EMANATIONS
Episode 9
Part D

 

Janeway: "Captain's Log, supplemental. We've returned to the ring system, and we're preparing to send Ptera back to her dimension. Lieutenant Torres has found a way to temporarily protect the warp core against the vacuoles, but she is uncertain how long her measures will be effective."

Seska is on duty in the transporter room. She looks up as Janeway, Ptera and Kes enter. As they walk across to the steps to the transporter pads, Janeway hands Ptera the transponder.

Janeway: "You understand the instructions for Mr Kim if you find him?" Ptera: "Yes."

Torres: "We've got one, Commander, forming ten metres below us, Deck 13." Chakotay: "OK. Let's see if your dampening field is going to protect the warp core." Torres checks the instruments: "The field is fluctuating slightly, but holding." Chakotay taps his combadge. "Engineering to Transporter Room 3."

Chakotay, via comms: "There's a vacuole forming on Deck 13. Magnetic interlocks are stable." Janeway, via comms: "Acknowledged." Contact ends. Seska is standing by to transport Ptera.

Janeway gives a friendly touch on the shoulder in farewell.

Ptera stands on the transporter pad. Seska: "I see the vacuole. Locking on." Janeway: "Good luck, Ptera."

Seska: "I have a transporter lock. Energising. Matching her pattern to the subspace distortions."

Seska: "Wait a minute. The vacuole is shutting down. I can't get her pattern through."

Janeway: "Abort the procedure. Pull her back."
Seska: "I'm trying. I'm losing her pattern."
Janeway: "Shunt emergency power into buffer tank 4."
Seska: "That's it. I've got the pattern."

Ptera materialises.

Janeway catches Ptera as she falls. Kes scans her with a tricorder. Kes: "She's dead." Janeway: "Is there any brain activity? Can we revive her?" Kes indicates no.

Via comms: "Janeway to Lieutenant Torres. How long until we have to leave?"
Torres, via comms: "I'd say we're safe for another two hours."
Janeway: "That gives us two hours to find Mr Kim. We'll have to stay within high-range scanner range. Perform another subspace scan. This time extend the scan radius to ten AU. I'm on my way to Engineering. Janeway out."
Torres, via comms: "Aye, Captain."
Janeway: "Ensign, beam her onto one of the asteroids."
Seska: "Aye, Captain."
Janeway: "That's where she was meant to be."
Janeway leaves.

Kes looks down at her dead friend. "I hope you find your afterlife, Ptera."

Neria has explained to Kim that they wish to transfer him to a different facility. Kim, most unhappy at the prospect: "Why?!" Neria: "We want to make a more detailed scan of your microcellular structures and a complete examination of your neurochemistry. This facility isn't equipped for such a detailed bio-analysis. The complex at Paffran has everything we need." Kim: "Look. If my ship is still searching for me, they're not going to stay there forever. I have to get back." Neria: "That's not possible. We don't even understand how you got here." Kim: "Then maybe I can figure out a way to get back. Let me take a look at one of those cenotaphs-" Neria: "There's no time for that! Word about you has spread very quickly, Harry, not only in the scientific world, but in the community at large. There are many people who are very nervous about what you represent. Some even see you as a threat to their beliefs about the afterlife. We need to take you to a more secure location. It's for your own protection." He goes out of the door. Kim: "Wait!" Neria turns. Neria: "I'm sorry, Harry. It's out of my control." He leaves. Kim realises that being in a secure location for his own protections means that in effect he will be a prisoner, and in some distant possibly inescapable place. He turns and sees Hatil wrapping long linen strips around himself. Kim: "What are you doing?" Hatil: "Preparing for the transference ritual. Eh, this is a ceremonial shroud that's been in my family for five generations." Kim: "So they make you wrap yourself in your own death shroud?" Hatil: "It's something we look forward to, actually. I remember when my father used this shroud, his father before him. The difference is, when my father put this on there was no doubt in his mind about where he was going." Kim: "Can't you just back out? Say you've changed your mind." Hatil: "I have thought of just walking out and disappearing. I have some friends in the Cararian Mountains. They would be willing to let me stay with them but my family would worry about me. They'd wonder what was happening, if I was alright, if I were hurt. No. Everyone's expecting a transference ritual, and I'm going to give them one." Kim: "What if you did disappear into the mountains, but your family thought you were dead? I mean, they're here for a transference ritual, right?" Hatil: "Do you realise what you're suggesting?" Kim: "It's perfect. Those cenotaphs send your people back to my dimension, which is where I want to go. Voyager's probably still near the asteroid searching for me. As soon as I appear, they'll pick up my signal and beam me aboard. And you, you can just disappear. Your family will think you're dead, and you can live out your life in the mountains." Hatil: "Harry, if you go into that cenotaph and go through with the transference ritual, you'll die." Kim: "Well, if Voyager can beam me aboard quickly enough, our Doctor should be able to revive me. Medicine's pretty advanced in our culture. I've heard of cases where people have been dead for hours and still been brought back to life." Hatil: "But it's not certain?" Kim: "No, it's not. But I think this is my only chance to get home." Hatil: "The shroud has to be wrapped in a particular way." Kim nods. "I'll show you how, but we have to hurry. I'm scheduled for transference in less than an hour."

In the Cenotaph room, Hatil's closest family have gathered for the transference ritual.

Araya holds her husband's hand: "A pleasant trip, Hatil. Say hello to Varel and Toyan. I'll see you there in a few years."

Araya says her final farewell to Hatil. They help Hatil to lie down inside the Cenotaph.

The lid lowers and seals shut.

Hatil lies down in the Cenotaph. Inside it, however, it is not Hatil, but Kim! Kim unwraps the shroud from round his head and lies there, not sure of what comes next. Neria: "We're joined here today to bid farewell to our dear friend Hatil Garan. We salute not only his life, but the manner in which he has chosen to end it. He makes a noble sacrifice today that his family may have a better tomorrow. We prepare to send him on to the Next Emanation with the full knowledge and faith that the life he will find there is better than the one here, that he will no longer be hampered by his infirmity, and that he will come to understand the cosmos in a way that he could never have imagined."

Araya: "Goodbye, Hatil. I love you."

She presses the control to send her beloved to the Next Emanation.

Kim dies!