Neelix joins a crew attempting to help Nezu colonists during a series of asteroid collisions. Voyager fails in its attempt to vaporize an incoming asteroid and discovers that they're artificially guided. When Neelix and Tuvok are abandoned on the planet just before the next scheduled asteroid strike, they and some colonists use a maglift carriage to climb an orbital tether to a point where they can contact the ship. But one of the Nezu is determined to keep the others from passing on what they know. As the carriage rises into the thinning atmosphere, they discover what the real motivation behind both the asteroids and the surrounding secrecy is.
