SPIRIT FOLK
Episode 137
Part B
 | Milo: "Look, he's got some sort of contraption in his hand." (Paris is holding a PADD.) |
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Milo: "Maybe we're going about this the wrong way. We should go down to St Mary's and tell Father Mulligan the whole story."
Seamus: "He's not going to talk about the supernatural."
Milo: "Ah, if you'll fill his collection box he'll listen to anything."
Seamus: "True." and Milo makes a noise of sympathetic agreement.
 |
 | Kim: "I thought you were promised to Ray Ewan?"
Maggie: "Not any more." They are both pleased. "Can I ask you something else, Harry?"
Kim: "Please."
Maggie: "Would you like to kiss me?"
Kim: "Is that a trick question?"
She presents herself for his kiss and he leans in for it. |
Paris presses a control on his handheld computer device and Maggie turns into a cow! Kim jumps back, startled and horrified.
 | Milo and Seamus can hardly believe their eyes! An oath sprung from utter amazement hits the air.
cow morph
(pop-up window)
[#137 Spirit Folk] |
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 | Paris laughs at Kim's surprise. |
 | Hearing Paris, Kim turns toward him, furious. "Tom! Don't you have anything better to do?!" |
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Paris: "Boy, she really turned on you!"
Kim is not impressed by the practical joke, nor by Paris' pun: "Ha, ha, very funny. I could've got trampled."
Paris: "Relax! The holodeck safeties are on. There's nothing to worry about."
Kim: "Alright, alright. You've had your fun. Now change her back."
But they are interrupted as the com. signal sounds.  comms. signal "Chakotay to Paris and Kim. Report to the bridge."
Paris, via comms: "On our way." Contact ends.
Kim: "What about Maggie?!"
Paris, still amused: "Oh, she'll be fine. Let her graze!"
Kim reluctantly has to leave with Paris. |
 | Milo and Seamus exchange amazed glances. |
 
| Next morning, in St Mary's Church, the Doctor, in the persona of the village priest Father Mulligan, is in the middle of conducting the service of Mass.
The congregation responds: "Amen."
Doctor: "Please be seated." They all sit. He goes up into the pulpit. He relishes his role as he prepares to address the congregation, so much so that it looks like a theatre, with the audience gathered to watch a great stage performance. "I recently heard a tale of two farmers, who shall remain nameless for this sermon. It seems one broke the other's plough and refused to replace it. His comeuppance was served to him, not by the hand of God, but by the other farmer, in the form of a clogged irrigation ditch. Now do you think their disagreement stopped there? Of course not. They go on, just as the heathen did of old. After all, one spiteful act deserves another, right?" |
 | The audience start to discuss it among themselves. The Doctor slams his fist down, demanding their full attention. "Wrong! What these sinners have forgotten is that they are neighbours."
Grace talks quietly to her companion: "He's in love with the sound of his own voice."
The Doctor's sermon is continuing: "Man or woman, parent or child, flesh and blood or photons and forcefields." He pauses, realising what he has just said. He continues: "It has been said...."
She revises her opinion and makes another whispered aside: "On the other hand, perhaps he's been nipping at the sacramental wine."
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Doctor: "...and as such our community is everything. It is our world, and we are a part of it, as a branch is part of a tree. Do you see branches tearing leaves off one another? No! Do you see roots hoarding water from the trunk? No!! Do you see-"
Suddenly the church doors open, and Milo and Seamus enter bringing Maggie the cow! Everyone turns at the interruption, as the cowbell rings, and are bemused by the sight. As Milo and Seamus bring the cow right up the aisle, one says: "Easy, Maggie." The other calls to the Doctor: "Father."
 | Doctor: "Did you make a wrong turn on your way to the milking shed?" |
 | Seamus: "Oh it's not like that at all, Father! Something's terrible has happened!"
Doctor: "What now?"
Milo: "This was Maggie O'Halloran. The spirits have turned her into a cow."
Grace does not understand. "Maggie O'Halloran's been eaten by a cow?" |
 | Doctor: "Did you see these spirits?"
Seamus: "That we did: Tom Paris and Harry Kim!"
Doctor: "I hate to disappoint you, but it sounds as if you've been the victim of a practical joke. Tom Paris is a known prankster."
Milo: "Oh, it was unholy magic, I tell you. We saw it with our own eyes."
Doctor: "When did this alleged transformation take place?"
Seamus: "Last night." |
 | Doctor: "Well, then. That settles it. This couldn't possibly be Maggie O'Halloran. I saw Maggie this morning on my way into church. She was at her cart tending her flowers. She's probably there now." The cow raises her head, moos loudly and strains at the restraining ropes, as if she is objecting to the Doctor's words. "Well, I think that's enough excitement for one morning." To the congregation: "This Mass is over. Go in peace." To Milo and Seamus: "Leave the cow."
Seamus: "Alright, Father. Excuse us, Maggie." They leave along with the rest of the congregation. |
 
| The Doctor restores Maggie's original parameters and materialises her back onto the street. At that moment Milo and Seamus come round the corner and see her. She is looking disorientated.
Milo: "Maggie!"
Maggie: "Well, good morning, boys."
Seamus: "Is everything alright? You're looking a little out of sorts this morning."
Maggie: "Well, I must admit, I'm not feeling quite myself today." She sits down.
Milo: "Oh?"
Maggie: "Well, this is going to sound very odd, but I feel like I just woke up from the strangest dream, and I don't remember going to sleep!"
Milo: "You're right. That does sound odd."
Seamus: "Do you remember anything about last night?"
Maggie: "Well, I was out with Harry Kim. He chatted me up at The Ox & Lamb, and we were off on a walk before I knew it."
Milo: "What did you do on your walk?"
Maggie is indignant at what she thinks is an improper implication. "We talked! What kind of a girl do you think I am?!"
Seamus: "Now, Maggie, we weren't implying anything."
Milo agrees with him: "No!"
Seamus: "Do you recall anything else about the evening?"
Milo: "Did anything out of the ordinary happen, anything at all?"
Maggie: "I don't remember!"
Seamus: "Well, tell us about the dream, then."
Maggie: "Oh. It was most unpleasant. I was walking around town with nothing but a bell around my neck. Somehow I wound up in church. Everyone was staring at me. You were there, Seamus, and you too, Milo. The next thing I was tending my flowers just as you boys walked up."
Seamus: "Well, that's quite a story, Maggie."
Milo to Seamus, thinking of the pub: "Can we get a quick one?"
Seamus: "Maybe just a wee taste." |
 | Milo and Seamus discuss their suspicions with a number of townsfolk in Sullivan's.
Milo: "So I said to young Harry, I'm not one for rainy days and grey skies. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, he called up the spirits to do his bidding. A second later there wasn't a cloud in the sky!"
Edith: "I was up at Ballahick Farm with Mary. She was playing near the well. Somehow she lost her footing and fell in. I was so frightened I didn't know what to do. So I ran to the Colby's to get some help. But when we returned, there was Mary in the meadow, talking with Katie O'Clare. There wasn't a scratch on her! Katie said I must've been mistaken when I saw her fall." She looks at them gravely. "It was no mistake."
Grace: "I saw something strange too, only I hesitated to say anything for fear you'd think me mad. But after listening to your stories today, I feel you've a right to know."
Milo: "Well, speak up."
Grace: "Last Sunday, after his sermon, I saw Father Mulligan vanish into thin air."
There are gasps at this.
Seamus: "Aye, he's one of them, right enough. Father Mulligan, Tommy boy, Katie and the rest - they're spirit folk!"
Maggie: "Well, what about that Neelix fellow who runs The Ox & Lamb? Well, if he doesn't look like a leprechaun, I don't know who does!"
Seamus: "They're all probably up at Castle O'Dell conspiring against us!"
Sullivan: "Now! That's enough. I can't deny there's been some unusual goings on. But what are you proposing? That we run Katie and her friends out of town? Or maybe we should line them up in front of a firing squad?! Is that what you want? These people have been our neighbours. We've become friends. Let's not forget that."
Seamus: "Well, we can't just sit here and do nothing while they take over Fair Haven!"
Sullivan comes round to confront them all: "I'm not saying we do nothing. Let's go about this like civilised people."
Milo: "What do you suggest? We sit them down and discuss it over tea?" He and Seamus raise their glasses to each other, thinking they have stumped Sullivan.
But Sullivan looks thoughtful. |
 | That evening, Janeway enters the pub. Sullivan has arranged for it them to be alone and has set up a table by the cosy fire for them to have an intimate supper.
Sullivan: "You're looking lovelier than ever, Katie.
Janeway: "Thank you."
She goes over to the table. He hands her a gift. "Open it?" She does so - it is a large book, which she sits down and looks at.
Janeway: "'The Faerie Queene' by Edmund Spenser. Thank you, Michael."
Sullivan: "It's the longest poem in the English language, the first to use a 9-line stanza."
Janeway: "I'll start reading it tonight. I love epic poetry."
Sullivan: "Really? I didn't know that." He sighs. "It seems there's a lot of things I don't know about you." She looks at him, curious at where this is leading. "I thought you'd want to know there's been some talk about you and your friends. Strange things have been happening around town. Folk are saying you're to blame."
Janeway: "What kind of strange things?"
Sullivan: "People using unholy magic, vanishing into thin air, changing the weather."
Janeway: "By any chance, would this have anything to do with your reading suggestion?"
Sullivan: "As a matter of fact-"
Janeway holds up her left hand to stop him. "Don't tell me: they say I'm the faery queen."
Sullivan: "Frankly, they could tell me you're the devil himself, and I wouldn't care."
Janeway gives a quick laugh. "I'll try not to take that personally."
Sullivan: "The sad truth of the matter is: I don't know who you are."
Janeway: "What do you mean?"
Sullivan: "You've been lying to me, Katie. I've been doing some checking with friends of mine in County Clare. It seems nobody's heard of you there."
Janeway: "It's a big county."
Sullivan: "And I've got a lot of friends. You've been evasive from the day we met. I was a fool not to see it. Where do you go when you leave here? There've been times I wanted to talk to you, tell you about my day, a book I'd read, just to say hello. But I can't, because I don't know where to find you. What are you hiding, Katie?"
Janeway: "I'll admit I have misled you about some things, but never about anything important, and I wasn't lying when I said I care about you."
Sullivan: "I wish I could believe that."
Janeway: "You can. I didn't want to deceive you. But under the circumstances I had no choice."
Sullivan: "What circumstances?"
Janeway: "Michael, there are things about me you may not be able to understand."
Sullivan: "Try me. Who are you Katie? Where are you really from? The truth."
Janeway thinks hard about this, for she realises that she dare not tell him he is a hologram and that Fair Haven is just a holographic place. She does not wish to hurt him, but she cannot tell him. She gets up, still thinking, as the largeness of the dilemma becomes clear. "Computer, end program."
He disappears, and the pub surroundings disappear with him. She is alone in the empty holodeck. |
Thanks to for the page backgrounds and buttons from the set Shamrock.
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