TUVIX
Episode 40

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SUMMARY: A transporter malfunction fuses Tuvok and Neelix into a single being. On an away mission to locate nutritional spplements, Tuvok and Neelix find a promising native orchid. When Kim beams them back to Voyager with samples of the flower, the pair does not arrive. Instead, due to an apparently inexplicable transporter malfunction, Kim is confronted by a single entity on the transporter platform. The Doctor confirms that this strange but oddly familiar alien is actually a fusion of Tuvok and Neelix, formed when all of Tuvok's and Neelix's biological matter merged on a molecular level. All his vital signs are stable, and he has the memories of both men but a single consciousness. With all the memories and abilities of the pair, the new crewmember decides to name himself Tuvix. the Doctor scans the entity who later takes the name Tuvix Tuvix and the senior officers meet and conclude that the symbiogenetic properties of the orchids the pair carried during transport caused the merger of their biological matter on a molecular level, creating Tuvix. Tuvix attempts to adjusts to his new identity and find his own place on the ship, while Kes tries to adjust to him. Although she is drawn to Tuvix, she misses Neelix deeply and is unsettled by the amalgam's affection for her. She lights two Ocampan prayer tapers, one for Neelix and one for Tuvok. Kes tells Janeway that despite Tuvix's wonderful qualities, she is not ready to let go of Neelix. Two weeks pass, and Tuvix settles into life aboard the ship. In time Kes reaches out to him and apologises for being distant. But just as it looks as if everyone has adjusted to Tuvix, the Doctor announces that he has devised a way to restore him to his two original components. He has developed a radioisotope that attaches itself to the DNA of one of the merged species (as one is Talaxian, the other Vulcan) but not the other and to reverse the process of symbiogenesis they must beam out the selected DNA and segregate the two merged species. However, there is a problem – Tuvix does not want to die, not even if it means restoring the other two men Neelix and Tuvok. Tuvix argues that he has a right to life, and that restoring Tuvok and Neelix amounts to his execution, though Janeway counters that her two merged crewmen have the same rights. Tuvix appeals to the officers on the Bridge but they take no action, and Janeway calls security guards to comepl Tuvix to Sickbay for the separation procedure. When the Doctor refuses to take Tuvox's life against his will as a physician must "do no harm" (enshrined in the Hippocratic Oath), Janeway carries out the procedure herself. Tuvok and Neelix are fully restored, but Janeway feels the weight of her decision to end Tuvix's life.      JANEWAY: Aren't there two other lives to consider here? What about Tuvok and Neelix? Two voices that we can't hear right now. As Captain, I must be their voice, and I believe they would want to live.    TUVIX: I know they'll be some people who'll call me a coward because I didn't sacrifice myself willingly. Believe me, I've thought of that. But I have the will to live of two men. Look at me, Captain: when I'm happy, I laugh; when I'm sad I cry; when I stub my toe I yell out in pain. I'm flesh and blood, and I have the right to live!