Part  A  

Chakotay's flashbacks to his youth are noted in this style.

 

A Voyager away team is investigating a moon, looking for polyferranide.

Chakotay goes over to Torres who looks as if she has found something. He asks: "Anything?" Torres: "Not really. The polyferranide deposits are contaminated with acelytes." Tuvok, a little distance away, calls out: "Commander, there's something over here I think you should see." Chakotay tells her: "Pack it up. We'll find better quality somewhere down the line." Torres: "That line is going to be cut short when our nacelles burn themselves up if we don't find it soon."

Chakotay joins Tuvok and Neelix: "What have you got, Lieutenant?" Tuvok: "There have been other visitors to this moon recently."

Chakotay moves his hand over the symbol. Neelix: "What do you think this is? Some kind of message?"

Chakotay remembers back to his youth....

....when he went on an expedition into the jungle with his father Kolopak. He saw a similar symbol then too.

Kolopak: "I don't want you to go wandering off." Young Chakotay: "I'm not. I'm just looking at something." Kolopak calls for the expedition's guide: "Antonio." He speaks to Antonio in the tribal language, pointing out the discovery.

Antonio looks at the symbol and says something in the tribal language. Kolopak tells his son: "He says you're quite a scout." Young Chakotay: "I was just looking at a lizard when I saw it." Kolopak: "Well, it was your eyes that saw it. No one else's did. That's the important thing. Come. I want you to understand this. It's a blessing to the land, an ancient healing symbol - a Chah-mooz-ee. They probably cut this down for firewood." Young Chakotay: "The Rubber Tree People?" Kolopak: "Well, the closest thing to the ancient Rubber Tree People that we'll ever see. The people in this tribe are their descendants, just like we are. But they never left this jungle, and they rarely intermarry with other tribes." Young Chakotay: "And they still use firewood instead of magnesite fuel like everyone else." Kolopak: "Chakotay, they have chosen to live like this for centuries. That's why we are travelling on foot and not using a transporter. We honour the Sky Spirits who led our ancestors to this sacred land." Young Chakotay: "Sacred land?" Kolopak: "Yes." Young Chakotay: "Huh. The Sky Spirits must have taken a wrong turn somewhere."

Chakotay: "Maybe it's a blessing to the land, for damaging it with the camp fire."

Tuvok: "What is your basis for that conclusion, Commander?" Chakotay: "Oh, just something somebody told me once."

In Sickbay, the Doctor is conducting a medical pre-natal exam of Ensign Wildman, with Kes acting as the nurse. Doctor: "Describe the nature of your pain." Wildman: "In the lower back it's...tight." Doctor: "Choose the word that would best describe your pain: burning, throbbing, piercing, pinching, biting, stinging, shooting-" Wildman: "Shooting - it even goes down my legs." Doctor: "Hmm." Wildman: "Is the baby alright?" Doctor: "Hmm? Oh, certainly. Fine. Nothing to worry about." Wildman: "Well, makes me feel better." Doctor: "The position of the baby is simply putting pressure on your sciatic nerve. You may return to your post." Wildman: "The pain makes it difficult to sit for any period of time. It's really quite uncomfortable." Doctor: "Elevating your legs when you sit should provide all the relief you need." Wildman is feeling rather devasted by the lack of sympathy in the Doctor's bedside manner. Kes: "Perhaps a day of rest off duty?" The Doctor shakes his head. Doctor: "Ensign Wildman, according to your medical history, this is your first pregnancy, correct?" Wildman: "Yes." Doctor: "Well, Ensign, unfortunately pregnancy causes its fair share of discomforts, and you'll have to learn to live with them. That's just the way it is." The Doctor tells Kes, talking about Wildman in the third person even though she is right there: "We'll schedule her for follow-up in two days. If the pain has not subsided on its own by then, we'll attempt to decrease the sensitivity of the nerve in that region." Wildman: "Thank you, Doctor. Kes helps Wildman, putting an arm on her more for sympathy: "Call me day or night if this gets any worse." Wildman acknowledges and leaves. After she has gone, Kes goes over to the Doctor. "Don't you have any compassion for the way she feels?" Doctor: "Every member of this crew is an adult. I will not coddle them. Compassion can be your department. Fortunately you have enough for both of us." Kes: "You've never been sick or in pain. I just wish once in your life you can know what it's like, how it makes you feel vulnerable and a little afraid. Then you'd understand." She leaves. Doctor to himself: "I don't have a life. I have a program."

Janeway and Chakotay enter his office. He is telling Janeway about the Chah-mooz-ee they found. Chakotay: "I hated every minute of it. My father had dragged me all the way from our colony near the Cardassian border on this quest of his, away from my friends, my home, and here we were in the middle of a brutal Central American jungle looking for the descendants of the ancient Rubber People." Janeway: "It must have been very important to him." Chakotay: "Believe me, it was. And he was very disappointed that I didn't share his enthusiasm. He'd been tracking down the origins of our tribe for years." He calls up the Chah-moo-ee and a comparison. "The one on the right is the one I found today." Janeway: "And now, something you saw on that trip years ago shows up again on a moon's surface almost 70,000 light years away. I don't suppose you have any theories that might explain this?" Chakotay sighs. "I can give you an official Rubber Tree People theory if you like - Sky Spirits." Janeway: "Sky Spirits?" Chakotay: "It's an ancient myth. Sky Spirits from above created the first Rubber People in their own image, and led the way to a sacred land where the Rubber People would live for eternity." Janeway: "You obviously don't put a great deal of faith in this explanation." Chakotay: "How much faith do you put in Adam and Eve? Hasn't science proved that all humans developed from a single evolutionary process?" Janeway: "That's what I was always taught. On the other hand, none of my teachers ever spent much time in the Delta Quadrant. B'Elanna tells me we've picked up a warp signature heading away from the moon. Think we should follow it?" Chakotay: "I don't know that it's fair for me to put my own personal curiosity ahead of the ship's priorities." Janeway: "We still haven't found the polyferranide we need to seal the warp coils. If these people have warp technology, they might be able to help us. Besides, we are in the business of exploring, aren't we?" Chakotay: "My father would put on his expedition hat and shout 'Let's go!'   I guess that's good enough for me."

After arriving at the planet where the warp trail leads, USS Voyager takes up orbit.

Voyager's bridge. Kim: "Showing no lifesigns." Janeway: "Mr Paris, are you certain the warp signature ended here?" Paris: "Positive, Captain. Harry, check your sensors. That look like some kind of power source to you?" Kim: "That is an unusually high EM reading for a natural occurrence." Chakotay: "Could be some kind of cloaking technology." Janeway: "Mr Kim, transmit a continuous message on all frequencies identifying who we are, where we're from, and make it clear our intentions are peaceful." Torres, in Engineering, via comms: "Torres to bridge." Janeway, via comms: "Go ahead." Torres, via comms: "We're in luck, Captain." Torres, via comms: "My readings are showing high concentrations of polyferranide about ten kilometres below the surface." Janeway, via comms: "Acknowledged. We'll send down an away team to continue the survey. Report to Transporter Room 3." Torres, via comms: "On my way." Janeway: "Commander, if we meet any resistance, abort the mission. I have no intention of disturbing an alien race that would rather be left alone." Chakotay: "Understood." Janeway: "On the other hand, if we can make contact, our goal is to get permission to begin excavation as soon as possible." Chakotay: "Tuvok, you're with me." Via comms: "Mr Neelix, please report to Transporter Room 3 for an away mission." Neelix, via comms: "I'll meet you there, Commander." Tuvok and Chakotay leave the Bridge.