MUSE
Episode 142
Part C

 

At the aliens' open-air theatre, the troupe are rehearsing. The scene currently being rehearsed has Jero playing the part of Tuvok.

The rehearsal is being watched by Layna and Tanis.

Jero (as Tuvok): "When a friend is lost, the mind is split in half, Divided between memory of the past and fear of the future. Harry Kim, Ensign. Only a boy when fate took you from the arms of blue-green Earth. B'Elanna Torres, half-Klingon, half-Human, I am honoured to call you-"

Kelis: "What are you doing? Is that a tear?" Jero: "Yes." Kelis: "Logical Tuvok doesn't cry! That's why they call him logical!" Jero: "Everybody cries." Kelis: "The land of Vulcan has no laughter, and it has no tears. It is a very quiet place, calm, just like Tuvok." Jero: "I can't believe that."

Kelis: "You don't have to, just don't cry!"

Jero: "The audience won't believe it either. They'll either think Tuvok is an unfeeling monster, or that I'm a bad performer." Kelis, trying to suppress his rising frustration: "They'll realise that beneath your unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking, silently, and in more pain than any of us can possibly understand, because that's what it is to be Vulcan! Try it again?"

Jero kneels down and is about to begin again when suddenly a member of the Chorus (#1) runs in: "Kelis!" Jero gets up. Kelis: "What's wrong?" Chorus member #1: "Our patron has been insulted by his enemy to the north. The armouries are open."

There is consternation. Kelis: "Has a battlefield been chosen?" Chorus member #1: "Not yet."

Kelis: "Then we have a chance."

The Delta Flyer at night.

Kelis: "I need your help." Torres: "I've given you enough help. Where's that piece of metal?" He produces it and she examines it. "Not bad."

Kelis: "My patron's been angered by the leader of a neighbouring state. He'll want to take revenge. It could lead to war." Torres, installing the metal plate: "We Eternals aren't supposed to take sides." Kelis: "I'm not asking you to fight. I need a way to change his mind." Torres: "I don't have that kind of magical power." Kelis: "Yes, you do. I believe the right kind of play can turn the mind from violent thoughts. The perfect play might even stop a war."

Torres, referring to the metal plate: "I can't fix the transmitter with this. It has too many impurities. It'll never carry a plasma charge."

Kelis: "If the fighting starts, scouting parties will start moving through these mountains. You'll be discovered. But my play, it could stop it from happening. You have to help me."
Torres: "There's nothing I can do."

Kelis: "Come with me. I'll show you what I've done so far. It's our only chance."

Next day at the aliens' open-air theatre Kelis introduces Torres to the troupe.

Kelis: "She's a fellow poet from across the Eastern Sea, an expert on the Voyager Eternals. She's devoted her life to them. She's here to help."

Pointedly, Layna gets up and walks out.

Later, backstage. Kelis, using a model of the theatre and model characters to describe his play to Torres.

Kelis: "'The Rescue of B'Elanna Torres'. We begin with Harry Kim reaching Voyager in the escape pod. He tells Captain Janeway that B'Elanna Torres is lost. We continue to the point where they discover a piece of the Delta Flyer. After that-"

Torres: "It's simple. They search for B'Elanna Torres. B'Elanna Torres is found." Kelis: "Or not found." Torres: "Or not found. The End. Sounds pretty straightforward to me."

Kelis: "That's exactly the problem. Where is the mistaken identity, the discovery, the sudden reversal?" He explains: "Mistaken identity: a character who is someone else. Discovery: the moment when that identity is revealed. Reversal: a situation that turns from good to bad in a blink of an eye."

Chorus member #1 comes up to them: "Find the truth of your story and you won't need all those tricks. I don't know how things are done across the Eastern Sea, but here poets have become lazy. They rely on manipulation to move their audience. It wasn't always that way." He smiles to Torres: "Welcome." Torres: "Thank you."

Kelis: "The truth of my story. It's an old-fashioned idea. Today, audiences want excitement, passion! Let me show you what I've done with Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay."

He gets up, turns to the actors and claps his hands. "Let's make a good impression on our visitor." They leave to do a rehearsal.

Shortly afterwards, on stage. Tanis (as Captain Janeway): "Chakotay, why must I be denied what every other female officer on this ship can have?" Jero (as Chakotay): "Captain?" Tanis (as Captain Janeway): "The privilege of your touch."

They kiss.

Taken aback, Torres turns and looks at a smiling Kelis.

USS Voyager.

Janeway is working late in her Ready Room. The door signal sounds. Janeway: "Come in." Chakotay enters. script language="javascript" src="pics/sound_doors.js"> "If that was good news, you'd be smiling." Chakotay: "I was just contacted by an alien transport vessel. They picked up the Delta Flyer's distress call."

He hands her a PADD. Torres' distress call, much distorted: "The primary controls are offline. I've ordered Harry to eject. I still have thrusters. I'm setting a course for an L-class planet. I'll try to maintain contact."

Chakotay: "They couldn't get a fix on her position. That was ten days ago." Janeway: "B'Elanna ordered Harry into an escape pod. What's the longest he could survive?" Chakotay: "Less than ten days." Janeway: "An L-class planet." Chakotay: "I've already narrowed the search parameters."

Janeway: "If B'Elanna made it there, it's possible Harry did too. Good night, Commander." Chakotay: "Captain." He leaves.

The aliens' open-air theatre - late in the evening. Kelis: "We'll have a final rehearsal in the morning." Jero: "The last Tuvok scene doesn't make sense to me, and we still don't have an ending." Kelis: "I've got the rest of the night to work on it. Maybe you can get some sleep." Jero follows the rest of the actors as they depart.

Kelis and Torres are left alone. He asks: "What did you think?" Torres: "Captain Janeway kissing Commander Chakotay? Tom Paris kissing Seven of Nine? I don't see the point." Kelis: "Anger is like fire. Love can be the rain that extinguishes it. My patron is filled with hatred for his rival, so our play should be filled with love." Torres: "You can't change somebody's way of life with a few lines of dialogue."

Kelis: "Yes, you can. It's been done before. Do you know what this place used to be a hundred years ago? A temple, and this was the altar stone. Every year a victim would be sacrificed on it in honour of winter. And then one year, nobody remembers exactly when or why, a play took the place of the ritual and no one had to die here again. Why can't my play take the place of a war?"

Torres: "Because when you think that you are surrounded by enemies, when you're up against the Borg, or, or Species 8472, the last thing on your mind is romance." Kelis: "The Sudden Reversal!" Kelis: "Stay and help me. I still need an ending."

Torres: "Well, you're going to have to do a lot better than Harry Kim kissing the Delaney sisters." Kelis: "Why?" Torres: "Because when you think that you are surrounded by enemies, when you're up against the Borg, or, or Species 8472, the last thing on your mind is romance." Kelis: "You're an Eternal. You have to help me." Torres: "I'm sorry, Kelis." Kelis: "The Borg - tell me more about them." Torres: "They're soldiers, part of a vast army. They all think the same thoughts, and they travel on ships that look like hives." Kelis: "Like insect colonies." Torres: "They even have a queen." Kelis: "That sounds terrifying. Captain Janeway hasn't been able to destroy them." Torres: "She is a Starfleet officer, trained to avoid violence whenever possible! She would make peace with the Borg if she could." Kelis: "This is what I need - an enemy, someone to stand in the way of Voyager finding B'Elanna Torres. Captain Janeway, driven by vengeance, must seek out the Queen of the Borg. The audience thinks she plans to destroy them all, but-" Torres: "Go on." Kelis: "The Sudden Reversal! Captain Janeway, holding her spear at the Queen's throat, throws her weapon aside and she argues passionately to put an end to their conflict in words no one will fail to understand." Torres: "Including your patron? That's much better than all that kissing." Kelis: "Stay and help me. I still need an ending." Torres: "You'll figure something out." Kelis: "B'Elanna Torres dies tragically." Torres: "You wouldn't dare."

Delta Flyer - interior. Later that evening. Torres returns. Layna has been waiting for her. Layna: "I followed you here expecting to find a love nest. It's quite a nest. You're no poet from across the sea, you're an Eternal, maybe even B'Elanna Torres herself."

Torres: "Don't be ridiculous." Layna: "You know all he thinks about is you?" Torres: "We're collaborators, that's all."

Layna: "If you come to the performance tomorrow night, I'll expose you to the Autarch. Just leave us alone. Fix your ship and go," crying, "please." She rushes out.

Kim looks through the front window: "Friend of yours?"

Torres: "Harry?!" She rushes toward him, laughing. Kim: "Give me a hand." He passes her what he is carrying: "Here."

She helps him inside. She hugs him, "Oh," delighted to see him. "How?"

Kim: "I ran into some turbulence in the escape pod, decided to turn around and follow your ion trail, landed about two hundred kilometres from here." Torres: "You walked?" Kim: "At night. I tracked your position with a tricorder and tried to stay hidden during the day. Er, I've got some emergency rations left," holding up a box.

Kim continues: "A phaser, and the escape pod's transmitter which I didn't have power left to run but-"

Torres, as she takes the transmitter from him: "Harry Kim saves the day! Just the ending I was looking for."