Stardate not given: A shuttle with Tuvok and Ensign Bennet crashes on a moon in Drayan space. Bennet does not survive. Tuvok encounters three children, who tell him that they too are marooned. Meanwhile on Voyager, a delegation of the seclusive Drayans takes a tour of the ship, which is interrupted when they learn of the accident. But the Drayans refuse to work together with Voyager, and they forbid Janeway to send down a rescue team to the moon, which is a sacred ground. On the moon, the children are afraid that a creature called Morrok is coming to get them. Tuvok tries to ease their fear. The next morning, however, only one girl, Tressa, is left. Tuvok and Tressa repair the shuttle and take off, but they are forced to land by a Drayan shuttle. When Janeway arrives on the surface and offers asylum to Tressa, First Prelate Alcia of the Drayans explains that Tressa is actually not a child but a 96-year-old woman, who has come to the moon to die. It is the natural aging process of the Drayans that they become what other races would call children.

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