When the ship is struck by lightning, the crew must conserve power to avoid being destroyed. Stewart and Zalian take the unheard-of step of flying the ship manually; Karen resorts to trickery to keep Michael, Tina and A.R.T. from using power; Kent loving nurses a lightning-addled Natasha back to health.
In the early 22nd century the human race has mapped most of the known universe but failed to find alien life, and frankly gotten a little tired of the whole thing. A spaceship on a routine collection mission stumbles into the greatest discovery in history: an alternate universe, far stranger and way more dangerous than ours.
Now the ship's crew - a collection of over-matched rookies, feuding siblings, burned-out veterans and obsolete robots - has to explore this new universe to try and find a way back home alive.