MEDICAL LOGS

NIGHT
Season 5 : Episode 95

 

DOCTOR'S LOG:

When the Doctor turns up on Holodeck 1 to spend time on the holodeck indulging his hobby of opera, he is annoyed to discover that Paris and Kim have exceeded their allotted holodeck time, running a holoprogram called 'The Adventures Of Captain Proton'. The hologrid blows out in the Holodeck after Paris and the Doctor fight over the controls.

The Doctor appears in the holodeck in colour but Paris alters his spectral frequency to monochrome in keeping with the holoprogram. They fight over the controls when the Doctor insists on having his allocated holodeck time - he is there to rehearse a duet from 'Don Carlo' and Paris has already gone three minutes into his scheduled time.

Warned beforehand by Chakotay about Janeway's decision to launch herself in a suicide mission against the vortex, the Doctor joins the rest of the senior staff in preventing her.

Doctor to Janeway: "What's a hologram to do?" Tuvok to Janeway: "As you can see, you're not the only one who's had time to evaluate the past." Janeway: "Yes I can see that. You realise you could all be hanged for mutiny. Looks like we need another option."

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION:

It will take two years for Voyager to cross the Void, an area so christened by the crew as it is devoid of normal stellar features (an astrometric scan of the region shows no star systems within 2,500 light years). There are heavy concentrations of theta-radiation clouding sensors, so the crew cannot see beyond the region. Accordingly, Chakotay orders all departments to create an energy reserve, using power cells to stockpile deuterium. This would include the medical department.

As normal, the Doctor attends senior staff meetings. Chakotay: "Next piece of business. Crew morale." Doctor: "Deteriorating. Obviously."

The Void's native inhabitants cause a shipwide power loss, forcing all systems offline including main and auxiliary power. Independent subsystems are operational, such as environmental controls and holodecks.

MEDICAL REPORT:

Neelix has a panic attack during one night. When he reports to Sickbay, the Doctor diagnoses nihiliphobia, the fear of nothingness.

Neelix looks out of the window in his quarters and sees only blackness. He has a panic attack in the Messhall and as a result, afterwards in Sickbay, the Doctor goes to pick up a hypospray and administers medication to Neelix.

When 17 of the indigenous inhabitants of the Void board Voyager and attack the crew, Paris suffers severe burns when attacked by one and Seven helps him to Sickbay from the Holodeck.

When one of the alien attackers is brought to Sickbay, it is discovered that, being indigenous to the starless region, he and his people are extremely photosensitive, with a physiology which has evolved to allow them to survive in complete darkness. The species flourished in the Void for millions of years until the Malon named Emck arrived and started regularly dumping toxic antimatter waste there. As a result all the native inhabitants suffer from theta-radiation poisoning.

DOCTOR'S QUOTE:

To Neelix: "I go into a void every time I'm deactivated. Emptiness, complete and utter oblivion. I'll admit it was unsettling at first - the existential horror of it all."