MEDICAL LOGS

THE THAW
Season 2 : Episode 39

 

MEDICAL REPORT:

Voyager beams aboard five Kohl hibernation pods, into which the occupants went in order to escape their planet's environmental catastrophe 19 years earlier. Two of the Kohl humanoids are dead and three are alive in deep stasis, their minds connected to a sensory system that is controlled by a computer.

The Doctor reveals, via monitor from Sickbay to the senior staff in the Briefing Room, that the deceased pair died from heart failure, brought on by mental stress, which, he says could be evidence of extreme fear.

In the stasis units the surviving occupants' brains are interconnected in a complex sensory system controlled by a computer. Their minds are active, and encephalographic readings suggest they are dreaming. There is interactivity between their minds and the computer as it scans their brain functions and sends a data stream back to them. The computer uses bio-neural feedback from the participants' brains to create the environment. The system was supposed to bring them out of hibernation four years ago, but the decision was not left entirely to the computer. The programmers wanted the people in the system to decide for themselves when it would be safe to come out. This was accomplished by a subroutine that periodically displayed atmospheric conditions to them. The optronic pathways control the basic elements of the environment. Hoping to learn how to revive the survivors, Kim and Torres enter the now vacant pods and are attached to the computer, which allows them to enter the colonists' dream state. They are thrown into an environment which resembles a bizarre carnival run by a malevolent Clown, whose followers quickly drag Kim to a guillotine. Although the Clown spares Kim, the pair suddenly understands how the Kohl could literally be frightened to death in this realistic situation. Because the Clown's survival depends on the colonist's minds remaining linked to the sensory system, the Kohl - and now Kim and Torres - cannot awaken because the Clown will not allow it. The computer has manifested the worst fears of their subconscious minds into the persona of the Clown, thus making them prisoners to that fear. The Clown allows Torres to leave so she can warn the captain that if the hibernation pods are deactivated, the Clown will kill his hostages. Since the Clown can read the minds of humanoids attached to the pods, the Doctor, whose mind cannot be read as he is a hologram, is sent to discuss the release of the hostages.

the Doctor suddenly arrives and interrupts the Clown as he tortures Kim

But the Clown refuses to co-operate, especially since he cannot read the negotiator's mind. One of the hostages, provides a clue to the Doctor to help them escape, but when Janeway mounts a rescue mission the Clown catches on and kills the hostage who gave the clue and forces Janeway to abort that rescue attempt. Later a holographic image of Janeway is sent into the environment by the same technique they used to send the Doctor, and via this image the real Janeway, protected from personal jeopardy, destroys the Clown and rescues the hostages.

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION:

The Doctor says via comms after obtaining the Clown's agreement that Janeway would be the one and only hostage: "Captain, this is the Doctor. I've returned to Sickbay. Please turn to your Emergency Medical Holographic channel." This is channel 47, established in  [#3 Parallax], see that entry for more details.

DOCTOR'S QUOTE:

To the Clown: "I have a very trustworthy face. My captain is prepared to give you exactly what you asked for, under the condition you release all the hostages."