Phage
Stardate: 48532.4
Original Airdate: February 6, 1995
By Chakoteya
The Story
Voyager is on route to a rogue asteroid that Neelix says is
a rich source of raw dilithium. Chakotay informs the Captain that
Lt. Torres has already asked permission to convert the auxiliary
impulse reactor into a refinery. Janeway comments on B'Elanna's
way of going against regulations to find a solution to problems,
but gives her agreement and says that she wants regular reports
on her progress. Their stroll brings them to the Captains dining
room, where she is thinking of having Eggs Benedict, asparagus
and strawberries and cream - for breakfast. But only thinking
about it. The reality will be ration pack 5 - stewed tomatoes
and dehydrated eggs. Chakotay has already had his vacuum-packed
oatmeal, and heads off for the bridge. The Captain enters her
dining room to discover Neelix has decided to treat the senior
officers to breakfast made with the vegetables growing in hydroponics.
He tells her that he has rerouted messhall power and scrounged
a lot of stuff from all over the ship but give it a couple of
days and it will seem there has been a galley there for ever.
Then he hands a plate of something to a crewmember with the words
'Careful, that one's a little spicy.'
Janeway is not pleased. Neelix admits that he didn't seek permission
for the conversion, and she curtly informs him that Cabin 125a
deck 2 is designated on the ships directory as the Captains Private
Dining Room. Just as he realises his mistake, Chakotay calls from
the bridge to tell the Captain that they are approaching the planetoid.
Janeway tells Neelix they will discuss the matter later, and Ensign
Parsons is summoned by the erstwhile ships chef to rotate the
darvuk fritters every ten minutes until they turn a deep chartreuse,
and generally keep an eye on things till he gets back.
On the bridge, Harry reports that the strongest dilithium signatures
are ten to twenty kilometers inside the planetoid, and B'Elanna
says there are subterranean caves with a class M environment.
That will make mining easier. Torres estimates five hundred to
one thousand metric tons of dilithium could be present. Neelix
is very pleased with himself for finding this planetoid and Janeway
orders Chakotay to put together a team for a preliminary survey
while B'Elanna had better get her refinery working. The Commander
tells Harry to go with him and Neelix butts in. He's been preparing
for the mission all week and is very keen to go along. The Captain
gives her permission.
The away team beam down into an area with several large deposits,
and split up to take scans. Stay within 50 meters of this position,
warns Chakotay, as they head off in different directions. Neelix
heads off, tricorder beeping, past a narrow passage that gently
turns into a corridor with a shadowy figure in it.
Chakotay contacts Kim. He's getting readings with no actual dilithium
to show for it and asks if the Ensign is doing any better. But
Harry is getting the same response. Neelix reports a large cavern
twenty metres from his position with a huge formation in it, but
Chakotay tells him to not go any further and stay within the search
radius. Disregarding his orders, Neelix enters the cavern to find
nothing. Chakotay orders them back to the beam site while Neelix
reports a bio-electrical signature from a rock face. He goes closer
to investigate what might be something alive two metres into the
rock face, then turns away. Behind him the rock face turns into
a corridor and someone comes out and zapps the Talaxian. Kim and
Chakotay hear his cries over the comm link and rush to the scene
to find Neelix on the ground gasping. They beam directly to sickbay
and the EMH orders Chakotay to get the blood gas infuser from
equipment storage unit two, second shelf on the left as Neelix
goes into a coma. The device will keep him alive for an hour or
so but after that he will die, says the EMH. Neelix's lungs have
been removed.
As the EMH and his assistant, Tom Paris, set up equipment, Chakotay
briefs the Captain on events so far. Kes arrives and Janeway breaks
the news to her that Neelix's attacker somehow surgically removed
his lungs. While Kes goes to Neelix's side, Kim tells the two
senior officers that Neelix's tricorder recorded one class 3 humanoid.
The EMH tells Kes that he can keep him alive another 43 minutes
this way. Captain Janeway suggests artificial lungs, but it turns
out that the Talaxian respiratory system has linkages to the spinal
column which make it too difficult to replicate. If they had the
original lungs he could probably reattach them, but in the mean
time he needs other options.
Janeway announces that she will lead an away team back to the
planetoid with three armed security detachments issued with type
three phasers. As she heads out of sickbay issuing her orders,
the EMH quizzes Tom on whether he knows how to run a respiritory
series. On learning that it wasn't covered in his two semesters
of biochemistry, he announces he will do it himself and sends
Tom to get a pulminory scanner. Kes is standing by Neelix and
refuses to leave so the EMH simply asks her to keep out of the
way.
On the planetoid, Kim locates the site of the attack. Janeway
comments that Neelix's tricorder picked up a life sign two metres
into the wall while hers says it is solid rock for fifty metres.
Harry realises that the tricorders might be being fooled by some
other technology. They find a piece of wall warmer than the rest
and fire their phasers at it, revealing the corridor. Tuvok announces
that there was a sophisticated force field in place. The three
officers march down the corridor.
In sickbay, Tom announces a cellular toxicity level rise. Thirty
two percent, comments the EMH and orders a cytoplastic stimulator
to stablise the levels. But they haven't got one. The design is
in the medical data base, the EMH tells Tom, so go replicate one.
Then he muses to no one in particular that just because he drives
a starship, someone thinks Paris would make a good medic. Kes
offers to donate one of her own lungs to Neelix, but he turns
down the suggestion. No one on board is a compatible donor match
for a Talaxian, he tells her. They need a new way to oxygenate
his blood supply and relay neural impulses. Pacing around he thinks
aloud. The replicators can't make the new organs, but is there
a way to mimic their functions. Struck by a sudden idea, he calls
up the transporter log to get the specifications for Neelix's
lungs then announces to Kes and Tom that if he can reconfigure
sickbay's holo-emitters, he might be able to create holographic
lungs for him instead. Tom protests the procedure. A hologram
is just a projection of light inside a forcefield, he says. There's
no real matter involved. In answer, the EMH slaps Tom, then suggests
he hit him in return. He taps a few controls and Tom's hand passes
through the EMH. The magnetic containment field can be adjusted
to allow matter to pass through or not, the hologram explains.
He might be able to modulate the lungs to allow gasses to pass
into and out of the bloodstream. Kes insists on a full explanation
of this procedure or she will not allow him to proceed. So she
gets the brutal facts. Neelix will die without the holographic
lungs, and the procedure might fail and he will die anyway. If
it succeeds, he can never move again as the computer must keep
the lungs perfectly aligned to his other internal organs, and
he will have to stay that way until he dies of old age or new
lungs are obtained. Kes thinks this over, and Tom points out that
at least he will be alive for the time they get a better solution.
She isn't sure what Neelix would want in this situation, but she
does know that she wants him to live, so she gives her consent.
Exploring the artificial corridors on the planetoid, Tuvok, Kim,
Janeway and security come to a door. Opening it they find that
the room beyond is the source of the dilithium signature, but
it contains jars with organs in it. The planetoid does not contain
any dilithium at all, but it does contain spare body parts. Neelix's
lungs are not in evidence but plenty of similar stuff, and Janeway's
tricorder says someone was there less than ten minutes ago. Harry
opens another door and they get a line on someone twenty metres
away. They catch up with the alien and Tuvok fires. The alien
drops something but he gets away from them and sets up another
forcefield to block their path. Chakotay contacts the Captain
to report a ship leaving the planet, but it went into warp too
quickly put a tractor beam on them. The away team beams up and
they head off in pursuit.
In sickbay, the surgical team, that is, the EMH and Tom Paris,
with Kes watching, get on with installing Neelix's holographic
lungs. As the lungs form inside him, Neelix takes a breath, and
Kes smiles. He's going to live.
'Captain's log supplemental. We are pursuing the alien ship from
the moon. They are not responding to hails and it appears our
two ships are evenly matched for speed.'
Neelix is awake and being told of his situation. The idea of not
being able to move is not appealing to Neelix, but he restricts
himself to telling the EMH that his ceiling is hideous. 'I didn't
design the room, I just work here' comes the reply. 'I'm a doctor,
not a decorator.' Captain Janeway summons Paris to the bridge
and he gives a friendly goodbye to Kes. This elicits a jealous
reaction from the prostrate Neelix, which Kes tries to allay,
but cannot. The EMH calls an end to visiting hours, and says she
can return at 1700 hours,but not before. Kes kisses Neelix on
the cheek and leaves.
Lt Torres has been studing the device the alien dropped. The
double pronged item apparently stuns the victim, does a microcellular
analysis of the body which puts a tricorder to shame, and if required
remove organs. Meanwhile the alien ship has dodged into an asteroid
which they cannot scan. Kim thinks that it is is artificial. No
defences but an open crater where the ship went inside. Tuvok
urges caution. Four years of observing Kathryn Janeway lead him
to believe that she is about to take Voyager inside the asteroid.
He is right of course. She orders Red Alert and in they go, phasers
ready. It is a narrow passage, barely wider than Voyager, and
they take it slowly.
In a decorated sickbay, Neelix is calling for the EMH. He has
an itch above his eyebrow that needs scratching. Neelix feels
alone and technically he is, the EMH points out. But Neelix wants
to be released from the restraint, and is getting very agitated.
He starts to hyperventilate and the EMH ends up sedating him.
Voyager enters a large chamber in the asteroid, with myriad images
of the two ships reflecting off the walls. With deflectors at
maximum they follow the ion trail further into the chamber.
The EMH has called Kes to sickbay to reassure his patient once
Neelix wakes up. While she is waiting, the EMH pours out his woes
to her. He has to be on call twenty four hours a day, he has no
nurse assigned to help him. Tom Paris does not count. And now
he has a patient with long term emotional difficulties and there
is no counsellor on board. He is designed to supplement and he
feels out of his depth. Kes is supportive. Is he capable of learning
like real doctors do? Yes he is. Then he'll have to learn like
the rest of us. 'Have you ever considered a career in medicine,'
he asks the young woman but before she can reply the buzzer signals
Neelix's return to consciousness.
In engineering, Seska tells Torres of a fluctuation in the warp
core. She orders the Bajoran ex-Maquis to compensate but it gets
worse. Kim says there is a dampening field in the chamber bleeding
their energy directly so Janeway orders the warp core shut down.
They locate the source of the field, but Tuvok says that firing
a phaser would result in ricochets which might end up damaging
Voyager, so Janeway dismisses the idea. But Chakotay is interested.
What if they sent out a low level continuous beam? It would continue
to reflect until it encountered a non-reflective material. Like
the enemy ship. Janeway approves the idea and they put up a laser
display that stops at the other ship. There are two lifesigns
on board which the Captain orders beamed to transporter room 3.
Tuvok follows her off the bridge after ordering security to meet
them.
Janeway, Tuvok, two guards and an armed transporter officer greet
two very unpleasant looking aliens. They take them to the brig
to begin the interrogation. The lead alien introduces himself
as Dereth of the Vidiian Sodality and tells her that collecting
biomatter is their only way of fighting the Phage, a DNA destroying
disease that they have lived with for over two thousand years.
With thousands dying each day, and the disease resisting attempts
to destroy it, replacing damaged body parts is the only way they
have of staying alive. This touches Janeway deeply, but she still
wants Neelix's lungs back. Dereth tells her that is not possible.
They have already been adapted and transplanted into Motura, his
companion. That is Dereth's job, to keep him supplied with organs.
They try to use ones from the dead, but sometimes needs must and
they have to get them from the living instead. This presents Janeway
with a dilemma. Can she stoop to their level and kill one of them
in order to save Neelix? Motura is willing to give up the lungs.
At least it will put an end to his suffering. Janeway cannot do
it, and she can't keep them on board as prisoners, so she lets
them go with the warning that any aggressive actions against her
crew will be met with deadly force. Motura wants to see Neelix,
as he thinks they might be able to help with their superior medical
techniques.
In sickbay, they scan Neelix and say it is amazing he is still
alive. Then they scan those present, detecting that the EMH is
not a person, and declare that all are healthy and suitable for
organ transplant. When the EMH protests about tissue rejection,
they say it is not a problem to them, and ask for a volunteer.
Kes insists on being the donor and as they prepare, Janeway tells
Neelix she looks forward to sampling his cooking. He can keep
his kitchen until the replicators are back on line. 'I'll see
you at breakfast,'
he tells her.
'Captain's log, supplemental. The aliens have successfully transplanted
one of Kes' lungs into Neelix, the dampening field has been deactivated
and I have allowed them to beam back to their vessel. We are resuming
a course home.'
In sickbay, Kes awakens to a gently smiling EMH who tells her
that the operation was a success, and that the Captain has agreed
to allow him to train her as a medical assistant. A back up for
Mr Paris, or a replacement for him, if she's interested. Kes is
interested and wants to start her lessons as soon as possible.
Analysis
Welcome the Vidiians, an interesting race of gentle educators,
explorers, and above all artists (Motura is a sculptor) who, after
two thousand years of fighting the Phage have reached the heights
of medical sophistication and the depths of amoral behaviour.
Yet individuals still have consciences, as shown by Motura's
offer to return the lungs to their original owner. A welcome also
to a better role for Kes than just the Cargo bay gardener and
Neelix's girlfriend. The mental abilities displayed in 'Time and
Again' might make her a reasonable ship's counsellor. She and
the EMH make an interesting pair.
The moral dimension to this story made it interesting. The different
attitudes of the various people involved were well presented -
Neelix's claustrophobia, Kes's need to keep him alive somehow
regardless of what he might want, the EMH confronting his new
expanded role on the ship, Janeway hanging on to Federation morals
in the face of Vidiian amorality.
Another good story that continues to grow the characters.
Grade: 8/10 (B)
Cast:
Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran as Chakotay
Roxanne Biggs-Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Tuvok
Garrett Wang as Harry Kim
Guest Cast:
Martha Hackett as Seska
Cully Fredericksen as Alien #1
Stephen Rappaport as Alien #2
Creative Staff:
Director: Winrich Kolbe
Story By: Timothy De Haas
Teleplay By: Skye Dent and Brannon Braga
