Helmsman's log, stardate 50252.3.
While Voyager takes on supplies,
Torres and I are investigating some intermittent sensor readings.
We've been here five hours and haven't seen any sign of those signatures.
They were nothing more than galactic background noise.
I want to keep looking a while longer just to be sure.
- What's wrong? - Cramp.
Klingon bodies weren't meant to sit in a cockpit for five hours.
- You have a dinner date or something? - What's that supposed to mean?
You've been angling to get back to Voyager for about two hours.
I just thought maybe there was a reason. Like Ensign Bristow.
What?
He's been hanging around engineering. Around you.
Freddie Bristow is a child.
Oh, really? He looks like a grown-up to me.
Tall, good-looking. And I hear he plays a mean set of parrises squares.
I played one game with him. And I whipped him.
Look, he has a crush on me. I can handle it.
- Why are you so interested? - I'm just curious.
You have Klingon blood and seem to live the life of a Tabran monk.
Lieutenant, that is none of your business.
If you ever have a free evening I have a holodeck program you might enjoy.
Sailing on Lake Como.
I'd rather take my chances with Freddie Bristow.
Those energy signatures are back.
We must have crossed into a tachyon field.
- A ship has locked onto our hull. - Why didn't we detect it?
The tachyon field must have disrupted our sensors.
I'm Lieutenant Tom Paris of...
Computer, pause playback.
Your entrance was early. You're rushing the tempo.
I am not rushing. You are lagging behind like a tired donkey.
I've studied the finest recordings of this.
Caruso and Galli-Curci, Pavarotti and Freni,
Soral and T'Penna of Vulcan.
My tempo is accurate.
Galli-Curci, Freni, T'Penna...
They are all fallite. They're mere dust balls.
They are nothing.
Giuseppina Pentangeli, the greatest soprano lirico of the 22nd Century,
transcends them all.
And conductors take their tempi from me. Capisci?
In this instance, they take it from me. I programmed the orchestral playback.
Who allows you to make this choice? You are an amateur.
You have no sense of rubato, no rallentando.
It's like singing with a computer.
I may be an amateur, but I'm also a quick study.
As I am in charge of this program, you will do it my way!
Shall we try it again? Computer, start playback.
Stop playback.
- What now? - I couldn't remember the words.
I have never forgotten the lyrics!
This is the difference between amateur and professional.
No need to overreact.
This is infuriating!
I want another partner!
I'm the one who needs another partner! You've upset me.
Janeway to the Doctor. We have a medical emergency.
- Report to sickbay. - Right away.
Next time I'll take my chances with Maria Callas.
- Computer, delete the diva. - Imbecille, pensa...
Their nervous system has suffered trauma from a neuroelectric weapon.
- It must have been painful. - It certainly was.
- Do you know why they attacked you? - No.
We couldn't understand them and they just lifted their weapons.
The injuries are treatable. It shouldn't take long.
Tuvok, send a message. I want to know why they were attacked.
I'll ask Neelix if he knows these people. Doctor, keep me posted.
- It would help if you didn't fidget. - Can't I get out of here?
When you're ready to leave, I will tell you.
- Tom isn't responding. - I'll look at him.
- Where's my retinal imager? - I haven't seen it.
- Did you move it from the tray? - I haven't been near it.
I've just had an unpleasant encounter with a mad woman.
She must have upset me more than I realised.
You're fine. Why are you still here?
Thank you.
He must have suffered deep tissue damage.
The regenerator isn't helping.
Doctor?
I have made numerous hails.
The only response has been a single repeating message.
It's a language so unlike ours that the translator can't interpret it.
Harry, remodulate the translator.
Neelix, what can you tell us?
If these people are who I think they are, I can tell you this is very bad news.
I've never encountered them,
but from what I've heard I'm glad I didn't.
Most ships entering their space disappear.
Some have returned with everyone on board dead.
They're a mystery. No one knows their name,
how many there are, what their culture is like.
Just that they really don't want people violating their territory.
If this is any indication of their borders, it's a huge area of space.
To go around it would take months.
15 months even if we could sustain maximum warp, which we can't.
I'm not going to add another 15 months to this journey.
We need another option.
If we are not to go around their space, the only option is to go through it.
Precisely.
Tom and B'Elanna hit a sensor net as they crossed the border.
We'll run into it when we try to cross. But there are ways around sensor nets.
They can't possibly patrol a border this size.
We could find an unguarded section.
Would it affect your decision if I said that encroaching on alien territories
is prohibited by Starfleet regulations?
No, it wouldn't.
Captain, you have managed to surprise me.
We're a long way from Starfleet.
I won't waste 15 months because we've run into a bunch of bullies.
- Sickbay to Captain Janeway. - Go ahead.
Please turn to your Emergency Medical Holographic channel.
Lieutenant Paris suffered greater damage than my initial scan revealed.
I have to perform a motor cortex reconstruction.
Don't be overly concerned. His condition is not life-threatening.
The procedure is simple for a skilled physician.
Very good. Keep me informed.
I want a plan for crossing that border as quickly and quietly as possible.
We'll reconvene in an hour. Dismissed.
Doctor, I have the cortical analeptics you asked for.
Good. Fill the hyposprays. We'll begin when I've finished scrubbing.
- Did I hear you singing? - Yes. "O Soave Fanciulla".
It's an aria from "La Bohème", a truly exquisite opera by Giacomo Puccini,
a human composer of the 19th Century.
- I didn't know you enjoyed music. - I've begun a study of opera.
I find it quite satisfying.
But I am having difficulty finding a partner for the role of Mimi.
All the soprani have irritating personalities.
They're arrogant, superior, condescending.
I can't imagine anyone behaving that way.
What is it?
A quiz. What is the first step in this procedure?
Establish the axon connections and test for synaptic potentials.
Quite right. Very good.
Doctor, what is it?
I seem to have a small problem.
I... can't remember how to perform this operation.
OK. I've repaired the damaged preganglionic fibres in the spine.
Now restore the nerve sheath. You need the myelin regenerator.
- What is it? - He's going into respiratory arrest.
- What do I do? - Apply an efferent impulse.
Apply a what?
Vital signs are returning to normal.
Myelin regeneration is complete.
What's the synaptic potential reading?
Synaptic potentials are normal.
Autonomic and somatic systems are functioning.
Very good, Doctor. I think you've done it.
The EMH database is experiencing a cascading overload of some kind.
Doc's memory circuits are deteriorating.
He wasn't designed to be active as much as he is,
but I thought you programmed safety buffers.
I did. But they're breaking down.
I thought that in the event of cascade failure I should simply be reinitialised.
That would stop the cascade and allow us to reset your subroutines but...
But what?
It would restore the original program,
reset him to the person he was when we first activated him.
He'd forget everything that's happened to him over the past two years.
- Right. - Doctor, how do you feel about that?
I can't say I'd like to lose the last two years.
But my primary responsibility is the health and welfare of this crew.
Start the reinitialisation process immediately.
No. Wait. Wait, please.
We can't treat the Doctor like a computer. He's come too far.
Doctor, think about this. You'd be losing so much.
All your relationships, our friendship,
your sense of being a member of this crew.
I can't put my concerns over the crew's.
Look at the experiences you've had.
You've made friends, learned how to sing opera, even fallen in love.
If you lose those memories, you won't be the same person.
You don't know why his memory is failing.
- Unfortunately not. - So the problem could occur again.
Possibly.
Let's look for the cause of the problem. There may be a better solution.
Tom Paris is stable. He'll be back on duty today.
I can certainly handle all the routine cases in sickbay.
Let's not just erase him without trying to help him first.
If a crew member came down with an illness,
you'd do everything in your power to make them well again.
I think we owe you nothing less.
I'll get started.
Don't be discouraged. I know B'Elanna can find a way.
Captain?
- I think we've found a way across. - Let's hear it.
Their sensor net uses tachyon beams. If we can refract them around the ship,
we can slip across without appearing to have disrupted the net.
- Not bad. - And...
We found that this area shows no indication of vessels.
We can slide through, and be through this narrow section in four days.
Good work.
Helm, set a course for the border.
What are you doing now?
Seeing if the data corruption is affecting your optical sensors.
- What did that do? - I can't see! I'm blind!
Al right.
That is extremely disconcerting! Please don't do it again.
- Now what are you doing? - Attenuating your force field projectors.
Doctor, this is very delicate work. Could you please sit over there?
How extremely rude.
May I remind you that I am, in a way, your patient,
who's suffering from a debilitating condition.
You should be more sensitive.
You're questioning my bedside manner?
The good news is that your projection system isn't affected.
But I don't know why your circuits are degrading.
Then what do we do now?
What we do now... is get a second opinion.
I'll transfer you to the holodeck in a few minutes. Wait here.
Computer, initiate Jupiter Station diagnostic program Alpha-11.
The program is activated.
Computer, transfer the program for the Emergency Medical Hologram
to holodeck 2.
I remember this place.
This is where you were created and where your database was written.
It seems so long ago.
This program contains a diagnostic matrix
for the Emergency Medical System.
I should have remembered that. How could I have forgotten?
I'll have to play with the systems. I'm not sure how to access the subroutines.
Don't touch that!
- Who are you? - A recreation of Dr Zimmerman,
the creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram.
- You're the diagnostic matrix. - Yes.
- Something wrong with your EMH? - Yes.
I hope you can do something.
- What's wrong with it? - Cascade failure.
His memory circuits are degrading. I was trying to...
I can do it faster.
- I see where you get your personality. - And my hairline.
Here's a schematic of the EMH and its subroutines.
What is the source of the problem?
This isn't good. The EMH has a level-4 memory fragmentation.
How long has the program been active?
I have been active for...
- For... - Almost two years.
Two years? There's your problem.
This program was developed as a short-term supplement. 1,500 hours.
I added data compression buffers to compensate but they're breaking down.
The EMH is a highly sophisticated program. You shouldn't meddle with it.
Should we shut down his program till we figure out how to fix him?
At this point it doesn't matter.
With a level-4 memory fragmentation, it will simply continue to degrade.
There's only one course of action - a system-wide reinitialisation.
Would it be possible to expand his memory circuits instead?
Of course. Schedule it for your next maintenance layover.
We're thousands of light years from Federation space.
There's nothing more I can do.
Reinitialise it or this EMH will end up with the intellectual capacity of a parsnip.
- What? - Bridge to Torres.
- I'm here, Captain. - We need your help in engineering.
I'm on my way.
Doctor, you haven't told us anything we don't already know.
I need to find out why the Doctor's memory circuits are degrading
so we can come up with a solution.
Do whatever you need to do to get us some answers.
- I'll be back as soon as I can. - ...I wish you didn't have to go.
I'll hurry. I promise.
We're 500,000 kms from the border. I'm ready to go, Captain.
- All set, Mr Kim? - I'm ready when Torres is.
Bridge to engineering. B'Elanna are you ready to reconfigure the shields?
Ready.
Sensors show a large vessel five light years from our position.
- It's huge! - On screen.
Magnify.
It looks like thousands of ships.
There are no energy signatures. Propulsion systems must be off-line.
- They haven't detected us. - Yet.
Let's get through that sensor net. Harry, go.
Initiate the refraction pulse.
- Pulses activated. - Moving to full harmonic resolution.
60%... 80%...
90%. Maximum resolution. Shields at nominal output.
- Mr Paris, take us through. - Aye, sir. Here we go.
The net is registering as intact. Those vessels won't suspect a thing.
I think we did it. Like a snake through the tube.
- How about those ships? - They have not detected us.
- They have not powered up engines. - Let's do this fast.
- What's your recommendation? - I'll try holding warp 9.75.
After 12 hours we'll be a third of the way through.
Tuvok, if those ships as much as twitch, I want to know it.
- Captain, something is wrong. - What do you mean?
It's like there's a drag on the engines.
Sensors indicate a resonant particle wave.
- We're losing speed. - B'Elanna, can you compensate?
I'll try. The antimatter reaction chamber may have been compromised.
Keep me posted. Hold our present speed.
Why are you making me stare at these?
Stay fixed on the fractal patterns while I analyse your data path integrity.
- There it is. - What is it?
I told you not to talk!
This is the problem.
The personality subroutine has grown to 15,000 gigaquads.
That's the source of the degradation.
Look at all this useless information floating around!
Friendships with the crew, relationships with... women?
- Do they find you attractive? - I don't remember.
- You filled your memory with nonsense! - Only during my off hours.
- When you're supposed to be off! - I'm sorry. I didn't realise.
- Who are you? - Doctor's assistant.
- I came to see how he's doing. - Just the person I need.
Who's been feeding useless information into its database?
- What do you mean? - I'll give you an example.
Here's something in its personality subroutine.
He's been studying opera. What's wrong with that?
- It's a physician, not a tenor. - What's wrong with wanting to be more?
It's superfluous!
I've got the same matrix, holo-array and neural pathways.
I don't clutter up my circuits with irrelevancies.
I'm content to be the best possible diagnostic program I can be.
Your EMH should just be a physician.
The Doctor has become a person who grows and learns and feels.
- It's made him a better physician. - An EMH program can't feel.
Its emotional reactions are simply a series of algorithms.
He's much more than that. I've known him for most of my life.
He's one of my closest friends.
You can't possibly believe that this program shares these feelings.
I know he does.
Tell me, Doctor, is this one of your closest friends?
Doctor.
I'm sorry. I don't know who you are.
- What's the status of their ships? - Still unpowered.
They don't seem to have detected us.
When I was in school I snuck out a couple of times at night.
I tiptoed passed my parents' room. That's how this feels.
You sneaked out? Where?
I'll leave that to your imagination, Lieutenant.
- Can I guess? - I'm detecting another ship.
Not part of the Swarm. It has been damaged.
- Propulsion systems are not functional. - On screen.
Looks like it's been pounded on.
Any lifesigns?
- Only one. And it's faint. - Beam the survivor to sickbay.
See if you can figure out what happened to that ship.
He's suffering from severe dehydration, damage to the spine,
trauma to the nervous system.
- Just like B'Elanna and Tom. - Can I talk to him?
Try. I'll try to restore his cranial nerves but I'm not sure it will help.
He's sick. This is where sick people come.
Doctor, hold onto this tricorder. Keep it pointed right at the patient.
I'm Kathryn Janeway, the captain of this ship. Can you hear me?
- Yes. - Can you tell me who attacked you?
There were thousands of them. Little ships.
Swarmed around my freighter. Covered every square metre of the hull.
Then they began extracting energy from all the ship's systems.
We had no defence. Then they boarded us.
- Did they use neuroelectric weapons? - I don't know what they used.
It was painful. People screaming, dying.
Had you provoked them in any way?
We were in their space. That was enough.
Captain, the rest of my crew... Is there anyone else?
I'm sorry. You're the only survivor.
We're trying to regenerate your motor neurons.
We come from Mislen,
five parsecs from here, in a yellow dwarf system.
If you pass it, will you tell our people?
I'll make a point of it.
It happened so quickly...
- His injuries were too severe. - He's a very sick man.
Captain, the Doctor's getting worse. He has to be reinitialised.
I agree but I can't spare B'Elanna. We have to get through this space.
As soon as possible, I'll release her.
Is there anything I can do for him?
We need to keep his neural pathways active.
Keep him thinking, force him to use his neural matrix.
It might slow down the degradation.
Doctor, you mustn't touch those.
- Here. This one's all right to hold. - Shall I use it on the sick man?
Yes. That's a good idea.
The pilot died. We should keep going.
Captain, I am detecting a vessel.
It's one of the Swarm. It was attached to the freighter's hull.
Red Alert. Shields at maximum.
- They are scanning us. - Hail them.
Audio response only.
- How's the universal translator? - I'm working on it.
- Maybe they can understand us. - Channel is open.
This is Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager.
We want to proceed peacefully through this region.
- Are they trying to communicate? - Maybe, but communicate what?
- Any progress, Harry? - I'm getting a general idea.
It's something like, "Too late. Should have listened..."
We've been hit with a polaron burst.
It did not cause any damage. It may not have been a weapon.
That little ship is leaving.
So it scanned us, sent out a harmless polaron burst then took off.
The burst has changed the shield polarity. It's rotating at 92 gigahertz.
If anybody wanted to find us, it's a lot easier now.
As far as sensors are concerned, we're lit up like a Christmas tree.
The swarm of ships has powered its engines and turned toward us.
- They are in pursuit. - We might be able to outrun them.
Bridge to engineering. How is the warp drive?
I'll realign the dilithium matrix. I need to shut down the warp drive.
No. The aliens are in pursuit.
I'm not sure I can do this on the run, but I'll try.
Do your best. Janeway out.
We'll have to try a dilithium realignment on the fly.
Let's figure out how without killing everyone.
Why can't I leave this room? Stand aside or I will report you!
- I'm just trying to keep you safe. - Others can leave. Why can't I leave?
Your holoprojectors wouldn't work.
- My... what? - Please, sit down.
- You know I'm your friend, right? - Yes. You're Kes.
- Yes! Do you remember me? - Of course I remember you.
- That's wonderful. - But why won't you let me leave?
I'm trying to protect you.
Well...
This isn't such a bad place.
I remember there were a lot of people here. Wounded people.
I asked someone to state the nature of the medical emergency.
I enquired as to the status of their chief medical officer. He was dead.
Then everyone disappeared.
I think that's when you were activated almost two years ago.
Surely not. It seems like last week.
And there was a young woman. I was rubbing her feet.
She was deciding whether to have a child.
- That was me. - But I've never seen you before.
What else do you remember?
What a very odd question. I remember many things.
- I enjoy hearing them. - You find fault with everything I say.
- Doctor, don't... - You don't even call me by my name.
- That's because you don't have one. - That's ridiculous! I...
My...
I demand you tell me my name!
What's happening to me?
Captain, the Swarm is gaining on us.
- In weapons range in five minutes. - Battle stations.
The ships are within range but I do not think they are powering weapons.
What kind of weapons do they use?
Sensors show no weapon signature at all.
They're only 100,000 kms away.
Arm all phaser banks.
Captain, the Doctor is getting worse. He's starting to dematerialise.
I'm afraid we're going to lose him. Could Harry look at him?
Sorry but we're busy. I need every hand at their posts.
They're only 40,000 kms away. Still no weapons signature.
Changing to evasive pattern Gamma-4.
Sickbay. Kes to sickbay. How's the Doctor?
No improvement. He's still losing cohesion.
Computer, deck 6.
Initiate the Jupiter Station diagnostic program.
Jupiter Station program is activated.
You again. Now what?
The Doctor's program is almost completely degraded.
- What do you expect from me? - Help. That's what you're for.
I have told you I am a diagnostic tool, not an engineer.
You're the only one who can help.
There are limitations to my programming. I can't exceed them.
The Doctor did so why can't you?
I'm not leaving until we accomplish something.
It... he... means a great deal to you, doesn't he?
Yes, he does. So start thinking -
memory circuits, holoprocessors, database, matrix...
- Why are you looking at me like that? - You have the same matrix as him.
An adaptive heuristic matrix, yes,
to serve as a diagnostic for all the EMH programs.
Couldn't your matrix be substituted for his?
I... wouldn't have thought of that.
- But can it? - I'm not sure.
The same degradation would eventually occur to my matrix.
- What if yours were grafted onto his? - Grafted?
We sometimes graft portions of a healthy bone onto a diseased one.
It gives the bone solidity until it can heal.
Couldn't we do that with your matrices?
It would require a synchronous transfer of the EMH databases.
Not an easy process but I suppose we could try.
Good. Let's get started.
You would no longer have a diagnostic program for the EMH.
If we don't do this, we won't have an EMH to diagnose.
Good point. You'll have to transfer my program from sickbay.
- Thank you, Dr Zimmerman. - Don't be premature.
I have no idea if this will work.
- Our shield strength just went to zero. - How did that happen?
Each ship is emitting an interferometric pulse.
They're completely cancelling out our shield frequencies.
Tuvok, give them a phaser sweep with the forward array.
Let them know we're not going to sit here like ducks.
- What was that? - The pulses they're emitting...
They've reflected the energy back to us.
Anything we fire will affect us, not them. What about a photon torpedo?
We have no shield strength. I would not recommend it.
They're only 7,000 kms away, and still coming.
Start analysing those interferometric pulses.
See if there's any code to them. We might find a weakness.
I'm on it.
I'm increasingly dubious about this.
The degraded EMH pathways might not accept a matrix overlay.
We have to try.
- Please hurry. - I am working as quickly as I can.
If I don't prepare properly, there's no chance of success.
It's going to work, Doctor. I'm sure of it.
What is?
We're as ready as we'll ever be.
The computer will install my heuristic matrix onto the EMH primary circuitry.
We'll both have to be taken off-line.
After the reinitialisation occurs, activate the Emergency Medical Hologram.
- I understand. - There will be no second chance.
After this, I will no longer exist.
Well, it's been a brief existence, but apparently a noble one.
Computer, initiate program Zimmerman Alpha-1.
Matrix overlay program is active. Please stand by.
They're right on top of us. I can't shake them.
- They're on our hull. - They're draining our systems.
I've got a pattern on the interferometric pulses.
It connects all the ships.
All right. We're going to turn those pulses right back on them.
Lock phasers on their nearest ship.
If we can destroy one of them,
the pulse that links them may cause a chain reaction.
The phaser fire will be reflected back to us.
Modulate our shield frequency to an inverse harmonic of the pulse.
Then the phasers will hit the ship.
Ship's phasers are locked on a target.
Tuvok, Harry, do it.
The swarm of ships has disbanded. They are moving away.
- Shields are back to full strength. - Good work.
Now let's get out of here.
- It's taking forever. - It's a complex procedure.
The Doctor might be restored to his original program
and not regain his memories.
I think at this point, we'd be glad to have him back no matter what.
Zimmerman program Alpha-1 is now complete.
Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram.
Please state the nature of the emergency.
It worked! Doctor, I am so glad to see you.
Are you ill, young woman?
No. There's no emergency. I just wanted to see if you were all right.
You shouldn't make frivolous use of the EMH.
- Where's your medical officer? - We don't have one.
- I have an awful headache. - A headache? Nurse, tricorder.
- You're the nurse? - In a way.
You have a mild inflammation of the occipital tissues.
Hardly bad but I'll give you a mild analgesic.
Thank you.
Get me the basal-constrictor and prepare a hypospray.