MEDICAL LOGS

IMPERFECTION
Season 7 : Episode 148

 

MEDICAL REPORT:

After Seven and Icheb say farewell to Mezoti, Azan and Rebi who leave Voyager, Seven cries, though she says her ocular implant is just malfunctioning. When Seven goes to see the Doctor, he confirms there is a glitch in her primary cortical node. When he asks if she has experienced any other malfunctions lately - headache, dizziness, diminished motor function - she admits to "an occasional headache". She had not come to see the Doctor as the malfunctions had not affected her work. He tells her that if she is having problems she needs to let him know. She agrees to be more forthcoming in the future. He says he will schedule some follow-up tests and make his report to the Captain, but she replies that she would prefer to keep this between them, not wanting to worry the Captain. The Doctor notes that they have always kept her informed of Seven's medical needs, but when Seven counters that all members of this crew have the right to doctor-patient confidentiality, the Doctor defers to her wishes.

Doctor: "...your tears were the result of a glitch in your primary cortical node. ... I'll schedule some follow-up tests."

Later, when Seven attempts to regenerate, she discovers she cannot interface with her alcove - the computer reports that her cortical node is malfunctioning. Instead of reporting to the Doctor, she stays up all night in the Messhall. In the morning, she falls to the floor convulsing as Borg implants burst through her skin. In Sickbay, the Doctor realises Seven's problem is more serious than he previously thought. Her cortical node, which regulates her vital functions, is destabilising, and she will die unless it can be replaced.

A hypospray injection	B
C	D
Doctor: "I'm afraid it's the result of that glitch we found in your cortical node. Apparently it's more serious than we thought. It's no longer able to regulate your implants. They're shutting down one by one." Seven: "When you've disconnected implants in the past I've always adapted." Doctor: "Minor implants. An assimilation tubule, a few nanoprobes here, nanoprobes there, nothing crucial to your human physiology but these implants control your vital functions. If anything the deterioration is accelerating."

Janeway salvages a potential replacement cortical node from a deceased drones in a Borg debris field. When they return to Voyager Janeway, the Doctor and Paris rehearse the cortical node replacement operation several times in a holodeck simulation. In the simulation using the deceased Borg's cortical node, the holographic Seven's body goes into anaphylactic shock when it rejects the node, losing synaptic cohesion. The Doctor has Paris apply two 20 millijoule neurostatic pulses to Seven followed by one 30 millijoule pulse, but they fail to revive her holographic body. The operation fails in numerous holosimulations.

a	b
Doctor: "I'm ready to disengage the damaged node." He disengages it. "Transfer Seven's cortical functions to the computer."
c	d
Doctor: "Initiating the extraction." Janeway, at computer console: "Vital functions are stable." He extracts the node.
e	f
The Doctor re-aligns her primary neurodes. Paris hands him the replacement node and he inserts it into Seven.
g He activates the small control on the node housing and the node descends into position.	h Janeway: "Her neural relays are going to destabilise in 10 seconds, 9..."
i Janeway: "8....7....6.....5....." Doctor: "Transfer Seven's cortical functions to the new node."	j Seven goes into anaphylactic shock. Doctor: "Her implants aren't adapting. They're rejecting the new node." The new node is losing synaptic cohesion.
The Doctor orders a 20 millijoule neurostatic pulse applied, twice, but there is no effect.
k The monitor shows Seven's lifesigns have ceased.	l The Doctor removes the new node by hand: "Computer, end simulation." The holodeck grid appears.
above: twelfth rehearsal on the holodeck of the operation

They eventually decide that the cortical node from a dead drone is useless, as they require a node from a living one. Janeway announces that she is willing to find a living drone, but the Doctor refuses to allow her to end a life to save Seven.

Doctor: "Are you suggesting ending one life to save another?! .... I'll do everything in my power to help her, but we must face the possibility that it may not be enough."

Icheb also realises that only the cortical node from a living Borg can save Seven, so he volunteers to have his own node removed and transplanted to her. Icheb tells the Doctor that according to his research there's an 86.9% chance that Seven's implants will adapt to his node. When the Doctor objects by asking how, without the node, his implants would be regulated as his node controls many of them. Icheb responds that he has devised a genetic resequencing that would allow him to survive without his node, since he was never fully assimilated, but the procedure is risky. He presents his data to the Doctor. The Doctor took scans of Icheb when he left the Borg Collective, noting that he had emerged from his maturation chamber before he was fully assimilated. As a result, his physiology is less dependent on implants. The Doctor reluctantly agrees to look at his data.

Icheb: "According to my research there's an 86.9% chance that Seven's implants will adapt to my node. You should be able to compensate (for the corresponding lack of my node) with genetic resequencing. This isn't suicide, Doctor. I believe it can work. All I ask is that you consider it."

However, Janeway and Seven reject Icheb's plan on safety grounds. So Icheb programs the computer in his regeneration alcove to disengage his cortical node. Now dying, Icheb convinces them to give his node to Seven and for the Doctor perform the genetic procedure on him.

Icheb has programmed his alcove to disconnect his neural relays. The Doctor cannot reconnect them as Icheb has locked him out.	Seven and Icheb argue over the now disconnected node. Doctor: "Someone had better use the damn thing. If it stays disconnected much longer it won't do either of you any good!"

The operation is successful and Seven fully recovers.

1	2
3	4
5	6
7	8
9	10
above: the actual, and successful, operation

Icheb is unconscious. The Doctor fetches a hypospray.	Hypospray injection. Icheb wakes.
Icheb during recuperation. Doctor: "He's been experiencing some pain but I believe it's temporary." He wants to keep Icheb in Sickbay another week but Icheb is sure he will be back on his feet in half that time."

OTHER MEDICAL DATA:

the laser scalpel is at the far right in the medkit case

Janeway uses a laser scalpel, a medical instrument, to remove the cortical node from the dead Borg drone, and she also uses it later as a weapon for threatening the salvage alien leader.

DOCTOR'S LOG:

The first time the Doctor heard Puccini's Tosca in the holodeck, he sobbed throughout the entire third act. Torres had enhanced his emotional subroutines so he could truly appreciate the performance. While Seven is confined to Sickbay with her illness, Neelix brings her some Tarcanian wildflowers from the airponics bay and mentions he could get gladiolas, if she prefers. He and Seven play kadis-kot in Sickbay; Seven prefers to be the side which plays the green pieces.

MEDICAL ADMINISTRATION:

Mezoti, Azan and Rebi with a Wysanti woman

Rebi and Azan are reunited with their people and they leave the ship along with Mezoti who will live with them. This means that their medical records cease to be active.

MORGUE RECORD:

Seven calls up on the main viewscreen in the Astrometrics Lab a list of crewmembers who have died under Janeway's command of Voyager. Seven lists: Ensign Marie Kaplan, Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, Crewman Timothy Lang. On close inspection of the screen other names can be made out, including Ziegler and certain other characters from the U.S. television drama series 'The West Wing'; for more about that, see the PERSONAL LOG entry for this episode.

DOCTOR'S QUOTE:

When Seven remarks that Icheb is persistent: "Not to worry. I'll make it clear to him that persistence is futile."