Summary for Star Trek: Voyager episode
Infinite Regress
Season 5, Episode 7
Stardate: 52356.2
Guest Stars:
Scarlett Pomers as "Naomi Wildman"
Neil Maffin as the "Ven"
Co-Stars:
Erica Mer as "Meryl"
Majel Barrett as "Computer voice"
Story by:
Robert J. Doherty and Jimmy Diggs
Teleplay by:
Robert J. Doherty
Events:
The Episode starts in Seven's cargo bay. She is regenerating and we hear voices yelling, that grow in intensity as we approach her. She awakens and the voices are silenced. Seven disengages herself from the regeneration chamber and the computer reports her regeneration is incomplete. She begins walking through the cargo bay, stalking. She enters the hallway and avoids being seen by a crewman entering the turbolift. She stalks the halls.
The scene cuts to Seven in the mess hall. There are various bowls of roots and vegetable matter which seem to anger her. She throws one of them to the floor. Stalking further into the kitchen she starts to show anger and follows her nose, sniffing the air. She opens a refrigerator door and finds a piece of meat, which she greedily begins to devour. On a mirrored surface we see her reflected as a Klingon warrior.
The scene cuts to opening credits and commercials.
When we return we are in the briefing room where Harry is telling the senior staff (including Neelix and Seven but not the Doctor) about a debris field he has detected. Seven identifies it as the remains of a Borg cube, based on tetryon particles amongst the debris.
The debris field lays directly in their path, so Kathryn orders the course altered to give the field a "wide berth" as she believes other Borg ships will arrive to investigate.
Neelix brings up another matter. The "Midnight Snacker" has raided his kitchen again. Neelix reports the missing meat and points out Tuvok has not been able to find any suspects. He asks for stiffer security measures and Tuvok suggests an armed guard. Neelix counter-proposes locks for the cabinets and food lockers and Kathryn agrees.
The scene cuts to the hallways where Naomi is following Seven. Seven opens a Jeffries tube and looks in, making a recording on her padd. Naomi tiptoes to a doorway where she also enters information on a padd.
Seven walks away and Naomi proceeds to follow her, only to bump into Seven who is awaiting her around the corner. Seven demands to know what the "sub-unit" is doing. Naomi is so astonished at this unexpected turn of events that she stares up, mouth open, speechless. Seven announces that since she won't cooperate Seven has no choice but to report her to the captain.
Naomi chases after Seven, asking her not to report her. Naomi explains that she is only trying to learn to be "perfect" so Kathryn will have to make her the Captain's Assistant. Seven points out their is no such rank and Naomi counters "Not yet" (and she is so cute when she says this).
They continue to discuss this matter as they walk the halls until Seven hears the shouting voices again. After the voices change Seven's demeanor is completely changed. She behaves like a young girl, claiming to be bored and suggesting swimming. Naomi isn't allowed to go swimming without her mother so Seven suggests a game of "Kodiskot" (expect to see it at your next Star Trek convention ;-). Naomi loves the game so they run down the hall hand in hand.
In the Wildman quarters we see a game where a large six-sided board stands on an angle. The board is almost covered with red and green circular tiles. There seems to be no specific order or arrangement to these tiles. Naomi is explaining her career path (Captain's Assistant to Ensign to Lieutenant to Captain [no mention of Lt. Commander or Commander]).
Naomi makes a move and Seven makes a move and calls "Kodiskot" because she has won the game. Naomi points out that Seven is good at the game. Seven offers her a rematch and Naomi agrees. The camera switches to an overhead view and we see the reflection of Seven on the game board. What we see is a young, dark-haired girl (not Seven as a child).
Their conversation continues with Naomi claiming to know the rules of First Contact and the sub-orders of the Prime Directive (47 sub-orders). Seven claims to have 12 brothers and that she plays Kodiskot with them all the time. Naomi admits she only has Neelix and her mother to play with. Seven suggests that must be lonely and Naomi claims she's adapted like the Borg. Seven doesn't like the Borg, claiming they're "mean".
They're conversation is interrupted by B'Elanna calling Seven on the intercom. Seven ignores this and tells Naomi it's her move. B'Elanna calls again and Seven becomes aware of herself and signals back to B'Elanna that she is on her way. When we look at the board again we see the reflection of Seven, not the girl.
Seven demands to know what she is doing in the room and Naomi explains they're playing Kodiskot. Seven leaves without a word.
The scene cuts to engineering, where B'Elanna has picked up a strange signal with a Borg modulation. Seven confirms this, calling it a "Neural Interlink frequency" that links the minds of the individual Borg drones. B'Elanna asks her to try to pinpoint the location and Seven tries.
B'Elanna offers that Seven doesn't look well. Seven explains that she isn't well, that she suffered a lapse in her memory and is disoriented. B'Elanna suggests she go to Sick Bay but Seven declines, claiming this frequency might be the cause of something. But the shouting voices cut her off and when B'Elanna tries to get her attention Seven looks up to seethe face of an older Klingon male warrior. She begins speaking in Klingonese and B'Elanna assumes this is some kind of joke that Tom suggested to Seven.
Seven sneers at B'Elanna for being in a Star Fleet uniform and when B'Elanna turns her back on Seven, Seven grabs her hair, stating B'Elanna's blood smells "sweet" and bites her on the cheek. B'Elanna pushes Seven away and Seven claims B'Elanna will make an excellent "mate". B'Elanna grabs a tool to defend herself and calls Security while Seven challenges her to battle. Meanwhile two Security guards rush in and Seven turns on them, managing to knock both of them over and rushes out of engineering.
The scene cuts to the bridge, where Kathryn wants an update on Seven (obviously the incidents have been communicated to her). Chakotay gives her location and Kathryn orders Harry to erect forcefields to stop Seven.
The scene cuts to a hallway where a security officer is hurled against the wall and drops his phaser, being unconscious. Seven grabs the phaser and discovers herself trapped between two forcefields.
The scene cuts to Tuvok and another security officer striding down the halls, phasers at the ready. They come across Seven sitting with her back to the wall, holding a phaser while a security officer lays unconscious nearby. Tuvok says her name and Seven responds by saying "someone is hurt and he needs help". As Tuvok and the security officer move cautiously towards the forcefield Seven asks, "Did I do something bad?" Tuvok asks her who she is and Seven answers "My name is Meryl." Tuvok lowers the forcefield and asks for the phaser, which Seven gives him.
Seven then hears the voices again and becomes Sub-Altern Larok of the Vulcan High Command. She offers her assistance and Tuvok asks her to accompany him to Sick Bay. They start down the corridor, with Seven pointing out that the security officer was obviously attacked. They haven't gone more than a few steps before Seven hears the voices again and becomes the Klingon warrior once again. She tries to attack Tuvok, who stuns her. She falls into his arms.
The scene cuts to commercials.
When the show returns we are shown a green object floating in the Borg debris field. The scene cuts to Sick bay where Seven lays upon a bed. The Doc, Tuvok, and Kathryn stand over her. She has a medical device attached to her neck and Kathryn explains she's been unconscious for two hours. She's been diagnosed with a neurological disorder and she starts hearing the voices again. The Doc asks her to describe them and she claims there are many and they are chaotic.
Through her mind's eye we are shown a distorted vision of several people in Borg cubicles. We see Meryl, an unknown alien, a male Star Fleet redshirt, a Klingon warrior, a male human, another unknown alien, a female Star Fleet blueshirt, another unknown alien, a Bajoran, another Klingon warrior, a female Star Fleet engineer, two more unknown aliens, another Bajoran, another unknown alien, a Cardassian, another unknown alien, Meryl again, another unknown alien, etc.
All of them screaming, none of them assimilated.
Seven sits up, hyper-ventilating. Doc explains that the cortical inhibitor is destabilizing and makes adjustments to the device on Seven's neck. The voices fade away. Tuvok relates her unusual behaviour of the day and Seven doesn't recall any of them. Doc thinks she is suffering from multiple personalities, 13 personalities to be exact.
Seven asks how and Doc points out that while a Borg she was part of the hive and that the personalities of those assimilated by the Borg were passed on to the drones, thus finding their way into her cortical implants. She has the Borg version of multiple personality disorder.
Seven suggests the neural interlink frequency they detected earlier might be causing this malfunction and Tuvok points out this signal originates from within the Borg debris field.
Kathryn suggests they go to warp and leave it behind but Seven points out the signal "permeates sub-space" and thus there is no way to avoid it. Doc states the only hope is to turn the signal off.
Kathryn orders the ship to the debris field and asks Seven if she will be able to help. Seven says she will and Kathryn orders Doc to keep an eye on her to help her, should her multiple personalities resurface.
The scene cuts to the halls where Seven and Doc are discussing the situation. Doc asks her if this has happened before and Seven assures him that any drone with this problem would be terminated.
They are interrupted by Neelix, who as morale officer wishes to help. Seven dismisses his efforts but Neelix finally offers her a drawing from Naomi. According to Neelix it is a drawing of Voyager or an asteroid belt, he isn't sure. This seems to touch Seven and she asks him to convey her thanks.
The scene cuts to Seven's quarters where they review her regeneration logs. Doc figures out she is the "Midnight Snacker" and that she has been sleep-walking. Apparently Seven recorded a couple of log entries while possessed by other personalities. We hear one from an Ensign Stone who was on the Federation starship Tomba. Seven claims that vessel was assimilated 13 years earlier.
Seven becomes agitated when asked to recall the identity of another log recording, claiming she can't recall everyone who was assimilated. Doc reassures her they will get past the problem of multiple personalities.
Their conversation is interrupted by Chakotay, who calls Seven to the bridge, claiming they've arrived at the debris field.
No survivors or other vessels or previous vessels are detected.
They find the device that is generating the signal. Seven identifies it as a Borg "vinculum", a device that essentially regulates the collective.
Kathryn points out that it has a link to her neural implants and Seven explains it is trying to re-integrate her into the collective, believing her to be a rogue drone. She claims it's malfunctioning since it is sending erratic commands.
Kathryn asks Seven if Seven can sever the link and Seven explains this would cause serious damage to herself and that the vinculum must be taken offline. She requests that the vinculum be beamed aboard for analysis. Kathryn balks, stating she doesn't want to beam the "heart of a Borg cube" onto her ship. When asked if Seven can disable it remotely Seven says it will take several days and the Borg may arrive in that time.
Kathryn thinks for a moment and then gives orders for the vinculum to be beamed into engineering and placed behind level 10 force fields. As soon as it's aboard Tom is to go to warp 9. At the first sign of trouble Tuvok is to beam it off the ship. Then she tries to reassure Seven, while reminding her that Kathryn's first responsibility is to the safety of the crew.
The scene cuts to engineering where Doc and Seven arrive. Seven starts hearing the voices again due to her proximity to the vinculum, so Doc adjusts her cortical inhibitor again. They take position near a work station and B'Elanna hesitates to approach. Seven assures her there won't be a repeat of her previous behaviour and B'Elanna jokes about this being their second date.
While analyzing the device they discover a synthetic organism attacking the vinculum's programming. The vinculum was infected three days earlier and according to its log this was just after assimilating a member of species 6339. Doc believes this is the cause of the infection.
The scene cuts to commercials.
When we return we discover that the Borg have assimilated 11 billion members of species 6339 and was pursuing one of the last surviving shuttles of that species. When the occupant was assimilated, the synthetic organism infected the vinculum and caused the problems which Seven has been experiencing. The Borg on the cube destroyed themselves. Then Seven hears the voices and becomes a Ferengi Daimon Tarant (species 180). Seven tries to acquire the astrometrics screen, but is convinced to go to Sick Bay to be treated for a flu. Apparently the cortical inhibitor has stopped functioning. Once Seven arrives in Sick Bay she is escorted to the operating theatre and placed behind a forcefield.
Doc explains to Kathryn that the signal is causing this problem and that they must terminate it. He fears even if they do succeed in this that Seven's own neural pathways are degenerating and that they might lose her personality altogether.
Seven then takes on a new personality, that of a worried mother who was bound to meet her son who served on the USS Melbourne. They were to meet at Wolf 359 and were caught up in the battle with the Borg. Apparently the mother was captured by the Borg.
Then Seven hears the voices again and recovers her wits. Kathryn assures her they will shut down the vinculum immediately as soon as B'Elanna signals she is ready to accomplish this.
On the bridge Chakotay asks the returning Kathryn if she's met anyone interesting. She mentions that 12 new personalities have surfaced and that Seven isn't doing well. She explains that Doc sedated Seven.
Kathryn expresses doubts about her decision to bring Seven along. Chakotay points out he didn't think Seven would last a day, but that Seven has proven Kathryn was right to bring her.
In engineering, B'Elanna and Tuvok are ready to proceed. They begin dampening the signal and the vinculum's power drops to about 75%, but Seven's personalities surface. This leads the Doc to call for an end to the procedure. Meanwhile, the vinculum is reasserting its own power, re-routing it and destroying the forcefield. Tuvok reports to Kathryn that the procedure failed and Doc reports they've lost Seven's personality and that only the alien personalities exist within her.
The show cuts to commercials.
When we return we discover Voyager out of warp and Kathryn reports a species 6339 ship was detected on long-range sensors. Voyager is on an intercept course at impulse speed.
In the captain's ready room Doc explains he's lost Seven and if they don't shut down the vinculum they may never retrieve her. Doc confesses he's exhausted all medical procedures and nothing has worked. So Tuvok volunteers a mind-meld. Doc objects, describing the mind-meld as "Vulcan mumbo-jumbo". But this being the only option left they decide to take it. Doc expresses concern that he'll have two patients to deal with.
The conversation is interrupted by Chakotay calling Kathryn to the bridge. They've encountered species 6339. Harry reports the ship is well-armed, with 22 phaser cannons on the aft end of the ship alone.
Kathryn hails them and explains their predicament. The 6339 commander beams over and explains the synthetic organism was a weapon against the Borg, that 13 of his people were deliberately infected and allowed themselves to be caught so as to infect the vinculum. That the vinculum, once collected by another Borg ship, would continue to infect ship after ship, destroying perhaps hundreds of Borg vessels.
He demands the return of the vinculum, claiming there is no cure for Seven. Kathryn agrees to return it once B'Elanna has had a chance to deactivate it. The 6339 insists it be returned immediately to be sure it is in the debris field when the Borg arrive. Kathryn refuses. The 6339 threatens the ship and the safety of the crew and Kathryn points out that the 6339 could indeed do heavy damage to Voyager and might destroy the vinculum. The 6339 points out the vinculum survived the destruction of the Borg cube and will probably survive the destruction of Voyager.
Meanwhile, back in Sick Bay, Seven comes to, being herself. Doc explains the situation and tells her of Tuvok's plan to help her. Seven expresses gratitude to Tuvok and the crew, asking Doc to convey the messages. Then the voices reappear and Doc sedates her.
Tuvok, in his quarters, prepares for his ordeal.
On the bridge, Kathryn and Chakotay return to the bridge in preparation for battle.
In Sick Bay, Tuvok arrives to perform the meld. Doc attaches a monitor to Tuvok's neck. He is prepared to pull Tuvok out of the meld at the first sign of trouble but Tuvok declines.
Tuvok lowers the forcefield and proceeds with the meld while the ship is hit by the 6339 weapons. Seven flips through personality after personality.
Tuvok awakens within Seven's mind. He is standing in a Borg cubicle. He calls out to Seven but sees what looks like a riot going on. He can't see Seven so he goes looking for her.
The scene cuts to commercials.
Tuvok wanders around what appears to be a Borg ship. The images are blurred and unreal. We see a Hirogen amongst the aliens. The riot has grasped Tuvok and is trying to keep him from progressing. Off in the distance Tuvok sees Seven. He tries to reach her.
Meanwhile, on the ship, all hell is breaking lose. Targeting computers are malfunctioning, shields are down to 35%, Seven and Tuvok are losing their own battles, sparks fly from various consoles, the ship is rocked by weapons fire. But B'Elanna is succeeding in disabling the vinculum.
Back in Seven's mind, Seven has seen Tuvok and is trying to reach him as he tries to reach her.
On the ship, B'Elanna is succeeding in powering down the vinculum, but they lose an emitter and the ship has taken a direct hit to the powergrid. Kathryn is bringing emergency backup power online. Doc can't get some ingredient into Seven and/or Tuvok and calls on Tuvok to end the meld.
Back in Seven's mind the personalities are trying to toss Seven over a precipice. She resists and Tuvok struggles to reach her.
B'Elanna finally succeeds in forcing the vinculum offline. The other personalities in Seven's mind disappear. Tuvok and Seven meet and the meld comes to an end.
Kathryn tries to surrender the vinculum but her hail is refused so she beams it into space. The 6339's are satisfied with this and break off their attack.
In the cargo bay Doc reports to Kathryn that Seven's condition is normal, and though the personalities are dormant, he believes they will always be a part of her. She looks for a way to thank the crew for risking themselves over her and Kathryn suggests some work in engineering. Seven agrees but states she needs to see a crew member first.
The scene cuts to a hallway where Naomi is walking beside Seven. Naomi already has a handful of padds and Seven hands her another that contains star charts, and then another containing information on the species in the Delta Quadrant. Seven expects Naomi to familiarize herself with this material.
Naomi: "Consider it assimilated."
Seven then makes a request. She wants Naomi to help her with recreational activities. She wants to learn how to play Kodiskot.
Naomi : "I will comply."
The episode ends.
Personal Reflections
This was a good Seven episode. The various personalities gave Jeri Ryan an opportunity to demonstrate considerable ability in portraying the various personalities who possessed Seven. Her Ferengi was quite funny, her Klingon was quite good as well. I noticed no real difference between Seven's behaviour and that of the Vulcan sub-altern. Seven as a little girl was also engaging.
While the premise was excellent, the plot was constantly being forced forward. Contradictions abounded and all were needed to keep the story on-track. This is an unfortunate plague which Voyager seems to suffer from continuously.
Thank you for your attention.
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