The Kataan probe pendant serves as a lynchpin of the story, bridging the fading memory of Picard's life as captain of the Enterprise to his new life as the Ressikan ironweaver Kamin. The object, which bears the same form as the probe from the planet Kataan that Picard had recently encountered on the bridge of his ship, shocks and confuses him when he sees it around his wife Eline's neck, setting the stage for the mysteriously shifting realities of an episode that would become an all-time fan favorite.
