In the rain, Private Desmond gets oriented, then picks up the change. He goes into the phone booth and dials Penny's number. She answers and he says, "Penny?"
"What do you want, Desmond?"
"Penny, listen, I'm in trouble. I think something's happened to me. I'm confused. I need to see you."
"You broke it off with me and then you joined the army. And then you call with some expectation that I still care about you? Yeah, I think you are confused, Desmond."
"I've got two days leave starting tonight. Can I come and see you?"
"No! And don't bother showing up at the flat, either, because I've moved."
"Moved? Where?"
"It doesn't matter. Desmond, I'm going to go. Please, just don't call me."
"Please, please, Penny, I need you."
Ray lowers the pin light. "Did you just experience something, Desmond?"
The door opens and Frank and Sayid come in.
Ray says, "What the hell, Frank? You're not supposed to be down here, and definitely not with him."
"I'm sorry, doc, but I got Faraday calling from the island. He needs to talk to this guy-"
"No," Ray says, "Faraday's not talking to my patient. Now get out of-"
Sayid grabs Ray. "He's not your patient!" Sayid holds Ray and tells Frank to give Desmond the phone.
Ray manages to push an emergency system button and an alarm sounds. Desmond says hello into the phone.
"Desmond, my name is Daniel Faraday. We met yesterday before you took off, but I'm guessing you don't remember that. Am I right?"
"Took off? What?"
"Desmond we don't have long to talk, so I need you to tell me what year you think it is."
"What do you mean what year I think it is? It's 1996."
"Desmond look, you've got to tell me, where are you?"
"I'm in some kind of sick bay."
"No, not right now, Desmond. Where are you supposed to be? Where are you in 1996?"
Desmond tells him where he was in the Royal Scots Regiment.
Jack stands and says, "Dan, you might want to-"
"No, no, no, I'm thinking," Daniel says. "Desmond, listen, when it happens again, Desmond, I need you to get on a train. Get on a train and go to Oxford. Oxford University, Queens College physics department."
"Why?"
"Because I need you to find me."
Daniel's Journal
Daniel searches through a bag saying, "Where is it? Where is it?""What?" Charlotte asks.
"My journal. I need my journal or I won't believe him."
Jack says, "Why does he believe he's in 1996?"
"I don't know," Daniel says. "It's unpredictable. It's a random effect. Sometimes the displacement's only a couple of hours, sometimes it's years."
"This has happened before?" Jack says.
Daniel finds a journal and pulls it out of his bag. "The phone, now please." Daniel talks to Desmond again and Sayid has trouble holding the other men out of the sick bay.
Desmond Finds Daniel
Daniel says, "Okay, Desmond, listen, when you find me at Queens College, I need you to tell me to set the device to 2.342 and it must be oscillating at 11 hertz. And one more thing, Desmond, if the numbers don't convince me, I need you to tell me that you know about Eloise."Desmond finds a pen and writes it on his hand. The men burst into the sick bay and take the phone from Desmond. Desmond struggles to hang onto the phone. He's in the phone booth by himself, gripping the receiver. Penny is gone. He drops the phone and there is nothing written on his hand.
Desmond goes to the college and finds Daniel. Daniel is speaking with one his students and when the student walks away, Desmond says, "Are you Daniel Faraday?"
"You are?"
"I'm sorry, I'm Desmond Hume. I was told I could find you here. I think I've just been to the future."
"The future?"
"Yes. I spoke to you there. You told me to come here to Oxford, to find you. You said you'd help me."
"Why didn't I just help you there, in the future?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Why would I put you through the headache of time travel? You know what I mean? Just seems a little unnecessary. And don't you think my esteemed colleagues could have come up with something just a little bit more believable, huh? What kind of a prank is that?" He walks away talking about paradoxes.
"Set your device to 2.342 and make sure it oscillates at 11."
Daniel stops and turns. "Now, you're going to tell me who told you those numbers."
"You did."
"This is ridiculous."
"I know about Eloise."
Daniel takes Desmond to a room. "What is all this?" Desmond asks.
"This is where I do all the things Oxford frowns upon." Daniel grabs his journal. "Alright, this future version of me, uh, he referenced this meeting, right? Obviously, so I'm going to remember you coming to Oxford. I'm going to remember this here, right, now."
"Actually, no. Maybe you just forgot."
"Yeah, right," Daniel says. "How would that happen?"
"So, this is changing the future?"
"You can't change the future." Daniel puts on a heavy vest.
"What's that for?" Desmond asks, pointing to the vest.
"Radiation."
Desmond looks around. "Do I get one?"
"You don't need one. Prolonged exposure. I do this twenty times a day."
"So what do you put on your head?"
Daniel laughs. He turns some switches, then gets a rat out of a cage. "This is Eloise," he tells Desmond. He puts Eloise down under a light.
"What does this do?" Desmond asks.
"This, if the numbers you gave me are correct, will unstick Eloise in time, just like you." He turns on the light. Then he watches Eloise. Desmond asks what happened and Daniel says she's not back yet. A little bit later he lifts the door to a maze. Eloise correctly maneuvers through the maze as Daniel gets more and more excited. "It worked! This is incredible!"
