Face the Strange (episode)

On the way to the next clue, the USS Discovery is sabotaged by a mysterious weapon, leaving Captain Burnham, Rayner, and Stamets as the only crew members who can possibly save the ship in time.
== Summary ==
=== Teaser ===
Fifteen hours ago, L'ak and Moll trade with an Annari weapons dealer. However, the man tells them that the original price has gone up and the latinum that they brought him is no longer sufficient. Moll reveals that they had anticipated the double cross and soaked the latinum in fop'yano poison, the same kind that the man had sold to the Emerald Chain to use on people like Moll. As the weapons dealer convulses on the ground in agonizing pain, Moll tells him to consider it an expensive lesson in how not to do business and retrieves what she and L'ak came for.
Despite L'ak's doubts about her plan, Moll is sure that it will work and once they're ahead of the , they can find the next clue and the next until they find the treasure. L'ak is worried that it feels like the walls are closing in on them, but Moll reassures him that they are going to find the Progentiors' technology, which will mean no more bounty on their heads, no more looking over their shoulders, and no more running. Moll and L'ak will finally be free which L'ak agrees sounds good as the weapons dealer dies. The two kiss and Moll tells L'ak that they should go as Discovery won't be at much longer.
In the present, as Gray and Adira say goodbye over the comms, the bug that Moll had planted on Adira's uniform jacket crawls out of its sleeve and across the celling. Taking a moment to smile at a picture of them and Gray, Adira seems to sense something wrong, but fails to see the bug when they check. Paul Stamets contacts Adira, asking them to readjust the deuterium manifold on Deck 9 which had shifted after Discoverys latest jump. Adira leaves and the bug turns into a puddle that vanishes.
On the bridge, Owosekun and Rayner report that while they've arrived at the coordinates provided by Jinaal Bix, all of the scans are coming up with nothing, not even a starbase within two-and-a-half parsecs. Michael Burnham orders her crew to keep looking and instructs Linus to send a team of DOT-23s to do a more in depth scan of the area. Lieutenant informs Burnham that Trill is not reporting any sign of L'ak and Moll, so Rayner orders him to contact Trill again as the couple should've been there hours ago when Burnham was down on the planet, and they need to be alert as it's not like L'ak and Moll to fall behind in a race. Rhys suggests that it's logical for L'ak and Moll to lay low for now, stating that in their place, he'd let Discovery lead him to the next clue and keep the crew guessing in the meantime. Unnoticed by the bridge crew, the bug observes them briefly, before vanishing like it did in Adira's quarters. Rayner is dubious of Rhys' suggestion as they would have evidence if L'ak and Moll were following them. Rayner orders Rhys to stick to the facts, what they know, not what they guess. Burnham gives Rhys the conn and asks to speak to Rayner alone in her ready room.
The two beam into the ready room where Burnham calls Rayner's behavior unacceptable as it's important to her that the crew be engaged, involved and encouraged to speak freely. Speaking freely himself, Rayner states that he believes that to be a mistake, reminding Burnham that this is a Red Directive mission. Rayner believes that the crew needs to be decisive and disciplined, not collaborative. Rayner calls the crew too familiar and comfortable with each other and their captain. Burnham reminds her first officer that the crew's familiarity with each other helped them to save the Federation, the galaxy, and Rayner himself. Rayner isn't doubting the crew's resumes, but they didn't have to learn the lessons that everyone else did during The Burn where things changed in an instant and if Rayner listened to every opinion and cheered on anyone who had an idea, he and crew would've been dead a hundred times over. Burnham admits that she gets that Rayner is in a state of flux and he calms himself, apologizing for crossing the line. Burnham assures Rayner that she understands that change is hard for anyone, but the Burn is over, Rayner is on her ship now, and Burnham expects him to do things her way, but Rayner asks what if his way is better.
In engineering, Paul Stamets goes through data before turning around and noticing the bug which enters a panel. Burnham and Rayner's argument is interrupted by a power fluctuation and Owosekun reports that she's picking up odd energy fluctuations as well as something having just broadcast an unauthorized signal from the ship. Burnham and Rayner attempt to beam back to the bridge, but the transporter fails as lights flashes around them several times and the room shakes. When the shaking clears, the room has changed and is in shambles, the ship is moving through an energy vortex, the transporter is no longer working, and they can't raise the bridge. Quickly taking the turbolift to the bridge, Burnham and Rayner find the bridge crew – including Saru – unconscious in the uniforms that they were wearing at the end of Discoverys time in the 23rd century and Rayner notices that Discovery is traveling through a wormhole following a red light. A shocked Burnham realizes that they have traveled back in time and the ship is following the Red Angel through the wormhole to the future.
=== Act One ===
Rayner calls them going back in time to when Discovery went forward to the future a little confusing, but Burnham notes that it explains why their transporter badges aren't working. Burnham isn't sure how they time traveled but, as Tilly begins to wake up, she warns Rayner that the crew can't see them here and the two quickly exit the bridge before they can be noticed.
Returning to the ready room, Burnham and Rayner attempt to figure out what happened, suggesting a time eddy or Jinaal's coordinates not being as empty as they had thought. Burnham attempts to get information from the computer, but finds the viewscreen to be useless as Saru orders the crew over the comms to prepare for impact. Burnham reassures Rayner that they should survive as Detmer is about to crash-land Discovery on a planet. The two notice the same flashing lights as the last time before time jumping again, this time to a partially built ready room looking out over San Francisco. A surprised construction worker mistakes Burnham and Rayner as being inspectors and heads out to let his foreman know. Rayner offers the young man some advice that he personally hates, causing Burnham to laugh.
The amazed Burnham notes that they're in drydock when Discovery was first being built and the two recognize that they're not just traveling through time, but rather they're jumping through it. Everyone else is living in the moment, but Burnham and Rayner are not being affected at all. Rayner suggests an alternative theory of someone using some kind of a neural weapon to mess with their brains, but Burnham points out that Zora didn't register any vessels in the area before this happened. The two recall that Owosekun had called in about an energy fluctuation and realize that because whatever this is hit the ship at the exact moment that they were beaming, Burnham and Raynor were unaffected.
The two time jump again, landing back in the exact same position in the ready room that Burnham and Rayner were in when they first tried to transport. Outside a huge battle rages and Burnham recognizes it as the final battle with Control. Rayner tells Burnham that whatever hit the ship while they were trying to beam to the bridge could explain why they keep resetting to these same spots, and Burnham notes that it can't be a time eddy because they would've seen that on scans, nor does it feel like a neural attack, meaning it has to be something with the ship itself. An alarmed Rayner suddenly realizes that it's a time bug, explaining that that's what they call the Krenim chronophage. They can be found on the black market, left over from the Temporal Wars. Time bugs paralyze an enemy ship by randomly cycling them through time for weeks or months until the bug runs out of power. It's why they can't beam anywhere: the whole point is to keep the ship stuck.
The two realize that Moll and L'ak are responsible, having presumably made it to Trill somehow and crossed paths with one of the crew. Rayner identifies the unauthorized broadcast that Owosekun as the bug's location beacon, meaning that the pair knows exactly where Discovery is and where the next clue is, meaning that Rhys was right all along. Knowing that they can't let Moll and L'ak get their hands on the Progenitor technology, Burnham begins attempting to determine a pattern to the time cycle lengths with her holoPADD and Rayner suggests that the bug is most likely in engineering. Burnham reveals that Stamets will also be unaffected by the time cycling and can help them as Stamets lives outside of time due to his DNA. As a result, Stamets will be within the cycle lengths just like everyone else, but he should be just as aware of it as Burnham and Rayner are and he may have already figured it out. However, at the moment, Stamets is in sickbay due to his severe injuries from the battle, telling Hugh Culber that a scary bug is responsible. Stamets tries to get to engineering despite being impaled and calls for Zora, forgetting that she doesn't exist yet. Ignoring his husband's pleas to let him help, Culber puts Stamets into an induced coma.
Time cycles again and a cloak alert goes off. Burnham isn't sure what's happening, but she notes that the last cycle had lasted longer than the one before it and Rayner hopes that this one lasts even longer. Checking the stardate, Burnham guesses that Stamets is currently in engineering and instructs the turbolift to take them on a long cut because of the Temporal Prime Directive: any change to their past can alter their entire future. Rayner points out that they can't let the ship's computer know about their presence either which will recognize their biometric readings since they've arrived after Discoverys retrofit. Impressed with Rayner's thinking, Burnham uses her override code to prevent that just before the ship goes to black alert. Burnham realizes that it's the day that Osyraa attacks Discovery and the two emerge from the turbolift to find Regulators. The two fight the Regulators together, taking them down with the help of Jett Reno who saves Rayner. Burnham quickly hides before Reno can notice her as Rayner lies to Reno that he's Commander Lock on a temporary assignment. Rayner thanks Reno for saving him and she suggests that he buy her a vesper martini at Red's. After giving Rayner instructions, reassurance and a rag to wipe his face, Reno leaves.
Time cycles again and Burnham and Rayner land in a damaged ready room with flickering power, blackened windows and dust covering every surface. Rayner notes that it seems like no one has been here in years while Burnham is unable to even get a stardate from the computer which is glitching like it's on its last legs. The two hear "Que Sera, Sera" playing faintly in the distance and follow it to the deserted bridge which has blast shields covering the glitching viewscreen. The source of the music proves to be Zora who asks if it's really Burnham or if this is just another dream because Burnham and the rest of the crew died decades ago. Burnham reassures the AI that it's really her and Zora reveals that it's now 3218 which is almost thirty years into the future for Burnham and Rayner. Most of Zora's memory is gone so she can't recall the exact details, but the outcome that Burnham had feared came to pass: the Progenitors' technology fell into the wrong hands, and everyone died. On Burnham's orders, Zora opens the blast shields, revealing the destroyed remains of the outside.
=== Act Two ===
Zora explains that by the time that Starfleet found Discovery and deactivated the time bug, it was too late and L'ak and Moll were too far ahead. Burnham notices a Breen starship nearby and Zora reveals that the Breen somehow got their hands on the Progenitors' technology, and they then launched a devastating attack a few weeks after Discoverys rescue from the time cycling. Rayner surmises that the Breen must've been Moll and L'ak's highest bidders for the technology that they found. Touching the dusty captain's chair, Burnham admits to Rayner that when she first walked onto this bridge, it took every ounce of strength that she had not to turn around and run back off. Burnham respected Starfleet too much to believe that she deserved to be here after her mutiny on the . Rayner notes that Burnham has to be the first person in Starfleet to captain a ship that they had first boarded as a prisoner and asks her how she did it. Burnham admits that she never gave up and finds renewed resolve to find a way to stop the current crisis.
Displaying the data that she has collected, Burnham states that tracking the time cycles isn't enough: they have too small of a sample size to get a pattern meaning that even if they find the bug, they won't be able to deactivate it. Burnham asks Zora for any ideas and the AI suggests considering other variables such as the ship's location, distance and speed. Burnham realizes that it's the speed they need because she and Rayner aren't just traveling through time, they're also traveling through space, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, meaning that they've been thinking too linearly. Zora factors in the ship's speed into the time cycle lengths that Burnham has recorded and determines that while they may seem random at first, when mapped to a space-time diagram and expanded to higher dimensions, a visual pattern emerges. Zora displays a conical wave tracking their journey through time and how long they have between time jumps with the next jump being predicted within seconds. Rayner hopes that they land in an era where Stamets isn't dead and Zora counts down their departure, wishing them luck and begging Burnham and Rayner to set things right again.
After the time jump, a confused Stamets is approached in 3189 by Reno whom he had asked rather dramatically to give him some calculations on a fix that Reno had done numerous times before. Stamets decides to take the opportunity to get Reno's take on a possible solution to the problem, asking her if calibrating a chroniton stabilizer to partition world lines per Scarvelli's constant would work which Reno confirms would theoretically work so long as Stamets factors for dimensional variations. Reno quickly deduces that Stamets is stuck in a time loop which he rather unconvincingly denies. Brushing off his strange behavior, Reno tells Stamets not to bury his mind in the abstract for too long before taking her leave.
Burnham catches Stamets' attention and he quickly orders the crew to evacuate, claiming that there's been a spore breach and mushrooms will grow on their lungs if they don't evacuate now. Burnham explains that she and Rayner were beaming when the cycling started, and they get sent back to the ready room with each reset. Stamets explains that he's been spending his cycles repeating his past actions, some of which have been deeply unpleasant, although he did get to see Linus get stuck in the replicator again. Stamets shows the two where the time bug has embedded itself in the power distribution subsystem, but he stops Rayner from simply wrenching it out as if the bug is removed improperly, incalculable timelines might converge at once, ripping every molecule around them into infinite directions over and over again for eternity. They need to nullify the bug's effects with near-perfect precision, but Stamets needs to understand the pattern of the resets to do that, and he's been too busy trying not to change the future that Stamets hasn't been able to record the timings. Burnham provides Stamets with Zora's data on the time cycling, giving Stamets what he needs to build a chroniton stabilizer and properly calibrate it to stop this mess. However, Stamets may need help gathering the necessary equipment and this cycle is ending in ten seconds. Burnham quickly instructs everyone to meet on Deck 13 after each reset and warns Stamets that she and Rayner saw their possible future and they can't let it happen.
After the next time jump, Stamets informs the others that they have eight minutes until the next reset and this timeline has everything that he needs to make a chroniton stabilizer, but the main ingredient is a field-disruptor fluid that's in 32nd century holodecks and at around this time, the holodeck in Burnham's quarters would have only just been installed. Rayner offers to go instead so that she doesn't run into anyone, but the captain's quarters are biometrically secured meaning it has to be Burnham. Burnham heads for her quarters while Rayner and Stamets head for engineering.
Burnham collects the fluid from under a panel in her quarters, but Booker enters, surprised that Burnham's not on the bridge and unburdened by the losses he suffered in the future from the Dark Matter Anomaly. Burnham quickly tries to slip away, but Booker stops her. Booker tells Burnham that she has a lot of new responsibilities becoming the captain, but to trust her instincts as Burnham was made for this. Burnham acknowledges that change can be hard, and Booker agrees that it's the only way that anything meaningful can happen. Burnham asks to talk about this later before Booker surprises her with a kiss, telling Burnham that he loves her. Telling Booker that she loves him too, Burnham leaves and sneaks back to engineering which Stamets has cleared with another spore breach, leaving Stamets a little disturbed that his crew doesn't know that a spore breach isn't actually a real thing. With forty-five seconds left until the next reset, Stamets finishes his device and directs Burnham to place it right on the bug and they will be back in their real time in a flash. However, the chroniton stabilizer is repelled by a temporal shield emitted by the bug as a defense mechanism. When Burnham throws a hyperspanner at the shield, it instantly disintegrates.
=== Act Three ===
After the next time cycle, the three meet on Deck 13 where Stamets has determined that the spanner had disintegrated because time within the temporal shield is moving at an ultra-accelerated rate, meaning that anything – including them – ages to dust before it can actually get to the bug itself. While they can't turn off the shield, they can mitigate the effects long enough to get in and deactivate the bug by allowing relativity to take over. They have to take the ship to maximum warp and then break the warp bubble because that's what protects them from the effects of relativity. Discovery will drop out of warp so fast that the time inside of the shield won't be able to keep up. Essentially, whatever goes into the shield in that moment will still age, just not instantly. Hopefully, the ship's inertial dampeners will prevent the whiplash from killing them or breaking the Discovery into a million pieces.
Burnham worries that it's a big move that will definitely change the future, but Stamets explains that changes to any time that they're in don't become permanent until after the bug resets, meaning that if they succeed, nothing will have been changed, relegating their actions to an alternate timeline. As long as they break the warp bubble and turn the bug off in the same time cycle, everything will go back to the way that it was before, but it means that they only have one shot at it. The group decides to do it now as the current 14 minute time cycle is the longest that they'll have for awhile. Checking the duty roster, Stamets determines that it's currently 's ship, although he's currently on an away mission with Saru and Ellen Landry, while Rhys is on call and Detmer, Owosekun, Bryce, Tilly, Chen, Sanchez, and Airiam are on the bridge. Burnham sadly explains to Rayner that Airiam is an officer who didn't make it to the future with them before handing him the chroniton stabilizer. Rayner points out that to the crew of 2256, she's just a mutineer rather than their captain and thus they won't listen to her, but Burnham simply states that she'll have to find a way. Stamets will modulate the inertial dampeners to keep the vibrations from destroying the ship once they've broken the warp bubble while Rayner will be the one sticking his hand in the spider's nest. Stamets gives Burnham his communicator to keep in touch, intending to grab another one for himself along the way. With thirteen minutes left, the group heads to their tasks.
Unexpectedly, Linus joins Burnham in the turbolift, leading to an awkward moment when Linus compliments her red uniform. However, once Linus leaves, past Burnham enters the turbolift. Shocked at seeing another version of herself, past Burnham calls for security, but Burnham orders the computer to belay that order and to take them to Deck 13 where the two Burnhams can talk. Burnham attempts to explain her situation to her past self and begs past Burnham to let her proceed with the plan to stop the time bug, but past Burnham thinks that her future self must be a shapeshifter or something as she can't believe that a mutineer could ever end up as a starship captain. As the lift lets them out on Deck 13, past Burnham attacks her future self, leading to a fight between the two. Although fairly evenly matched, the future Burnham proves to be the better fighter, particularly as she is able to keep her composure while the past Burnham is filled with rage. Finally, Burnham subdues her past self using a Vulcan neck pinch and tells her that she knows how hard it is to see a path to the captain's seat from where past Burnham is, even Burnham herself forgot just how hopeless this time felt. While it will be a long road, past Burnham can't give up.
Stamets dramatically announces that he's very grumpy and needs to be left alone, evacuating engineering and grabbing a communicator from one of the leaving crewmembers. Rayner notes that it was faster than Stamets spore breach approach, and Stamets admits to being more surly before getting his tardigrade DNA. Stamets has trouble adjusting to using 23rd century systems again instead of the 32nd century systems that he's grown used to and calls Rayner out on how insensitive he's being while Stamets is under enormous pressure. Rayner thought that that was Stamets thing: being the brilliant scientist that everyone's hanging on. However, Stamets tells him that things change and not every problem is something that you can figure out on your own. Stamets challenges Rayner to be in his position instead as the person trying to keep this ship together so they don't die and erase everything they've ever done from history. Even if they make it back, the Progenitor technology that they're after is different, bigger than anything that Stamets has ever taken on before. Rayner reassures Stamets that he's not in any of it alone and asks what he can do to help right now. Stamets instructs Rayner to transfer control of the plasma coolant systems to a nearby console while he works calibrating the dampeners and, addressing Stamets by his first name for the first time, Rayner suggests that they show everyone how a couple of old dogs still know the best tricks, earning Stamets' appreciation.
On the bridge, the crew is surprised to see Burnham on the bridge, out of uniform and with a different hairstyle. Burnham begins to explain that she's from the future as Airiam calls for security and that Discovery is on a very important to find an immense power, but they've been stalled by a temporal weapon. Airiam has the computer scan for Michael Burnham's lifesigns, and it reports two identical lifesigns aboard, one of whom is currently unconscious. Burnham reassures the crew that the other Burnham is fine, having just been knocked out with a nerve pinch, and she begs them to listen to her. To prove that she's telling the truth, Burnham tells Detmer that there's a window on Deck 6 that she sits at when she's having a bad day because it's usually quieter than the observation room, while Owosekun joined Starfleet because she couldn't save her friend when she was 15 and Bryce loves comms because he used to listen to old radio emissions in space with his grandmother. Tilly is a cadet who is frightened of rooming with a mutineer because she thinks that Burnham is going to knife her in sleep because of Tilly's snoring, but Burnham isn't going to.
Airiam asks if she's really a Starfleet captain from the future, and Burnham clarifies that she's Discoverys captain, much to the crew's disbelief. Burnham insists that she has seen the Federation collapse, and everyone die because they don't complete this mission and she is running out of time. Detmer challenges Burnham, asking if they're just supposed to believe her, but Burnham is sure that Airiam will believe her, and she knows that everyone trusts Airiam. Burnham sadly admits that she's seen how Airiam dies in 396 days, and they all miss her every day. As Bryce grabs a phaser to try to force Burnham off of the bridge, Burnham explains that she was there and an AI program infects Airiam's augmentation and Airiam sacrifices everything for them. Tilly and Owosekun insist that it has to be a lie as they would never let Airiam do that and she would fight it off and never give up like that, but Burnham, her eyes full of tears, states that there was no other way, and some fights can't be won. Airiam states that she would give up and sacrifice herself in such a manner if it ever came to that. Airiam orders Bryce to stand down and asks Burnham what she needs from them.
In engineering, Stamets and Rayner hear an announcement from Airiam that Discovery is going to maximum warp and realize that Burnham did it again and Stamets orders Rayner to attach the chroniton stabilizer to the time bug on his mark. They have three minutes left, but while it's going to be close, Stamets thinks that they can make it. However, past Burnham enters with Rhys and orders them to step away from the console at phaser point.
=== Act Four ===
Detmer reports that they've reached maximum speed and are ready to break the warp bubble on Airiam's mark. As Burnham checks the timer until the next reset, Airiam is fascinated by the futuristic technology and wishes that she was going to be around to learn more about it. Burnham apologizes to her old friend, but Airiam tells her not to be, pointing out that if things go the way that Burnham expects, Airiam won't remember anyways, getting a smile from Burnham. Burnham contacts Rayner, but he tells her that they have a problem because Burnham's past self doesn't want to screw up again. Past Burnham thinks that Stamets has been fooled by the "shapeshifter" and her friend and she orders him to shut down the warp core and stop the ship. As Stamets tries to talk her down, Rayner tells Burnham that she needs to come down and have a talk with herself. However, they have less than three minutes and Burnham would never make it in time, so Rayner needs to handle it himself.
Rhys reiterates past Burnham's order to shut down the warp core, but Rayner addresses Rhys by his first name of Gen, stating that they know each other, but Rhys points out that anyone could look up his first name. Rayner admits that that's true, but he really does know Rhys in the future. In this time, he's Lieutenant Rhys, but in the future, he's Lieutenant Commander Rhys, Discoverys tactical officer. However, Rhys is unmoved as he's currently a tactical officer so it's not a stretch. Rayner switches to something personal, namely Rhys' love of ships, particularly the 23rd century starship which Rhys had told Rayner was his favorite. Rhys loves the curves of the Constitution-class ship, which Rayner agrees with, calling it one damn fine vessel. Convinced, Rhys confirms that Rayner's right, but past Burnham is worried that even if Rhys is from the future, it's too dangerous and orders Stamets again to shut down the warp core.
Stamets warns past Burnham that they have ninety seconds left, and past Burnham is worried that Discovery will be destroyed if she lets him do this, but Rayner counters that if she doesn't, the Burn won't end, or maybe the Federation will. Rayner gets that she doesn't trust them and, from what he knows of her, he wouldn't expect her to. Walking up to point-blank range of past Burnham's phaser, Rayner reveals that he knows that Burnham wanted to run the first day that she stood on the bridge of this ship because Burnham felt she didn't deserve to be here, something that the future Burnham told him. As that was only a few weeks ago for her, Rayner guesses that past Burnham still feels that way. However, Burnham does deserve to be here and she's doing a damn good job and everything that's she's going through is going to make her into one hell of a captain. Stamets warns Rayner that there's only 30 seconds left and Rayner finishes by telling past Burnham that he'd lost his family young too and when that happens, there's only one thing left that you can trust: the voice in your head. Burnham's is going to take her to some great places and she needs to keep trusting it, especially now because Rayner knows what it's telling her. As crazy as it seems, past Burnham needs to do the right thing, stand down and let them complete their mission. After a moment, past Burnham finally relents and Stamets orders Burnham to go. On Burnham's signal, Detmer breaks the warp bubble violently shaking the ship, but the inertial dampeners hold, keeping Discovery together. Rayner places the chroniton stabilizer on the time bug, experiencing pain from the temporal shield, but he succeeds in holding it long enough to break the time cycling.
Burnham and Rayner reappear in the ready room where the relieved Burnham finds out from the computer that they are in back in the present and only six hours have passed while Discovery was time cycling. In addition, the past hasn't been altered by their actions. Rayner's right hand has somewhat aged from being inside of the temporal shield and Burnham suggests that he go and see Dr. Culber who can fix it. Rayner admits that it's not lost on him how they pulled this off, using their personal connections to the crew to get everyone to trust them. Burnham acknowledges that Rayner is right as well that familiarity can lead to complacency, but the crew of Discovery has somehow found a way to use their connection to keep themselves honest and make themselves better. Burnham should've explained that to him, but Rayner states that Burnham showed him more patience than he deserves, acknowledging that he can be stubborn like Burnham used to be. Burnham admits that she's still stubborn, just in a different way now, and seeing her past self was a really good reminder of that. People are always changing, with everything that happens to them, with the choices they make and what's meaningful to them. Burnham gets that being here and the way that he came here is a big adjustment for Rayner, but she thinks they made a pretty good team today and Rayner agrees that they got the job done. Rayner wonders how they're going to explain all of this, but Burnham thinks that with this crew they'll get it as soon as they say time bug.
Stamets removes the charred remains of the time bug from the power conduit, lamenting that it would've been more satisfying if he'd gotten to squish it instead. Adira asks what the time bug is and if it has anything to do with why they just blinked, and six hours somehow went by. Owosekun and Detmer are a little shocked that their past selves had believed Burnham with Detmer being surprised that she'd ever consider breaking the warp bubble. Rhys is just glad they didn't shoot her, causing everyone to laugh and Burnham to comment that there was a time when she would've thought that she deserved it. Rayner walks onto the bridge, his hand now fixed, and Burnham tells her crew that she's really glad they all came together and turns her attention back to the mission at hand. Linus reports that the DOTs found a warp signature that matches with L'ak and Moll's ship. Rayner states that it seems like Rhys' earlier theory was a good one and congratulates him, a reversal from Rayner's earlier gruff demeanor with the crew. However, Owosekun reports that L'ak and Moll's trail disappears like they came here and they're now just gone. Burnham tells her crew that wherever the pair is, that's where the next clue is and these are the right coordinates so it's a mystery indeed, one that the Discovery crew sets to work solving.
== Memorable quotes ==
"You're in a state of flux right now, Rayner. I get that."
"Oh, come on! Spare me the "I get you" bullshit. I should have, uh… that was over the line. Captain. I'm sorry."
:- Burnham and Rayner
"I'll let the foreman know you're here. Uh, maybe go to Deck 7 last, though."
"Tell your foreman that's where we're headed next. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail, son."
"Nice one."
"I hate that saying."
:- A construction worker encounters a temporally displaced Burnham and Rayner while Discovery is being built
"Captain? Is that you? Or is this another dream?"
"Hi, Zora. It's not a dream."
"You and the crew died decades ago. Is this a dream?"
"No. No, it's really me. What year is this?"
"3218."
"That's almost 30 years in the future."
:- Zora, speaking to Burnham and Rayner in the future
"By the time Starfleet found Discovery and deactivated the Krenim chronophage, it was too late. L'ak and Moll were too far ahead."
"Is that ship Breen?"
"Yes. Somehow, they got the Progenitors' technology. They launched a devastating attack a few weeks after we were rescued from the time cycling."
"They must've been Moll and L'ak's highest bidders."
:- Zora, Burnham, and Rayner, discuss the devastating future events
"You know, when I first walked onto this bridge, it took every ounce of strength I had not to turn around and run back off. I respected Starfleet too much to believe I deserved to be here after what I had done."
"You're talking about the mutiny. But look where you ended up. You have to be the only person in Starfleet to captain a ship that you first boarded as a prisoner."
:- Burnham, recalling her first moments on Discovery, to Rayner
"Are you stuck in a time loop right now, Stamets?"
"What? No. What?"
"Just messing with you. Don't bury your mind in the abstract for too long. You'll turn into a Rothko painting."
:- Reno being perceptive about Stamets situation
"Who's on the bridge?"
"Okay, so it's, uh, right now Lorca's ship, but he's on an away mission with Saru and Landry. So, the duty roster has Rhys on call. And we've got Detmer, Owosekun, Bryce, Tilly, Chen, Sanchez... and Airiam."
"Who's Airiam?"
"She's an officer that didn't make it to the future with us.
:- Stamets and Burnham get a bittersweet reminder in front of Rayner
"Um, there's been a spore breach! Evacuate now or – or mushrooms will grow on your lungs!"
:- Stamets, trying to get crew members to leave the engineering bay in the past
"Let me just say… red is definitely your color!"
"Heh, thank you, Linus."
:- Linus, seeing future Burnham in her 32nd century command red Starfleet uniform in 2256
"Oh, I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen, but things rarely go as planned for us, am I right?"
:- Burnham, while encountering her past self in a turbolift
"All right, I am very grumpy! Just absolutely irate and I need to be left alone!"
"Yes, sir."
"That was faster than your spore breach excuse."
"Yeah, I was a – a tad more surly pre-tardigrade DNA."
:- Stamets, a Discovery crew member, and Rayner in 2256
"Fascinating technology. I wish I were going to be around to learn more about it."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be. If things go the way you expect, I won't remember anyway."
:- Airiam is fascinated by Burnham's future technology
== Background information ==
=== Title ===
* By , this episode's title had been revealed by the Writers Guild of America West. 
* The title was officially confirmed on . 
* The title is a reference to 's 1971 hit song "". 
=== Story and script ===
* The story shares similarities with . In both episodes, characters travel between different eras of their respective ships' histories, both past and future.
=== Cast and characters ===
* This is the first episode of the series in which Doug Jones is not credited. Jones previously did not appear in or , but he was credited for both. Jones only appears in this episode through archive material.
* Raven Dauda (Tracy Pollard) and Zarrin Darnell-Martin (Discovery nurse) appear in this episode via footage lifted from and neither of them are credited.
* Although Linus (David Benjamin Tomlinson) was first seen on screen in the second season premiere , in this episode it is revealed that the character had been serving on Discovery since the early first season.
* The characters of and Ellen Landry are mentioned in dialog, but neither of them are seen. Osyraa is also mentioned.
* Hannah Cheesman reprises her role of Airiam, a character killed off in the second season episode . Cheesman also replaces Sara Mitich who played Airiam in the first season, at the time period which her scenes from this episode are set.
=== Continuity ===
* Burnham, Rayner and Stamets time jump to periods referencing a number of past episodes:
** Time Cycle 1 references elements from , depicting the crew and crash landing in 3189 seen in .
** Time Cycle 2 depicts Discovery in dry dock. That Discovery was built at San Francisco Fleet Yards was established on its dedication plaque. suggests that Discovery was fresh "off the assembly line" in November 2256.
** Time Cycle 3 names stardate 1051.8 in depicting the battle with Control (from .) Burnham recorded a personal log entry with this date, just before the battle, in .
** Time Cycle 4 names stardate 865422.4, a date not previously established, but depicting a point after Osyraa takes control of Discovery at the end of but before the Orion operating system is introduced by the beginning of . Culber's radiation warning in "Su'Kal" suggests the events of both episodes take place in less than a day.
** Time Cycle 5/6 names stardate 893612.3 and 3218. Burnham's tricom badge references this cycle as both time cycle 5 and time cycle 6.
** Time Cycle 7 names stardate 865312.3 on Stamets' PADD. This may place the events in 3189, between (stardate 865211.3) and the adoption of tricom badges and the new spore interface in .
** Time Cycle 8 is set not long after Burnham takes command in , but after Discovery adopts the more colorful 32nd century uniform (previously first depicted in .)
** Time Cycle 9 is set after Burnham comes aboard in ("six months" after , set on May 11, 2256), but before Landry's death in . Burnham is wearing the Starfleet uniform she synthesized at the beginning of , possibly placing these events during that episode. While Lorca and Landry spent much of that episode focused on accelerating development of the spore drive in order to save Corvan II, the events of this episode that include them being away from the ship on a mission could conceivably fall after the teaser and before or early in Act 1. establishes Landry is dead seven months after "The Vulcan Hello".
*** Burnham reveals to Airiam of 2256 that she will die in 396 days, events depicted in .
* Rayner references Gen Rhys's love of starship designs that he learned during crew one-on-ones in .
=== Production ===
=== Reception ===
== Links and references ==
=== Starring ===
* Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham
* Anthony Rapp as Paul Stamets
* Mary Wiseman as Sylvia Tilly
* Wilson Cruz as Hugh Culber
* Blu del Barrio as Adira Tal
* Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner
;with
* Tig Notaro as Jett Reno
;and
* David Ajala as Cleveland Booker
=== Guest starring ===
* Annabelle Wallis as Zora 
* Hannah Cheesman as Airiam
* Eve Harlow as Moll
* Elias Toufexis as L'ak
=== Co-starring ===
* Emily Coutts as Lt. Cmdr. Keyla Detmer
* Patrick Kwok-Choon as Lt. Cmdr. Gen Rhys
* Oyin Oladejo as Lt. Cmdr. Joann Owosekun
* Ronnie Rowe Jr. as Lt. Cmdr. R.A. Bryce
* Orville Cummings as Lt. 
* David Benjamin Tomlinson as Lieutenant Linus
* Joshua Bainbridge as Regulator
* James Cade as Weapons dealer
* Minh Ly as Q.A. Melton
=== Uncredited co-stars ===
* Ian Alexander as Gray Tal 
* Avaah Blackwell as Lt. Arav
* Raven Dauda as Dr. Tracy Pollard 
* Zarrin Darnell-Martin as Nurse 
* Doug Jones as Saru 
* Leeu as Grudge
=== Stunt doubles ===
* Sherry Rene as stunt double for Sonequa Martin-Green
=== References ===
2256; 2257; 2258; 23rd century; 3189; 3218; 32nd century; AI; "amateur hour"; Annari; augmentation; away mission; bag; bidder; biometric reading; ; black market; bounty; brain; Breen; Breen dreadnaught; Bryce's grandmother; ; cello; ; chroniton stabilizer; chronophage; cloak alert; communicator; conical wave; conn; ; Control; coordinates; Cordera; ; deuterium manifold; DNA; DOT-23; dream; drydock; duty roster; field-disruptor fluid; foreman; Golden Gate Bridge; gym; helmet; holodeck; inertial dampener; injector coil; inspection; ion trace; Krenim; ; latinum; location beacon; ; lung; martini; multiphasic scan; mushroom; mutiny; neural weapon; OBD diagnostic; observation room; Osyraa; override code; painting; parsec; plasma coolant; polaron; power distribution subsystem; photo album; race; radio emission; raktajino; Red Angel; Red Directive; Red's; relativity; replicator; resumé; right cross; road; ; Ruhn's dreadnaught; ; San Francisco; Scaravelli's constant; service shaft; shapeshifter; starbase; shoulder; space-time diagram; spanner; spore breach; Suus Mahna; tactical officer; ; Temporal Prime Directive; temporal shield; Temporal Wars; temporary assignment; time bug; time eddy; time loop; training; training room; ; truffle; Vesper; Vulcan nerve pinch; warp bubble; warp core; wormhole; worldline
=== External links ===
* 
* 
Category:DIS episodes
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