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Infinite Regress

( voices yelling and screaming)

( yelling and screaming get louder )

( yelling and screaming stop)

( sniffs )

COMPUTER: Regeneration cycle incomplete.

( sniffs )

( snorts in disgust )

( angry yell )

( angry growl )

( sniffs )

( ravenous growling )

KIM: When I checked the overnight sensor logs, this little surprise was waiting for me.

Maybe I'm not quite awake, but it looks like its over 100 kilometers wide.

120. At first, I thought it was an asteroid cluster until I picked up a residual warp signature.

It was a Borg vessel.

There are tetryon particles in the debris consistent with the atmosphere inside a cube.

Any idea what destroyed it?

We would need to run close-range scans of the hull fragments.

Unless we alter course, we'll get our chance.

The debris field's directly ahead.

Then I suggest we cut a wide berth.

Chances are the Borg will send more vessels to investigate.

Alter course to avoid the debris. If that's all...

NEELIX: One other piece of business, Captain.

It seems we had another incident in the Mess Hall last night.

Return of the midnight snacker?

NEELIX: I'm afraid so. Casualties?

A leg of Kelaran wildebeest I'd prepared for Ensign Ryson's birthday.

Since Commander Tuvok has been unable to round up any suspects,

I'd like to ask that stronger measures be taken.

Perhaps an armed security detail...

I'd like to ask permission to replicate some locking mechanisms for the cabinet doors.

Granted.

Dismissed.

Naomi Wildman,

Subunit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, state your intentions.

I...

Very well. You leave me no choice but to report your activities to the Captain.

Please don't. I was just observing you.

Explain.

Well, Neelix told me that the Borg do a lot of things they do because they're trying to be perfect and, even though you're not really a drone anymore, you still try to be perfect.

Don't you? Correct.

Well, if I can learn to be perfect, too, then Captain Janeway will have to make me her Bridge Assistant.

No such rank exists aboard this vessel.

Not yet.

And you hope to achieve this goal by emulating me?

Are you mad?

No. There are many on this crew that would benefit from your example.

So you'll teach me.

Your objective is admirable.

However, your neocortical development is incomplete.

You would require several months of accelerated growth in a Borg maturation chamber.

Oh... I don't think I like the sound of that.

Then I suggest that yo...

( cacophony of yelling and screaming )

( yelling and screaming stop)

Hi.

Hi.

I'm bored. Let's do something fun.

Like what?

Swimming?

Oh, I'm not allowed to go swimming without my mom.

Oh.

Do you like Kadis-Kot?

Love it.

Come on.

( both laughing )

I'll be Bridge Assistant for a while then, I'll be promoted to Ensign.

It'll be Lieutenant after that, and by the time we reach the Alpha Quadrant...

Captain Wildman.

Green, grid 14-4.

Kadis-Kot. I win.

( giggling )

You're really good at this game.

You want a rematch?

Sure.

Captains don't have much time to play, you know.

That's okay.

I'll be pretty busy by then.

Want to hear the rules of first contact?

No.

How about the suborders of the Prime Directive?

I know all 47 of them.

You study too much, Naomi.

Just like my brother.

I didn't know you had a brother.

Mm-hmm. 12 of them.

Twelve?

Nine older and three younger.

We play Kadis-Kot all the time.

I only have my mom and Neelix to play with-- when they're not working.

You must get lonely.

A little. You get used to it.

You adapt.

Adapt?

You know, like the Borg.

Borg... I hate Borgs.

You do?

Yeah. They're mean.

Torres to Seven of Nine.

Please report to Engineering.

It's your move.

TORRES: Seven, respond.

I'm on my way, Lieutenant.

Naomi Wildman...

Yes? what am I doing here?

We're playing Kadis-Kot.

Seven?

Take a look at this, will you?

I'm picking up an energy signal in the lower subspace bands and if I'm not mistaken, it's got a Borg modulation.

You're correct.

It is Borg.

I believe it's a neural interlink frequency.

A what?

A frequency that integrates the minds of Borg drones.

Can you pinpoint the origin?

I will try.

No offense, Seven, but you look terrible.

I am not well.

I experienced a brief lapse in memory and I am disoriented.

Maybe you should get to Sick Bay.

No.

This interlink frequency could explain m...

( voices yelling and screaming)

( yelling and screaming stop)

Do-raq me'roch.

I beg your pardon?

I am the son of K'Vok.

And you?

What house are you from?

Is this some kind of a joke?

You wear the uniform of a Starfleet puh-chah.

What kind of a warrior are you?

Tom put you up to this, didn't he?

Well, it didn't work.

Come, warrior, let me look at you.

Enough, Seven.

( sniffs )

Your blood is sweet!

( yells )

Torres to Security.

Get somebody down here right now.

You are strong.

You will make an excellent mate.

Get the hell away from me!

You wish to prove yourself in battle.

( grunting )

Report.

Seven of Nine attacked B'Elanna in Engineering.

She's on Deck 9, Section 23.

Force fields.

Don't tell me those two have actually come to blows.

JANEWAY: Bridge to Tuvok.

Seven's been contained-- Deck 10, Section 32.

Acknowledged.

We're nearing her position.

Seven?

Somebody's hurt and he needs help.

Did I do something bad?

Who are you?

My name's Maryl.

Are you a Vulcan?

Computer, deactivate force field.

Give me the phaser.

( yelling voices crescendo, then fade )

You are not a physician, Commander.

The logical course of action would be to take him to the infirmary.

Maryl?

Subaltern Lorot, Vulcan High Command.

May I be of assistance?

Yes.

Please accompany me to Sick Bay.

Certainly.

Clearly he was attacked.

I suggest we use caution.

( yelling voices crescendo, then fade )

Pahtk!

You will drown in your own blood.

Keep moving.

( yells )

( gasps )

Seven?

Captain, why am I here?

You've been unconscious for nearly two hours.

We believe you're experiencing a neurological disorder.

Voices... I hear voices...

Describe them.

( voices yelling )

They are agitated... chaotic... too many voices.

( piercing scream )

( screaming )

Too many voices!

( gasping )

The cortical inhibitor is destabilizing.

I'm increasing the neurotransmitter levels.

It's working.

Do you still hear the voices?

They are fading.

They are gone.

All right. Let's see what we can do to keep them from coming back.

What's the last thing you remember?

I was in Engineering assisting Lieutenant Torres.

You have no recollection of a confrontation with B'Elanna?

Confrontation?

I'm not sure why, but you seem to be manifesting personalities other than your own.

Naomi Wildman claims the two of you played together for nearly an hour this afternoon.

You also attacked Lieutenant Torres.

She told us you called yourself "son of K'Vok" and that you initiated a Klingon mating ritual.

I have no memory of those events.

DOCTOR: Come look at this.

Doctor?

DOCTOR: This is your neural pattern.

The memory engrams and synaptic pathways that define you as an individual.

Unfortunately, you're not alone.

13 new neural patterns have emerged in your cerebral cortex--

Klingon, Vulcan, Terrelian, human and several others I can't identify.

How?

They're coming from within you.

During your time with the Borg, the Collective assimilated hundreds of different species.

All of those neural patterns were integrated into the hive mind.

Of course.

That means they're in your mind, too, stored within your cortical implants... dormant until now.

From what we can tell, the various neural patterns are surfacing randomly.

In essence, you've developed the Borg equivalent of multiple personality disorder.

Can you correct the malfunction?

The cortical inhibitor is suppressing the effect, but it's only a temporary measure.

Lieutenant Torres detected a Borg interlink frequency.

It could be causing my cortical implants to malfunction.

The signal appears to be emanating from the Borg debris field we discovered this morning.

Maybe we should jump to warp-- try to get out of range.

The signal permeates subspace.

We cannot avoid it.

Our only hope is to terminate the signal at its point of origin.

Set a course for the debris field.

When we arrive, we may need your help.

Feel up to it?

Yes, Captain.

Keep a close eye on her, Doctor, in case she has any more unexpected visitors.

Has any drone ever experienced symptoms like these before?

The Collective does not tolerate imperfection.

Any drone with a malfunction as serious as mine would be destroyed immediately.

Lucky for you, this crew is a little more tolerant.

Oh, there you are.

Lieutenant Torres tells me you're under the weather.

Correct.

Well, is there anything your morale officer can do to help?

Assignments you need me to finish while you recuperate?

No.

I have some wonderful medicinal teas.

Maybe I could prepare one for you.

Talaxian homeopathy.

I don't think we're quite that desperate yet.

How about if I make one of your favorite nutritional...?

Your concern has been noted.

The Doctor will inform you when I am functional again.

Right. Sorry.

Oh, uh... I almost forgot-- it's from Naomi Wildman.

It's a drawing of Voyager.

Or maybe it's an asteroid belt.

I'm not sure.

Naomi thought that it might make you feel better.

Tell her thank you.

DOCTOR: I suspected as much.

There were several interruptions in your regeneration cycle.

18 minutes, five minutes, one hour.

I don't recall them.

Let's examine your neural function logs.

Low serotonin levels during regeneration.

That's normal.

But look at these spikes in the prefrontal synapses.

They appear only seconds before you left the alcove.

You were sleepwalking.

I don't remember entering this data file.

Looks like we found the identity of the midnight snacker.

I'm sure Mr. Neelix will be relieved.

SEVEN: Personal Log, Ensign Stone, Stardate 52188.7.

I just completed my first week of active duty.

It was a nightmare.

After four years at the Academy,

I thought I was ready for anything,

but Captain Blackwood runs a tight ship

and he seems to take special pleasure

in tormenting new recruits.

The First Officer tells me not to take it personally,

but it's hard to be objective when...

Blackwood.

Captain of the Federation Starship Tombaugh.

The Borg assimilated that vessel 13 years ago.

The individual who made this recording must have been a member of the crew.

One of my victims.

Here's another log entry-- this one encoded for transmission.

SEVEN ( young voice ): Hi. Guess who?

I know I promised to write you every day,

but that's simply not enough.

How about once in the morning when I resuscitate

and once at night before I go into torpor

and I'll think about you nonstop in between.

Wait. I've got a better idea.

Why don't you leave your circle and visit the colony?

You'd love it here-- sul...

Anything familiar?

I helped to assimilate thousands of individuals.

I do not remember each of their names.

Seven, you were a Borg drone who's now becoming an individual.

That's practically unheard of.

There's bound to be rough spots along the way.

We just have to get past them.

CHAKOTAY: Bridge to Seven of Nine.

We're approaching the debris field.

Acknowledged.

Survivors?

TUVOK: None.

Any sign of Borg vessels?

No, sir.

We're the first ones here.

KIM: I'm picking up the source of the interlink frequency, bearing 027 mark 3.

On screen.

JANEWAY: Magnify.

SEVEN: It's a Borg vinculum.

Vinculum?

The processing device at the core of every Borg vessel.

It interconnects the minds of all the drones.

It purges individual thoughts and disseminates information relevant to the Collective.

It brings order to chaos.

Precisely.

Looks like this one has established a link to your cortical implant.

I believe it has identified me as an errant drone.

It is attempting to reintegrate me into the Collective.

The vinculum is malfunctioning.

It is sending me erratic commands.

Bringing chaos to order.

Yes.

Can you sever the link?

Not without risking permanent damage to my own systems.

The vinculum must be taken off-line.

Permission to beam it aboard for analysis.

I have worked with this technology before.

I may be able to disable it.

We're talking about the heart of a Borg cube.

I'd rather not take it inside my ship.

Can you disable it remotely?

Yes, but I would need several days.

The Borg may return by then.

I recommend we take the vinculum and leave this region immediately.

Tuvok, prepare to beam it to Engineering.

Erect a level-10 force field and maintain constant surveillance.

The moment it poses a threat, send it back into space.

Tom, as soon a it's aboard, get us out of here, warp 9.

Aye, Captain.

I understand what you're going through and I want to help you in every way I can, but the safety of this crew is my first responsibility.

We haven't had the best of luck with the Borg.

Nor have I.

TORRES: Let's keep on eye on those antigrav struts.

Boylan, lock out all primary command consoles and reroute transporter controls to Main Engineering.

Yes, Lieutenant.

( voices yelling and screaming)

Seven?

The voices, I hear them.

It's your proximity to the vinculum.

The link is stronger here.

I'm adjusting your neurotransmitter levels.

( voices fade )

We better get started.

Don't worry, Lieutenant.

The son of K'Vok will not be joining us.

Glad to hear it.

Does this qualify as our second date?

Just think of me as your chaperon.

So... where's the off switch?

The vinculum is equipped with many safeguards.

I will need to access its transneural matrix and disable it directly.

( console beeping )

I'm reading a power surge.

It's a normal response to my intrusion.

Don't be alarmed.

Curious...

I'm detecting an organism within the vinculum.

It appears to be a viral agent.

Let's see it.

It's a synthetic pathogen.

The virus was originally a biological agent, but it's mutated.

It's attacking the vinculum's programs as it would living cells.

An organism that attacks technology?

The cube was infected three days ago, shortly after assimilating an alien shuttlecraft.

Species 6339.

They were the last ones to come in contact with the cube.

Looks like we've found our Typhoid Mary.

Species 6339, humanoid. Warp-capable.

Origin: Grid 124, Octant 22-Theta.

They first encountered the Borg approximately four years ago.

Since that time, 11 billion individuals have been assimilated.

Three days ago, the Collective detected one of their last surviving shuttlecraft.

A cube was sent to intercept it.

We believe the virus was carried within their bodies.

Once they were assimilated, it spread to the vinculum.

The drones aboard no doubt experienced symptoms similar to my own.

It is no surprise they destroyed themselves.

I'd like to find Species 6339.

They may be able to help us treat you.

Begin long-range astrometric scans.

See if they have any more vessels in this region.

Yes, Captain.

I've already begun a spatial diag...

( voices yelling )

My... My, my. Look at the size of that thing.

This viewscreen. It's got to be one of the biggest I've ever seen.

I'll give you

20 bars of latinum for it.

I think the inhibitor's gone off-line.

Would you come here, please?

Be quiet. Can't you see I'm in the middle of a deal?

( sighs )

Name your price, Captain...?

Janeway, and you are...?

DaiMon Torrot.

You're Ferengi.

Of course I'm Ferengi.

Is that some kind of insult about the size of my ears?

No, not at all.

I'd be happy to negotiate with you, but, first, we have to get you to Sick Bay.

Sick Bay? What for?

Because... you're ill.

I've never felt better.

Doctor.

I'm afraid you've contracted a nasty strain of the Ankaran flu.

We've been treating you several days. Remember?

No.

Short-term memory loss-- it's one of the symptoms.

Don't worry. It isn't life-threatening, but we'll need to treat you... in Sick Bay.

What is this treatment going to cost me?

It's free of charge.

Free?

Yes.

You know, I have been having a nagging pain in my lower left lobe, and while you're at it why don't you run a complete tricardial diagnostic?

The Ferengi Health Commission is trying to revoke my trading license.

Impressive vessel, Captain. Galaxy-class?

Intrepid.

Ah. Ah! And here we are in the much talked about "Sick Bay."

Not exactly state of the medical art now, is it?

What do you mean?

Low on bio-beds, terrible lighting, obsolete instruments.

Lucky for you, I know a medical supplier that can spruce this place up in a nanosecond and I'll even drop my commission to a mere... 30 percent?

How generous of you.

Computer, activate force field. Force field?

You said I wasn't contagious. It's for your own safety.

I set the cortical inhibitor to maximum...

I've been kidnapped! but it is no longer suppressing the effect.

These personalities-- are going to keep surfacing.

All the more reason to shut down the vinculum as soon as we can.

Even if we do break the link, it may be too late.

Seven's own neural pattern is destabilizing.

It could be lost.

SEVEN ( in anguished voice): Please help me.

I'm looking for my son--

Gregory Bergan, Lieutenant Bergan.

Have you seen him?

No, I'm afraid not.

From the Starship Melbourne.

Melbourne...

I was supposed to meet him at Wolf 359, but Starfleet sent out a warning that the Borg were attacking that sector.

It was too late for us to turn back.

We were caught in a terrible battle.

My ship was badly damaged.

We had to leave on escape pods.

I never found out what happened to Gregory.

Please, I haven't heard from him in over three days.

Could you check with Starfleet Headquarters?

I'll see what I can do.

Thank you, Captain.

If... if you do speak with him, could you tell him that his mother is all right and if he could pos...?

( voices yelling )

Captain...

Seven?

Yes.

The vinculum...

We're preparing to shut it down right away.

I'll give the order as soon as Torres is ready.

How long was I... absent?

About 20 minutes.

How many?

Two.

One of whom wanted to acquire half the items on the ship.

DaiMon Torrot, I believe.

Species 180, Ferengi.

Yes. The other was a woman whose son was lost in a Borg attack.

You'll get through this, Seven.

I do not share your optimism.

When you took me from the Borg and began to turn me into an individual,

I found the silence of my own mind difficult to bear.

I missed the voices of the Collective.

But now that I am an individual those same voices... frighten me.

Captain, I don't know if I can tolerate this condition much longer.

My courage is insufficient.

Your job is to keep trying... to hold on, even when you think you can't.

Leave the rest to me and the crew.

CHAKOTAY: Meet anyone interesting?

Just finished swapping jokes with a Bolian manicurist.

Before that, I was debating the finer points of temporal physics with a Krenim scientist.

12 new personalities have surfaced in the past hour alone.

Seven's having a rough time of it.

The Doctor had to sedate her.

And how's the Captain holding up?

I've been better, Chakotay.

In fact...

I'm starting to wonder if my first officer was right all along.

About what?

You always said that bringing Seven into the fold might be impossible.

"You can take the Borg out of the Collective, but..."

I don't believe that.

Not anymore.

I didn't think she'd last a day, much less a year.

I'd say you've proven me wrong.

Torres to Bridge.

We're ready to begin disabling the vinculum.

Proceed.

Target the transneural matrix.

Stand by to initiate the dampening field on my mark.

Three, two, one.

Mark.

Its power output is dropping.

( monitor beeping )

Doctor to Bridge. It seems to be working.

Her neural pattern is stabilizing.

Power output is down to 77 percent.

71 percent...

Wait a second.

It's increasing.

I am refocusing the dampening field.

TORRES: It's still increasing.

TUVOK: The vinculum is rerouting its internal circuitry.

It's adapting.

( voices yelling )

Puh-chah me'roq!

( grunts )

DOCTOR: Engineering!

Mother!

Her synaptic pathways are destabilizing!

Abort the procedure!

...voices. Help me!

( yelling ): Abort!

Stand by, Doctor.

Power output at 98 percent.

The force field is collapsing.

TORRES: Transfer to emergency power.

It won't work, Lieutenant.

We must abort.

Tuvok to Bridge.

The procedure was unsuccessful.

The vinculum has returned to full power.

Acknowledged.

Doctor, report.

Seven's neural pattern has disappeared, Captain.

It appears that... the other patterns have taken over completely.

We've lost her.

Captain's Log, supplemental.

Long-range sensors have detected a vessel

belonging to Species 6339.

We've set a course to intercept them

in the hopes they can help us restore Seven of Nine.

I've managed to stabilize her primary cortical functions, but the woman in Sick Bay is not Seven of Nine-- not anymore.

New personalities are emerging every few seconds now.

She can't finish a sentence before the next one rears its head.

It's creating an incredible strain on her cerebral cortex.

If we don't deactivate the vinculum soon, we may never get her back.

Tuvok?

Lieutenant Torres is taking measures to prevent the vinculum from adapting, but there's no guarantee she'll succeed.

Captain, I've exhausted every viable treatment in my database.

Then logic dictates we go beyond medical science.

I will attempt to mind-meld with Seven of Nine.

A mind-meld? You consider that a viable treatment?

Seven's neural pattern-- her sense of self-- is immersed in chaos.

I will attempt to isolate her true self and guide it to the surface.

It's dangerous enough to meld with one person, let alone hundreds of different personalities.

It's too risky.

The risk is mine to take.

I'm aware of that, but is this our only option?

I believe it is, Captain.

How long would you need to prepare?

Captain... you can't actually be considering this...

Vulcan mumbo jumbo.

I will require two hours of meditation.

Begin immediately.

Report to Sick Bay when you're ready.

You said it yourself.

We've exhausted every medical treatment.

I just hope I don't find myself with a second patient.

CHAKOTAY: Captain to the Bridge.

On my way.

Commander?

It's them-- Species 6339.

Their vessel is well-armed, Captain.

I'm picking up 22 phaser cannons on the aft section alone.

Hail them.

They're responding.

On screen.

I'm Captain Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager.

We recently found a piece of Borg technology.

It's been infected with a viral agent we believe was transmitted by your...

The vinculum. You have it?

Yes.

You've made a terrible mistake, Captain.

A weapon?

Yes. Since the Borg decimated our world, we've been looking for ways to retaliate.

So you created a virus to infect their technology.

13 of my people were injected with the virus.

They allowed themselves to be assimilated so that the virus would spread to this vinculum.

Once another Borg ship had retrieved it, they would be infected as well.

Then another cube, and another...

We had the opportunity to infect dozens, even hundreds of Borg vessels until you interfered!

Why?

Your virus has had one unexpected casualty... a member of my crew.

It wasn't designed to infect other species.

She's Borg.

CHAKOTAY: We liberated her from the Collective over a year ago.

She's an individual now.

We were hoping you could help us treat her.

We designed that virus to destroy Borg, Captain.

We never considered a treatment.

I'm afraid your drone won't survive, but we must return the vinculum to the debris field immediately.

If the Borg arrive first, we'll have lost our chance.

And those 13 people will have died in vain.

All right. We'll return it to you, but first we need to try to save our crew member.

We think we have a way to counteract the vinculum's effects.

B'Elanna?

I'm going to try to remodulate our dampening field to compensate...

We don't have time for this.

The vinculum, Captain.

I can't give it to you.

Not yet.

You've scanned our vessel.

You're aware of our firepower.

You could undoubtedly do significant damage to Voyager and to the vinculum.

Is that what you want?

The vinculum survived the destruction of one ship.

What makes you so sure it won't survive another?

Doctor...

Seven.

A necessary precaution.

A few of your... guests have been violent.

The vinculum.

It keeps adapting.

We haven't been able to shut it down.

Your own neural pattern was nearly destroyed in the process.

I wasn't sure I'd find you again.

I am damaged.

One of your... personas didn't appreciate the restraints.

She seemed intent on forcing her way to freedom.

I apologize.

It was hardly your fault. You're ill.

Irrelevant.

I am Borg-- I should be able to adapt.

Surprise-- you aren't invincible.

I suppose that's something we'll have to tackle in our next social lesson.

( voices yelling and screaming)

Voices?

They're getting louder.

It won't be long before I lose you again.

( voices fade away )

It's my duty as your physician to inform you of an alternative treatment.

What treatment?

Commander Tuvok has proposed a mind-meld to help stabilize your neural pattern.

I had a similar reaction.

If you don't approve...

What is the probability of success?

I don't know.

A mind-meld is hardly a standard medical practice.

Are there any risks to Tuvok?

He could suffer brain damage, but he's confident he'll be able to break the meld before that happens.

Even if we do shut down the vinculum, it may not be enough.

If Tuvok can do anything to help me...

I understand.

Doctor... you have shown a great deal of patience.

Not at all.

Inform the crew that I am also grateful for their efforts.

You'll be able to tell them yourself afterward.

( voices yelling and screaming )

Seven!

Voices!

Concentrate.

( groaning )

Focus on the sound of my voice.

Get them out, please!

I can't...

I can't...

No! No!

( voices fade away )

Report.

The alien vessel is coming about.

They're charging weapons.

Shields.

As if the meld weren't dangerous enough, the aliens are trying to take the vinculum by force.

Commander Chakotay is at tactical.

The Captain wants you here with Seven.

This will allow me to monitor your neural activity for the duration of the meld.

At the first sign of trouble...

You will do nothing.

I beg your pardon?

There will undoubtedly be many signs of trouble.

You must have faith in my ability to endure them.

I'll try. I just hope my faith doesn't leave the two of you brain-damaged.

Your concerns have been noted, Doctor.

With all of these new personalities floating around, it's a shame we can't find one for you.

Computer, deactivate force field.

( faint screaming voices )

Why am I tied to this bed?

Please let me go.

pahtk!

I'll rip out your throat, coward!

( yelling )

Name your price.

Ten bars of latinum?

Twenty?

This isn't medicine. It's torture!

I'll sue for malpractice!

I fail to see the logic in this meld, Commander.

My mind to your mind.

You are but one mind confronting thousands.

My thoughts to your thoughts.

You will not succeed.

TUVOK: Your mind to my mind. SEVEN: Let me go.

My mind to your mind.

We've got to evacuate.

My thoughts to your thoughts. Listen to me!!

My mind to your mind.

They're trying to assimilate the ship! Let me go!

My thoughts to your thoughts.

Where's my mommy? Mommy!

My mind to your mind.

Mommy...

My thoughts to your thoughts.

( voices yelling and screaming)

Seven?

Seven!

( all yelling and screaming )

Seven!

( yelling deafeningly )

Seven!

Seven!

( male screaming )

Seven!

Seven!

( groaning )

( sobbing ): I'm lost! Somebody help me!

Please! I don't like it here!

I want to go home!

I can't find my...

Mommy! Please! Help me!

Please! I don't want to stay here!

I want to go home! I don't like it!

Please help me! I want to go home!

These people are scary! Please don't go!

Please! Why are you leaving me here?!

Don't go!

Please! I don't like it here!

( bloodcurdling scream )

( gasping )

Sick Bay to Engineering.

How long until the vinculum's off-line?

Two, maybe three minutes... provided Voyager can stay in one piece for that long.

Shields down to 60 percent.

Evasive maneuvers.

Target their weapons array.

Targeting systems are malfunctioning.

We're losing power to main thrusters.

Shields to 35 percent.

Reroute all available power to shields.

Chakotay, initiate manual targeting.

Torres to Bridge.

The vinculum's stopped adapting.

I think the new dampening field is working.

We should have it disabled in the next 60 seconds.

COMPUTER: Warning. Neurochemical synapses are destabilizing.

Computer, increase power to the cortical inhibitors.

Unable to comply. Power transport systems are off-line.

Tuvok, if you can hear me, we have to terminate the meld.

Tuvok! Tuvok!

Le'rah tuh me'roq.

( voices yelling and screaming)

( voices yelling and screaming)

SEVEN: Commander?

Commander?

Seven!

Commander?

( screaming continues )

Seven!

Power output's down to 29 percent.

22... 17...

( alarm beeping )

Bridge, we just lost the field emitters.

We took a direct hit to the power grid.

Stand by. We're switching to emergency backup.

Seven!

Bridge, the vinculum's powering up again.

JANEWAY: The field emitters are back on line.

Pull the plug.

It's working.

Power output down to 19 percent.

13 percent.

( voices yelling and screaming)

Seven!

Seven!

Tuvok!

Seven!

( vinculum powering down )

TORRES: It's done, Captain.

The vinculum's off-line.

( yelling voices echo and disappear )

( Seven panting )

Seven?

( weakly ): Yes.

DOCTOR: We have her back, Captain.

Hail the lead vessel.

Tell them we're surrendering the vinculum.

No response.

Lock onto the damn thing.

Beam it into space.

CHAKOTAY: Transport complete.

They're withdrawing.

Take us out of here, Tom. Warp 9.

Yes, ma'am.

JANEWAY: Captain's Log, Stardate 52356.2.

After nearly a week of regeneration,

Seven of Nine has finally recovered from her ordeal.

DOCTOR: Neuroprocessor, cortical receptors, all stable.

She's fit to return to duty.

What about her other personalities?

Any sign of them?

Those neural patterns have returned to their dormant state.

The voices will not return?

I suppose that depends on your perspective.

You may not hear them, but I suspect they'll always be with you.

The members of this crew put themselves at risk to help me.

I am unsure how to reciprocate.

Let's start with something small.

Like a recalibration of the EPS manifolds?

B'Elanna's expecting you in Engineering.

I will join her shortly.

There is a crew member I must see first.

These are star charts for the next three systems

Voyager will pass through. Familiarize yourself with them.

Understood. Sociological data regarding 173 Delta Quadrant species.

Study it. I will.

As Bridge Assistant, you will find this information relevant.

Consider it "assimilated."

There is one more assignment.

I require your assistance.

Me?

I wish to participate in recreational activities.

Great.

Kadis-Kot.

Instruct me how to play.

I will comply.