Kim: The ship is gray, Captain. We've cut power to decks four through nine. Replicators, holodecks and all other nonessentials are offline. Remaining systems are operating at twenty percent capacity.
Janeway: Tom, how long can you keep us flying?
Paris: With the deuterium supply this low? Even at one quarter impulse we'll be out of gas inside a week.
Janeway: Everyone redouble your efforts. Keep your eyes open for new sources of deuterium. Tuvok, Chakotay, I want recommendations for further methods of conservation. Harry, you and I will give them a hand in geophysics. See if we can't synthesize a substitute fuel. In the meantime, we stay in gray mode. If anybody's got any other ideas, I'm listening.
Paris: We could set up a bicycle in the mess hall, attach a generator, pedal home.
Janeway: Now why didn't I think of that?
Paris: And I volunteer Harry to take the first shift.
Tuvok: Living space will be extremely limited. Take only those personal items which are absolutely essential.
Neelix: Hello, there.
Tuvok: What, may I ask, is this?
Neelix: That, Mister Vulcan, is the Selected Works of Jirex.
Tuvok: Only essential items, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: Oh, Jirex is essential. He's the greatest writer in the Talaxian canon. I never go to sleep without reading at least one of his parables.
Tuvok: A habit you will have to break until we're able to restore power to crew quarters.
Neelix: I suppose I can try.
Tuvok: And these?
Neelix: I get terrible neck pains without them.
Tuvok: I suggest you ask the Doctor to prescribe an anti-inflammatory.
Neelix: Fine. I don't mind roughing it.
Tuvok: Mister Neelix. The blankets.
Neelix: No, no, that's where I draw the line. My mother knitted these herself. I've slept with them since I was a child.
Tuvok: You'll have to make do with standard issue bedding.
Neelix: Those Starfleet blankets give me a rash.
Tuvok: I suggest you ask the Doctor
Neelix: For some anti-itch cream. I might as well sleep in Sickbay. Thank you, Mister Vulcan. You've just given me an idea.
Chakotay: What's going on here?
Seven: I'm working.
Chakotay: You were ordered to shut down Astrometrics an hour ago. We can't afford the power. Seven, it's inefficient.
Seven: Efficiency is relative, Commander. If I shut down Astrometrics, I won't be able to scan for new fuel sources.
Chakotay: I appreciate your efforts, but we'll have to use conventional scanners until
Seven: Conventional scanners would not have found this.
Chakotay: What?
Seven: Highly concentrated deuterium.
Chakotay: Where?
Seven: Computer, display source. A planetoid point four light-years from our present position. There are dense pockets of deuterium just beneath the surface.
Chakotay: Maybe so, but that's a Demon class planet.
Seven: Demon class?
Chakotay: That's what Starfleet calls it. Also known as Class Y. It's got a toxic atmosphere filled with thermionic radiation. Surface temperatures are in excess of five hundred Kelvins. Just entering a standard orbit would be suicide.
Seven: Our situation is desperate.
Chakotay: True.
Seven: When faced with desperate circumstances, we must adapt.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. I've ordered adaptations to our shields to repel the thermionic discharges. Hoping that the benefits will outweigh the risks, we're now trying to beam deuterium from beneath the planet's surface.
Seven: Narrow the annular confinement beam to point four seven terahertz. Ready here, Captain.
Janeway: Stand by. Harry, shunt whatever additional power you can to the containment field. I don't want any of those atmospheric gasses seeping in.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Tuvok: A thermionic discharge has struck the forward shields. They're holding.
Janeway: Let's get this over with before you tell me otherwise. Seven, do it.
Seven: Energize. Transport in progress.
Tuvok: Shields are weakening.
Kim: I'm reading an overload in the pattern buffers.
Janeway: Abort transport.
Seven: Controls not responding.
Janeway: Get out of there now.
Seven: Computer, seal off the transporter room and erect a level ten containment field.
Computer: Containment field established.
Chakotay: The good news is Nozawa and Seven of Nine have both been treated and released from Sickbay, and the planetary gasses have been expelled from the transporter room.
Janeway: And the bad news?
Chakotay: The transporters are offline. It'll take days before they're back again.
Janeway: Great. We use valuable energy on a course change and all we get for our trouble is another downed system. Can we send a probe to collect the deuterium?
Tuvok: It would incinerate within seconds of entering the upper atmosphere.
Janeway: Then I don't see any other options. Tom, put us back on our original course, one quarter impulse.
Kim: Captain, maybe I can help.
Paris: Harry, the bicycle thing was just a joke.
Kim: I've been thinking. With Tuvok's shield modifications and a few tweaks to an environmental suit, I could take a shuttle to the surface and mine the deuterium from there.
Tuvok: Need I remind you, Ensign, that there is no environment less hospitable to humanoid life than a Class Y.
Kim: Actually, Tuvok, no, you needn't remind me. What's the alternative? Resume course? Creep along at quarter impulse hoping we find fuel before we end up dead in the water? We've got deuterium within arm's reach. We can't let the opportunity slip away without at least trying.
Chakotay: He's got a point.
Janeway: You wouldn't be able to communicate with us if you got in trouble, and until we get transporters back we couldn't beam you out.
Tuvok: Even with modifications, it wouldn't be long before your suit began to corrode. Exposure to that atmosphere could kill you within minutes.
Kim: I know the risks.
Janeway: Even if I agreed, I'd never let you go alone.
Kim: Of course not. That's why I'm volunteering my good buddy Tom here to go with me.
Paris: You were pretty forceful in there.
Kim: So?
Paris: So? I don't think I've ever seen you that assertive in a staff meeting before. You must be bucking for a promotion.
Kim: I had an idea and I spoke up, that's all.
Paris: Oh, no, no, no. It was more than that. You put Tuvok in his place right in front of everybody.
Kim: He was stating the obvious again. Talking down to me like I didn't know anything about Demon Class planets.
Paris: I am not criticizing you. Believe me, nobody enjoys seeing the Vulcan Master put down a peg more than I do. I was just surprised, that's all.
Kim: Why?
Paris: It didn't seem like you.
Kim: Good.
Kim: Cargo bay two.
Paris: You trying to change your squeaky clean image or something?
Kim: Not exactly.
Paris: What, then.
Kim: How do I explain this? When I first came on board Voyager I was pretty green, right?
Paris: A deep, almost fluorescent green, if I remember correctly.
Kim: I was young, inexperienced, and I acted like it. Nervous about giving my opinion, hesitant to make suggestions, so I usually just kept my mouth shut. And I behaved that way for so long it became a habit. But, in the last four years, a lot has happened. I've fought the Borg, been transformed into an alien, helped defeat the Hirogen. Hell, I've even come back from the dead.
Paris: It's been a wild ride.
Kim: I woke up the other morning and it suddenly hit me. I've got a lot of experience now, so why should I be afraid to take the initiative or voice my ideas?
Paris: Good for you, Harry.
Paris: But do me a favor. The next time you try to assert yourself, leave me out of it. I hate hot weather.
Kim: Don't worry. We can cut some holes in the environmental suits, get some ventilation going.
Paris: Harry, while you're busy improving yourself, you might try working on your sense of humor.
Kim: My sense of humor? What about that stupid gag about the bicycle?
Paris: Oh, ho, ho. That was funny.
Kim: No, that was not funny.
Paris: I can't thank you enough for getting me in on this mission, Harry.
Kim: Don't mention it.
Paris: Remind me to volunteer you to help the next time I have to clean the warp plasma manifolds.
Kim: Really, Tom, you don't owe me anything.
Paris: Oh, but I do. We've lost attitude control.
Kim: Time to show off your piloting skills. Think you can handle it?
Paris: Watch me.
Kim: Oh, I'll be watching you, all right. Switching to manual control.
Paris: Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.
Kim: We're entering the lower atmosphere. Approaching the landing coordinates.
Paris: All right. I'm going to set us down. On my mark.
Paris: Mark.
Kim: You did that on purpose, didn't you.
Paris: It's almost five hundred degrees Kelvin.
Kim: Don't worry. The suits can handle it.
Paris: If not, we'll be human barbecue.
Kim: I'm picking up traces of deuterium. Fifty meters that way. Let's move.
Paris: No sweat.
Kim: Lame.
Kim: It's coming from inside here.
Paris: What is it?
Kim: Some kind of metallic compound. Highly viscous, And if these readings are right, its temperature is only twelve degrees?
Paris: In this environment?
Kim: Whatever this stuff is it's packed with liquefied deuterium.
Paris: Jackpot!
Kim: There's another pool twenty meters that way. Why don't you go check it out while I collect a few samples here.
Paris: Right. I don't know, Harry. A couple of lounge chairs, a big beach umbrella, maybe some dermalplast to counteract the chemical burns and I think we've found ourselves a new vacation spot. Oh, come on. That was a little funny. Let me hear you do better. Harry. Harry?
Paris: Oh, my god.
Paris: I know it's hot out, Harry, but you picked a lousy time to go for a swim.
Kim: I don't know what happened. I leaned over to collect a sample and it was like I was pulled in.
Computer: Warning, Ensign Kim. An environmental seal has been compromised. Oxygen depletion in thirty seconds.
Paris: Hang in there, buddy, and I'll get you back to the shuttle. Have you put on weight?
Kim: You're just out of shape.
Computer: Warning. Oxygen depletion in fifteen seconds.
Paris: I'll make you a deal. You hold your breath till we get back to the shuttle and I promise I'll start exercising every day.
Kim: Maybe you should start with the bicycle.
Paris: I thought I told you to hold your breath.
Computer: Warning. Oxygen depletion in five seconds.
Paris: Hang in there, Harry. We'll make it.
Computer: Warning, Lieutenant Paris. An environmental seal has been compromised. Oxygen depletion in thirty seconds.
Paris: You've got to be kidding me. We're in the same boat now, buddy, but I'll get us out of this.
Computer: Warning. Oxygen depletion in fifteen seconds.
Paris: You're right. I definitely need to get back in shape.
Computer: Warning. Oxygen depletion in five seconds.
Emh: Out of the question.
Neelix: Be reasonable, Doctor.
Emh: Take it up with Commander Chakotay. He's on his way here right now.
Neelix: But it's only for a couple of days. Just until we get power back in the crew quarters.
Emh: I suggest you set up camp in the mess hall.
Neelix: The mess hall is full. Where are we supposed to sleep?
Emh: Anywhere but here. This is a sickbay, not a dormitory.
Neelix: But you have four empty beds.
Emh: Biobeds, reserved for patients.
Neelix: You don't have any patients.
Emh: I may have one in a moment if you and your fellow squatters don't go elsewhere.
Chakotay: You wanted to see me, Doctor?
Emh: Oh, it's about time. Mister Neelix is attempting to turn my sickbay into a flophouse.
Chakotay: We are short on beds right now. We've got to adapt.
Neelix: Ah ha!
Emh: But, what if there's a medical emergency?
Chakotay: Then Neelix and the others will get out of the way.
Neelix: Absolutely.
Emh: But, this isn't just sickbay, it's my residence.
Neelix: And we promise to be the most perfect houseguests.
Chakotay: What more can you ask for.
Emh: But, I have a routine. I'm a night owl. What if one of them should snore while I'm listening to Puccini?
Chakotay: Well, if you feel that strongly about it, Doc, I suppose we'll have to consider other options.
Emh: Thank you, Commander.
Chakotay: For example, we could shut down your program until you're needed. The Captain asked me to look for ways to conserve power, and it would spare you from having to listen to them snore.
Janeway: Commander Chakotay to the bridge.
Chakotay: On my way.
Emh: But
Emh: Make yourselves at home.
Janeway: Try scanning for infrared signatures.
Tuvok: There's too much interference.
Chakotay: What's up?
Janeway: Tom and Harry still aren't back.
Chakotay: You want me to take another shuttle down and look for them?
Janeway: And risk losing you, too? Either we keep waiting until we run out of deuterium and we get trapped in orbit, or
Chakotay: Or?
Janeway: We land the ship.
Tuvok: As you know, Captain, the landing procedure requires a significant output of energy. With shield strength as low as it is, we can't even be certain the ship will survive the descent.
Janeway: What's the alternative? We're up here, the deuterium's down there, and we're stuck without it. We've come this far. Janeway to engineering. Vent all plasma from the nacelles. Transfer any available power to atmospheric thrusters and stand by to commence landing sequence.
Torres: Acknowledged, Captain.
Janeway: Commander Chakotay, take the conn.
Chakotay: Tom's going to be sorry he missed this.
Janeway: Code blue.
Tuvok: Commander Tuvok to all hands. Go to Blue alert and report to Code Blue stations.
Chakotay: Atmospheric controls at standby. Landing struts online. Inertial dampers at maximum.
Tuvok: All operative decks report condition blue.
Janeway: Let us down easy, Commander.
Chakotay: We're on a declining glide trajectory. Altitude one hundred and fifty kilometers.
Tuvok: A thermionic discharge. Shields down to eighty one percent. Shields at forty three percent.
Janeway: Chakotay.
Chakotay: I think we're through the worst of it. Almost.
Tuvok: Shields at twenty two percent and falling.
Janeway: Can you shore them up?
Tuvok: Negative. There's no more available power.
Chakotay: Engaging landing struts. Brace for impact!
Janeway: Status?
Tuvok: I could give you a litany of damaged systems, Captain, but suffice it to say, now that we're down, we won't go up again soon.
Janeway: Start organizing repair crews. That was very good, Commander. Take an away team and find Harry and Tom.
Torres: Chakotay, you're going out to look for them, aren't you?
Chakotay: That's right.
Torres: Take me with you.
Chakotay: I can't do that, B'Elanna. You're needed here to complete repairs.
Torres: I've already handed out assignments. Vorik's on top of it. I want to help you find them.
Chakotay: Look, I know you're concerned about Tom and Harry. We all are. I'll have them back safe and sound in no time.
Torres: Don't patronize me. We both know how dangerous that environment is. They could be in serious trouble.
Chakotay: You're right. I don't know what we're going to find. That's why I need cool heads.
Torres: You think I can't control myself?
Chakotay: I think you're a little too close to this.
Torres: You're damn right I am. If someone you loved was missing on this planet you would be the first one out that door, and you know it.
Chakotay: B'Elanna, the clock is ticking. Go back to Engineering, do your job and let me do mine.
Torres: Do me a favor.
Chakotay: What?
Torres: Take Seven of Nine with you.
Chakotay: You're recommending her?
Torres: You said you needed cool heads, didn't you? Nobody's head is cooler than hers.
Chakotay: All right.
Torres: And bring them back safe.
Chakotay: I will.
Neelix: Excuse me, Doctor.
Emh: Yes, Mister Neelix?
Neelix: We'd like to sleep now, if you don't mind.
Emh: Not at all. Make yourselves comfortable.
Neelix: But you seem busy.
Emh: Oh, don't mind me. Just going about my routine. Sleep away.
Neelix: What about the lights?
Emh: What about them?
Neelix: Could we turn them off?
Emh: You don't expect me to work in the dark, do you?
Neelix: Well, no, but I'll never be able to fall asleep.
Emh: That's not my problem, is it?
Neelix: I've got a very, very busy day tomorrow and my next shift is just four hours away.
Emh: Perhaps you should have thought of that when choosing your accommodations.
Neelix: Well, if we can't sleep, I guess we'll just have to find some other way to pass the time. How about a sing-along? I could teach you all some Talaxian rondos and I know a Vulcan funeral dirge, not to mention the classics of Klingon opera.
Emh: Very well, Mister Neelix. You win. Pleasant dreams.
Neelix: Computer, lights off.
Chakotay: You're a little jumpy, aren't you?
Seven: I thought I heard something.
Chakotay: Now you know why they call it Demon Class.
Seven: Demon implies a presence. This planetoid is unoccupied.
Chakotay: I'm picking up the shuttlecraft.
Chakotay: Nobody home.
Seven: It's unlikely their environmental suits were able to survive the elements for this long.
Chakotay: I hope you're wrong.
Chakotay: Looks like they went this way.
Seven: My tricorder isn't picking up any lifesigns. How did you reach that conclusion?
Chakotay: Footprints. I guess you never assimilated any Indian scouts.
Seven: High concentrations of deuterium coming from this fluid. I'll collect a sample.
Chakotay: Let's find Tom and Harry first. We'll collect the deuterium later
Seven: As you wish.
Chakotay: Maybe they found some shelter inside.
Seven: Commander!
Paris: Good to see you guys. Welcome to the Demon planet. Our suits were corroding, our lungs were burning. We were suffocating. You know what they say about your life passing before your eyes? Well, it's true. I was finally getting past puberty when suddenly, I lost consciousness. I don't know how long I was out but, the next thing I knew, I was awake and I was breathing normally. And I looked over at Harry. He was breathing normally too, with his helmet off. And, and we just looked at each other, and we just started laughing. I know it sounds crazy, but it was an exhilarating experience.
Seven: His vital signs are normal. Apparently he has adapted.
Chakotay: Just the same, we'd better let the Doctor take a look at you. Chakotay to Voyager.
Paris: I've already tried that. The comm. signal can't get out of the caves.
Chakotay: Then we'll call again when we get back outside.
Paris: I'm telling you, Chakotay. It was an amazing experience. It, it's like when you're a kid who's afraid of the water and you suddenly realize that you can swim. Go ahead, take your helmets off. Try it.
Chakotay: I'm glad you're feeling all right, but none of us should be taking any risks until we know exactly what's going on.
Paris: Don't tell me that a big, tough guy like you is afraid of a little poisoned atmosphere?
Chakotay: Where's Harry?
Paris: He's further inside the cave. We found a huge cache of deuterium.
Chakotay: Let's find him and get you two back to the ship.
Paris: Whatever you say, boss, but I'm telling you. We could breathe this air forever.
Vorik: Lieutenant.
Torres: Yes?
Vorik: We should have transporters back online within the hour.
Torres: Well, that's great. But right now I'm more concerned with little things like, oh, I don't know, say, life support?
Vorik: Indeed. According to my calculations, environmental systems will cease to function in two hours.
Torres: You say that like you're giving me the weather report.
Vorik: I agree the situation is dire, but losing our cool will not help matters.
Torres: Losing our cool? Where did you pick up that expression?
Vorik: Mister Paris.
Torres: Well, there's hope for you yet. Now, how about giving me a hand.
Chakotay: Harry.
Kim: Commander. Isn't it incredible?
Paris: That's what I've been trying to tell them.
Chakotay: Are you feeling okay, Harry?
Kim: Never better. If we could get mobile transporters down here, we could mine enough deuterium to get us all the way to the Alpha Quadrant and back again.
Chakotay: Tom tells me you've already picked up twenty kilos. That should be enough to get the main systems back online. Let's get back to the ship. Have the Doctor take a look at you.
Kim: I'd rather stay here and keep working, if it's all the same to you.
Chakotay: It's not.
Kim: Really, Commander, I'm fine. You should send some more personnel out to help. They won't even need environmental suits.
Chakotay: I appreciate your enthusiasm, but we're going back to Voyager. Now.
Paris: It's all right, Harry. Once the Doc takes a look at us and sees we're fine, we'll get right back to work.
Janeway: Status, Mister Tuvok?
Tuvok: I've shut down life support everywhere but decks one and five. It should provide us with an extra hour of breathable air.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Voyager.
Janeway: Janeway here.
Chakotay: We've found Tom and Harry.
Janeway: First good news I've had all day. What about the deuterium?
Chakotay: We've got
Chakotay: A few kilos. We're on our way back to Voyager now.
Janeway: What's your position?
Chakotay: About two kilometers from the ship.
Tuvok: Captain.
Janeway: Transporters are coming back online. We should be able to beam you back from that distance, but it may take a few minutes.
Chakotay: Have the Doctor standing by. I think he's going to want to look at Tom and Harry.
Emh: Computer, lights. Maximum illumination. Everybody up! Rise and shine, Mister Neelix.
Neelix: What's going on?
Emh: It's checkout time.
Neelix: It's the middle of the night.
Emh: Medicine knows no time clock. I've got patients on the way and there's no more room at the inn.
Neelix: Patients. Is somebody sick?
Emh: I can't answer that until I've examined them, now can I?
Neelix: Examine who?
Emh: Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Paris.
Neelix: Is there anything I can do to help?
Emh: Yes. You and your friends can vacate the premises.
Neelix: Right, move! You heard the Doctor. This is an emergency evacuation. Move! Move! Move! Doctor.
Emh: Yes?
Neelix: Thanks for your hospitality. And if you ever need a place to stay, my door's always open.
Janeway: Energizing. #
Janeway: Beam Tom and Harry to Sickbay.
Emh: What happened to them?
Chakotay: As soon as we beamed aboard they started suffocating.
Emh: Computer, erect a level seven forcefield around biobeds one and two.
Computer: Forcefield established.
Janeway: What are you doing?
Emh: Filling the area inside the forcefield with the atmospheric gasses from the planet. Try to breathe normally now. Easy, or you'll hyperventilate. Slowly. In and out. In and out.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. The Doctor continues to investigate Tom and Harry, whose condition seems as serious as it is strange.
Paris: That stuff is in our blood?
Emh: I'm afraid so. From what I can tell, you've been bioformed.
Kim: Bioformed?
Emh: Think of it as the opposite of terraforming. In the same way we adapt the environment of a planet to suit our needs, this planet has adapted you.
Paris: How is that possible?
Emh: This fluid somehow entered your bloodstream and began altering your physiology at the cellular level. I haven't had the time to analyze this substance, but I hope to have answers soon.
Janeway: I'd like to run a few tests of my own, if you don't mind.
Emh: Of course.
Paris: So, what's our prognosis, Doc?
Emh: Well, you'll be fine. As long as you keep breathing the planet's gasses.
Kim: You mean we have to stay inside this forcefield?
Emh: I'm afraid it's worse than that. The atmosphere of this planet can't be replicated safely.
Paris: Which means if we leave, we'll have nothing to breathe.
Emh: Exactly. Either we find a way to treat your condition, or you'll have to be left behind.
Janeway: Can the bioforming process be reversed?
Emh: As it stands, I don't know enough about the phenomenon to undo it.
Janeway: I'll send Chakotay and Seven back to the surface. They'll gather as much information as they can. B'Elanna and I will start running tests on this.
Kim: Let me go with the away team, Captain. I know the terrain. I can help.
Janeway: Doctor?
Emh: Right now they're better off out there than they are in here. But one of you will have to remain so I can monitor your condition.
Kim: No problem. I volunteer Tom to stay here and play guinea pig.
Seven: Each square kilometer of this planetoid is less appealing than the last.
Kim: I think it's breathtaking.
Seven: Breathtaking?
Kim: Yes.
Seven: Perhaps your recent experience has impaired your perceptions.
Kim: No, I don't think so. I wasn't really seeing it before.
Chakotay: Seeing what?
Kim: The beauty.
Seven: Would you care to point out an example?
Kim: Look over there. What do you see?
Seven: I see monochromatic geological formations, dust, haze.
Chakotay: What do you see, Harry?
Kim: To me, those geological formations are a dozen shades of red and gold. That dust, it's glowing. And the haze, it seems to intensify the colors. I'm sorry. I know it's weird, but I feel connected to this place.
Chakotay: Connected how?
Seven: I'm picking up humanoid lifesigns.
Chakotay: Location?
Seven: One hundred meters this way.
Janeway: Magnify. Factor ten. Deuterium, hydrogen sulfate, dichromates.
Torres: Add a little sodium chloride and it would probably taste a lot like Neelix's soup.
Janeway: We should be so lucky. Oh, what's this? Magnify. Factor twenty.
Torres: Captain? That's a protein molecule.
Janeway: This fluid has organic properties. Let me see the sample that's been treated with the reagents.
Torres: Captain.
Janeway: Let's get you to sickbay.
Torres: Wait. That might not be necessary.
Kim: Commander!
Janeway: Janeway to bridge. Report.
Tuvok: A large pool of the metallic compound is forming beneath the ship. We are sinking, Captain.
Janeway: On my way. Get down to Engineering. Get thrusters online. We're getting off this planet.
Kim: I'm not sure how, but they're still alive.
Seven: Just barely.
Tuvok: Tuvok to Chakotay.
Chakotay: Go ahead.
Tuvok: The Captain has ordered an emergency ascent.
Tuvok: We must bring you back to the ship.
Chakotay: Understood. I've got five to beam back.
Tuvok: Five?
Chakotay: We found another Paris and Kim.
Chakotay: I can't explain it.
Janeway: I think I can. Prepare for transport.
Chakotay: Beam us directly to Sickbay.
Kim: No. I don't want to go back.
Janeway: Transporters are still acting up. We can't get individual locks. We're going to have to grab you in a wide beam and bring you in as a group.
Chakotay: Acknowledged.
Kim: I belong here.
Chakotay: Maybe so. But until we know what's going on, you've got to come back with us to the ship. Harry, no!
Tuvok: Four of the away team are in Sickbay, Captain. I'm trying to get a lock on the fifth. It is Ensign Kim or rather, one of the Ensigns Kim. The ship is continuing to sink.
Janeway: Then there's no time. We've got to get back into orbit. We'll worry about Harry or whoever he is once we're up. Bring antigrav thrusters online.
Tuvok: Thrusters enabled.
Janeway: Inertial dampers to flight configuration.
Tuvok: Dampers reconfigured. All stations report ready.
Janeway: Initiating ascent. I need power to the thrusters.
Tuvok: We are being restrained by an electromagnetic force.
Janeway: Compensate.
Tuvok: No effect. Decks fourteen and fifteen are submerged. The ship is continuing to sink.
Janeway: Report.
Tuvok: Thrusters are offline due to an overload. Decks thirteen through fifteen are submerged. If we don't lift off soon, the hull will begin to corrode.
Janeway: Bridge to Engineering.
Vorik: Ensign Vorik here.
Janeway: I need thrusters back online.
Vorik: Lieutenant Torres has already sent a team to the thruster control junction.
Janeway: How long?
Vorik: At least a half an hour.
Tuvok: Even if thrusters are repaired, they won't be of much use if we sink any deeper.
Janeway: There must be some way to disperse it. Try a nadion burst from the phaser emitters. It may weaken the electromagnetic properties of the fluid.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: I'm on my way to Sickbay to check on Harry and Tom. You've got the bridge.
Janeway: How are they?
Emh: Lucky. The backup systems in their environmental suits kept their vital functions going. It'll take time, but they'll recover.
Janeway: And him?
Emh: Aside from his ability to breathe the rarified air on this planet, he's the exact duplicate of Mister Paris. He even seems to share his memories, not to mention his winning personality.
Janeway: B'Elanna and I discovered that the fluid has mimetic properties. Somehow, it reads the DNA of whatever it comes in contact with and re-creates it.
Emh: Fascinating.
Janeway: Can you tell me who you are?
Demon Paris: Please, just let me go back.
Janeway: Not until I find out why two of my crew have been duplicated.
Demon Paris: Captain, you have to believe me. I don't know any more than you do about this. Until he showed up, I thought I was Tom Paris. A little changed by my experience on the planet maybe, but now I don't know who or what I am. All I know is that I have to get off this ship and go back down to the surface.
Tuvok: We're ready to try the nadion burst, Captain.
Janeway: Do it.
Demon Paris: Ow. What are you doing?
Tuvok: Captain, we're receiving an urgent hail. It's from Ensign Kim. The one on the surface.
Janeway: Put him through.
Demon Kim: Captain, please. Stop what you're doing.
Janeway: If you really do have Harry Kim's memories, you know that I'm going to do whatever it takes to get this ship back in orbit.
Demon Kim: You can't do that!
Janeway: Why not?
Demon Kim: I, I'm not sure I understand it myself.
Janeway: Well then, you're going to have to help me figure it out. Mister Tuvok, I'm on my way to transporter room one. Erect a level seven forcefield around the platform. Fill it with atmosphere from the planet and then beam Mister Kim, or rather his duplicate, aboard.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Do you have a lock on him?
Transporter Technician: Yes, ma'am.
Janeway: Energize.
Janeway: Release my vessel.
Demon Kim: We can't do that.
Janeway: We?
Demon Kim: The planet and I, we're connected somehow. I can't explain it, Captain. I only know that you've got to stop.
Janeway: And I'm willing to stop. But I'll say it again, release the ship.
Demon Kim: No. We need you.
Janeway: Janeway to Tuvok. Fire.
Janeway: What are you?
Demon Kim: Stop. No.
Janeway: I'll fire again.
Demon Kim: You're killing us!
Janeway: You leave me no choice.
Demon Kim: It's not fair. It's wrong!
Janeway: Janeway to Tuvok.
Demon Kim: No! No, no, no. Please. No more.
Janeway: Hold your fire, Tuvok.
Tuvok: Captain, we are continuing to submerge.
Janeway: Hold your fire.
Tuvok: Acknowledged.
Janeway: I want some answers.
Demon Kim: I'm trying to understand. This is hard for me as well.
Janeway: You said you have a connection to this planet. You talk about it like it's alive.
Demon Kim: Alive. Yes, but not the planet. The silver blood.
Janeway: The compound that sampled Harry's DNA, and created you.
Demon Kim: Yes. but it's never been conscious, never sentient before now. Before me and the other.
Janeway: Tom Paris.
Demon Kim: We're the first. Don't you see? You came here. You showed us. When the compound came in contact with Tom and Harry, it experienced awareness for the first time. Before, it was only instinct, sound and light and heat. But those two showed us thought.
Janeway: I'm beginning to understand. This silver blood experienced sentience, and now you want more. You want to duplicate the rest of this crew and populate this planet.
Demon Kim: You're trying so hard to reach home, but this can be home.
Janeway: Not for me, and not for my people. Do you understand why we can't stay here?
Demon Kim: I think so.
Janeway: Well then, release us.
Demon Kim: We'd rather die than be alone. We deserve life.
Janeway: This silver blood that created you. It duplicated Harry without killing him. So you don't need our bodies, only samples of DNA. Release Voyager and I'll speak to my crew. And if they're willing, I'll let you duplicate the rest of us.
Tuvok: Bridge to Janeway. We've stopped, Captain. We're no longer submerging.
Janeway: Understood. We're getting out of here, Tuvok, but first assemble the crew in Cargo Bay one
Janeway: And have the Doctor meet me there.
Tuvok: Captain?
Janeway: I'll explain later.
Janeway: It's time to meet your new family.
Kim: All stations report ready for lift off.
Tuvok: Code blue status confirmed.
Janeway: Take us up, Mister Paris.
Paris: Aye, Captain.


Seven: Lieutenant, Ensign.
Kim: Hey, Seven.
Torres: Have some dinner. The potato salad isn't half bad.
Seven: I do not require nutrition at this time. I would like to talk with you.
Kim: Okay.
Seven: Ensign Kim, what is your place of origin?
Kim: You mean, where am I from? Well, I was born in South Carolina, but I grew up in
Seven: Lieutenant Torres, explain why you became a member of the Maquis.
Torres: It was through Chakotay. I met him. Well, actually, he saved my life
Seven: List the sports you play.
Kim: I've dabbled in quite a few. Tennis, Pareses Squares, but my favorite is volleyball.
Seven: Specify the foods you find enjoyable.
Torres: Seven, what is this?
Seven: Describe the nature of your sexual relationship with Lieutenant Paris.
Torres: Okay, that's it.
Emh: Computer, freeze program. Would you care to explain what you're doing?
Seven: I'm doing exactly what you instructed me to do.
Emh: I hardly think so. I created this program to help you become more comfortable in social situations, not to practice alienating people.
Seven: You made recommendations about how to carry on a conversation.
Emh: That's true.
Seven: You said it's helpful if people feel you're interested in them.
Emh: Correct.
Seven: And that drawing them out by asking them about themselves is one way to demonstrate that interest.
Emh: That doesn't mean subjecting them to an interrogation. You have to let them answer, listen to what they're saying. Ask another question on the same subject. Take your time. Shall we try again?
Seven: I believe I am overdue for my weekly medical maintenance. We should go.
Emh: Seven, you've never volunteered for a check-up before.
Seven: It is preferable to remaining here.
Janeway: What have we got here?
Kim: Looks like a Mutara class nebula with a few trace constituents that aren't in our database, but they're showing up in minute quantities.
Tuvok: The nebula is vast, Captain. It extends beyond the reach of our sensors.
Janeway: Oh, then I guess we won't try to go around it. Tom, take us in at one half impulse.
Paris: Yes, ma'am.
Kim: I'm detecting a slight radioactive field. It's oh, oh.
Janeway: Harry?
Kim: Nothing. It's just a headache coming on.
Chakotay: Maybe you should go to Sickbay.
Kim: Yeah, maybe so.
Paris: Captain!
Kim: Oh, god.
Janeway: Tom, turn us around. Get us out of here.
Janeway: Janeway to Sickbay.
Emh: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: We need help.
Emh: What happened?
Emh: I'm being inundated with calls.
Janeway: Hurry.
Emh: Seven, go to the bridge. Use the dermal regenerator to treat the burns.
Tuvok: Course laid in.
Kim: We've cleared the nebula.
Janeway: All stop.
Seven: He's dead.
Seven: The nebula extends for at least one hundred ten light years. Possibly more.
Janeway: At the least, it would take us well over a month to get through it, and more than a year to get around it.
Seven: The crew was unable to tolerate the nebula for even a few minutes. They certainly could not survive a month.
Janeway: We've come fifteen thousand light years. We haven't been stopped by temporal anomalies, warp core breaches, or hostile aliens. And I am damned if I'm going to be stopped by a nebula. I'll be in Sickbay.
Emh: I've analyzed a sample of the gasses from the nebula. I think the damage came from subnucleonic radiation. Even the briefest exposure is devastating to organic tissue.
Janeway: Can you give us any protection against the effects?
Emh: Yes. Stasis chambers. Independent life support for each unit.
Janeway: Are you suggesting that the entire crew be put in suspended animation?
Emh: Yes. I, of course, would stay online in order to monitor everyone.
Janeway: This is a drastic step, Doctor. Are there any other options? Adjusting the shields? Inoculations?
Emh: I assure you, I've considered all possibilities. This is the only way.
Janeway: There's more to getting through the nebula than monitoring the crew. Who would regulate ship's systems? Make course adjustments?
Emh: I think I've demonstrated that I have a command of the rudimentary aspects of piloting.
Janeway: Of course you have, and I know you could do it. But you'll need back-up. We have no idea what effect the nebular radiation might have on your holomatrix. What if you went offline?
Emh: There was only one crewmember besides myself that seemed unaffected by the nebula.
Janeway: I want you to understand the seriousness of this responsibility. The lives of the entire crew will be on your shoulders.
Seven: You doubt my ability to fulfill this task?
Janeway: Ordinarily not at all, but this is an unusual situation. After being in the Collective, it wasn't easy for you to adjust to a ship with only a hundred and fifty people on it, was it, Seven? How would you feel with only the Doctor for company?
Seven: I will adapt.
Janeway: Most humans don't react particularly well to long periods of isolation. Borg Drones have even more difficulty.
Seven: As you pointed out, I am neither Borg nor human. I can do this, Captain.
Janeway: All right. I'll work with the senior staff to draw up a list of duties. But let me make it clear. The Doctor will be in command. You will follow his instructions just as you would follow mine.
Seven: Follow the orders of a hologram?
Janeway: He's our Chief Medical Officer, and he is thoroughly grounded in Starfleet protocols. You will report to him.
Seven: I understand.
Chakotay: The Doctor's preparing the stasis units now. They should be ready by seventeen hundred hours.
Paris: And how long will this be for?
Janeway: We don't know for certain. At least a month. Maybe longer, if the nebula is larger than we estimate.
Torres: I've never been in long term stasis. Are there any side effects?
Janeway: The Doctor assures me it'll be just like taking a nap. We'll go into the units, our cardiopulmonary systems will be slowed, neural activity suspended, and we'll wake up feeling as though we'd had a good night's sleep.
Kim: There are things that can go wrong. At least, that's what I've read.
Janeway: We will be carefully monitored by Seven and the Doctor, who will check our vital signs four times a day, and take care of any other problems.
Paris: I assume that we've explored all the alternatives?
Janeway: I think we're all feeling uneasy about this, and I'd be lying if I said I don't have concerns myself. And I think it's about loss of control. We always feel better if we think we're in charge of our own circumstances. In stasis, we're giving up that control, and no Starfleet officer likes to do that. But crews have been in stasis much longer than a month. I think we can handle this. All right. You're free until seventeen hundred hours. I'll make a ship-wide announcement when the Doctor's ready. Dismissed.
Janeway: Something else?
Chakotay: I want you to tell me that this isn't a mistake.
Janeway: Your turn to get reassurance?
Chakotay: Maybe. But my concern isn't about going into stasis. It's about who you're leaving in charge.
Janeway: You're worried about Seven.
Chakotay: Maybe you need to step outside yourself for a minute. Look at the fact that here's someone who's butted horns with you from the moment she came on board. Who disregards authority and actively disobeys orders when she doesn't agree with them.
Janeway: And this is the person I'm giving responsibility for the lives of this entire crew. I suppose you want me to tell you I'm not crazy?
Chakotay: In a nutshell. I know your bond with Seven is unique, different from everyone else's. From the beginning, you've seen things in her that no one else could. But maybe you could help me understand some of those things.
Janeway: I don't know if I can. It's just instinct. There's something inside me that says she can be redeemed. In spite of her insolent attitude, I honestly believe she wants to do well by us.
Chakotay: That's good enough for me.
Janeway: See you at seventeen hundred hours.
Paris: If I have to take a nap for a month, I really would rather do it in my quarters.
Emh: Everyone's being relocated here to deck fourteen so we can monitor you more easily. Hop in.
Kim: Come on, Tom. Sleepy time.
Paris: What if we had to get out in a hurry?
Janeway: You can unlock the unit from inside, Tom.
Emh: Do I detect a hint of claustrophobia, Lieutenant.
Paris: Why do they have to design these things like coffins?
Kim: Should we replicate you a teddy bear?
Emh: Sleep tight.
Emh: Have no worries, Captain. You'll go to sleep and the next thing you know I'll be standing over you, telling you we're through the nebula.
Janeway: I'm leaving the ship in good hands. I have every confidence in both of you. See you in a month.
Emh: It's just the two of us now. Personal log, Seven of Nine, stardate 51929.3. This is the tenth day of our journey through the Mutara nebula. I have created an efficient daily routine.
Seven: Nutritional supplement fourteen beta seven.
Seven: Computer, adjust heading by point three four seven degrees starboard.
Computer: Course adjusted.
Seven: Seven of Nine to the Doctor.
Emh: Go ahead.
Seven: Lieutenant Paris has left his stasis unit and is unconscious.
Emh: I'll be right there.
Emh: Apparently he's more claustrophobic than I thought. But he doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects.
Seven: Is this likely to happen again?
Emh: It's not unheard of for people to come out of stasis and start wandering. Leave it to Mister Paris to be just as much trouble now as when he's awake.
Seven: You knew this might happen. Why complain about it?
Emh: If you had even the slightest sense of humor, you'd realize I was making a small joke.
Seven: Very small.
Emh: Give me his vital signs, please.
Seven: Pulse, forty two. Body temperature, ninety seven point six. Blood pressure one hundred over fifty.
Emh: Good.
Seven: I will continue on my rounds.
Emh: I think not. We're paying a visit to the holodeck.
Seven: I have no time for frivolous pursuits.
Emh: This isn't frivolous. It's essential. You've been getting more irritable and short-tempered with each passing day.
Seven: So have you.
Emh: Only because I'm having to put up with you. I think you need a little brush-up course in getting along with people.
Seven: There is no one here to get along with.
Emh: I'm here. This isn't a suggestion and it's not a request. It's an order.
Neelix: Try one, Commander.
Chakotay: Thank you, Neelix.
Neelix: Captain?
Janeway: Ooo, what have we here? Delicious!
Neelix: Join the party, Seven. It's no fun to stand there by yourself.
Seven: I have no desire to have fun.
Neelix: No?
Seven: I am attempting to recalibrate the warp field in order to resist the nebula's radiation. I understand you have some knowledge of warp field theory. Perhaps you could assist me.
Neelix: I'd be happy to give it a try. Let's see, the subspace field matrix looks right.
Seven: Captain.
Janeway: Excuse me.
Seven: Perhaps you could help as well. We're attempting to find a stronger warp field calibration.
Janeway: How interesting. Maybe if we vary the EM stress parameters, the warp field dynamic would increase.
Neelix: Excellent idea, Captain. And if the warp coils were re-phased, it would increase power to the nacelles.
Seven: There is an additional problem. We must compensate for a subspace induction drag on the engines.
Emh: Pardon me, Captain, Mister Neelix. Computer, freeze program. You're completely missing the point of this exercise. You're supposed to be mixing and mingling, not working on engineering problems.
Seven: You ordered me to participate in this program. You did not specify topics of conversation.
Emh: You're splitting hairs. You know very well what purpose this program is supposed to serve.
Seven: I find that it serves no purpose whatsoever.
Emh: Because you're being intentionally perverse.
Seven: Holodecks are a pointless endeavor, fulfillling some human need to fantasize. I have no such need.
Emh: What you need is some editorial skill in your self-expression. Between impulse and action there is a realm of good taste begging for your acquaintance.
Seven: I find your self-expression ponderous.
Emh: And I can't put up with this for another month.
Seven: We can arrange to avoid one another.
Emh: I wish it were that simple. Unfortunately, you have to report to me four times a day to keep me informed about the crew.
Seven: We can minimize those reports.
Computer: Warning. Emergency procedures in effect.
Emh: Computer, what is the nature of the emergency?
Computer: The antimatter storage tanks are failing.
Seven: A cascade effect is in progress. The warp field coils are compromised, primary deuterium tank is rupturing, and plasma conduits are ready to breach.
Emh: This is awful.
Seven: We have to eject the antimatter tanks.
Emh: We've got to coordinate the effort. You go to Engineering, I'll go to the bridge.
Emh: Doctor to Seven.
Seven: Yes, Doctor?
Emh: It's worse than we thought.
Emh: Engineering is flooded with plasma. You'll never get in.
Seven: I believe I can survive long enough to eject the assembly.
Emh: It's too late.
Emh: Sensors show plasma conduits rupturing on decks seven and thirteen.
Seven: I can do it.
Emh: Seven. There's been another plasma discharge in Engineering. The hull is breaching. Get out!
Emh: Seven, do you hear me?
Seven: It's all right, Doctor. False alarm.
Emh: Look here. I think I've found the problem. There are malfunctions in a number of neural gel packs. As a result, false readings were fed to the sensors which detected an emergency when there was none.
Seven: We must repair them.
Emh: They seem to be in sequence six theta nine. We'll need replacement packs and a repair
Emh: Repair kit.
Emh: These tubes certainly weren't designed with creature comfort in mind. It seems to me the shipbuilders should've created a space in which one can walk upright.
Seven: But they did not. It doesn't help to complain about it now.
Emh: I'll complain if I want to. It's comforting.
Seven: We can access sequence six theta nine from this junction.
Emh: Odd. I've never seen this kind of neural activity in the gel packs.
Seven: In what sense?
Emh: The neurodes are diskharging in random bursts. I would imagine the nebula activity is causing it. I'll this back to Sickbay for further study.
Seven: I will reroute the command processors to bypass this series.
Emh: This journey certainly hasn't lacked excitement. I can't complain about being bored.
Seven: Since you find it comforting, you'll undoubtedly find something else to complain about.
Emh: No doubt. You really should try it.
Seven: What's happening?
Emh: My program is degrading.
Seven: The mobile emitter?
Emh: I don't know. I have to get back to Sickbay. Hurry.
Seven: I am hurrying.
Emh: If the mobile emitter goes offline while I'm out of Sickbay, my program may be irretrievable.
Seven: Don't panic. It's counterproductive.
Emh: That's easy for you to say. You're not facing cybernetic oblivion.
Seven: Doctor?
Emh: If that happens again, I'm a goner.
Emh: Ah! Home sweet Sickbay. I never thought I'd be so glad to see these walls.
Seven: Give me the emitter. The electro-optic modulator is damaged.
Emh: You're right, it's worthless. There's no way I can risk using it now. I'm stuck here.
Seven: The nebula is having a deleterious effect on all the ship's technology.
Emh: And we still have weeks to go. It's up to you to keep the ship running. We can't afford to break down in this nebula.
Seven: I won't disappoint you.
Computer: Oh six hundred hours. Regeneration sequence complete.
Seven: Personal log, Seven of Nine, stardate 51932.4. The twenty ninth day in the Mutara nebula. I believe I'm beginning to feel the effects of this prolonged isolation. My dreams have been disturbing. But I'm determined to fulfill my responsibilities. With the Doctor confined to Sickbay, I have taken on increasing duties. Ship's systems are beginning to require constant maintenance in order to avert disaster. This morning I must purge the auxiliary plasma vents. End log.
Seven: Computer, trim heading by point three one degrees port. Computer, respond. Computer, trim heading by point three one degrees port.
Computer: Attempting to make correction. Stand by. Attempting to make correction. Unable to comply.
Seven: Manual override. Computer, initiate a level four diagnostic of your command processors.
Computer: Diagnostic in progress.
Seven: Astrometrics.
Computer: Diagnostic complete.
Seven: Analyze.
Computer: Quantum failures are present in thirty three percent of gel pack relays.
Seven: Reroute all functional relays through subprocessor chi one four.
Computer: Rerouting complete. Relay failures bypassed.
Seven: Display Voyager's current position within the nebula. How long to complete passage through the nebula?
Computer: Six days, five hours.
Seven: Six days.
Paris: Seven. Help.
Computer: Proximity alert. Vessel approaching. The vessel is hailing.
Seven: Open a channel.
Computer: Channel open.
Seven: This is the Federation starship Voyager. State your identity.
Trajis: I'm Trajis Lo-Tarik. I'm in need of a microfusion chamber. Would you consider a trade?
Seven: Why are you in this nebula?
Trajis: Trying to get through it, as I imagine you are.
Seven: Do you have liquid helium?
Trajis: You're fortunate. I have an ample supply.
Seven: I'll beam you directly to our Cargo Bay.
Trajis: Seven of Nine. That's an unusual name. How did you get it?
Seven: It was my Borg designation.
Trajis: Borg? Never heard of them. Are you alone on this ship?
Seven: No. The entire crew is here in stasis, and our Doctor is in Sickbay.
Trajis: I'm both pilot and crew on my ship. Fortunately, I happen to be resistant to the effects of the nebula.
Seven: What about your technology? The radiation is causing damage to ours.
Trajis: I've had to rebuild my engines twice already. If you've been in the nebula for three weeks, you're doing well.
Seven: I am hopeful our propulsion system will remain operational for the next six days.
Trajis: I'll admit I was surprised to find another ship headed toward me. No one has ever managed to cross the nebula.
Seven: If it weren't necessary, we wouldn't be attempting it.
Trajis: I'm here by choice. I'm determined to be the first to get through. I've tried five times before and failed, but this time I'm sure I'll make it. I want to see what's on the other side.
Seven: It is nothing remarkable.
Trajis: But I'll be the first of my kind to see it. Tell me, how are you handling the loneliness?
Seven: What do you mean?
Trajis: You know what I mean. No matter what you say, you're all alone here.
Seven: The microfusion chamber you requested.
Trajis: I've heard that drones can't stand being alone. They're too used to the Collective.
Seven: How could you know that?
Trajis: It's true, isn't it?
Seven: You said you'd never heard of the Borg.
Trajis: Don't be offended. I've got no grudge with them.
Seven: You have what you asked for. Now leave.
Trajis: I thought we could keep each other company for a while. Maybe have something to eat.
Seven: No.
Trajis: And if I want to stay longer?
Seven: You will not be accommodated.
Trajis: There's no need for this, you know. I mean you no harm. I think maybe you're a little paranoid. That's what loneliness can do to you. You'd be a lot better off to spend some time with me. We could get to know each other.
Seven: Quiet.
Paris: Seven, help me, Seven.
Seven: Seven of Nine to the Doctor. We have an intruder on board.
Emh: He must have a cloaking device. Sensors show no alien lifesigns and no evidence of a ship. I've been working on my mobile emitter. I think I'm making progress, but I still can't leave Sickbay. You'll have to try to track him down. Arm yourself and use extreme caution.
Computer: Warning. Deuterium tank levels are fluctuating beyond acceptable tolerances.
Emh: The computer sounds like it needs a stimulant.
Seven: It has been experiencing relay failures. I have not been performing my maintenance duties.
Emh: Do what you have to, but keep an eye out for the alien. We have to assume he's up to no good. Seven? Are you frightened?
Seven: I am Borg.
Seven: Who's there?
Paris: Seven. Help me, Seven.
Neelix: I'm dying, Seven. Don't let me die.
Janeway: The lives of the crew are on your shoulders.
Paris: Seven, help me.
Kim: Help, Seven, I need help.
Chakotay: We need you, Seven.
Tuvok: Assist us.
Neelix: I'm dying, Seven.
Trajis: Seven of Nine. that's an unusual name. How did you get it? Don't want to answer me? That's all right, I don't mind. I know you're not yourself today. But you might be interested in what I'm doing now. I know your sensors can't detect me. So if you want to know where I am, you'll have to ask. Playing stubborn? That's a mistake. It could lead to an unfortunate accident. Just to prove I'm willing to give you a fair chance, I'll ask you. What would happen if the structural integrity around the warp coils collapsed? You wouldn't have much time to keep them from rupturing.
Trajis: I couldn't bring myself to destroy your ship. I hope you're not afraid of the dark.
Seven: Where are you?
Trajis: Finally. I'm glad you're responding. It's going to be much more interesting if we play this game together.
Seven: Your location.
Trajis: A long way from you. On the bridge. Command center of your ship, I believe. I can do just about anything from here.
Paris: Seven, help.
Seven: Seven to Trajis. Are you still there?
Trajis: Of course. Do you think I'd leave now?
Seven: I'm enjoying this game. What's next?
Trajis: That's better. Well, let's just imagine that one of the photon torpedoes was activated but not ejected.
Seven: I would have to get to the torpedo bay quickly.
Trajis: Even then you might be too late. But of course you have to try.
Seven: Let's play another game. Let's imagine that the oxygen on the bridge has been depleted.
Trajis: What?
Seven: What do you suppose the results might be? Computer, seal the bridge with a level three forcefield.
Computer: Bridge sealed.
Seven: Seven of Nine to the Doctor.
Emh: I'm here.
Seven: I have incapacitated the alien. He will not trouble us again.
Emh: Good work. I have my mobile emitter back online.
Emh: Where are you now?
Seven: In Engineering.
Emh: I'll be right there. I have interesting news about the neural gel packs.
Seven: Acknowledged.
Trajis: In your heart you knew you'd see me again.
Trajis: You can't defeat me. You're too weak.
Seven: Don't come any closer.
Trajis: You couldn't stand being alone, could you? You felt vulnerable, afraid. Because you know what you are.
Seven: Stop.
Trajis: At first you thought you could become human, but now you know that's impossible, don't you? You're Borg. That's what you were meant to be.
Trajis: One of many. But your days of power are gone. You're alone now. Weak. Pathetic.
Seven: Don't come any closer or I'll kill you.
Emh: Seven?
Seven: Be careful, Doctor, he's dangerous.
Emh: Who are you talking to?
Seven: Where did he go?
Emh: There's no one else here.
Seven: He was. He was right here.
Emh: Seven, you're hallucinating.
Seven: No. I saw him.
Emh: There was no one else in this room.
Seven: You mean I imagined him?
Emh: Yes.
Seven: I heard Lieutenant Paris call for help. I saw him and the others. Did I imagine them as well?
Emh: I believe so. When I studied the gel pack, I discovered the radiation was producing a degradation in the synaptic relays. I'm guessing there's been a similar effect on your Borg implants. The radiation could be altering the neurotransmitter levels in your sensory nodes. That would explain why you're hearing voices, seeing images.
Seven: They seemed real.
Emh: Hallucinations usually are. That's what makes them so frightening.
Seven: Once, when I was a drone, I was separated from the Collective for two hours. I experienced panic and apprehension. I am feeling that way now.
Emh: I'll do everything I can to help you. We'll get you to Sickbay. An antipsychotic may help, at least until I determine just what neural functions are being affected.
Seven: What was that?
Computer: Warning. Primary EPS conduits are overloading.
Emh: I tied my mobile emitter into the EPS conduits.
Seven: Computer, access the EPS conduits.
Computer: Unable to comply.
Emh: My program's going offline.
Seven: No.
Computer: Warning. Primary EPS conduits overloading. Secondary systems are failing.
Emh: Seven, you've got to hang on. Repair the EPS conduits. Everything depends on you now.
Seven: I cannot function alone.
Emh: You have to. You're the way we can survive
Seven: No!
Seven: Display Voyager's current position within the nebula.
Kim: It doesn't matter. You won't make it.
Seven: Computer, how long until Voyager is out of the nebula?
Computer: Seventeen hours, eleven minutes.
Kim: That's an eternity.
Seven: Go away.
Kim: You can try to shut me out, but it won't work.
Computer: Warning. Propulsion system failure in progress.
Drone: Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One. You have left the Collective. It was a foolish decision. Now you are alone. You have lost the many. You are only one. You have become human. Weak. Pathetic.
Drone: Humans do not have our strength. They are imperfect. Now you are imperfect as well.
Seven: No.
Drone: You will not survive. You cannot survive without the Collective.
Seven: I will adapt.
Drone: By becoming weaker. Less perfect.
Seven: I will adapt as an individual.
Drone: One. One alone. A Borg cannot be one.
Seven: I will become stronger.
Drone: A Borg cannot be one. She will die as one. Weak, detached, isolated, one Borg cannot survive.
Seven: I am an individual. I will survive alone.
Drone: No. You are weak. You will die alone.
Trajis: He's right. You're in pain, Seven. I can help you.
Seven: Bridge.
Trajis: You don't have to beg me. You don't even have to ask. All you have to do is make a choice.
Seven: I can survive alone.
Trajis: That's home. That's where you belong.
Seven: No.
Trajis: End your pain. Just walk through that door and you'll never be alone again.
Seven: It's not real.
Borg: Seven of Nine. Resistance is futile.
Seven: Bridge.
Janeway: Seven of Nine. You look a little worse for wear.
Kim: I didn't know she was still on board.
Chakotay: I never wanted her here in the first place.
Tuvok: She won't be here long. She can't survive alone.
Paris: I'm taking bets on how long she'll last.
Chakotay: She'll fall apart before we leave the nebula.
Kim: And then everybody will die.
Janeway: Well, blame me. I put my trust in her. I should have known better.
Computer: Warning. Propulsion system failure in progress.
Tuvok: What is she doing now?
Chakotay: She's trying to keep the engines online.
Paris: Place your bets. Anyone think she can do it?
Kim: I'll lay odds she can't.
Seven: Computer, how long until the ship is out of the nebula?
Computer: Forty one minutes.
Janeway: Too long. She won't make it.
Kim: That's an eternity.
Seven: Computer, reroute available power from weapons, sensors and environmental controls to the engines.
Computer: Warning. Propulsion system failure in progress.
Seven: Reroute all available power to the engines.
Computer: Propulsion systems have failed. All engines are offline.
Kim: She's got herself a real problem now.
Chakotay: I'll say. She's taken power from every available system and it's still not enough.
Tuvok: But if she fails to get this ship moving, everyone on board will die.
Paris: What do you think she'll do?
Janeway: I know what she's thinking. She's thinking if she could take power from the stasis units on deck fourteen, she might be able to get those engines back online.
Kim: But that would mean sacrificing some of the crew.
Chakotay: I don't think that would bother her too much.
Tuvok: What matters to Seven is efficiency. Sacrificing a few to save many, would be an efficient plan.
Janeway: She's already killed millions. Would a few more matter?
Seven: Computer, divert power from stasis units one through ten and reroute to the propulsion systems.
Computer: Engines are back online.
Seven: Resume course.
Kim: Look at that. She did it.
Janeway: But those people she disconnected are going to die.
Paris: I win. I knew she didn't care about them.
Janeway: Come to watch them die?
Computer: Warning. Power to stasis units has failed.
Seven: Computer, how long to complete passage through the nebula?
Computer: Eleven minutes.
Janeway: They won't last that long. What do you do now, Seven? It's all up to you.
Seven: Computer, cut life support to all decks and reroute available power to the stasis units.
Janeway: That will keep them alive, but what about you? No oxygen, no heat. Goodbye, Seven.
Seven: I am Seven of Nine. I am alone, but I will adapt. I will
Emh: She's coming to.
Emh: Not so fast. Get your bearings first.
Seven: The crew?
Janeway: We came through the nebula in fine shape, thanks to you.
Chakotay: You were the one we almost lost. When the ship cleared the nebula, the Doctor came back online and found you unconscious. He reinitiated life support and woke the crew.
Janeway: He tells us you've had quite an adventure.
Seven: It was interesting.
Janeway: Well, when you're rested, I'd like to hear about it.
Emh: I'm proud of you, Seven. You performed admirably.
Seven: I am glad I was able to help.
Kim: Neelix, this soup is great. What is it?
Neelix: It's my secret recipe. I've never told anyone what's in it.
Paris: Why does that make me nervous?
Torres: Oh, come on, Tom. Where's your spirit of adventure?
Paris: Not in my stomach. Food and mystery don't go together. I like to know what I'm eating.
Torres: Coward.
Seven: Lieutenants Paris and Torres. Ensign Kim.
Kim: Seven. I'm surprised to see you here.
Seven: May I join you?
Paris: Sure. Have a seat.
Torres: Have some soup. It's actually edible.
Seven: I don't require nourishment at this time. I felt the need for companionship.
Paris: Well, after a month with only the Doc for company, I can understand it.
Kim: Yeah. What was that like, anyway, just the two of you?
Seven: The Doctor was quite helpful. I cannot fault him.
Torres: Well, we all owe you.
Paris: Yeah, just think, we could've died in those coffins.
Seven: I suspect you would've found a way out before that, Lieutenant.
Kim: What do you mean?
Seven: Lieutenant Paris refused to stay confined. On four separate occasions, the Doctor and I had to put him back into his stasis unit.
Kim: Were you locked in dark closets or something as a child?
Paris: I just don't like closed places. I never have. I don't know why.
Seven: Perhaps you dislike being alone.


Computer: Full impact. Final round to Janeway. Winner Janeway.
Janeway: Good game.
Seven: For you.
Janeway: Oh, come on, Seven. You won four out of ten rounds. Nothing to be ashamed of.
Seven: On the contrary. I have superior visual acuity and stamina. I should have won every round.
Janeway: Well, Velocity is more than a test of stamina. It's a game of wits.
Seven: You are a frustrating opponent. During the final round, after you dropped your phaser, you did not look at the disk, and yet you were able to acquire the target.
Janeway: Intuition.
Seven: Intuition is a human fallacy. The belief that you can predict random events.
Janeway: Oh, belief had nothing to do with it. At some level, conscious or otherwise, I was aware of several factors. The trajectory of the disk after I hit the wall, the sound it made on its return, and the shadow it cast on the hologrid.
Seven: Intriguing but implausible.
Janeway: I won, didn't I? Thanks for the match.
Seven: I wish to play again.
Janeway: Not today.
Seven: You are fatigued and concerned that I will defeat you.
Janeway: Tired? Yes. Concerned? No.
Seven: Computer, begin first round.
Janeway: Belay that command. Seven, try to be a sport. Game's over.
Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 51978.2. It's been five months since we received the encoded message from the Alpha Quadrant. We know that the transmission was from Starfleet Command but we still can't decrypt it. B'Elanna thinks it's a lost cause, that too much of the datastream has been destroyed. But I haven't given up. I keep hoping inspiration will strike, somehow.
Chakotay: Good morning.
Janeway: What time is it?
Chakotay: Oh five hundred.
Janeway: Oh. Well then, good morning.
Chakotay: I just heard from Tom and Neelix. They're about to leave the trading colony.
Janeway: Any luck?
Chakotay: According to Tom, the shuttle's so loaded down with supplies, he won't make half impulse. Neelix is asking permission to bring one of the locals on board. He's been very helpful, and Neelix wants to repay him by giving him passage to the next system.
Janeway: Permission granted.
Chakotay: You might want to grab some sleep. We've got a big day ahead.
Janeway: I will in a while.
Chakotay: Still hunting for buried treasure?
Janeway: We've found the treasure, I just can't pick the lock. I've tried over fifty decryption algorithms. Every time I piece together a datablock, ten more come unraveled. What did Starfleet send us? A map? The location of a wormhole? If I could decode this today, Chakotay, we could be home tomorrow. Then again, it could be Admiral Chapman's recipe for the perfect pound cake. I've been pinning our hopes on this message, but I'm starting to wonder.
Chakotay: One way or another, we've got to find out. I'll talk to B'Elanna. You could enlist Seven of Nine.
Janeway: She should have a few Borg algorithms up her sleeve. If she's in the mood.
Chakotay: Problems?
Janeway: I don't know if she's getting restless or if it's just me, but we're butting heads more than usual lately. She seems to challenge everything I say.
Chakotay: She's learned a lot from you over the last year. Maybe the pupil thinks she's outgrowing the mentor.
Janeway: Maybe. Well, this mentor would like another cup of coffee. Will you join me?
Chakotay: Love to.
Paris: This goes to Engineering. Sickbay. Storage.
Chakotay: I hope that's not going to the mess hall.
Paris: I don't remember what this is. Neelix!
Neelix: Captain, this man is a genius. I was trying to negotiate with a xenon-based lifeform when the Universal Translator went offline. Arturis here stepped in and acted as a perfect go-between, and he'd never heard either of our languages.
Arturis: Oh, they were simple. No insult intended.
Paris: Neelix!
Neelix: On my way. If you two will excuse me.
Janeway: Well, welcome to Voyager. We may be a linguistically simple folk but we're happy to give you a ride. Let's see if we can find you some quarters.
Arturis: Neelix was right. Voyager is a welcoming place.
Janeway: Well, we do our best.
Janeway: I can't say I've ever met a living Universal Translator.
Arturis: My people have a way with languages. I myself know over four thousand.
Janeway: And to think I still struggle with basic Klingon. You couldn't have heard Neelix say more than a few phrases.
Arturis: It was all I needed. It was enough to grasp the grammar and syntax.
Janeway: Impressive.
Arturis: Not really. It's a natural ability. Some species are born with great physical prowess. Others, like yours, with a generosity of spirit. My people can see patterns where others see only confusion. Is something wrong?
Janeway: No. Tell me, how are you at computational languages? Algorithms, trinary syntax?
Arturis: It's all the same to me.
Janeway: I was wondering if you might do us another favor.
Arturis: You weren't exaggerating, Captain. This datastream is badly damaged. I'd like to see the entire transmission again. Are you Borg?
Seven: Yes.
Arturis: You're much more attractive than the average drone.
Seven: I am no longer part of the Collective.
Arturis: I see, I see. I think I see the problem. May I?
Janeway: Please.
Janeway: Have you encountered his people before?
Seven: Species one one six.
Arturis: Is that what you call us?
Seven: Yes. The Borg has never been able to assimilate them. Not yet.
Janeway: Seven.
Arturis: Oh, it's all right, Captain. The Borg Collective is like a force of nature. You don't feel anger toward a storm on the horizon, you just avoid it. Ah. Here it is. It's a simple matter of extracting the iconometric elements, and triaxilating a recursion matrix.
Janeway: Now why didn't I think of that?
Arturis: There's a great deal of information here, Captain. I think it might be useful to utilize the other monitors.
Janeway: You've done it.
Arturis: Almost. I've reconstructed over sixty eight kiloquads of information, but a lot of it is still garbled.
Janeway: What about that datablock. Fourteen beta?
Arturis: That part of the message is too degraded to recover.
Seven: Captain, I've found a spatial grid.
Janeway: They've marked a set of coordinates. It's less than ten light years from here.
Seven: Maybe Starfleet wants us to proceed to that location.
Janeway: Maybe. There's only one way to find out.
Paris: We're approaching the coordinates.
Janeway: Take us out of warp. Scan the vicinity.
Tuvok: I am picking up a vessel.
Janeway: On screen.
Chakotay: Identify.
Tuvok: Unless I am mistaken, Captain, the warp signature is Starfleet.
Paris: I'll be damned. They came through.
Janeway: Tuvok.
Tuvok: Hailing them. No response.
Chakotay: Lifesigns?
Seven: There is no organic matter of any kind.
Kim: No sign of damage to the outer hull. Primary systems are online including life support. Something must have happened to the crew.
Janeway: The answer is somewhere in that Starfleet transmission. We need to finish decoding it. May I call on your talents again?
Arturis: Of course.
Janeway: Take an away team. Secure the vessel.
Chakotay: Tom. Tuvok.
Arturis: Captain. I won't pretend to know you well, but I am surprised you're not more encouraged by this discovery.
Janeway: I've learned to walk the line between hope and caution. We've had other opportunities that didn't work out. But I will admit, I'm leaning toward hope this time.
Paris: Wow.
Tuvok: Wow indeed.
Chakotay: I've never seen this kind of hull geometry. Looks like they've taken a whole new approach to starship design.
Tuvok: USS Dauntless. Registry NX-01A. Launch Date 51472.
Chakotay: Sixty thousand light years in three months?
Tuvok: I'm trying to access the crew logs but there are none.
Paris: I don't think there was a crew. This helm was set for auto-navigation to these coordinates.
Tuvok: It appears that Starfleet has provided us with a new ship.
Chakotay: Let's not pack our bags just yet. I'd like to know how they
Paris: I'm reading power fluctuations in the warp core, if you can call it a warp core. I don't recognize this engine configuration.
Chakotay: Let's go take a look.
Paris: I think we've found our engine core.
Chakotay: Some kind of new warp drive?
Paris: It's not antimatter, it's, I don't know what it is.
Paris: They call this thing a quantum slipstream drive.
Tuvok: Quantum slipstream.
Chakotay: I've never seen that in the engineering manuals.
Paris: The ship's powering up. Auto-navigation is kicking in.
Kim: Bridge to Janeway. The vessel's moving away at high impulse.
Kim: I can't raise the away team.
Janeway: Pursuit course, Ensign.
Paris: I can't shut down the drive.
Chakotay: Computer, disable propulsion.
Computer: Unable to comply.
Paris: Hang on.
Kim: Bridge to Janeway. They're gone.
Paris: Look at this. Energy from the quantum drive is being routed through the main deflector.
Chakotay: Is that what's creating the slipstream?
Paris: It looks that way.
Tuvok: Fascinating. Can you make it stop?
Paris: I'll try accessing helm controls. We're back in normal space.
Chakotay: Scan for Voyager.
Tuvok: No sign of them. Commander, we've traveled over fifteen light years.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. After two days at high warp, we've rendezvoused with the Dauntless. Arturis has helped us reconstruct most of the Starfleet message. The pieces of this puzzle are finally coming together.
Hayes: Slipstream technology is experimental and high risk, but it's come a long way in the past year. We've conducted forty seven trial runs, all of them successful. But each flight lasted only five days. In order to reach Earth, you'd have to remain at slipstream velocities for a full three months. Can your crew survive that long? We believe they can, and we encourage you to try. Everything you'll need is on the Dauntless. Power cells, supplies, living quarters. Safe journey. We hope to see you soon.
Janeway: Admiral Hayes. Good man, fine officer, bit of a windbag. Let's talk about the risk. Doctor?
Emh: I've examined the away team for signs of cell damage or physiological stress. Nothing. Their little joyride didn't harm them in the slightest.
Janeway: Long term effects?
Emh: I'm running medical projections right now. So far, the results are encouraging.
Janeway: And the Dauntless itself?
Chakotay: I'd say it's in pretty good shape, considering.
Torres: I've been looking over the primary systems. Helm, Ops, Tactical, they're comparable to Voyager's. But it's a lean ship, Captain. No shuttlecraft, only one transporter, no holodecks, no replicators.
Janeway: Well, Mister Neelix, you may have your work cut out for you.
Neelix: Ready and willing, Captain.
Kim: So what are we waiting for?
Seven: Your enthusiasm is premature. Voyager is a proven vessel. It would be reckless to abandon it so quickly.
Kim: Come on, where's that Borg spirit? We'll adapt.
Seven: My Borg spirit gives me an objectivity you lack.
Tuvok: She has a point. This would mean leaving Voyager behind.
Chakotay: Is there any way we could modify Voyager to create a slipstream?
Paris: In theory, but I don't think the ship would hold up very long under the quantum stresses.
Janeway: Try to make the modifications. If there's a way we can bring Voyager along for the ride, I'm all for it. Harry, B'Elanna, I want you to take an Engineering team down to the Dauntless. Start working on a way to shut down the slipstream drive at a moment's notice.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Once we have that safeguard in place, we can start making the test flights. I want this entire crew to familiarize themselves with that ship. See to it. Dismissed. Tuvok. Big day.
Tuvok: Indeed.
Janeway: A way home. We've waited for this moment for years. Why don't I feel more enthusiastic?
Tuvok: Perhaps my mental diskipline is rubbing off on you.
Janeway: Perhaps. What do you think about this little miracle of ours?
Tuvok: I share your concern about the crew's safety. We must take every precaution.
Janeway: Somehow I don't think standard diagnostics and security protocols are going to make me feel any better.
Tuvok: Captain?
Janeway: All of this is just a little too perfect. The alien genius with the answers to all our problems. A message from Starfleet telling us everything we want to hear. A starship delivered right to our doorstep. What more could we ask for? They even turned down the beds. The only thing missing was chocolates on the pillows.
Tuvok: It does seem convenient.
Janeway: I can't put my finger on it, but from the moment this all started I sensed something was wrong.
Tuvok: It started when Arturis boarded Voyager.
Janeway: Exactly. We'll proceed as planned, but I want you to investigate that ship from stem to stern. Keep an eye on our guest. See if you can find out more about him.
Tuvok: Understood.
Janeway: Let's hope we're just suffering from some good old-fashioned paranoia. Keep me posted.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. So far, the crew hasn't found any evidence to support my doubts about Arturis. Nevertheless, I've told them to keep looking and to keep their optimism in check. But that's one order I don't expect them to follow to the letter. Daily log, Seven of Nine, Stardate 51981.6. I've analyzed the quantum slipstream technology of the Dauntless. It is similar to the transwarp drive used by the Borg. As a result, my expertise will be crucial to the mission's success. Voyager's crew is counting on that success but I find myself ambivalent, so I'm carrying out my assignment, nothing more. Despite my apprehension, I can't help but wonder what I'll be doing in three months' time. Still guiding Voyager through the Delta Quadrant, searching for a way home, or looking up old friends in Indiana? If we do return to Sector zero zero one, will I adapt to human civilization? A single Borg among billions of individuals?
Torres: Initiate emergency shutdown on my mark. Now.
Kim: Quantum field strength down to ninety percent. Eighty percent. It's leveling off at seventy five.
Seven: We need to dampen the field by at least fifty percent.
Torres: Try reversing the quantum field polarities.
Kim: Seventy percent. Fifty five. Forty nine percent.
Torres: We did it. We've got our safety net.
Kim: One step closer to home.
Seven: Tuvok wants us to run a metallurgical analysis of the bulkheads to look for anything unusual.
Torres: Thank you. You two run the analysis. I'll be on the bridge with Arturis. Our resident genius said he'd help me figure out how to use the control sequencers.
Seven: Lieutenant, you seem eager to return to Earth.
Torres: Eager? I wouldn't go that far.
Seven: You were a member of the Maquis. Starfleet Command will no doubt hold you responsible for a multitude of crimes. You will find nothing on Earth but adversity.
Torres: That's looking on the bright side. Let's put it this way. I'd rather face the music back home than spend the rest of my life in the Delta Quadrant. What about you? Looking forward to seeing Earth?
Seven: No.
Torres: I'm not surprised. You think people are going to resent an ex-Maquis? What about an ex-drone? We'll be outcasts together. I'm kidding, Seven. It's a joke. Work on that sense of humor. It'll help you make friends on Earth.
Kim: Seven, can you give me a hand down here? I'm picking up an anomalous energy surge.
Seven: There are no power conduits running through this section.
Kim: Believe me, Seven, one look at that big blue marble, and you'll fall in love. It's got just about every ecozystem you can think of, and hundreds of different humanoid species live there. Bolians, Vulcans, Ktarians. If you like Ktarians. And there are several other planets to choose from.
Seven: If you will excuse me, Ensign, I must speak to the captain.
Kim: Seven. For what's it worth, it won't be the same without you.
Kim: Kim to Tuvok.
Tuvok: Tuvok here.
Kim: I'm on the Dauntless, in the engine room, and I've found something
Kim: That qualifies as unusual.
Tuvok: I'll be right there.
Janeway: Computer, display datablock fourteen beta, auxiliary display.
Janeway: Seven, I could use your help. I'm trying to reconstruct the last fragment of the Starfleet message.
Seven: Arturis said it was irreparably damaged.
Janeway: I know, but I think he gave up too easily.
Seven: Intuition?
Janeway: It's intuition if I'm right. I've designed a new decryption algorithm. Let's give it a try.
Seven: Captain. I will not be going with you to the Alpha Quadrant.
Janeway: I can understand your reluctance. It's been hard enough dealing with a crew of a hundred and fifty individual humans. The prospect of an entire planet must be overwhelming.
Seven: I am not overwhelmed. I simply do not wish to live among humans.
Janeway: Well, whether you like it or not, you're one of us. You've come a long way from that drone who stepped out of a Borg alcove nine months ago. Don't turn your back on humanity now. Not when you're about to take your biggest step. Earth. Your home.
Seven: I may have come a long way, but not in the direction you think. You've attempted to influence my development. You exposed me to your culture, you ideals. You hoped to shape me in your own image. But you have failed. You may have noticed our tendency to disagree.
Janeway: Oh, I've noticed.
Seven: Then you must also recognize that I do not share your values. Your desire to explore space is inefficient. Your need for familial connections is a weakness. Your infatuation with this planet is irrational.
Janeway: I won't argue that you've turned out differently than I expected, and that we often have conflicting points of view. But right now, the stakes are higher. This crew needs your expertise. Abandon them and you diminish their chances of getting home.
Seven: Irrelevant.
Janeway: No, it's not. We've given you a lot, Seven. It's time you gave something in return.
Seven: I have, on many occasions. Now I refuse.
Janeway: What would you do, go back to the Collective?
Seven: I don't know.
Janeway: Then what exactly do you have in mind?
Seven: I don't know.
Janeway: That's my point. You're asking me to cast you adrift in the Delta Quadrant alone and without support. I wouldn't grant that request to any member of this crew because it's too dangerous.
Seven: I will survive.
Janeway: On what, Borg perfection?
Seven: Precisely.
Janeway: I don't buy it. This isn't about your independence or your superiority. This is about your fear. You're not making this choice because you've outgrown humanity. I think you're afraid to go back to Earth.
Janeway: The algorithm's working. It's reconstructing the datablock. That's strange, I thought we already recovered this part of the message.
Seven: Perhaps it is an addendum from the Admiral. You did designate him a windbag.
Janeway: Oh, I don't think so. The data index doesn't match. This is a completely different message.
Admiral Hayes: Apologies from everyone at Starfleet Command. We've had our best people working around the clock, trying to find a wormhole, a new means of propulsion, anything to get you home. But despite our best efforts. I know it's not what you were hoping, but we've sent you all the data we've collected on the Delta Quadrant. With any luck, you'll find at least some part of it useful. Maybe enough to shave a few years off your journey. Safe journey. We hope to see you soon.
Seven: Your intuition was correct.
Janeway: Unfortunately.
Seven: Arturis must have created a false message.
Janeway: It sure as hell looks that way. Janeway to Tuvok.
Tuvok: Yes, Captain.
Janeway: My suspicions have been confirmed.
Janeway: Arturis tampered with Starfleet's message.
Janeway: The Dauntless isn't what it appears to be.
Tuvok: I agree. We've discovered alien technology behind a bulkhead
Tuvok: In Engineering. I can't identify it.
Janeway: Where's Arturis now?
Tuvok: On the Dauntless bridge, working with Lieutenant Torres.
Janeway: Go to the bridge, but don't tip our hand.
Janeway: I'll be there with a full security team within minutes.
Tuvok: Understood.
Janeway: Let's get weapons.
Torres: Don't touch that! You almost kicked us into slipstream drive.
Arturis: Oh. I wouldn't want to do that. Kucha meRah.
Torres: No problem. You speak Klingon.
Arturis: I do now. Your captain was kind enough to let me review your linguistic database.
Torres: I only know speak a few phrases myself.
Arturis: Oh, shame. It's a robust language.
Torres: A little too robust for me.
Janeway: Evacuate the repair teams.
Torres: Captain?
Janeway: Do it. Explain yourself.
Arturis: I don't know what you're talking about.
Janeway: You fabricated the message from Starfleet. I recovered the real transmission. The one you said was irreparably damaged.
Arturis: That's absurd.
Janeway: Starfleet didn't send us this vessel and you're not here to help. Is this your ship?
Arturis: Please, stay calm, There must be an explanation.
Janeway: I tried to ignore my gut feelings, because I got carried away by the excitement of getting home. But you preyed on that, didn't you? You took advantage of our hopes and now I want to know why.
Arturis: I believe that there is a threat here, Captain, but not from me. I didn't feel it was my place to make accusations, but I saw her reconfigure several key algorithms two days ago in your Astrometrics lab, and it seemed obvious. She must have been tampering with the Starfleet message.
Seven: You are lying.
Arturis: She's been sabotaging your every effort to reach Earth. You don't have to believe me, Captain. You can find all the evidence you need in her personal database.
Janeway: Evidence you undoubtedly put there yourself just in case you got caught. Take him to Voyager. Throw him the brig.
Janeway: Janeway to Voyager. Beam us out of here.
Kim: He's trying to deflect our transporters. Stand by.
Kim: I've got everyone but Seven and the Captain. He's found a way to block their transport.
Paris: The ship's going into slipstream mode.
Chakotay: Pursuit course.
Paris: We lost them, Commander.
Chakotay: Tom, bring the warp core modifications online. We're going after them.
Paris: Sir, we haven't even had a trial run yet.
Chakotay: There's no time like the present.
Seven: Where are you taking us?
Arturis: Home.
Janeway: How'd you create the Starfleet bridge? Holograms?
Arturis: Particle synthesis. Beyond your understanding.
Janeway: Is this what your people do? Prey on innocent ships?
Arturis: Innocent? Typical of Captain Janeway. Self-righteous.
Janeway: If I've offended you or your people in some way, please tell me.
Arturis: Diplomacy, Captain? Your diplomacy destroyed my world.
Janeway: What? What are you saying?
Arturis: You negotiated an agreement with the Borg Collective. Safe passage through their space. And in return, you helped them defeat one of their enemies.
Seven: Species eight four seven two.
Arturis: In your colorful language, yes. Species eight four seven two. Did it ever occur to you that there were those of us in the Delta Quadrant who had a vested interest in that war? Victory would have meant the annihilation of the Borg, but you couldn't see beyond the bow of your own ship!
Janeway: In my estimation, Species eight four seven two posed a greater threat than the Borg.
Arturis: Who are you to make that decision? A stranger to this Quadrant.
Janeway: There wasn't exactly time to take a poll. I had to act quickly.
Arturis: My people managed to elude the Borg for centuries. Outwitting them, always one step ahead. But in recent years, the Borg began to weaken our defenses. They were closing in and Species eight four seven two was our last hope to defeat them. You took that away from us! The outer colonies were the first to fall. Twenty three in a matter of hours. Our sentry vessels tossed aside, no defense against the storm. By the time they'd surrounded our star system, hundreds of Cubes, we had already surrendered to our own terror. A few of us managed to survive. Ten, twenty thousand. I was fortunate. I escaped with a vessel. Alone, but alive. I don't blame them. They were just drones, acting with their Collective instinct. You, you had a choice!
Janeway: I'm sorry for what happened to your people, but try to understand. I couldn't have known.
Arturis: It took me months to find you. I watched and waited for my opportunity to make you pay for what you'd done. Then the Starfleet message, and I knew that your selfish desire to get home would surface again. That I could lure you to this vessel. That I could see to it that you'd all be assimilated and spend the rest of eternity as Borg. I was hoping to get your entire crew, but I'll settle for the two of you. In a matter of hours, this ship will return to my homeworld. Inside Borg space.
Seven: When that happens, you will be assimilated as well.
Arturis: That's irrelevant. This is what you wanted all along, isn't it? To go back to your Collective? You should thank me.
Chakotay: Report.
Paris: We're at full impulse, but we're not breaking through the quantum barrier.
Tuvok: I'm having trouble controlling the field parameters. I need more power to the deflector.
Chakotay: Bridge to Torres.
Torres: I'm already on it, Commander.
Torres: Stand by. Reroute auxiliary power to Deflector Control. Make sure that quantum warp field is stable.
Crewman: Aye, Lieutenant.
Tuvok: Deflector at maximum. I'm focusing the quantum field.
Kim: Make it quick. Hull temperature's at critical.
Paris: We're at slipstream velocity.
Kim: Structural integrity's down by nine percent. We've got less than an hour before the hull starts to buckle.
Paris: I've located their slipstream. I'm aligning ours to match. We're right behind them.
Chakotay: How far behind?
Paris: Just a few minutes.
Tuvok: Is there any way to increase our speed?
Paris: None. We're at maximum.
Chakotay: Maintain course. If I know the captain, she's already got a plan.
Janeway: Any ideas?
Seven: Not presently.
Janeway: We'd better think of something. We come face to face with your former family in less than an hour, and that's one reunion I'd like to miss. Unless of course, you're looking forward to rejoining the Collective?
Seven: I do not believe I am.
Janeway: Not the ringing opposition I was hoping for, but I'll take it. A drone could walk through this forcefield like it was thin air. Is there enough Borg technology left in your body to let it adapt?
Seven: If I activate the appropriate nanoprobes, I could alter my bio-electric field. However, I would need to adjust my cranial implant.
Janeway: Would a micro-filament do the trick?
Seven: It might.
Janeway: Then let's get you one. Once you get outside, access that control panel and disable the forcefield. Then we'll try to reach the engine room.
Seven: And employ the emergency shutdown procedure.
Seven: Sufficient. You will need to cross-link the third and sixth nodules.
Janeway: Déjà-vu.
Seven: Captain?
Janeway: As I recall, this is where our relationship began. In a brig, nine months ago. I severed you from the Collective and you weren't exactly happy about it.
Seven: No, I was not.
Janeway: In case I never get a chance to say this, I realize that I've been hard on you at times. But it was never out of anger, or regret that I brought you on board. I'm your Captain. That means I can't always be your friend. Understand?
Seven: No. However, if we are assimilated, our thoughts will become one, and I'm sure I will understand perfectly. A joke, Captain. You yourself have encouraged me to use my sense of humor.
Janeway: It's nice to know you've taken some of my advice to heart.
Seven: You were correct. My desire to remain in the Delta Quadrant was based on fear. I am no longer Borg, but the prospect of becoming human is unsettling. I don't know where I belong.
Janeway: You belong with us.
Seven: The adaptations are complete.
Janeway: We're in business.
Seven: I can't initiate the emergency shutdown.
Janeway: Our commands are being blocked from the bridge. He's detected us.
Seven: The ship's velocity has just increased. At our present speed, we will enter Borg space in less than twelve minutes.
Janeway: Do we still have access to the power distribution grid?
Seven: Yes.
Janeway: If we can't throw on the brakes, let's swerve the wheel. Send a power surge into the starboard thrusters.
Seven: The torsional stress at these speeds could tear the ship apart.
Janeway: It's either that or join the Hive. Do it. If we're still in one piece, try to gain control of navigation. I'll be on the bridge. We have a game of Velocity scheduled for tomorrow, holodeck one. I expect you to keep the appointment.
Seven: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Sorry about the bumpy ride.
Arturis: You can slow this ship down, but you can't stop it. In four minutes, Captain Janeway will be gone and a new drone will be born.
Janeway: Don't count on it. Seven of Nine has accessed your navigational systems. You taught us how to use this ship a little too well. I can't begin to imagine your loss, but try to see beyond your desire for revenge.
Arturis: Revenge is all I have left.
Janeway: No. As long you're alive there's hope. Your people's accomplishments, their knowledge, their dignity, can survive in you. End this.
Arturis: I've just destroyed the navigational controls. No one can stop this ship now. Not even me. Two minutes to Borg space.
Tuvok: Direct hit. The vessel's shields are down. Transporters standing by.
Chakotay: Get a lock on our people.
Arturis: Voyager.
Janeway: Come with me. It's not too late.
Arturis: It is for you.
Kim: I've got them, Commander, Transporter Room two.
Chakotay: Alter our slipstream. Hard starboard. Take us back the way we came.
Borg: We are the Borg. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. We remained in the quantum slipstream for an hour before it finally collapsed. Our diagnostics have concluded that we can't risk using this technology again. But we did manage to get three hundred light years closer to home.
Computer: Full impact. Final round to Janeway. Winner, Janeway.
Janeway: Nice play. You almost had me.
Seven: Almost.
Janeway: Go again?
Seven: I must report to the Astrometrics lab. There is work to be done.
Janeway: Work? I gave the crew strict orders to take some R and R over the next few days, and that includes you.
Seven: There are more pressing needs. I am attempting to design another method of traveling at slipstream velocities without damaging Voyager.
Janeway: I thought that was impossible.
Seven: Impossible is a word that humans use far too often. I wish to continue my efforts.
Janeway: A few days ago you were ready to abandon ship, and here you are, practically laying in a course to Earth.
Seven: As we approached Borg space I began to re-evaluate my future. The prospect of becoming a drone was unappealing.
Janeway: Sometimes you've got to look back in order to move forward. Sounds to me like you're starting to embrace your humanity.
Seven: No. But as I said, nothing is impossible.
Janeway: Computer. One more game.