Caretaker Part I ******************************** Stardate: 48315.6 Story by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, & Jeri Taylor Teleplay by Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor Directed by Winrich Kolbe -------------------------------- Unhappy with a new treaty, Federation Colonists along the Cardassian border have banded together. Calling themselves "The Maquis", they continue to fight the Cardassians. Some consider them heroes, but to the governments of the Federation and Cardassia, they are outlaws. [Maquis Ship] CHAKOTAY: Damage report. TUVOK: Shields at 60%. TORRES: A fuel line has ruptured. Attempting to compensate. Damn it! We're barely maintaining impulse. I can't get anymore out of it. CHAKOTAY: Be creative! TORRES: How am I supposed to be creative with a 39-year old rebuilt engine? GUL EVEK: Maquis ship, this is Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. Cut your engines and prepare to surrender or we will... CHAKOTAY: Initiating evasive pattern Omega. Mark. TUVOK: Shields at 50%. CHAKOTAY: I need more power if we're gonna make it to the Badlands. Throw the last photons at them and then give me the power from the torpedo system. TUVOK: Acknowledged. Firing photons. CHAKOTAY: Are you reading any plasma storms ahead? TUVOK: One. Coordinates 171, mark 43. CHAKOTAY: That's where I'm going. Hold on! TUVOK: The Cardassian ship is not reducing power. They're following us in. CHAKOTAY: Gul Evek must be feel daring today. TUVOK: They've taken a fit on their port blade. They're sending out a distress signal on all Cardassian frequencies. CHAKOTAY: Can you plot a course through these plasma fields, Mr. Tuvok? TUVOK: Storm's activity is typically widespread in this vicinity. I can't plot a course, but I'm afraid it will require an indirect route. CHAKOTAY: We can use a time to make some repairs. What was that? TUVOK: Curious. we've just passed through some kind of coherent tetryon beam. CHAKOTAY: Source? TUVOK: Unknown. Now there appears to be a massive displacement wave moving toward us. CHAKOTAY: Another storm? TUVOK: It's not a plasma phenomenon. At current speeds, it will intercept us in less than 30 seconds. CHAKOTAY: Anything left in those impulse generators, B'Elanna? TORRES: We'll find out. TUVOK: Still exceeding our speed. CHAKOTAY: Maximum power. TUVOK: Wave is continuing to accelerate. It will intercept us in... eight seconds. Five. -------------------------------- [Opening Credits] -------------------------------- Federation Penal Settlement, New Zealand JANEWAY: Tom Paris? Kathryn Janeway. I served with your father on the Al-Batani. I wonder if we could go somewhere and talk. PARIS: About what? JANEWAY: About a job we'd like you to do for us. PARIS: I'm already doing a job...for the Federation. JANEWAY: I've been told the Rehab Commission is very pleased with your work. They've given me their approval to discuss this matter with you. PARIS: Well then, I guess I'm yours. JANEWAY: Your father taught me a great deal. I was his science officer during the Orias expedition. PARIS: You must be good. My father only accepts the best and the brightest. JANEWAY: I'm leaving on a mission to find a Maquis ship that disappeared in the Badlands a week ago. PARIS: I wouldn't if I were you. JANEWAY: Really? PARIS: I've never seen a Federation Starship that could maneuver through the plasma storms. JANEWAY: You've never seen Voyager. We'd like you to come along. PARIS: You'd like me to lead you to my former colleagues. I was only with the Maquis a few weeks before I was captured, Captain. I don't know where most of their hiding places are. JANEWAY: You know the territory better than anyone we've got. PARIS: What's so important about this particular Maquis ship? JANEWAY: My chief of security was on board, undercover. He was supposed to report in twice during the last six days. He didn't. PARIS: Maybe it's just your chief of security who's disappeared. JANEWAY: Maybe. That ship was under the command of another former Starfleet officer named Chakotay. I understand you knew him. PARIS: That's right. JANEWAY: The two of you didn't get along too well, I'm told. PARIS: Chakotay will tell you he left Starfleet on principle to defend his home colony from the Cardassians. I, on the other hand, was forced to resign. He considered me a mercenary, willing to fight for anyone who'd pay my bar bills. Trouble is, he was right. I have no problem helping you track down my "friends" in the Maquis, Captain. All I need to know from you is what's in it for me. JANEWAY: You help us find that ship, we help you at your next outmeet review. PARIS: Uh huh. JANEWAY: Officially, you'd be a Starfleet observer during the mission. PARIS: Observer? Oh hell, I'm the best pilot you could have. JANEWAY: You'll be an observer. When it's over, you're cut loose. PARIS: The story of my life. -------------------------------- [Shuttlecraft] STADI: That's our ship. That's Voyager. Intrepid class. Sustainable cruise velocity of warp factor 9.975. Fifteen decks. Crew complement of 141. Bio-neural circuitry. PARIS: Bio-neural? STADI: Some of the traditional circuitry has been replaced by gel packs that contain bio-neural cells. They organize information more efficiently, speed up response time. -------------------------------- [Quark's Bar, Deep Space Nine] QUARK: If I may say so, it's been my special pleasure to see many new officers like yourself come through these portals. Your parents must be very proud, my boy. You know, on an occasion like this... KIM: I'm really not interested. QUARK: Interested? KIM: You were about to try to sell me something, right? QUARK: I was merely going to suggest that your parents might appreciate a memento of your first mission. KIM: And you happen to have several to choose from? QUARK: I do carry a select line of unique artifacts and gemstones indigenous to this region. Why, quite recently, I acquired these Lobi crystals from a very strange creature called a Morn. KIM: We were warned about the Ferengi at the Academy. QUARK: Warned about Ferengi, were you? KIM: That's right. QUARK: Slurs about my people at Starfleet Academy. KIM: What I meant was... QUARK: Here I am, trying to be a cordial host, knowing how much a young officer's parents would appreciate a token of his love on the eve of a dangerous mission. And what do I get for my trouble? Scurrilous insults. Well, somebody's gonna hear about this. What's your name, son? KIM: My name? QUARK: You have one, I presume? KIM: Kim, Harry Kim. But I... QUARK: And who was it at the Academy who warned you about Ferengi? KIM: You know, I think a memento for my parents would be a great idea. QUARK: They're not for sale. Now, inform your commanding officer that the Federation Council can expect an official query... KIM: How much for the entire tray? QUARK: Cash or credit? PARIS: Dazzling, aren't they? As bright as a Koladan diamond. QUARK: Brighter. PARIS: Hard to believe you can find them on any planet in the system. QUARK: That's an exaggeration. PARIS: You know, there's a shop at the Volnar Colony that sells a dozen assorted shapes for one Cardassian lek. How much are you selling these for? QUARK: We were just about to negotiate the price. PARIS: (to Kim) Come on. KIM: Thanks. PARIS: Didn't they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy? -------------------------------- [Sickbay] HUMAN DOCTOR: Run a level three diagnostic, just to be sure. Can I help you? PARIS: Tom Paris, reporting on board. HUMAN DOCTOR: Oh yes. The observer. PARIS: That's me. As a matter of fact, I seem to be observing some kind of problem right now. Doctor. HUMAN DOCTOR: I was a surgeon at the hospital on Caldic Prime at the same time you were stationed there. We never actually met. Your medical records have arrived from your last posting, Mr. Paris. Everything seems to be in order. The captain asked if you were on board. You should check in with her. KIM: Uh, I haven't paid my respects to the Captain yet either. HUMAN DOCTOR: Well, Mr. Kim, that would be a good thing for a new operations officer to do. -------------------------------- [Hallway] KIM: What was that all about? PARIS: It's a long story Harry, and I'm tired of telling it. I'm sure someone around here will tell you before long. -------------------------------- [Captain's Ready Room] (Janeway is talking to Mark on monitor.) MARK: The doctor called. JANEWAY: And? MARK: And I was right. JANEWAY: She's pregnant? MARK: The puppies are due in seven weeks. JANEWAY: Oh, Mark. You've got to take her home with you. MARK: With me? I just got the rugs cleaned. JANEWAY: She's with child. I can't leave her in a kennel while I'm... MARK: Is this another "love me, love my dog" demand? JANEWAY: Yes. MARK: How could I ever refuse you? JANEWAY: Thanks, honey. MARK: So, when are you leaving? JANEWAY: As soon as I approve these systems status reports. MARK: All right. Then I won't bother you anymore. JANEWAY: Hey. You never bother me...except the way I love to be bothered. Understand? MARK: I'll remember that. JANEWAY: See you in a few weeks. Oh, Mark, go by my house and pick up the doggie bed. She'll be more comfortable. MARK: I already did...an hour ago. * * * JANEWAY: Come in. Gentlemen, welcome aboard Voyager. KIM: Thank you, sir. JANEWAY: Mr. Kim, at ease before you sprain something. Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don't like being addressed as "sir". KIM: I'm sorry, ma'am. JANEWAY: Ma'am is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer "Captain". We're getting ready to leave. Let me show you to the Bridge. -------------------------------- [Bridge] JANEWAY: Did you have any problems getting here, Mr. Paris? PARIS: None at all, Captain. JANEWAY: My first officer, Lieutenant Commander Cavit. (to Cavit) Ensign Kim, Mr. Paris. CAVIT: Welcome aboard. JANEWAY: Ensign Kim, this is your station. Would you like to take over? KIM: Yes, ma'am. JANEWAY: It's not crunch time yet, Mr. Kim. I'll let you know when. CAVIT: Lieutenant Stadi, lay in the course and clear our departure with operations. STADI: Course entered, Ops has cleared us. CAVIT: Ready thrusters. KIM: Thrusters ready. CAVIT: Initiate launching sequence. STADI: Sequence underway. JANEWAY: Engage. -------------------------------- [Mess Hall] PARIS: Tomato soup. COMPUTER: There are 14 varieties of tomato soup available from this replicator; with rice, with vegetables, Bolian style, with pasta, with... PARIS: Plain. COMPUTER: Specify hot or chilled. PARIS: Hot. Hot, plain, tomato soup. * * * PARIS: There, you see? I told you it wouldn't take long. KIM: Is it true? PARIS: Was the accident my fault? Yes. Pilot error. But it took me a while to admit it. Aw, 14 varieties and they can't even get plain tomato soup right. KIM: They said you falsified reports. PARIS: That's right. KIM: Why? PARIS: What's the difference? I lied. KIM: But then you came forward and you admitted that it was your fault? PARIS: I'll tell you the truth, Harry. All I had to do was keep my mouth shut and I was home free. But I couldn't. The ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas. So I confessed. Worst mistake I ever made but not my last. After they cashiered me out of Starfleet, I went out looking for a fight and found the Maquis. And on my first assignment, I was caught. KIM: It must have been especially tough for you, being the son of an admiral. PARIS: Frankly, I think it was tougher on my father than it was on me. Look, I know those guys told you to stay away from me. And you know what? You ought to listen to 'em. I'm not exactly a good luck charm. KIM: I don't need anyone to choose my friends for me. JANEWAY (O.C.): Janeway to Paris. PARIS: Go ahead. JANEWAY (O.C.): Report to the Bridge. We're approaching the Badlands. -------------------------------- [Bridge] ROLLINS: Plasma storms were measured at levels three and four. JANEWAY: The Cardassians gave us the last known heading of the Maquis ship. And we have charts of the plasma storm activity the day it disappeared. With a little help, we might be able to approximate its course. PARIS: I'd guess they were trying to get to one of the M-class planetoids in the Terikof Belt. CAVIT: That's beyond the Moriya system. ROLLINS: Then the plasma storms would have forced them in this direction. JANEWAY: Adjust our course to match. CAVIT: Aye, Captain. JANEWAY: The Cardassians claimed they forced the Maquis ship into a plasma storm, where it was destroyed. But our probes haven't picked up any debris. PARIS: A plasma storm might not leave any debris. JANEWAY: We'd still be able to pick up a resonance trace from the warp core. KIM: Captain, I'm reading a coherent tetryon beam scanning us. JANEWAY: Origin, Mr. Kim. KIM: I'm not sure. There's also a displacement wave moving toward us. JANEWAY: On screen. Analysis. KIM: It's some kind of polarized magnetic variation. CAVIT: We might be able to disperse it with a graviton particle field. JANEWAY: Do it. Red alert. Move us away from it, Lieutenant. STADI: New heading, 41, mark 180. CAVIT: Initiating graviton field. KIM: The graviton field had no effect. JANEWAY: Full impulse. KIM: The wave will intercept us in 12 seconds. JANEWAY: Can we go to warp? STADI: Not until we clear the plasma field, Captain. KIM: Five seconds. JANEWAY: Brace for impact. KIM: Three. * * * JANEWAY: Report! KIM: Hull breach, Deck 14. Comm lines to engineering are down. Trying to reestablish. JANEWAY: Repair crews, seal off hull breach on Deck 14. FEMALE CREW (O.C.): Aye, Captain. MALE CREW: Casualty reports coming in. Sickbay is not responding. JANEWAY: Bridge to Sickbay. Doctor, can you hear me? Paris, how's Stadi? PARIS: She's dead. KIM: Captain, there's something out there. JANEWAY: I need a better description than that, Mr. Kim. KIM: I don't know. I'm reading... I'm not sure what I'm reading. JANEWAY: Can you get the view screen operational? KIM: I'm trying. KIM: Captain, if these sensors are working, we're over 70,000 light years from where we were. We're on the other side of the galaxy. * * * KIM: I'm not reading any life signs on the Maquis ship. JANEWAY: What about on that...that array? KIM: Our sensors can't penetrate it. JANEWAY: Any idea what those pulses are that are coming from it, Mr. Kim? KIM: Massive bursts of radiant energy. They seem to be directed toward a nearby G-type star system. JANEWAY: Try hailing the array. CAREY (O.C.): Engineering to Bridge. We have some severe damage. The chief's dead. Possibility of a warp core breach. JANEWAY: Secure all engineering systems. I'm on my way. KIM: No response from the array. JANEWAY: Ensign, get down to Sickbay. See what's going on. Mr. Rollins, the Bridge is yours. ROLLINS: Aye, Captain. PARIS: Harry, wait for me. -------------------------------- [Sickbay] PARIS: They must have been right next to the console when it exploded. -------------------------------- [Engineering] COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent. JANEWAY: What's the warp core pressure? CAREY: 2,100 kilopascals. JANEWAY: Lock down the magnetic constrictors. CAREY: If we lock them down at these pressure levels, we might not be able to reinitialize the dilithium reaction. COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent. JANEWAY: We don't have a choice. We've got to get the reaction rate down before we try to seal it. -------------------------------- [Sickbay] KIM: Computer, initiate Emergency Medical Holographic Program. DOCTOR: Please state the nature of the medical emergency. KIM: Multiple percussive injuries. DOCTOR: Status of your doctor? KIM: He's dead. DOCTOR: Point four cc's of trianoline. KIM: Trianoline? PARIS: We lost our nurse too. DOCTOR: How soon are replacement medical personnel expected? KIM: That could be a problem. We're pretty far away from replacements right now. DOCTOR: Tricorder. DOCTOR: *Medical* tricorder. A replacement must be requested as soon as possible. I am programmed only as a short-term emergency supplement to the medical team. PARIS: Well, we may be stuck with you for a while, Doc. DOCTOR: There's no need for concern. I am capable of treating any injury or disease. No concussion. You'll be fine. Clean him up. -------------------------------- [Engineering] JANEWAY: Unlock the magnetic constrictors. CAREY: Constrictors on line. JANEWAY: Pressure? CAREY: It's working. 2,500 kilopascals and holding. ROLLINS (O.C.): Bridge to Janeway. We're being scanned by the array, Captain. It's penetrated our shields. JANEWAY: What kind of scan? Bridge? Janeway to Bridge, respond. Initiate emergency lock-off. -------------------------------- [Sickbay] DOCTOR: You're not seriously hurt. You can return to your station. DOCTOR: This is the emergency holographic doctor speaking. I gave no permission for anyone to be transported out of Sickbay. Hello? Sickbay to Bridge. I believe someone has failed to terminate my program. Please respond. -------------------------------- [Farm] OLD WOMAN: Come up here. Come on, now. I have a pitcher of lemonade and some sugar cookies. PARIS: Captain... JANEWAY: Don't believe your eyes, Mr. Paris. We've only been transported a hundred kilometers. We're inside the array. KIM: There's no indication of stable matter. All this must be some kind of holographic projection. OLD WOMAN: Oh, you poor things. You must be tired out. But come on and sit down and rest awhile. Have a cold drink. Hmm? JANEWAY: No, thank you. My name is Kathryn Janeway, captain of the Federation Starship Voyager... OLD WOMAN: Now, just make yourselves right at home. The neighbors should be here any minute. Oh! Why, here they are! BANJO MAN: Well, good to see you. Welcome. GIRL: We're real glad you dropped by. OLD WOMAN: Now we can get started. You're all invited to the welcoming bee! BANJO MAN: Let's have some music! * * * PARIS: The crew's scattered around this farm, Captain but they're all accounted for. JANEWAY: Move around. Scan the area. See if you can find anything that might be a holographic generator. OLD WOMAN: Have some nice fresh corn on the cob. Fresh corn on the cob. * * * GIRL: Hey, let me show you around. The root cellar's right over there. KIM: What's down there? GIRL: Potatoes, onions. But it's real private. KIM: Paris, she's only a hologram. PARIS: No reason to be rude. KIM: Whoa. PARIS: What? KIM: Sporocystian life signs. What's in the barn? GIRL: Oh, nothing but a big old pile of hay. Hey, come on. Let's go see the duck pond. There's nothing in there. It's just a dark smelly barn. Hey, do you all want some deviled eggs? -------------------------------- [Barn] GIRL: See? Nothing but hay. KIM: There's life form here. Just one. PARIS: Where? KIM: It's everywhere. I'm also reading some kind of matrix-processing device. It may be the holographic generator. Paris, humanoid life signs over here. I'm reading a Vulcan and several humans. GIRL: I'm not ready for you yet! PARIS: Paris to Janeway... -------------------------------- [Farm] JANEWAY: Janeway here. Paris? (No response.) JANEWAY: Come on! -------------------------------- [Barn] OLD WOMAN: Very well. Since no one seems to care for any corn, we'll have to proceed ahead of schedule. -------------------------------- [Engineering] JANEWAY: Janeway to Bridge. Anybody there? ROLLINS (O.C.): Yes, Captain. We're here. JANEWAY: How long were we over there? -------------------------------- [Bridge] ROLLINS: Almost three days. JANEWAY (O.C.): Three days? ROLLINS: Captain, the Maquis ship is powering up its engines. -------------------------------- [Engineering] JANEWAY: Tractor them! All senior officers, report to the Bridge immediately! -------------------------------- [Sickbay] DOCTOR: Excuse me. Could you explain what has transpired? PARIS: Computer, locate Ensign Kim. COMPUTER: Ensign Kim is not on board. PARIS: Uh, Paris to Janeway. JANEWAY (O.C.): Go ahead. -------------------------------- [Bridge] PARIS (O.C.): Kim didn't come back with us. He must still be over there. JANEWAY: Acknowledged. Computer, how many crewmen are unaccounted for? COMPUTER: One. Ensign Harry Kim. JANEWAY: Hail the Maquis. JANEWAY: Commander Chakotay. My name is Captain Kathryn Janeway. CHAKOTAY: How do you know my name? JANEWAY: We were on a mission to find you when we were brought here by the array. One of our crewman is missing. Was he transported back to your ship by accident? CHAKOTAY: No. A member of our crew is missing too. B'Elanna Torres, my engineer. JANEWAY: Commander, you and I have the same problem. I think it makes sense to try and solve it together, don't you? CHAKOTAY: Three of us will transport to your ship. ROLLINS: They're powering down their engines, dropping their shields. * * * ROLLINS: Watch out, Captain. They're armed. JANEWAY: Put down your weapons. You won't need those here. It's good to have you back, Mr. Tuvok. TUVOK: (to Chakotay) I must inform you that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew, sir. I am Captain Janeway's chief of security. CHAKOTAY: Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan? TUVOK: My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities. And then deliver you into their "waiting hands". That is correct. CHAKOTAY: (to Paris) I see you had help. PARIS: It's good to see you too, Chakotay. CHAKOTAY: At least the Vulcan was doing his duty as a Starfleet officer. But you... You betrayed us for what? Freedom from prison? Latinum? What was your price this time? JANEWAY: You're speaking to a member of my crew. I expect you to treat him with the same respect as you would have me treat a member of yours. JANEWAY: Now, we have a lot to accomplish, and I suggest we all concentrate on finding our people and getting ourselves back home. TUVOK: Based on my initial reconnaissance, Captain, I am convinced we are dealing with a single entity in the array. I would suggest that he scanned our computers in order to select a comfortable holographic environment. In effect, a waiting room to pacify us prior to a biometric assessment. PARIS: An examination? TUVOK: It is the most logical explanation. Why else would he have released us unharmed? PARIS: Not all of us were. JANEWAY: Break out the compression phaser rifles. Meet us in Transporter Room Two. We're going back. We'll divide into teams. Mr. Tuvok, while Chakotay and I are looking for Torres and Kim, your job is to find out as much about this array as you can. It brought us here, we have to assume it can send us home. (to Chakotay) Agreed? JANEWAY: Mr. Rollins, maintain red alert. Keep us on constant transporter locks. PARIS: Captain. I'd like to go with you. JANEWAY: If this has something to do with what Chakotay said... PARIS: It doesn't. I'd just... I'd hate to see anything happen to Harry. JANEWAY: Come on. -------------------------------- [Ocampa Hospital] OCAMPA NURSE: <> OCAMPA DOCTOR: <> KIM: What am I doing here? Where am I? OCAMPA NURSE: Please don't try to move yet. You are very ill. KIM: Ill? No, no. There's some mistake. I'm not... TORRES: No! -------------------------------- [Farm] BANJO MAN: Oh, why have you come back? You don't have what I need. JANEWAY: I don't know what you need and frankly I don't care. I just want our people back and I want us all to be sent home. BANJO MAN: Oh, well, now. Aren't you contentious for a minor bipedal species? JANEWAY: This minor bipedal species doesn't take kindly to being abducted. BANJO MAN: Oh, it was necessary. CHAKOTAY: Where are our people? BANJO MAN: They are no longer here. JANEWAY: What have you done to them? BANJO MAN: You don't have what I need. They might. No, you'll have to leave them. CHAKOTAY: We won't do that. JANEWAY: We are their commanding officers. We are entrusted with their safety. They are our responsibility. That may be a concept you don't understand. BANJO MAN: Oh, no. I do understand. But I have no choice. There just is not enough time left. JANEWAY: Left for what? BANJO MAN: I must honor a debt that can never be repaid. But my search has not been going well. JANEWAY: Tell us what you're looking for. Maybe we can help you find it. BANJO MAN: You? I've searched the galaxy with methods beyond your comprehension. No, there is nothing you can do. JANEWAY: You've taken us 70,000 light years from our home. We have no way back unless you send us, and we won't leave without the others. BANJO MAN: But sending you back is terribly complicated. Don't you understand? I don't have time. Not enough time! -------------------------------- [Ocampa Hospital] KIM: It's okay. It's okay. TORRES: Who are you? KIM: My name is Kim. Harry Kim. I'm an ensign on the Starship Voyager. I was kidnapped from the array just like you were. I don't know where we are. TORRES: What was Starfleet doing at the array? KIM: We were looking for you, actually. One minute, we-we're in the Badlands. The next... TORRES: You mean you were trying to capture us. KIM: Yeah. Consider yourself captured. Oh, I know I have uh, a phaser here somewhere. TORRES: I don't find this at all amusing, Starfleet. KIM: There's no point. It's locked. Hey! Hey, hey, hey. What's that gonna accomplish? TORRES: What are they doing to us? What are these things growing on us? KIM: Look, do you want them to sedate you again? TORRES: You're right, Starfleet. It's the Klingon half of me. It's just, it's hard to control it sometimes. KIM: What's your name, Maquis? TORRES: B'Elanna. B'Elanna Torres. * * * OCAMPA DOCTOR: I hope you're feeling better. I know how frightening all this must be for both of you. I've brought some clothes if you'd care to change. TORRES: Why are you holding us here? OCAMPA DOCTOR: You're not prisoners. In fact, we consider you honored guests. The Caretaker has sent you to us. As long as you're not violent, you're free to leave your quarters. KIM: What's wrong with us? What are these things? OCAMPA DOCTOR: We really don't know. You must be hungry. Would you care to join me on the courtyard for a meal? -------------------------------- [Ocampa Settlement] OCAMPA DOCTOR: Our food dispensers are right this way. KIM: We're underground. OCAMPA DOCTOR: Our society is subterranean. We've lived here for over five hundred generations. TORRES: But before that, you lived on the surface? OCAMPA DOCTOR: Until the Warming began. KIM: The Warming? OCAMPA DOCTOR: When our surface turned into a desert and the Caretaker came to protect us. Our ancient journals tell us he opened a deep chasm in the ground and led our ancestors to this place. Since then he has provided for all our needs. OCAMPA DOCTOR: Oh. Please forgive them. They know you've come from the Caretaker. None of us has ever seen him. This way, please. TORRES: Does the Caretaker provide your meals too? OCAMPA DOCTOR: In fact, he does. He designed and built this entire city for us after the Warming. The food processors dispense nutritional supplements every four-point-one intervals. It may not offer the exotic tastes some of our younger people crave these day, but it meets our needs. KIM: Is this how the Caretaker communicates with you? OCAMPA DOCTOR: He never communicates directly. We try to interpret his wishes as best we can. KIM: I'm curious to know how you've interpreted the Caretaker's reason for sending us here. OCAMPA DOCTOR: We believe he must have separated you from your own species for their protection. TORRES: Their protection? OCAMPA DOCTOR: From your illness. Perhaps he is trying to prevent a plague. TORRES: We weren't sick until we met your caretaker. OCAMPA DOCTOR: From time to time, he asks us to care for people with this disease. It's the least we can do. TORRES: There have been others? Like us? OCAMPA DOCTOR: Yes. TORRES: Where are they? OCAMPA DOCTOR: Your condition is serious. We don't know exactly how to treat it. I'm afraid the others did not recover. -------------------------------- [Captain's Ready Room] JANEWAY (V.O.): Captain's log, Stardate 48315.6. We've traced the energy pulses from the array to the fifth planet of the neighboring system and believe they may have been used in some fashion to transport Kim and Torres to the planet's surface. JANEWAY: Come in. TUVOK: Captain, I've observed something peculiar about the pulses. They are getting faster. JANEWAY: Faster. TUVOK: The interval between each pulse has decreased by point-four-seven seconds since we arrived. I can offer no explanation. JANEWAY: That's only one of the mysteries we're dealing with, Mr. Tuvok. Take a look at this. It's virtually a desert. Not one ocean, not one river. It has all the basic characteristics of an M-class planet except...there are no nucleogenic particles in the atmosphere. TUVOK: That would mean the planet is incapable of producing rain. JANEWAY: I've studied thousands of M-class planets. I've never seen an atmosphere without nucleogenics. There must have been some kind of extraordinary environmental disaster. As soon as repairs are complete, we'll set a course for the fifth planet. TUVOK: Captain, you require sleep. JANEWAY: Kim's mother called me just after he left her. Delightful woman. It's her only son. He'd left his clarinet behind. She wanted to know if she had time to send it. I had to tell her no. Did you know he played clarinet in the Julliard Youth Symphony? TUVOK: I did not have the opportunity to meet Mr. Kim. JANEWAY: I barely knew him. I never seem to have the chance to get to know any of them. I have to, um... I have to take more time to do that. It's a fine crew and I've got to get 'em home. TUVOK: The crew will not benefit from the leadership of an exhausted captain. JANEWAY: You're right as usual. I've missed your counsel, Tuvok. TUVOK: I am gratified that you came after me so I can offer it once again. JANEWAY: I spoke to your family before I left. TUVOK: Are they well? JANEWAY: Well. But worried about you. TUVOK: That would not be an accurate perception, Captain. Vulcans do not worry. JANEWAY: They miss you. TUVOK: As I do them. JANEWAY: I'll get you back to them. That's a promise, Tuvok. (to be continued...) -------------------------------- [Closing Credit] -------------------------------- Guest Stars: Basil Langton .... Banjo Man (Caretaker) Armin Shimerman .... Quark Alicia Coppola .... Stadi Scott Jaeck .... Cavit Bruce French .... Ocampa Doctor Scott MacDonald.... Rollins Josh Clark .... Carey Stan Ivar .... Mark x