The Pathfinder Project makes use of a pulsar and the MIDAS Array, allowing a data stream to reach Voyager (and Voyager to reply) every thirty-two days. Lieutenant Barclay sends a letter to The Doctor asking for a second opinion on his dying friend, the eccentric genius Dr. Lewis Zimmerman. Lewis created the template for The Doctor's program and is terminally ill with no known cure in the Alpha Quadrant. After reviewing the medical record, The Doctor believes he can cure Zimmerman and convinces Captain Janeway to risk sending him through the data stream; but, The Doctor finds his maker to be his most difficult patient, insisting The Doctor's program is obsolete. Barclay recruits Deanna Troi to allay the two before Zimmerman's time runs out.
—Meribor