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In the midst of a ceremony
celebrating Tuvok's promotion to Lieutenant Commander, Voyager
receives an automated distress call sent by Dejaren, an alien
hologram, who says that his crew is dead and he needs help. The
Doctor, anxious to meet a fellow hologram, tracks the source of
the transmission and is assigned to the rescue mission along
with Torres. Upon their arrival on the disabled Serosian ship,
they meet Dejaren, who is pleased to see another "lifeform" like
himself.
The hologram says that his crew
became infected with a deadly virus, which killed them all.
Dejaren is awed by the Doctor's freedom and abilities; his crew
never let him out of his chamber or treated him as anything
other than machinery. Later, as Torres works to repair Dejaren's
systems, Dejaren lashes out at her verbally, castigating her
organic body and way of life. Torres shares her concerns about
the hologram with the Doctor and informs him that Dejaren lied
about the lower deck being filled with harmful radiation.
Perhaps there's something down there that he doesn't want them
to see. Although the Doctor empathizes with his fellow hologram,
he agrees to keep Dejaren occupied while she investigates.
As he talks to Dejaren, the Doctor begins to realize that Torres
was right. The hologram is pathologically bitter toward
"organics." On the lower deck, Torres finds the bloody bodies of
the crew and it's clear they didn't die from a virus. As she
hurriedly tries to deactivate Dejaren's program, the homicidal
hologram appears and nearly kills her before she manages to shut
him off.
 Meanwhile, aboard Voyager, Harry Kim is assigned to work with
Seven of Nine on the new Astrometrics lab. Kim is uneasy working
with the Borg, but their detail provides them with the basis of
a friendship. However, Kim is rattled when Seven of Nine
interprets his pleasantries as romantic seduction and she
decides to further explore her resurgent humanity.
On the Serosian ship, the Doctor and Torres find that the
hologram has disabled their communication link to the shuttle.
As they work to restore it, Dejaren reactivates himself and
knocks out Torres. He disconnects the Doctor's mobile emitter,
causing the Emergency Medical Hologram to disappear. Torres
awakens and flees, but a murderous Dejaren pursues her. Finally,
she manages to destabilize his matrix with an isomagnetic
conduit, deactivating him for good, and brings the Doctor back
on-line. Both return to Voyager with a new appreciation for the
Doctor's unique — and stable — personality. |
