Captain's log, stardate 41263.2. This will be a rather unusual log entry, assuming Starfleet ever receives it. As I have already informed my crew, a phenomenal surge of power during a warp speed experiment has sent our starship hurtling out of our own galaxy, past another, taking us over two million seven hundred thousand light years in a few minutes.

From her seat on the bridge, Soriana watched the human engineer with interest. Kosinski was quite certain of himself; there was no doubt about that. And yet, something still seemed off.

"Captain, this must be a special thrill for you!" the young man exclaimed.

"Thrill?" Picard asked wryly.

"As an explorer. In three centuries of space flight, we've charted just eleven percent of our Galaxy. And then we accomplish this!" Kosinski's exaltation was entirely real.

"Yes," Picard acknowledged,"but isn't the real point, can you do it again? Can you get us home?"

"Of course I can. I'll just do what I did before," Kosinski insisted.

"Hold a moment, please," Data half-turned from where he was standing at the bridge engineering station along the rear bulkhead. "Captain, I've taken the liberty of reviewing the ship's internal sensor logs during the warp test."

"Oh, have you?" Kasinski mocked, stepping toward the station. "And what is it you think you've found?"

"Both the primary propulsion systems, and the warp field, show anomalies that are not explained by the parameters entered into the system."

"Implying what, Mister Data?" Picard asked.

"That some outside factor that has not been taken into account may have influenced the experiment in some way."

"An outside factor? Don't be ridiculous," Kasinski sneered, staring at Data's screen. "Just because a mere machine can't understand the full implications of these parameters, that doesn't imply there's some mysterious other force involved."

"Captain, if I am correct, then running the experiment again will almost certainly not return us to our previous course, but may instead take us even further away from our own Galaxy." Data cautioned.

"Sir, we have picked up no signs of advanced life, hostile or otherwise, in this region of space," Worf volunteered. "We may not be so fortunate next time."

After exchanging a glance with his first officer, Picard nodded. "Mister Kasinski, I want you to work with Mister Data to explain those sensor anomalies. If they really are caused by your work, prove it to him and to my engineering team. If not, find out what caused them. Number One, you're with them. Keep me apprised of your progress."

After the three of them had left the bridge for engineering, Picard turned to Soriana. "Anything unusual to report, Counsellor?"

"Nothing more, sir. Kosinski is quite sure of himself, and as I previously explained, I get nothing from his assistant."

Picard nodded. "Check in on the team in engineering every couple of hours. Do what you can to smooth over any rising personality conflicts from Mister Kasinski's… social graces."

"Or lack thereof?" she smiled.
"Exactly. Thank you, Soriana."

*****

"I'm telling you, sir, it was the assistant that made the trip possible," Wesley was insisting to an increasingly annoyed Commander Riker as Soriana entered engineering.

"Wes, I'm aware that the speed in which he was able to input equations is superhuman, but I don't have time to discuss it right now. If the assistant is tired or hurt, please take him to sickbay." Riker ordered with finality, returning his attention to the conversation between Data and Kosinski.

The boy's distress was now tinged with anger, and Soriana approached him first. "Hi Wesley. Is everything all right?" As usual, Soriana noticed how the boy's eyes immediately flickered down to her teal uniform, at which point he erected an emotional barrier. When speaking with him earlier, Soriana had assumed that it had to do with his mother, but having reviewed his medical file, she had a different theory. The Federation medical establishment would have insisted on a lot of therapy following Jack Crusher's death, and Wesley's automatic defensiveness fit the pattern of people who feel that psychiatry has been too intrusive in their lives.

"You saw," Wesley whined. "Nobody will listen. Nobody working on the project will even consider what I'm saying."

Soriana nodded, and gestured towards the assistant, who was standing and watching the project from the background with patience. She moved towards the alien, and the boy followed her.

"Hello again. You said you didn't have a name pronounceable by humans. Have you considered adopting a second name so we have something to call you? It's customary among many Federation species when languages differ too much for mutual intelligibility."

The man shook his head. "No, I find it quite unpleasant to have a… local name. 'Assistant' is fine, or just male pronouns."

Soriana nodded. "Wesley, could you please describe to the assistant what you saw, and see if he can explain it?"

Wesley felt somewhat caught-out, but after a moment decided to comply. "You became… transparent, right before the ship started its jump. Like you were moving out of phase with the ship."

The assistant turned to Soriana. "The boy speaks dangerous nonsense. I input some of the equations, nothing more."

"I know what I saw," Wesley insisted. "You did something. Those equations, they interleaved spacetime with some sort of measurement effect. Something to do with space being modified by… thought, I guess you could say."

At this, the assistant reached out to put a hand on Wesley, "Please, don't say such things. Ideas like that are… dangerous." He glanced anxiously at the counsellor.

Soriana continued to sense nothing at all from the male alien, and Wesley seemed nothing more than desperately earnest. After just a moment's thought, she made a decision. "Would you two accompany me, please," she announced, and headed out of engineering.

"Is there a problem?" Lieutenant Yar asked as Soriana entered the security office with the two males in tow. Soriana felt her concern strike hard and acute, and watched her attention move to the assistant to assess him as a physical threat.

"Possibly," Soriana admitted. "There's been some conflicting reports involving what actions were taken in engineering during the warp drive tests. It seemed the easiest way to resolve them would be to just review the footage."

As Starfleet regulations required, all public work and recreation areas were under constant automated surveillance, although the records were locked and only accessible via security. Soriana, along with the Captain and Doctor Crusher, could each request records directly from the computer in certain situations, but the customary route to review them was through Lieutenant Yar.

Nodding, the security chief looked up the timestamp associated with their recent unexpected jump, and sent the footage to a wall panel for display. The four of them watched as the alien seemed to fade from existence as he touched the panel. Soriana gasped, and Yar was no less surprised; the alien looked suddenly sheepish.

"I mean no harm to the ship, to any of you," he insisted. "It was a demonstration, nothing more." He seemed even more tired, as though wilting under their scrutiny.

The security officer simply hit her commbadge. "Yar to Captain Picard," she said.

"Yes, Lieutenant."

"There's something I think you should see."

*****

Kosinski and his assistant sat on one side of the conference table, surrounded by the senior staff, as the footage of the alien's hands on the controls, then partially vanishing, played on the screen.

"What am I seeing, Mister Data?" was Picard's eventual question.

"Unknown, sir," Data replied. The visual and accompanying sensor data are consistent with a variety of cloaking technology, but I suspect that something closer to a phasing phenomenon is occurring here."

"By phasing," Riker interjected, "you mean, becoming less solid? No longer interacting fully with other matter?"

"That is correct. I would note that the timing of the assistant's… actions… coincides with the detected anomalies in the warp field."

"This is preposterous," Kosinski spoke up. "I already explained those anomalies to you. They're due to my equations… my parameters, not anything he did," he twitched his head toward his assistant for only an instant; Soriana felt the complete dismissal that went with the gesture.

"Is that correct, mister… assistant?" Picard asked the alien directly. "You did nothing to throw my ship out of its home galaxy? It's entirely the work of Mister Kasinski here?"

In response, the man gasped, grabbing the edge of the table. Doctor Crusher, sitting next to him, immediately stood and placed an arm on his shoulder… which fell through him the first time as he visibly phased out for more than a second.

Crusher's medical tricorder hummed as she attempted to get a scan. "Sir, I'm not getting any readings I can make sense of, but he's clearly in great pain. I need to take him to sick bay and see if I can treat him."

"Make it so," Picard said simply.

"Crusher to transporter room. Emergency medical transport to sickbay, me and this patient." An energy beam later, and they were both gone.

"And now, Mister Kosinski," Picard rounded on their other guest, "I believe it's time to discuss a bit more about your assistant."

*****

Captain's log, Stardate 41263.7. We have spent almost a week here studying this remarkable distant location, and preparing for the trip home. It is unfortunate that the Traveller, as he is called, will be unable to afford us any method to repeat these incredible speeds. He insists that our technology, and our minds, have not yet progressed to the point where such a method could be carried out consistently or safetly.

The attitude on the bridge was one of fearful anticipation. While the alien had been given time to recover, and assured the Captain that he was prepared for an uneventful return trip, there were certainly no guarantees.

"All hands, this is the Captain. I am invoking Shore Leave Planet Protocol - I repeat Shore Leave Planet Protocol. A link between thought and reality has been recognized. All Starfleet crew members certified with the appropriate mental discipline training are to focus on the ship returning to its original location in the Alpha Quadrant of our own galaxy, or on the wellbeing of the alien known as the Traveller. All of those without the appropriate training are to replicate and take a sedative to enter a dreamless sleep for the duration of the journey. Please do so immediately. We will depart in five minutes. Captain out."

" Helm, set in warp one point five, retroactive course. " Picard ordered.

"Course set in," La Forge confirmed.

"Engineering ready, captain," Riker reported over the comm.

With an anxious inhalation, Picard ordered, "Engage."

Soriana was struck by the potent coherency of the crew, so many mind focused on so much goodwill and optimism. And within moments, they found themselves back where they had began.

"Warp one point five, sir," Data stated. "What the instruments have read all along."

"And our position reads exactly what it was before this sleigh ride, began, sir," La Forge added.

"Then increase to Warp Five, same heading," Picard ordered.

A minute later, the turbolift opened to reveal Riker, the Traveller, and Wesley Crusher.

"All systems have turned to normal in engineering, sir," Riker reported. "You asked to see Mister Crusher; our Traveller friend asked if he could accompany us to the bridge to speak with you."

"Ah, Wesley. Come here, please," Picard ordered. Soriana noticed the paternal amusement in the captain's mind even as Crusher's oscillated between excitement and fear.

"You supported your Traveller friend a great deal, and were of invaluable support in engineering. Well done," Picard began.

"Thank you, sir."

"Captain," the Traveller interjected, "I only stayed because I wanted to make an unusual request."

"You got my crew home, my ship is undamaged," PIcard assessed. "What can we do for you?"

"I wanted to ask you for a warp-capable shuttlecraft."

Picard turned to Soriana briefly, but then said, "In the interest of diplomacy - of future contact between your race and the Federation - that is within my power, yes."

"And a pilot for it. Young Wesley."

"Me? Really?" young Crusher asked excitedly.

Soriana felt a spike of fear from Picard, as well as several others of the bridge crew including Riker. "You want to take Mister Crusher with you? For how long?" Riker asked.

"In your terms, not more than a year or possibly two," the alien said. "In subjective terms, a fair amount longer for Wesley. Enough to begin to truly develop his unique gifts."

The captain nodded. "I have no objection, but there's a higher authority than me you'll have to clear it with."

"Starfleet command?"

Picard shook his head. "The boy's mother." He tapped his comm badge. "Doctor Crusher to the Observation Lounge. Number One, you have the bridge." To Soriana he added, "I wouldn't miss this meeting for the world."