Stardate 58354.2: The Cerritos returns to the multicultural planet Tulgana IV, where Boimler and Mariner have the thankless job to promote Starfleet in the recruitment booth. On the ship, Rutherford is plagued by nightmares. He wakes up and is a different person, angry and insensitive, while his real personality is locked out. Tendi notices that something is wrong with her friend and alerts Shaxs, who stops him when he tries to leave the ship. In sickbay, T'Ana does not find any traces of an anaphasic lifeform inhabiting Rutherford. Instead, it turns out that old memories have taken control of the ensign. As he is unconscious, the current version of Rutherford is struggling in his mind with the "cool" and selfish one from several years ago, who took part in illegal shuttle races. The brain can only handle one consciousness. The two agree that a race should decide which version is going to persist and which one will be erased. The former Rutherford builds an overpowered racer, whereas the current one decides to replicate the Delta Flyer. As they are on the racing ground in the Neutral Zone, they get chased by a Romulan Warbird. But only present Rutherford can escape because he also created his friends to help him. He still tries to save young Rutherford, whose consciousness is beginning to fade away, but not before revealing disturbing bits about how he got the implant. While working on a racer, the young cadet was severely injured in the explosion of the engine (which is also what the nightmare was about). Some of his superiors arranged for him to be saved with the implant, but they also erased his memory because they needed to cover up something. When Rutherford wakes up, he is himself again, much to Tendi's joy. On Tulgana IV, the mission to win recruits for Starfleet is unsuccessful as expected. Other booth owners such as the conspiracy theorists, the Independent Archaeologists' Guild and the Collectors' Guild keep slamming Starfleet and dissuading passers-by. Mariner, who is on probation, keeps her nerve. Eventually, it is Boimler who gets mad and knocks down the other booths, which sort of impresses the bystanders. Ransom puts Boimler in the brig for acting against his orders but lets him know that he approves of him running down the critics of Starfleet.

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