[La Sirena]

PICARD: Rios? Do you read me? Raffi, do you copy? Anybody?

[Clinic]

RAFFI: Whoa. What the hell happened here?
SEVEN: Nothing good. You sure his signal pinged from here?
RAFFI: I know how to read a tricorder.
SEVEN: Why did Rios need a hospital?
RAFFI: Rios?! Rios?
GABI: Whoa, hey. Hey, I'm sorry. Look, we're closed. If you need a doctor, there's another clinic two blocks east.
DEVN: No, we don't need medical assistance. We're looking for our friend. Dark hair, scruffy.
GABI: Yeah, he was here. The doctor patched him up before ICE officers raided us. They arrested them both. I'm sorry. Look, Teresa's a citizen. You know? They'll probably just detain her longer than they should, but eventually they throw her back. You know those assholes.
SEVEN: Yeah. I feel like I do.
GABI: But your friend? I hope you find him soon, before ICE makes sure you never do.

[La Sirena]

PICARD: Seven, Raffi, do you read me? Do you copy? Rios, do you read me?
AGNES: It was a long shot the comms would work. There's no relays.
PICARD: Let's just hope that they're not...
AGNES: Dead?
PICARD: Thank you, Doctor. You know, until the auto-repair heats the ship, why don't we find you somewhere where we can light a fire.
AGNES: What if someone spots La Sirena?
PICARD: The Confederation ships seem to be equipped with upgrades. Computer, engage cloaking device.

[Chateau Picard]

PICARD: Oh, dear.
AGNES: So Chateau Picard is abandoned in this era.
PICARD: Nearly a century at this point. During the Second World War, when the Nazis occupied France, they used this house as a base of operations. My ancestors only survived by hiding in the tunnels below.
AGNES: Where'd they go?
PICARD: England. But the chateau remained in the family. Although there were various caretakers keeping it up, it'll be generations before the Picards reside here again.
JEAN-LUC [memory]: Maman! Maman! Maman.
AGNES: You all right, mister?
PICARD: Just having memories of things that have yet to occur.
JEAN-LUC [memory]: Maman. Maman.
YVETTE [memory]: Computer, play "Non, je ne regrette rien," second verse. Let's take a deep breath and listen.
PIAF [OC]: Avec leurs trémolos, balayé pour toujours, je repars à zéro. Non, rien de rien.
YVETTE: There. Fear's gone. You're safe now. I'm here.
PIAF [OC]: Ni le bien qu'on m'a fait, ni le mal. Tout ça m'est bien égal.
(A log fire is lit.)
AGNES: Where are you?
PICARD: Ah. Lost in the past, I suppose. In more ways than one. Agnes, we need to find out what else the Borg Queen knows about the break in the timeline, what else you stole from her mind. And I think you need rest.
AGNES: Thinking is my rest. Can't even comprehend how relaxing calculus can be.
PICARD: I will take your word for it. My mother used to play Édith Piaf to me when I was young to calm me down.
AGNES: I can just imagine a little Picard wandering around here saying, milk, chocolate, hot. Let me guess, you were the skinny kid with the endless book collection.
PICARD: That was me.
AGNES: Oh, I need a drink.
PICARD: Ah. Agnes, what you need is rest.
AGNES: Here we go. Pinot noir. You happen to have a corkscrew on you?
PICARD: Fascinating. You moved 15 beads on the abacus. You chose the 15th volume of the Britannica. And a Pinot noir 1915. Agnes, I think that your marvelous mind is trying to tell us something.
AGNES: Look at you, Dixon Hill. 15. 15. It must be the other piece of information I took from the Borg Queen's mind.
PICARD: The last thing you said before I disconnected you... when is the timeline changing?
AGNES: 15 hours?
PICARD: That's too nonspecific.
AGNES: A date then.
PICARD: Did the ship's chronometer ever show precisely when we landed?
AGNES: The 12th of April, 2024. Which, if we are right, would mean...
PICARD: We have three days before the future is changed irrevocably.

[Bus]

(Punk rocker with loud boom box. Yup, the same actor from Voyage Home.)
SEVEN: Hey. Hey. You mind stopping that noise?
PUNK: Yeah, okay! Fine! I just like that song. Okay, I'm sorry. Sorry. Apologies.
RAFFI: We should have waited in the other future until we had a real plan, instead of jumping back in time.
SEVEN: We didn't have a lot of runways.
RAFFI: Whatever.
SEVEN: Raffi, you lost someone.
RAFFI: We're getting him back.
SEVEN: And losing him was not your fault.
RAFFI: Just...

[La Sirena]

AGNES: The transporter should be working. You sure about this?
PICARD: We need to figure out what changes the timeline, and we only have three days. Considering the precious little time we have, and that we haven't been able to reach the others, we must find the Watcher. If the Queen is right, the Watcher is the only one who can help us.
AGNES: I could come with you.
PICARD: No. We need you here. You must find a way to boost the communications and bring us home. I'm counting on you, Agnes. We all are.
AGNES: Peachy. Have you met me in a pinch?
PICARD: In fact, I have. Now, let's see where the Queen's coordinates take me.
AGNES: All right, mister. I'm glad one of us is confident.
(Picard is beamed away.)
QUEEN: Poor Agnes Jurati. Doomed to be the afterthought, left behind again. Not to me. You're more than you let on or that they can see. Smart, cunning and remarkably more cruel than I could have predicted. Bravo.
AGNES: How am I cruel?
QUEEN: Fixing me just to take what you need, leaving me up here powerless yet now awake to feel it.
AGNES: All right. Well, have a good night plotting or whatever it is Borg Queens do.
QUEEN: You felt it, too, didn't you? That thing for what we Borg have so very many words. Assimilation. Cooperation. Connection.

[10 Forward Avenue]

(Picard beams in on the corner of Forward Avenue and 100N, sees number 10 and goes inside. He sees a familiar non-standard bottle and goes to pour a drink.)
GUINAN: No. Put it back. Bar's closed.
PICARD: Guinan.
GUINAN: Yeah? Want some advice? March yourself back out that door and I won't have to have you on my or Luna's conscience.
PICARD: Luna?
GUINAN: Hey, Luna.
(A dog barks and trots forward.)
GUINAN: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
PICARD: Hey. Hello, girl. Stay. Good girl. My apologies. Ten Forward is always open, I thought.
GUINAN: If you're here to drink, you're late. You're here to loot, you're early. Today is closing day.
PICARD: Closing for...?
GUINAN: Ever. That's it. Out. You're a lot older than my usual thieves. Haven't settled into retirement yet?
PICARD: Believe me, I am trying. But it turns out that, er, afternoon naps and jigsaw puzzles are not quite my speed. Guinan, I was told to come here, and I believe... I hope... that you can help me.
GUINAN: I don't know you. I don't want to know you.
PICARD: Yeah.
GUINAN: And I don't help.
PICARD: There is something very important that I have to tell you, and you know how valuable listening can be, as an El-Aurian.
(Guinan gets her shotgun.)
GUINAN: Who the hell are you, old man?

[Police station]

STAUSS: Crystal Ball? Is that, like, a stage name or something?
RAFFI: Cristobal. He was arrested along with a doctor. Can't you find him?
STAUSS: Look around. I got intake. I got overflow. I got transfers waiting to happen. If they took your friend, he ain't in the system yet.
RAFFI: Then where is he?
STAUSS: Processing. How should I know?
RAFFI: Goddamn it! You're law enforcement for this city, right? Why else would I be here? Listen, my friend was taken by ICE officers. You must know something. You can't just kidnap people.
SEVEN: Okay, we're just going to back away from your personal space and wait over there. You are doing a great job. Thank you for serving the public.
RAFFI: I hate everything.
SEVEN: But you hide it so well.
PUGA: Piece of advice? LAPD won't have ICE detainees in their system. You want Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Look, you're in the wrong place. Not that it makes any difference, 'cause if you don't get to Crystal Ball before he's transferred, gone. No trial. No paper trail.

[Detention centre]

MAN: I pledge allegiance to the flag...
RIOS: They make you swear allegiance? That is hard core.
OFFICER: You. I need your Juan Hancock on these transfer papers. Got a bus seat with your name on it.
MAN: You mean deportation papers. I have the right to an attorney.
MORRIS: Just sign it. You eyeballing me, asshole?
RIOS: The hell is wrong with you guys? Slap on a badge, put on a uniform, you think you can treat people this way? Show... Argh!
(Rios gets tasered.)
MORRIS: Let's go.
RIOS: Why does the past hurt so much?
TERESA: Dislocate the other hand, I'm gonna start charging.
RIOS: Are you all right?
TERESA: I'm fine. Lunatic. Why didn't you run?
RIOS: I did. I just then... also chose to run back.
TERESA: Well, good job. I'm still trying to work out the brave-or-stupid conundrum.
RIOS: If you figure it out, can you give my late mother a call?
TERESA: Who are you, Cristobal?
RIOS: I'm just a... Good Samaritan passing through.

[10 Forward Avenue]

GUINAN: Long as I've lived on this planet, I can count on one hand number of times I've been called El-Aurian. Who are you? Where are you from?
PICARD: France.
GUINAN: No. Not just France. Anyone who comes around knowing where I'm from, they're not from anywhere remotely around here, planetarily speaking.
PICARD: (to the dog) You're a beautiful girl. Good girl.
GUINAN: Huh. She doesn't usually take to strangers.
PICARD: Because she knows I'm not a threat.
GUINAN: Whatever, man. Stay. Go. I'm locking the doors for good either way.
PICARD: The fact that you're leaving at the moment that I find you proves to me that I have come to the right place. I was told I had three days to stop something very... critical from happening.
GUINAN: Good luck with that.
PICARD: I was given coordinates to this place, to find a Watcher. I suspect that I've already found one.
GUINAN: I... I'm not...
DALE: Guinan? Am I early?
GUINAN: Luna. Come on now, girl. You go home with your Uncle Dale. He'll take good care of you.
DALE: Come here, baby. Come on, baby.
GUINAN: This place is a pressure cooker. You know they're actually killing the planet? Truth is whatever you want it to be. Facts aren't even facts anymore. A few folks have enough resources to fix all the problems for the rest, but they won't, because their greatest fear is having less. They got one tiny ball in the entire galaxy, and all this species wants to do is fight. I've given them long enough.
OLDER GUINAN [memory]: It's not too late.
PICARD: It's not too late. The problem isn't time.
OLDER GUINAN [memory]: It's not too late.
PICARD: It's not.
OLDER GUINAN [memory]: It's not time.
PICARD: It's you. It's you.
OLDER GUINAN [memory]: It's not too late.
(Guinan is sick.)
PICARD: What you're experiencing, it's because I'm repeating to you now words you will say back to me in the future. You told me about it once many tomorrows ago. It's... it's called Af... Af-something.
GUINAN: Af-kelt. Time sickness.
PICARD: A uniquely El-Aurian condition that occurs only when the timeline has been affected.
GUINAN: Doesn't matter to me, old man. Once I leave, I'll be fine.
PICARD: Distance offers no protection from Time. This wrong must be righted. Something which only you can help me do.

[Outside the police station]

SEVEN: What are we doing?
RAFFI: Finding Rios.
SEVEN: In the parking lot?
RAFFI: We need to find out where they're disappearing people like him, so we follow the trail of suffering like breadcrumbs.
SEVEN: Okay, just so I'm clear. Are you suggesting we steal a vehicle from the same people whose job it is to prosecute theft?
RAFFI: We need a way to find Rios and get back to fixing the timeline. See, my idea...
SEVEN: Mmm.
RAFFI: ..is to steal the computer inside. Better?
SEVEN: Not better. Not better. Raffi, what the hell happened to no phasers?
RAFFI: I have no idea how this got here.
SEVEN: Okay. Raffi, right now, your brains are in your fists. We're not doing Rios any good if we're locked up with him.
(Raffi phasers the car window.)
SEVEN: You're not gonna get very far without power, are you?
(She starts the engine.)
SEVEN: So you could do that, but you couldn't unlock the door?
RAFFI: No, I could've, but that was way more fun.
SEVEN: I thought that guy said that Rios wouldn't be in the same system.
RAFFI: Well, systems in the 21st century are linked. A little navigating, and I give you... Immigration and Customs, baby. What we want are arrests. We're looking for a male Hispanic, a female Hispanic. My God. There are so many.
OFFICER: What happened back there?
SEVEN: Damn it, Raffi. Come on. Come on, come on.
(Seven gets in the driver's side.)
RAFFI: No, I... I got it. ICE intakes are routed to a processing centre 25 miles northwest of here. Musiker to Sirena. Do you copy? Picard?
SEVEN: I think we've established that communicators don't work at long distance in this century.
AGNES [OC]: Raffi, is that you? Oh, I'm here.

[La Sirena]

AGNES: Are you with Picard?
RAFFI [OC]: Picard? No, we're going after Rios.
AGNES: Rios isn't with you?

[Police car / La Sirena]

RAFFI: He's in a detention facility in a place called Castaic.
AGNES: So things are going well.
RAFFI: I'm sending you the coordinates. We need help getting there.
AGNES: All right, bringing transporter online. Damn it. The system's down again. It dropped back into self-repair mode. I need some time.
RAFFI: We don't have time. Where's Picard?
AGNES: I don't know, and I can't make contact, even though I boosted the communicators.

[Police car]

RAFFI: Okay. We're going after Rios the old-fashioned way. Here, put that on. Just click it.
SEVEN: You want me to drive?
RAFFI: Well, you have a better idea? What? Oh. You can pilot a starship but you can't drive a...
(Reverse out of the parking space, turn, forward.)
RAFFI: Whoo. All right. You're doing great. You're doing great. Just... just easy does it. Easy does it. Try to not draw so much attention to us. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
(Smashes through the entrance barrier.)
RAFFI: Okay, well, nobody's gonna notice that.
SEVEN: What? You wanted out, we're out.
RAFFI: Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa. One way, one way!
DISPATCHER [OC]: All units, be advised. Stolen police vehicle headed north on Adams Street.
RAFFI: I'm pretty sure we can't reach Rios if we're roadkill.
SEVEN: All right, give me a little slack here. This thing's an antique.
RAFFI: Oh, you're kidding me. Castaic's an hour away. Jurati, give me some good news.

[La Sirena]

AGNES: Shit. I'm working on it, you guys, I swear.

[Police car]

RAFFI: Seven, just get around them. Get around them.
SEVEN: You think I'm not trying?
RAFFI: The bus was faster.
SEVEN: All right, maybe you should get back on it.
RAFFI: Er, truck. Truck. Truck! (U-turn) Just... just go back that way. That way.
SEVEN: Okay, how about you drive and I hold the map? How about that?

[La Sirena]

AGNES: You know what? You two really need to work on your communication.

[Police car]

AGNES [OC]: It's the cornerstone of every good...
BOTH: Jurati!
AGNES [OC]: See? There you go. Now you're in sync.
RAFFI: Look, just get the transporter up. Even if you can't beam us to Castaic, we'll still need an exit when we find Rios.

[La Sirena]

AGNES: Seriously, guys, I need more time.
RAFFI [OC]: How much?
AGNES: Er... I... A day?
RAFFI: A day? We barely have an hour.
QUEEN: Oh, Agnes.
AGNES: Stand by. I might know someone who can help.

[Forward Avenue]

GUINAN: So let me see if I got this. You're from some redacted years in the future, but time's been altered. So now one future is A-OK and the other's hell on Earth.
PICARD: Yeah.
GUINAN: And you can babble all that, but you can't even tell me your name?
PICARD: Well, if I say more, I risk compromising your path.
GUINAN: Might've thought of that before you started harassing me in my bar.
PICARD: Oh, I'm sorry about that. I... I had no choice. Whatever you are watching over, that you're about to abandon, it is vital to the future of humanity.
GUINAN: I'm no Watcher. And humanity?
(The down-and-outs, the poor, the hungry.)
PICARD: Humankind will change. You must be patient.
GUINANA: You know who has the luxury of patience here? Someone who looks like you and not like me. This world had more potential than I had ever imagined.
(They hand over their food parcels to the charity.)
MAN: Ah, this is great. You can just set those on the table. Thank you.
GUINAN: But the hatred here? It never ends. It just swaps clothes. This century? It took off a hood and put on a suit. You say change is coming? Well, it's too damn slow, and the cost way too high. And being forced to watch it... hurts.
PICARD: History's darkest moments can be a tipping point for change. There's still good here.
GUINAN: Trust me, it ain't tipping soon. And I've been on this planet a lot longer than you.
PICARD: Then why not a few more days? Stay. Help me to understand what's been changed in this timeline.

[Detention centre]

TERESA: I did not not sleep for six years in med school so I could watch my neighbours die because they're too afraid to go to a hospital.
RIOS: That's why you started the clinic?
TERESA: I started the clinic 'cause I'm a control freak.
RIOS: Where I come from, you'd be a hero.
TERESA: Yeah? Where's that? Do you even know what's gonna happen to you?
RIOS: No. Do you?
TERESA: No. Not sure. It's my second time. I hate being in here. I start out with a pretty healthy fear of authority.
RIOS: Clearly not when it gets in the way of helping people.
TERESA: Pure selfishness. I need to be needed. How's the hand?
RIOS: You're good.
TERESA: That the one who tased you?
RIOS: Yep. Face like a Ferengi.
TERESA: What the hell's a Ferengi?
MORRIS: Teresa Ramirez. Paperwork came through. Uber's waiting.
TERESA: Look, I... I would like to help you...
RIOS: No, go on. Go on. Please, you're fine. You've done enough for me already, so thank you.
TERESA: If you ever need anything.
MORRIS: Aw, don't cry, Juan. You're in luck. I got you a seat on that bus. I mean, unless, of course, you've decided to provide your name and proof of citizenship.
RIOS: All right. My name is Cristobal Rios. You can call me Chris, Rios. Good either way.
MORRIS: Occupation?
RIOS: Captain. Of the USS Stargazer. You wouldn't know it. It's a starship from the year 2400. I'm on an ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and civilizations, but instead I'm stuck back in a particularly primitive past - no offence - trying to correct the timeline so I can, you know... With whom, you ask? A ragtag group of misfits including one cybernetic queen that I'm fairly certain is just in it to wipe out all of humanity with her old cohort, a crusty old admiral who, if I understand it correctly, is now a flesh and blood robot. I... I... you know, I can't be sure, 'cause nobody can explain it to me.

[Police car]

(Still weaving through traffic.)
RAFFI: Er, I think, er, take a right up here.
SEVEN: I just want to say, I am not the worst driver here.
RAFFI: Well...
SEVEN: Wait, what does a yellow light mean?
RAFFI: Go faster. No, red means stop. Red means stop. Red means stop! Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!
(They take the right turn at speed.)
RAFFI: Er, can you stop?
SEVEN: If I kill somebody, this is on you.
RAFFI: Well, maybe you could try not aiming for them. I think you're getting the hang of it.

[On the bus]

MORRIS: Hurry up. Keep moving. Take a seat. I'm sorry to say that the end of the line's gonna be the end of life as you know it. Adios, Captain.
(lock clicks)
MAN: Transport is set.

[La Sirena]

QUEEN: Agnes P. Jurati. You've the quickened flush of a woman with much to ask yet no time to ask it.
AGNES: There are a number of systems that are still down after our er...
QUEEN: Entwinement, shall we say?
AGNES: Some of the systems are recalibrating too slowly.
QUEEN: Which systems concern you the most? Propulsion? Cloaking?
AGNES: No, I... I know you were listening. I need the transporters. Cloaking doesn't matter right now.
QUEEN: Says the woman who won't meet my gaze for fear of being seen. To be in plain view and yet still unafraid, there's great strength in that.
AGNES: Well, I'm sure it helps when you have an army behind you.
QUEEN: It's how you get the army to follow you, my dear, how you teach the choir to sing.
AGNES: Look, about the transporters...
QUEEN: Don't politely demure yourself. Convince me.
AGNES: My friends are in trouble. I really need the transporters fully functioning, and you can think faster than I can type. So, please, can I trust you to help?
QUEEN: Beware the species that has not yet purged that word. They're simply begging to be conquered.
AGNES: Help?
QUEEN: Trust.
AGNES: It's a strange thing to say to somebody you're trying to get to trust you.
QUEEN: Yet more believable than if I told you that you could. Betrayal is just an anagram for believe me.
AGNES: That's not even...
QUEEN: God. Poetry, dear. Flair. You are like the brightest peacock, yet still so afraid to shine. And that, dear Agnes, is why you are so frequently alone.
AGNES: You want to talk about being alone? Look at you. You're disconnected from the hive. You're trying to have a slow conversation with me just to have someone to talk to. If my friends crash or get captured, how chatty do you think I'm gonna be then?
QUEEN: Help now and what do I get?
AGNES: Me. I got a lot of your... thoughts still swimming around in my head after our, you know. You hate being alone just as much as I do. So how about it? You and I trade sad sack stories in between pressing catastrophes.

[Police car]

RAFFI: Shit. Rios's file just updated. He's being moved.
SEVEN: What? Where?
RAFFI: Er, it's to a sanctuary district on the border?
SEVEN: Like he's being disappeared. Raffi, if we lose him now...
RAFFI: I know, I know. Damn it. Hey, hang on. Okay, I found him. Er, he's on ICE transfer bus number 735. GPS transponder says he's on Highway 4... Oh, oh, n-n-n-n-no, no. Jurati, the cops are all over us. Tell me that you have the transporter up.

[La Sirena / Police car]

AGNES: Yes. Yes, we're almost good to go. Not bad, huh? I just walked right over...
RAFFI: Agnes! Agnes, focus. No time to explain. All right, I'm sending you our coordinates. Beam us there now.
AGNES: Okay, uh, just a second. Getting them.
RAFFI: Seven, can you buy us some time?
AGNES: Okay, now I'm gonna ask you to do something totally counterintuitive, okay? I need you to hit the brakes.
SEVEN: What? The authorities are right behind us.
AGNES: Seven, trust me.
(The car stops.)
RAFFI: Oh...
OFFICER: Get out of the car! Get out now!
(Raffi and Seven are beamed away.)
DISPATCHER: ..r equesting backup at Broadway. All other units, cordon off 11th Avenue.
OFFICER [OC]: Adam-14. Copy that. Barricading Olive and 12th. Setting up a perimeter.

[La Sirena / Roadside]

(Raffi and Seven are beamed to a roadside.)
AGNES: Sorry, guys, the transporter still can't handle moving targets. Are you guys alive? Please, please tell me you're alive.
SEVEN: We're alive, I think.

[Roadside]

RAFFI: I got a lock on the bus's GPS. Whoa. Rios is coming fast. So we hijack it.
SEVEN: In broad daylight.
RAFFI: Without butterflies.
SEVEN: Without getting ourselves killed.
RAFFI: Or Rios, or anyone else. Exactly.

[La Sirena]

QUEEN: You're welcome. Agnes.
AGNES: I limited your access again.
QUEEN: Agnes. Agnes!

[Forward Avenue]

(Loading Guinan's vehicle.)
GUINAN: Well, donations are done, which means so am I. So long, old man.
PICARD: Guinan, please. Wait. In three days...
GUINAN: Future destroyed, I got it. But I don't get involved. I listen.
PICARD: But you must know something. They sent me to you.
GUINAN: I am not your Watcher! I hope you find what you're looking for. I'm not it.
PICARD: My name is Jean-Luc Picard. 400 years from now, you will be my oldest and dearest friend.
GUINAN: Picard, huh?
PICARD: Yes.
GUINAN: Shit. Get in.
(In the vehicle.)
GUINAN: You're looking for a Supervisor, otherwise known as a Watcher. They're peppered through the galaxy, assigned to protect the destiny of certain individuals.
PICARD: Assigned by whom? And what do you mean by destiny?
GUINAN: You know, it's all kinds of vague. They're not big explainers. They see themselves as kind of guardian angels. No humility problem there. Anyway, I can get you a face-to-face. Sort of.
PICARD: Er, what do you mean, sort of?
GUINAN: Let's just say I suspect she's very much gonna want to meet you.
PICARD: Thank you.
GUINAN: Oh, don't thank me yet. Trust me, she's a pill.

[MacArthur Park]

GUINAN: Watchers can be pretty defensive when it comes to their assignments. Just be straight with her. She's impatient and has terrific aim.
PICARD: All right.
GUINAN: If you lie or hide something, she'll know. Then you'll look bad, and I'll look really bad. If you aren't the real deal, she'll probably bite your eyelids off.
PICARD: That's nice.
GUINAN: I took this off you. Thought it was a weapon. It beeped a couple times.
PICARD: Thank you.
(Takes back his combadge. A girl with white eyes walks up.)
GIRL: You'd better run.
PICARD: This is the Watcher?
GUINAN: No.
GIRL: Perhaps you didn't hear me, Guinan. I'll say it again. You have ten seconds to get out of here before I lose my very tenuous grip on my need to put my boot through your face.
GUINAN: She means that. See you someday. This one is looking for a Watcher. I think you're gonna want to hear what he has to say.
PICARD: Guinan, don't leave the Earth just yet. I know you're done with listening, but you are not done with humanity. Change always comes later than we think it should.
GIRL: Follow me.
(He takes her hand and drags him off briskly.)
PICARD: How much further?
GIRL: Communicator. I can read the signal, so don't act like you haven't got it.
PICARD: Without this, I'm stranded.
GIRL: I don't care. Urgh. Keep it. But pop the energy cell out or we're done here. Good.
(The entity leaves the girl and she walks away. A stall vendor with white eyes points up the tunnel where Picard is joined by another man with white eyes.)
PICARD: Why are you doing this? What is this pantomime?
MAN: In case you're being followed.
PICARD: Well, where are you taking me?
MAN: To me, of course. The real me. This body, like the others, is just a temporary host.
PICARD: Surely by now it's obvious that I am not being followed.
MAN: Wait here.
(The entity leaves him and he walks away.)
PICARD: Excuse me. Are you a friend of Guinan's?
WATCHER: Absolutely not.
PICARD: Laris.
(She puts her hand on his shoulder and they vanish in an oblong puff of smoke.)

[Jackson Roykirk Plaza]

(Newspaper headline, will 2024 revive space exploration? A young woman sits at a nearby table reading a book - The Pallid Son, a Dixon Hill mystery.)
Q : You can't do it. And you know it. Oh, sure, you played the game for a while, when nothing was at stake, when the only challenge was fooling everybody into thinking you had the nerve. But now it's real the fear is choking you. Well, here's the truth. You can't do it. People are gonna die. And now your fear, your doubt, is the loudest voice in your head.
(His jacket has a Europa Mission badge on the breast pocket. He snaps his fingers but doesn't disappear.)
Q: That's unexpected. And most unfortunate.