In order to collect more data on the DMA, the Discovery enters a subspace rift that was left behind by the phenomenon. Inside the rift, external sensors register absolutely nothing. A DOT that is sent to investigate disintegrates after a travel of a few thousand kilometers. As the border of the rift is closing, Burnham decides to abort the mission. With no reference points available, the only means of escape is the spore drive. While Stamets is monitoring the systems, Book is supposed to perform the jump, but he is hit by an energy surge and experiences a hallucination of his father. Talking to Gray, Zora, the ship's sentient computer, reveals that she is overwhelmed by the internal sensory input. Gray suggests a Trill game for Zora to gain focus again. Zora then detects an impending hull breach on deck 17, but it is too late and a crew member dies in the decompression. In sickbay, Culber and Stamets find particles in Book's brain that are otherwise only found in the Galactic Barrier, which leads them to conclude that the DMA was constructed outside of our galaxy. With the knowledge of the resonance frequency of those particles, the sonar principle is used to pinpoint their highest concentration, which has to be the point from where the surge came and which may be a possible exit. Burnham talks to Zora and convinces her that she has to guide the ship out while the crew remains in the pattern buffer of the transporter because they wouldn't survive the plasma field around the rift. Burnham herself stays on the bridge in a spacesuit. When she wakes up in sickbay, she is relieved to hear that the ship is out of danger and everyone has survived. The Discovery is getting repaired, which will not take long, because of the use of programmable matter. Book muses that the appearance of his father may mean that everyone on Kwejian is still alive in some fashion.

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