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She barely heard Phoebe’s faint murmurs of concern directed toward Neelix and Samantha as she turned briskly and went to confront the EMH, who did her the courtesy of rising when she entered his office.

“What happened, Doctor?” Janeway asked with palpable concern.

“I believe Naomi was attacked,” the Doctor replied.

Though Janeway’s brow shot up in disbelief, he continued, “Someone, or something, intentionally disrupted the neural pathways in her brain that coordinate her respiratory system. In the hands of a lesser hologram, she would certainly have died.”

The captain reached for the Doctor’s desk, perching on its edge. Raising a hand to her head, she gently massaged her temples to relieve the dull throbbing that usually indicated the onset of a major tension headache.

“Are you certain she didn’t fall, or hit her head on something?” Janeway asked, adding, “She’s a very active little girl.”

“Her skull was not fractured. There was no edema or localized damage to a distinct area of her brain, as would be typical in a traumatic percussive head injury. There are no pathogens present in her system. There are no genetic causes, nor are there any known disease processes that could produce the effects I’ve seen. Specific neural pathways were targeted and disrupted. It’s as if something reached into her mind and forced her to stop breathing.”

“Could this have anything to do with whatever drove Tuvok to leave the ship?” Janeway wondered aloud.

“There are certainly telepaths who would be capable of damaging the minds of others. But Tuvok’s brain wasn’t injured, despite the neurochemical imbalances. I won’t be able to make a more definitive analysis until I am able to examine him again.”

“I understand, Doctor,” the captain replied. “Is Naomi going to be all right?”

“After a few days of bed rest, she should be fine. I’ll keep her here under observation for the next few hours at least.”

The captain nodded, thoughtful. “It’s possible we’ve had an intruder on board,” she said. “B’Elanna discovered that the artifact given to me by the Monorhans when we left their planet, the Key to Gremadia, is actually made up of living sporocystian remnants. They are currently resonating, similar to the way the Caretaker’s remains did when we encountered Suspiria. We haven’t ruled out the possibility that another Nacene might be nearby.”

“That adds a decidedly unsavory piece to the puzzle,” the Doctor observed.

“Exactly. You should replicate supplies of the toxin we developed to counter a Nacene attack and keep some on hand, just in case.”

“I agree,” he said, moving toward the door.

“Keep me informed. I’ll be on the bridge,” she said, following him out of his office.

The Doctor halted in their approach to Naomi’s biobed. Turning to Janeway, he asked, “Captain, who is this woman?”

“Is that supposed to be a joke, Doctor? You knew my sister,” Janeway replied, gesturing toward Phoebe.

“Captain… I…” the Doctor stammered, and blinked out of existence.

Phoebe heard the soft footfalls of Janeway’s approach, but did not face her directly until she and the photonic being were almost standing beside her. She had spent the last several moments studying the atomic structure of the hybrid girl, all the while whispering soft comforting words and thoughts to the two humanoids who obviously felt the greatest attachment to her. She had discovered the difference that made the girl immune to the memories she had implanted in the minds of the rest of Voyager’s crew and to her alarm found herself powerless to correct the slight phase variation in the girl’s molecular structure. She was considering more invasive options when she heard the Doctor’s unnerving question directed toward Kathryn.

Alerted immediately to the possibility that there might be more like the hybrid girl, it took her less than a second to completely analyze the atomic structure of the being known as “the Doctor” and conclude that here, too, was an unforeseen threat.

In the analysis of Voyager’s systems and crew that preceded her