INFINITE REGRESS
Episode 101
Part B

 

In Main Engineering. Torres: "Take a look at this, will you? I'm picking up an energy signal in the lower subspace bands, and if I'm not mistaken it's got a Borg modulation."

Seven: "You're correct, it is Borg. I believe it's a neural interlink frequency." Torres: "A what?" Seven: "A frequency that integrates the minds of Borg drones."

Torres: "Can you pinpoint the origin?" Seven: "I will try." Torres: "No offence, Seven, but you look terrible." Seven: "I am not well. I experienced a brief lapse in memory and I am disoriented." Torres: "Maybe you should get to Sickbay." Seven: "No. This interlink frequency could explain-"

Suddenly Seven hears voices. The persona of the Klingon warrior returns.

Seven, as the Klingon warrior, sees Torres and finds her sexually desirable, and growls some Klingon words. Torres: "I beg your pardon?"

Seven: "I am the Son of K'vok! And you, what House are you from?" Torres: "Is this some kind of a joke?" Seven: "You wear the uniform of a Starfleet Pu'CHA! What kind of a warrior are you?" Torres: "Tom put you up to this, didn't he? Well, it didn't work."

Seven: "Come, warrior, let me look at you." Torres: "Enough, Seven!"

Seven seizes Torres and bites her neck! "Your blood is sweet!"

Torres taps her combadge. "Torres to security! Get somebody down here right now!"

Seven: "You are strong. You will make an excellent mate!" Torres: "Get the hell away from me!" Seven: "You wish to prove yourself in battle!"

She pushes two crewmembers out of the way, knocking them over, and runs out.

Janeway: "Report." Chakotay: "Seven of Nine attacked B'Elanna in Engineering. She's on deck 9 section 23." Janeway: "Forcefields. Don't tell me those two have actually come to blows."

Seven knocks down a security guard and takes his phaser. She turns but hits a forcefield.

She tries to go the other way but another forcefield is there.

As her persona changes again, she sinks down to the floor.

Janeway, via comms: "Bridge to Tuvok. Seven's been contained, deck 10 section 32." Tuvok: "Acknowledged. We're nearing her position. Seven?"

Seven's persona is that of a frightened little child: "Somebody's hurt and he needs help. Did I do something bad?" Tuvok: "Who are you?" Seven: "My name's Maryl. Are you a Vulcan?" Tuvok: "Computer, deactivate forcefield. Give me the phaser."

Seven does so. Tuvok feels the neck of the down security guard, feeling for a pulse. At that moment, Seven changes personality again.

Seven, rising: "You are not a physician, Commander. The logical course of action would be to take him to the infirmary." Tuvok: "Maryl?" Seven: "Subaltern Lorot, Vulcan High Command. May I be of assistance?" Tuvok: "Yes. Please accompany me to Sickbay." "Certainly," and Seven heads down the corridor with Tuvok following her. He keeps his phaser trained on her, in case. She continues: "Clearly he was attacked. I suggest we use caution."

Suddenly the Klingon persona re-emerges. "Pahtk! You will drown in your own blood."

Tuvok: "Keep moving." But Seven gives a Klingon cry and turns on Tuvok who stuns her with a phaser blast.

She collapses in his arms.

Seven recovers consciousness to find herself in Sickbay. Janeway: "Seven." Seven: "Captain, why am I here?" Janeway: "You've been unconscious for nearly two hours. We believe you're experiencing a neurological disorder."

Seven: "Voices, I hear voices." Doctor: "Describe them." Seven: "They are agitated, chaotic."

Next 15 pictures: Representations of the voices/personas that Seven is hearing.	1
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Seven: "Too many voices. Too many voices!" She sits up, breathing heavily, distressed.

Doctor: "The cortical inhibitor is destabilising. I'm increasing the neurotransmitter levels. It's working. Do you still hear the voices?" Seven: "They are fading. They are gone."

Janeway: "Alright. Let's see what we can do to keep them from coming back. What's the last thing you remember?" Seven: "I was in Engineering, assisting Lieutenant Torres." Tuvok: "You have no recollection of a confrontation with B'Elanna?" Seven: "Confrontation?"

Doctor: "I'm not sure why, but you seem to be manifesting personalities other than your own." Janeway: "Naomi Wildman claims the two of you played together for nearly an hour this afternoon." Tuvok: "You also attacked Lieutenant Torres. She told us you called yourself Son of K'vok and that you initiated a Klingon mating ritual." Seven: "I have no memory of those events."

Doctor: "Come look at this." Seven acknowledges, joining him at the console: "Doctor."

Doctor: "This is your neural pattern. The memory engrams and synaptic pathways that define you as an individual. Unfortunately, you're not alone. Thirteen new neural patterns have emerged in your cerebral cortex: Klingon, Vulcan, Terrellian, Human and several others I can't identify." Seven: "How?" Doctor: "They're coming from within you. During your time with the Borg, the Collective assimilated hundreds of different species. All of those neural patterns were integrated into the Hive mind."

Seven: "Of course." Doctor: "That means they're in your mind too, stored within your cortical implants, dormant until now." Janeway: "From what we can tell the various neural patterns are surfacing randomly." Doctor: "In essence, you've developed the Borg equivalent of multiple personality disorder." Seven: "Can you correct the malfunction?" Doctor: "The cortical inhibitor is suppressing the effect, but it's only a temporary measure."

Seven: "Lieutenant Torres detected a Borg interlink frequency. It could be causing my Borg implants to malfunction."

Tuvok: "The signal appears to be emanating from the Borg debris field we discovered this morning."
Janeway: "Maybe we should jump to warp, try to get out of range."
Seven: "The signal permeates subspace. We cannot avoid it."
Doctor: "Our only hope is to terminate the signal at its point of origin."
Janeway to Tuvok: "Set a course for the debris field." Tuvok leaves. "When we arrive we may need your help. Feel up to it?"
Seven: "Yes, Captain."
Janeway: "Keep a close eye on her, Doctor, in case she has any more unexpected visitors."