Temporal fragment

A temporal fragment is an anomaly in which time moves at an accelerated or decelerated rate relative to the outside spacetime continuum.

A series of temporal fragments were encountered by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Lieutenant Commander Data, Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge, and Counselor Deanna Troi in 2369, while returning from a conference. This fragmentation effect was caused by an energy transfer beam initiated by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D). The beam interacted with a Romulan Warbird's artificial quantum singularity, which itself was being used as a nest by aliens from another time continuum. This resulted in the formation of a temporal aperture, which disrupted the spacetime continuum and created the fragmentation effect. The fragments were later eliminated when Commander Data was able to manipulate the aperture to make time run backwards, giving the Enterprise crew a chance to disrupt the transfer beam before it fragmented spacetime.