Captain's Log, Stardate 48623.5. There are two hundred forty six elements known to
Federation science. We believe we have just discovered the two hundred forty seventh inside
the ring system of a class-D planet.
[Bridge]
KIM: The element has an unusually large atomic mass, over five hundred and fifty
nucleons. And the readings are constant. The element appears to be
stable.
JANEWAY: A stable transuranic element inside a natural environment. This
is a first.
TORRES: Can you imagine what we could make with this stuff? Probe
casings that could go into the core of a sun, ultra-thin reactor
shielding.
JANEWAY: That's assuming we can mine it. Ensign, try and locate the
highest concentration of the element.
KIM: The element is present in most of the asteroids that comprise
the rings. I can isolate a sample and beam it aboard.
TORRES: Or, better yet, maybe we could get a firsthand look at this
element in its natural environment. It looks like most of these
asteroids support class-M atmospheres.
JANEWAY: Good idea. Commander, you're in charge.
CHAKOTAY: Aye, Captain. Mister Kim, would you like to join us?
KIM: I wouldn't miss it, sir.
[Cave]
KIM: The highest concentration is about thirty metres directly ahead.
CHAKOTAY: I'm picking up a large cavern in there. The readings are
What the hell is this?
TORRES: It's organic. Some kind of biopolymer residue.
CHAKOTAY: I want to see what's ahead.
TORRES: The readings are higher over here, but I still can't find the
source of the. Commander? Class five humanoid. It appears to be dead.
CHAKOTAY: Captain, there are eighteen bodies here, all humanoid. Eleven
male, seven female. From what we can tell they're in various stages of
decomposition. Some have been here for years.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Others no longer than a few days. In fact, one body
arrived less than twelve hours ago.
JANEWAY: Arrived from where?
CHAKOTAY [OC]: I don't know, Captain.
[Cave]
CHAKOTAY: But from the position of the arms, I'd say we're looking at
some kind of burial site.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: What about the element we discovered?
[Cave]
TORRES: It's emanating from their bodies, Captain
[Bridge]
TORRES [OC]: We think it's some kind of by-product of their
decomposition process.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: I recommend we leave these bodies in peace, Captain.
[Cave]
CHAKOTAY: However, Mister Kim has a different opinion.
KIM: With all due respect, Captain, I have to disagree with the
Commander. This is our first contact with this race, and I think we
should be learning all we can about them.
[Bridge]
KIM [OC]: It's a unique anthropological opportunity.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: I understand the chance for scientific discovery,
Captain,
[Cave]
CHAKOTAY: But whatever belief this race has, they clearly meant for
their dead to be left alone and I think we should respect that.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: I'm afraid I agree with Commander Chakotay. Set your
tricorders for passive scans. I don't want to disturb anything.
[Cave]
CHAKOTAY: Captain, the sanctity of these bodies should be respected.
I recommend we make visual observations only. No tricorders.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Very well. Keep me informed.
[Cave]
JANEWAY [OC]: Janeway out.
CHAKOTAY: All right. The only sensors you have left are your eyes.
Concentrate on details. We're going to have to do a thorough report when we
get back.
KIM: Commander, thanks for letting me voice my opinion to the
Captain.
CHAKOTAY: I remember the first time I went on a tomb excavation on
Ktaria 7. I wanted to keep a memento of the experience, so I picked up a
rock from the burial site. Only I found out later it wasn't just a rock.
KIM: What was it?
CHAKOTAY: It was a sacred stone. The Ktarians lay thousands of them in
the tomb. Each one represents a special prayer. Without realising it, I
had desecrated that man's grave.
TORRES: Well, I think I found out about all I can with my eyes.
CHAKOTAY: Really? What have you learned about this culture so far?
TORRES: They like to bury their dead on asteroids. That's about all I
can tell without a tricorder. No artefacts, no inscriptions, just some
naked dead people.
CHAKOTAY: You're looking but you're not seeing. The fact that they're
naked says a lot. It means this race doesn't believe in dressing the
deceased. And the lack of artefacts could indicate they don't believe
any worldly goods can be taken into the afterlife.
KIM: What makes you think they believe in an afterlife at all?
CHAKOTAY: Look at the position of the arms and hands. The bodies have
been arranged in poses of serenity, and they appear to be wrapped in the
same biopolymer residue we found out in the passageway, all
indications that this culture has a great deal of ritual associated with
disposing of the dead. That normally indicates some belief in the
afterlife.
TORRES: The Klingons believe in an afterlife, but there's no burial
ritual. They just dispose of the corpse by the most efficient means
possible.
CHAKOTAY: Good point. However, some archaeological digs on the Klingon
Homeworld. Tricorders!
KIM: A dimensional distortion is forming. Some kind of subspace vacuole.
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Voyager. Emergency beam-out.
JANEWAY [OC]: We're having trouble locking onto your signals. Stand by.
[Transporter Room]
SESKA: Have everyone stand closer together. I'm going to try a blind
beam-out centred on your comm. signal.
[Cave]
CHAKOTAY: Acknowledged. Energize!
[Bridge]
JANEWAY: Bridge to Transporter Room Three. Do you have them?
[Transporter Room]
SESKA: Subspace distortions from the vacuole are interfering with the
transporter lock.
[Bridge]
SESKA [OC]: Am attempting to compensate.
[Transporter Room]
SESKA: Okay. I think I've got them. Chakotay and Lieutenant Torres are aboard. So is one of the
humanoid bodies.
[Bridge]
SESKA [OC]: But there's no sign of Ensign Kim.
JANEWAY: Scan the asteroid.
TUVOK: No life signs, Captain. I'm broadening the scan. Nothing. He is
nowhere in the entire asteroid field.
JANEWAY: Seska, initiate emergency transport procedure twenty one
alpha.
[Transporter Room]
SESKA: I'm already on it, Captain. It's no use. His pattern's gone.
[Bridge]
SESKA [OC]: And the subspace vacuole has disappeared. I'm looking at
the transporter logs.
[Transporter Room]
SESKA: My only guess is he was pulled into the vacuole.
TORRES: This isn't one of the bodies we found in the cavern. It's
someone else.
CHAKOTAY: This body might have come out of the vacuole at the same time
Kim was taken in.
TORRES: Wait a minute. I'm showing signs of electrical activity in the
brain. It looks like she died just a few minutes ago. We might be able
to revive her. If we can, we might get some answers.
CHAKOTAY: We can't interfere with this woman's natural process of death.
TORRES: What do you suggest we do, Commander? Kim's gone. She's the only
one who might be able to tell us what happened.
CHAKOTAY: Beam us directly to Sickbay.
SESKA: Aye, Commander.
[Cenotaph Room]
RENORA: Death is the end of this life. But it is also the beginning of
a new journey. Ptera will now thrive in the Next Emanation. This is both
her sacred duty and her great privilege. As she begins her transition, we promise to carry memories of
her so that when we enter the
KIM: Help! Get me out of here!
RENORA: She's alive! Deactivate the cenotaph, quickly!
KIM: Let me out!
[Waiting area]
LORIA: Here it is.
HATIL: Thanks. A lot of memories in this.
LORIA: We're so proud of you, Hatil. This is such a generous, selfless
act.
HATIL: It's my last gift for you and the children.
LORIA: And it's one we will always cherish. But I'm still gonna miss
you.
HATIL: I know. I'll miss you too, but I'll see you in the Next Emanation
when you're ready to join me.
LORIA: Give my love to your father. Tell him that the garili trees he
planted have, have been in bloom for three years straight.
HATIL: I will. Goodbye.
LORIA: Goodbye.
RENORA: Lie down. It's going to be all right. We won't harm
you.
HATIL: Who is that?
RENORA: We're not sure yet. We think he came from the Next Emanation.
HATIL: The Next Emanation? You mean he's come back?
KIM: Come back from where?
RENORA: We've called for the thanatologist. He'll be here any moment. I don't think there
should be any further discussion about this
until he arrives.
HATIL: How did you get here?
KIM: I'm not sure. I just sort of woke up inside one of those pods. I
was conducting an investigation on an asteroid, we found some dead
bodies, then there was some kind of subspace phenomenon.
HATIL: What do you mean, you saw dead people there?
NERIA: I'm, er, Dr. Neria, the chief thanatologist of this facility.
KIM: Ensign Harry Kim of the Federation starship Voyager.
NERIA: I see. What race are you from?
KIM: We call ourselves human. We come from a planet called Earth in a
distant part of the galaxy.
HATIL: He said he saw dead people on an asteroid.
NERIA: Dead?
KIM: Look, can you tell me where I am?
HATIL: Doctor, what does this mean?
NERIA: Rest, Hatil. There's no need for concern.
NERIA: May I speak to you privately, Ensign Harry?
KIM: Just Harry's fine.
NERIA: We are the Vhnori and this is our homeworld.
KIM: We were investigating one of the asteroids in the rings around your
planet.
NERIA: There are no rings around our world.
KIM: So the subspace vacuole must have transported me somewhere else. Do
you have any star charts I could look at? I'd like to figure out where I
am now in relation to where I was.
NERIA: Where you are now is in the world of the living. Where you came
from was another dimension.
KIM: Another dimension?
NERIA: Yes. You returned from the Next Emanation. The afterlife.
[Sickbay]
JANEWAY: How were you able to revive her?
EMH: It's a simple process, really. She died of a cancerous growth on
the brain stem. I removed the tumour, replicated new neural tissue and
used the standard Starfleet post-mortem resuscitation technique for a
class five life form.
JANEWAY: Why was she covered with this biopolymer?
EMH: She wasn't covered with it, exactly. The biopolymer is a by-product
of her own tissues.
JANEWAY: Explain.
EMH: As her tissues decayed, the cell membranes broke down into a
biopolymer resin which was then excreted by her epidermal layer. My
guess is it's a natural decomposition process for this species.
CHAKOTAY: So the other biopolymer fibres we found in the cavern were?
EMH: Were probably the result of other bodies that had decomposed and
left a residual membrane. In essence, Commander, you were strolling
through dead bodies.
JANEWAY: Can you wake her?
EMH: Yes, of course. Kes, two cc's of netinaline. Hello.
JANEWAY: I know this must be very confusing for you, but you're all
right. My name is Kathryn Janeway.
PTERA: I'm Ptera. Where's my brother?
JANEWAY: Your brother? I'm afraid he's not here.
PTERA: But he's supposed to be here. They're all supposed to be here.
JANEWAY: Ptera, we were able to remove the tumour from your brain.
You're going to be all right. We revived you because one of our
PTERA: This is the Next Emanation? This is the afterlife?
JANEWAY: No. No, it's not. You're on a starship.
PTERA: This can't be right. My brother's supposed to be here.
Something's wrong.
JANEWAY: Let me explain.
PTERA: No. No! Get away from me. This isn't right. This can't be right!
[Cenotaph Room]
KIM: You're saying there was a woman in here just before I arrived?
NERIA: That's right. Her name was Ptera. She was dying of a tumourous
lesion to her midbrain.
KIM: Dying. So she wasn't dead yet?
NERIA: No, of course not. She didn't die until the cenotaph was
activated. That's the purpose of the cenotaph. It terminates a person's
life just before the appearance of a spectral rupture and then it
allows their body to be taken to the Next Emanation.
KIM: Spectral rupture.
NERIA: Well, I can show you.
KIM: This looks like what we would call a subspace vacuole. Does the
cenotaph create these ruptures?
NERIA: Natural occurrences, once every six hours. This
entire complex was built on this site because a spectral rupture occurs
here. We have thousands of such sites on our world. Forgive my
curiosity, Harry, but, you are the first person ever to come back
from the afterlife. I have quite a few questions. You said that you saw
dead bodies?
KIM: That's right. There were seven females, eleven males. Some of
the bodies had been there for years, others just for a few days.
NERIA: Are you saying that when we die we go to some asteroid and
decompose?
KIM: Well, that's what it looked liked to us.
NERIA: These bodies, did you perform any kind of bio-scans on them?
Was there any specific medical data that you can remember?
KIM: Doctor, maybe I should just stop right there. This is what my
people call a 'first contact' situation, and we've learned to
be very careful about how much we tell alien cultures we've just met.
NERIA: I would like to start a complete bio-analysis as soon as
possible. If you'll just follow Dr. Renora.
KIM: Bioanalysis? Look, all I want to do is get back to my ship. And I
think there might be a way to use this spectral rupture of yours
NERIA: You're not going anywhere. You are our first glimpse into what
lies beyond death. We are not going to let this opportunity pass us by.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY: We've completed our analysis of the ring system. Our
sensors have detected over two hundred thousand alien bodies on various asteroids in
the rings. From what we can tell, a subspace vacuole appears about every
two hours, deposits a body and then disappears.
JANEWAY: We need to focus on those vacuoles. Concentrate on trying to
probe them with the high resolution subspace scans. See if you can find
any sign of Mister Kim.
EMH [OC]: Sick bay to Captain Janeway.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
EMH [OC]: Our guest has regained consciousness and she is a little
calmer this time.
JANEWAY: I'm on my way. You have the Bridge.
[Sickbay]
PTERA: That's, that's all I know. I'm sorry. I can't tell you
anything more.
JANEWAY: You've told me quite a bit. At least now I have an idea of what
might have happened to Mister Kim. Is there anything I can do for you?
PTERA: Well, I'd, I'd like some answers.
JANEWAY: About what?
PTERA: About what happens to my people when we die.
JANEWAY: We're not sure exactly. But from what we do know, the vacuoles
deposit the bodies on the asteroids in this ring system.
PTERA: And then what?
JANEWAY: I'm not sure what you mean.
PTERA: We're supposed to evolve into a higher level of consciousness
when we die. We're supposed to gain a greater understanding of the
universe. All of our questions are supposed to be answered.
JANEWAY: Ptera, I know this must be frightening for you. You've been
through a very traumatic experience. It would frighten me. But please
try to understand. Just because I don't have the answers to your
questions doesn't mean there aren't any.
PTERA: My brother. I always thought I'd see him again. I had so many
things to tell him about his children, the people he left behind. But he
isn't here, is he? He's. So, what am I supposed to do now, spend the
rest of my life on this, this starship?
JANEWAY: Ptera, I am gonna do everything in my power to figure out just
how you got here. And as soon as I know anything, I will tell you, all
right?
PTERA: All right.
KES: Maybe we should get out of Sickbay, let you walk around for a
while, clear your mind, maybe get something to eat. Are you hungry?
PTERA: Yes. Actually, I could use something to eat. What was that?
JANEWAY: Janeway to Bridge. Report.
[Bridge]
PARIS: There's some kind of dimensional distortion forming near main
Engineering, Captain.
[Sickbay]
PARIS [OC]: It looks like a subspace vacuum.
JANEWAY: Janeway to Engineering. B'Elanna, what's going on?
[Engineering]
TORRES: I've pinpointed the location, Captain. It's right here in
Engineering. Stand by.
[Waiting Room]
LORIA: Hatil, what are you saying?
HATIL: I'm just not sure I'm ready, that's all.
LORIA: I don't understand.
HATIL: Neither do I. It's just that I'm starting to wonder what really
happens when we die, if I'm really going on to a higher level of
consciousness.
LORIA: The alien. What has he been telling you?
HATIL: All he's done is made me stop and think about something we've
always taken for granted, and now that I've thought about it, I'm
not so eager to go through with it anymore.
LORIA: Hatil, we know nothing about him, or why he's come here, or
why he's spreading lies about the Next Emanation. All I know is you-you
can't throw away a lifetime of belief because of him. It doesn't make sense.
HATIL: I don't know what to think anymore. I'm scared, Loria.
LORIA: It's going to be all right. Think about your father. He's waiting
for you. I'll see you at the transference ritual. I don't know who you are or where you come from, but you stay
away from my husband.
KIM: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.
HATIL: Harry, you have to forgive my wife. She's having trouble
understanding my concerns about the afterlife. That's why I'm here.
I'm getting ready to die. Forgive me for asking again but can you
tell me anything about what I might find in the Next Emanation?
KIM: Everyone keeps asking me that, and I just keep giving the same
answer. I don't know.
HATIL: But you do come from the afterlife?
KIM: I come from a different reality, maybe another dimension. Maybe
it is your afterlife. I don't know. All I do know is that there are
countless billions of people there who are born, live and die, just like
you do here.
HATIL: But you did see my people there? You said they were dead?
KIM: Yes, but, look, for all I know, your thanatologists are right, and all I saw
were the corporeal remains of your people, and you do go on to a higher
consciousness.
HATIL: But it's also possible that there is no higher
existence for us, that when we die we simply cease to exist.
KIM: I really can't say. I don't know what happens to your people
after they die. I don't even know what happens to my people after they
die.
HATIL: Don't you have thanologists, people who study death?
KIM: Well, sort of. Er, there have certainly been medical experts,
philosophers, theologians who have spent a great deal of time debating
what happens after death. But no one's come up with an answer yet.
HATIL: My people have come to think of death as just another stage of
our existence. There are some people who are even eager to die. If they
feel depressed or lonely in this life, they simply move on to the next
one.
KIM: Is that why you're here? Because you're not happy with your life?
HATIL: Ever since the er, accident, life hasn't been easy. But I have
to say, this is more my family's idea than it is mine.
KIM: Your family?
HATIL: I'm a burden to them right now. It takes a lot of their time and
resources to care for me, and I can't give much back to them. So, there
was a family meeting and it was agreed that I should move on to the Next
Emanation. You look appalled.
KIM: It's not my place to judge your culture, but from my perspective,
it's a little chilling to hear that.
HATIL: Even though the family did it out of love, and everyone was happy
for me, and they said they'd see me when they got to the Next Emanation,
I have to admit there is a little voice inside of me that is terrified
of dying. And since I've been talking to you, that little voice has
started to get louder.
[Engineering]
JANEWAY: I'm reading another vacuole forming on the ship. Tuvok, try
remodulating the shield harmonics.
TUVOK: It's no use, Captain. The vacuole is still forming. Take the body
to the ship's morgue.
JANEWAY: This is odd. Three bodies have appeared on Voyager so far,
and each one of them has released some kind of neural energy. In every
case, the energy has passed through the hull and out into the rings. The
energy's frequency is identical to the ambient radiation in the asteroid
field.
TORRES: The vacuoles are disrupting the warp core's magnetic interlocks.
It won't be long before we lose antimatter containment.
JANEWAY: The vacuoles have all formed within twenty metres of the warp core.
They might be attracted to it. Janeway to Bridge. Mister Paris, lay in a
course.
[Bridge]
JANEWAY [OC]: I want to get at least a half a light year away. Warp
seven.
PARIS: Aye, Captain. Paris to Janeway. I've brought us out of warp.
We're point six light years from the ring system.
[Engineering]
JANEWAY: Any other subspace vacuoles forming?
TORRES: No. The magnetic interlocks have stabilised. I think we're safe
out here.
JANEWAY: Begin working on a way to protect the warp core from these
vacuoles.
TORRES: Aye, Captain.
[Mess Hall]
KES: Sometimes I come in here and just stare out at the stars for
hours. I never get tired of looking at them.
PTERA: We were always told we would see beautiful sights in the Next
Emanation. Colours, lights, and that we would see them with new eyes
and a new understanding. But now. What happened to the others? My
brother, my father and everyone before them? People die every day on my
world. Do they all end up as lifeless corpses?
KES: When people die on my world, we bury them beneath the soil, and we
believe that their comra is released into the afterlife.
PTERA: Their comra?
KES: Our soul, our spirit, the essence of our beings. Maybe something
similar happens to you.
PTERA: But you don't understand. We don't believe in any kind of spirit.
When we die, we're supposed to reappear as physical beings with arms and
legs. That's the whole point of sending our people through the spectral
ruptures. We're supposed to travel on to the Next Emanation as
ourselves and be reunited with our families. But none of that is
true, is it? None of the people I love are here. I'm alone. I don't
belong here. I can't live like this. Please, can't you send me home?
KES: I think there is only one person on this ship who could answer that
question.
[Briefing Room]
JANEWAY: We're doing everything we can to get you back home, Ptera.
Once we locate our missing officer, we're hoping he might be able to
tell us enough to
TORRES: Wait a minute, Captain. Maybe there is a way to send Ptera home
and find Ensign Kim at the same time.
JANEWAY: Explain.
TORRES: What if we recreated the transporter accident? If it's true that
Harry was pulled through the vacuole during transport, we might be able
to reproduce those circumstances and send Ptera home.
CHAKOTAY: We could send Ptera through the subspace transponder and hope
the signal will penetrate the dimensional barrier and allow us to lock
on to Kim with the transporter beam.
TORRES: Right.
PTERA: So I can get home?
JANEWAY: Ptera, you should know that there's no guarantee this is going
to work.
PTERA: I understand the risk, but I've already been dead once and I'm
prepared to die again if necessary. So if there's a chance I can get
home, I'm willing to take the risk.
JANEWAY: All right. Commander, prepare a subspace transponder and teach
Ptera how to use it.
CHAKOTAY: Aye, Captain.
Captain's Log, supplemental. We've returned to the ring system, and
we're preparing to send Ptera back to her dimension. Lieutenant Torres
has found a way to temporarily protect the warp core against the
vacuoles but she is uncertain how long her measures will be
effective.
[Transporter Room]
JANEWAY: You understand the instructions for Mister Kim if you find him?
PTERA: Yes.
[Engineering]
TORRES: We've got one, Commander, forming ten metres below us, Deck
thirteen.
CHAKOTAY: Okay. Let's see if your dampening field is going to protect
the warp core.
TORRES: The field is fluctuating slightly, but holding.
CHAKOTAY: Engineering to Transporter Room three.
[Transporter Room three]
CHAKOTAY [OC]: There's a vacuole forming on Deck thirteen. Magnetic
interlocks are stable.
JANEWAY: Acknowledged.
SESKA: I see the vacuole. Locking on.
JANEWAY: Good luck, Ptera.
SESKA: I have a transporter lock. Energizing. Matching her pattern to
the subspace distortions. Wait a minute. The vacuole is shutting down. I
can't get her pattern through.
JANEWAY: Abort the procedure. Pull her back.
SESKA: I'm trying. I'm losing her pattern.
JANEWAY: Shunt emergency power into buffer tank four.
SESKA: That's it. I've got the pattern.
KES: She's dead.
JANEWAY: Is there any brain activity? Can we revive her? Janeway to
Lieutenant Torres. How long until we have to leave?
TORRES [OC]: I'd say we're safe for another two hours.
JANEWAY: That gives us two hours to find Mister Kim. We'll have to stay
within high-range scanner range. Perform another subspace scan. This
time extend the scan radius to ten AU. I'm on my way to Engineering.
Janeway out.
TORRES [OC]: Aye, Captain.
JANEWAY: Ensign, beam her onto one of the asteroids.
SESKA: Aye, Captain.
JANEWAY: That's where she was meant to be.
KES: I hope you find your afterlife, Ptera.
[Waiting room]
KIM: Why?
NERIA: We want to make a more detailed scan of your microcellular
structures and a complete examination of your neurochemistry. This
facility isn't equipped for such a detailed bio-analysis. The complex at
Paffran has everything we need.
KIM: Look. If my ship is still searching for me, they're not gonna stay
there forever. I have to get back.
NERIA: That's not possible. We don't even understand how you got here.
KIM: Then maybe I can figure out a way to get back. Let me take a look
at one of those cenotaphs.
NERIA: There's no time for that. Word about you has spread very quickly
Harry, not only in the scientific world, but in the community at large.
There are many people who are very nervous about what you represent.
Some even see you as a threat to their beliefs about the afterlife. We
need to take you to a more secure location. It's for your own
protection.
KIM: Wait!
NERIA: I'm sorry, Harry. It's out of my control.
KIM: What are you doing?
HATIL: Preparing for the transference ritual. Eh, this is a ceremonial
shroud that's been in my family for five generations.
KIM: So they make you wrap yourself in your own death shroud?
HATIL: It's something we look forward to, actually. I remember when my
father used this shroud, his father before him. The difference is, when
my father put this on there was no doubt in his mind about where he was
going.
KIM: Can't you just back out? Say you've changed your mind.
HATIL: I have thought of just walking out and disappearing. I have some
friends in the Cararian Mountains. They would be willing to let me stay
with them but my family would worry about me. They'd wonder what was
happening, if I was all right, if I were hurt. No. Everyone's expecting
a transference ritual, and I'm going to give them one.
KIM: What if you did disappear into the mountains, but your family
thought you were dead? I mean, they're here for a transference ritual,
right?
HATIL: Do you realise what you're suggesting?
KIM: It's perfect. Those cenotaphs send your people back to my
dimension, which is where I want to go. Voyager's probably still near
the asteroid searching for me. As soon as I appear, they'll pick up my
signal and beam me aboard. And you, you can just disappear. Your family
will think you're dead, and you can live out your life in the mountains.
HATIL: Harry, if you go into that cenotaph and go through with the
transference ritual, you'll die.
KIM: Well, if Voyager can beam me aboard quickly enough, our doctor
should be able to revive me. Medicine's pretty advanced in our culture.
I've heard of cases where people have been dead for hours and still been
brought back to life.
HATIL: But it's not certain?
KIM: No, it's not. But I think this is my only chance to get home.
HATIL: The shroud has to be wrapped in a particular way. I'll show you
how, but we have to hurry. I'm scheduled for transference in less
than an hour.
[Cenotaph room]
LORIA: A pleasant trip, Hatil. Say hello to Varel and Toyan. I'll see
you there in a few years.
PRIEST: We're joined here today to bid farewell to our dear friend Hatil
Garan. We salute not only his life, but the manner in which he has
chosen to end it. He makes a noble sacrifice today that his family may
have a better tomorrow. We prepare to send him on to the Next Emanation
with the full knowledge and faith that the life he will find there is
better than the one here that he will no longer be hampered by his
infirmity and that we will come to understand the cosmos in a way that
he could never have imagined.
LORIA: Bye, Hatil. I love you.
[Bridge]
TORRES: Another vacuole. Deck fifteen.
TUVOK: The body of an alien female has been left behind.
CHAKOTAY: Chakotay to Transporter Room Three. Lock onto the body on Deck
fifteen and transport it to one of the asteroids.
SESKA [OC]: Aye, sir.
JANEWAY: Status on the warp core, Lieutenant.
TORRES: The dampening field's down to twenty one percent. The interlocks won't hold
much longer. I recommend leaving, Captain.
JANEWAY: Very well. Mister Paris, bring us about. Prepare to resume our
CHAKOTAY: Captain, I'm picking up a vacuole forming on Deck twelve. It
deposited a human body.
JANEWAY: Human?
CHAKOTAY: But it's dead.
JANEWAY: Janeway to Seska. There's a body on deck twelve. Beam it directly
to Sickbay.
SESKA [OC]: Yes, Captain.
[Sickbay]
EMH: Two cc's cordrazine. Relax, Mister Kim. Everything's fine. You're
alive.
[Mess Hall]
JANEWAY: Mind if I join you?
KIM: No, not at all. Please.
JANEWAY: Thank you. So, how are you feeling?
KIM: Better. I'll be ready for duty tomorrow morning.
JANEWAY: You're off duty for the next two days.
KIM: Captain, I'm fine.
JANEWAY: It's not a reflection on your capabilities, Ensign. I just want
to give you a chance to reflect on what's happened. This may not make
much sense to you now, a young man at the beginning of his career, but
one of the things you'll learn as you move up the ranks and get a little
older is that you wish you had more time in your youth to really
absorb all the things that happened to you. It goes by so fast. It's so
easy to become jaded, to treat the extraordinary like just another day
at the office, but sometimes there are experiences which transcend all
that. You've just had one, Mister Kim, and I want you to live with it for a
little while. Write about it, if you feel like it. Paint. Express
yourself in some fashion. The Bridge will still be there in two days.
KIM: Thank you, Captain. I have been a little preoccupied with the
experience. I mean, all those people think that they know what happens
after death. They look forward to it. They're prepared for it. But the
truth is, none of it's real. They don't have an afterlife. They just
decay inside those asteroids.
JANEWAY: I wouldn't be so sure of that, if I were you. That neural
energy their bodies release, it becomes part of the ambient
electromagnetic field surrounding the planet. Our readings also indicate
the energy is unusually dynamic. There's a great deal of variation and
pattern complexity, quantum density.
KIM: Are you saying you think they do have an afterlife? That the energy
field is where they exist at a higher level of consciousness, just like
they believe?
JANEWAY: I'm not certain, but I am certain about this. What we don't
know about death is far, far greater than what we do know. See you in
two days, Ensign.
KIM: Thank you, Captain.