 The Pathfinder Project makes use of a pulsar and the MIDAS Array allowing a data stream to reach Voyager - and Voyager to reply - every 32 days. Lieutenant Barclay (guest star Dwight Schultz) sends a letter to The Doctor asking for a second opinion for his dying friend. The eccentric genius Dr. Lewis Zimmerman (Robert Picardo) who created the template for The Doctor s program 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. The Doctor finds his maker to be his most difficult patient; Zimmerman insists The Doctor s program is obsolete. Barclay recruits Deanna Troi to convince the two before Zimmerman s time runs out.