String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [62]
“Phoebe Janeway is your sister?” he asked. “I shall add that to my records, though she should also inform your chief medical officer.”
Janeway was flabbergasted. “Doctor, you are our chief medical officer,” she said.
“That’s impossible,” the Doctor replied. “My program is not designed to…”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that, but in the past four years, you and your program have adapted to Voyager’s unique circumstances,” Janeway said.
“What circumstances are those?”
Throughout this exchange Janeway had grown more concerned with every response the Doctor gave. Although she had faith in the Emergency Medical Hologram, she knew full well that much of the Doctor’s expertise had been gained in the trenches of their voyage. A brand-new hologram would have neither the wisdom nor the ability to treat the crew, Naomi in particular, without the benefit of those experiences. Not to mention the fact that this brief exchange was a visceral reminder of just how far the Doctor had come in four years. Painful memories of the Doctor’s acerbic and somewhat hostile early bedside manner came flooding back to Janeway. They left a taste in her mouth like burnt coffee.
“Captain… if I may?” Neelix interjected.
“Yes, Neelix?”
Neelix addressed himself to the Doctor. “May I ask, sir, on what stardate were you first activated?”
The Doctor replied without missing a beat. “Stardate 52004.2.”
Janeway and Neelix exchange knowing glances. The correct answer to that question was stardate 48315.6, almost four years earlier.
“Now, if you wouldn’t mind,” the Doctor continued, “what unusual circumstances…”
“Computer, deactivate EMH,” Janeway ordered.
Without another word, Janeway went to sickbay’s control console and pulled up the Doctor’s file. A cursory examination told her that the program currently running was, in fact, the least sophisticated of the backup modules that had been created in the past year. The Doctor standing before them wasn’t lying, and he wasn’t damaged. But he was also not their Doctor.
Next, she set about locating and recovering the real Doctor’s program. At first frustrating blush, it appeared to have been deleted from the database. But a closer analysis revealed that the situation, while dire, was not as bad as all that. The Doctor’s program had been fragmented. It was no longer intact in a workable form, but had been broken into several large-and in some cases corrupted-data blocks. Though the captain could have reversed this process with several days’ work, she knew that B’Elanna or Seven would likely have the real Doctor up and running in a matter of hours. She opted to leave the problem to their more capable hands as she turned to the next major question.
How had this happened?
“Mr. Neelix,” Janeway asked, “when was the first moment you noticed anything different about the Doctor?”
Neelix turned the question over in his mind a few times, determined to give as accurate an answer as he could.
“Let’s see… after Naomi’s surgery he spent a long time in his office. Samantha had just arrived and we were discussing the Doctor’s prognosis. She was crying… of course… I asked if she needed anything and offered to run down to the mess hall…”
“Mr. Neelix,” Janeway said with a bit more urgency.
“Oh… right… sorry. I did check with the Doctor a few times. He was examining the scans he’d just taken of Naomi’s brain and muttering about… well, something about another fine mess you’ve… but I’m sure he wasn’t talking about you. At any rate, then you stopped by with Phoebe. She’s such a kind person. But then I guess you know that since she’s your sister. Truly, though… she was so concerned about Naomi, and so comforting to Samantha…”
“So up until that point, you are certain the Doctor’s program was intact?” Janeway asked, attempting to move the natural-born storyteller along.
“Well, you spoke to him next, didn’t you?” Neelix asked. “Did you notice anything funny about him?”
Janeway shook her head, no. The Doctor she had spoken to just before Voyager had boarded the array was definitely their Doctor.
“So, I guess… after you left… he