| The Clown is sulking.
Spectre: "Bravo! Bravo!" Clown: "Go away! I want to be alone." Spectre: "You're ruining the festival." Little Woman: "Don't be a poop." Clown: "I can't help it. I'm feeling sorry for myself." Little Woman: "Don't take it out on us." Spectre: "Take it out on them." The Clown cheers up. "You people, you wonderful people, my friends. You do know how to make a man feel better, don't you? Ok, then, what shall we play? Ah, the insect game." His followers squeal with delight at this. Spectre: "The insect game." But they are interrupted when the Doctor suddenly appears. Clown: "You again? You're the one who ruined my mood. You and your sweet captain." Doctor: "My sweet captain has a new offer to make." Clown: "No simulated brains. I want real brains." Doctor: "The Captain is prepared to give you a cloaking device." Clown: "I already have a cloaking device." He makes a wide sweeping movement with a cloak. "Thank you anyway." Doctor: "I'm talking about a device that would shield you from being detected by any other interstellar visitors." In the cargo bay, Torres reports: "There are almost forty pathways to disable, Captain, but I should be able to get it done in under two minutes." Janeway: "Good. Let's get started." In carnival world, the Doctor continues to distract the Clown. Doctor: "We will return your entire computer system to the subterranean locale where we found it. With the help of Mr Kim and a team of Starfleet engineers, it will be an easy matter to install the cloaking device, which will insure your safety for the foreseeable future." Clown: "Harry, is this possible?" Kim: "Yes." Clown: "I don't know if I believe you. I don't know yet, but I'll know soon if you're telling the truth. You can't fool me." In the background, without him being aware of it, piece by piece the artificial environment is being removed. Clown: "What does she want in return? And don't say the hostages because I'm not giving them up." Doctor: "You have to understand that the Captain's primary concern is the safety of the hostages." Clown: "She's such a warm and noble person. I'd love her to come to one of my parties someday. What if I promise to take really good care of my guests? We could be more than friends. We could be colleagues." He chuckles genially. "I'm really not such a bad fellow." Suddenly the Spectre notices the gradually vanishing environment and calls out: "What's happening?" The Clown notices too and leaps up "You tricked me! It's an attack! It's an attack! Red alert! Red alert!" He turns on Viorsa. "You! You warned them! You told them how it could be done!" He orders his followers: "Take him!" The carnival troupe seize Viorsa and start dragging him to the guillotine. The Kohl woman screams, begging the Clown: "No! Please, no!" In the cargo bay, Torres is hard at work. "Twenty-two." Janeway, encouragingly: "More than halfway there, B'Elanna." Kes, who is monitoring the hibernation pods, warns: "Captain, it's Viorsa. His norepinephrine levels are rising sharply." In the fantasy carnival land, Viorsa screams for mercy. "No, please! I didn't do anything! I didn't do anything!" He struggles but in vain and taken inexorably toward the guillotine. The Doctor tries to intervene. In the cargo bay, Torres hits a problem. Janeway: "What is it?" Torres: "Some kind of protection device. I'm locked out. I'll have to disable it." Kes warns: "Viorsa's norepinephrine levels are critical." Torres is quietly desperate: "Just ten more pathways." The Doctor gets rid of anyone trying to restrain him, but finally one of them locks the Doctor in a vice-like neckhold. The carnival folk reach the guillotine with Viorsa. They force his head into the guillotine hole. The blade rises. It is ready. It falls. The Kohl woman screams. Kes: "He's dead. Massive heart failure." She goes to the hibernation pod where the female (the programmer) is. "Captain, this one's norepinephrine levels are approaching critical." In the grostesque fantasy world, the Clown indicates the Kohl and jeers: "You're next! You're next!" In the cargo bay, Janeway makes a decision. She orders Torres: "Restore the entire program. We've lost." Torres does so. The Clown is delighted, calling to his followers: "We've won, we've won, we've won! Start the music, start the music. Celebration, celebration, celebration, celebration!" The carnival folk throw themselves into a full party, while the Doctor looks on, saddened by Viorsa's death, and sickened by the Clown. |
 | Doctor: "Your decision to capitulate saved the lives of the other hostages, Captain. You should take some comfort from that."
Janeway: "I don't. Have I misjudged him somehow? Is there another way to reach him? Isn't there more to Fear than a simple demand to exist? Why do people enjoy dangerous sports or holodeck adventures with the safety off? Why, after all these centuries, do children still ride on roller coasters?" |
 | Doctor: "Fear can provide pleasure. To seek Fear is to seek the boundaries of one's sensory experience."
Janeway: "But what does Fear seek at the end of the ride?" |
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