Time travel pod (31st century)

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference

The 31st century time travel pod was a small craft, first encountered by Enterprise NX-01 in 2152. The craft was approximately six meters long, but was much bigger on the inside than on the outside.

Pods commissioned during the 31st century were powered by a temporal displacement drive. They also could absorb electromagnetic radiation, allowing them to remain undetected by the sensor technology of the 22nd century. They were, additionally, equipped with organic circuitry. Their power or propulsion systems were not visible or detectable from the outside.

One such pod traveled back to the 22nd century where it apparently suffered some sort of critical disaster. The pod was heavily damaged and its sole occupant long dead by the time it was discovered by Enterprise in 2152. The damaged pod was also emitting temporal radiation, which affected individuals too close to the pod, making close study a risk.

Unfortunately, both the Suliban Cabal and Tholian Assembly also learned of the pod's existence and sent vessels to retrieve it. Their plans where thwarted when Enterprise's crew used a temporal beacon assembled using technology left behind by a temporal agent known only as Daniels to send a signal to the future. Within seconds of the beacon being activated, the pod, the dead pilot, and the beacon itself all vanished, possibly having been retrieved by operatives from the future. The fate of the pod and nature of the disaster that killed its pilot remained a mystery. (ENT: "Future Tense")

Time travel pod adrift in space

Time travel pod in the launch bay

Time travel pod schematic as depicted in Daniels' temporal observatory

[edit] Background

The time pod prop was actually a redress of the cockpit of Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix from Star Trek: First Contact.

The nature of the timeship as being "bigger on the inside" is a reference to the long-running British science-fiction series Doctor Who, in which the main protagonist travels the time and space in a pod that outwardly appears to be a 1960's era police box and is much bigger on the inside than on the outside. Mike Sussman, co-writer of "Future Tense", noted: "My idea of the ship morphing into a police call box was immediately nixed by the producers!" (Star Trek Monthly issue 108)

The information as presented by the temporal observatory was chaotic and visually unorganized, but it appeared that the following information could have been associated with the time travel pod: "RetroFitted Dorsal Carrier, Design XRT-55D, Commission Date 3125." Additional text that appeared throughout the scene includes: "2991 Series 24 Craft Body Style A" and "3391 Series 69 Hull Design C", as well as a rogue element that ready "Hull Design: C 4-00, Commission Date: 2975."