THE HAUNTING OF DECK TWELVE
Episode 145
Part E

Events in Neelix's story which are depicted as happening on the tv screen are denoted in this style.

 

Neelix: "In Sickbay, the Doctor had his hands full too." An injured female crewmember is lying on a biobed.

Doctor to Seven, who is on the main biobed, in the surgical bay: "You're fortunate. Another few moments and you'd have been asphyxiated."

Seven gets up. He protests: "Where do you think you're going?" Seven: "Lieutenant Torres needs help with the repairs."

The doors open and Paris, crying out in pain, is helped into Sickbay. Janeway urgently calls: "Doctor."

They help Paris onto a biobed. The Doctor brings a hypospray and a tricorder to scan him. Torres: "What happened?" Doctor, making his diagnosis: "An EM surge. Seven had a similar experience."

Seven: "The environmental system converted Cargo Bay 2 into a micro-nebula." Chakotay: "When Gibson and McMinn tried to vent the gas from Deck 7 they were struck by a discharge too." Janeway: "Are we thinking the same thing?" Chakotay: "It could be an intelligence at work here." Torres: "Some kind of electromagnetic lifeform that's using the environmental controls to make the ship more hospitable for itself." Janeway: "And attacking anyone who tries to stop it."

Suddenly the Doctor fritzes. Worries, he tells them: "My matrix is destabilising!"

Janeway to Torres: "Transfer his program to the mobile emitter. Quickly." But the Doctor's program goes offline before she can do so.

The computer sounds an alert and reports: "Warning: power failure." Janeway: "Let's get the injured out of here." There is a hurried evacuation.

Neelix: "Deck by deck, section by section the crew was losing control of Voyager. People were scattered throughout the ship with no idea what was happening."

In a dark corridor, Tal Celes is moving slowly. Thin inadequate points of light flicker onto the bulkheads from her wrist-beacon. She is frightened and jumpy. Suddenly she meets Kim, who is also wearing a wrist-beacon. She lets out a cry, startled. Kim: "What did you do that for?!" Celes: "Ensign, I'm so sorry! I, I thought, I thought you were a Hirogen or, or a Borg." Kim: "And what gave you that idea?" Celes: "It's dark. Your shadow." Kim: "Trust me, there are no aliens roaming the corridors." Celes: "You mean we haven't been boarded?" Kim: "It's just a power failure." Celes: "Isn't that what they sometimes do - cut the power?" Kim is trying to understand her. "What who sometimes does?" Celes: "Hostile aliens - they might be trying to infiltrate the ship." Kim: "How long has it been since you've run into anyone else?" Celes: "I don't know, four or five hours. I, I tried Sickbay but it was deserted. Decks 3 and 4 are empty. I, I was on my way to the Bridge. You're the first person I've seen." Kim: "Well, there's no one on the Bridge either." Celes: "You see?! Then maybe I was right." Her panic rises. "Maybe the reason we can't find anyone is because they've all been assimilated!" Kim: "Slow down! There was an environmental failure on the Bridge. That's why it's been evacuated. I don't know what happened in Sickbay or on Decks 3 and 4 but I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation." When she starts to protest he makes a firm countering noise: "Ah-ah." He tells her firmly: "No one's been assimilated." Celes: "Then where are they?" Kim: "They've probably set up a temporary command post, most likely in Engineering. That's where I'm going." Celes: "Can I come with you?" Kim: "Of course." As they start out, Celes: "Ensign?" Kim: "What?" Celes: "Do you think we could stop by a weapons locker on the way?"

Neelix: "I still had no idea what was going on. I'd been waiting in the Messhall, for more than four hours, in the dark, cut off from the rest of the crew."

The portside doors open and shut but no one comes in. Wrist-beacon on and armed with a phaser, Neelix ventures toward them and peers out. "Is somebody there? Hello? Hello? Hello?"

Fearfully, Neelix ventures out of the Messhall. He sees the turbolift doors continuously opening and shutting. Nervously he calls out: "Is somebody out there? Tom, if that's you, this isn't funny."

Suddenly a figure looms and startles him. "Aargh! Stay away!"

But it is only Tuvok, wearing a gas mask. Tuvok: "Calm yourself, Mr Neelix." Neelix sighs with relief. "You really shouldn't sneak up on people like that - I could have shot you." Tuvok: "Your restraint is commendable." Neelix: "Is there a problem with the air supply?" Tuvok: "An alien life form has seized control of Voyager's primary systems. It's flooded numerous sections with poisonous gas."

Neelix: "Are you saying that this alien lifeform is trying to kill us?" Tuvok: "Its intentions aren't clear. However, we should evacuate." Neelix: "Oh, where to?" Tuvok: "The Captain has established a secure command post in Engineering."

Mezoti: "Were you scared?" Neelix: "Well, considering that engineering was eight decks down and the only way to get there was to crawl through pitch-black Jefferies tubes, it's fair to say that I was never more frightened in my life." Icheb: "You shouldn't have allowed yourself to be afraid." Neelix: "Is that so." Icheb: "Fear distracts people from accomplishing their goals." Neelix: "Well, that's true, I suppose. On the other hand, fear can sometimes be very healthy." Mezoti: "Explain." Neelix: "Well, it keeps you alert, keeps you from putting yourself in unnecessary danger." Mezoti: "I was afraid once." Icheb: "You've been afraid many times." Neelix rebukes him: "Icheb." To Mezoti: "Do you want to tell us about it?" Mezoti: "It was when we were first disconnected from the Hive mind, before Seven rescued us. I couldn't hear anyone else's thoughts any more. I felt alone." Neelix: "I can understand why that was frightening. When you're scared, it helps to have someone to talk to, doesn't it?" Mezoti: "Yes." Neelix: "Of course, in my case the only one person I had to talk to was Commander Tuvok."

Neelix: "I tried passing the time with a little conversation but, as you've probably noticed, he's not exactly what you'd call chatty."

Neelix: "I'll bet Starfleet has specific procedures to deal with these kinds of situations. You know, something like protocol 1-1-0-5: 'In the event your starship is invaded by a hostile electromagnetic lifeform....' What do you suppose that, er, that protocol would be exactly?" Tuvok: "Rest assured, this crew is doing everything possible to regain control of the ship." Neelix: "You're right, I'm just being silly." Tuvok: "I concur." Neelix: "Of course, the crew of the Salvoxia probably thought they were going to regain control of their ship too. Did I ever tell you about the Salvoxia?" Tuvok: "If I say yes, will it prevent you from telling the story?" Neelix ignores him. He wants to tell the story. Neelix: "It was a Talaxian freighter, horrible tragedy, happened nearly a century ago. After suffering a cascade failure it began to lose life support generators, one by one. Pretty soon, there wasn't enough air left to sustain the entire crew, so they began to draw lots. Can you imagine? Draw the short straw and you suffocate? Anyway, the air continued to diminish, and they kept drawing lots. The crew got smaller and smaller as they waited for someone to rescue them, but no one ever came. Salvoxia drifted through space for the next eighty years, until somebody finally found her. Makes me short of breath just thinking about it." Tuvok: "Perhaps you should occupy your mind with pleasant thoughts before you hyperventilate." Neelix: "Right." Aloud to himself: "Pleasant thoughts. Pleasant thoughts."

Mezoti: "What did the bodies like?" Neelix: "I beg your pardon?"

Mezoti: "After eighty years, were they decomposed?" Icheb: "They may have been preserved by the vacuum of space." Neelix: "I shouldn't have told you that story. It's too gruesome." Icheb: "I wonder what the crew of the Salvoxia did for food after their emergency rations were gone." Mezoti: "Maybe they ate each other."

Neelix: "Alright, that's enough!" The children can obviously think of worse scenarios than the story he is trying to tell them! "Now, where was I?" He remembers and resumes: "We'd made it more than halfway to Engineering when we ran into an obstacle."

Tuvok opens the hatch to the next crawlway using an hand-actuator.

But on opening it, they see the crawlway is filled with nebular gas. Neelix: "Commander!"

Neelix: "What do we do now?" Tuvok: "If I can access environmental controls, I may be able to vent the gas."

He opens a maintenance panel and begins work.

Neelix: "Is there another way around?" Tuvok: "It would take several hours to reach engineering by an alternate route. There is no guarantee we'd find a clear path." Neelix, aloud to himself, as Tuvok works: "Pleasant thoughts. Pleasant thoughts."

 

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