Reed turned to Schultz.  "What is our proximity to Techno-Star 4."

Schultz merely shrugged as he met the commander's gaze.  "It's not there."

"That's impossible", Reed exclaimed.

"Perhaps", Schultz agreed tentatively, "but the fact remains."

Reed wrestled with frustration momentarily.  "Take us closer to Earth and run another set of diagnostics."

"Aye aye, sir", Schultz replied resignedly.

"Bridge to engineering", Reed growled into his communicator.

"Engineering pal, whatcha' need?"

"I need", Reed began, barely containing his agitation, "to know what the hell happened with the hyper drives."

"Oh sure", Jeffy replied over a mouthful of pastry, "well, we've just got the preliminaries right now..."

"Give me what you have, Jeffy."

"Hey, settle down there pal", Jeffy remarked good naturedly.

"We're just shooting from the hip here", he continued, "but we believe that if both hyper drives were going at the same time, we would implode."

"But we did have both hyper drives going", Reed baited, "and we didn't implode, Mr. Jeffy."

"I know", Jeffy replied, "it's the darndest thing."

"The darndest thing ", Reed repeated dismally.

"Uh, we're still working on it, pal", Jeffy assured his commander.

"Commander", Schultz called, breaking the uneasy tension on the bridge, "the diagnostic is complete.  The previous data was accurate."

"Damn", Reed swore quietly, "somebody figure out what's going on."

"S'cuse me commander", Lt. Schrader said from the back of the room, "but I might have a clue as ta' what's goin' on."

Reed turned wearily around to regard the pilot.  "And what's going on, lieutenant?"

Schrader shuffled his feet, embarrassed at being the center of attention.  "Well, ya' 'member when y'all first found me and I told ya' a few things about your future?"

"Yes", Reed affirmed, trying to recall exactly what had been said.

Schrader continued, "And I told ya' that Doc Egan was gonna invent time travel?"

Reed remembered perfectly now, to his growing dread.

"Seems ta' me", offered Schrader, "that he just did. 'Cept he didn't do it with his brain, he did it with his butt", the pilot finished with a grin.

Reed shook his head dejectedly.  "I sure as hell hope you're wrong."