The ship finds a shuttle containing a future Picard.
The Enterprise finds a shuttlecraft drifting in space with a very strange passenger, an unconscious copy of Captain Picard from six hours in the future. When the second Picard wakes, he is in shock and cannot explain what has happened. The crew tries to understand whether they can prevent the disaster he seems to have escaped.
The story is a puzzle about time loops and fate, and it shows Picard struggling with a decision that he does not recognize as his own. The ship is drawn toward an ominous energy vortex that is the source of the trouble. The episode is memorable for its premise, as well as for a sharp scene in which the Captain faces his own indecision.