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SUMMARY: During a blackout, Neelix entertains the former-Borg children with a spooky story about an alien entity which seizes control of Voyager's systems. But is the story true?
Voyager in the nebula. |
Various crewmembers are making sure the power at their stations is shut down. The ship falls into darkness as even the Doctor's holographic program is closed down. As the power to the Borg regeneration alcoves in Cargo Bay 2 is removed, the four children who were formerly Borg, are awakened and confused. |
The children (whose names are Icheb, Mezoti, Azan and Rebi) find Neelix in the cargo bay waiting for them, holding a plasma lantern. They ask him what is wrong with the ship. He does his best to encourage the children to relax, saying the shut-down is only temporary.
As Janeway instructs that the rest of the ship's systems be shut down, the children gather around Neelix's lantern. They try to guess what is wrong with the ship, and decide that it must have something to do with the "ghost" which is said to haunt a sealed-off section of Deck 12. Neelix, wanting to ensure their imagination and fears do not get the best of them, proceeds to tell them the story of the last nebula Voyager travelled through.
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| Neelix tells the children a story. |
As Neelix's story opens, Voyager is cruising into a nebula similar to the one which is responsible for the power shut down. Neelix is explaining his own over-active imagination to Tuvok while Voyager collects deuterium from outside.
The moment the electric bolt strikes is seen through the Messhall windows. |
Kim notices that the collection is destabilising the nebula and Chakotay convinces Janeway to halt the extraction. A second before Voyager leaves the nebula, an electric bolt rocks the ship! Janeway immediately begins scanning the ship for damage and injuries, gradually finding that most of the electrical systems are failing. |
Various functions on board begin to malfunction when Janeway notices the ship is off course and is returning to the nebula they just left.
Down in the cargo bay where Seven is working, the air begins to fill with colourful gas which looks similar to that of the nebula. After Seven manages to escape the room, she is surrounded by forcefields and knocked unconscious by an energy beam moving through the gas.
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| Seven tries to scan the phenomenon but is forced to evacuate the cargo bay where she is struck unconscious by an energy charge. |
In another part of the ship, Kim orders Neelix to remain in the Messhall while the other officers go to their posts. As the others leave, the lights in the Messhall go out, leaving Neelix alone in the dark.
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While trying to bring the engines back on line, Paris is attacked by the same energy surge that assaulted Seven. When Janeway and Tuvok take him to see the Doctor, they find a now conscious Seven who has been rescued by Chakotay and Torres. When Janeway learns what happened to Seven, she begins to work out what the problem with the ship really is - there is an electric form of life aboard. |
| Still in the dark in the Messhall, Neelix hears a thumping noise and moves to investigate. In the corridor he sees the turbolift doors are malfunctioning and is frightened when he suddenly sees a figure looming up beside him, but he is relieved to find it is only Tuvok in a gas mask. The lifeform has filled parts of the ship with gas, making it uninhabitable. |
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Tuvok has Neelix accompany him through the Jefferies tube network, heading for engineering where the others are waiting as Janeway has set up a secure command post there. Due to an experience in his youth, Neelix is very nervous about nebulas. En route through the Jefferies tubes, Tuvok helps Neelix overcome some of his fears with a meditation exercise. |
Janeway stares at the Astrometrics Lab's viewscreen and realises the nebula was the lifeform's home. |
Janeway realises that she can talk to this new-found electric lifeform through the ship's computer. In this way the lifeform instructs her to go to the the Astrometrics Lab. She goes there with Seven, where they learn that the nebula they came from is the alien's home. Janeway is ordered to go to the Bridge, alone, where she navigates Voyager back to the nebula. |
Inside the Jefferies tube, Tuvok is attacked by the being and injured. Despite Tuvok's order that Neelix should
abandon him, Neelix refuses to leave him. Facing his fears, Neelix summons the courage to drag Tuvok through the dark to Engineering. |
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But the nebula no longer exists. Voyager somehow destabilised the nebula when the ship was there previously. Out of anger, the computerised voice of the lifeform demands that the Voyager crew abandon ship and at the same time it cuts off life support. She tells it she can take it to another nebula but the lifeform refuses to heed her. Janeway orders the entire crew to leave Voyager in escape pods. Only she remains because the entity refuses to let her leave after she tells it that the ship needs to be maintained by a crew otherwise the entity itself will eventually die. The lifeform threatens her by cutting off life support but even as she starts suffocating she refuses to obey its implicit order to man the ship unless it relinquishes control of the ship. The creature agrees and releases Janeway. The crew returns and seals the lifeform within a nebula-like environment on Deck 12.
The lifeform shows its anger when told its home no longer exists. |
Although suffocating, Janeway refuses to concede. |
The power returns and the children look up as they hear a loud noise. |
As Neelix ends the story a loud noise is heard, and he explains that it is the lifeform being released into the new nebula. The power comes on again. When the children admit to being afraid it might come back, Neelix then tells them that he made up the entire story. Reassured, the children return to their Borg alcoves and continue regenerating. |
However, on the Bridge later, Janeway confirms to Neelix that the lifeform is now in its new home.
A pleased Neelix sees the lifeform's new nebula home on the Bridge's main viewscreen.
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