Kes knows it's time to leave U.S.S. Voyager when her body goes into a state of cellular flux and she experiences uncontrollable psychokinetic abilities which endanger the ship. Before Kes has her final moments of life as she knows it and enters a higher realm of existence, she gives her crewmates an amazing gift. Meanwhile, Seven of Nine's human physiology begins to reassert itself and threaten her life. When Janeway instructs The Doctor to completely remove her Borg technology, a fierce yet alluring young female begins to emerge.

Jennifer Lien (Kes)
Tarik Ergin (Ensign [Lt.] Ayala)

• This episode is a direct continuation of the previous episode.
  
• With this episode Jennifer Lein permanently leaves the show. Officially, there was nothing more they could do with her character and it was mutually decided she leave the show. Unofficially, Jennifer was fired to make room for the "Borg Babe." It was rumored that Garrett Wang (Ensign Kim) was the one to originally be fired, until People magazine featured him in their "50 Most Beautiful People" issue. Producer Jeri Taylor said, "We have a lot of characters, we were adding a character and the feeling was that we were not serving that one well and it was best not to try keep doing it." Kes may be back to guest star in future episodes.
  
• We learn that Ocampas don't die, but they move on to a new "plane of existence." While no definite reason why Kes is resonating early is given, The Doctor theorizes that her interaction with Species 8472 in the previous episode had something to do with it.
  
• Kes' "gift" to Voyager is a push 10 years closer to home, out of Borg space.
  
• Seven's human name is Annika Hansen.
  
• Ayala is usually a Lieutenant, but for some reason is an Ensign in this episode (oops).