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After a fitful night's sleep, the
crew realizes they all had nightmares involving the same alien.
They become concerned when several crewmembers cannot be
awakened. Hoping to find out more about the alien, Chakotay
attempts a technique called lucid dreaming, which will allow him
to control the events of his dream. If he needs to awaken, he
can tap his hand three times.
After falling asleep, Chakotay
encounters the alien and demands to know what's happening to the
crew. The alien explains that for his species, the dream state
is their reality. For centuries they've been harmed by "waking
species," and now they are retaliating. He tells Chakotay that
if Voyager leaves their space, the crew will awaken. Chakotay
comes out of the dream and orders a course for the alien border.
But once there, a ship begins firing at Voyager. It's the dream
aliens.
The aliens beam aboard, taking the ship. As the crew looks for
ways to regain control, Chakotay sees a visual cue that lets him
know he's still dreaming. After tapping his hand, Chakotay wakes
up in Sickbay, this time for real. The Doctor informs him that
the entire crew is asleep, and their brain patterns show they
are all experiencing the same dream. Chakotay realizes that
they're involved in a communal dream. The aliens have the
advantage in dreams, but if Chakotay can locate the sleeping
aliens while he's awake, he'll have the upper hand. In the
dream, Janeway and the others are being held hostage but they
begin to suspect that they are dreaming. When the Captain is
unharmed by a warp core explosion, they know it's true.
The closer Chakotay gets to the sleeping aliens, the harder it
is to stay awake. At last he finds them in a cavern, clustered
around a large transmitter that is responsible for maintaining
the dream state. He uses a stimulant the Doctor gave him to wake
one of the aliens and commands it to deactivate the device.
Before Chakotay falls asleep and enters the communal dream, he
tells the Doctor to deploy a torpedo at the cavern if he doesn't
hear from him in five minutes. Under threat of total
destruction, the alien leader is forced to neutralize the
transmitter, and the crew awakens, freed from alien control.
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