Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48579.4. The crew has been scanning constantly for anomalies that might help us shorten our journey home. Ensign Kim has reported an exciting discovery. A subspace disturbance which may be a wormhole.
Janeway: Let's see what you have, Mister Kim.
Kim: There. It's registering only on subspace bands. We don't even have it on long range sensors yet.
Janeway: Verteron emanations. Tunneling secondary particles. It certainly looks like a wormhole.
Chakotay: But is it stable enough for us to enter, and if it is, where does it lead?
Tuvok: There is, of course, a seventy five percent chance the wormhole will not lead to the Alpha Quadrant.
Janeway: Very true. But you can also say there's a one in four chance it will. Those aren't bad odds. Any analysis yet, Ensign?
Kim: Too far away. We'd have to be within a thousand kilometers to get a detailed analysis. That would mean a significant course change.
Janeway: Well, Mister Kim, if there's even the possibility of finding a wormhole, I think we can afford a detour. Lieutenant, input the coordinates and change course.
Paris: Aye, Captain. And may I suggest, if this works, we petition the Federation Astronomical Committee to officially designate this the Harry Kim Wormhole.
Paris: Captain, we're approaching the coordinates of the wormhole.
Janeway: On screen. Are we in visual range?
Kim: Affirmative, Captain, and the anomaly is still registering on subspace bands.
Paris: Sensors also indicate it's there.
Janeway: Magnify. Increase to highest magnification.
Chakotay: If that's a wormhole, it must be the smallest one on record.
Janeway: Mister Kim, are you able to analyze it?
Kim: Aye Captain. It's virtually microscopic. The aperture is only about thirty centimeters in diameter.
Paris: I guess it's a little too small for us to fly through.
Tuvok: However, it might be large enough to act as a conduit for a message.
Kim: That's right. It could carry a compressed data transmission to Federation space in minutes.
Janeway: We still have to find out if it goes anywhere near the Alpha Quadrant. Can you trace it's subspace bearing?
Kim: I can't get any directional readings at all. The aperture is too small.
Tuvok: I recommend we launch a microprobe into the wormhole.
Janeway: Agreed. Do it, Lieutenant.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Kim: We're receiving telemetry.
Paris: It doesn't look like any wormhole I've ever studied.
Kim: Microscopic gravitational eddies, extremely constricted spatial dimensions. The pathway's barely wider than the probe itself.
Janeway: I think what we're seeing is a wormhole in an advanced state of decay. Must be ancient. Probably been collapsing for centuries.
Paris: Does that mean we can't send a message through it?
Kim: No, I can do it. Maybe it'll take longer to get through, but the wormhole's still stable enough to carry a transmission.
Chakotay: Any idea yet where that message would end up, Ensign?
Kim: I'll try extrapolating the verteron exit vector. No, I can't get it. There's a strange phase variance in the radiation stream. We'll have to wait until the probe exits.
Janeway: That shouldn't take long.
Paris: Captain, I'm getting a distorted energy reading.
Tuvok: The probe's telemetry has changed.
Kim: It's stuck.
Janeway: Stuck?
Kim: It's mired in a gravitational eddy, and because the wormhole's in a state of collapse, those eddies are incredibly dense. That probe will never break free, Captain, and we'll have no way of finding out where the wormhole ends.
Janeway: Let's give it some time. Maybe it will work itself loose.
Kim: Captain?
Janeway: What is it, Ensign.
Kim: Our probe was just scanned. There's somebody on the other side of the wormhole.
Baxter: It started acting up a couple of days ago. I'd been working out in the gym, maybe I overdid it.
Emh: Is it sore here?
Baxter: Yes.
Emh: Localized tenderness to the ulna bone, no epidermal damage, moderate oedema. What are the possible diagnoses?
Kes: Epicondylitis, strained ligament, torn muscle and hairline fracture.
Emh: That's exactly right.
Kes: I've studied all the material you gave me. I'm ready for more.
Emh: Good. There's a great deal more for you to learn. The tricorder indicates this is a small stress fracture.
Baxter: Can this guy do everything a real doctor does?
Emh: Yes, he can. Activate it and direct the beam here. That's it. Not quite so fast.
Baxter: If I had to get treatment for something serious, if I needed surgery for instance, would he be performing it?
Emh: Of course, and quite expertly too.
Baxter: I don't know. I'd have to think twice about that.
Emh: Fine. And if you were lucky you wouldn't die on the table while you were making up your mind. That should do it. How does it feel?
Baxter: Not bad. Thanks.
Kes: Doctor, did you notice how rudely that officer treated you?
Emh: Not more so than most.
Kes: You mean others act that way too.
Emh: Let's just say I've become accustomed to being treated like a hypospray. Now, here's some material on first aid for burns.
Kes: Doctor, I think I'd like to do more than study first aid. I'd be interested in knowing more about anatomy and physiology.
Emh: You're intellectually curious. I like that. These deal with human anatomy and physiology, but they weren't written for the layman. They're quite technical.
Kes: I understand. I'll do my best. And I really appreciate your help.
Kim: We've analyzed the data. So far our sensors have detected four separate scans of the microprobe, each one on a progressively narrower band. Someone on the other end of that wormhole is definitely interested in that probe.
Tuvok: We cannot preclude the possibility that there is a microscopic entity within the wormhole curious about an intruder.
Kim: That's possible, but you'd think our probe would have detected something like that.
Janeway: What's the condition of the probe now?
Torres: I've been monitoring it from Engineering. It's still embedded in a gravitational eddy, but within seventy two hours it will be crushed.
Kim: But until then it should continue to transmit telemetry.
Janeway: If we're reading scans from the other side, it's possible the probe is acting as a relay. If that's true, we should be able to use it to transmit a message to whoever is executing the scan.
Kim: Yes. I can modify our subspace communications band to accept the probe as a booster.
Janeway: Let's try it, Mister Kim.
Torres: I'll give you a hand.
Tuvok: I fear Mister Kim's exuberance may turn into an equally intense disappointment if his efforts prove in vain.
Janeway: You may be right, but I'd rather assume that he's going to be successful.
Kim: Okay, I've boosted power to the communications bandwidth. Now all we have to do reconfigure the signal generator so it's compatible with the probe's long range sensors.
Torres: I'm on it. Just a few minutes more.
Kim: This has to work. It'll mean so much to people back home to know we're alive and headed for Federation space.
Torres: We haven't been gone that long. People won't give up on us so soon. They probably just think we're lost.
Kim: It's still going to be hard on my folks. I always called them once a week, even when I was on my training missions. I've never been out of contact for so long.
Torres: Well, it is going to work, Starfleet, so pretty soon they're going to know you're all right.
Kim: How about you? Any family?
Torres: I haven't seen my father since I was five. He and my mother separated. He went back to Earth and that was the last I saw of him.
Kim: And your mom?
Torres: I think she's on the Klingon Homeworld.
Kim: You think?
Torres: We didn't get along very well. Okay, the signal generator should be tuned to the probe's long range sensors.
Kim: Isn't there anyone back home who'll be worried about you?
Torres: The Maquis are as to a close family as I've ever had. Most of my friends are here, on the ship, so no, there's no one back home who's going to care one way or the other whether I'm alive. We're ready to transmit.
Kim: Engineering to Bridge.
Janeway: Janeway here.
Kim: We have a communications link with the microprobe. We're going to try sending a preliminary test signal, a series of sub-harmonic pulses.
Kim: They stand the best chance of transmission through the wormhole.
Janeway: Acknowledged.
Janeway: Proceed.
Kim: Aye, Captain.
Chakotay: I'm reading transmission of the test signal. The probe has received it and relayed it.
Paris: How will we know if the signal reaches somebody?
Janeway: The only way is if that somebody answers.
Kim: There's no response.
Torres: It's too soon. Remember, we have no idea how long it takes to reach the other side.
Janeway: Are you reading anything, Mister Tuvok?
Tuvok: Negative Captain. There is nothing that would suggest a response.
Chakotay: Even if someone receives our signal, it might take them some time to figure out how to return it.
Janeway: You're right. Janeway to Kim. Continue transmitting.
Kim: Aye Captain.
Kim: How long shall we keep it up?
Janeway: Until I tell you otherwise.
Janeway: You have the bridge, Commander.
Tuvok: Captain.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok.
Tuvok: I'm getting something, Captain.
Paris: I'm getting it too. A subspace signal relayed through the probe.
Tuvok: That signal is being transmitted at exactly the same frequency and amplitude as our signal. It's a response. Someone received our transmission and sent one back, and their signal originated in the Alpha Quadrant.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. Encouraged by his success in transmitting a signal to the Alpha Quadrant, Mister Kim is investigating the possibility of establishing a voice link with whoever is at the other end of the wormhole.
Janeway: Come in. Kes, this is a surprise.
Kes: Am I interrupting?
Janeway: Not at all. I was just going to have a cup of soup. Would you like anything?
Kes: Ah, spinach juice with a touch of pear, please. Tom Paris introduced me to it, it's very nutritious.
Janeway: I'm sure. Computer, one spinach juice with a touch of pear and one cup of vegetable bouillon. What can I do for you?
Kes: If there were a member of the crew whose needs weren't being met, would you want to know about it?
Janeway: Of course. Kes, do you and Neelix feel that your needs are being ignored?
Kes: Of course not, we're very happy here. I'm referring to the Doctor.
Janeway: The Doctor?
Kes: I don't understand why people treat him the way they do.
Janeway: How do people treat him?
Kes: As though he doesn't exist. They talk about him while he's standing right there. They ignore him. They insult him.
Janeway: Well as a matter of fact, I've been hearing the other side of the coin. Many of the crew have complained that the Doctor is brusque, even rude, that he lacks any bedside manner. We've been talking about reprogramming him.
Kes: You can do that? It doesn't seem right.
Janeway: Kes, he's only a hologram.
Kes: He's your Medical Officer. He's alive.
Janeway: No he's not.
Kes: He's self aware, he's communicative, he has the ability to learn.
Janeway: Because he's been programmed to do that.
Kes: So because he's a hologram he doesn't have to be treated with respect or any consideration at all?
Janeway: Very well, I'll look into it.
Kes: Thank you, Captain.
Kim: Okay, we'll be ready to go online in a couple of minutes.
Torres: I'm still worried about the gravitational interference. I don't think the co-variant isolator will be effective with a vocal transmission.
Kim: Let's try inverting the narrow band filter.
Janeway: Progress report, Ensign.
Kim: I think we're ready to give it a try, though we're pushing through some pretty heavy gravitational interference. I can't guarantee the clarity of the transmission.
Janeway: Let's see what happens. This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. Do you read?
Torres: I'll narrow the filter bandpass some more. Try again, Captain.
Janeway: This is Kathryn Janeway of the Federation ship Voyager. Is anyone receiving this communication?
Telek: vessel
Kim: Narrow the bandpass some more. Try again, Captain.
Janeway: This is Janeway. Please repeat your last transmission.
Telek: cargo vessel quadrant your location.
Janeway: Cargo vessel, we're still trying to clear up your last transmission. Please repeat one more time.
Telek: I am Captain of the cargo vessel Talvath, location Alpha Quadrant, sector one three eight five. What is your location?
Janeway: We're in the Delta Quadrant, but since this quadrant hasn't been charted I can't specify our exact location.
Telek: Please confirm. You said Delta Quadrant?
Janeway: Correct.
Telek: In a Federation starship?
Janeway: Yes. We were on a mission and we got pulled into this quadrant.
Telek: Pulled in? How?
Janeway: It's a complicated story. Please, if you would just try deconstructing the phase shift of our hailing frequency you could verify.
Telek: You are undoubtedly still in the Alpha quadrant. What are your coordinates?
Janeway: I assure you I am telling you the truth. We are in the Delta quadrant, seventy thousand light years from you.
Telek: This is preposterous. You are obviously lying. I am terminating communication.
Janeway: No, no, wait! Kim! Hail them again.
Kim: No response, Captain.
Chakotay: Why would he have broken off transmission?
Tuvok: Perhaps I can offer an explanation. The comm. link signature of his transmission indicates the message originated from a Romulan ship. Further, there are no known shipping lanes in the sector he identified. Given the precise calibration of his signal I would suggest that he is in fact on board a science vessel.
Paris: Why would he pretend to be a cargo captain.
Chakotay: If he's engaged in some kind of secret research he might want to conceal that fact.
Tuvok: Precisely. When we claimed to be transmitting from the Delta quadrant, an impossibility so far as he knows, he may have feared we were Federation spies.
Torres: Just our luck. We raise one ship from the Alpha quadrant and it has to be Romulan.
Janeway: That Romulan still has the ability to get a message to Starfleet. Mister Kim, hail the Talvath repeatedly. Call me the minute you re-establish contact. Commander, you have the bridge.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Computer, initiate Emergency Medical Holographic Program.
Emh: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
Janeway: There is no emergency, Doctor.
Emh: Well, that's good. I was right in the middle of preparing a culture to test Lieutenant Hargrove for Arethian flu when Ensign Kyoto deactivated me.
Janeway: I'm sure she didn't realize you were busy.
Emh: What is it you want, Captain.
Janeway: Actually, I thought we might just talk for a moment.
Emh: About what?
Janeway: Doctor, you were originally programmed to serve in a limited fashion during an emergency. Now you're being asked to do much more.
Emh: That's certainly true. I'm providing full time medical service for the entire ship's crew, functioning both as doctor and nurse, and now as an instructor as well.
Janeway: You don't have the luxury of thinking of yourself as am Emergency Medical Program any more. You've become a full-fledged member of the crew.
Emh: I see. Are you suggesting that I be re-programmed?
Janeway: No. I'm asking if there's anything I can do to help you.
Emh: Help me?
Janeway: If there's anything you need, or want, I'd like to see that you get it.
Emh: What I'd like is to be turned off when people leave. I spend hours here with absolutely nothing to do. When someone does remember to deactivate me they do so without asking if it's convenient. It's extremely irritating.
Janeway: What if I gave you control over your deactivation sequence?
Emh: I beg your pardon?
Janeway: I'm sure we can make it possible for you to turn yourself off, or to prevent being turned off.
Emh: I, I might like that.
Janeway: I'll have someone look into it. Anything else?
Emh: I'm not sure, I'll have to give it some thought.
Janeway: You do that.
Kim: Kim to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Janeway here.
Kim: Captain, we've got him back. The Romulan.
Janeway: Good work. Put him through to my quarters.
Janeway: This is Kathryn Janeway.
Telek: This is the cargo vessel Talvath.
Janeway: Thank you for answering our hail, Captain. What is your name? How may I address you?
Telek: I'd prefer not to give my name.
Janeway: Very well, I understand that you must have been skeptical when I told you where we are. I hope you've been able to verify our position.
Telek: My analysis of your hailing frequency seems to indicate that it originates in the Delta quadrant, but I am not precluding the possibility that you've been able to create that illusion somehow.
Janeway: To what end?
Telek: I'm not sure. That doesn't negate the possibility.
Janeway: How can I assure you of my truthfulness?
Telek: You say you are a Federation ship. Are you a Starfleet vessel?
Janeway: Yes, we are.
Telek: And your mission in the Delta quadrant?
Janeway: Our mission was originally in the Alpha quadrant. We were pulled against our will to our present location. Now we're trying to get home.
Telek: Aren't you in fact Starfleet spies on a surveillance mission?
Janeway: Captain, I understand your concern. Naturally the Romulan Empire doesn't want Starfleet spying on it's science vessels, but since we're seventy thousand light years from Romulan space and a subspace message to Starfleet would take years, I think you have to admit that we can't be much of a threat to you. You have nothing to fear from us.
Telek: Soothing words, Captain, but they are only words.
Janeway: If we were spies, we wouldn't be asking what I'm going to ask you now. We have no way of communicating with Starfleet, with our friends and families. We're hoping you might be able to relay a message for us. Our crew is not large. Each of them could write a short personal message. You'd be welcome to read them all before passing them on. I think you'd be convinced that they're nothing more than the heartfelt words of some very lonely people.
Telek: Captain, it would ease my apprehension if I could see that you are who you say you are. I have a signal amplifier on board. I've been working to reconfigure the protocols to penetrate the radiation stream of the wormhole. I think it might be possible to establish a visual link between us.
Janeway: I have no objection. When that's done, will you help us?
Telek: I make no promises. Let us proceed one step at a time. Have your officers contact me in order to attempt the visual link. Goodnight.
Janeway: Goodnight.
Tuvok: We're ready to try a visual link with the Romulan ship, Captain.
Janeway: Good work.
Kim: We didn't have any trouble configuring the protocols, but that phase variance in the radiation stream gave us a few problems. Torres is going to balance it manually from Engineering.
Paris: Okay, we've got the communications frequency locked in.
Janeway: On screen.
Telek: I presume you are Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Yes. I want to thank you, Captain, for maintaining contact with us. It means a great deal to me and to my crew.
Telek: I am not familiar with this class of ship.
Janeway: It's new, but it isn't classified. I'm a little surprised your intelligence hasn't provided you with the information.
Telek: I've been in space for over a year, Captain, and am not privy to the latest intelligence, but I'm sure that our operatives provided the government with detailed information about your new ship.
Janeway: No doubt. Captain, have you been able to communicate with your government about sending on our messages?
Telek: I have. They've promised to take the matter under advisement.
Janeway: I see. And when do you think they will have an answer?
Telek: It is impossible to predict the time table of the Romulan Senate. When they've made their decision I will hear from them.
Janeway: We don't have the luxury of a great deal of time. My officers are predicting that the probe will become inoperable in the next forty eight hours.
Telek: Captain, I am a low ranking scientist, a minor functionary. It is not my place to tell the Romulan Senate to speed up their decision making process.
Janeway: You said you've been in space for over a year. Have you any family?
Telek: Yes.
Janeway: I assume they're not with you in space.
Telek: My wife and my daughter are on Romulus.
Janeway: A daughter. How old is she?
Telek: She is seven months.
Janeway: Then you've never seen her.
Telek: To my sorrow, no. She'll be two years old before I get back.
Janeway: You must miss your family very much.
Telek: I knew when I accepted this assignment there would be a price to pay. Perhaps I didn't realize how high that price would be.
Janeway: Captain. Everyone of us on this ship has left behind friends, family, loved ones. We may not see them again for years, maybe never, so we can all understand how lonely you must be. Surely you must understand our feelings as well. We would be deeply grateful for any efforts you might make to persuade your government to send our messages.
Telek: I cannot guarantee success, but I will try to persuade my superiors to make their decision quickly and positively.
Janeway: Thank you.
Telek: I will contact you again.
Janeway: Commander, let's assume he's going to be successful. Tell the crew to prepare personal messages and have them ready within the hour.
Chakotay: With pleasure, Captain.
Torres: Captain, I have to talk to you.
Janeway: Go ahead, Torres.
Torres: No. I mean, in private.
Torres: I think this will work, Captain, but I didn't want to bring it up in front of the crew. It wouldn't be right to get their hopes up in case it doesn't work, although I think it will.
Janeway: Slow down, Torres, and tell me what you're talking about.
Torres: The phase amplitude of the visual link with the Romulan ship is within just a few megahertz of meeting transporter protocols.
Janeway: Are you suggesting
Torres: We might be able to piggyback a transporter beam onto the visual link. We could transport the entire crew back to the Alpha quadrant.
Janeway: You'll have to reconfigure the matter transmission rate.
Torres: Fairly substantially.
Janeway: And we risk losing whatever we try to beam out.
Torres: We'll have to run a series of tests first.
Janeway: See to it, Lieutenant.
Torres: I'll need some help.
Janeway: You have my authorisation to use any of the ships personnel you need. This has top priority. And don't worry about secrecy. I doubt you'd be able to keep this quiet for very long.
Kes: I've finished these and I'm ready for more.
Emh: You've finished those already?
Kes: I enjoyed studying anatomy. It would be interesting to see an autopsy sometime.
Emh: What are the bones of the middle ear?
Kes: Malleus, incus and stapes.
Emh: And the connective tissue between the middle and the external auditory canal?
Kes: The tympanic membrane.
Emh: Hmm. I suspect you have an eidetic memory. An astonishing gift. I'll do a full neural scan on you at some point.
Kes: I've been thinking. If we do get back to Federation space, I'd like to explore the possibility of going to Medical School.
Emh: If you continue to apply yourself as you have, by the time we get back you may already have the equivalent of a medical degree.
Kes: Then you haven't heard?
Emh: Heard what?
Kes: That we might be getting back soon.
Emh: If there's one thing you can count on, it's that I am the last to be told about anything that happens on this ship.
Kes: Everyone's talking about it. There may be a way to transport all of us to the Alpha Quadrant. Chief Torres and half of engineering are working on it right now.
Emh: I see. Well, I'll say goodbye now. I won't be transporting with the rest of you.
Kes: But can't we download your program and take you with us?
Emh: My program is fully integrated into the sickbay system. At present I cannot be downloaded.
Kes: Thank you for everything.
Emh: Wait. I'd like. That is, could I ask a favor of you?
Kes: Anything.
Emh: If you do leave, before you go, would you check to make sure I've been deactivated.
Kes: I promise.
Janeway: And our Chief Engineer has managed to bind a transporter beam to the visual link between us.
Telek: Then you've matched your data transmission to the phase amplitude of our comm. signal?
Janeway: Exactly.
Telek: Apparently our intelligence operatives are not doing their job. You clearly have technology that we are unaware of. This would be an incredible breakthrough in subspace field mechanics.
Chakotay: If it's successful, we'd like to try transmitting a test cylinder to you.
Telek: A test cylinder of what sort?
Tuvok: It is a standard Starfleet mechanism with a varietal molecular matrix. It simulates most organic and non-organic compounds. It is not classified technology.
Telek: Ah, I am aware of this mechanism. We use a similar device. I will allow the transport.
Janeway: Bridge to Transporter room one.
Torres: Torres here.
Torres: We're all set, Captain. The lock is active and we're focused on the Romulan's
Torres: Transporter coordinates.
Janeway: All right then. Let's give it a try.
Chakotay: Energize.
Torres: The cylinder has dematerialized, Captain.
Janeway: Can you get it back?
Torres: The pattern buffer is having trouble accepting the matter stream.
Kim: I'll increase power to the
Kim: Phase transition coils.
Torres: Ramp the coils to thirty seven megajoules.
Kim: Thirty seven megajoules.
Telek: Congratulations, Captain. You've done it. Very impressive.
Janeway: We should run a series of these tests just to make sure, but we have to act quickly before the probe is crushed.
Telek: I understand.
Janeway: Eventually we will have to try transporting a person. One of our crew will beam to your ship if you'll allow it.
Telek: I'm afraid I can't permit that, Captain, my government would never allow Starfleet personnel on this ship. I wouldn't want my logs to show that activity.
Tuvok: Then what would you suggest?
Telek: I'll volunteer to transport to your ship and back again.
Janeway: But Captain, if we can't transport to your ship, how are we to get back?
Telek: If the procedure is successful, I'll arrange for a troop ship to join me. That would easily accommodate your crew.
Janeway: Very well. We'll be in touch.
Chakotay: Kim and Torres have made more than twenty transports of the test cylinder, even though she's still having trouble with that phase variance. Every one of them has been successful.
Janeway: Let's hope it goes as well with the Romulan.
Tuvok: Captain, I must insist that I stay with him at all times while he is on board.
Janeway: Agreed.
Torres: We're locked onto him. Whenever you're ready, Captain.
Janeway: Well, let's try it. Energize. What's the problem?
Torres: It's the phase variance in the radiation stream. I'm balancing it manually.
Janeway: Welcome to the Delta quadrant, Captain. My first officer, Commander Chakotay. Lieutenant Tuvok, head of security. Chief Engineer Torres and Operations officer Kim.
Telek: My congratulations on your remarkable accomplishment. This is an astonishing breakthrough.
Torres: For a while there I didn't think you were going make it. There was a strange phase variance in the radiation stream. It almost kept us from pulling you through.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok, you may begin evacuation procedures.
Tuvok: I suggest we delay that for the moment, Captain. I'm afraid I've found the reason for the unusual phase variance.
Janeway: What is it?
Tuvok: Captain, what year is it?
Telek: What year?
Tuvok: If you please.
Telek: By your calendar, the year is 2351.
Chakotay: But this is 2371.
Tuvok: Exactly. Our Romulan visitor is a person out of time. He is showing clear evidence of temporal displacement. I would surmise that the wormhole is a rift not just in space but in time. The unusual phase variance we detected was actually an indication of a temporal shift. We have transported him from twenty years in the past to our present.
Torres: I've gone over and over the transporter logs. There's no question that if we try to transport ourselves through that wormhole, we'll end up twenty years in the past.
Kim: Then lets do it. It's better than trying to spend the next seventy years trying to get back.
Paris: How can we do that? We'd be going back to a time when you were only two years old.
Janeway: I know you're disappointed, Harry, we all are. It seemed we were so close. But clearly we can't go back. It would pollute the time line to such an extent that the consequences would be unimaginable. I'm afraid we'll have to send you back alone and ask that you not reveal anything that has happened here.
Telek: I can assure you, Captain, that I would not do anything that might contaminate the future and perhaps harm the Romulan Empire, but, in twenty years I could alert Starfleet not to launch the mission which sent you here.
Chakotay: I'm afraid that's not possible either. We've already had a huge impact on this quadrant. People and events here would be drastically affected.
Janeway: I'm afraid we're left with our original request. In twenty years, would you relay our personal messages to Starfleet?
Telek: Of course. At the proper time, I will transmit them. If you should find a way back within my lifetime, I'd be an old man, but I would welcome a message from you. I am Telek R'Mor of the Romulan Astrophysical Academy.
Janeway: I promise you'll hear from us. Because we will get back.
Tuvok: These are our messages.
Telek: I wish you luck on your journey.
Janeway: And I thank you for your help. Energize.
Torres: The signal's in the pattern buffer. Transferring to the emitter array.
Kim: Phase variance is out of synch again.
Torres: Compensating. Transport complete, Captain. He made it.
Janeway: I'll tell the crew. They can have the satisfaction of knowing that their messages have reached their families.
Tuvok: Captain, I did not want to mention this until after our guest had left. I checked the computers databanks for a Romulan scientist named Telek R'Mor.
Janeway: And?
Tuvok: I'm sorry to report Doctor R'Mor died in 2367.
Janeway: That was four years ago.
Tuvok: That is correct. Before he would have sent our messages.
Torres: Maybe he left a will telling someone else to transmit the messages. Or he could have given our computer chip to the Romulan Government.
Tuvok: It is possible. Unfortunately, there is no way to know.
Janeway: Then let's move on. We've got a long way to go.
Baxter: I tried a new hamstring exercise. Maybe I overdid it. But my workouts are about all that stand between me and a severe case of cabin fever.
Emh: Lieutenant, I am the Chief Medical Officer of this ship. If you have something to say to me, please, direct the statement to me.
Baxter: Well, you see, I need to work out.
Emh: I'm not telling you not to work out. I'm suggesting you use a modicum of commonsense when you do it. If I see you in here again for an exercise related injury, I'll have to discuss the matter with your superior officer.
Baxter: Yes, sir.
Emh: You're fine now. You may leave.
Baxter: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.
Kes: I don't think he'll make the mistake of ignoring you again.
Emh: Captain Janeway has made me realize that I must function as more than an Emergency Medical replacement. I must think of myself as a member of the crew.
Kes: you're absolutely right.
Emh: I've prepared a list of things I'd like to see added to Sickbay. Perhaps you could present it to the Captain?
Kes: I'd be happy to.
Emh: There's one more request. Something of a, a personal nature. I would like a name.


Doctor: What do you see, Mister Paris?
Paris: Shoes. Muddy shoes. The dog.
Doctor: Good. That's exactly what you should see.
Paris: But that isn't possible.
Doctor: I'm sure it's disorienting to see yourself through another man's eyes.
Paris: No, I
Lidell: Tolen!
Tolen: Now I understand.
Paris: I'd better be on my way.
Lidell: You don't have to go, Tom. He's got no right.
Tolen: No right? This is my home. You come into my home and steal my wife, and I have no right?
Paris: That's not the way it happened.
Paris: This isn't the way it happened.
Doctor: The trial's over, Mister Paris. There's no point to further denials.
Tolen: I know about you, Paris. I know you were in prison.
Paris: That has nothing to do with
Tolen: We'll see what your captain has to say about this. When I'm finished with you, you'll never wear that uniform again.
Paris: I can't let you do that.
Lidell: No, Tom, don't! Stop! No!
Paris: No, I didn't
Lidell: Tom! Don't, Tom!
Doctor: Let the record show that the sentence of the court has been carried out. For the rest of his natural life, once every fourteen hours, Thomas Eugene Paris will relive the last moments of his victim's life. May the fates have mercy on you, sir.
Kes: If the hydroxy-proline level is elevated this high, you'd probably call for a pancreatic scan.
Emh: That's exactly what I'd call for. All right then, let's run through the osteographic series again. Just enter the responses you're sure about.
Kes: So, have you given any more thought to a name?
Emh: I asked the Captain for one.
Kes: Why don't you choose one yourself?
Emh: Choose one myself? Me? Well, that just isn't. Holograms are programmed, Kes. They don't choose anything for themselves.
Kes: Why not?
Emh: Because we're not capable of choosing.
Kes: Well, you choose what medical treatment to give someone.
Emh: I'm programmed with over five million possible treatments, with contingency programs and adaptive programs. But it's all programs upon programs upon programs. There's no independent decision making.
Kes: I don't see the difference.
Emh: The difference is
Kes: I base decisions on information stored inside my brain. How's that so different from the way you access your programs?
Emh: Well, if you put it that way.
Kes: Do your programs have any names in them?
Emh: Certainly. I have the names of Starfleet doctors, their patients, medical personnel in historical and literary contexts.
Kes: So pick a name.
Emh: Just pick one?
Kes: Pick a name you like, perhaps from someone who inspires you.
Emh: Doctor, Doctor Galen. Doctor Salk. Doctor
Kes: Those are good.
Emh: Spock.
Kes: Can you see yourself with any of those names?
Emh: Not exactly.
Kes: Take your time. After all, you will be that name for the rest of your life.
Emh: I never even considered that I had a life.
Janeway: Janeway to Sickbay. Activate Emergency Medical Holographic Program.
Emh: I'm already on, Captain.
Emh: What can I do for you?
Janeway: We've got an incoming shuttle with an injured crewman on board.
Emh: Any details?
Janeway: It's either Ensign Kim or Lieutenant Paris. We haven't been able to raise them.
Tuvok: Sensors indicate damage to various subsystems.
Janeway: You're sure there's only one life sign aboard?
Tuvok: That is confirmed, Captain.
Janeway: Transport him to Sickbay. I'll be down there. Mister Tuvok.
Kim: They made me leave without him.
Emh: He's severely dehydrated.
Kim: No sleep.
Kes: Neodextramine solution?
Emh: Prepare an iv.
Janeway: Can you tell us what happened to Paris, Mister Kim?
Kim: They made me leave without him. They said he'd committed a, a murder.
Janeway: Do you have any idea who the victim was?
Kim: An engineering physicist we were working with. His name was Tolen Ren.
Kim: The Banean Minister of Science introduced us to him just after we'd arrived.
Tolen: So, from the other side of the galaxy.
Kim: Seventy thousand light years, give or take a few.
Tolen: That's a long trip home with a damaged collimator.
Kray: If anybody on this world can help you, Professor Ren can. He's developed four generations of navigational arrays for our ships.
Tolen: We have to stay one step ahead of our neighbors the Numiri. Did you bring your ship's specifications with you?
Kim: It's all here.
Tolen: Splendid. Why don't we begin to look it over at my home this evening? My wife would be delighted to have company for supper.
Kim: There was no reason to say no, but if we hadn't gone with him that night, none of this would have happened.
Tolen: Come on now, Neeka, stop that racket. They're friends. That's better. That's better. What a good doggy. What a good doggy. Oh, dearest, are you dressed? We have guests. I should have called. I just don't think of the common courtesies. She's really wonderful about, er, tolerating my dreadful manners.
Lidell: So, you've done it to me again.
Tolen: Yes, dear. I apologize. Oh, Lidell, this is Ensign Harry Kim and Lieutenant Tom Paris. They're from the other side of the galaxy.
Lidell: Hello.
Paris: Nice to meet you.
Lidell: You might have called.
Tolen: You're absolutely right. Do you have enough to feed us all, or shall we go out?
Lidell: No, it's fine. I have some leftover rolk from yesterday. I'll just throw it in the stew.
Tolen: Wonderful. Gentlemen, make yourselves at home. I'm going to put on my slippers. Lidell will take good care of you.
Lidell: Would you like a drink?
Kim: Sure.
Lidell: Help yourself.
Paris: What are you looking at?
Kim: Not the same thing that you're looking at, that's for sure.
Paris: What are you looking at?
Lidell: If it's spoiled, Neeka wouldn't eat it.
Tolen: Nothing too fancy or exotic around here. We're very simple folks.
Kim: You're very kind to include us at your supper table.
Tolen: We enjoy an occasional guest. I think Lidell would prefer us to entertain more often than we do, yes? She's far more social than I am. I'm afraid she gets a little bored here sometimes. I'm so consumed with my work.
Paris: And here we are bringing more of it home to take your husband's attention away for the evening.
Lidell: Whether you are here or not makes no difference. Tolen would work anyway.
Tolen: I'm afraid she's right. We are at war, after all. By the way, how did you get past the Numiri patrols?
Kim: Lieutenant Paris is our best pilot.
Paris: Captain Janeway decided not to take our ship into orbit. She wanted to avoid getting involved in your conflict. So, we came in on a shuttlecraft that would avoid immediate detection by the Numiri. I hid behind the limb of the moon before I made a break for your defense perimeter. By the time their sensors picked us up, they didn't have a chance to catch us.
Tolen: Well done! Finished already?
Lidell: The meat doesn't taste right.
Tolen: Well, we do have a lot of work to get done. Perhaps we should begin.
Kim: We went into the other room and started to work on the navigational beam specifications.
Kim: It was pretty dry stuff. You know, rewriting baseline code algorithms. Tom got bored. He left us alone for a while. I guess he was with Mrs Ren. I know they saw each other again the next day. That was the night Professor Ren was murdered.
Tuvok: Did you talk to Lieutenant Paris after he was detained?
Kim: No. They never let me see him. They interrogated me for almost two days straight. They asked me a lot of questions about the Numiri. At first, they must've thought we were Numiri agents or something. Professor Ren was the inventor of Banean warship technology.
Emh: He's completely exhausted. Can some of this wait until he's had a chance to rest?
Janeway: We'll find out about Paris, Mister Kim. Janeway to Chakotay.
Chakotay: Go ahead.
Janeway: Set a course for the Banean homeworld, Commander.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Come in.
Neelix: You sent for me, Captain.
Janeway: Lieutenant Paris has gotten himself into trouble. I'm taking the ship into orbit while we try to sort things out.
Neelix: Be prepared to be intercepted by Numiri patrols. They always try to intimidate travelers to the Banean planet.
Janeway: The stakes are too high to send a shuttlecraft this time. I want to show our flag to make it clear we mean business.
Neelix: I understand.
Janeway: Based on your experience, what can we expect the Numiri to do to intimidate us?
Neelix: To be honest, whenever I saw the Numiri coming, I always left before the intimidation began. However, I know from knowledgeable sources that they have directed energy weapons comparable to your own. Our own, that is. Plus regenerative shields that may even give them a certain advantage over us in a firefight.
Janeway: Tell me about them as a people. Are they aggressive, technical, intellectual, emotional? Anything that might help me deal with them.
Neelix: The Numiri and the Banea are quite different from one another, even though they once coexisted on the same planet. That's why I recommended the Banea to you in the first place. The Numiri have a remarkably covert society.
Chakotay: Captain to the Bridge.
Janeway: On my way.
Chakotay: We're scanning a Numiri vessel approaching. They're at combat readiness, Captain.
Janeway: Shields up. On screen. Mister Neelix.
Neelix: A standard patrol vessel. Curious.
Janeway: Why?
Neelix: I would've expected them to send out more than one tiny patrol to meet a ship like this.
Janeway: Let's hope it's a positive sign. Hail them.
Tuvok: They're responding.
Janeway: Open a channel. I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.
Captain: What is your business in this system?
Janeway: One of my crewmen is being held on the Banean planet. We're on our way to investigate.
Captain: Consider this official notice that you are entering a war zone. You do so at your own risk.
Janeway: Understood.
Captain: Any attempt to provide aid or supplies to the Banea will be considered an act of war against the Numiri.
Janeway: You have my word that we intend to remain neutral in your conflict. Our only interest is in our own crewman.
Captain: Proceed. Your activities will be monitored.
Neelix: Very, very curious. In Numiri terms, that greeting was downright friendly.
Janeway: Have all security stations remain at full alert. Continue long range scans for Numiri patrols around the clock.
Tuvok: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Take us into orbit.
Kray: Captain. It's unfortunate we must meet under these circumstances.
Janeway: My chief of security, Lieutenant Tuvok.
Kray: Please.
Janeway: Exactly what are these circumstances, Minister? All we know is that a member of our crew has been accused of murder.
Kray: Oh, I'm afraid he's been more than just accused. He's been convicted and punished according to our law.
Janeway: What form of punishment?
Kray: The perpetrator of a murder is forced to relive the crime through his victim's eyes.
Tuvok: How is this achieved?
Kray: I can have our Chief Medical officer describe the procedure in detail if you wish. We have the capability of isolating memory engrams in the brain. We take them from the final moments of life. After they're used in the trial, they're transplanted into the perpetrator's brain.
Janeway: These memories are used in the trial as evidence?
Kray: An artificial life form serves as host to the engrams and testifies to their content. In this case, the victim's last memories clearly show Mister Paris caught in an embarrassing episode with Mrs Ren. An argument ensues. Paris is then seen by the victim's own eyes, killing him. The evidence of his guilt is incontrovertible.
Paris: Captain.
Janeway: Are you all right, Tom?
Paris: I've been better.
Tuvok: May we speak to him alone?
Kray: Of course.
Paris: The rehab colony back in New Zealand doesn't seem so bad right now.
Tuvok: Lieutenant, did you murder Professor Ren?
Paris: No!
Janeway: But the victim's own eyes identified
Paris: You don't have to tell me what the victim's own eyes saw, Captain. I don't understand it either, but I did not kill him.
Tuvok: Were you having improper relations with his wife?
Paris: Their marriage was over. She told Ren they were finished the same day he was killed.
Tuvok: That does not answer my question.
Paris: Nothing happened between us. Almost nothing.
Janeway: Tom, it's very important you tell us everything. Harry said you spent some time with Mrs Ren while he and the professor were working.
Paris: I was bored. You know how it is when two science guys get together.
Paris: I came out of the other room, looked over and saw her in the atrium. Her eyes were a million kilometers away, staring at stars I'd just flown by the day before.
Paris: Smoking is a bad habit. My species gave it up centuries ago when we finally got it into our heads it was killing us.
Lidell: You must be a very superior species.
Paris: That's not what I meant.
Lidell: Maybe I kill myself slowly because I don't have the courage to do it quickly.
Paris: Now why would you go and say a thing like that?
Lidell: Don't.
Paris: What?
Lidell: Don't get involved, Lieutenant.
Paris: I was just trying to
Lidell: You'll be sorry.
Paris: Look, I was just bored to tears in the other room and I thought you might like to talk.
Lidell: Why don't you go ahead and ask me?
Paris: Ask you what?
Lidell: What you've been wanting to ask me all night. What they all want to ask me. Why I'd marry a man old enough to be my father.
Paris: I'd be lying if I said I hadn't been wondering.
Lidell: He was good to me. A lot of other men weren't.
Paris: That sounds like a good enough reason to me.
Lidell: He's a good man. I would never do anything to hurt him.
Paris: I guess that makes you a good woman.
Lidell: Good can get very boring.
Lidell: No, Tom! Don't!
Paris: No, I
Lidell: Stop! No!
Janeway: What's going on?
Paris: No! No!
Tuvok: Apparently, he's entering another cycle.
Janeway: Is this normal?
Doctor: We had some problems integrating the Banean engrams into his alien neurology. This is the first time he's lost consciousness since the implant.
Janeway: I'd like to take him back with us to our medical facility.
Kray: I'm sorry, but I can't authorize that.
Doctor: Perhaps we should consider her request, Minister. We don't want to risk general synaptic failure. Their doctors might be better suited to stabilize his condition.
Kray: All right, but you're not to leave orbit with him.
Janeway: Minister, we don't intend to leave orbit until we prove his innocence.
Tuvok: Away team to Voyager. Three to beam up.
Emh: It's medicine clearly beyond anything we've ever encountered before. What bothers me the most is the neural pathway damage it seems to be causing. It appears to be progressive.
Janeway: Then this punishment could actually be causing serious brain damage.
Emh: How long it might be before he's seriously affected, I really have no idea.
Tuvok: I would appreciate receiving a copy of your neurological analysis, Doctor.
Emh: It's extremely technical. To the layman, it would be virtually indecipherable.
Tuvok: Nevertheless, I will want to examine it in detail.
Janeway: This might be the basis for an appeal of the sentence, don't you think?
Tuvok: Perhaps. However, before the neural implants were developed, the Banean punishment for murder was lethal injection. It is possible they would view that as the only alternative sentence in this case.
Kes: Will he regain consciousness?
Emh: I believe so. But each time the cycle repeats, I'm afraid his brain will take another damaging blow.
Tuvok: When he wakes up, I will require an autonomic response analysis while I question him again, Doctor.
Kes: Do you really think Tom would lie to us?
Tuvok: As an investigator, I do not have the freedom to ignore any possibility. Mister Paris maintains his innocence, yet the victim has identified him from the grave, and the victim's wife has testified against him at the trial. Someone is obviously lying. An ARA will tell us if it is Mister Paris.
Emh: I'll have it ready for you.
Tuvok: In the meantime, Captain, I request permission to return to the surface.
Janeway: What do you have in mind, Tuvok?
Tuvok: I would like to examine the murder scene and speak with Mrs Ren.
Tuvok: Mrs Ren?
Lidell: Yes?
Tuvok: I'm Lieutenant Tuvok of the Starship Voyager. Would you mind if I asked you a few questions?
Lidell: Are you a friend of Tom's?
Tuvok: I am the Starfleet Chief of Security investigating his alleged participation in your husband's murder.
Lidell: Stop it, Neeka! She just doesn't like strangers.
Tuvok: Based on your testimony, I assume this is where the murder occurred.
Lidell: Yes, right there. I had to have a professional cleaning crew come in to remove the bloodstain.
Tuvok: You chose to remain in the house after an act of such violence occurred?
Lidell: This has been my home for over ten years, Mister Tuvok. Do you really find that so hard to believe?
Tuvok: I am a Vulcan, Mrs Ren. By nature, we are a dispassionate people. It is rare to encounter someone as dispassionate as we are.
Lidell: Dispassionate? Is that how I seem to you? I think you'd get an argument from Tom Paris. Can I get you a drink?
Tuvok: Thank you, no.
Lidell: Mind if I have one?
Tuvok: Please. You testified at the trial that you and your husband had an argument the afternoon before he was killed.
Lidell: I never said there was an argument, Lieutenant. Have you ever had to end a marriage?
Tuvok: No.
Lidell: Are you married?
Tuvok: My wife and I have been married for sixty seven years.
Lidell: I'm sure she's a fine, dispassionate woman. I hope you never have to find out for yourself, but I can tell you, ending a marriage, it's a quiet thing. The arguments are long over and there's really nothing much left to say at all.
Tuvok: May I ask why you decided at this time to end your marriage to Professor Ren?
Lidell: Because I was attracted to another man. I didn't want to deceive my husband.
Tuvok: That other man was Lieutenant Paris. Lieutenant Paris would have been departing this planet in a few days, and yet you left your husband of ten years for him.
Lidell: Meeting Tom gave me the push I needed. I already knew in my heart that it was time to start over.
Tuvok: Exactly when did you see Mister Paris on the day of the murder?
Lidell: I went to see him at the Engineering Institute after I talked with my husband. Once I was free, I knew he wanted to be with me.
Tuvok: How did you know?
Lidell: A woman knows, Lieutenant.
Lidell: He left his friend Harry to finish the technical research and walk me home. We were caught in a cloudburst on the way.
Lidell: I'm completely soaked!
Paris: There must be a centimeter of water in my boots.
Lidell: Here, let me help you.
Paris: We shouldn't.
Lidell: It's okay. He knows it's over.
Paris: But you're still a married woman.
Lidell: I haven't been married for years, Tom. To him, I'm a friend, a companion. He hasn't treated me like a woman since, it must've been the day of the eclipse four years ago.
Paris: Eclipse?
Lidell: He was very excited by the eclipse. Don't ask me why.
Paris: Our timing's just a little off.
Lidell: You'll be gone in a few days. This is the only time we've got. Let me make you something to warm you up. I love to drink Marob root tea on rainy afternoons.
Lidell: I made some tea, we talked for a while, then we went out to the atrium to watch the storm and the rest you know.
Tuvok: Did you leave the room at any time during the fight between your husband and Lieutenant Paris?
Lidell: I saw Tom murder my husband, Mister Tuvok. I tried to stop him. I couldn't.
Chakotay: Voyager to Tuvok.
Tuvok: This is Lieutenant Tuvok.
Chakotay: Mister Paris has regained consciousness. I thought you'd want to know.
Tuvok: Thank you. I'll be returning shortly. Tuvok out. Thank you for your help, Mrs Ren.
Lidell: Lieutenant, when you see Tom, would you tell him that I forgive him?
Paris: Everything she told you is true, except I don't remember going into the atrium or anything else after that.
Tuvok: The last thing you remember is?
Paris: Sitting with her, drinking tea, talking about the sensual effects of eclipses. After that, I must've fallen asleep. When I woke up, I was in a cell.
Emh: He's telling you the truth.
Tuvok: Was there any evidence of a sedative in his system when he returned here?
Emh: The Banean medical authorities checked him. They didn't find any drugs in his blood. Most narcotics would've been gone from his system by the time he got to me.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Tuvok. You're needed on the Bridge. We're under attack by Numiri patrols.
Tuvok: On my way, Commander.
Janeway: Evasive pattern, beta one four zero. Dual attack mode.
Chakotay: Evasive pattern confirmed.
Kim: They're attempting to lock a tractor beam on us.
Neelix: That is a standard tactic for the Numiri when they intend to board your vessel. Well, at least now you know I was telling the truth about them, Captain. Although I take no pleasure in being right, mind you.
Janeway: But why now? Why an unprovoked attack? What are they after?
Neelix: The Numiri have never needed an excuse to attack anyone.
Kim: Shields at ninety percent and holding.
Janeway: Commander, prepare to initiate attack maneuver kappa zero one zero.
Chakotay: Captain, if you don't mind, there's a Maquis trick we sometimes used to get out of situations like this.
Janeway: Be my guest.
Chakotay: B'Elanna. Remember Teluridian Four? The two Starfleet runabouts?
Torres: I'm with you. Blowing out the dorsal phase emitters. Torres to Engineering.
Crewman: Go ahead.
Torres: Vent a couple of LN2 exhaust conduits along the dorsal emitters. Make it look like we're in serious trouble.
Crewman: Understood.
Chakotay: Cut all engines.
Torres: Engines off-line.
Chakotay: Tuvok, lock phasers on their navigational deflectors.
Tuvok: Acknowledged. Numiri ships are closing. Four thousand kilometers.
Janeway: Not to belittle Maquis tactics, Commander, but this is a very old trick.
Chakotay: It worked against those Starfleet runabouts.
Janeway: You're lucky I wasn't commanding one of them.
Tuvok: Two thousand kilometers.
Chakotay: Besides, out here in the Delta quadrant, every old trick is new again.
Tuvok: One thousand five hundred kilometers.
Kim: They're sending out tractor beams again.
Chakotay: That's our cue. Fire phasers. Engage impulse engines.
Tuvok: Both Numiri vessels are disabled, Captain.
Janeway: That's one trick you won't be able to use again when we get back.
Chakotay: I have more.
Janeway: Cancel red alert. Take us into high orbit.
Neelix: Captain. More Numiri will be coming, I promise you.
Janeway: Mister Tuvok. Any progress with your investigation?
Tuvok: Based on the ARA, I am convinced Lieutenant Paris believes what he is saying. However, I can offer no tangible evidence on his behalf. Considering the urgency of the situation, I believe the only logical alternative at this time is to witness the crime myself.
Chakotay: Yourself?
Tuvok: I propose a mind meld with Lieutenant Paris.
Neelix: A, a what? What, what did he say? A mind what?
Emh: Let me tell you something, Lieutenant. Believe it or not, I know more about mind melds than you do. I know what every Vulcan doctor has said in every study of mind melds, and I still cannot tell you what will happen if you do this. If these cycles cause damage to a human brain, there's no telling what the risk might be to a Vulcan.
Tuvok: I've examined your neurological reports, Doctor, and I believe the risk is acceptable.
Janeway: Tuvok
Tuvok: Captain, the answers I seek can only be found in the eyes of the murdered man. It may be our only chance to prove Lieutenant Paris innocent.
Kes: Tom?
Lidell: Tolen!
Tolen: Now I understand.
Paris: I'd better be on my way.
Lidell: You don't have to go, Tom. He's got no right.
Tolen: No right? This is my home. You come into my home and steal my wife, and I have no right?
Paris: That's not the way it happened.
Tolen: We'll see what your captain has to say about this. When I'm finished with you, you'll never wear that uniform again.
Paris: I can't let you do that.
Lidell: No, Tom, don't! Stop! No!
Emh: The cycle's ended. No neural damage that I can detect.
Tuvok: Captain, I must consult with Ensign Kim immediately.
Janeway: With Kim? Why?
Tuvok: I assume he has access to Professor Ren's research. I believe it will explain not only why Lieutenant Paris has been accused of a murder he did not commit, but also why the Numiri chose to attack us.
Janeway: His condition has continued to deteriorate. He'll have serious brain damage if the implants are not removed.
Kray: We are not a barbaric people, Captain. This was meant as punishment, not torture. I see no alternative but to remove the implants, do you?
Doctor: There is no legal precedent, of course, but we can petition the courts immediately.
Kray: I cannot assure you'll find an alternative sentence more to your liking.
Janeway: We're still committed to proving his innocence, Minister.
Kray: When do you intend to return him to our custody?
Janeway: Due to the nature of his condition, we're concerned that our transporting device might cause further medical complications, so we're sending him back by shuttlecraft. They'll leave this ship in one hour.
Doctor: I'll make the necessary preparations.
Paris: This is all your fault, you know.
Kim: My fault?
Paris: Yeah. I consider you the conscience I never had. You're supposed to keep me on the straight and narrow.
Kim: I tried to warn you.
Paris: Funny, so did she.
Kim: If it had been me, I would've stayed as far away from her as possible.
Paris: Someday it will be you, Harry. You'll meet her, and you'll know it's wrong from the first moment you see her, and you'll know there's nothing you can do about it.
Kim: Here they come.
Tuvok: Numiri patrol approaching, bearing zero six seven, mark two four.
Janeway: Red alert. On screen.
Tuvok: Range, one hundred thousand kilometers and closing. They're changing course, Captain.
Chakotay: They're going straight for the shuttle, just as you said they would, Lieutenant.
Kim: Shuttle to Voyager. They've locked a tractor beam on us.
Janeway: Offer
Janeway: No resistance, Harry.
Kim: Acknowledged.
Paris: Hey, Tuvok, I know it's a little late to ask, but you're sure you've got the logic of this thing worked out?
Tuvok: If I am incorrect, we will know it shortly.
Paris: Ah. That makes me feel a whole lot better.
Kim: We're being boarded.
Captain: He's the one.
Janeway: This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. You have illegally seized one of our shuttlecraft.
Captain: I warned you that you were entering a war zone at your own risk.
Janeway: Yes, we appreciated that warning and took appropriate precautions. If you read the sensor readouts in front of you, you will see that the shuttle is carrying forty tons of thalmerite explosives. Enough to destroy your ship. I'm prepared to detonate those explosives in thirty seconds if you do not release our vessel. End transmission.
Chakotay: The shuttle's being released. The Numiri ship is withdrawing.
Janeway: Tractor the shuttle and take us into low orbit. Cancel red alert. Mister Paris, how soon before your next cycle?
Paris: Seven hours.
Janeway: That should be enough time to clear this up. Mister Tuvok, this is your show now.
Tuvok: With your permission, I would like to invite all interested parties to meet at the scene of the murder in two hours.
Janeway: I'll invite the Minister myself.
Tuvok: Lieutenant Paris was not the man Professor Ren saw before he was murdered.
Kray: Not the man? But it was clearly established at the trial.
Tuvok: It is true, Paris's image was seen in the memories examined during the trial. However, that is because someone altered the engrams from Professor Ren's brain.
Doctor: But that simply isn't possible for this procedure.
Tuvok: I would suggest, sir, that there is no such thing as a technology that is entirely safe from tampering.
Lidell: You're forgetting one thing. I was here and I saw him do it.
Tuvok: On the contrary. I have not forgotten your statement, Mrs Ren. However, I now know it is clearly false.
Paris: Just what was in that tea you gave me, Lidell?
Kray: Is this just idle speculation, or do you have some evidence?
Tuvok: Mister Paris, would you please stand next to Mrs Ren?
Lidell: What for?
Tuvok: If you wouldn't mind. The man Professor Ren observed with his wife was virtually equal in height to her. Clearly, Lieutenant Paris is several centimeters taller.
Lidell: How do you know what my husband saw?
Tuvok: Vulcans have the ability to meld telepathically with another's mind. I observed your husband's memories as Lieutenant Paris went through a cycle. I watched as the killer stabbed Professor Ren right here, through the intercostal space between the eighth and ninth right ribs, the exact location of the Banean heart. The killer clearly knew Banean anatomy. Lieutenant Paris did not.
Doctor: Are we supposed to take your word for all of this?
Tuvok: There is additional evidence. For example, we can now say for certain that Professor Ren was murdered by a Numiri agent.
Kray: What?
Tuvok: Lieutenant, did you notice the stream of symbols and numbers that were superimposed on the images?
Paris: Symbols? Well, yeah, I guess I did. I didn't know what they meant. I thought they were part of the procedure.
Tuvok: In researching this procedure, I found no other reference to this phenomenon. I have now confirmed that these symbols and numbers were equations taken from Professor Ren's weapons research. Someone intended them to be delivered to the Numiri.
Kray: You're saying somebody used his brain to send secret data to our enemy?
Tuvok: He was a logical courier. The Numiri agents knew he could leave the planet's surface without raising suspicion. The Numiri made two attempts to gain access to Mister Paris. They attacked just after he returned to Voyager, and then again when he was in the shuttle.
Janeway: Someone on the surface had to be informing the Numiri of Lieutenant Paris's movements.
Kray: Do you know who did this?
Tuvok: You knew when Mister Paris would be in transit, Minister. The doctor is the one who encouraged you to release him to our custody. He is also the one who performed the implant procedure. I know of no one else who had the opportunity and knowledge to carry out this plan.
Doctor: I'm not going to listen to any of this.
Kray: I really would like you to listen, doctor.
Tuvok: Would you please stand again, Mrs Ren?
Doctor: So we're the same height. It proves nothing. I never saw this woman prior to the death of her husband. I was never even in this house before today.
Tuvok: You forget the other witness who was here on the night of the murder, Doctor. Would you mind asking her to come in?
Tuvok: It appears that you are no stranger to Neeka, doctor.
Lidell: He lied to me, Tom. No one was supposed to get hurt. You know I could never do anything to hurt you.
Paris: Yeah, you could.
Paris: Tuvok.
Tuvok: Mister Paris.
Paris: There are some who'd say you risked my future on the eyewitness identification of a dog.
Tuvok: It seemed a necessary step to ensure a truthful resolution.
Paris: Well, I appreciate you sticking up for me. I owe you one.
Tuvok: I conducted a criminal investigation. If you had been guilty, I assure you I would have pursued the truth just as vigilantly. You have no debt to me, Mister Paris.
Paris: How come I always see you down here eating alone, Lieutenant?
Tuvok: I prefer to read rather than engage in, what do humans call it? Short talk?
Paris: Close enough. You don't make many friends that way.
Tuvok: Perhaps.
Paris: Well, like it or not, you've made one today, Mister Tuvok.


Janeway: Captain's log, stardate 48623.5. There are two hundred forty six elements known to Federation science. We believe we have just discovered the two hundred forty seventh inside the ring system of a Class D planet.
Kim: The element has an unusually large atomic mass, over five hundred and fifty nucleons. And the readings are constant. The element appears to be stable.
Janeway: A stable transuranic element inside a natural environment. This is a first.
Torres: Can you imagine what we could make with this stuff? Probe casings that could go into the core of a sun, ultra-thin reactor shielding.
Janeway: That's assuming we can mine it. Ensign, try and locate the highest concentration of the element.
Kim: The element is present in most of the asteroids that comprise the rings. I can isolate a sample and beam it aboard.
Torres: Or better yet, maybe we could get a firsthand look at this element in its natural environment. It looks like most of these asteroids support Class M atmospheres.
Janeway: Good idea. Commander, you're in charge.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain. Mister Kim, would you like to join us?
Kim: I wouldn't miss it, sir.
Kim: The highest concentration is about thirty meters directly ahead.
Chakotay: I'm picking up a large cavern in there. The readings are
Chakotay: What the hell is this?
Torres: It's organic. Some kind of biopolymer residue.
Chakotay: I want to see what's ahead.
Torres: The readings are higher over here, but I still can't find the source of the. Commander? Class five humanoid. It appears to be dead.
Chakotay: Captain, there are eighteen bodies here, all humanoid. Eleven male, seven female. From what we can tell they're in various stages of decomposition. Some have been here for years.
Chakotay: Others no longer than a few days. In fact, one body arrived less than twelve hours ago.
Janeway: Arrived from where?
Chakotay: I don't know, Captain.
Chakotay: But from the position of the arms, I'd say we're looking at some kind of burial site.
Janeway: What about the element we discovered?
Torres: It's emanating from their bodies, Captain. We think it's some kind of
Torres: By-product of their decomposition process.
Chakotay: I recommend we leave these bodies in peace, Captain.
Chakotay: However, Mister Kim has a different opinion.
Kim: With all due respect, Captain, I have to disagree with the Commander. This is our first contact with this race, and I think we should be learning all we can about them.
Kim: It's a unique anthropological opportunity.
Chakotay: I understand the chance for scientific discovery, Captain
Chakotay: But whatever belief this race has, they clearly meant for their dead to be left alone and I think we should respect that.
Janeway: I'm afraid I agree with Commander Chakotay. Set your tricorders for passive scans. I don't want to disturb anything.
Chakotay: Captain
Chakotay: The sanctity of these bodies should be respected. I recommend we make visual observations only. No tricorders.
Janeway: Very well. Keep me informed.
Janeway: Janeway out.
Chakotay: All right. The only sensors you have left are your eyes. Concentrate on details. We're going to have to do a thorough report when we get back.
Kim: Commander, thanks for letting me voice my opinion to the Captain.
Chakotay: I remember the first time I went on a tomb excavation on Ktaria Seven. I wanted to keep a memento of the experience, so I picked up a rock from the burial site. Only I found out later it wasn't just a rock.
Kim: What was it?
Chakotay: It was a sacred stone. The Ktarians lay thousands of them in the tomb. Each one represents a special prayer. Without realizing it, I had desecrated that man's grave.
Torres: Well, I think I've found out about all I can with my eyes.
Chakotay: Really? What have you learned about this culture so far?
Torres: They like to bury their dead on asteroids. That's about all I can tell without a tricorder. No artifacts, no inscriptions, just some naked dead people.
Chakotay: You're looking but you're not seeing. The fact that they're naked says a lot. It means this race doesn't believe in dressing the deceased. And the lack of artifacts could indicate they don't believe any worldly goods can be taken into the afterlife.
Kim: What makes you think they believe in an afterlife at all?
Chakotay: Look at the position of the arms and hands. The bodies have been arranged in poses of serenity, and they appear to be wrapped in the same biopolymer residue we found out in the passageway, all indications that this culture has a great deal of ritual associated with disposing of the dead. That normally indicates some belief in the afterlife.
Torres: The Klingons believe in an afterlife, but there's no burial ritual. They just dispose of the corpse by the most efficient means possible.
Chakotay: Good point. However, some archeological digs on the Klingon Homeworld
Chakotay: Tricorders!
Kim: A dimensional distortion is forming. Some kind of subspace vacuole.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Voyager. Emergency beam-out.
Janeway: We're having trouble locking onto your signals. Stand by.
Seska: Have everyone stand closer together. I'm going to try a blind beam-out
Seska: Centerd on your comm. signal.
Chakotay: Acknowledged. Energize!
Janeway: Bridge to Transporter Room Three. Do you have them?
Seska: Subspace distortions
Seska: From the vacuole are interfering with the transporter lock. I'm
Seska: Attempting to compensate.
Seska: Okay. I think I've got them. Chakotay and Lieutenant Torres are aboard. So is one of the humanoid bodies.
Seska: But there's no sign of Ensign Kim.
Janeway: Scan the asteroid.
Tuvok: No life signs, Captain. I'm broadening the scan. Nothing. He is nowhere in the entire asteroid field.
Janeway: Seska, initiate emergency transport procedure
Janeway: Twenty one alpha.
Seska: I'm already on it, Captain. It's no use. His pattern's gone.
Seska: And the subspace vacuole has disappeared. I'm looking at the transporter logs. My only guess is
Seska: He was pulled into the vacuole.
Torres: This isn't one of the bodies we found in the cavern. It's someone else.
Chakotay: This body might have come out of the vacuole at the same time Kim was taken in.
Torres: Wait a minute. I'm showing signs of electrical activity in the brain. It looks like she died just a few minutes ago. We might be able to revive her. If we can, we might get some answers.
Chakotay: We can't interfere with this woman's natural process of death.
Torres: What do you suggest we do, Commander? Kim's gone. She's the only one who might be able to tell us what happened.
Chakotay: Beam us directly to Sickbay.
Seska: Aye, Commander.
Renora: Death is the end of this life. But it is also the beginning of a new journey. Ptera will now thrive in the Next Emanation. This is both her sacred duty and her great privilege.
All: Hail Ptera!
Renora: As she begins her transition, we promise to carry memories of her so that when we enter the
Kim: Help! Get me out of here!
Renora: She's alive! Deactivate the cenotaph, quickly!
Kim: Let me out!
Loria: Here it is.
Hatil: Thanks. A lot of memories in this.
Loria: We're so proud of you, Hatil. This is such a generous, selfless act.
Hatil: It's my last gift for you and the children.
Loria: And it's one we will always cherish. But I'm still going to miss you.
Hatil: I know. I'll miss you too. But I'll see you in the Next Emanation when you're ready to join me.
Loria: Give my love to your father. Tell him that the garili trees he planted have, have been in bloom for three years straight.
Hatil: I will. Goodbye.
Loria: Goodbye.
Renora: Lie down. It's going to be all right. We won't harm you.
Hatil: Who is that?
Renora: We're not sure yet. We think he came from the Next Emanation.
Hatil: The Next Emanation? You mean he's come back?
Kim: Come back from where?
Renora: We've called for the thanatologist. He'll be here any moment. I don't think there should be any further discussion about this until he arrives.
Hatil: How did you get here?
Kim: I'm not sure. I just sort of woke up inside one of those pods. I was conducting an investigation on an asteroid, we found some dead bodies, then there was some kind of subspace phenomenon.
Hatil: What do you mean, you saw dead people there?
Neria: I'm Doctor Neria, the chief thanatologist of this facility.
Kim: Ensign Harry Kim of the Federation starship Voyager.
Neria: I see. What race are you from?
Kim: We call ourselves human. We come from a planet called Earth in a distant part of the galaxy.
Hatil: He said he saw dead people on an asteroid.
Neria: Dead?
Kim: Look, can you tell me where I am?
Hatil: Doctor, what does this mean?
Neria: Rest, Hatil. There's no need for concern. May I speak to you privately, Ensign Harry?
Kim: Just Harry's fine.
Neria: We are the Vhnori and this is our homeworld.
Kim: We were investigating one of the asteroids in the rings around your planet.
Neria: There are no rings around our world.
Kim: So the subspace vacuole must have transported me somewhere else. Do you have any star charts I could look at? I'd like to figure out where I am now in relation to where I was.
Neria: Where you are now is in the world of the living. Where you came from was another dimension.
Kim: Another dimension?
Neria: Yes. You returned from the Next Emanation. The afterlife.
Janeway: How were you able to revive her?
Emh: It's a simple process, really. She died of a cancerous growth on the brain stem. I removed the tumor, replicated new neural tissue and used the standard Starfleet postmortem resuscitation technique for a class five life form.
Janeway: Why was she covered with this biopolymer?
Emh: She wasn't covered with it, exactly. The biopolymer is a by-product of her own tissues.
Janeway: Explain.
Emh: As her tissues decayed, the cell membranes broke down into a biopolymer resin which was then excreted by her epidermal layer. My guess is it's a natural decomposition process for this species.
Chakotay: So the other biopolymer fibers we found in the cavern were
Emh: Were probably the result of other bodies that had decomposed and left a residual membrane. In essence, Commander, you were strolling through dead bodies.
Janeway: Can you wake her?
Emh: Yes, of course. Kes, two cc's of netinaline.
Emh: Hello.
Janeway: I know this must be very confusing for you, but you're all right. My name is Kathryn Janeway.
Ptera: I'm Ptera. Where's my brother?
Janeway: Your brother? I'm afraid he's not here.
Ptera: But he's supposed to be here. They're all supposed to be here.
Janeway: Ptera, we were able to remove the tumor from your brain. You're going to be all right. We revived you because one of our
Ptera: This is the Next Emanation? This is the afterlife?
Janeway: No. No, it's not. You're on a starship.
Ptera: This can't be right. My brother's supposed to be here. Something's wrong.
Janeway: Let me explain.
Ptera: No. No! Get away from me. This isn't right. This can't be right!
Kim: You're saying there was a woman in here just before I arrived?
Neria: That's right. Her name was Ptera. She was dying of a tumorous lesion to her midbrain.
Kim: Dying. So she wasn't dead yet?
Neria: No, of course not. She didn't die until the cenotaph was activated. That's the purpose of the cenotaph. It terminates a person's life just before the appearance of a spectral rupture and then it allows their body to be taken to the Next Emanation.
Kim: Spectral rupture.
Neria: Well, I can show you.
Kim: This looks like what we would call a subspace vacuole. Does the cenotaph create these ruptures?
Neria: No, they're natural occurrences, once every six hours. This entire complex was built on this site because a spectral rupture occurs here. There are thousands of such sites on our world. Forgive my curiosity, Harry, but, you are the first person ever to come back from the afterlife. I have quite a few questions. You said that you saw dead bodies?
Kim: That's right. There were seven females, eleven males. Some of the bodies had been there for years, others just for a few days.
Neria: Are you saying that when we die we go to some asteroid and decompose?
Kim: Well, that's what it looked liked to us.
Neria: These bodies, did you perform any kind of bioscans on them? Was there any specific medical data that you can remember?
Kim: Doctor, maybe I should just stop right there. This is what my people call a first contact situation, and we've learned to be very careful about how much we tell alien cultures we've just met.
Neria: I would like to start a complete bioanalysis as soon as possible. If you'll just follow Doctor Renora.
Kim: Bioanalysis? Look, all I want to do is get back to my ship. And I think there might be a way to use this spectral rupture of yours to
Neria: You're not going anywhere. You are our first glimpse into what lies beyond death. We are not going to let this opportunity pass us by.
Chakotay: We've completed our analysis of the ring system. Our sensors have detected over two hundred thousand alien bodies on various asteroids in the rings. From what we can tell, a subspace vacuole appears about every two hours, deposits a body and then disappears.
Janeway: We need to focus on those vacuoles. Concentrate on trying to probe them with a high resolution subspace scans. See if you can find any sign of Mister Kim.
Emh: Sick bay to Captain Janeway.
Janeway: Go ahead.
Emh: Our guest has regained consciousness, and she is a little calmer this time.
Janeway: I'm on my way. You have the Bridge.
Ptera: That's, that's all I know. I'm sorry. I can't tell you anything more.
Janeway: You've told me quite a bit. At least now I have an idea of what might have happened to Mister Kim. Is there anything I can do for you?
Ptera: Well, I'd, I'd like some answers.
Janeway: About what?
Ptera: About what happens to my people when we die.
Janeway: We're not sure exactly. But from what we do know, the vacuoles deposit the bodies on the asteroids in this ring system.
Ptera: And then what?
Janeway: I'm not sure what you mean.
Ptera: We're supposed to evolve into a higher level of consciousness when we die. We're supposed to gain a greater understanding of the universe. All of our questions are supposed to be answered.
Janeway: Ptera, I know this must be frightening for you. You've been through a very traumatic experience. It would frighten me. But please try to understand. Just because I don't have the answers to your questions doesn't mean there aren't any.
Ptera: My brother. I always thought I'd see him again. I had so many things to tell him about his children, the people he left behind. But he isn't here, is he? He's. So, what am I supposed to do now, spend the rest of my life on this, this starship?
Janeway: Ptera, I am going to do everything in my power to figure out just how you got here. And as soon as I know anything, I will tell you, all right?
Ptera: All right.
Kes: Maybe we should get out of Sickbay, let you walk around for a while, clear your mind. Maybe get something to eat. Are you hungry?
Ptera: Yes. Actually, I could use something to eat. What was that?
Janeway: Janeway to Bridge. Report.
Paris: There's some kind of dimensional distortion forming near main Engineering, Captain. It looks like
Paris: A subspace vacuole.
Janeway: Janeway to Engineering. B'Elanna, what's going on?
Torres: I've pinpointed the location, Captain. It's right here in Engineering. Stand by.
Loria: Hatil, what are you saying?
Hatil: I'm just not sure I'm ready, that's all.
Loria: I don't understand.
Hatil: Neither do I. It's just that I'm starting to wonder what really happens when we die, if I'm really going on to a higher level of consciousness.
Loria: The alien. What has he been telling you?
Hatil: All he's done is made me stop and think about something we've always taken for granted, and now that I've thought about it, I'm not so eager to go through with it anymore.
Loria: Hatil, we know nothing about him, or why he's come here, or why he's spreading lies about the Next Emanation. All I know is, you can't throw away a lifetime of belief because of him. It doesn't make sense.
Hatil: I don't know what to think anymore. I'm scared, Loria.
Loria: It's going to be all right. Think about your father. He's waiting for you. I'll see you at the transference ritual. I don't know who you are or where you come from, but you stay away from my husband.
Kim: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.
Hatil: Harry, you have to forgive my wife. She's having trouble understanding my concerns about the afterlife. That's why I'm here. I'm getting ready to die. Forgive me for asking again but can you tell me anything about what I might find in the Next Emanation?
Kim: Everyone keeps asking me that, and I just keep giving the same answer. I don't know.
Hatil: But you do come from the afterlife?
Kim: I come from a different reality, maybe another dimension. Maybe it is your afterlife. I don't know. All I do know is that there are countless billions of people there who are born, live and die, just like you do here.
Hatil: But you did see my people there? You said they were dead?
Kim: Yes, but, look, for all I know, your thanatologists are right, and all I saw were the corporeal remains of your people, and you do go on to a higher consciousness.
Hatil: But it's also possible that there is no higher existence for us, that when we die we simply cease to exist.
Kim: I, I really can't say. I don't know what happens to your people after they die. I don't even know what happens to my people after they die.
Hatil: Don't you have thanatologists, people who study death?
Kim: Well, sort of. There have certainly been medical experts, philosophers, theologians who have spent a great deal of time debating what happens after death. But no one's come up with an answer yet.
Hatil: My people have come to think of death as just another stage of our existence. There are some people who are even eager to die. If they feel depressed or lonely in this life, they simply move on to the next one.
Kim: Is that why you're here? Because you're not happy with your life?
Hatil: Ever since the er, accident, life hasn't been easy. But I have to say, this is more my family's idea than it is mine.
Kim: Your family?
Hatil: I'm a burden to them right now. It takes a lot of their time and resources to care for me, and I can't give much back to them. So, there was a family meeting and it was agreed that I should move on to the Next Emanation. You look appallled.
Kim: It's not my place to judge your culture, but from my perspective, it's a little chiling to hear that.
Hatil: Even though the family did it out of love, and everyone was happy for me, and they said they'd see me when they got to the Next Emanation, I have to admit there is a little voice inside of me that is terrified of dying. And since I've been talking to you, that little voice has started to get louder.
Janeway: I'm reading another vacuole forming on the ship. Tuvok, try remodulating the shield harmonics.
Tuvok: It's no use, Captain. The vacuole is still forming.
Tuvok: Take the body to the ship's morgue.
Janeway: This is odd. Three bodies have appeared on Voyager so far, and each one of them has released some kind of neural energy. In every case, the energy has passed through the hull and out into the rings. The energy's frequency is identical to the ambient radiation in the asteroid field.
Torres: The vacuoles are disrupting the warp core's magnetic interlocks. It won't be long before we lose antimatter containment.
Janeway: The vacuoles have all formed within twenty meters of the warp core. They might be attracted to it. Janeway to Bridge. Mister Paris, lay in a course. I want to get
Janeway: At least a half a light year away. Warp seven.
Paris: Aye, Captain. Paris to Janeway. I've brought us out of warp. We're point six light years from the ring system.
Janeway: Any other subspace vacuoles forming?
Torres: No. The magnetic interlocks have stabilized. I think we're safe out here.
Janeway: Begin working on a way to protect the warp core from these vacuoles.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Kes: Sometimes I come in here and just stare out at the stars for hours. I never get tired of looking at them.
Ptera: We were always told we would see beautiful sights in the Next Emanation. Colors, lights, and that we would see them with new eyes and a new understanding. But now. What happened to the others? My brother, my father and everyone before them? People die every day on my world. Do they all end up as lifeless corpses?
Kes: When people die on my world, we bury them beneath the soil, and we believe that their comra is released into the afterlife.
Ptera: Their comra?
Kes: Our soul, our spirit, the essence of our beings. Maybe something similar happens to you.
Ptera: But you don't understand. We don't believe in any kind of spirit. When we die, we're supposed to reappear as physical beings with arms and legs. That's the whole point of sending our people through the spectral ruptures. We're supposed to travel on to the Next Emanation as ourselves and be reunited with our families. But none of that is true, is it? None of the people I love are here. I'm alone. I don't belong here. I can't live like this. Please, can't you send me home?
Kes: I think there is only one person on this ship who could answer that question.
Janeway: We're doing everything we can to get you back home, Ptera. Once we locate our missing officer, we're hoping he might be able to tell us enough to
Torres: Wait a minute, Captain. Maybe there is a way to send Ptera home and find Ensign Kim at the same time.
Janeway: Explain.
Torres: What if we recreated the transporter accident? If it's true that Harry was pulled through the vacuole during transport, we might be able to reproduce those circumstances and send Ptera home.
Chakotay: We could send Ptera through the subspace transponder and hope the signal will penetrate the dimensional barrier and allow us to lock on to Kim with the transporter beam.
Torres: Right.
Ptera: So I can get home?
Janeway: Ptera, you should know that there's no guarantee this is going to work.
Ptera: I understand the risk, but I've already been dead once and I'm prepared to die again if necessary. So if there's a chance I can get home, I'm willing to take the risk.
Janeway: All right. Commander, prepare a subspace transponder and teach Ptera how to use it.
Chakotay: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Captain's log, supplemental. We've returned to the ring system, and we're preparing to send Ptera back to her dimension. Lieutenant Torres has found a way to temporarily protect the warp core against the vacuoles but she is uncertain how long her measures will be effective.
Janeway: You understand the instructions for Mister Kim if you find him?
Ptera: Yes.
Torres: We've got one, Commander, forming ten meters below us, deck thirteen.
Chakotay: Okay, let's see if your dampening field is going to protect the warp core.
Torres: The field is fluctuating slightly, but holding.
Chakotay: Engineering to Transporter Room three.
Chakotay: There's a vacuole forming on deck thirteen. Magnetic interlocks are stable.
Janeway: Acknowledged.
Seska: I see the vacuole. Locking on.
Janeway: Good luck, Ptera.
Seska: I have a transporter lock. Energizing. Matching her pattern to the subspace distortions. Wait a minute. The vacuole is shutting down. I can't get her pattern through.
Janeway: Abort the procedure. Pull her back.
Seska: I'm trying. I'm losing her pattern.
Janeway: Shunt emergency power into buffer tank four.
Seska: That's it. I've got the pattern.
Kes: She's dead.
Janeway: Is there any brain activity? Can we revive her? Janeway to Lieutenant Torres. How long until we have to leave?
Torres: I'd say we're safe for another two hours.
Janeway: That gives us two hours to find Mister Kim. We'll have to stay within high-range scanner range. Perform another subspace scan. This time extend the scan radius to ten AU. I'm on my way to Engineering. Janeway out.
Torres: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: Ensign, beam her onto one of the asteroids.
Seska: Aye, Captain.
Janeway: That's where she was meant to be.
Kes: I hope you find your afterlife, Ptera.
Kim: Why?
Neria: We want to make a more detailed scan of your microcellular structures and a complete examination of your neurochemistry. This facility isn't equipped for such a detailed bioanalysis. The complex at Paffran has everything we need.
Kim: Look. If my ship is still searching for me, they're not going to stay there forever. I have to get back.
Neria: That's not possible. We don't even understand how you got here.
Kim: Then maybe I can figure out a way to get back. Let me take a look at one of those cenotaphs.
Neria: There's no time for that. Word about you has spread very quickly, Harry, not only in the scientific world, but in the community at large. There are many people who are very nervous about what you represent. Some even see you as a threat to their beliefs about the afterlife. We need to take you to a more secure location. It's for your own protection.
Kim: Wait!
Neria: I'm sorry, Harry. It's out of my control.
Kim: What are you doing?
Hatil: Preparing for the transference ritual. This is a ceremonial shroud that's been in my family for five generations.
Kim: So they make you wrap yourself in your own death shroud.
Hatil: It's something we look forward to, actually. I remember when my father used this shroud, his father before him. The difference is, when my father put this on there was no doubt in his mind about where he was going.
Kim: Can't you just back out? Say you've changed your mind.
Hatil: I have thought of just walking out and disappearing. I have some friends in the Cararian Mountains. They would be willing to let me stay with them. But my family would worry about me. They'd wonder what was happening, if I was all right, if I were hurt. No, everyone's expecting a transference ritual, and I'm going to give them one.
Kim: What if you did disappear into the mountains, but your family thought you were dead? I mean, they're here for a transference ritual, right?
Hatil: Do you realize what you're suggesting?
Kim: It's perfect. Those cenotaphs send your people back to my dimension, which is where I want to go. Voyager's probably still near the asteroid searching for me. As soon as I appear, they'll pick up my signal and beam me aboard. And you, you can just disappear. Your family will think you're dead, and you can live out your life in the mountains.
Hatil: Harry, if you go into that cenotaph and go through with the transference ritual, you'll die.
Kim: Well, if Voyager can beam me aboard quickly enough, our doctor should be able to revive me. Medicine's pretty advanced in our culture. I've heard of cases where people have been dead for hours and still been brought back to life.
Hatil: But it's not certain?
Kim: No, it's not, but I think this is my only chance to get home.
Hatil: The shroud has to be wrapped in a particular way. I'll show you how, but we have to hurry. I'm scheduled for transference in less than an hour.
Loria: A pleasant trip, Hatil. Say hello to Varel and Toyan. I'll see you there in a few years.
Neria: We're joined here today to bid farewell to our dear friend Hatil Garan. We salute not only his life, but the manner in which he has chosen to end it. He makes a noble sacrifice today that his family may have a better tomorrow. We prepare to send him on to the Next Emanation
Neria: With the full knowledge and faith that the life he will find there is better than the one here, that he will no longer be hampered by his infirmity and that we will come to understand the cosmos
Neria: In a way that he could never have imagined.
Loria: Bye, Hatil. I love you.
Torres: Another vacuole. Deck fifteen.
Tuvok: The body of an alien female has been left behind.
Chakotay: Chakotay to Transporter Room Three. Lock onto the body on deck fifteen and transport it to one of the asteroids.
Seska: Aye, sir.
Janeway: Status on the warp core, Lieutenant.
Torres: The dampening field's down to twenty one percent. The interlocks won't hold much longer. I recommend leaving, Captain.
Janeway: Very well. Mister Paris, bring us about. Prepare to resume our
Chakotay: Captain, I'm picking up a vacuole forming on deck twelve. It deposited a human body.
Janeway: Human?
Chakotay: But it's dead.
Janeway: Janeway to Seska. There's a body on deck twelve. Beam it directly to Sickbay.
Seska: Yes, Captain.
Emh: Two cc's cordrazine.
Emh: Relax, Mister Kim. Everything's fine. You're alive.
Janeway: Mind if I join you?
Kim: No, not at all. Please.
Janeway: Thank you. So, how are you feeling?
Kim: Better. I'll be ready for duty tomorrow morning.
Janeway: You're off duty for the next two days.
Kim: Captain, I'm fine.
Janeway: It's not a reflection on your capabilities, Ensign. I just want to give you a chance to reflect on what's happened. This may not make much sense to you now, a young man at the beginning of his career, but one of the things you'll learn as you move up the ranks and get a little older is that you wish you had more time in your youth to really absorb all the things that happened to you. It goes by so fast. It's so easy to become jaded, to treat the extraordinary like just another day at the office, but sometimes there are experiences which transcend all that. You've just had one, Mister Kim, and I want you to live with it for a little while. Write about it, if you feel like it. Paint. Express yourself in some fashion. The Bridge will still be there in two days.
Kim: Thank you, Captain. I have been a little preoccupied with the experience. I mean, all those people think that they know what happens after death. They look forward to it. They're prepared for it. But the truth is, none of it's real. They don't have an afterlife. They just decay inside those asteroids.
Janeway: I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you. That neural energy their bodies release, it becomes part of the ambient electromagnetic field surrounding the planet. Our readings also indicate the energy's unusually dynamic. There's a great deal of variation and pattern complexity, quantum density.
Kim: Are you saying you think they do have an afterlife? That the energy field is where they exist at a higher level of consciousness, just like they believe?
Janeway: I'm not certain, but I am certain about this. What we don't know about death is far, far greater than what we do know. See you in two days, Ensign.
Kim: Thank you, Captain.