• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Finally Assylia faced Chakotay squarely and said, “This discussion is irrelevant. I understand your choice to capture me in this body, but I have no intention of remaining here. You must return me to my ship so that any others who approach may be prevented from arriving, and you must take your ship and leave this place at once. If you release me from this form we may be able to help each other.”

“How?” Chakotay asked.

“In all the years I have been trapped here, I have only desired one thing… to destroy the array. You could help me do that,” she said venomously.

A new thought struck Chakotay as she said this.

“When we attempted to board the array, we were almost pulled into the gravity well of the singularity. At the last moment, a tractor net pulled us safely into the array. Did you…?”

Assylia’s jaw retracted in a slight grin. “I have lived for fifty years within the organic components of my ship. In that time I have learned to exert my will on the controls of this station through the data-interface cable that connects my ship to the station. I sensed your approach and disabled the station’s guidance system. They reactivated it at the last second and brought you aboard. I bear you no ill will, Chakotay. I would only have spared you the fate I suffered. At least your death would have been quick and painless.”

Chakotay’s jaw tensed as he became fully aware of the lengths Assylia would go to achieve her warped ends. He pitied her. No one could have endured what she had without suffering from serious mental instability. By giving her this new “life” he suddenly wondered whether or not he had placed Voyager in even greater danger than they were already facing.

“Computer,” he called, before she could say another word, “freeze program.”

Assylia stood before him, suspended in time.

“Computer, is there sufficient memory within the holobuffers to sustain every aspect of this hologram if the program is ended?”

“Affirmative.”

Chakotay paused then said, “Computer, end program.”

The Doctor examined his readings for the third time and concluded that if his plan was to have any chance of succeeding, he would have to act without further delay. The parasite had already compromised over sixty percent of Tuvok’s central nervous system. The new life-form that was being created as a result of this merging now completely enveloped Tuvok’s head, neck, and torso, and was growing larger with each hour that passed. Once the creature had been forced into a stable and visible phase, its progress had slowed a bit. The Doctor realized that the multiphasic nature of the organism was intrinsic to its development, though he was unsure exactly why. For the present, it was enough that the ion sweep initiated by B’Elanna had bought him more time to save Tuvok’s life.

The separation protocol he had devised was as risky as any he had ever conceived. Under any other circumstance, he would have rejected it out of hand. But the bottom line was there were no other alternatives. Tuvok had not regained consciousness since his last attempt to lock out the Doctor’s program, and it was doubtful that unless the transformation could be halted he would never awaken again. The levels of neural stimulation in his brain were beyond any he would have thought a humanoid could survive. The chemicals that regulated normal brain functions were being created and dispensed into his system at unimaginable rates, and surprisingly, if the most recent brain scans were any indication, at least part of Tuvok was thriving. The centers of the brain that controlled complex calculations and creative thought were functioning well beyond any quantifiable capacity. This alone might account for Tuvok’s initial resistance to the Doctor’s efforts. But the Doctor could clearly see that Tuvok was reaching a point where these functions would have to be taken over by the new life-form in order to be sustained. At that point, Tuvok’s death would be inevitable.

Seven of Nine entered briskly and said, “You requested my presence?”

The Doctor verified that the neuropeptide infusion