LIFESIGNS
Episode 35
Part B

 

Doctor to computer: "Now apply epidermal layers."

The computer finishes doing so.

The computer adds hair.

Doctor: " Computer, use transporter records to recreate the patient's clothing."

The process complete, the Doctor and Kes look at each other. The Doctor is pleased - the procedure was a success and the patient has been saved, at least for now.

In the Captain's Ready Room, Chakotay is giving a situation report to Janeway who looks at data on a PADD. Chakotay: "According to her ship's navigational logs, the woman was en route to a remote Vidiian colony." Janeway: "Are we anywhere near it?" Chakotay: "It's about ten light years away. We should be in the general vicinity in about 22 days." Janeway: "Assuming she survives and we can take adequate security precautions, we'll turn her over to her people when we get there."

Chakotay: "Captain." Janeway: "Is there something wrong?" Chakotay: "I wanted to talk to you about Lieutenant Paris. His attitude lately has been less than professional." Janeway: "I've noticed."

Chakotay: "I know crew discipline's my responsibility, but in this case I thought I should let you get involved before I took any action. In a way, Paris has been your personal reclamation project." Janeway considers.

Janeway: "I appreciate your bringing this to my attention, Commander, but I trust you to handle the problem any way you see fit." Chakotay acknowledges and leaves.

Doctor: "Chief Medical Officer's log, supplemental. Test results indicate that the holographic body is functioning normally. The patient's synaptic patterns appear to be stable, so I'm now ready to begin transferring her cognitive and motor processes."

In Sickbay, the Doctor gently nudges the Vidiian woman, whose name is Danara, and she wakes. Danara: "Who are you?" Doctor: "I'm the Chief Medical Officer of the Federation Starship Voyager. We received your distress call and brought you aboard."

Danara, looking at her phage-free hands: "What have you done to me?" Doctor: "It's quite simple really. I used the undamaged chromosomes in your cerebellum to recreate your original DNA code, and then programmed the computer to project a holographic template based on that genome." Danara: "Holographic?"

Doctor: "A three-dimensional projection of light and energy." He hands her a mirror. "See for yourself. Your neural patterns were degrading rapidly. It was too late to expect results from inaprovaline, so I was forced to improvise, not that it would have occurred to just any physician.

Doctor: "Why are you crying?" Danara: "I'm sorry, I-" Doctor: "I thought you'd be pleased."

Danara: "I am. I just never expected to look healthy again. I've been sick for so long."

Doctor: "I'll need a complete medical history. How long have you been ill exactly?"
Danara: "I was first diagnosed with the phage when I was seven."
Doctor: "And when did you begin receiving replacement tissue?"

Danara: "About that same time. At first, it was hard to get used to the changes, but it happened so often that after a while I, I almost stopped noticing. I, I, never, I never thought I'd see myself again. Thank you. This is the most extraordinary thing anyone has ever done for me."

Doctor: "I wouldn't be too grateful. There are serious limitations to being a hologram. First of all, we can only exist within environments equipped with holo-emitters, such as the Sickbay."
Danara: "You mean you're a-"
Doctor: "I'm this ship's Emergency Medical Holographic program."
Danara: "You're a computer simulation?"
Doctor: "An incredibly sophisticated computer simulation."
Danara: "I'm sorry. What did you say your name was?"
Doctor: "I don't have a name. It wasn't part of my original program. However, you, I'm sure, have one."
Danara: "Danara. Danara Pel."
Doctor: "Well, Miss Pel. May I ask what someone with an illness like yours was doing alone in space with no access to medical care?"
Danara: "I was helping to treat an outbreak of the phage on Fina Prime. I was on my way back to my home colony, but it's a long journey and my condition got worse."
Doctor: "You're a medical practitioner of some kind?"
Danara: "A haematologist."
Doctor: "Well then, perhaps given your expertise, you can help me with your treatment."

Danara: "My treatment? I feel fine." Doctor: "Unfortunately, that's only temporary. Your synaptic patterns will eventually degrade if we don't get them out of the pattern buffers and back into your brain." Danara: "How long?" Doctor: "A few days, perhaps a week." Danara: "I see."

Doctor: "Your real body is in stasis. As you can see, we have to find a way to repair your damaged neural tissue."

She gives a small gasp, as if shivering, when she sees her body. "Is something wrong?" Danara: "It's nothing." Doctor: "I'm eager to discuss treatments." Danara: "Of course."

She steps right up to her body and looks at it - it is a disturbing feeling for her, to see her body from outside of it. She had possibly not realised quite how diseased she was and looked until seeing herself as if through a stranger's eyes.

In his office, the Doctor is giving information about a medical procedure he plans to carry out. Doctor: "The procedure is quite simple. I'll drill an opening into your skull precisely two millimetres in diameter, and then use a neuralyte probe to extract a sample of your parietal lobe, weighing approximately one gram." Torres, pacing up and down: "It doesn't sound simple to me."

Torres: "I still have nightmares about what those people did to me. And now, you want to crack open my head, cut out a piece of my brain and give it to her?!"

Doctor: "Your experience in the Vidiian prison suggests Klingon DNA is resistant to the phage. Losing a small amount of neural tissue is inconsequential." Torres: "Not to me it isn't." Doctor: "Yet that same tissue, grafted onto the patient's brain and stimulated to grow will significantly slow the spread of her infection. If we can increase the grafted tissue mass quickly enough, we can transfer her synaptic patterns back into her brain before they degrade in the holo-buffer. It won't cure the phage, but it should prolong her life considerably."

Doctor: "Please, change into a surgical gown and lie down on bio-bed number one." Torres: "I am not going to-"

Danara appears in the doorway: "Excuse me." The Doctor and Torres turn to look at her.

She tells Torres: "I just want to say that I've read about the experiments that were done on you. What you went through must have been very traumatic." Torres: "That is an understatement." Danara: "I'm sure it is. Please understand this disease has been killing my people for hundreds of years. Trying to stop it has become an obsession, and many of our politicians and scientists have never developed compassion for the people who keep us alive. As much as I want to go on living, I've accepted the fact that I will die soon. I only want your help if you are willing to give it."

Now that she sees Danara for herself and hears her viewpoint, Torres changes her mind although she is still unhappy about the surgery. "Of course I, I'd like to help you if I can." Danara: "If you have any questions at all about the procedure, I, I'd be happy to answer them for you." Torres sighs. "I'll go and get changed." She gets up.