INFINITE REGRESS
Episode 101
Part D

 

Seven, as they go along the corridor approaching Sickbay: "Impressive vessel, Captain. Galaxy class?" Janeway: "Intrepid." Seven, as they enter Sickbay: "Oh."

Seven: "Ah, and here we are in the much talked-about Sickbay. Not exactly state-of-the-medical art now, is it?" Doctor, rather offended: "What do you mean?"

Seven: "You're low on bio-beds, terrible lighting, obsolete instruments." As she says "obsolete instruments", she hurls a PADD but he manages to catch it. "Lucky for you, I know a medical supplier that can spruce," she clicks her fingers, "this place up in a nanosecond, and I'll even drop my commission to a mere 30 per cent!"

Doctor: "How generous of you. Computer, activate forcefield."

A forcefield is activated to keep Seven within the surgical bay. Seven: "Forcefield? You said I wasn't contagious!" Doctor: "It's for your own safety."

Doctor to Janeway: "I've set the cortical inhibitor to maximum but it is no longer suppressing the effects. These personalities are going to keep surfacing." Seven: "I've been kidnapped!" Janeway and the Doctor ignore her squealed protests about ransom. Janeway: "More reason to shut down the Vinculum as soon as we can." Doctor: "Even if we do break the link, it may be too late. Seven's own neural pattern is destabilising. It could be lost."

Seven, upset and worried, in a a new persona, that of an anxious mother: "Please help me. I'm looking for my son Gregory Bergan, Lieutenant Bergan. Have you seen him?" Janeway: "No, I'm afraid not." Seven: "From the Starship Melbourne." Janeway: "Melbourne!"

Seven, upset and anxious: "I was supposed to meet him at Wolf 359, but Starfleet sent out a warning that the Borg were attacking that sector." At the Battle of Wolf 359, in the Alpha Quadrant, in early 2367, the Federation lost 39 starships and 11,000 people to the Borg. "It was too late for us to turn back. We were caught in a terrible battle. My ship was badly damaged. We had to leave on escape pods. I never found out what happened to Gregory. Please, I haven't heard from him in over three days. Could you check with Starfleet Headquarters?" Janeway: "I'll see what I can do." Seven: "Thank you, Captain. If you do speak with him could you tell him that his mother is alright and if he could poss-"

Suddenly she becomes herself again. "Captain." Janeway: "Seven?" Seven: "Yes. The Vinculum?" Janeway: "We're preparing to shut it down right away. I'll give the order as soon as Torres is ready." Seven: "How long was I absent?" Janeway: "About twenty minutes." Seven: "How many?" Janeway: "Two. One of them wanted to acquire half the items on the ship - DaiMon Torrot, I believe." Seven: "Species 180, Ferengi." Janeway: "Yes. The other was a woman whose son was lost in a Borg attack. You'll get through this, Seven."

Seven: "I do not share your optimism. When you took me from the Borg and began to turn me into an individual I found the silence of my own mind difficult to bear. I've missed the voices of the Collective. But now that I am an individual those same voices frighten me. Captain, I don't know if I can tolerate this condition much longer. My courage is insufficient." Janeway: "Your job is to keep trying, to hold on even when you think you can't. Leave the rest to me and the crew."

Janeway enters the Bridge and takes her seat. Chakotay: "Meet anyone interesting?" Janeway: "Just finished swapping jokes with a Bolian manicurist. Before that, I was debating the finer points of temporal physics with a Krenim scientist. Twelve new personalities have surfaced in the past hour alone. Seven's having a rough time of it. The Doctor had to sedate her." Chakotay: "And how's the Captain holding up?" Janeway: "I've been better, Chakotay. In fact, I'm starting to wonder if my First Officer was right all along." Chakotay: "About what?" Janeway: "You always said that bringing Seven into the fold might be impossible." Chakotay, quoting the essence of his argument: "'You can take the Borg out of the Collective but...'" He sighs. "I don't believe that, not any more. I didn't think she'd last a day, much less a year. I'd say you've proven me wrong." The com. signal sounds. Via comms: "Torres to Bridge. We're ready to begin disabling the Vinculum." Janeway, via comms: "Proceed."

In Sickbay, Seven is on the main biobed, being constantly monitored by the Doctor.

Torres: "Target the transneural matrix. Stand by to initiate the dampening field on my mark. 3....2....2....1....mark. Its power output is dropping." The Doctor taps his combadge: "Doctor to bridge. It seems to be working. Her neural pattern is stabilising."

Torres: "Power output is down to 77 per cent....71 per cent. Wait a second. It's increasing." Tuvok: "I'm refocussing the dampening field." Torres: "It's still increasing." Tuvok: "The Vinculum is re-routing its internal circuitry. It's adapting."

In Sickbay, different personalities take over Seven's mind in rapid succession. She shouts out some Klingon words, then "Mother!" "Help me! Help me!" Doctor, via comms: "Engineering! Her synaptic pathways are destabilising. Abort the procedure!" As Seven screams: "Help me!" the Doctor shouts: "Abort!"

Tuvok: "Stand by, Doctor. Power output at 98 per cent. The forcefield is collapsing." A system overloads, causing an explosion. Torres: "Transfer emergency power."

Tuvok: "It won't work, Lieutenant. We must abort." They do so.

Tuvok taps his combadge. "Tuvok to bridge." [Bridge] Tuvok, via comms: "The procedure was unsuccessful. The Vinculum has returned to full power." Janeway, via comms: "Acknowledged.

Janeway, via comms: "Doctor, report."

Doctor, via comms: "Seven's neural pattern has disappeared, Captain. It appears that the other patterns have taken over completely. We've lost her."

Janeway: "Captain's log, supplemental. Long-range sensors have detected a vessel belonging to Species 6339. We've set a course to intercept them in the hopes they can help us restore Seven of Nine."

Captain's Ready Room. Doctor: "I've managed to stabilise her primary cortical functions but the woman in Sickbay is not Seven of Nine. Not any more. New personalities are emerging every few seconds now. She can't finish a sentence before the next one rears its head. It's creating an incredible strain on her cerebral cortex. If we don't deactivate the Vinculum soon we may never get her back." Janeway: "Tuvok?" Tuvok: "Lieutenant Torres is taking measures to prevent the Vinculum from adapting, but there's no guarantee she'll succeed." Doctor: "Captain, I've exhausted every viable treatment in my database." Tuvok: "Then logic dictates we go beyond medical science. I will attempt to mind-meld with Seven of Nine." Doctor: "A mind-meld? You consider that a viable treatment?!" Tuvok: "Seven's neural pattern, her sense of self, is immersed in chaos. I will attempt to isolate her true self and guide it to the surface." Janeway: "It's dangerous enough to meld with one person, let alone hundreds of different personalities." Doctor: "It's too risky." Tuvok: "The risk is mine to take." Janeway: "I'm aware of that, but is this our only option?" Tuvok: "I believe it is, Captain." Janeway: "How long would you need to prepare?" Doctor: "Captain! You can't actually be considering this Vulcan mumbo-jumbo." Tuvok: "I will require two hours of meditation." Janeway to Tuvok: "Begin immediately. Report to Sickbay when you're ready." To the Doctor: "You said it yourself. We've exhausted every medical treatment." Doctor: "I just hope I don't find myself with a second patient." The com. signal sounds. Chakotay, via comms: "Captain to the Bridge." Janeway, via comms: "On my way."

Entering the Bridge, Janeway questions Chakotay: "Commander?" Chakotay: "It's them - Species 6339." Kim: "Their vessel is well-armed, Captain. I'm picking up 22 phaser cannons on the aft section alone." Janeway: "Hail them." Kim: "They're responding." Janeway: "On screen." The alien captain's image appears on the main viewscreen. "I'm Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We recently found a piece of Borg technology. It's been infected with a viral agent we believe was transmitted by-"

Alien captain, whose name is Ven, on viewscreen: "The Vinculum, you have it." Janeway: "Yes."

Ven, on viewscreen: "You've made a terrible mistake, Captain."

After coming aboard, Ven meets Janeway in Engineering. Janeway: "A weapon?" Ven: "Yes. Since the Borg decimated our world we've been looking for ways to retaliate." Janeway surmises: "So you created a virus to infect their technology." Ven: "Thirteen of my people were injected with the virus. They allowed themselves to be assimilated so that the virus would spread to this Vinculum. Once another Borg ship had retrieved it they would be infected as well, then another cube, and another. We had the opportunity to infect dozens even hundreds of Borg vessels until you interfered. Why?" Janeway: "Your virus has had one unexpected casualty. A member of my crew." Ven: "It wasn't designed to infect other species." Janeway: "She's Borg." Chakotay: "We liberated her from the Collective over a year ago. She's an individual now." Janeway: "We were hoping you could help us treat her." Ven: "We designed that virus to destroy Borg, Captain. We never considered a treatment. I'm afraid your drone won't survive. But we must return the Vinculum to the debris field immediately. If the Borg arrive first, we'll have lost our chance, and those thirteen people will have died in vain." Janeway: "Alright. We'll return it to you, but first we need to try to save our crewmember. We think we have a way to counteract the Vinculum's effects. B'Elanna." Torres: "I'm going to try to remodulate our dampening field to compensate-" Ven interrupts: "We don't have time for this. The Vinculum, Captain." Janeway: "I can't give it to you, not yet." Ven: "You scanned our vessel, you're aware of our firepower." Janeway: "You could undoubtedly do significant damage to Voyager, and to the Vinculum. Is that what you want?" Ven: "The Vinculum survived the destruction of one ship. What makes you so sure it won't survive another?"

Seven regains consciousness in Sickbay. She is on the main biobed in the surgical bay. Seven: "Doctor." Doctor: "Seven!" He is pleased to see she is her usual self. She notices the restraints. Doctor: "A necessary precaution. A few of your guests have been violent." Seven: "The Vinculum." Doctor: "It keeps adapting. We haven't been able to shut it down. Your own neural pattern was nearly destroyed in the process. I wasn't sure I'd find you again." Seven: "I am damaged." Doctor: "One of your personas didn't appreciate the restraints. She seemed intent on forcing her way to freedom." Seven: "I apologise." Doctor: "It was hardly your fault. You're ill." Seven: "Irrelevant. I am Borg. I should be able to adapt." Doctor: "Surprise: you aren't invincible. I suppose that's something we'll have to tackle in our next social lesson." Suddenly Seven starts suffering distress. "Voices?" Seven: "They're getting louder." Doctor: "It won't be long before I lose you again. It's my duty as your physician to inform you of an alternative treatment." Seven: "What treatment?" Doctor: "Commander Tuvok has proposed a mind-meld to help stabilise your neural pattern. I had a similar reaction. If you don't approve-" Seven interrupts: "What is the probability of success?" Doctor: "I don't know. A mind-meld is hardly a standard medical practice." Seven: "Are there any risks to Tuvok?" Doctor: "He could suffer brain damage, but he's confident he'll be able to break the meld before that happens." Seven: "Even if we do shut down the Vinculum it may not be enough. If Tuvok can do anything to help me...." Doctor: "I understand." Seven: "Doctor, you have shown a great deal of patience." Doctor: "Not at all." Seven: "Inform the crew that I am also grateful for their efforts." Doctor: "You'll be able to tell them yourself, afterward. Seven?" Seven: "Aargh! Voices!" Doctor: "Concentrate! Focus on the sound of my voice!" Seven: "Get them out, please! I can't, I can't!" She screams: "No!" He sedates her.

Tuvok's meditation lamp. It has helped him as he meditated for the past two hours.

Tuvok finishes his meditation. He opens his eyes and gets up to go to Sickbay.