LATENT IMAGE
Episode 105
Part F

Memories are shown in this style.

 

Neelix watches the Doctor with increasing concern.

Doctor: "Throwing a little party, are we? Why, I attended a party just recently."

Doctor: "A birthday party for a very nice young woman. I made a decision there too, several of them in fact. When I came through the door, do I turn right or do I turn left? As I recall, I decided on the latter.

Doctor: "Then what should I see before me but the hors d'oeuvre tray, and another decision. Do I take a canap´ or do I refuse? Oh, that's an easy one. I'm a hologram. I don't eat."

Tuvok and a Security team enter the starboard doors. Neelix to Tuvok: "Something's wrong with him."

Doctor: "Don't you know it's rude to refer to somebody in the third person. You had a choice, Mr Neelix: should I do something rude or not do something rude?"

Tuvok: "Doctor, we must return to Sickbay."

Doctor: "Why should I?! What if I don't want to return to Sickbay? What if I decide not to return to Sickbay? No, I don't choose this." As Security guards arriving through the port-side doors try to take hold of him: "Leave me alone! Let me go! Why did she have to die? Why did I kill her?! Why did I decide to kill her? Why? Somebody tell me why!!!"

Tuvok uses controls on the Doctor's mobile emitter to deactivate him.

Janeway: "It was downhill from there. You developed a feedback loop between your ethical and cognitive subroutines. You were having the same thoughts over and over again. We couldn't stop it." Torres: "Our only option was to erase your memories of those events." Doctor: "You were right. I didn't deserve to keep those memories, not after what I did." Janeway: "You were performing your duty."

Doctor: "Two patients, which do I kill?" Janeway: "Doctor." Doctor: "Doctor? Hardly! A doctor retains his objectivity. I didn't do that, did I? Two patients, equal chances of survival and I chose the one I was closer to? I chose my friend?! That's not in my programming! That's not what I was designed to do!"

Doctor: "Go ahead! Re-program me! I'll lend you a hand! Let's start with this very day, this hour, this second!" He heads for the control console to do just that.

Janeway: "Computer, deactivate the EMH." He goes offline.

Torres: "Here we go again. Captain?" Janeway: "It's as though there's a battle being fought inside him, between his original programming and what he's become. Our solution was to end that battle. What if we were wrong?"

Torres: "We've seen what happens to him. In fact, we've seen it twice."

Janeway: "Still, we allowed him to evolve, and at the first sign of trouble- We gave him a soul, B'Elanna, do we have the right to take it away now?" Torres: "We gave him personality subroutines. I'd hardly call that a soul."

Seven is regenerating in her Borg alcove in Cargobay 2.

Janeway enters. She comes up to the alcove.

Janeway deactivates the alcove and thus wakes Seven up. Seven: "Captain."

Janeway: "I'm having trouble with the nature of individuality." Seven: "You require a philosophical discussion."

Janeway: "There's a time and a place for it. This is one of them. After I freed you from the Collective, you were transformed. It's been a difficult process. Was it worth it?" Seven: "I had no choice." Janeway: "That's not what I asked you."

Seven: "If I could change what happened, erase what you did to me, would I? No."

Janeway: "Captain's log, supplemental. Our Doctor is now our patient. It's been two weeks since I've ordered a round-the-clock vigil. A crewmember has stayed with him at all times, offering a sounding board and a familiar presence while he struggles to understand his memories and his thoughts. The chances of recovery? Uncertain."

The Doctor and Janeway in the Holodeck.

Doctor: "The more I think about it, the more I realise there's nothing I could've done differently." Janeway: "What do you mean?"

Doctor: "The primordial atom burst, sending out its radiation, setting everything in motion. One particle collides with another, gases expand, planets contract, and before you know it we've got starships and holodecks and chicken soup."

Tuvok enters. Doctor: "In fact, you can't help but have starships and holodecks and chicken soup, because it was all determined 20 billion years ago!" Tuvok to Doctor: "There is a certain logic to your logic."

Tuvok: "Progress?" Janeway: "I'm not sure if he's making any sense of this experience, or if his program's just running in circles." Tuvok: "You've been here for sixteen hours. Let me continue while you rest." Janeway: "I'll be alright. Go back to the Bridge." Tuvok leaves.

Doctor: "How can you read at a time like this?" Janeway: "It helps me think."

Doctor: "Think? What do you need to think about?" Janeway: "You. This book is relevant to your situation." Doctor: "Oh? What is it?" Janeway: "Poetry, written on Earth a thousand years ago - La Vita Nuova." Doctor: "La Vita Nuova. The New Life? Ha! Tell that to Ensign Jetal. Actually, I killed her countless times." Janeway: "What do you mean?" Doctor: "Causality, probability. For every action, there's an infinite number of reactions and in each one of them I killed her. Or did I? Too many possibilities, too many pathways for my program to follow, impossible to choose. Still, I can't live with the knowledge of what I've done, I can't. Captain?"

He finds she has fallen asleep. He wiggles her foot. "Captain?" Janeway jumps as she wakes up. "Oh, sorry." Doctor: "How could you sleep at a time like this?" Janeway: "Well, it's been a long day. You were saying?"

Doctor: "What's wrong?" Janeway: "Nothing." Doctor: "You're ill!" Janeway: "I have a headache." Doctor: "Fever, you have a fever!" Janeway: "I'll live." Doctor: "Medical emergency!" Janeway: "Doctor-" Doctor: "Someone's got to treat you immediately! Call Mr Paris! You've got to get to Sickbay!" Janeway: "Doctor, I'm a little busy right now helping a friend."

Doctor: "I, I'll be alright. Go, sleep, please. I'll still be here in the morning." Janeway: "Sure?"

Doctor: "Yes. Please, I don't want to be responsible for any more suffering." Janeway: "Good night. If you need anything-"

Doctor: "I'll call. Thank you, Captain." She departs, leaving her book behind.

After a moment, curious, the Doctor goes and picks up the book and starts to read. "'In that book which is my memory, on the first page of the chapter that is the day when I first met you, appear the words - Here begins a new life.'"

He sits and starts reading, and the words help him begin to move on from his experience. added fade-out