Blink of an Eye

Voyager investigates a planet wrapped in a tachyon field and is caught in its orbit. Time on the surface runs far faster than on the ship, so a minute in orbit passes as many days below. Voyager's presence causes earthquakes and becomes a fixed light in the planet's sky that shapes its whole culture. As hours pass aboard, centuries pass below, and the inhabitants reach radio and then spaceflight. The Doctor is sent down covertly; he spends three years there in what seems like minutes aboard ship. The inhabitants send up two astronauts. One dies from the time shift, but the other, Gotana-Retz, recovers aboard Voyager. When the planet begins firing on Voyager, he returns home to help. Moments later, advanced ships from the planet free Voyager, and an aged Gotana-Retz visits briefly to explain what happened. On the surface he watches Voyager leave.