Second Contact
Harry and B’Elanna come around in sickbay. Doctor took good care of their wounds before vanishing. Their bruises itch and their bodies ache.
Harry Kim: A hell of a blast...
B’Elanna: No joke! My hair went electric. Where’s our... Doctor?
Harry Kim: Computer! Initiate EMH!
Computer: Unable to execute...
Harry Kim: This is weird! Even for this mission…
B’Elanna: B’Elanna to Engineering! I don’t get response.
Harry Kim: Kim to Bridge! Nothing; I’ll check on them.
B’Elanna: I’ll be down in Engineering.
Harry comes in. He’s happy to see everyone up. Janeway is in command. She looks at Tuvok’s vacant station and briefly closes her eyes in sign of sadness.
Janeway: Computer! Casualty Report!
Computer: One MIA. Four AI Entities unaccounted for…
Chakotay: Kathryn! No major structural damages, but many systems are off-line.
Janeway: Engineering! What you got?
B’Elanna: Sorry! Not much! All I can give you is... impulse.
Miral: Vice-Admiral; Hydroponics is fully operational.
Janeway: Thanks Miral; good to know about food supplies.
Neelix: Vice-Admiral! I couldn’t agree more. A nutritious soup shall revitalize everyone.
Janeway: Neelix! Hold up the soup for now.
Harry Kim: Communications are pretty disrupted; but I’m picking up traffic.
Tom Paris: Vice-Admiral! We’re orbiting Planet of the 37s.
Janeway: Astrometrics! Verify alignment calculations.
Seven: We’re back to present time.
B’Elanna: Thank you Kahless!
Janeway: Harry! Can you screen anything out?
Harry Kim: Messages mostly refer to an intense battle between bizarre aircrafts and to some kind of archeological finding in their Eastern Caves.
Janeway: Harry! No cliffhangers...
Harry tunes up his senses.
Harry Kim: Wait! It appears... A team of archeologists found ancient rock art depicting encounters of primitive people and space traveling aliens.
Janeway and Chakotay exchange glances. Icheb observes his control panel.
Icheb: I don’t mean to alarm anyone, but that huge ship is still out there.
Chakotay: Kathryn! We’re being hailed. Viewscreen is down.
Janeway: Open a channel!
Chakotay: Go ahead!
Janeway: This is Vice-Admiral Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager. We’d love to properly make contact with you, but many of our systems are currently off-line. We’d like to thank you for giving us a hand against our enemies.
There is no immediate answer. Janeway simpers, not knowing what else to say. Reply shocks everyone. She’s suddenly energized inside the Black Spear. She finds herself enclosed in an ample room. Spangled walls are filled with 37s lake aquatic creatures. Crew can see Janeway. Doctor covers his face against a Doric column and counts.
Doctor: Ninety Eight, Ninety Nine, One Hundred!
Janeway: Doctor!
Doctor taps Janeway on her shoulder.
Doctor: Tagged! You’re now it.
Janeway: I’m not playing. But; I’m glad to find you here. What’s happening?
Doctor: We’re running a seek-and-hide subroutine test. Our programs were damaged in battle. “They” (Doctor makes quotation signal) restored and upgraded my program with medical knowledge from Species of the Delta Quadrant.
Janeway notices a colorful gastropod crawling towards them. She scans it and smiles.
Janeway: That snail appears to be out of place. Where is Thamas?
Doctor: Thamas! That’s not an appropriate concealment.
Thamas unveils himself; runs excited and grab Doctor’s lap.
Janeway: Where’re your teammates?
Doctor: All outs! Ollie-Ollie oxen free!
Thamas whispers. Bhytor gets out of his hidden place. Type-F comes just behind him.
Bhytor: Doctor! You lost again.
Doctor: I got Thamas this time.
Bhytor: You didn’t tag him. You’re still it.
Thamas shyly sets his eyes on Janeway.
Janeway: What’s wrong with him?
Doctor: He’s concerned about Harry and B’Elanna.
Janeway: Thamas; they’re fine. You did a great job... and you too Doctor.
Doctor: You see? I told you.
Janeway: Doctor! Did anyone come to see you?
Doctor: Not a soul; but I do register a remote intrusion backing up my program.
Janeway: They copied you. We better find our way out of here.
Thamas whispers.
Type-F: Tarinwha! Tarinwha Qhes!
Thamas: Wait for Kes... cousin says.
Janeway notices a familiar pattern. The four AI entities are positioned next to each other in order of height. Voyager becomes operational. Viewscreen, as well as all holographic and teleporting features are back on-line. Crew can watch pictorials projected from the black spear. They can also communicate with Janeway. Telepathy is in the air.
Kes: Welcome aboard! My apologies for your troubles…
Janeway is startled to see Kes coming out of shadows.
Janeway: Kes! You’re real. I’ve dreamed of you, running across fields.
Kes: Where I now reside, it rains and crops grow.
Neelix had to break in.
Neelix: Ocampa only live nine years; but you look phenomenal at 35.
Kes: Thank you; Neelix! I like to think so too. Briori biomechanical suits are fabulous.
Chakotay: You travel in a very powerful ship.
Kes: It belongs to Briori; though temporarily operated by their projections.
Walls show insides of a gargantuan spaceship, populated by AI Entities.
Chakotay: Briori have treated you well.
Kes: They have! I was out of my mind… lost in Deep Space.
Harry Kim: They don’t enslave anybody.
Tom realizes Harry is right, but certain facts still bother him.
Tom Paris: 37s! What was their abduction all about?
Kes: Briori wanted to provide Humans with a beachhead in the Delta Quadrant.
Janeway: Why so generous?
Kes: To recognize you for tutoring Navels out of their Neolithic.
B’Elanna: How come? We just got back from that. 37s were abducted centuries ago.
Kes: Centuries for you; only instants for Briori.
Seven: We only detect human signatures in the planet.
Kes: Briori left millennia ago to populate other worlds with more resources.
Janeway: Can we meet them? There is so much to talk.
Kes: Not at this instant; but they thank you for lighting up their ancestors.
Tom Paris: Ancestors? Navels…
Kes: Yes! Navels and Mountaineers –together- became Briori.
Kes opens her arms to point at the surrounding digital walls.
Pictorials show Navels and Mountaineers working together throughout History, building up a splendid civilization.
Harry Kim: Where’re they? Why so much mystery?
Kes: They’re hold up in a distant future.
Miral: Why are they so far away? Are Briori in trouble?
Kes: Narada’s Incident not only altered your time line and destroyed Vulcan; but it also gave rise to an interstellar anomaly that voids timeframes randomly. Mentors from a Trinary System never made it to initiate Briori’s legacy.
Chakotay: And Navels and Mountaineers didn’t converge when they were supposed to.
Kes: Correct! Keep in mind Briori had to become transwarp capable at certain point in History in order to light up other humanoids across our the Milky Way.
Janeway: Not good for any of our cultures to have Briori entrapped in their transwarped future without their original past.
B’Elanna: A temporal paradox! They couldn’t go back in time to a denied past.
Kes: They needed help to recreate the encounter with ancient aliens and reset History.
Icheb: History saves lives.
Tom takes advantage of a short pause.
Tom Paris: Why us of all cultures in the Galaxy?
Kes: Briori like Humans. You’re good at interweaving.
Chakotay: We can’t be that nice. Is that it?
Kes: Mentors... may have lighted up your ancestors as well.
Janeway: You are not sure.
Kes: Briori haven’t yet locked their location.
B’Elanna: Hah! Human egotism will stretch off-the-charts.
Tom Paris: B’Elanna... you are half-Human!
B’Elanna: Don’t go there! Most Humans see me as Klingon.
Janeway: B’Elanna.. why are you bringing this up?
B’Elanna: Don’t you see it? We all are playing with fire here.
Chakotay: Undeserved self-importance...
B’Elanna: Exactly! Humans just turned into a transwarp civ... by way of inheritance!
Kes: That’s not fair. You were getting there.
Janeway: But we didn’t achieve it by ourselves. Briori pushed us through.
Tom Paris: And here we are “fixing” space/time continuum...
Icheb: This is huge.
Neelix: Shouldn’t we take a break?
Janeway gives him the “not now” look.
B’Elanna: What’s next? Go to Neolithic Earth and light ourselves up?
Kes: Wouldn’t you put up a fight before going down in History?
B’Elanna doesn’t answer the question.
Seven has concerns about Borg involvement.
Seven: Borg traits ended up on that planet. Why?
Kes: Time constraints... Briori had to safeguard biodiversity for your arrival.
Janeway: This tutorial thing... communication could have been better. Don’t you think?
Kes: Distance! Vice-Admiral... they had to make their plan works from far very away.
Janeway shows understanding.
Janeway: All right! I won't judge any further. We didn’t refuse technology convergence.
Miral: True! We took it.
Chakotay: And still here! Alive and kicking...
Icheb murmurs.
Icheb: For now...
Seven can’t forget her.
Seven: Queen didn’t like Briori.
Kes: Of course not! She’s a Soul Eater. Her people hate Briori for being immune to their noxious symbiotic biology.
Queen lands in an icy planet. She swiftly gets out of her Hera Vector and runs towards a couple of wrecked Bioships burning nearby. More are seen farther.
Seven: Queen told me she had dreams of an interstellar tempest.
Queen gets closer to a crash and stalks surviving 8472s. They have been weakened by Voyager’s bioweapons.
Kes: The irregularity voided her kind’s future; but she was in her way to rebuild it with Fluidian-Borg drones. We had to stop her.
Queen charges, protruding her canine tubules and injecting Fluidians with assimilating nanoprobes and symbiotic microorganisms.
B’Elanna: Nothing to worry anyway; she’s probably in her own barge of death by now.
Queen climbs up a hill. Three drones escort her. She ogles the horizon with her optical enhancement, spotting a large snowy barrier moving their way.
Kes: Soul Eaters are clever navigators. She may have found a way back to her past.
Queen and her drones wait. A mounted phalanx slows down its galloping. Warriors look Imposing in their bronze helmets, round shields and long spears. She smirks when they arrive before her. Leader hangs his shield off the beast and takes off his helmet. They’re ancient Soul Eaters, riding spotted horses with dark triangular mane.
Icheb expresses his issue.
Icheb: We lost our Sphere though.
Kes: Don’t be concerned! It served its purpose.
Kes points at a black-and-white short-flick. They watch a luminous beam reflect through an observation window. It’s a space capsule; and three astronauts are packed in front of a cockpit full of switches. They’re now recognizable. Commander and boy are Navels and their copilot is a female Mountaineer. The three are mesmerized by the fearsome satellite deployed ahead. Mountaineer speaks gibberish. Boy translates…
Taraga: Walainaina piaki-papu ghatuqura!
Kiapo: Taraga believes in Nimbus. She says...
Takhare: “We’ll meet the wardens of knowledge”, I know.
Mission Control: You’re authorized for extravehicular activity.
Commander Takhare and Kiapo watch through the observation window as Taraga jets away and grasp the spherical structure. Their beam focuses on a spot closer to her. A gleaming gassy hatch opens up. Four silhouettes wait inside, positioned next to each other in order of height.
Miral: Oh my! There is a thin line between lighting up a culture and contaminating it.
Icheb: Don’t be concerned; knowledge guarded by the Sphere is all Briori in origin.
Chakotay: It represents their best chance to reconnect our original time-line.
Janeway notices Kes disagrees with Chakotay.
Janeway: Are they going to be successful?
Kes: There is only so much Briori can do to restore History.
Kes faints a little…
Janeway: Kes! Are you all right? Can I help you? Doctor...
Kes: You already helped. I’m fine. I just got superb news. My tutor accomplished his mission. I must go now.
Janeway: Your tutor? Are we going to see you again?
Kes: We must; this was just an entrance to another passage.
The Dossier
OCR table…
Janeway and her senior officers report back to Section 31. Captain Nerys waits with her chin down and arms crossed. Sisko ponders his words with his back on everyone.
Sisko: Briori! Nobody has yet seen one. Why? Because! They’re connecting time-dots.
Chakotay: Towards their knowledge...
Janeway: Benjamin! We did meet many of them.
Nerys: Their ancestors; two hundred thousand years ago.
Janeway: Exactly! We also watched them on video reaching their Sphere.
Sisko: A Sphere we put in orbit.
Chakotay: Admiral; we can also see them through their AI expressions.
Nerys: Bioelectrical Entities! One of them is a four years old toddler.
Seven: My children are perfectly functional.
Nerys: Her children; she says.
Sisko: Nothing tangible! Look! I can see you all are proudly seated in your chairs after a job well done; wondering how can I be so obtuse. But; who shall debrief our Federation Security Council? You Seven? Chakotay? They’ll crush me with the Temporal Directive.
Janeway: Benjamin! This story was out there for ages. Earth! Bajor! Qo’noS! We didn’t give much credit to it; but it turned out to be true. Aliens came from above and taught us agriculture and masonry. Nero’s vengeful acts compromised that past; and we went on a mission back in time to revive it.
Sisko: I understand; but was such a mission successful? Narada altered your time-line anyway and still destroyed Vulcan. Only a few million made it out of the planet.
Chakotay: Millions…
The news leave Janeway and Chakotay flabbergasted.
Janeway: What next? How can we help you to straighten out this situation?
Sisko: You wouldn’t mind staying in the Delta Quadrant for a little longer; would you?
Janeway looks around her. Crew decants good vibrations.
Janeway: No; not particularly…
Sisko: Good! Kira and I will process your data, study your report, work on a Dossier and “make some calls” before informing any Council. We’ll keep in touch. Sisko out!
Janeway exhales. Chakotay can’t get “millions” out of his head.
Doctor works on his patients. Tabol wakes-up.
Tabol: Where am I? What happened to me?
Doctor: You’re on sickbay aboard Voyager; recovering from dissimilation procedure.
Tabol: Dissimilation? My body feels like being yanked around by a beast of burden.
Doctor: A Soul Eater assimilated you into her Collective by inoculating you with a nasty combo of microorganisms and Borg nanoprobes.
Tabol: Am I going to be all right?
Doctor: In a way; you will. But your days as a pure 100% Cardassian are over.
Doctor sedates Tabol. He perceives someone coming from behind. A Dabo girl bites him under the impression he’s flesh-and-bones. He rolls his eyes up; as she gets shocked down. The other Dabo girl approaches him and mutters something to his ear.
Doctor: Tips for your wheel? No thanks, I don’t gamble.
Doctor sedates her too. She falls in his arms.
The Bio-Vector
Just when Voyager’s crew catches some rest; they run again into extreme danger.
Computer: Collision Warning! Collision Warning!
Harry Kim: Vice-Admiral; long range sensors detect an unidentified ship traversing at high warp on interception course.
Janeway: Computer! Do you distinguish any sign of hostility?
Computer: Affirmative! Speed, trajectory and quietness are consistent with animosity.
Janeway: Can we fully scan it from this distance?
Seven: Negative! It is out of range for our Array Probe; but it is quickly closing in.
Chakotay: Computer! Approximate…
Computer: Approximating! Neither Borg Dagger; nor Fluidian Bioship…
Harry Kim: Not very helpful information...
Chakotay reflects…
Chakotay: Not necessarily; it could be a combination of both.
Janeway: B’Elanna; how’re we doing with propulsion?
B’Elanna: Transwarp Drive is fully operational.
Janeway: Helmsman; interphase!
Tom Paris: Straightaway!
Voyager goes transwarp. Crew remains expectant.
Harry Kim: Vice-Admiral! Hostile ship opened its own inter-phasic rift and continues on collision trajectory.
Janeway: Kes said Soul Eaters were great navigators.
Chakotay: Our Queen may have found a way to her past.
B’Elanna: She hates us for helping Briori to reset History.
Tom Paris: And she’s back with a vengeance.
Miral: She wants to kill us all.
Seven: Array Probe is set up and scanning.
Janeway: Share results!
Chakotay: No weapon systems…
B’Elanna: Changeling shielding…
Icheb: Variable-geometry…
Seven: Neurological avionics…
Harry Kim: Circulatory system…
Neelix quivers…
Neelix: Creepy-crawly; if you ask me.
Doctor concludes...
Doctor: It’s a Biogenic-Vector; designed to neutralize enemy vessels and deliver its infectious genetic material.
Janeway: Queen doesn’t want us dead after all.
Chakotay: She always wanted to integrate us to her collective.
Miral: But; aren’t we immune?
Doctor: Maybe not! We used to be; but that was long time ago for her.
Seven: If we’re not able to compromise its changeling shields; her bio-vector will impact us and melt through our hull to inject its genome.
Janeway: Doctor! Your call…
Doctor: I can’t improve your immunology without a sample of its toxicology.
Chakotay: And we can’t hit it with everything we got while transwarping.
Tom Paris: We can’t let Queen’s dagger to sting Voyager.
Miral: We could teleport Type-F to set off its assortment of ultra waves.
Chakotay: That’d create an inter-phasic stress strong enough to lessen its shielding.
Icheb: We could then beam in a spatial charge and detonate it remotely.
Doctor: There might be other biogenic-vectors in the vicinity.
Janeway: Doctor is right; we need to get inside and learn all we can from it.
Janeway and crew prepare to execute a risky operation.
Doctor: Seven! I have enhanced your phaser-gun to fire a highly poisonous alkaloid.
Seven: What it does?
Doctor: Nitro molecules will shackle lipoid membranes of Soul Eater’s brain cells.
Seven: It sounds imaginative. I hope it works.
B’Elanna: Vice-Admiral! I have modified your tricorder to download BE’S.
Janeway: Harry! Energize!
Voyager fires a modified photon torpedo, hitting the Bio-Vector with Type-F. Electrical bustle weakens its shields and everyone else is beamed in. Bhytor downloads data and Thamas collects samples. Seven and Janeway set a spatial charge and oversee their “kids” work. Things go as planned. Janeway proceeds to retrieve BE’S in her tricorder when a kind of drone never seen before decloaks and leaves its alcove silently.
Type-F: Tikali wikane! Rolaika!
Type F goes in Janeway’s tricorder…
Bhytor: “Mission accomplished”; he said.
Seven: How did you do?
Bhytor: A walk in the park; Soul Eaters didn’t expect us.
Janeway and Seven consent. Bhytor fades away.
Thamas: “Good luck”; cousin also said.
Janeway: And you? What do you say?
Thamas jumps on Janeway’s arms.
Thamas: Thamas says... Jelly-fish serum stings much.
Thamas gets in her tricorder as a console with stunning graphics caught her attention.
Janeway: Harry! Energize tricorder. Chakotay! There is a tale of bio-vectors behind us; please be ready to fire transphasic torpedoes on my mark.
Seven notices an imposing presence. She turns around just on time to face a decloaked Queen’s Clone, storming in and bashing her around. She can’t push her aggressor off; and drops her phaser gun.
Janeway tries to assist Seven. Queen’s Clone knocks Janeway down. She suffers a concussion. Clone dominates Seven and infects her with its genome. Janeway comes around. Clone suspends inoculation to exchange blows with Janeway. Seven recovers her phaser-gun and fires. Doctor’s alkaloid isn’t fast effective. Clone grabs Janeway and protrudes its inoculating canines. Thamas comes to her mind. She reacts instinctively.
Janeway: Jelly-fish serum!
Janeway’s biomechanical suit activates her helmet; which sprays a poignant liquid all over Queen Clone’s face. Janeway try to assist Seven who’s quickly transforming.
Seven: Vice-Admiral! You go. I’m infected.
Janeway embraces Seven…
Janeway: Harry! Beam us out to sickbay!
Doctor immediately acts on Seven.
Seven: Your alkaloid wasn’t too poisonous.
Doctor: I may have to work further on a fast acting version.
Janeway: Chakotay! Fire! Tom; get us out of this rift.
Transphasic torpedoes detonate upon impact. Explosions engulf all bio-vectors and Voyager gets away from extreme transwarp stress thanks to its safety features….
Seven: Vice-Admiral! I forwarded a few projected locations.
Janeway: Great! Tom! Set a course!
Tom Paris: These constellations are far deep. Laying course!
B’Elanna: I can’t believe it! This is truly outlandish.
Miral: Mother! Icheb and I are here in Cargo Bay 1 and…
B’Elanna: Miral! Not now; I just can’t handle a wedding at this moment.
Miral: What wedding? Mom; this is actually an important Engineering Project.
Icheb: Commander Torres; you should really come down here.
Janeway: Seven! How’re you feeling?
Seven: Somewhat off; but better…
Neelix: Hey everyone! My Briori Snail Soup is ready. Let’s cheer up our bellies!
Crew can’t ignore Neelix’s call any longer. They’re really hungry. Seven arrives with Bhytor. Everyone is having a good time. Chakotay assists Neelix in the kitchen. Thamas levitates around them. She can’t help, but smiling at the scene.
Seven: May have a medium bowl.
Neelix: I’ll get you a large one. You must recover 100%.
Chakotay: What about... large minus 18%?
Seven laughs...
Seven: That sounds workable.
Bhytor: 18% of what?
Thamas: Snails...
They all laugh. Veya and Lodom are glad too.
Lodom: Look! Seven doesn’t even notice us.
Veya: Doctor...
Doctor: Yes... Veya!
Veya: The treatment is working. I’m not projecting my yo-yo emotions.
Doctor: Good for you! But... I still need to see you in about 64 hours.
Lodom: She’ll be there.
As they leave the Mess Hall, Veya feels espied and heads back with her eyes, just soon enough to catch Seven facing-about.
Lodom: What happened?
Veya: Dunno! I won’t read her mind.
Back to the Bridge
Harry gets back from the Mess Hall. He’s a little late. janeway gives him her “crunch time” look. He PM the First Officer to get a mission update.
Harry Kim: Chakotay! What’s our destiny?
Chakotay: Har-Har Destiny! That’s a big word Commander.
Janeway: We’re going after a Queen... Harry.
Tom Paris: Course laid...
Janeway: Interphase!
Tom Paris: Straightway...
Bhytor and Thamas rush towards Cargo Bay 1. B’Elanna follows them wondering what “those two are up to”. Miral and Icheb stand inside grabbing each other hands, watching a spherical frame being built by myriads of microprobes.
B’Elanna: What? Not another sphere...
EMH sings Funiculi/Funicula...
Doctor: E nun te corre appriesso, nun te struie sulo a guarda. Se va comm’a lu viento a l’intrasatto, gue, saglie sa!
Neelix: Bravo Doctor! I love Opera. LaLa LaLa Lala Lala La...
Seven: Neelix; that’s not... that’s a Neapolitan song about a funicular up the Vesuvius.
Neelix: Vesuvius? I haven’t been in that planet.
In their commanding chairs, Janeway and Chakotay ponder matters over.
Chakotay: Only about ten thousand Vulcans would have survived Narada’s drill; but Sisko mentioned millions.
Janeway: I know. You come with me. Harry! You have the bridge.
Harry is left speechless after hearing his provisional designation.
AFTERMATH
Janeway and Chakotay get in Maestro’s cluttered workshop. They search for him; but at first DaVinci doesn’t show up. Janeway unveil a scroll.
Navel kids play over an abandoned Fluidian/Borg shuttle. They whisper enthusiastically; and call Zhagori over. His feet get wet wet on the shoreline. Makahe and Taraga follow him towards the wrecked spaceship. He places his powerful hands on an crevice and pulls down like a can opener. Zhagori feels nickering in his face for the first time. Navel children hear the neighing.
Chakotay: Horses...
Janeway takes a glance at an old glider hanging off his roof. A blank canvas is on her side. DaVinci pops up out of the blue. A drawing table is on his side.
DaVinci: A bat-wing design was a good idea... inner part sustains the structure and the outer part pushes forward. But it didn’t glide very well.
Janeway: Maestro! Maybe; if you add a tale rudder to stabilize yaw rotation.
DaVinci: Oh! Like in a Caravel!
Chakotay fixes his attention on Maestro’s work-table.
Chakotay: I can see you’re studying the Sphere.
DaVinci tries to cover his draws.
DaVinci: He-he-he! I love roundness. It is so faultless.
Chakotay: What’s it? It looks like a parachute.
DaVinci: A Parachute? You and your Ottoman words…
Janeway: What’re you planning to do?
DaVinci: Good question! One invention goes first; then another. This is a puff-vault; to hook a sphere from it and let it free fall with no risk whatsoever.
Janeway: How’re you going to let it free-fall?
Da Vinci: Well! I can’t do it from our bell tower…as you can imagine.
Chakotay: Not enough height!
Da Vinci: And I’d be eligible for ex-communion; he-he-he!
Janeway: You’ll require a way to impulse it.
Da Vinci reflects on her suggestion.
Da Vinci: I need a paddle to pull air and push it forward. Why I didn’t think of it before? You see? That’s our challenge; to determine what knowledge goes first.
Janeway switches her attention to her canvas. Da Vinci looks at her in anticipation.
Janeway: Maestro; I need your advice to paint an unclear dream.
DaVinci: If you don’t see it, begin your piece with a wash of black.
Janeway follows his instructions and her canvas becomes more revealing.
Janeway: I see him much better now.
Da Vinci: Good for you! Is he from Walachia?
Janeway: No; he’s not.
Her canvas shows an elder Vulcan on a hooded-toga inside monolithic ruins.
Da Vinci: Ah! Interesting! Ancient ruins inspired the Renaissance.
Janeway: He’s Tuvok; my Vulcan friend.
Da Vinci: Vulcan? Oh; yes! I met him once.
Janeway: How did you shed light on my gloomy dream?
DaVinci: I didn’t. Nature is dark until exposed by light.
Chakotay: We just lost him in battle. But here it seems like it was long time ago.
DaVinci: Millenia can go on intants. What is he doing inside a wrecked vault?
Janeway: He’s... thanking you; I belief.
Da Vinci: Honoring me? I’d like to hear what he says.
Da Vinci grabs Janeway by her arm to his patio. Chakotay follows them. Birds sing under a blue sky. Holo-Deck deploys a 3D live motion picture in which they all are in; but not as characters. They observe Azil, S’Tival and an elderly Tuvok going through a pathway enclosed by ancient brick walls. They can also see far behind eroded statues of Makahe, Taraga and Zhagori. Pilgrims wander their own shadows in the sand. Winds blow across a megalithic portal. His voice burbles lineage and journey.
Tuvok: I’m Tuvok, son of T’Meni. I was fostered by an Unforgiver. She blocked Iruhe from devouring my mind; allowing me to serve in a lifesaving mission.
Azil: Father! You don’t have to do this.
Tuvok ignores his daughter with a calm gesture.
Tuvok: I humbly bow before you, Watcher, bearer of knowledge, for enlighten my journey to save so many of my people.
Winds blow stronger…
DaVinci: Tell me! Why didn’t you go back when you had a chance?
Janeway: Because... I hoped to find our pathway.
DaVinci: Did you?
Janeway nods. DaVinci caress her face.
DaVinci: Hope! The willing to know never exhausts a clamorous mind.
Janeway drops tears...
Chakotay: Maestro! Are you making any progress in your mission?
DaVinci: Yes! Of course! My Sphere contains the correct sequence of knowledge for our ancestors to follow their dream.
Way up in the skies a fired cloud compresses winds and lights.
Tuvok: I saw beauty, joy and love in the eyes of my people. I’m now ready to meet you in Sha-Ka-Ree.
S’Tival: Forever beholden... peace in your wisdom!
Janeway, Chakotay and Da Vinci see across a portal. Tuvok stays with his arms down and his head up under his hooded-toga. A mighty unreachable light comes from above and hauls him up in a resplendent elevation.
Janeway: Why did you take him?
DaVinci: He came to us. He is the messenger. We all need him.
Janeway: Why...
DaVinci: Your friend was in a journey to save more Vulcans because for him knowing about their demise wasn’t enough, without the urgency of doing something about it.
Janeway: Who’re Briori? Are you… the Gods of Antiquity?
DaVinci: No! We’re not Gods. We are just cave painters.
Cauliflowers of Clouds compress lights and winds; spinning around Janeway, Chakotay and Da Vinci. They watch Zhagori pulling two dappled horses with dark triangular mane across fields of Nerhe, surrounded by Navels.
Doctor: Jammo, jammo ‘ncoppa, jammo ja, funiculi, funicula!
Makahe and Taraga take a peak inside the cave. They yell: “Quamariki! Quamariki!” A bunch of children come out running, giggling and chanting. Cave’s walls unveil rock art about aliens in wetsuits teaching, scanning, helping and fighting. Four luminous beings are painted last, next to each other. Crops grow and rain falls over a brick town ahead of three imposing statues. Voyager transwarps away, vacuuming inter-phasic rifts…
THE END