Strange New Worlds 2016 (42 page)

“I am, Commander,” came Seven’s response, somewhat weakly, from behind him. Chakotay
turned quickly at the sound of her voice, surprised to find her lucid once more. She
was pale and shaken but, for the moment at least, was clear-minded. “Though you should
hurry. I can feel her memories pushing into my thoughts. I do not know how to fight
it.”

“This is an injection of lexorin. It will help suppress the memories of the Lynnrali
woman,” the Doctor said, pressing a hypospray against Seven’s neck. The device hissed
as it painlessly delivered the medicine into her bloodstream. Seven nodded.

“I can still remember that other life, but it is easier to ignore. For now, I suggest
we get to work, Commander.”

“Species 3836. Lynnrali. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be
added to our own. Resistance is futile.”

It was the most terrifying sound I had ever heard in my life. Andrest had fallen asleep
at his desk one night, poring over government reports in one hand while cradling Eryet
in his other arm. Even at his busiest, he never wanted to miss bonding time with our
new daughter. I don’t know how he managed it. There were still days when I felt lucky
if I could manage to get a shower for myself.

I had gone into his study to take the baby to bed, found them both asleep in his armchair,
and left them there while I cleaned up his desk. I accidentally bumped the screen
on the desk and it began playing automatically. The volume was low, so Eryet thankfully
didn’t wake up, but that made it even more terrifying for me, hearing that horrific
threat come through in a soft whisper. It sent a chill straight through my soul.

That quiet whisper of sound was enough to jolt Andrest out of his sleep. His gaze
focused immediately on my horrified face and he pointed to the computer. “Eilara,
turn that off. Now.” He had never once spoken to me in that tone, and I obeyed out
of pure surprise. Normally he would never dream of speaking to me like that. He must
have seen something in my eyes because he was immediately contrite. “I’m sorry. I’m
sorry I snapped. I’m sorry you heard that awful recording.”

“Is that something you received from them? Did . . . were they . . . ?” I didn’t even
know what to ask, how to articulate my horror and terror. Andrest shook his head.

“It was recorded from one of the satellites, many years ago. They were in orbit, just
one ship, and they sent this message. Moments later, the ship was destroyed by a nebular
storm. It is the first time we had heard about the Borg. You know all we have learned
about them since. We have been lucky, living in the nebula. We have been shielded
from them a little because of it.” He paused and shifted the baby in his arms. When
he looked up at me, there was a vulnerability in his eyes that I had never seen before.
“But this is why I do what I do. To protect you and Eryet. Because I am terrified.
And I am furious, because there is nothing,
nothing
, we can do to stop them, and we have nowhere to go.”

“How are you holding up, Seven?” Chakotay asked. They had successfully linked her
cortical node to the computer after Seven had programmed her regeneration alcove to
communicate with sickbay’s systems. The Doctor had refused to allow her to make the
attempt outside of sickbay, so they’d had to compromise. Thus far, they had had limited
success in accessing the wealth of knowledge that she retained about the Lynnrali’s
warp technology. Additionally, the flashbacks to Eilara’s life were coming faster,
further impeding their efforts. Seven was nearly apoplectic with frustration.

“It is unacceptable,” she stated. “As a drone, I had access to all the information
about Species 3836. It is still there. I must remember!”

“As I’ve told you,” the Doctor said with thinly veiled impatience, “the Lynnrali implant
created a DNA-specific bioelectric feedback loop. That is why you are reliving this
woman’s memories rather than accessing more general and helpful information. Now stop
obsessing about it and relax. You’re not helping.”

“Fine,” Seven snapped. “I am relaxed.”

The Doctor merely rolled his eyes and turned back to his screen. He had narrowed in
on a small sector and was close to identifying the neural pathways that he needed
to disrupt in order to stop her visions. He had made an unsettling discovery during
his research, however, and he was wary of proceeding too quickly with a treatment
protocol. He advised that the link would soon need to be disconnected, which was met
with Seven’s expected resistance.

“I will maintain the link between your cortical node and the computer,” the Doctor
said, “for now, but only as long as you remain stable.” Seven began to object; the
Doctor cut her off, a finger pointed at her threateningly. “
I
am the chief medical officer on this ship.
I
will decide if you are stable or not. If you’re in danger, I am breaking the link
whether you have your information or not. My duty is to you as my patient, Seven.
Is that clear?”

Seven of Nine nodded tersely and returned to Chakotay’s side. She would not allow
a flaw to stop her. She would prove to the captain and crew that she would not fail
them, even if it killed her.

“What if we tried your
akoonah
again? It seemed to intensify my visions, so might it not help us hone in on the
information we need? Perhaps with the heightened intensity from the
akoonah
, I might be able to recall more valuable data.”

“No,” replied Chakotay and the Doctor in unison. Chakotay continued, “Seven, using
the
akoonah
somehow initiated the bioelectric feedback. I’m not willing to risk further injury
to you for this. If we can figure it out on our own, that’s great. But not at the
cost of your health. I’m about to pull the plug on the whole thing as it is, no matter
how much the Lynnrali technology can improve our warp drive.”

“It is my health to risk.”

“The answer is no. That’s an order,” he commanded. For a moment, Chakotay saw a belligerent
lift to Seven’s chin, then she sighed in resignation and nodded.

“I understand. You did everything you could.”

“Sorry?”

“He is gone. Was it fast? He didn’t suffer?”

The surgeon looked at me with sympathy. She seemed kind. I couldn’t remember her name.
Only that she had just told me that my husband was dead. I didn’t feel anything. Shouldn’t
I feel something? I only felt a howling numbness rising up to enclose me.

“Doctor!” Chakotay’s voice jolted Seven, and she jumped, startled. He was cradling
her against his chest, and she was puzzled to realize that he was carrying her to
the biobed.

“I’m fine,” she tried to say, and was horrified when inarticulate grunts were all
she could manage. Chakotay gently placed her on the exam bed and moved aside to make
room for the Doctor, who closed the diagnostic console over her. Seven’s body began
convulsing uncontrollably.

“She’s aphasic and seizing. Her neural pathways are aggressively misfiring, and I
don’t know why, but it’s causing a rapid decline of her body’s systems. Quick, hand
me that hypospray.”

Chakotay gave the device to the Doctor and watched helplessly as the hologram injected
its contents into his friend’s slender neck. The effect was immediate; Seven stopped
convulsing, and her eyes slid closed. “What’s happening to her?” The Doctor ignored
him and placed a small device on her forehead. The device emitted a soft beep as the
Doctor activated it, and Seven’s features went completely slack. Chakotay thought
she looked peaceful, and young, and very, very innocent. “Doctor, report!”

“We have a problem. I need to talk to Captain Janeway.”

Lieutenant Tom Paris was the last person to enter the conference room. As he took
his seat at the glossy black table, his glance toward the captain alerted him that
she was concerned and trying not to show it to her crew; he could tell by the set
of her shoulders and the way she folded her hands before her, gripped together as
though she was holding on to a cup of coffee that was no longer there.

Ensign Harry Kim leaned toward him. “Where’s the Doc and Seven?” he whispered to his
friend. Paris shrugged theatrically.

“That’s why we’re here, Ensign,” Captain Janeway stated, hearing Kim’s aside. “Seven
is in sickbay; the Doctor will be joining us shortly. We have a situation.”

“Is Seven all right?” asked Neelix. The small Talaxian leaned forward, his concern
writ large on his expressive face. Of all the members of
Voyager
’s crew, he had been among the first to accept Seven for herself, to welcome her and
try to help her to integrate her lost humanity with the woman who had been created
by the Borg. He genuinely cared for every member of the crew, Janeway knew, but he
had a special fondness for the former Borg, which had been all the more surprising
to her since Seven’s arrival coincided with Kes’s departure. Janeway had worried Neelix
would forever link the drone’s arrival with that unhappy event.

“No, she’s not.” Chakotay’s normally soft-spoken voice was sharp, highlighting his
worry. “She had been having what she thought were nightmares. I convinced her to go
on a vision quest. Now she’s in a coma in sickbay.”

“A coma?” Kim exclaimed, leaning forward on his elbows. “From what? What happened?”

Chakotay shook his head in helpless frustration and motioned to the large screen on
the wall. The Doctor’s visage appeared from sickbay, looking distracted and harried.
He had been looking back over his shoulder, checking on his patient, when he linked
in to the conference room, and now he turned his attention to the officers gathered
around the table.

“Yes, Ensign. I induced a medical coma in Seven a short time ago to preserve her higher
brain functions. Until I can come up with a treatment to stop her visions, which were
somehow activated by Commander Chakotay’s
akoonah
, her neural pathways are degrading and shutting down her body functions.”

“Wait a minute,” B’Elanna Torres interrupted, suspicion dripping from her voice. “I’ve
gone on a vision quest too. They aren’t dangerous; why should it affect Seven like
that? Shouldn’t her Borg implants prevent anything like this from happening?”

Janeway stifled a sigh. Torres was a brilliant engineer, the best she had ever worked
with. However, her half-Klingon heritage made her among the most difficult to work
with as well and, unlike Neelix, she had yet to accept a former Borg drone as a crewmate.
The Doctor huffed slightly. The captain was uncertain if he was put out that the Borg
technology had failed Seven, or if he was offended that Torres seemed to be questioning
his medical expertise. He sighed and ran a hand over his bald pate as he replied.

“Normally, yes. From what Seven was able to tell us before her condition deteriorated
to dangerous levels, the Lynnrali created a program specifically designed to cause
this sort of bioelectric feedback loop within the Borg’s mainframe.”

Kim shook his head, his bright black eyes sparkling with curiosity. “Captain, if the
Lynnrali managed to create this advanced a program, down to the genetic level, why
didn’t it cause the feedback loop in the Borg when they assimilated it? Why is it
affecting Seven so much, and why now?”