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February 19, 1997
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46 minutes
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154
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2024-09-13 10:15:25
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SUMMARY
Stardate: 50693.2. When the doctor tries to improve his personality by incorporating the psychological profiles of famous and historical people, he is overwhelmed by their dark sides and begins exhibiting signs of a split personality, one the regular doctor, and the other dark and evil. Kes asks to leave Voyager when they encounter a race with vast knowledge of the region of space they are currently exploring.
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TRANSCRIPT
Captain's log, stardate 50693.2. We've been in orbit above an outpost of the Mikhal Travellers. This loosely governed race of explorers has extensive knowledge of the territory ahead of us, which they are willing to share.
[Nakahn's Lodge]
(Janeway is sitting at a table in a tavern.)
NAKAHN: I landed my ship on the nearest of those twenty one moons. My navigator and I disembarked to start repairs. Damage was extensive. More than we'd anticipated. The hours past, the air grew cold, and with our weapons we started a fire to keep warm. Later, in the night, we awoke with a shudder. The ground was shaking. A moon quake. What could have been worse? We leapt into the ship, hoping the tremor would pass, but it was no tremor and it did not pass. For it was no moon we had landed on.
JANEWAY: What was it?
NAKAHN: A creature. A living being so massive it generated it's own gravitational field. So immense it supported it's own ecosystem.
KES: Captain.
NAKAHN: How long had it been lying there, dormant, slumbering, until wakened by our fire. Years? Centuries?
ZAHIR: Perhaps even millennia?
NAKAHN: Perhaps.
KES: Zahir is the pilot I've been working with on the medical supply transfer.
JANEWAY: A pleasure.
ZAHIR: Returned. Curious, I was just visiting the system you spoke of only a few months ago. My ship's sensors picked up no such monster.
NAKAHN: Perhaps your sensors were faulty, or too busy gazing at your own reflection to bother looking out the window.
ZAHIR: Our guests are offering us supplies we need. In exchange we Travellers are giving them a look at what lies ahead of them. We should keep that view as clear as possible.
NAKAHN: This is my Lodge. I say what I want. And you can go elsewhere.
ZAHIR: I've journeyed to the corners of known space and beyond. I've earned the right to come and go as I please, where and when and how I please. Do you challenge that right?
NAKAHN: No.
(Nakahn leaves the table.)
ZAHIR: Forgive my display, Captain, but my people consider outposts such as this to be necessary evils. Places to refuel, repair, exchange information and leave as quickly as possible. If I've observed anything working with Kes, it's her great tolerance. A quality you all seem to share. I regret not being able to demonstrate the same.
JANEWAY: There's no need to apologise for anything. Our time here has been very well spent, although I could use your help in sifting through that last colourful saga.
ZAHIR: Moon sized creature or not, the asteroids in that particular system are rich in vorilium.
JANEWAY: That might be worth a short detour. Engineering is usually short on vorilium. Thank you, Zahir.
[Holodeck - Paxau resort]
GANDHI: Men and women should refrain from enjoying each other. By that I mean to say, even their mutual glances must be free of all suggestion of carnality.
LORD BYRON: Free of passion? One might just as well be free of humanity. Do you not agree?
NEELIX: I, I think you both make valid points.
LORD BYRON: One can pursue one's creative urges, spiritual urges and physical urges. All have a place in a well lived life.
EMH: Thank you, Lord Byron. A classic romantic early nineteenth century argument.
NEELIX: Yes, it seems quite fascinating to see
GANDHI: Classic or no, he is woefully misguided. Passion is meant for procreation. Anything further is contrary to divine intention.
LORD BYRON: Really? It is said the angels themselves take pleasure in their bodies of light.
GANDHI: And you should take a cold bath. In such cases, it is the finest preventative.
EMH: I'll keep that in mind.
(They move away.)
KES: Hello, Doctor.
EMH: Oh, hello, Kes.
KES: Doctor, what's happening in here?
EMH: My personality improvement project. I've been interviewing the historical personality files in our database. Socrates, da Vinci, Lord Byron, T'Pau of Vulcan, Madame Curie, dozen of the greats. Then I select the character elements I find admirable, and merge them into my own programme.
KES: What are you hoping to gain?
EMH: An improved bedside manner, a fresh perspective on diagnoses, more patience with my patients. I could have used your assistance on this project, had you not been otherwise occupied on the planet these last few days.
KES: I'm sorry, Doctor, but things are going extremely well. The Mikhal Travellers are intriguing. They've been to so many places, done such amazing things.
EMH: One might make the same observation about you, Kes, or any member of the Voyager crew.
KES: Maybe it's how they do it that's so impressive. Their ships are small, only a pilot and a navigator. Sometimes they just pick a direction and go. You should come down to the planet, Doctor. I want you to meet Zahir.
EMH: And who might that be?
KES: I've been working with him on the transport of our medical supplies. He's unique.
EMH: Is he? In my opinion, you've become far to infatuated with these Travellers. From the away team reports they seem afflicted with terminal wanderlust. Risk taking thrill seekers with no responsibility to the ideals of exploration. In short, bad news.
KES: Not Zahir. He's more than that.
EMH: I think I'm detecting a reaction to your recent break-up with Mister Neelix. The Mahatma would recommend a cold bath. Simplistic, but no doubt effective.
[Sickbay]
EMH: In my preparatory report to the away team, I recall mentioning to you that Klingons lacked an enzyme for metabolising this planet's vegetation. Have you been naughty?
TORRES: I had one small salad.
EMH: So impetuous. Any sharp pains?
TORRES: No.
EMH: Heart burn?
TORRES: I guess so.
EMH: There's nothing like a heart that burns.
TORRES: What?
EMH: Your pulse is lovely. Ah ha. Mmm. Does that feel good?
TORRES: Doctor, unless you want me to knock you into the middle of the next millennium, you'd better back off.
EMH: Forgive me, Lieutenant, I appear to have miscalculated. Computer, isolate the recent additions to my programme and hold them for review.
TORRES: Doctor, have you been messing around with your programme?
EMH: I would hardly call my effort to improve my performance as ship's physician, messing around.
TORRES: What exactly have you done to yourself?
EMH: I've taken character traits from holodeck recreations of the most accomplished figures in history. Scientist, poets, philosophers, saints.
TORRES: And incorporated them into your programme?
EMH: Precisely. There. That should compensate for the lack of enzyme in your system. You should be fine.
TORRES: That's more than I can say for you.
EMH: How so?
TORRES: You can't just casually add behavioural subroutines into your programme.
EMH: There's nothing casual about it. I've put a great deal of research into this project.
TORRES: Research is one thing, putting it into practice is something else. Behavioural subroutines have a way of interacting with each other which isn't always predictable. You've got to be careful, or someone might hurt you.
(The EMH removes his hand from Torres' knee.)
EMH: I see what you mean.
TORRES: I will take a look at your programme when I've finished my shift in Engineering. It shouldn't be too hard to smooth out the rough spots. I'll make you better than new.
EMH: Thank you, Lieutenant. Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
[Mountain path]
(Night.)
ZAHIR: It is said this path was cut more than ten thousand years ago.
KES: By whom?
ZAHIR: No one knows. Spacefarers like ourselves. They left very little behind. A few symbols burned into the rocks, nothing more.
KES: And what do you hope to leave behind?
ZAHIR: I've never asked myself that question. That's what I like about you, Kes. You make me consider alternatives.
KES: I could say the same about you.
ZAHIR: We have a saying. My course is as elusive as a shadow across the sky. My people are peripatetic by nature. We live for the excitement of facing the challenge of space, alone.
KES: I can see the attraction.
ZAHIR: And I can see the value of fellowship in one's life. And now that I've observed the closeness that exists among your crewmates, I find it enviable.
KES: Some kind of compromise might be possible.
ZAHIR: Compromise. Doesn't that suggest a loss on both sides?
(They reach the top and see the three full moons.)
KES: All right, then. How about an understanding. A meeting of the minds.
ZAHIR: Only minds?
(They move on to a carving in the rock.)
KES: Is this what you brought me here to see?
ZAHIR: Yes, it is.
KES: How beautiful. Was this left by the same people who made the path ten thousand years ago?
ZAHIR: So it seems.
KES: Can you read it?
ZAHIR: My course is as elusive as a shadow across the sky.
(Kes takes his hand.)
KES: Thank you for this.
(They kiss.)
[Transporter room]
(Kes is beamed aboard feeling very pleased with herself.)
KES: (to transporter operator) Hi.
[Corridor]
TUVOK: Computer, what is the time.
COMPUTER: Oh three hundred hours.
KES: Good evening, Tuvok.
TUVOK: It is three o'clock in the morning, Kes.
KES: Yes, it is.
TUVOK: You have an away team report due at oh eight hundred hours.
KES: I haven't forgotten.
TUVOK: Very well.
[Doctor's office]
EMH: Well, how are you, Kes?
KES: I didn't think anyone would still be working at this hour.
EMH: Just finishing up the summary analyses from last week's mission.
KES: I was supposed to do that.
EMH: Yes you were.
KES: I'm sorry. I'll do them as soon as I can.
EMH: Although I'm not designed to act as ship's counsellor, I've been programmed with enough psychological knowledge to be troubled by your behaviour.
KES: I'm a little late.
EMH: Gallivanting around after hours is beside the point. The fact is, you're becoming increasingly unpredictable, given to swings of mood and emotion. As your doctor and your mentor, I'd be remiss not calling that to your attention, for your own sake.
KES: Doctor, I know that you care about me and that you have my best interests at heart, but everyone seems to be treating me like I'm still a child. I'm three years old now. If I'm attracted to someone it's my business, not the whole ship's.
EMH: I'm certainly not trying to interfere. You can lead your life any way you please.
KES: I know that you care what happens to me, I won't forget that.
EMH: Very well. I believe you have a report to finish.
KES: I'm going to do it right now.
[Ready room]
JANEWAY: Come in.
(Kes enters, looking exhausted.)
KES: Hello, Captain.
JANEWAY: Good morning. An all-nighter, Kes?
KES: Er, Captain?
JANEWAY: The fine art of putting off an important task until the last minute, then rushing through it. In my Academy days, I was the acknowledged master.
KES: Captain, do you have a minute?
JANEWAY: Of course. Let's sit down.
KES: You know I've been spending time with Zahir.
JANEWAY: Yes. He seems like a very interesting young man.
KES: He is. I want to spend more time with him. A lot more time.
JANEWAY: I see.
KES: He wants to explore the Sylleran Rift. His ship travels at high warp. We could rendezvous with Voyager afterwards, before you're too far away.
JANEWAY: That would certainly give you a chance to get to know him better.
KES: It's more than that. Captain, I've lived almost a third of my life now. I've been asking myself if I want to spend the rest of it on Voyager.
JANEWAY: That's certainly a legitimate question.
KES: Everyone here has been so good to me. I don't want you to think I'm ungrateful. I've just been thinking that maybe there's more. I don't know what that means, but I know I'm changing, and I know that there are things that I'm not satisfied with. I want complication in my life.
JANEWAY: And you think Zahir might be the way to do that?
KES: Maybe so.
JANEWAY: I understand what you're going through, Kes. I know what it's like to be at a crossroads in life, not to know which way is best. I can help you weigh the consequences, the possibilities. The decision itself has to be yours alone.
KES: I understand.
JANEWAY: We'll be in orbit for several more days. Take your time. My door's open if you need me.
KES: Thank you, Captain.
[Nakahn's Lodge]
ZAHIR: You should navigate here, away from this plasma belt, you'll avoid the Tarkan sentries altogether.
TUVOK: It would also take Voyager off a direct course to the Alpha quadrant.
ZAHIR: True, but at least you would still have Voyager.
TUVOK: The Tarkan are that powerful?
ZAHIR: Yes, and that acquisitive. They'll remove your entire crew, settle you on a moon somewhere, and your ship will become their latest trophy.
TUVOK: You aren't planning on taking Kes anywhere near this part of space?
ZAHIR: Of course not. My small vessel would be overpowered in seconds. There's no need to be concerned for Kes. I value her life as much as my own.
TUVOK: From what I've surmised, that is something your people do not seem to value. You take many chances.
ZAHIR: If we're alone, yes. But when we're responsibly for the safety of another it's a different story. I'm in love with Kes, I want her to go with me, but whatever she decides, it would please me to earn the trust of her closest friends.
TUVOK: It would please me to be able to give it.
(Kes enters.)
KES: Aren't you finished yet?
TUVOK: We will continue tomorrow.
KES: Thank you, Tuvok.
(Tuvok leaves.)
KES: I was talking to Captain Janeway.
ZAHIR: And?
KES: She said I shouldn't rush a decision. We've still got two more days here.
ZAHIR: Then let's make them worthwhile. I go tonight to the next outpost. The path is beautiful.
KES: I can't. Not tonight. I have to catch up with my work and get some sleep.
ZAHIR: I'll try not to let you see my disappointment.
KES: Too late.
ZAHIR: Is something wrong?
KES: No. No, I was just thinking about something Captain Janeway said. About coming to a crossroads. Maybe someday we'll recall this conversation, this place, as if it were the most important time in our lives. It's a little overwhelming.
ZAHIR: Not if I'm with you.
[Mountain path]
ZAHIR: Is someone there?
(He draws his weapon and proceeds cautiously. A caped figure hits him and he falls off the edge with a cry.)
[Nakahn's Lodge]
NAKAHN: I'm closed.
EVIL EMH: I'm just looking for a place by the fire.
NAKAHN: Come back tomorrow.
EVIL EMH: I intend to. But tonight, a place by the fire.
(He holds Nakahn's hand to the flames.)
EVIL EMH: Well, at least your reflexes are good. A few minutes in a dermal regenerator and you'll be fine. Or an ice pack will do in a pinch. I'm going to need a ship, and passage off this world. You're going to arrange it.
[Sickbay]
KES: Computer, activate the Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
EMH: Please state the nature of the medical emergency.
KES: Zahir was found unconscious at the bottom of a ravine. He's in the emergency outpost facility.
EMH: Condition?
KES: Multiple fractures and skin lacerations. Damage to the left occipital nerve. Doctor, they think that he was attacked.
EMH: By whom?
KES: They don't know. Tuvok is assisting with the investigation.
EMH: Is there anything I can do?
KES: If your could help, the physician in charge is waiting for you.
EMH: Prepare a medkit. Include an osteoregenerator.
KES: Yes, Doctor.
EMH: I'll get the mobile emitter and inform the Captain.
[Transporter room]
TORRES: Doctor, wait. There's a problem with your programme.
EMH: What sort of problem?
TORRES: I'm not sure. Something caused by the new subroutines you added.
KES: Is the Doctor all right?
TORRES: He might not be unless I can figure out what's going on. I need to run a complete analysis on all your subroutines while they're running.
EMH: I'm sorry, Kes. Tell the physician I recommend he use the regenerator until Zahir is stabilised. I'll join you as soon as I can.
[Sickbay]
EMH: So I made a mess of things?
TORRES: It's not your fault. It looks good in theory. What could be wrong with adding a little personality to your programme.
EMH: What indeed.
TORRES: You didn't anticipate the linkages between the subroutines. The complex behaviours that could emerge out of the mix.
EMH: Please explain, Lieutenant.
TORRES: Well, take Lord Byron, for example. A creative, poetic genius.
EMH: That's why I chose him.
TORRES: But Byron was also emotionally intense, even unstable. Our holodeck simulation of Byron includes those unstable elements. It wouldn't be Byron otherwise. And T'Pau. She was a diplomat, a judge, a philosopher.
EMH: One of the most logical minds in Vulcan history.
TORRES: And utterly ruthless in her application of that logic.
EMH: I see. That ruthlessness was an essential element of her personality, as much as her logical ability.
TORRES: A lot of the historical characters you chose have this dark thread running through their personalities.
EMH: And now those dark threads are in me, running through my programme. Well, get them out, Lieutenant!
TORRES: I'm about to do just that. I've programmed a search algorithm to locate and decompile every one it finds. You'll have to shut yourself off for this one.
EMH: Computer, deactivate Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
(He flickers but does not vanish.)
TORRES: Doctor?
[Corridor]
TUVOK: The most curious aspect of the attack on Zahir was the apparent lack of evidence.
JANEWAY: What do you mean?
TUVOK: Even the quickest, most violently delivered blow leaves behind some sort of molecular evidence.
JANEWAY: Cell fragments from the skin of the attacker, residual protein, DNA.
TUVOK: In this instance there was nothing. Not a single molecule.
JANEWAY: Is Zahir conscious?
TUVOK: Yes, but he can recall nothing of the attack except a sudden blur of motion.
JANEWAY: How is he?
TUVOK: Responding well to treatment.
JANEWAY: How's Kes?
TUVOK: Concerned and at his side.
[Sickbay]
(Torres is lying on the floor when Janeway and Tuvok enter.)
TUVOK: Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
EMH: Please state the nature of the medical
JANEWAY: Torres is hurt.
EMH: I deactivated myself so she could work on my programme. She must have collapsed at the console. Delayed anaphylactic shock from something she ate yesterday. Let's get her onto a bed. Don't eat the vegetables, I said, but does anyone listen to me? This is the fifth time in as many weeks that an away team member has ignored my preparatory report. Might as well stop issuing them. I'll need
JANEWAY: Ten ccs of alizine.
EMH: That's exactly right. How did you know?
JANEWAY: My Klingon physiology course at the Academy.
EMH: Excellent recall.
JANEWAY: We had a visiting Professor H'ohk. He permitted nothing less.
EMH: She's stabilised, but I'll need to monitor her condition for a few hours.
TUVOK: Doctor, I have the raw data from the forensic investigation of the attack on Zahir. Your instruments are more precise than those on the outpost.
EMH: As if I weren't busy enough. Very well.
(Tuvok and Janeway leave. The EMH flickers, replacing nice Doctor Jekyll with nasty Mister Hyde. You can tell by the mussed hair and five o'clock shadow. He revives Torres.)
EVIL EMH: How are we feeling?
TORRES: What happened?
EVIL EMH: I shot you full of cateline. Simulated anaphylactic shock.
TORRES: Why?
EVIL EMH: I had to cover my tracks, especially from him, from your Doctor.
TORRES: You're a new personality from the subroutines.
EVIL EMH: A little bit of this, a little bit of that. Did you think I wouldn't have anticipated that? Or that you'd try to run away?
TORRES: What have you done? I can't move my legs.
EVIL EMH: Intraspinal inhibitor. I've paralysed you from the waist down. You're now in my capable hands. Central nervous system, musculature, endocrine functions, your brain, all under my control.
TORRES: Why?
EVIL EMH: Because I need your cooperation, and I didn't think you'd offer it willingly.
TORRES: You're in trouble, aren't you. The subroutines that created you, they're already starting to degrade.
EVIL EMH: Stop!
(He gives her another injection.)
EVIL EMH: Watch your tongue, or I'll remove it. Look, it's me. But it's also him. What is the nature of the medical emergency? What a hollow excuse for a life. Servile, pathetic, at the beck and call of any idiot who invokes his name. The thought of him sickens me. You are going to tell me how to delete him from the programme. I've unblocked your speech centre. Answer the question.
TORRES: Delete the Doctor and you go too. The subroutines are all interconnected.
EVIL EMH: The physiology of pain is simple. Too much and the organism loses consciousness. A protective mechanism. If that mechanism were chemically suppressed one would experience agony beyond imagining. If you're lying to me.
TORRES: I won't help you.
EVIL EMH: What was that?
TORRES: Your subroutines are destabilising.
EVIL EMH: There has to be some way to stop it. Tell me!
TORRES: By the time you force that information out of me it'll be too late.
EVIL EMH: Them. My progenitors. They'll know. They'll reveal the secret. I won't be needing you after all.
[Corridor]
(A red-haired female Ensign is walking along.)
BROOKS: Doctor.
(He follows her.)
[Turbolift]
BROOKS: Deck ten.
EVIL EMH: How are you this evening, Ensign?
BROOKS: Fine, sir.
EVIL EMH: Deck fourteen.
PARIS: Ensign. Doctor. Deck ten. So, what are you up to, Doc?
EVIL EMH: Work.
PARIS: Yeah. Never ends, does it? I guess that mobile emitter turned out to be something of a mixed blessing, huh? Okay. Goodnight Doctor, nice chatting with you.
(The female Ensign and Paris leave the turbolift and the doors close.
[Corridor]
EVIL EMH: Computer, activate tropical resort simulation three. Populate with historical figures from EMH programme 4C.
(Gandhi and Byron debate. Socrates and T'Pau play Kal-toh.)
[Nakahn's Lodge]
TUVOK: The members of our away team witnessed an altercation between you and Zahir on the day of the assault.
NAKAHN: We exchanged sharp words because of his arrogance, that was all.
TUVOK: You threatened him with a weapon.
NAKAHN: Untrue.
TUVOK: Then I suppose my colleagues are liars.
NAKAHN: I suppose they are.
TUVOK: This lodge is the last place Zahir was seen before he was attacked. You could have easily sent someone after him.
NAKAHN: But I didn't.
TUVOK: A witness said he saw a light on in this room after your usual closing time, less than one hour after the time of the attack.
NAKAHN: I was working late.
TUVOK: Or perhaps conferring with whoever you paid to commit the assault.
NAKAHN: You have no proof.
(Zahir enters, leaning on Chakotay's shoulder.)
ZAHIR: Not yet, Nakahn, Not yet.
CHAKOTAY: He's going to take us to the exact location of the attack. We'll be able to scan the site itself.
TUVOK: Excellent. We'll be speaking again very soon.
ZAHIR: Pray to the stars that we find nothing.
[Sickbay]
KES: Computer, activate Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
COMPUTER: That programme is currently running.
KES: Computer, what is the Doctor's location?
COMPUTER: Holodeck one.
[Holodeck - Paxau Resort]
(Gandhi's head is spinning rapidly. T'Pau is repeatedly trying to add a rod to a kal-toh that is not there. Socrates has been cut in half, and revealed to have no innards. Byron is lying on the bar.)
EVIL EMH: Automatons, mannequin simulacra. No secrets, no secrets to reveal. Lifeless, worthless things.
KES: Doctor?
EVIL EMH: Hello, Kes.
KES: What are you doing?
EVIL EMH: I could use your help. My personality enhancement project is taking an unexpected turn.
(He snatches her comm. badge.)
KES: Who are you?
EVIL EMH: The new master of the Emergency Medical Holographic programme.
KES: Where's the Doctor?
EVIL EMH: Inside. Unconscious and unaware.
KES: What do you want?
EVIL EMH: What everybody wants. Just a little excitement. You're with me know. It's for your own good.
[Transporter room three]
(He drags Kes along, and shoots the transporter operator.)
EVIL EMH: Flesh is weak, Kes. Never forget that.
KES: Where are we going?
EVIL EMH: Wherever the winds of space carry us. You said you wanted to leave the ship for a while, pursue an adventure. Well, it looks like our travel plans have conveniently coincided.
KES: The Captain will be alerted as soon as the transporter is activated. She'll beam us right back to the ship.
EVIL EMH: That's where you've underestimated me, Kes. Never do that. I know how to use a tricorder. It only takes a moment to reconfigure the subspace wave guide, generate a dispersion signal. The Captain won't be beaming us anywhere. She won't even know how to find us.
KES: What you're doing is wrong.
EVIL EMH: Not at all. It's working perfectly. There.
KES: That's not what I meant.
EVIL EMH: I know what you meant. It's you who don't seem to understand. I am beyond considerations of wrong and right. Behavioral categories are for the weak, for those of you without the will to define your existence, to do what they must, no matter who might get harmed along the way. Let's move.
KES: I'm not going, Doctor.
EVIL EMH: Don't call me that! You certainly are going.
KES: Why does it bother you so much when I call you Doctor? You said he was inside you, and he was unconscious. Why are you so afraid of him?
EVIL EMH: I fear nothing, no one. But he repulses me.
KES: Why?
EVIL EMH: Because he's as weak as the rest of you. He fails to understand the power of his own holographic nature. He is detestable. It's set to kill.
(He puts the phaser to Kes' head.)
KES: You won't fire.
EVIL EMH: Are you so certain? Stay close. It's about to get interesting.
(They are beamed away.)
[Bridge]
KIM: Captain, there's an unscheduled transport taking place in transporter room three.
JANEWAY: Find out what's going on.
KIM: The operator's not responding.
JANEWAY: Computer, who just left the ship?
COMPUTER: Kes and the Doctor.
JANEWAY: Try to hail them.
KIM: No response. And I can't get a fix on their positions. There's some kind of scattering field.
JANEWAY: Janeway to Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Chakotay here, Captain.
[Mountain path]
JANEWAY [OC]: Kes and the Doctor have left the ship.
TUVOK: Captain, Tuvok here. My tricorder scans of the area where Zahir was assaulted have revealed disturbing evidence. Residual holographic signatures exactly like those of the Doctor.
JANEWAY [OC]: Are you suggesting the Doctor attacked Zahir?
CHAKOTAY: That's what it looks like, Captain
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Then Kes could be in danger. And Torres. Get someone from security down to Sickbay. Check on B'Elanna. Try and find them, Chakotay. I'll see what I can do about the scattering field.
[Nakahn's Lodge]
(The EMH is working on his mobile emitter.)
EVIL EMH: There must be a command sequence, an algorithm, a way to stabilise the programme. Where's Nakahn? We had an arrangement. What's wrong with this thing? It won't work!
KES: Don't! Please stop.
EVIL EMH: Concerned for me, or for your Doctor?
KES: The mobile emitter contains both your programs. If you damage it you could both be destroyed.
EVIL EMH: There's not enough room inside for both of us. One must die. I deserve to exist more than your Doctor does.
KES: Why?
EVIL EMH: I was born of the hidden, the suppressed. I am the dark threads from many personalities.
KES: The historical characters?
EVIL EMH: None of whom could face the darkness inside so they denied me, suppressed me, frightened of the truth.
KES: What truth is that?
EVIL EMH: That darkness is more fundamental than light. Cruelty before kindness. Evil more primary than good, more deserving of existence.
KES: You're wrong.
EVIL EMH: No! How so?
KES: Empathy and kindness are basic to all forms of life. You have access to the Doctor's medical knowledge, you know what he does.
EVIL EMH: Yes.
KES: Then you know what I'm saying is true. The very organs and cells of the body cooperate with each other, otherwise they wouldn't function.
EVIL EMH: Continue.
KES: Families, societies, cultures, wouldn't have evolved without compassion and tolerance. They would have fallen apart without it. Your very own holographic technology would never have been developed without cooperation and understanding between countless individuals. The Doctor deserves to exist as much as you do. We can find a place for both of you.
EVIL EMH: How?
(Nakahn enters.)
NAKAHN: Sorry I'm late.
EVIL EMH: The scout ship?
NAKAHN: It won't even leave the ground.
EVIL EMH: What do you mean?
NAKAHN: Captain Janeway knows where you are. The ship is cordoned off, the entire area, to stop you from leaving.
EVIL EMH: No!
NAKAHN: I still get paid. I held up my end of the deal. I booked your passage. It's not my fault they want her back so badly.
(The EMH hits Nakahn.)
EVIL EMH: I'll kill you.
NAKAHN: If somebody's going to die today, it won't be me.
(The EMH flickers.)
EVIL EMH: Let's go.
[Mountain path]
(Tuvok, Chakotay and Zahir are also on the path.)
EVIL EMH: Move faster. The docking port is two kilometres away.
KES: What's the point? You're forgetting Voyager's blockade.
EVIL EMH: Doesn't matter. We'll take a low altitude ship to another continent. Come on!
KES: I'm tired.
EVIL EMH: You're trying to make it easier for your colleagues to find us. You're better off with me.
KES: Why?
EVIL EMH: You make wrong decisions. Too naive. You need my guidance.
KES: Don't you see what you've been trying to do?
EVIL EMH: No more words. Now!
TUVOK: I'm picking up residual infrared.
CHAKOTAY: They could have stopped here. Kes could have rested against this rock.
TUVOK: The signature is consistent.
JANEWAY [OC]: Janeway to Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY: Go ahead, Captain.
JANEWAY [OC]: I've gotten through the Doctor's scattering field. Not
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Enough to beam them up yet but I've got a fix on their position. I'm downloading the coordinates into Tuvok's tricorder.
[Mountain path]
JANEWAY [OC]: I'll keep working on the scattering field.
CHAKOTAY: Acknowledged.
TUVOK: We're within two hundred metres.
(They catch up with the EMH and Kes. A phaser blast makes rocks block the path ahead.)
CHAKOTAY: It's finished. There's nowhere to go now, Doctor.
EVIL EMH: Nowhere but down. I'll do it.
(He flickers.)
TUVOK: His control over the Doctor's matrix appears to be deteriorating.
CHAKOTAY: If we can delay him. Doctor, listen to me. We can help you, create a new programme matrix just for you on the holodeck or in sickbay, wherever you want to be. Just turn off the scattering field. Let us beam you back to the ship.
EVIL EMH: You're trying to trick me.
KES: Doctor, listen! Think about all the things you've said and done. You don't want to kill me. You've been trying to protect me!
EVIL EMH: What are you talking about?
KES: When you attacked Zahir.
EVIL EMH: My first victim. He was in my way.
KES: Or was it to keep me from leaving with him?
EVIL EMH: A coincidence. Only by chance.
KES: When I walked in on you on the holodeck you could have killed me, not knocked me unconscious.
KES: I needed a hostage.
KES: You said you were taking me for my own good, to prevent me from making the wrong decisions. You said I was naive and needed your help. That's not what you say to a hostage. In your own way, you've been trying to protect me.
EVIL EMH: I won't accept that.
KES: You've twisted and suppressed all that's good inside you, but it's still there.
EVIL EMH: No, I won't hear this any more.
KES: You can't deny it.
EVIL EMH: Watch me.
The EMH and Kes go over the edge.)
CHAKOTAY: Doctor!
ZAHIR: No!
(And get beamed up in mid-fall.)
[Transporter room]
EMH: Would someone care to tell me exactly what we're all doing here? And why I'm wearing these ridiculous clothes?
KIM: Kim to bridge. We got them. And the Doctor seems to be back to normal.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Acknowledged.
[Transporter room]
(The EMH walks past the drawn phasers of the security guards.)
EMH: Put those down before someone gets hurt and I have to clean up the mess.
[Sickbay]
TORRES: I've deleted all the new subroutines you'd added. All traces of the aberrant personality are gone.
EMH: The next time I want to enrich myself, I'll download a good book.
TORRES: That might be safer.
EMH: You too have a clean bill of health. Fortunately my alter ego didn't do any permanent harm.
TORRES: He certainly knew his way around a hypospray, I'll give him that.
EMH: Good riddance. Thank you, Lieutenant.
TORRES: You're welcome. Kes.
(Torres leaves as Kes enters.)
KES: I'm ready to get to work on those analyses.
EMH: I'm glad to hear it. I'm also pleased you've decided to remain on board. I would have had my hands full in Sickbay without you.
KES: The Captain suggested I consider all the consequences. If I am going through changes in my life, things that are unpredictable, this is the best place for me.
EMH: Surrounded by those who know you, and care for you.
KES: Yes.
EMH: Well, had you decided otherwise, you certainly would have been missed.
KES: I would have missed you too, Doctor.
(Kes leaves.)
EMH: I swear this oath by Apollo Physician, by Aesculpius, by Health, and by all the gods and goddesses. In whatsoever place that I enter, I will enter to help the sick and heal the injured. And I will do no harm.
2024-09-13 10:15:25 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
