Seven of Nine - Christie Golden [34]
For a brief while, Seven of Nine was a blank slate. She is beginning to recover her memories, starting with those from her childhood."
"Which is why she insists on being called Annika," said Harry. "The name-the designation-Seven of Nine means nothing to her. She is Annika Hansen."
"She isn't behaving like a child," said Janeway.
"No. Her memories are not gone, they are simply being blocked.
Essentially, she has amnesia. She remembers how to walk, speak, eat-basic things. But the details of her life, who she was and is, are eluding her."
"What about the birds?" asked Chakotay. "Is she still seeing them?"
The Doctor frowned. "Yes, and I still believe they are significant in some way."
"Will she recover her memories fully?" asked Torres. "She's not going to be a lot of help to us if all she can remember are birthday parties and nursery rhymes." see no reason to believe she won't," the Doctor replied. "There seems to be no permanent damage.
The human brain is a complex and marvelous thing.
Even now, we still don't fully understand it. But we have recorded everything since she came on board. I'll let her become familiar with the logs and if any of you would like to come and talk with her, remind her of incidents that have occurred, that will probably help stimulate her memories as well. I am not, however, going to engage her in psychoanalysis this time. What I will do is attempt to artificially manipulate various memory centers in her brain. In the meantime, I suggest you enjoy Annika. She's much simpler than Seven of Nine."
"Restoring Seven's memory is a top priority, Doctor," said Janeway.
"However, I've got something else you need to do as well. You'll need to run a complete medical analysis on all the Skedans, from Tamaak down to the littlest pouchling. We've got to make sure they're not carrying the Scarlet Death."
"Good heavens. What a workload. Where would you be if you had only a simple human doctor?"
Tamaak, as leader of his people-as far as everyone but the hostile Imraak was concerned-volunteered to be the first to undergo the examination. He would be able to tell the rest of them how best to approach the doctor's mind.
When he entered sickbay, the doctor glanced up from a padd. "Ah. And which one are you?"
"Greetings, Doctor... ?"
The doctor sighed heavily. "Just Doctor will do."
"Then I am just Tamaak." He half-closed his eyes in a smile and tentatively reached out to touch the Doctor's mind.
Nothing.
He inhaled swiftly, shocked. The Doctor wasn't flesh-he didn't have a mind to manipulate!
"Something wrong?"
"Of course not. I am only a little nervous." What was he? A machine?
He hazarded a guess. "I am told," he lied, "that you are an artificial intelligence of some sort. I am curious. Please tell me more."
"I am an Emergency Medical Hologram. I was activated shortly after Voyager entered the Delta Quadrant. Sit on the diagnostic bed, please," said the Doctor. Tamaak obliged. A hologram. Just his luck.
This Doctor was brusque and clearly very efficient.
He turned to select an instrument and in that brief instant Tamaak closed his eyes and calmed his mind.
Telepathy was a skill among his people. Just as all humans had the physical ability to run but some could run faster than others, all Skedans had the ability to use telepathy, but some were better at using it than others. It was a conscious choice, like speaking, and just like speaking it produced something that could be recorded by instruments. In fact, it already had, but up until now the Skedans could manipulate the crew's minds and regulate how much they saw.
But the Doctor had no brain to play with, and would immediately see the mental activity on his medical instruments. Tamaak briefly calmed himself and shut