intrigued by Zathras' experience working with the Great Machine, that he paid for his lunch and handed him a contract. Zathras signed the contract with his thumb print and climbed aboard Slartibartfast's shuttle, where a handful of other recently hired workers waited. The shuttle then took off after Slartibartfast had gotten aboard as well and got on its way to Magrathea.
Back on Babylon 4, the TARDIS was still recharging her energy after the long jump back in time with the huge space station in tow. She was tired and wanted to return to the Doctor. After the close call with the Vorlons she had had enough of going on adventures on her own. And she had gotten tired of the two Hitchhikers and of dragging the huge space station around with her.
So the semi-sentient time machine decided to ditch Arthur and Ford, and return to Earth in the year 1969 where the Doctor and Gina Inviere were attending the Woodstock Festival. After recharging her Energy to a point where she could travel again, the TARDIS first deposited Babylon 4 at in a safe location (and a safe time period as well) out of the reach of the Vorlons. The space station was discovered years later by Protestnik Vogon Jeltz, who was roaming the galaxy in shame and disgrace after his failure to demolish Earth.
Getting rid of Arthur and Ford was relatively easy. She had already locked her controls, so the two hitchhikers could push buttons, flip switches and turn knobs all they wanted without anything happening. After whooshing into existence hovering a few feet above the surface of a rather uninteresting location in time and space where the two would be unlikely to mess up the time line, the TARDIS flooded her control room with a knockout gas, opened the door, and leaned forward to let gravity do the rest. Both unconscious travelers fell on the grass below and the TARDIS dematerialized again.
After the Woodstock Festival was over, the Doctor and Gina walked back to the TARDIS, which stood in the same location where they had left the semi-sentient time machine. Unbeknownst to them, the TARDIS had gotten back from her own adventure a few nanoseconds after leaving. A bystander had seen the TARDIS briefly flicker out of and back into existence, but ascribed this experience to the effects of the drugs he had been taking. With the words "Cool, man", he passed out after urinating at the back of the TARDIS.
After telling Gina how much she had learned and how proud he was of her the Doctor returned Gina to Cloud 9, exactly 15 minutes after they had left. However, from their own point of view an entire year had passed. Within this year, Gina Inviere had changed into an entirely different woman. Her guilt and her self-loathing were gone, she was optimistic and confident. The Doctor had taught her to see the universe from a completely different perspective. Her return to her life aboard the refugee fleet came to no surprise to Gina. The Doctor had talked to her about it many times and prepared her for everything she could expect there. The Woodstock Festival had been a goodbye present to her.
The Doctor still had the nuclear device that Gina had tried to detonate when they first met in the orbit of New Caprica (or Magrathea). They deposited the nuclear device in a storage room aboard Cloud 9, where it was discovered the following morning.
"Thank you for everything, Doctor", Gina said, hugging the Timelord.
"I need to leave," the Doctor said, "gotta teach a bunch of Hobbits how to make apple cider", he said.
"I hope you come back", Gina said.
"I will", the Doctor said and stepped back into the TARDIS, waving Gina goodbye as the door closed.