Persistence of Vision ( episode ) " Voyager " crew members experience disturbing and violent hallucinations . Summary . Teaser . Captain Kathryn Janeway of the is on her way to engineering when Lieutenant Tom Paris calls her via combadge to inform her that he has finished plotting a course through Botha space . As Janeway continues toward engineering , Neelix approaches her and warns her that they will have to be careful as they travel through Bothan space . Janeway is short - tempered with Neelix and delays their discussion for later . When Janeway arrives in engineering , B ' Elanna Torres and Harry Kim are ready to test a new system of holo - projection that would allow The Doctor to appear in key areas of the ship other than sickbay and the holodeck . The test fails , however , because when The Doctor appears , his image is miniaturized . Janeway is visibly stressed , rubbing her temples as though she has a headache and raising her voice to the crew . Tuvok then contacts Janeway wanting to discuss security protocols before they encounter the Botha , and Janeway promises that she will find the necessary thirty minutes for him somehow . The Doctor sees that Janeway is exhausted and overworked , and asks her when she last took the time to relax . She admits that it ' s been a while , around two months prior since she has had shore leave and a few weeks since she last used the holodeck . The Doctor , recognizing the fact this is almost certainly the first time a hologram has given an order to a captain , uses his authority as chief medical officer and orders her to take some time in the holodeck to relax . Janeway , unable to help but be amused , agrees . The Doctor then angrily tells Kim and Torres to get to work on fixing their " " ridiculous blunder . " " In the holodeck , Janeway runs " Janeway Lambda one " , a Gothic holographic novel ( holonovel ) . The holonovel diverges from its original plot as Lord Burleigh , her employer in the holonovel , declares his love for her character and kisses her . Act One . Their embrace is interrupted by the entrance of the housekeeper , Mrs . Templeton , and Lord Burleigh ' s children , Henry and Beatrice , for afternoon tea . The plot of the holonovel returns to its Gothic storyline as Janeway ' s character alludes to mysterious piano music coming from the music room and confronts Lord Burleigh about the mysterious goings - on in the house , including a fourth floor corridor she is forbidden to explore . The confrontation is interrupted when Janeway is called to the bridge by Chakotay to communicate with a representative of the Bothan government whose ship has approached " Voyager " . When Janeway arrives on the bridge , Neelix warns Janeway that he has heard reports of numerous ships disappearing without explanation in Bothan space . He also warns her that the Bothans fiercely protect their territory from outsiders . The Bothan representative appears on the viewscreen obscured by strong lighting and orders Janeway to wait for a Bothan ship to rendezvous with " Voyager " before the Bothans decide if " Voyager " will be allowed to proceed through Bothan space . Janeway proceeds to the mess hall with Neelix to continue their discussion and to eat lunch . On the buffet , she sees a plate of cucumber sandwiches eerily similar to the ones on the tea table in Lord Burleigh ' s mansion in her holonovel . As soon as she has recovered from the shock of the coincidence , Neelix serves her tea in a porcelain cup that appears to resemble exactly the porcelain cup that Beatrice , Lord Burleigh ' s daughter , broke in the holonovel program . Janeway has convinced herself that these occurrences are coincidences , but as she walks down the corridor , passing by Lieutenant Ayala , she hears Lord Burleigh ' s voice reiterating his love for her . When she turns around , though , it ' s obvious Ayala wasn ' t speaking . Then she sees the image of Beatrice Burleigh in the corridor , and Beatrice speaks to Janeway and then vanishes . Act Two . Convinced that there is a logical explanation for the appearance of the holonovel objects and characters outside of the holodeck , she returns to engineering to ask B ' Elanna Torres and Harry Kim if their experiments with The Doctor caused Beatrice to appear in the corridor . They don ' t understand how , since they didn ' t interface with the holodeck and the holo - emitters used were fresh out of storage . Nevertheless , they decide to run a diagnostic on the holodeck systems just in case . Janeway returns to the holodeck to activate the program so that engineering can perform the diagnostic . Lord Burleigh again tries to kiss her , but she deletes his character . The diagnostic comes up clean , so Janeway returns to the mess hall and asks Neelix about the lunch . She discovers that Neelix served fried murt cake s , not cucumber sandwiches , and he served her tea in an ordinary metal mug , not a porcelain cup . The appearances of those items were in Janeway ' s head . She examines the cup he actually served her in , and it is perfectly normal . Now , convinced the problem must be medical , Janeway reports to sickbay to be examined by The Doctor . He finds no brain malfunction to account for her hallucination s . While The Doctor is examining Janeway , Kes , who is assisting him , experiences a strange sensation , which Janeway describes with the Human phrase " someone was walking on your grave " , which puts off Kes and The Doctor , who were unfamiliar with the saying . Then Beatrice appears to Janeway again , taunting her . Janeway asks The Doctor who he sees , but he only sees Janeway , seemingly confirming this is in Janeway ' s mind . . . until Kes enters , and sees Beatrice too . Kes ' telepathic presence somehow reflects the image , causing it to disappear into Janeway again . The Doctor orders Janeway to return to her quarters to rest . In her quarters , she hears the voice of her fiancé , Mark Johnson , who is back on Earth . He claims she no longer loves him but is in love with someone else instead . When she tries to leave her quarters , Mrs . Templeton , the housekeeper from the holonovel , appears with a knife and begins to attack Janeway . Janeway is roused by Tuvok in sickbay , where Kes can also see Mrs . Templeton and reflects the image again . Janeway has never left sickbay ; the entire incident in her quarters was a hallucination . Act Three . Janeway relinquishes control of the ship to first officer Chakotay while she undergoes further medical testing . Kes asserts that something strange is happening on the ship and suggests that Janeway may not be the only crew member suffering from it . Back on the bridge , an alien ship approaches . A Bothan representative appears on the viewscreen and questions Chakotay about " Voyager " s weapon capabilities . Tuvok terminates the transmission while making the termination look accidental . He has encountered suspicious energy readings that may indicate cloaked ships . Two ships decloak in front of " Voyager " and the Bothans arm their weapons . The two small ships attack " Voyager " , causing minor shield damage . " Voyager " returns fire ; meanwhile , Harry Kim discovers that the two smaller ships contain no life sign s . He says they must be automated and are being controlled by the larger Bothan ship . Despite this , " Voyager " continues to pointlessly fire at the drone ships instead of targeting the one " real " opponent . The Bothan ships move to surround " Voyager " and continue to fire . " Voyager " cannot evade them , so Chakotay orders a full stop . The Bothan representative appears again on the viewscreen and orders the crew to surrender . Janeway , who has returned to the bridge during the attack , refuses to surrender . The Bothan comes forward from the obscuring light on the viewscreen and appears to be Janeway ' s fiancé , Mark . Act Four . Other officers on the bridge see their own friends and loved ones on the screen . The Bothan appears to Tom Paris as his father , to Harry Kim as his girlfriend , and to Tuvok as , his wife . Tuvok sees his Vulcan lute on the console in front of him and hallucinates that he is back on . While Tuvok experiences these hallucinations , he becomes catatonic . Janeway tries to wake him but cannot rouse him . One by one , members of the crew fall into catatonic states of hallucination . Torres explains that the hallucinations may be caused by a massive bioelectric energy field , or psionic field , coming from the Bothan ships . Torres proposes remodulating the shields as a temporary defense mechanism while she creates a resonance burst from the warp core to block the field . It is becoming increasingly difficult to accomplish things on the bridge , as every member of the crew except Janeway , Torres , Chakotay , The Doctor , Paris , and Kes have become catatonic . While Torres is attempting to create the resonance burst , Chakotay comes to engineering . He says they are the last ones left conscious on the ship and suggests that they take an escape pod and head for a class M planet " Voyager " passed by the day before . When Torres refuses and insists that they need to continue trying to help the others , Chakotay becomes amorous , declares his desire for Torres , and kisses her . She realizes that it is not the real Chakotay , but she becomes sucked into a sexual fantasy anyhow . Soon after , Paris also succumbs to a hallucination of his disapproving father , despite resistance . Janeway then decides to go to engineering ( no one in engineering is awake ) and finds a catatonic Chakotay inside a turbolift . On her way to engineering , Janeway encounters a delusion of Mark , and tries to resist him but eventually succumbs and the two fall into a passionate embrace . By the time the turbolift reaches its destination , Janeway is also catatonic . Act Five . After this , Kes and The Doctor are the only ones left , and The Doctor sends Kes to engineering since she is now the only one left to create the resonance burst in engineering . On her way , Kes finds that she is also starting to succumb to the alien ' s influence when she encounters a hallucination of an injured Tom Paris , horribly burn ed by a plasma leak . She manages to leave the illusory Paris behind and resumes heading towards engineering . In the engine room , The Doctor walks Kes through the process over a small viewscreen . Then , Neelix enters engineering and approaches Kes . He tries to convince her to leave the ship with him , but Kes realizes it is another hallucination designed to prevent her from completing the resonance burst . " Neelix " becomes angry ; suddenly , Kes appears to be covered in boils or burns of some kind . She is in agonizing pain , but The Doctor encourages her to confront the hallucination and focus her telepathic energy on it . She does so , and the boils reflect onto the false Neelix . " Neelix " reverts to his true form , a Bothan , and Kes activates the resonance burst , freeing the crew from their catatonic states . Janeway comes to engineering and confronts the weakened alien , questioning him about the motives behind his attack ; he claims to have perpetrated the attack simply because he " can " . Janeway also questions him about the telepathic attack and asks whether it was caused by telepathy alone or technology . Janeway says she will destroy the alien ' s technology , if there is technology involved , or lock up the alien . However , the alien reveals he is not really there and vanishes , as he was just a hallucination too . The Bothan ships vanish as well , and " Voyager " is left alone . The ship returns to normal , but Captain Janeway admits that there are a number of unanswered questions about the incident . While sitting in the mess hall , Janeway and Torres discuss the incident and Janeway suggests that the alien may have done them a favor by forcing them to confront their buried emotions . Torres leaves as she has an early watch the next morning and wishes to sleep . Janeway wishes her pleasant dreams . Memorable quotes . " " You ' re a powerful little thing . " " " " Friendly fellow . " " " " Why was he keeping his face covered ? " " " " I ' d like to be able to accommodate you , but you see . . . I ' m not really here . " " " " It ' s not even tempting . " " " " He looks so harmless . It is hard to believe he almost destroyed us . " " " " And the two of you can get busy undoing this ridiculous blunder of yours ! " " Links and references . References . aneurysm ; Ashmore ; biogenic field ; " Baxial " ; Botha ; Bothan government ; Bothan starships ; brig ; Burleigh ' s wife ; carving knife ; catatonia ; class M ; coffee ; ; ; costume ; cucumber sandwich ; ; delta wave ; Earth ; electrolyte ; engineering ; Federation ; fried murt cake ; Hargrove ; holodeck ; holonovel ; holo - projector ; ice cream ; Janeway Lambda one ; Kazon ; Libby ; magnetic plasma constriction ; mess hall ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Mithren ; Mollie ; ; multiphasic scan ; music room ; niccel strips ; ; photon torpedo ; piano ; plasma leak ; programmer ; psionic field ; Seltin pâté ; Seltin wood fungus ; sonata ; Starfleet ' s interactive database ; Starfleet regulations ; stroke ; subdural hematoma ; telepathy ; turbolift ; vegetable bouillon ; Vulcan ( planet ) ; Vulcan lute ; wood throk