- The Control Voice: As technology evolves, the means to communicate with each other become increasingly sophisticated. But will these means ever be sufficient to bridge the gaps between us... or will they only serve to pull us further apart?
An astronaut named Christopher Lindy and his partner Susan crash land on an alien planet's ocean at night. Susan gets dragged under by a tentacled creature, but he manages to escape on an inflatable raft. He radios Earth, more specifically his agency, the UNAS, asking for rescue. What he doesn't know is that while for him a short time has passed, 20 years have passed on Earth. His former lover Nancy McDonald has married a marine biologist named Greg Tillman and is now the Chairman of the UNAS. Stunned when she receives the message, having thought Lindy was dead, she tries to arrange a rescue mission.
The UNAS experts detect an unstable wormhole and determine Lindy and Susan's ship passed through it. Nancy's attempts to set up a rescue mission are hindered by an obnoxious senator who is critical of the space program and says attempting a rescue is a waste of time and resources. Regardless, Nancy keeps trying, and talks to Lindy regularly, giving him hope, but she keeps the fact that 20 years have passed and that she is married a secret when she figures out that barely any time has passed for him. The tentacled creature attacks Lindy several times and he fends it off with a flare gun. After being informed of the situation, Greg talks to Lindy and tells him to abandon the raft as it is a bigger target for the creature. Nancy and the others look at Greg with suspicion, perhaps suspecting he plans to have his wife's former lover killed, but Lindy decides to trust him and jumps into the water. The creature drags the raft into the water and ignores him, then he manages to swim to land.
Unfortunately, by the time the UNAS can get a spaceship and crew in working order, it is detected that the wormhole is closing, making a rescue almost impossible. When informed about this, Lindy decides risking the rescue team is not worth it and tells them to leave him. They are only able to launch a care package through the wormhole and hope he can find it. Realizing this is her last chance, Nancy reluctantly tells him about how 20 years have passed on Earth and that she is married. Although sad, Lindy says he is glad she is safe and happy, then plays their favorite song, "Someone to Watch Over Me", sung by Ella Fitzgerald, on the radio as a final farewell. The portal closes, cutting off radio contact, and Greg comforts Nancy. On the planet, the sun finally rises, and Lindy looks on with hope when he finds he is in a tropical paradise.
- The Control Voice: The distances between us, so vast and so close, are so easily bridged. Not by what we make... but by what we feel.
Tropes Apart:
- Colonized Solar System: There is mention of a moonbase.
- Octopoid Aliens: Shortly after his ship crash lands on another planet, the astronaut Lt. Christopher Lindy's inflatable raft is attacked by a giant alien squid.
- Next Sunday A.D. and
Technology Marches On: In a detail that shows it's the future, Nancy and Greg pay the bill at a restaurant with a card reader built into the table. This technology is now commonplace, but uses portable card readers fetched by the staff instead. - Time-Passage Beard: By the end of the episode, Lindy gets a beard.
- Time Travel Episode
