Spock sketched up the seven light bursts two months before they actually appeared. Michael Burnham wants to meet her foster brother to find out more about this mystery, but Pike reveals that Spock is in a psychiatric unit on Starbase 5. Then another red signal appears. Since it is located in the Beta Quadrant as far as 51,450 light years away, Pike authorizes the use of the spore drive. The Discovery arrives at an Earth-like planet that is inhabited by 11,000 humans. Pike beams down with Burnham and Owosekun to investigate. They find an old-style church building in a settlement called "New Eden". It turns out that the ancestors of the humans living here were saved from World War III as long as 200 years ago and taken to the planet "Terralysium". This was the work of an unknown entity that is now worshipped as a deity. On the Discovery, Tilly takes a sample from the dark matter asteroid that may help to develop a non-human interface for the spore drive, but she almost gets killed by an energy discharge. The crew of the Discovery is alerted by radioactive debris in orbit of the planet that is about to destroy the atmosphere. Encouraged by a young female crew member named May, Tilly leaves sickbay against her orders and suggests to use the asteroid to drag away the radioactive debris. The plan succeeds. In the meantime on Terralysium, Jacob, a descendant of scientists and a sceptic of the planet's religion and of the myth that Earth was destroyed, has incapacitated the landing party and taken their technical devices. He wants to prove that the visitors are not inhabitants of the planet as they claim but came all the way from Earth. Yet, Pike, Burnham and Owosekun try to maintain their story. When a child plays with a phaser, Pike reacts instinctively and the blast discharges into his chest. Burnham and Owosekun carry him into the church from where they are beamed up. Tilly suddenly remembers that she met the young crew member before. She is May Theresa Ahearn from her high school. Tilly, however, is shocked when she finds out that May actually died several years ago. Although the General Order 1 forbids to interfere with the culture on the planet, Burnham convinces Pike to beam down again, to obtain a helmet camera from a WWIII soldier that shows how the people in the church were saved. Jacob receives an energy cell in return that he uses to illuminate the church. On the video, a figure appears in a bright light. It is the same that Burnham already saw on the asteroid.

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