The Cloud ( episode ) With energy reserves nearly depleted , " Voyager " investigates possible resources inside a nebula , which - as it turns out - is not really a nebula . Summary . Teaser . Captain Janeway walks into the mess hall where Harry Kim and Tom Paris are having breakfast . She wonders if Neelix has come up with something interesting this morning . Kim and Paris joke that every meal Neelix prepares is interesting . She jokes that they should not judge him too quickly for after all , he is helping them conserve replicator energy . When she leaves , Kim tells Paris that they should have asked her to join them . Paris brushes Kim ' s suggestion off , stating that ensign s don ' t invite captains to sit down . Kim does not understand what is wrong with showing a little courtesy , but Paris states that captains don ' t want courtesy , they want respect and that ' s why they don ' t get chummy with the lower ranks . Kim thinks Paris is really not getting this right because after all , there are not that many admiral s and captains for her to hang around with . Captain Janeway is looking around in Neelix ' s kitchen for coffee but there is none to be found . But Neelix has an even better than coffee substitute , which , much to the Captain ' s dismay , looks more like a cup of tar , rather than coffee ; so she says that she will just use one of her replicator rations . However , Neelix suggests setting an example for the entire crew by drinking his alternative , which does not deplete scarce energy reserves on the ship . While contemplating his suggestion , Chakotay calls Janeway who uses this as an immediate excuse to escape Neelix ' s coffee alternative by cutting the conversation short and rushing out of the mess hall . On the bridge Chakotay informs her that " Voyager " has approached a nebula rich in omicron particle s . Wanting to collect some to supplement their power reserves , Janeway orders " Voyager " to set a new course , jokingly stating that there ' s coffee in that nebula . Act One . While they are waiting to reach the nebula , Janeway asks Chakotay about the state of the crew given their current situation . She tells him that she is worried about them and wished they had a counselor on board but the nature of their mission to the Badlands in the Alpha Quadrant did not require one . Chakotay says that in his tradition , they talk to animals as their counselors . He tells her that there is a different animal guide for everyone . " Voyager " enters the nebula with no sign of trouble . Harry says that it ' s like nothing he ' s seen before . Suddenly , " Voyager " encounters an energy barrier that rocks the ship to a stop . They decide to punch through to get to the particle s . After they get through the barrier , they notice that it closes behind them . Neelix , who has been observing all this from the mess hall , is upset about the captain ' s decision to enter the nebula and possibly endanger the ship and its crew . Kes tells him that she is not endangering anyone ' s life but that these people are just natural born explorers driven by curiosity and the desire to learn more about the universe around them . Neelix doesn ' t agree with her and actually thinks that they are nothing but " natural born idiots " who , with a ship that ' s a match to any vessel in 100 light year s , have to stop for every space anomaly to investigate . But Kes disagrees , stating that if she was the captain , she ' d open every crack in the universe and peek inside just like Captain Janeway does . An unknown compound begins to attach to the hull and drain the ship ' s energy reserves . They turn around to get out of the nebula , but are stopped by the barrier again . This time , they exceed maximum thruster s and fire phaser s and a photon torpedo . Harry tells Janeway that as a result of this maneuver , they lost 11 % of their energy reserves . Janeway realizes she may just have to give up coffee . Act Two . Later that night , Paris breaks into Kim ' s quarters to wake him up and show him a holographic program on the holodeck entitled " Paris 3 " . It is a holographic recreation of a pool hall in Marseille , France . He takes him to Chez Sandríne : the bar he used to hang around in during his second semester at the Academy when he was stationed in Marseille for his physical training . Paris tries to help Kim get in the mood by having him relax and try some of the holographic wine and women he created . He tells Kim that this is exactly his idea of home : a little piece of Earth in the middle of the Delta Quadrant . But Kim knows that Paris is just shrugging it off and that he really misses home too . " " Your shot , Harry , " " he says to Kim to change the subject . In the meantime , B ' Elanna Torres analyzes a sample of the compound taken from the hull in engineering . She notices something strange and wants a second opinion . She takes the sample to The Doctor in sickbay , telling him that she got it from the nebula upon which The Doctor cynically asks why they even bother acting like they ' re going home at all if all they ' re going to do is explore every meter cubic millimeter of the quadrant . The Doctor recognizes the nucleogenic peptide bonds in the sample , confirming that it is organic . Chakotay brings Janeway his medicine bundle to help her find her animal guide . Their ceremony is interrupted by Torres . Janeway explains to her what they were doing and Torres tells her that she hopes Janeway has better luck with her animal guide than she did with hers , despite Chakotay initially telling Janeway that he had never shown anyone his medicine bundle . Chakotay tells the captain that B ' Elanna is the only person he knows who tried to kill her animal guide . B ' Elanna goes on to tell them that the matter left on the hull is organic or , more precisely , that it is the organic elements of a much larger lifeform ; it appears as if this nebula is not a nebula at all . Act Three . After looking at sensor scans of the lifeform at Tuvok ' s tactical station , they find that the omicron particles they were after are now leaking through the ' wound ' they made ; the lifeform is bleeding to death . It is now clear that all the barriers that " Voyager " encountered were just the lifeform ' s natural defense measures . Torres suggests re - entering and producing a nucleonic radiation field on the wound as it should promote re - generation . Tuvok must modify the shields to suppress the lifeform ' s natural defense systems . Neelix becomes upset when he finds out that they are going back in and goes to the captain to complain . He demands that he and Kes be allowed to wait in his ship while " Voyager " pursues its mission , but Janeway refuses , telling him that the crew is busy preparing for this and that they don ' t have time to prepare his ship for launch and that she will most certainly not drop him off on the side of the road every time they hit a bump . She tells him that he is free to leave once they ' re finished , but for the moment she suggests that he find himself a seat with a good view , because , as she notes , " " Just like Jonah and the whale , you ' re going in . " " When " Voyager " enters the nucleogenic cloud , it ' s hit by multi - polaric charges . Paris loses control of the helm and the ship rocks , with shields weakening and inertial damper s going offline . The crew is thrown about . Act Four . Janeway orders Torres to dump deuterium to get thruster control back , despite needing that fuel and then orders Paris to reset the inertial dampers . They get control of the ship back , but they are now much deeper in the creature and need to get back to the site of the wound . Chakotay suggests they might be able to ride the energy currents which , up until now , they thought were random . However , he suspects they are part of the lifeform ' s circulatory system . Confirming they are filled with omicron particles , the three guess that the current will pass by the wound , so they can just surf there , using the reaction control thruster s in drift mode only . Just then , Neelix delivers refreshments to the bridge , having just appointed himself the ship ' s Chief Morale officer . Janeway thinks it ' s hardly the time , but Neelix is unphased and starts serving some of the crew . She reluctantly takes a bite when Paris announces they ' ve arrived at the wound . Janeway orders Torres to generate the nucleonic radiation beam , but it does little help . The Doctor interjects to suggest that the ship itself can be used as a suture to help the wound heal . To avoid being attacked by the lifeform ' s defenses , they decide to create a distraction , much in the way Janeway once had to distract her wounded Irish Setter , Mollie . The wound is closed and the crew leaves with a new understanding that what they find in the Delta Quadrant may not always be what it seems . Janeway is on her way to her quarters to see her animal guide when she meets Kim in the turbolift . He invites her to join them on the holodeck with the others . She acts towards the crew as if she has never played pool before but pockets several solids on the break , then calls her shot and knocks in the eight - ball in the pocket without even looking . Memorable quotes . " " There ' s coffee in that nebula ! " " " " I ' ve never seen anything like it ! " " " " Tuvok to Kim . Mister Kim , that is a comment we prefer not to hear from a senior officer on the bridge . It makes the junior officers nervous . " " " " These people are natural born idiots if you ask me . They don ' t appreciate what they have here . This ship is the match of any vessel within a 100 light years and what do they do with it ? Well , uh , let ' s see if we can ' t find some space anomaly today that might RIP IT APART ! " " " " I remember being in my mother ' s womb . " " " " It ' s as thick as a Toarian ice storm out there . " " " " I ' m curious captain , exactly what are you looking for ? " " " " I need to know if we did serious harm to this lifeform . " " " " Let ' s see , you ran your ship through it , fired phasers at it , and blew a hole in it with a photon torpedo . I ' d say it ' s a pretty good chance that you did some fairly significant . . . " " " " Computer : mute audio . " " " " Uh , captain ? " " " " Computer , resume audio . " " " " How kind of you . " " " " I found this place just after my pocket was picked walking by the harbor . " " " " Somebody picked your pocket on " Earth " ? " " " " Oh , they just do it for tourists . They give it back . . . most of the time . " " " " The commander was introducing me to my animal guide . " " " " I hope that you have better luck with yours than I had with mine . " " " " B ' Elanna ' s the only one I know who tried to kill her animal guide . " " " " What do you make of it , Mr . Tuvok ? " " " " I am unable to offer an identification , Captain . " " " " Kim to Tuvok . In other words ; ' you ' ve never seen anything like it ' . Oh , I promise not to tell the junior officers . " " " " I don ' t think the captain is an idiot . " " " " Captain , I understand that this nebula we ' ve discovered is some kind of MONSTER ? " " " " Dismissed . . . . That ' s a Starfleet expression for ' get out ' . " " " " There was no need for you to come to the bridge , captain . " " " " Yes , there was . " " " " Hold " on " ! " " " " Paris ? Did you program this guy ? " " " " Yeah . Why ? " " " " He ' s a pig . And so are you . " " " " A nebula ? What were we doing in a nebula ? No , wait , don ' t tell me . We were " investigating . " That ' s all we do around here . Why pretend we ' re going home at all ? All we ' re going to do is investigate every cubic millimeter of this quadrant , aren ' t we ? " " " " We talk to animals . " " " " Just like Jonah and the whale . . . you ' re going in . " " " " Jonah ? Whale ? " " " " Under the circumstances , don ' t you think you really ought to change your program ? " " " " Hmm . . . a hologram that programs himself . What would I do with that ability ? Create a family ? Raise an army ? " " Links and references . References . 1932 ; 1953 ; 2346 ; Ailis paté ; " A - koo - chee - moya " ; " akoonah " ; Ames Pool Hall ; animal guide ; antimatter ; apron ; bantan ; " Baxial " ; bear ; billiards ; blackbird ; centrifuge ; " CHAH - mooz - ee " ; Chakotay ' s tribe ; " Charlotte Corday in prison " ; Chez Sandríne ; coffee ; counselor ; Daliwakan ; degauss ; Delta Quadrant ; deuterium ; driver coil ; dust nodule ; Earth ; emergency medical holographic channel ; even better than coffee substitute ; Felada onion crisp ; felucca ; ; France ; French ; gesture ; gourmet ; heartburn ; helium ; " hors d ' œuvre " ; hustler ; hydrogen ; hydroponics ; hydroxyl radical ; inertial dampening field ; Jonah ; ; Jupiter Station Holoprogramming Center ; ; lipstick ; logic ; ; Marseille ; Marseille Starfleet base ; medicine bundle ; microprobe ; microscope ; mile ; Mister Vulcan ; molecular scan ; molecule ; morale officer ; ; multi - polar charge ; ; New York City ; " nuanka " ; nucleogenic cloud being ; nucleonic beam ; nucleonic radiation ; omicron particle ; omicron radiation ; painting ; Paris ' dogs ; photon torpedo ; " pokattah " ; polarity ; polycyclic structure ; pool ; programmer ; psychoactive herb ; quantum chemistry ; reaction control thruster ; red alert ; regeneration ; replicator ration ; Saint - Émilion ; Scandinavia n ; semester ; short range scan ; sleep mask ; Starfleet ; Starfleet Academy ; stuffed Cardaway leaf ; suture ; Takar loggerhead egg ; tea ; thoron ; Toarian ice storm ; Tokay gecko ; tourist ; tray ; vehicle status ; veterinarian ; vision quest ; vital organ ; Vulcan ; wallet ; whale ; wharf ; yellow alert ;