VOY Season 2

After some bumbling around trying to work out what went wrong, Neelix inadvertently supplies the missing piece of the puzzle - it's the shuttle that is being ripped off the nacelles, not vice versa. The tritanium alloy of the hull is depolarizing, making the fuselage go faster than the nacelles. Fixing it is simple, and our heroes run a successful simulation. Janeway okays a real flight, despite concerns that we may not be ready for such a massive technological advance. However, she wants to appoint Kim as the pilot - Paris has a slight enzymatic imbalance in his cerebellum which might possibly cause a brain haemorrhage.

Paris does some begging. He says he's never really achieved anything special in his life, and he is desperate for the chance to become the first man to reach Warp 10. Janeway relents, and he sets off on his mission. The shuttle - dubbed the Cochrane after the inventor of Warp drive - reaches Warp 10 and vanishes from Voyagers sensor and communications range.

It re-appears shortly afterwards and an unconscious Paris is brought on board. When he wakes, Tom reports that he was passing through every single point in the universe simultaneously, including Earth and even Voyager itself - truly infinite speed. The shuttles computer contains information on literally thousands of planets - over five billion gigaquads worth in all. However, there are some remaining problems - Paris can't really explain how he navigated the shuttle back to Voyager other than to say that he saw that they were looking for him so he took the engines off line and ended up back where he started. Nevertheless, everybody is delighted.

Unfortunately, Paris begins to undergo medical difficulties. He collapses whilst talking to B'Elanna and is rushed to sickbay. It turns out that his body is mutating - it can no longer process water or oxygen. Despite the EMH's best efforts the mutations get worse and worse and Tom dies shortly afterwards.

Amazingly enough, he soon comes back alive again. His body has grown an extra heart, and all his hair is falling out. While Voyagers resident traitor sends information about the flight off to the Kazon, the EMH continues to work on the mystery. He discovers that Tom's DNA is re-writing itself - three new internal organs have appeared, while some of his normal organs are being absorbed into his body. His personality has also become erratic - even more so than usual - and he is frequently deranged. He seems happy with the changes that are overtaking him, and resents the crew for trying to reverse them.

The doctor comes up with a possible method of curing Paris by bombarding him with antiproton radiation. Unfortunately, he breaks loose during the procedure and leaves the ship in the Cochrane, taking Janeway with him. Voyager gives chase but is soon outpaced by the transwarp shuttle. After three days of searching they find the shuttle landed on a nearby planet. The EMH realizes that Paris has not just been mutating but evolving at an incredible rate. On beaming down to the planet they discover that both he and Janeway have turned into beings that closely resemble giant Newts - and furthermore they have mated and reproduced!

Chakotay stuns the two and returns them to the ship, leaving the offspring behind to fend for themselves. The doctor is able to reverse the process with his antiproton bursts and returns Paris and Janeway to normal. The Captain admits to Paris that she has thought about having children, although she had never really thought about having them with him. Voyager continues on its way with everything back to normal.