Flashback - Diane Carey [61]
"Neelix," the Doctor uttered, "this isn't like you at all."
The Talaxian's face flushed mustard yellow. "What would Tuvok say? He would say he has no right to endanger Kes! She's the only one who didn't go into this willingly. If he knew, he would cut the line himself!" He turned again to Chakotay. "Please-please override the Doctor's ethical program and let Tuvok die a dignified death. Would he want to live if his brain were damaged? Should the captain and Kes have to be damaged or killed too? Please, Mr. Chakotay! Don't allow a terrible accident to become an irreversible tragedy!"
Chakotay turned cold all over. Did he have the right to let Tuvok die? Or make Tuvok die? If the situation was crumbling, did the captain's previous orders stand or not?
He gnashed with the problem-this wasn't nice,
safe Federation space where he had multiple layers of medical and command regulations and advice to fall back upon, where things couldn't happen in a vacuum, and where there was always a replacement for lost personnel. These people all depended upon each other far too much to sacrifice one, two, or three casually.
Now their captain, their chief of security, and their only medical assistant were at severe risk. Neelix was right-obligation and loyalty were both strained here. If Tuvok knew what was happening, he'd put an end to it. But could Chakotay make that choice?
"What if we tell the captain about this?" he asked. "Can we communicate with her while she's in the meld?"
"I haven't attempted that," the Doctor said. "There may be some way. I would have to research that. Of course, if the captain knows, then Mr. Tuvok will know. And I have to warn you-any added stress on his mind could overload his mental circuits. He could go into irreversible dementia and take the captain and Kes with him."
Chakotay sank sideways and leaned against the doorway of the storage closet, exhausted with the weight of his responsibility. There went the whole idea of telling the captain. He couldn't get out of this so easily.
Terminate Tuvok . . . not a nice term for an equally not-nice concept. It could be done, certainly. Those choices had to
be made every day in medical science, in a million hospitals and nursing facilities on thousands of planets.
"The captain is still alive," he said. "I'm not sure I have this kind of authority."
"You have it!" Neelix said frothily. "You have to consider yourself in command until the end of this mission, even if the mission is in the mind! Mr. Tuvok told me that once himself. Isn't that right?"
With an aching sigh, Chakotay nodded. "I guess it's right. Doctor, can you stop the meld without killing Tuvok?"
The Doctor seemed perplexed, even troubled by that. "Terminating the meld artificially could be as dangerous to them as letting them stay in it. I have no way to be sure. This isn't what one would call an exact science."
"I think you should try. No, let me put it differently-I order you to try. If this is risking the captain and Kes too, then we should put a stop to it and try to find some other solution to Tuvok's problem. How soon can you attempt to stop it?"
"Preparations may take a while. There's a delicate balance between-"
"I'm going back to the bridge to think about what Neelix just said. I don't like it, but it's my job to think about it. Keep me posted."
"All right, I've programmed a cortical stimulator to emit thoron radiation. We'll bombard his telepathic cortex. It should be enough to safely terminate the meld."
The Doctor spoke with confidence, but his expression was one of concerned doubt.
Kes wondered if their ship's doctor were in fact capable of so much living worry. There had to be more to this vessel's holographic science than just t he illusion of life, for she couldn't think of him as anything less than very alive. She liked him, and she didn't believe she could like something that wasn't real.
But even if Commander Chakotay ordered the meld stopped, how could either he