 | Meanwhile, the crew remains unconscious, and lost in their blissful hallucinations. |  |
The Doctor works in the lab area that adjoins his office.
Qatai: "It's the silence I hate. The way he takes you without a fight. It was the same way with the Nokaro - a crew of nearly 3,000, families mostly, mine included, looking for a new world to settle. But they came across our friend here, and he showed them what they wanted to see: a glistening green paradise. By the time I responded to their distress call, all that was left of them were some fading engine emissions. That was 39 years ago: 39 years, two weeks, 4 days-"
| Doctor: "Do you mind? The situation is dismal enough."
Qatai: "I'm just trying to explain who we're up against." Doctor: "Well, I'm getting a pretty good idea on my own. Judging by these bio-scanners, the organism's been devouring lifeforms a bit longer than 39 years. I'd estimate it's at least 200,000 years old." Qatai: "The intelligent always survive." Doctor: "I wouldn't go that far. It appears to operate on highly evolved instinct. I haven't detected any signs of sentience." Qatai: "Oh, he's intelligent alright. Smart enough to fool your crew into taking you offline." Doctor: "No need to get personal." Qatai laughs. |  |
Naomi, so far asleep on a bio-bed, is startled awake by a particularly strong jolt to the ship. She is frightened. "Seven!"
Seven: "I'm here."
Naomi: "Are we still inside the monster?"
Seven: "Yes, but we are going to find a way out."
Qatai has been looking at Voyager's database. "There! This is it. Exactly what we need. These class-9 torpedoes in your weapons manifest. If we can bring your vessel deeper into the creature's digestive tract, and detonate one of these charges, we might be able to destroy it."
Doctor: "Starfleet's not in the habit of killing lifeforms."
Qatai: "Even if that lifeform is about to kill you?"
Doctor: "If I take a few hours to examine the creature more thoroughly-"
Seven: "There's no time."
Qatai: "We kill him!"
Doctor: "Maybe there's another way."
Seven: "Explain."
Doctor: "Any living organism, no matter how large, will attempt to expel a foreign body. If we could make Voyager a little less tasty."
Seven to Qatai: "My scans indicate that your weapons are tetryon-based. If you were to fire one at a pocket of antimatter released from our warp core it would produce an electrolytic reaction."
Naomi: "Would that make Voyager taste bad?"
Qatai: "It might at that!"
 | The Doctor and Qatai arrive in one of Voyager's transporter rooms.
Doctor: "Once I've beamed you back to your ship, try adjusting your shields to this frequency." He gives him a PADD. "You'll find it more resistant to the bio-plasmic discharges." Qatai: "You seem to know a little about everything - medicine, exobiology, shield harmonics." Doctor: "I'm something of a renaissance EMH." Qatai: "I could use a crewmate like you. The beast would have a difficult time manipulating a hologram's desires." Doctor: "An Ishmael to your Ahab? No, thank you." Qatai: "You're turning down the hunt of a lifetime?" Doctor: "As appealing as that sounds, I'm a doctor, not a dragonslayer. My program requires that I do no harm." Qatai: "Shame." The Doctor beams Qatai back to his ship. |
 | The ship is jolted more heavily the deeper Voyager descends into the creature's digestive tract. Time is running out! |
|
Engineering. Seven: "Qatai's vessel is ready." Doctor: "I've re-routed bridge controls to Engineering: ops, tactical, helm - all integrated into one station." Seven: "Efficient." Doctor: "I thought you'd like it." Seven: "I'm plotting a course for the organism's oesophageal aperture. Prepare to release the antimatter. Hull integrity's dropped another 13 per cent. Doctor?" Doctor: "Ready on my end."
Seven opens a com. channel to Qatai. Seven: "Voyager to Qatai. Prepare to fire." Qatai: "Wait! Wait! Oh, no, no, no." Seven: "What's wrong?" Qatai: "That last jolt must've destabilised my targetting sensors." Seven: "I could establish an interface with Voyager's targetting array." Qatai: "Don't bother. I know my ship! It's just being stubborn." He tinkers with some controls. "Ah! Ready!"
Seven: "Initiate the burst on my mark. Now!"
Voyager releases antimatter from the port warp nacelle's radiator grille. Qatai's ship approaches and fires at it. Watching the resulting explosion, Qatai growls triumphantly to the creature: "Like the taste of that?!"
Doctor: "I'm reading violent contractions throughout the digestive chamber. It's working. We're working back through the oesophageal aperture." Seven reports from her sensor readings: "Voyager has been expelled. We are 3.9 kilometres from the organism." Doctor: "After just one burst? For a big fellow he certainly has a low tolerance for tummy ache." Seven: "Qatai's vessel was also released."
Doctor: "Hail him." Seven opens a com. channel to Qatai's ship. Qatai: "Why haven't you ejected a second burst!" Seven: "We've cleared the organism." Qatai: "You're being deceived. We're both still inside it!" Doctor checks the scanners: "He's right. I'm reading bio-plasmic energy." Seven: "I am impervious to the creature's influence." Doctor: "You were impervious when it was creating the illusion of Voyager getting home because you didn't share that desire. But now we're trying to escape, which is what you want." Qatai: "Think about it! He's showing you exactly what you want to see!" Doctor: "Seven!"
Seven finally accepts this. She orders the Doctor: "Initiate another antimatter burst. Now." To Qatai: "Fire." There is another explosion, and the creature hurries to expel Voyager and Qatai's ship.
Qatai: "There! We're out." Seven: "Are we certain?" Doctor: "No sign of bio-plasmic energy. We've escaped." Seven: "I'm taking us out of range, maximum warp." Doctor: "I'd better see to the crew." He leaves engineering.
Qatai: "Well, I'll be on my way. Thanks for your help." Seven: "Your engines have taken heavy damage. You require our assistance." Qatai: "No time. The beast is already altering course. I'll handle the repairs myself." Seven: "The procedure would take several days." Qatai: "Don't worry about me. Just get your ship home. And watch out for pitcher plants." He ends contact.
On the Bridge, which is representative of what is happening throughout the ship, the crew wake, bemused. Janeway to Paris: "Location?" Paris: "We're still in the Delta Quadrant." Janeway to Paris: "Scan the wormhole. Find out what went wrong." Paris: "It's gone! I can't find it on sensors." Kim: "Captain, bridge controls have been routed to Engineering - ops, tactical, helm, all of it." Janeway, via comms: "Bridge to Engineering." Seven, via comms: "Yes, Captain." Janeway, via comms: "Seven, what's going on?" Seven, via comms: "The Doctor will explain. I will file a complete report in the morning, after I have regenerated." |
Janeway: "Captain's log, stardate 52542.3. We've deployed a series of beacons to warn other vessels about the bio-plasmic creature and resumed a course for home, our real home."
 | Seven enters Astrometrics to find Naomi looking at the screen on which is displayed an image of Earth.
Seven: "Naomi Wildman." Naomi: "Don't worry. My presence here is authorised." Seven: "By whom?" Naomi: "Mom. She thinks I need to learn more about Earth." |
 | Seven: "I see. And does studying this image increase your desire to go there?"
Naomi: "Not really." Seven: "I concur. It is unremarkable." Naomi: "But my Mom likes it, and even Neelix can't wait to get there. So I guess it can't be that bad." Seven: "Given this crew's determination to return home, I have no doubt we will see it for ourselves one day." |
 | Qatai, having repaired his ship, resumes his hunt. He flies his ship toward the bio-plasmic creature again. |  |
        
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