PROJECTIONS
Season 1 : Episode 17
Part D

In Sickbay, Janeway is overseeing emergency repairs. Janeway: "Magnetic constrictors are online. The warp core is stable. Let's get started on those plasma relays." Barclay and the Doctor materialise in Engineering. Startled, she demands: "You, who are you?" Doctor: "I'm the Emergency Medical Hologram." Janeway: "I didn't know you could be projected into Engineering."

Doctor: "I can't, but it's a long story. I'd rather not get into it right now." Janeway: "Fine. We have three wounded crewmembers over here." Doctor: "I'm afraid I have a more pressing matter to attend to, Captain."

Janeway: "What do you mean, you have a more pressing matter to attend to?" To Barclay: "And who are you? I don't recognise you." Barclay: "Don't mind me. I'm just assisting the Doctor."

Janeway: "Doctor, I'm ordering you to take care of these wounded crewmembers." Doctor: "Computer, delete Janeway."

Barclay to Doctor: "The program's not responding to vocal commands. Protocols are starting to freeze up. We don't have much time."

Janeway turns to two security guards: "Jarvis, Parsons, put these men under arrest." The two security guards approach the Doctor and Barclay, phasers at the ready.

Barclay to Doctor: "Don't worry. Those phasers aren't real. They're just holograms." Doctor to Barclay: "I wouldn't be so sure. I was injured earlier." Barclay to Doctor: "That means the Holodeck safeties are off!" Hearing this, the Doctor appeals to the approaching security guards: "Now just a moment, let's not do anything hasty."

Janeway: "Who are you? Are you two responsible for bringing us here?"

Doctor: "Actually, no. The Array you discovered is controlled by an entity you will come to know as the Caretaker or Banjo Man. He's actually an alien lifeform who's caring for a species known as the Ocampa who live nearby-" Janeway: "Enough! I don't know what this is all about, but clearly you're involved." To the security guards: "Take them to the Brig. I'll question them later."

Doctor: "No, I don't think so."
Janeway: "You're in no position to argue."
Doctor: "I'm not arguing. I'm simply pointing out that in several seconds the entire crew of Voyager will be transported to the Array where you'll be tortured and probed for medical information. It will be quite painful, but not fatal."
The com. alert sounds. "Bridge to Janeway. We're being scanned by the Array, Captain. It's penetrated our shields."
Janeway, via comms: "What kind of scan? Bridge? Janeway to bridge, respond!" She is shocked when one by one the security guards vanish.

Thinking the Doctor and Barclay are responsible she steps menacingly towards them: "What are you-?" But then she too vanishes.

Barclay: "Time is running out, Doctor. The oxidisation levels in your neural tissues are rising. You've got to destroy this ship and bring this program to an end." Doctor: "First things first. I have to make absolutely sure what I am." He goes over to a section of engineering and removes an access panel.

Doctor: "This is the central memory nexus for all holographic systems on board. If I destroy this there won't be a single hologram left on Voyager."

Barclay: "Except for me. I'm being projected from outside the simulation." He offers the Doctor a phaser. "Go ahead. Give it a try."

The Doctor fires at the central memory nexus....

.....and destroys it. The Doctor does not vanish.

Barclay: "Convinced?" Doctor: "Computer, what is the status of the holographic imaging system on Voyager?" Computer: "The holographic imaging system has been destroyed." Doctor: "Are there any holographic programs running anywhere on the ship?" Computer: "Negative. Doctor: "Then why is the ship still here and not a hologrid?!" Computer: "Please re-state the question." Doctor: "You said all holosystems were destroyed. Why is the ship simulation still running?" Computer: "All holosystems have been terminated."

Barclay: "Doctor, I know this is a little confusing, but try to remember that you just destroyed the holographic imaging system on a holographic ship, a hologram in a hologram. If you want to bring this to an end you've got to destroy the entire simulation - the ship itself." Doctor: "Then it's true. I am a real person." Barclay: "And you're a person in great danger. Destroy the ship, now, before it's too late." Doctor: "But if I'm wrong..." Barclay: "Doctor, you've got to believe me. What else can I do to prove it to you?" Doctor: "I know, I know, but it's just so-"

He staggers as he suddenly feels a pain in his head.

Barclay: "You see what's happening? Holograms don't feel pain. Your brain is being flooded with kinoplasmic radiation. You're dying."

Doctor: "I guess you're right. What should I do?" Barclay: "The warp core. Even set on full power it's going to take a sustained phaser burst to punch through the outer duranium shielding. Set your phaser to maximum."

The Doctor does so. "Aim for the magnetic constrictors. Ready?" Doctor: "Ready."

Chakotay enters and shouts: "Stop! Doctor, don't listen to him. He's lying. Step away from the warp core, Doctor. Don't do anything that man tells you. You're in danger if you do. None of this is real."

Doctor: "So I've been told. It's all a holographic simualation." Chakotay: "That's right, but it's not the simulation you think it is. Everything around you is part of a holographic projection being created by your program." Doctor: "My program?!"

Chakotay: "You're on the Holodeck on Voyager. The Captain suggested you take a day off, play a holonovel, so you did, but while you were running the holonovel there was a kinoplasmic radiation surge in the imaging system. It created a feedback loop between the Holodeck computer and your program. All of this, including Mr Barclay, is a holographic simulation generated by your codes, subroutines and memory circuits." Barclay to Doctor: "Don't be distracted by these holographic characters. Stay focussed on what you need. Destroy the warp core."

Doctor: "Wait a minute. The entire crew of Voyager was just taken by the Array. They won't be back for three days. So what's he doing here?" Barclay: "The program is malfunctioning." Doctor: "Are you the real Commander Chakotay or a holographic projection like Mr Barclay?" Chakotay: "I'm a projection. I'm really at the holographic control station in Engineering. You're trapped on the Holodeck. We've been monitoring your program from here and have been trying to reach you for hours." Doctor: "Sounds familiar. He told me the same thing." Barclay: "Doctor, do you remember coming into the Holodeck and running a holonovel for the last six hours?" Doctor: "No. No, I don't."

Chakotay: "That's because your memory circuits are being eradicated by the feedback loop. We have to get you off the Holodeck, transfer you back to Sickbay." Barclay: "You don't have memory circuits. You have a mind! And it's been damaged. Destroy the Voyager, the program will end and we can get you off the Holodeck." Chakotay: "That's not true, Doctor. Because of the feedback loop, if you destroy the simulation you will be destroyed as well." Doctor: "Me?" Chakotay: "If you shut down this simulation your program will be wiped out right along with it. There will be no way to retrieve the lost data. You'll be gone."

The Doctor staggers as the pain recurs in his head. Barclay: "Only real people experience pain. You've got to believe me."

Chakotay: "What you're perceiving as pain is really the feedback loop eradicating your memory circuits." The Doctor asks weakly: "What, what is it you want me to do?" Chakotay: "Don't do anything. We're working on the problem right now. We're close to a solution."

Barclay: "Do nothing and you die." The Doctor collapses in pain. Chakotay: "Doctor, trust me."

Kes: "Trust me, Lewis." Doctor, surprised to see her: "Kes." Kes: "Yes, you know me. You remember me." Doctor: "Yes, you're my assistant." Barclay tells a hurt Kes: "I told you, his brain's been damaged. He's losing his memory."

Barclay tells the Doctor: "This is Kes Zimmerman, your wife."

Chakotay: "This is all a holographic delusion, drawn from people and experiences in your own memory circuits. You are malfunctioning." Kes: "Lewis, please, listen to Reg. He's trying to help you. Destroy this program." Chakotay: "If you listen to her, you'll end up destroying yourself."

Kes: "Believe in yourself. You're not a program. You're a real flesh and blood human being, and you're my husband. I don't want to lose you." Barclay: "Lewis, how would you rather think of yourself? As a real person, with a real life, with a family who loves you, or some hologram that exists in a Sickbay on a starship lost in deep space?" Chakotay: "This isn't about what you want. This is about what you are. Just because you're made of projected light and energy doesn't mean you're any less real than someone made of flesh and blood. It doesn't matter what you're made of. What matters is who you are. You're our friend, and we want you back."

Kes: "Lewis, please, pick up a phaser, destroy the warp core. It's your only hope." Chakotay: "Doctor, we're close to getting you out of here. Try to hold on." Kes: "Whatever happens, I just want you to know I love you." The Doctor seems delirious, unable to cope with either Chakotay or Barclay: "I always wanted to tell you, Kes, that you're beautiful."

Kes replies: "Thank you."

But it is not Kes Zimmerman but Kes, the Doctor's friend and assistant!

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