DIRECTED BY
AIRED ON
September 29, 1999
RUNTIME
44 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
202
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-13 18:15:33
PAGE VERSION
Version 1
LIKES
0
DISLIKES
0
SUMMARY
Stardate: 53049.2. The arrival of three mysterious "individuals" among an influx of visitors to Voyager has mysterious consequences for Seven, who must relive a Borg experience from eight years earlier.
STORY
No story yet.
BEHIND THE SCENES
No trivia yet.
QUOTES
FILMING LOCATIONS
TOPICS
No topics yet.
REVIEWS
Baby thriller!
Written by
Pike on 2018-03-27
★
★
★
★
★
THRILLER
This episode is outstanding! For the first time in the series so far, I was literally on the edge of my seat. The episode heavily focuses on a couple where the woman is expecting a baby. The delivery goes terribly wrong and from that moment, the episode is deeply exciting! You really sense the pressure of the medical staff, especially Dr. Greene. I totally identified with Dr. Mark Greene and can only say that I much prefer my own job. As I usually say, if I do a mistake, no one dies. There are indeed true heroes like doctors, firefighters or policemen, that, at times, really have the lives of others into their own hands.
And when you think that all is fine, then the mother is crashing and you get drawn into the story once again. A really great screenplay with a terrific directing, as well as acting from mostly Anthony Edwards.
Finally, once we also think that the episode is over, we get a great epilogue, that was the perfect and logical conclusion to this great episode. In it, Mark Greene goes directly to the husband/father and informs him that his wife has passed away. A truly remarkable episode.
And the final scene gave me chills. With this sad music, and Mark Greene crying alone in the L train. It felt truly realistic. And even more interesting, when you rewatch the episode, you actually see and understand why the episode starts with a shot of the train. Brilliant.
REALISM
I'll exchange any Marvel movie against this episode. In all those stupid films, immortal superheroes punch each others with no repercussions and I literally fall asleep (i.e. Captain America 2). In this episode, you simply get to see a doctor delivery a baby and you get chills up to your spine. Realism beats fantastic world each time.
AMBITION
This is the first episode where we see the furious ambition of the series, who started as a fun soap opera with some dramatic moments and moved onto a true drama with some comedy in it.
FIRST
Since we are in the first season of the show, all "first moments" will always be the best. In this episode, this is the first time that one of the main doctors will try to continue resuscitating a patient when it is actually too late. This will become a gimmick in the series, but feels so damn fresh and dramatic in this first time.
SUMMARY
An outstanding episode. The best episode of the series so far, and by far. I give it 9 out of 10.
TRANSCRIPT
[Planet surface]
(Birds fly into the air of a purple-skied planet as a small Borg Sphere crashes into a swampy area. Its four survivors clamber from the wreckage.)
TWO OF NINE: Input failure.
FOUR OF NINE: Input failure.
THREE OF NINE: Input failure.
SEVEN OF NINE: Our link to the Collective has been severed. Initiate secondary protocols. The vessel's transwarp chamber is approaching critical pressure. We must evacuate this area.
ALL: Agreed.
TWO OF NINE: No directional coordinates available.
SEVEN OF NINE: That way. Bearing three zero one.
ALL: Agreed:
SEVEN OF NINE: Bring that drone.
Captain's log: stardate 53049.2. We've docked at the Markonian outpost and agreed to mutual visits, so I'm allowing shore leave to anyone who wants it. Commander Tuvok has objected to taking on too many visitors, but security issues aside, I'm looking forward to a cultural exchange, and making some new friends.
[Ready room]
(Voyager is docked at a space station or drift. Chakotay carries a strange object with four hinged arms through the bridge, trying not to hit anyone with their tennis racket style ends as they flap around.)
CHAKOTAY: Captain?
(There is a large plant on her desk, others by the window and many more bits and pieces scattered around the room.)
JANEWAY: I'll be right with you. The station manager didn't tell me the vines were prehensile. I went to put some water in the pot and it grabbed me.
CHAKOTAY: This is a gift from the Kinbori delegation. I don't know its name, only that it's used in one of their sacred games and it's very heavy.
JANEWAY: Put it down anywhere. Thank the Kinbori for me and give them a token of our esteem.
(She hands Chakotay a book.)
CHAKOTAY: I already gave them a Voyager medallion. They seemed appreciative.
JANEWAY: Come in. Doesn't it look like Christmas morning in here, Commander?
CHAKOTAY: You have to admit the generosity of our guests is very impressive.
TUVOK: As is their proclivity for criminal behaviour. This morning's security report.
JANEWAY: A broken ODN line, some missing personal items, a damaged scanner relay. All in all, not that bad.
TUVOK: There is a second page to the report.
JANEWAY: Oh. Some of these incidents are a little more serious but, on balance, I still think we did the right thing.
TUVOK: There is a third page.
CHAKOTAY: Come on, Tuvok. After all the xenophobic races we've run into, don't you find it just a little refreshing to meet some people who value openness and freedom?
JANEWAY: Well as far as I'm concerned, opening the ship has been a fascinating experience and an unqualified success. I'm very pleased.
CHAKOTAY: Me too.
TUVOK: I am pleased that you are pleased. If you'll excuse me.
CHAKOTAY: Tuvok. Please accept this token of our esteem.
(Tuvok declines with a Look and leaves.)
JANEWAY: Ooh, ow! It's got me by the hair!
[Astrometrics lab]
NAOMI: Now it's twelve forty five.
SEVEN: If you're hungry you may eat without me.
NAOMI: You said we'd have lunch together.
SEVEN: I haven't completed my analysis of the station's power conversion matrix.
NAOMI: How long is it going to take?
SEVEN: Several hours.
NAOMI: Seven, you promised.
SEVEN: Very well.
[Corridor]
NAOMI: I think it's even more crowded than this morning.
SEVEN: Yes.
NAOMI: Excuse us. Excuse us. Please, we're trying to get through to the turbolift. Excuse us.
SEVEN: Stand aside!
NAOMI: Thank you.
[Mess hall]
NEELIX: I'm sorry, but there's no more Marsupial surprise. We only had two kilos of pouches to begin with, and it's all gone. Now how about some pizza, huh?
NAOMI: She's a Shivolian, right?
SEVEN: Correct.
NAOMI: Species five two one?
SEVEN: Your mother would not approve of you memorising Borg designations. I don't approve either. We've discussed the impropriety of you emulating the Borg.
NAOMI: Sorry.
SEVEN: I'm finished.
NAOMI: We just sat down.
SEVEN: I do not enjoy crowds.
NAOMI: But you were in the Collective. Wasn't that like a big crowd?
SEVEN: Which is why I do not enjoy them now.
NAOMI: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realise that. Let's go.
(A man with a cross scar below one eye comes up to the table.)
TWO: Excuse me. Are you Seven of Nine?
SEVEN: Yes.
(He opens a case. Seven stands and staggers back a couple of steps. She remembers the crash from the teaser.)
NAOMI: You okay?
SEVEN: These are Borg synaptic relays from my original Unimatrix.
NAOMI: These are yours?
SEVEN: Where did you acquire them?
TWO: A trader from Orendal Five. I was told you are a former Borg drone and might be interested in acquiring these pieces.
SEVEN: I'll take them. Captain Janeway will provide you with whatever monetary reimbursement you require.
TWO: Agreed.
SEVEN: I must examine these items more closely.
NAOMI: Okay.
(Seven leaves with the case.)
NAOMI: What's your name?
(Two walks away.)
NAOMI: That was rude.
TWO OF NINE [OC]: Stage two is complete. She has the relays.
[Engineering]
TWO [OC}: She's going to study them.
(A woman with no obvious scars receives his message.)
THREE [OC]: Her regeneration alcove is in Cargo Bay Two.
[Corridor]
(A younger man joins the conversation.)
FOUR [OC]: That's where she'll go. We should prepare for stage three.
[Engineering]
THREE [OC]: Agreed.
[Mess hall]
TWO [OC]: There's consensus. Rendezvous at my coordinates and stand by to penetrate their security.
[Planet surface]
(Back in the past, items are being extracted from the dead drone.)
FOUR OF NINE: Error.
SEVEN OF NINE: Explain.
FOUR OF NINE: We shouldn't be desecrating the body of this drone. It is against the will of Brothara.
THREE OF NINE: Who is Brothara?
TWO OF NINE: Brothara. Supernatural deity worshipped by species five seven one.
FOUR OF NINE: I am a member of species five seven one.
SEVEN OF NINE: You're being confused by irrelevant data. Ignore it.
THREE OF NINE: You said I am a member of species five seven one. Do you consider yourself an individual?
SEVEN OF NINE: There are no individuals here. We are Borg.
ALL: Agreed.
SEVEN OF NINE: Resume constructing the communications beacon.
(But Four and Two are bothered by this turn of events.)
[Cargo Bay two]
(Fashion note - this season, Torres has curled her hair.)
TORRES: It looks like a standard Borg synaptic relay.
SEVEN: There must be something more. When I first came into contact with it, I was overwhelmed with images, memories, sounds.
TORRES: Sounds like a perfectly natural reaction to me. That was part your old unimatrix, right? Well, isn't it at least possible that what you experienced was simply nostalgia? You know, sentimental feelings about the past.
SEVEN: I know what nostalgia is, but I have no feelings about the past.
TORRES: Okay. I think I've done all I can here.
SEVEN: Lieutenant. You were trying to help. I appreciate that.
TORRES: Anytime. Oh, and, er, you may not be nostalgic about the past, but I'd say you definitely have feelings about it. Strong ones.
[Mess hall]
(All three ex-Borg are seated at a table.)
TWO [OC]: Their security protocols are formidable. We may not have enough time.
FOUR [OC]: I'm worried about Seven of Nine. We should re-examine the question of simply asking
THREE [OC]: You know what her reactions will be. She won't help us because she
TWO [OC]: We've been through all that.
FOUR [OC] She could be permanently injured. I don't want to harm her.
TWO: Enough!
THREE: I need consensus.
TWO: We can't act without it.
FOUR: I know.
TWO: So then it's up to you. Do we proceed or not?
FOUR: Yes. We, I apologise for my indecision.
THREE: Apologies are irrelevant.
[Cargo Bay two]
SEVEN: Computer, begin multi-polar analysis.
COMPUTER: Analysis underway.
SEVEN: Time to completion?
COMPUTER: Five hours, seventeen minutes.
[Mess hall]
TWO: She's regenerating.
THREE: Begin rerouting their internal sensors.
FOUR [OC]: Rerouting sensor input to secondary processors.
(On the bridge, Tuvok detects something going on.)
[Turbolift]
(Two, Three and Four are left alone.)
THREE: Hold.
(Two opens the roof hatch.)
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY: What have you got?
TUVOK: There's a power fluctuation in the security grid.
(Seven's former colleagues make their way through Jefferies tubes to Cargo Bay two. Janeway is called to the bridge.)
CHAKOTAY: All we know is that we've got a security breach. We don't know where.
[Cargo Bay two]
(Two removes a bandage from his hand and taps the back of it.)
TWO: Ready. Insert the interlink module.
(Three removes the module from her leg and attaches it to Seven's regeneration chamber.)
THREE: Ready.
(Four hesitates.)
TWO: He's still worried about injuring her.
THREE: If we fail, we'll never become individuals. We have to remember that.
TWO: There is consensus. (Two injects his tubules into Seven's neck.)
TWO: I've found her memory files.
THREE: She's aware of our presence.
TWO: She's trying to regain consciousness.
FOUR: We must abort.
THREE: No! We're too close.
(Seven wakes.)
SEVEN: I will not comply.
(She knocks Two away, disconnecting him. Tuvok and security run in to stun them with phaser fire.)
[Planet surface]
(Nighttime. The Borgs have built a campfire, and Four is roasting a piece of meat from their dead colleague over it. Seven reaches out and warms her hands.)
SEVEN OF NINE: I have performed this action before. I was with my father. He was a tall man.
TWO OF NINE: I have a similar memory. But I was in a house and the fire was in the hearth.
FOUR OF NINE: The biomatter is ready.
(They each take a piece.)
THREE OF NINE: It tastes similar to a bird I once ate.
FOUR OF NINE: I used to prepare food for my parents. They lived in a small building by a river.
SEVEN OF NINE: I used to be afraid of the dark.
TWO OF NINE: Just before I was assimilated, I was eating with a group of men. We worked in numbers. Mathematics. I calculated equations for another man.
THREE OF NINE: I have a name. It's Marika. Marika Willkarah. Willkarah.
TWO OF NINE: Hello, Marika Willkarah.
SEVEN OF NINE: Her designation is Three of Nine.
FOUR OF NINE: I have a name. P'Chan. Son of Dornar and Ansha. My primary function was to care for them.
THREE OF NINE: I was married. We were on a starship, the Excalibur. I worked in Engineering.
TWO OF NINE: This is not my hand.
FOUR OF NINE: My parents are dead. The Borg killed them. I hate the Borg.
SEVEN OF NINE: This is counterproductive. We must delete all irrelevant data.
TWO OF NINE: I want my hand back.
THREE OF NINE: I was on duty, the night watch, when the Borg came. Oh, my God, look at what they've done to me. These, these things they put in my body. What have they done?
SEVEN OF NINE: Command override. Cease this interaction. Comply! We will not access these memory files again. Initiate the prescribed maintenance and survival protocols only. No further communication is required until we are r-assimilated into the Collective.
TWO OF NINE: Agreed.
THREE OF NINE: Agreed.
FOUR OF NINE: Agreed.
[Sickbay]
(The three ex-Borg are unconscious on biobeds.)
EMH: But whoever removed their implants was a poor surgeon. Their internal organs were damaged during the procedure and their bodies are covered with scars.
JANEWAY: You said you recognised them.
SEVEN: Not at first. But when they attempted to access my memory files I was momentarily linked with them. Two of Nine. Three of Nine. Four of Nine. We were all members of the same Unimatrix.
JANEWAY: Do you know why they were trying to access your memories?
SEVEN: No.
JANEWAY: How long have they been disconnected from the Collective?
EMH: Three or four months. However, they are still connected to each other. Somehow, the left parietal lobes of their brains have been transformed into organic interlink nodes. They've become linked together into a sort of Collective Triad.
JANEWAY: Revive them. I'm Captain Janeway. We know who you are and we know what you were trying to do. What we don't know is why.
TWO: She has information we need.
JANEWAY: What kind of information?
TWO: We want to become
THREE: Individuals.
JANEWAY: You want to break the neural link between the three of you?
THREE: Wouldn't you? None of us is alone with our own thoughts, our own feelings.
TWO: Every day of my life is spent hearing their two voices in my head.
FOUR: When we're asleep, we experience each other's dreams.
EMH: How's that different from life in the Collective?
SEVEN: In the Collective there are billions of voices. They become white noise.
TWO: But, with only three
THREE: Each voice comes through clearly.
FOUR: It has to stop. We must break the neural link.
JANEWAY: Doctor, is there anything you can do?
EMH: The modifications are too extensive. Their neuronal pathways have been fundamentally altered.
TWO: You hold the key.
SEVEN: Why?
THREE: You were there with us.
FOUR: Planet one eight six five alpha. You must remember.
SEVEN: Eight years ago our vessel crashed. The four of us were the only survivors.
TWO: When we were reassimilated
THREE: We found we'd been linked together somehow.
FOUR: We were a subset within the Collective.
TWO: It's like having three voices whispering in one ear
THREE: And a crowd screaming in the other
FOUR: We had to break free, so we worked together. We finally escaped.
TWO: We had our implants removed on Inavar Prime.
THREE: But they couldn't break the neural link.
FOUR: We need to find out what happened eight years ago, after the crash.
TWO: The night we were reassimilated into the Collective. We need to know how the link was created, but our memories are
THREE: Fragmented, disorganised. We hoped that you would know.
SEVEN: I don't. However, I am willing to attempt to retrieve the data. Come with me.
[Cargo Bay two]
(A data cable is plugged into the back of Four's head.)
SEVEN: Are you ready?
FOUR: Yes.
SEVEN: Data search complete. Do you remember anything further?
FOUR: No. My last memory
THREE: Is of us standing
ALL: Around the campfire.
SEVEN: And yet the data files in your cortical processor appear to be intact. I see no evidence that would explain your lapse in memory.
TWO: What about you? Why don't you remember what happened?
SEVEN: I don't know. I've found no evidence of damage to my memory files either. I remember the campfire and then waking up in the Collective. There is an obvious gap, but no indication of why.
TWO: Why do they still call you Seven? You should have a name.
SEVEN: It is my name.
FOUR: No. It's a designation. You're an individual now.
SEVEN: I decided that my former name was no longer appropriate. Prepare to reinitialise the memory cascade.
THREE: I can't wait to use my real name again.
SEVEN: There is nothing preventing you from doing so.
TWO: Except that most of the time I don't know whether my name is Marika, P'Chan or Lansor. The names, the memories
FOUR: The memories, even the thoughts flow from one to the other.
THREE: I can't love or hate or laugh.
ALL: Or cry without sharing it with them.
TWO: How can any of us take a name for
ALL: For ourselves?
FOUR: We're not individuals.
THREE: We're not Borg.
TWO: We're nothing.
SEVEN: Begin the memory cascade.
[Ready room]
JANEWAY: A friendly game?
(Paris has a black eye.)
PARIS: Well, that's how it started.
(Kim has a cut lip.)
JANEWAY: I see. Perhaps you could explain to me how this friendly game turned into a street brawl?
PARIS: Well, Harry and I wanted to explore the station. We wanted to broaden our understanding of alien cultures and, er
JANEWAY: Skip the recruiting speech. You were looking for a bar. Then what?
KIM: Well, we found one, and we met a pair of Kinbori who told us about this game they play with these big, odd-looking rackets.
JANEWAY: You mean one of those?
BOTH: Yeah!
PARIS: In any case, they challenged us to a game and we accepted, but I guess we weren't quite aware of all the rules.
JANEWAY: Because you'd been drinking.
PARIS: Yes, ma'am. You see, we thought it was a version of tennis, but as soon as we hit the first volley this Kinbori jumps over the net and starts attacking us with his racket.
KIM: So we figured we were supposed to fight back.
PARIS: Yeah.
KIM: And then, er, well, things got a little out of hand.
JANEWAY: A little out of hand? Seven Voyager crewmen, including two bridge officers, along with thirteen Kinbori and one Morphinian café owner, all arrested. The charges range from disorderly conduct to assault on a security officer.
KIM: That last one's not true.
JANEWAY: Thank you, Mister Kim. I'll note that exception in my log. You're both confined to quarters until further notice, after you report to Sickbay. That's all. Well, did you win?
PARIS: Oh yes, ma'am.
KIM: We kicked their rackets.
JANEWAY: Good. Dismissed.
(Paris and Kim leaves, Seven enters.)
JANEWAY: Any progress?
SEVEN: I've determined that we all have exactly the same gap in our memories. It seems unlikely that it would be a coincidence.
JANEWAY: So you believe the Collective deliberately wiped your recollections of the reassimilation process?
SEVEN: It is the most likely explanation.
JANEWAY: But?
SEVEN: The Collective would not care that four drones remember being reassimilated.
JANEWAY: Something must have happened during the process. Something they wanted to hide from you. Let's look at this from a different perspective. Why would the Collective lock them into a neural triad in the first place?
SEVEN: I don't know. There is no advantage to having three drones linked together in this manner.
JANEWAY: They obviously did it for some reason. And I get the feeling that if we can answer that question, the rest should fall into place. But I wish we could find a way to close the gaps in your memories.
SEVEN: There is a way.
JANEWAY: I assume there's a reason you didn't mention it before now?
SEVEN: It would involve linking my neural interface to theirs. Together, we may be able to restore the missing data. However, I would again be part of a group mind.
JANEWAY: You're not eager to revisit that experience, hmm?
SEVEN: There's also the possibility that I could become trapped in the neural link.
JANEWAY: Turning the triad into a quartet. I won't ask you to take that kind of risk.
SEVEN: I do feel compelled to help them, but I am uncertain as to the correct course of action.
JANEWAY: Let me ask you something. Do you think of these people as family?
SEVEN: Is it relevant?
JANEWAY: There's an old saying. Blood is thicker than water. It means that the ties of family run deeper than any other kind of relationship. We'll often do things for members of our family we'd never dream of doing for anyone else.
[Corridor]
NAOMI: Seven. Seven.
SEVEN: Naomi Wildman.
NAOMI: I heard about the drones. Did they hurt you?
SEVEN: I am not damaged.
NAOMI: What do they want?
SEVEN: They are seeking information from me, but I am uncertain whether I can help them.
NAOMI: Oh. Be careful.
SEVEN: Naomi Wildman, do you consider me to be family?
NAOMI: I, I don't, I mean. Yes. Is that okay?
SEVEN: I have no objection.
NAOMI: Do you think of me as family?
SEVEN: Yes.
Captain's log, supplemental. Seven of Nine has decided to undergo the procedure that will link her mind with the other drones. Despite the risk involved, she feels an obligation to help these distant cousins.
[Cargo Bay two]
EMH: I'll be monitoring your neural readings while you're in the link, but I'm not certain I'll be able to counter the effects if you become trapped.
SEVEN: I know you'll do your best.
EMH: It's never a good sign when the patient feels the need to comfort the doctor. Good luck.
(All four drones step into alcoves.)
SEVEN: Ready?
TWO: Ready.
FOUR: Ready.
THREE: Ready.
[Planet surface]
(Seven is walking around, and find another drone.)
SEVEN OF NINE: You are damaged. I will assist you. Don't worry. Everything will be all right.
(The drone dies in her arms. She returns to the campfire.)
FOUR OF NINE: The Collective has located us. A Borg vessel is on its way.
SEVEN OF NINE: We will be one with the Borg again.
TWO OF NINE: No. I do not want to rejoin the Collective.
FOUR OF NINE: Agreed.
SEVEN OF NINE: That is in violation of all established protocols.
THREE OF NINE: Forget the protocols. You're not a drone. You're a person, like us.
FOUR OF NINE: You have a name, a life. All you have to do is embrace who you really are.
SEVEN OF NINE: No. I do not exist. I am only part of the greater whole.
TWO OF NINE: That's what they want you to believe. That's what they want us all to believe.
SEVEN OF NINE: We are Borg. Our primary function is to serve the Collective.
TWO OF NINE: Not anymore.
(Two smashes the communications beacon.)
SEVEN OF NINE: Error. Input failure.
TWO OF NINE: They may know what planet we're on, but without the beacon it'll be far more difficult to locate us.
THREE OF NINE: If we can remodulate our cortical implants, we might be able to elude their sensors.
TWO OF NINE: We must leave this place.
SEVEN OF NINE: This discussion is in violation of all established protocols.
THREE OF NINE: You stay here and be reassimilated if you want to. I won't.
(They leave Seven alone. She paces around as the camp fire dies. Later, she finds Four and stuns him. Then she inserts tubules into him.)
FOUR OF NINE: What are you doing?
SEVEN OF NINE: The nanoprobes will create new interlink nodes in your left hemisphere. Resistance is futile.
(A few moments later, he gets up and follows her. They find Two, and Seven does the same to him. They finally catch up to Three.)
THREE OF NINE: I will not comply. I will not comply.
(Seven injects her.)
SEVEN OF NINE: State your designations.
TWO OF NINE: Two of Nine. Primary adjunct of Unimatrix zero one.
THREE OF NINE: Three of Nine. Auxiliary processor of Unimatrix zero one.
FOUR OF NINE: Four of Nine. Secondary adjunct of Unimatrix zero one.
SEVEN OF NINE: What is your primary function?
ALL: To serve the Collective.
SEVEN OF NINE: You will repair the communications beacon.
[Cargo Bay two]
TWO: It was you. You were responsible. What have you done to us?
THREE: You linked us together.
FOUR: You're responsible for our suffering.
THREE: How could you do it?
TWO: If you didn't want to return to the Collective
THREE: You didn't have to.
SEVEN: You don't understand what happened.
(All three shout at her at the same time.)
SEVEN: Somebody help me!
(Tuvok enters.)
TUVOK: What's happening?
EMH: Somehow they broke their link with Seven. They're malfunctioning. Help me get them to Sickbay.
[Sickbay]
EMH: When they broke the connection with you, it must have overloaded their cortical implants. They went into neural shock.
SEVEN: And yet I was undamaged?
EMH: I think I know why. You said you remembered injecting them with nanoprobes eight years ago.
SEVEN: Yes. It created an interlink between them. It was the only way to prevent them from escaping the Collective.
EMH: Well, it seems to have had an unfortunate side effect. Their higher brain functions were somehow tied into the interlink. When they broke their connection with you in the cargo bay, the shock to their cognitive systems was too great.
SEVEN: Can you revive them?
EMH: I can remove the microcortical implants. That would break the link binding them together, but it would also kill them. They'd only live a matter of weeks. A month at the most.
SEVEN: What are the other options?
EMH: They could be returned to the Borg. If they were reassimilated into the Collective, they would regain consciousness, and then live out a normal life span.
SEVEN: As drones.
EMH: As drones. But they'd be alive, Seven.
[Astrometrics lab]
SEVEN: They have no hope of surviving unless they return to the Collective.
CHAKOTAY: Not exactly a happy ending, is it?
SEVEN: No.
CHAKOTAY: Back on that planet, why do you think you reacted so differently from the rest of them? Why were you so afraid of becoming an individual?
SEVEN: When I was first assimilated into the Collective, I was a child. They were assimilated as adults. When our individual memories began to resurface
CHAKOTAY: Yours were of being a little girl. A scared little girl.
SEVEN: I let that fear control me. After I saw the drone die in the swamp, I panicked. I began to envision my own death. Alone, without even the sound of another drone to comfort me. So I forced them to return. I infiltrated their left cerebral hemispheres with nanoprobes and created a new interlink network. One that they couldn't resist. And then I eliminated the evidence of what I had done.
CHAKOTAY: You were overwhelmed by feelings you couldn't begin to understand. You're not responsible for that.
SEVEN: Because of what I did, they'll be forced to live the rest of their lives in the Collective. For that, I am responsible.
CHAKOTAY: There's a difference between surviving and living. They'll survive in the Collective, but they won't really be alive. You know that better than any of us.
SEVEN: There is no alternative.
CHAKOTAY: How long would they survive if the Doctor deactivated this interlink network you created?
SEVEN: A month at most.
CHAKOTAY: A month as an individual, or a lifetime as a drone. Which option would you choose?
[Doctor's office]
SEVEN: Survival is insufficient.
EMH: I beg your pardon?
SEVEN: Eight years ago, I forced them to return to the Collective. I won't make the same mistake again. They deserve to exist as individuals. We must terminate the link between them.
EMH: I understand that you feel a certain responsibility for these patients, but as their physician, so do I. It's my duty to preserve their lives for as long as possible, even if that means
SEVEN: I will not return them to the Borg.
EMH: Are you thinking of what's best for them, or for you?
SEVEN: Clarify.
EMH: You said it yourself. You made a mistake. And Seven of Nine doesn't like to make mistakes. She strives for perfection. I want you to think about the motivation behind your decision. Are you doing what's right for those three people, or are you trying to alleviate the guilt you feel over what happened eight years ago?
SEVEN: The damage I did can never be repaired, and my guilt is irrelevant. I simply want them to experience individuality, as I have. As you have. At one time, you were confined to this Sickbay. Your programme was limited to emergency medical protocols. In some ways, you were not unlike a drone. But you were granted the opportunity to explore your individuality. You were allowed to expand your programme. Your mobile emitter gives you freedom of movement. Your thoughts are your own. If you were told you had to become a drone again, I believe you would resist.
EMH: Yes. I suppose I would.
SEVEN: They would resist as well. They would choose freedom, no matter how fleeting. Only you and I can truly understand that.
EMH: Survival is insufficient.
[Mess hall]
(It is dark. The trio are standing by the windows. Seven is with them.)
THREE: It's so quiet.
FOUR: I had no idea you were going to say that. I don't know what either of you is thinking.
TWO: I'd forgotten what it was like to be alone with my own thoughts. I'm leaving.
THREE: Where will you go?
TWO: I want to see the space station, to meet new people. To fill my life with life again, in the time I have left.
(He nods a thank you to Seven, and leaves.)
FOUR: I'm leaving as well. There's an uninhabited planet only a few light years from here. I'd like to spend my final days in the open air.
(He hugs Three, then turns to Seven.)
FOUR: My people don't believe in holding grudges. I wish you well, Seven of Nine.
SEVEN: Thank you.
(Four leaves.)
THREE: It's nice to be on a Federation Starship again. I'd like to stay aboard Voyager.
SEVEN: The Captain said you may stay as long as you wish.
THREE: You mean as long as I have. I can't forgive you for what you did to us, but I do understand why you did it.
[Astrometrics lab]
SEVEN: Naomi Wildman.
NAOMI: I thought you might like some company.
SEVEN: Why?
NAOMI: Because of what happened with the drones.
SEVEN: I see that word travels quickly.
NAOMI: It's a small ship. I thought maybe you might want to spend some time with family.
2024-09-13 18:15:33 -
Pike:
Added the transcript.
