Home > Star Trek: Voyager

Tattoo

( tricorder beeping )

Anything?

Not really.

The polyferranide deposits are contaminated with astiline.

TUVOK: Commander, there's something over here

I think you should see. Pack it up.

We'll find better quality somewhere down the line.

That line is going to be cut short when our nacelles burn themselves up if we don't find it soon.

What have you got, Lieutenant?

There have been other visitors to this moon recently.

What do you think this is?

Some kind of message?

I don't want you to go wandering off.

I'm not.

I'm just looking at something.

Antonio.

Vay-chit no-op-puse-nee.

Chakotay, kay-nee-post.

Pon-ah-chee nun-pah-hee-no.

Kay-nee-post itchee-oh.

Kep-pon-nee!

He says you're quite a scout.

A kep-pon-nee.

I was just looking at a lizard when I saw it.

Well, it was your eyes that saw it.

No one else's did.

That's the important thing.

Come.

I want you to understand this.

It's a blessing to the land.

An ancient healing symbol.

A CHAH-mooz-ee.

They probably cut this down for firewood.

The Rubber Tree people?

Well, the closest thing to the Ancient Rubber Tree people that we'll ever see.

The people in this tribe are their descendants.

Just like we are. ( insect buzzing )

But they never left this jungle.

And they rarely intermarry with other tribes.

And they still use firewood instead of magnesite fuel like everyone else.

Chakotay, they've chosen to live like this for centuries.

That's why we are traveling on foot and not using a transporter.

We honor the Sky Spirits who led our ancestors to this sacred land.

Sacred land?

Yes. Huh.

The Sky Spirits must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.

Maybe it's a blessing to the land.

For damaging it with the campfire.

TUVOK: What is your basis for that conclusion, Commander?

Oh, just... something somebody told me once.

Describe the nature of your pain.

In the lower back.

It's tight.

Choose the word that would best describe your pain.

Burning, throbbing, piercing, pinching, biting, stinging, shooting...

Shooting.

It even goes down my legs.

Hmm.

Is the baby all right?

Hmm? Oh, certainly.

Fine, nothing to worry about.

Well, that makes me feel better.

The position of the baby is simply putting pressure on your sciatic nerve.

You may return to your post.

The pain makes it difficult to sit for any period of time.

It's really quite uncomfortable.

Elevating your legs when you sit should provide all the relief you need.

Perhaps a day of rest, off-duty.

Mm-mm.

Ensign Wildman, according to your medical history, this is your first pregnancy, correct?

Yes. Well, Ensign, unfortunately, pregnancy causes its fair share of discomforts, and you'll have to learn to live with them.

That's just the way it is.

We'll schedule her for follow-up in two days.

If the pain has not subsided on its own by then, we'll attempt to decrease the sensitivity of the nerve in that region.

Thank you, Doctor.

Call me day or night if this gets any worse.

Don't you have any compassion for the way she feels?

Every member of this crew is an adult.

I will not coddle them.

Compassion can be your department.

Fortunately, you have enough for both of us.

You've never been sick or in pain.

I just wish, once in your life, you could know what it's like, how it makes you feel vulnerable and a little afraid.

Then you'd understand.

( door opens, closes )

I don't have a life.

I have a program.

I hated every minute of it.

My father had dragged me all the way from our colony near the Cardassian border on this quest of his.

Away from my friends, my home, and here we were, in the middle of a brutal Central American jungle looking for the descendants of the Ancient Rubber people.

It must have been very important to him.

Believe me, it was. And he was very disappointed that I didn't share his enthusiasm.

He'd been tracking down the origins of our tribe for years.

The one on the right is the one I found today.

And now, something you saw on that trip years ago, shows up again on a moon surface almost 70,000 light-years away.

I don't suppose you have any theories that might explain this. ( sighs )

I can give you an official Rubber Tree people theory if you like.

Sky Spirits.

Sky Spirits?

It's an ancient myth.

Sky Spirits from above created the first Rubber people in their own image, and led the way to a sacred land where the Rubber people would live for eternity.

You obviously don't put a great deal of faith in this explanation.

( sighing )

How much faith do you put in Adam and Eve?

Hasn't science proved that all humans developed from a single evolutionary process?

That's what I was always taught.

On the other hand, none of my teachers ever spent much time in the Delta Quadrant.

B'Elanna tells me we picked up a warp signature heading away from the moon.

Think we should follow it?

I don't know that it's fair for me to put my own personal curiosity ahead of the ship's priorities.

We still haven't found the polyferranide we need to seal the warp coils.

If these people have warp technology, they might be able to help us.

Besides... we are in the business of exploring, aren't we?

My father would put on his expedition hat and shout, "Let's go!"

I guess that's good enough for me.

( sighing )

Showing no life signs.

Mr. Paris, are you certain the warp signature ended here?

Positive, Captain.

Harry, check your sensors.

That look like some kind of power source to you?

That is an unusually high EM reading for a natural occurrence.

Could be some kind of cloaking technology.

Mr. Kim, transmit a continuous message on all frequencies identifying who we are, where we're from and make it clear our intentions are peaceful.

Torres to Bridge. Go ahead.

We're in luck, Captain.

My readings are showing high concentrations of polyferranide about ten kilometers below the surface.

Acknowledged. We'll send an away team to continue the survey.

Report to Transporter Room 3.

On my way.

Commander, if we meet any resistance, abort the mission.

I have no intention of disturbing an alien race that would rather be left alone.

Understood. On the other hand, if we can make contact, our goal is to get permission to begin excavation as soon as possible.

Tuvok, you're with me.

Mr. Neelix, please report to Transporter Room 3 for an away mission.

I'll meet you there, Commander.

We may be out of luck.

Problem?

I'm not sure we can transport down.

Every time we try to lock on to a transport sight, a storm begins. Storm?

We've tried seven different sites and as soon as we lock on, an electrical storm forms right above the location.

When we change sites, a new storm forms and the old one dissipates.

Might the transporter beam itself be causing an electrostatic charge in the atmosphere?

That's as good a guess as any.

I can't explain it.

We just can't transport.

Fine, we'll take a shuttle.

Once again, the storm seems to have formed as a direct result of our interaction with the atmosphere.

The meteorological conditions changed radically when we began our entry sequence.

Shields are holding.

( thunder crashes )

It takes more than a little thunderstorm to bother one of your mighty Starfleet ships, huh?

Nothing we can't handle.

Relax, Neelix.

( repeated peals of thunder )

That's why they call it a rain forest.

( thunder rumbles )

Why do your Sky Spirits choose a place where it rains all the time?

And it's hot... and there are so many bugs?

It's said the Sky Spirits honored the land above all else.

Maybe it's because this land yields so many different kinds of life.

Maybe they wanted us to become friends with everything in nature.

Including the bugs.

Sorry, Sky Spirits.

I will never make friends with bugs.

( insect buzzing )

( slaps leg )

Maybe that's why they keep biting you.

You're miserable.

It was a mistake to bring you. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry I can't be what you want me to be.

From the day you came out of your mother... upside down...

I knew the spirits had chosen you to be a contrary.

No one chooses for me.

I choose my own way.

And if that makes me a contrary,

I'll have to live with it.

If you have no spirits to guide you,

I fear you will lose your way.

Altitude: 5,000 meters.

Decreasing speed to 720 kph.

Entering terminal approach phase.

TORRES: Visibility still zero.

Switching to enhanced terrain scanning.

Touchdown sight scanned.

Continuing descent.

Computer, activate the emergency medical holographic program.

Please state the nature of the medical emergency.

I thought we changed your program so you wouldn't have to say that anymore.

We did.

But I became so uncomfortable trying to find new ways to "break the ice," as it were, that I restored it.

Let's just say it works for me.

( sneezes )

Doctor?

( sniffs )

Ah, you noticed.

Are holograms supposed to... sneeze?

Generally, no.

But I have accepted your challenge.

I programmed myself with the symptoms of the 29-hour Levodian flu.

Thus I will gain the experience that you suggest would be beneficial to the performance of my duties.

( sneezes and sniffs )

Holographic tissue paper for the holographic runny nose.

Don't offer them to patients.

Mmm, interesting sensation, blowing one's nose.

It's my first time.

I think this is very brave of you.

Nothing of the sort.

I intend it to be an educational experience.

I'm sure you'll learn a lot.

I meant for the crew.

I'm tired of the whiny, cranky attitudes we see around here.

I intend to serve as an example of how one's life and duties do not have to be disrupted by simple illness.

Doc?

I don't feel so good. Neither do I, and you don't hear me complaining.

We are not making any progress locating the source of that unusual power reading, Commander.

Then I guess we'll have to search for these people the old-fashioned way-- With our eyes and ears.

Is something bothering you, Commander?

No, it just reminds me of another jungle that I visited once.

The Central American rain forest on Earth.

It's the only other place in the universe that I've ever seen this flower.

It appears to be a rare variety of Cypriprdium of the Asiatic genus Paphiopedilum.

I never knew you had such horticultural expertise, Mr. Vulcan.

In fact, I am-- Or, more accurately, I was--

A breeder of prize Vulcan orchids.

Then we have something in common-- I breed orchids too!

( laughs )

Don't they make the most exquisite salad?

A touch of Baldoxic vinegar-- Pure heaven.

I hereby designate the two of you the team's botanical surveyors.

Collect a sample of that flower.

B'Elanna?

It's just what we've been looking for.

Almost pure polyferranide.

But there's a problem with crust reactivity.

If we can't solve it before excavation, we might contaminate the entire yield.

Have Ensign Kim run an analysis from the ship.

We should be able to... ( bird cries )

I'll be damned.

What?

It almost looks like a hawk, doesn't it?

KOLOPAK: Listen to him, Chakotay.

What does he say to you?

( chuckles )

He says, "You are home." Huh?

I'm leaving the tribe, Father.

What?

I got to know a lot of the Starfleet officers patrolling the Cardassian border.

I asked Captain Sulu if he would sponsor me at Starfleet Academy.

And he would do such a thing without even discussing it with me?

I told him I had your approval. Ah!

I kept him as far away from you as I could.

I take it you've been accepted by the Academy.

Well, you've never fully embraced the traditions of our tribe, I know that.

And you've always been curious about other societies.

And that is why I allowed you to read about them.

Because I believe that ignorance is our greatest enemy.

But to leave the tribe...

Our tribe lives in the past.

A past of fantasy and myth.

That past is a part of you, no matter how hard you try to reject it.

Other tribes have learned to accept the 24th century.

Why can't ours?

It is not the place of a 15-year-old boy to question the choices of his tribe.

I know.

That's why I have to leave.

You will never belong to that other life.

And if you leave, you will never belong to this one.

You'll be caught between worlds.

I ask for your blessing, Father.

MAN: Oon-day. Oon-day, Kolopak.

( bird calls )

NEELIX: Botanical surveyor number one to Commander Chakotay.

Go ahead, Neelix.

You won't believe what I found. I think it's...

( Neelix shouting, groaning )

( groaning continues )

Neelix, what the...?

The bird, the bird!

( bird calls )

( bird cries )

My eye!

Away team to Voyager.

PARIS: Go ahead, Commander.

Emergency beam-out.

Get Neelix to Sick Bay.

Acknowledged.

Commander.

DOCTOR ( hoarsely ): You're very lucky this bird didn't snatch your eye right out of the socket.

( sniffs )

We have no spare Talaxian eyeballs.

Is something the matter with him?

The doctor gave himself the Levodian flu to see what it's like.

Is he contagious?

It's a holographic simulation, not an actual virus.

There's no need for concern.

( sniffs )

You may sit up.

Touchy, isn't he? He isn't feeling well.

I don't require any compassion, thank you very much.

I have been experiencing these symptoms for nearly 20 hours, and I am in complete command of my faculties.

( sneezes )

You may both leave now.

Mr. Kim believes if we bombard the crust with antithoron radiation, we can decontaminate it before excavation begins.

CHAKOTAY: Then all we need to do is locate these people

and get their permission.

Any progress?

Everything we've found here suggests the people who live in this village left recently and in a hurry.

Do you believe our arrival frightened them?

We can't discount that.

You'd think with warp technology, they would have encountered other alien life before now.

You'd think with warp technology, they wouldn't be living like this.

Captain, have you had any unusual readings

that might explain the images

of a strange face I've been seeing?

Images?

Very odd.

Like the flash of a memory.

But it's someone I've never met.

Nothing unusual has shown up on the ship's sensors.

Tuvok hasn't detected any telepathic activity, either.

If you want to call it a day, Commander...

No. I think we'll press on for a while.

If there are any other problems, I'll let you know.

Chakotay out.

The dwellings are constructed with an alloy polymer matrix we've never encountered before, Commander.

( tricorder beeping )

They're out there.

Our tricorders may not tell us so, but they're out there.

Lay down your weapons.

Commander?

Disarm-- I want them to see that we don't pose any threat to them.

May I remind the Commander that Starfleet protocol demands that away teams remain armed and ready to defend themselves until contact is...

I know all about Starfleet protocol, Lieutenant.

As we have not yet established the inhabitants' intentions, it would not be a logical course of action.

The logical course isn't always the right course.

Lay down your weapons in plain sight.

Those are my orders. Would you at least permit me to advise the Captain to move the ship into a stronger tactical position?

Negative.

We'll show no force of any kind.

For the record, I must take exception to these orders.

Noted.

They have reason to be scared.

Who can blame them?

Their history, our history, is filled with conquerors who brought slavery and disease and death.

Maybe we should just leave them alone.

Oh-chip way-nob-ee teem-mock-uh an-tope-ah-nee.

Hi-yeta-koo-nay-pas.

Cha-kan-a hi-mee. Cha-kan-a hi-mee.

Duh su kan-nuh-da.

Binda kana.

Binda kana.

( rustling )

Father.

Kah-yo-tay. Hay-noh.

CHAH-mooz-ee.

[IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE] I honor the sacred land of the Sky Spirits.

I have come very far to find you, my cousins.

How do you know our language?

It is the language of my ancestors...

We are of the same hand.

Teem-ma-ka-ha.

( people laughing, chattering quietly )

I have no explanation, Commander!

There is no storm activity indicated.

All right, let's get back to the shuttle.

Hey! Wait!

( cracking )

( grunts )

We will never make it!

Where's Chakotay?

Away team to Voyager.

Emergency beam-out.

He was right behind us.

I don't understand what could have happened.

Was he wearing the combadge the last time you saw him?

Just before the storm, he was using it to speak with you.

Mr. Paris, what are the current surface conditions near the shuttle? Surface conditions are back to normal, Captain.

Winds two knots, but...

I can't find any sign of their shuttle.

It's not where they landed it.

And it isn't airborne?

No, ma'am. I'll lead the away team back.

Mr. Tuvok, Lieutenant, you're with me.

Mr. Paris, you have...

( hoarsely ): Captain Janeway,

this is the Doctor.

Please turn to your emergency

medical holographic channel.

What is it, Doctor?

Something terrible has happened.

My program...

( coughing )

Doctor, I think you're carrying this experiment of yours a little too far.

One hour too far, to be precise.

I very specifically programmed a 29-hour Levodian flu.

And it has now been 30 hours.

Doctor, I'm sorry, but we have more pressing matters...

You can't leave me like this. I need help.

Now. Get me somebody who can tweak the computer and make me feel better, immediately.

( coughing )

Very well.

Mr. Kim is on his way.

Try to relax, Doctor.

I'll see to that, Captain.

I'm going to need you with me, Kes.

Prepare a medkit and bring it with you to Transporter Room 3.

Commander Chakotay is still on the surface and may be injured.

Janeway out.

( panting )

Oh, I don't understand it.

I... I ran a computer diagnostic and it said that my program was fine.

Just rest, Doctor.

Here's a cool, holographic towel for your forehead.

Oh, thank you. Thank you so much.

Please don't go yet.

I have to. The Captain...

I feel like I'm fading, just... fading away.

You don't know what that means to a hologram.

What seems to be the problem?

( groaning )

My simulated virus is leading me to a simulated death.

It's nothing to worry about.

I just added a couple of hours to his computer program.

He'll be fine in about 45 minutes.

Knowing when it would end didn't exactly make it a fair test, did it, Doctor?

( groaning )

Oh, she is far more devious than I ever suspected.

( coughing )

( sighs )

No shuttle.

Well, at least they got out okay.

You have nothing to fear from me.

Talk to me.

Let me see you.

Make our cousins one with us!

( laughing )

Is-to ko-hee-nis.

No!

Thank you.

He is one of us!

( chuckling )

You have nothing to fear from me.

Talk to me.

Let me see you.

I don't understand it.

It's the same thing that happened the first time we tried to go down.

A storm develops wherever we try to lock on.

Why would we have the ability to beam people up, but not to beam them down?

I believe we have seen enough to discern a pattern, Captain.

The logical conclusion is that someone is controlling the elements of nature to ward us off.

The transporter anomaly is evidence of this conclusion.

We are allowed to leave the planet, but not to approach.

If that's true, I'd be happy to respect their wishes, but, unfortunately,

I have a missing crewman to get back first.

Janeway to Paris.

Yes, Captain. Mr. Paris,

we're going to land Voyager on the surface.

Take us into the atmosphere.

Acknowledged.

Beginning entry sequence.

I'm reading electrical storms forming all around us.

Adjusting flight path.

The barometric pressure is continuing to fall.

We're looking at monsoon conditions out there.

Mr. Paris, the shuttle crew didn't report turbulence this severe during their landing.

I'm doing the best I can, Captain.

I'm showing gale force winds out there.

It is conceivable that the aliens have been able to intensify their response now that they are familiar with our capabilities.

Red Alert!

Inertial dampers are off-line.

We seem to be caught in some kind of vortex.

I can't maintain altitude.

Captain, it's a cyclone.

Altitude 20,000 meters and falling.

I can't get us out of this thing, Captain.

Bridge to Torres. We need more power from the engines.

I've got them running 20 percent over rated maximum, Captain.

It's not enough.

Could we go to low warp under these conditions?

The ship might make it without inertial dampers, but we'd all just be stains on the back wall.

I can try to augment the engines with power from the auxiliary fusion reactors, but it's going to take at least 20 minutes.

How much time do we have, Mr. Paris?

Altitude at 18,000 meters and falling.

At this rate, we're looking at about ten minutes.

If you can hear me, speak to me.

ALIEN: Dosh-du-pah kee-ne?

Swasge-muh kee-say-yo-pah?

Swas-ti-ma-hay.

Kee-say-yo-pah.

ALIEN: Pah-kee-ne? Sas-ga no-yo-du no-kay-dah?

I'm sorry.

I don't know the ancient language of my people.

I can't understand.

Po-kud-zee yo-atah.

Pon-tez-butz-su.

A CHAH-mooz-ee.

CHAH-mooz-ee.

Swasge-muh kee-say.

Yo-pah no-kay-dah?

CHAH-mooz-ee.

Altitude 6,000 meters.

COMPUTER: Warning. Approach vector is too steep.

Discontinue landing sequence.

Would somebody turn that off, please?

Engineering, report.

We need that extra power, B'Elanna.

Ten minutes.

I just need

ten minutes!

Do you understand my words now?

Yes.

Explain the face marking.

I wear it to honor my father.

He wore it to honor his ancestors.

Ancestors...

You are human? Yes.

Are there others on your world with this mark?

Yes.

Not many, but some.

We were taught all of them had been annihilated.

We were taught your world had been ravaged by those with no respect for life or land.

There was a time when that was true.

But no longer.

He claims to be a descendent of the Inheritors.

( muttering ) Inheritors?

The ones... our ancestors chose to honor.

I'm surprised you have no memory of the Inheritors.

One of our gifts was the memory.

If you are a descendent, you should remember.

I'm not sure I understand.

Perhaps it has been lost over time.

45,000 years ago,

on our first visit to your world,

we met a small group of nomadic hunters.

They had no spoken language,

no culture, except the use of fire and stone weapons,

but they did have a respect for the land

and for other living creatures that impressed us deeply.

We decided to give them an inheritance--

A genetic bonding--

So they might thrive and protect your world.

On subsequent visits, we found that our genetic gift

brought about a spirit of curiosity and adventure.

It impelled them to migrate away from the cold climate

to a new, unpeopled land.

It took them almost a thousand generations

to cross your planet.

Hundreds of thousands of them flourished in their new land.

Their civilization had a profound influence

on others of your species.

But then new people came with weapons and disease.

The Inheritors who survived scattered.

Many sought refuge in other societies.

12 generations ago when we returned, we found no sign of their existence.

My people called you the Sky Spirits.

Why have you been hiding from us since we landed here?

When we heard your message, who you were, observed you probing our land, we believed you were a threat.

We thought you would annihilate us as you had the Inheritors.

Our message was supposed to communicate peaceful intentions.

We were taught that is the way human conquerors often introduce themselves.

As I said... we've tried to change our ways since the last time you stopped by.

Altitude: 2,000 meters.

Stand by, Bridge.

We're initiating the transfer now.

I'm showing an eight percent boost in the engines.

That's all?

The fusion reactors are nearly drained.

Fighting the storm is taking every reserve we have.

Altitude: 1,000 meters.

Impact in 20 seconds.

B'Elanna.

KIM: Impact in 15 seconds.

I'm sorry, Captain, that's all we've got.

Impact in ten seconds.

Report.

We're free.

Gaining altitude.

2,000 meters.

2,500. Dampers back on line.

The storms have completely dissipated.

There's not a cloud in the sky.

Stand down Red Alert.

Anybody have an explanation?

TUVOK: It appears the inhabitants of this planet have decided to make contact, Captain.

The cloaking device has been turned off, and we are showing an alien population.

I have located the shuttle.

It may be possible to locate Commander Chakotay without landing.

Establish a search pattern, Mr. Paris.

Yes, Captain.

Begin scanning for human life signs.

As soon as you find Chakotay, we'll send down an away team.

( sighing )

My ship will be coming for me soon.

I'm sorry we cannot permit you to extract all the materials you need.

You were generous to offer as much as you did.

You have a long journey ahead.

It took us more than two generations to reach your world.

I wish I could see my father's face right now.

Does he still live?

No.

He died fighting enemies who would have taken our home colony.

Our tribe moved there a few hundred years ago.

So he honored the land just as... his ancestors did.

Yes.

Yes, he did.

We weren't on very good terms when he died.

Once he was gone, I didn't know how to reconcile our differences, how to heal our old wounds.

I returned to my colony, and continued the fight in his name.

I took the mark that he wore to honor his ancestors.

I spoke to him in my vision quests, but he never answered.

Until now.

CHAH-mooz-ee.

Commander.

Put those away.

( bird calls )

KOLOPAK: Listen to him, Chakotay.

Do you hear what he says to you?

Yes, Father.

I hear him.

I finally hear him.

Four to beam up, Voyager.