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Seven of Nine; publicity shot

QUESTION: We are confused as to the real age of Seven of Nine. We know that she was in the Collective for 20 years, or thereabouts. We also know that she was assimilated at the age of six, which should make her 26. However, we know that, in a maturation chamber, it takes about two years for an infant to grow to adulthood. So was Seven put in a maturation chamber after she was assimilated? How old would that make her now? 18?

ANSWER: Well, my rule of thumb on these sticklers is simply this: in the face of continuity gaffes, there's usually safety in numbers and the momentum of change. Actually, though, there's a fairly consistent train of aired facts in Seven's personal timeline evidenced from the mention of stardates and/or a comparison of years. In [#69 Scorpion, Part Two], we hear that Seven was assimilated precisely 18 years prior to her Voyager encounter - or 2356 AD, reckoned backwards from four years (barely) after 2371, the [#1 and #2 Caretaker] year. [#136 Collective] and [#146 and #147 Unimatrix Zero] also state she was a drone for 18 years - and, indeed, according to the former she did spend the first five in a maturation chamber (until the human age of 11). Whatever else the norm is or was - and it may well be shorter with infants, as their new bodies may adapt more quickly to the cybernetic implants than established physiologies of older children - that is how long it was for Seven.

Seven on Voyager's bridge

In [#74 The Raven], we learn she was six at the time, which is also stated in [#99 Once Upon a Time], although in [#166 Author Author] her aunt recalls that Seven (or rather Annika) stayed with her when she was six years old but that cannot be accurate even if she meant in the child's sixth year rather than after her sixth birthday as she was four when she last saw Earth, as mentioned in [#109 and #110 Dark Frontier], and it is inaccurate, as well as implausible that the Hansens could have reached the Delta Quadrant from Earth in only a few months.

Seven in Voyager's main engineering

In fact, the only clinker in all of this is the most obscure: [#70 The Gift] gives her birth stardate at Tendara colony as 25479. By all we know in basic mode (SD 51000 = 2374 A.D.) that works out to about 2258, not 2250. Oops. Well, let's press on. So, the bottom line: I think it's safe to say that Seven is 6+18+4, or 28 years old at the time of Voyager's actual eventual return to Earth at the end of 2377.

CREDITS: ST Monthly; question by Jessica Williams and Llinos Cathryn Thomns, Conwy, North Wales; answer by Star Trek consultant and Star Trek historian Larry Nemecek, author of 'The [TNG] Companion' (recommended), co-author of 'The Making of [STAR TREK VIII: FIRST CONTACT]' and photo editor/consultant for TOSTFF. Interpolations by Janet. Scans and composite pictures by Janet using Paramount publicity shots of person and ship. Thanks to Eos Development for the page background set from the collection Liberal Arts.

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