NASA's Project Bright-Sky is accelerated due to Ed Scriven's death and, knowing that a next-generation version of the Bright Sky satellite is what Odyssey 5 was launching on the day Earth was destroyed, Taggart determines that he must put his career on the line to sabotage the deployment of the current version.

Neil realizes he's falling in love again with his old high school girlfriend, Holly.

Sarah and Angela use their knowledge of the future to try to stop the kidnapping and murder of a young girl, which was front-page news in the original timeline, only to find that their actions have changed the future unpredictably.

Mendel, determining that an organism comprised of the mysterious artificial tissue would be cold-blooded, assembles a thermal imaging system that will distinguish humans from the "Synthetics".

In his continuing unsuccessful quest to make a huge amount of money from his knowledge of the future, Kurt marries a young woman who is destined to be a big star in the music world 5 years hence, but whose music is currently unpopular.

Then, one by one, the Odyssey 5 members start losing their future memories. In desperation, Taggart and Mendel consult a theoretical physicist who is lecturing at a local science fiction convention, pretending that they need help with the science in a time-travel novel they are working on. But all they are able to determine is that each victim has the urge to type a bunch of weird symbols on a computer screen just before losing their memories of the next 5 years.

Finally, Mendel is the lone survivor. As if stuggling with his new marriage wasn't trouble enough, if his memory goes before he can figure out what is going on, there will be no one left to save the earth from ultimate destruction.