by Melanie
"Thanks, Kathryn. Any word on Tom or Tuvok?"
"The Doctor called just before you came. Tom woke briefly. He was disoriented and agitated, but the Doctor calmed him down and sedated him." She inwardly sighed. Vorik's prediction of mental trauma for Tom was proving to be accurate, unfortunately. Tuvok's body could not heal fast enough for her liking. The sooner her Security Chief was back together, the better.
"And Tuvok?"
"Still on complete life support. The Doctor is going to try to take him off of it tomorrow and see what happens." She looked at Chakotay and stood. "Well, it seems in the meantime, I have a young woman to sort out," she said, going over to her desk.
Chakotay got to his feet also. "How are you going to do it?"
"Not really certain. Given her stubbornness, talking to her isn't going to work. I probably could speak reason to her until I am blue in the face and not have it sink in." She rubbed the back of her neck, thinking. "Maybe there's another way. Computer, is there any holodeck time free in the next few hours?"
"The current free times on the Holodecks are from 2010 to 0330 on Holodeck One, 1945 to 0230 on Holodeck Two, and -"
"Okay," she interrupted. "Reserve Holodeck One for Captain Janeway for the entire free time currently open."
"Holodeck One reserved from 2010 to 0330 for Captain Janeway."
"What are you planning? Running a program of a glassware shop and letting her smash things to her heart's content?" he chuckled.
She merely shook her head. "No, I've got something else in mind." She touched her combadge. "Janeway to Torres."
There was a pause then the Chief Engineer answered. "Torres here."
"Would you please meet me in Holodeck One at 2015. I have a program I need your input on."
"Yes, Captain."
"Janeway out."
Chakotay sent her a sympathetic look. "Good luck."
"I may need it."
-------
As it was, Kathryn never got the chance to meet with B'Elanna that night. Shortly after Voyager had broken orbit around Dartin VIII, Seven had informed her of a discovery she had made in Astrometrics so she had gone down there to check it out. Then there had been a problem with the food they had taken on from Dartin VIII and it had to be sorted out. Then there was a malfunction in a couple of the Bridge systems that demanded B'Elanna's attention. And so forth. It was one thing after another conspiring against her having her talk with B'Elanna.
Though she saw her Chief Engineer numerous times over the next three days, she never had the opportunity to speak with her in private. In fact, with all the rushing about from crisis to crisis, all thoughts of B'Elanna and Tom's personal problems flew out of her head. That was until three days after Tom and Tuvok's accident when she received word from the Doctor that "Tom" finally was being released from Sickbay with Tuvok's katra still in residence.
Given all the demands on her attention, she had not had the time to do more than look in on the Doctor's patients. Both times she had stopped in, "Tom" had been resting comfortably so had not disturbed him. She had momentarily paused when the Doctor had expressed puzzlement over the lack of visits from Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres while Neelix and a few others had stopped in to check on the sleeping patients a couple of times. She knew the reason for their absence yet did not feel it her place to explain. She muttered something vague about the recent spate of problems on the ship and took her leave of the EMH.
Now, as she sat at her desk, she reviewed the status report on her Security Chief's body's health. The Doctor was not encouraging in his evaluation of the body's chances. The body still could not survive off of full life support. Two attempts to reduce the level of life support from full to partial had ended in the need to resuscitate. The body was healing itself, but the rate was extremely slow. Based on his observations, if it survived, he projected another couple of weeks until it might be strong enough to survive on partial life-support and his katra could be reintegrated. That estimate was provided there were not further setbacks.
She wondered how Tom and Tuvok would want to handle the next week or so. As per her order to the Doctor and Vorik, the only people on the ship who knew what had happened with regards to the katra were the two of them, the Doctor, Vorik, and herself. The remainder of the crew only knew the two had been in a bad accident and were recovering. Until she heard the men's wishes on the subject, she was holding off on making a ship-wide announcement. Tuvok, especially, hated having his privacy invaded. They might not wish anyone to know what was going on. She would ask them what they wanted to do when "Tom" arrived at the staff meeting that morning.
Her mind flew to B'Elanna and Harry. Before the problems on board, she had debated invading Tom and Tuvok's privacy and telling them. She already had made up her mind to tell them when Chakotay had come to her with his insight into the trio's latest catastrophe. Immediately, she knew how they were going to react to hearing the news about their best friend. B'Elanna and Harry's guilt would have increased tenfold. How would she have talked sense to them?
The "talked sense to them" caused twigged her memory.
B'Elanna.
Holodeck.
She was supposed to sort her out! Damnit all.
Kathryn's eyes leapt to her desktop chronometer. Not enough time before the meeting to talk to B'Elanna about everything.
"Computer, is there any unreserved Holodeck time today?" Kathryn barked out.
"Holodeck One is free from 1315 to 1630. Holodeck-"
"Reserve Holodeck One for me for the free time. Captain to Torres."
"Torres here."
"Lieutenant, will you meet me on Holodeck One at 1320?"
"We're in the middle of maintenance checks and drills down here."
Kathryn suppressed a sigh. The poor Engineering staff. "Didn't you just run them yesterday and the day before?"
"Yes, but-"
"And did you find anything major was wrong?"
"Nothing major, no, but-"
"Then you can be spared. I will see you on the Holodeck at 1320." Again Kathryn glanced at the chrono on her desk. "And at the Staff Meeting in five minutes. Janeway out."
-------
"Tom!" Jenny Delaney practically choked as the turbolift doors opened and she recognized the occupant of the lift.
"Hi, Tom," Megan greeted, shoving her sister inside. "Deck Two," she called out as their destination.
"Tom, I'm so sorry," Jenny blurted.
Concealing her horror, Megan put an arm around her twin and laughed. Naturally they had heard, like everyone else, about the pilot's most recent stay in Sickbay. As much as she hated the idea of him being that sick, Megan had been thankful for the three days' respite from seeing him around the ship. It had offered her a chance to talk her sister around to her way of thinking about not telling him about Harry Kim and B'Elanna. And it had worked. Or so she had thought.
"Heavens, Jenny, you're horrible." Placing herself between the two of them, she turned her back on Tom and glared at her sister. "That's hardly tactful." Megan squeezed the shoulder and Jenny closed her mouth. Megan turned back to Tom. "We heard about your accident, Tom, but we didn't get a chance to come to Sickbay to see you. We feel just awful about that. You see Lieutenant Torres has had Engineering doing full, and I mean full, checks of everything and they found this tiny leak near our quarters. We had to move quarters while they repaired it then we had to move everything back. It was horrible. But the good news is, in having to pack everything up, we found another of those bottles of Rajen wine that you liked so much."
"I believe, Lieutenant," "Tom" said disapprovingly, "that Captain Janeway banned the crew from bringing Rajen wine on board Voyager. By possessing it, you are violating that order. I shall expect both of you in the Security office at 1100 with the contraband."
The lift doors opened on the Deck Two and the sisters automatically exited the lift. As the doors closed again, Jenny and Megan stopped, stared dumbly at one another then at the lift doors, not knowin
g what to make of their friend.
"He sounded like Tuvok," Jenny whispered.
"I know." Megan snapped out of her stupor and lightly cuffed her sister.
"Oww! What was that for?"
"For almost telling Tom about B'Elanna and Harry, that's what. I told you to forget it ever happened."
"Yeah, I know. But you know I hate lying to Tom."
"I know and I don't like it either, but it's for his own good. He can't know."
Jenny simply grimaced and nodded.
-------
Having been delayed by a stop at Tuvok's office, "Tom" entered the Conference Room when all of the rest of the Senior Staff already were present. All had varying reactions to seeing him.
Kathryn, disappointed she had not been able to see him before the meeting to talk to him, nevertheless sent him a welcoming smile from her place standing beside her chair.
Chakotay echoed the smile at a slightly lesser wattage.
The Doctor, who was attending the meeting via the Emergency Medical channel so he could remain close to his only patient -- Tuvok's body -- merely nodded.
B'Elanna and Harry each stared assiduously at the tabletop, avoiding meeting each other's eyes as much as they were avoiding "Tom's." Each had erected a "forcefield" between each other and between themselves and Tom. Neither one could look at their friend. Harry kept his eyes on the table for fear of blurting out his guilt then and there in front of everyone. B'Elanna did likewise because her anger with Tom would not let her contemplate the idea of looking at him for fear of ending up on report for decking him.
Neelix had no such problems. Gleefully, he leapt out of his chair and attempted to hug the newly healed man. "Tom, it is so good to see you! I'm so sorry I wasn't able to come see you more than twice, especially since you were sleeping both times I was there, but-"
"Tom" disengaging himself from the embrace cut the apology short.
"Mr. Neelix, do we have to repeat our conversation regarding your inappropriate displays of affection?"
"Tom?" Neelix called, puzzled.
"Tuvok?" Kathryn whispered, dropping into her chair.
The eyes of everyone, including the Chief Engineer and Head of Ops, jerked from the Captain to "Tom."
"Yes, Captain."
"Tom...?"
"Is still here, Captain. He and I have discussed this at length and decided it would be best if things were done this way for the time being."
Neelix looked perplexedly from "Tom" to the Captain and back again. "I don't understand."
"If you will take a seat?" the Captain said slowly.
As Neelix did, "Tom" ignored Tom Paris' usual seat next to B'Elanna and assumed Tuvok's to the Captain's left.
Leaning towards "Tom," Kathryn whispered softly to him. "As I guess you can guess, I haven't said anything to the rest of the crew about what happened."
"The Doctor informed us of your... 'gag order' when we awoke the day before yesterday, Captain."
"I didn't know if you would consider it an invasion of your privacy or not to tell people."
"There is no other option except to tell the crew, Captain," he responded. "As we shall be like this for an indeterminate length of time, it will cause less confusion if they know."
"As you wish." She rested her folded hands on the table and addressed the others. "As you all know Tom and Tuvok were involved in a serious accident down on the planet. What you don't know is the extent of their injuries and certain actions which Tuvok undertook to survive."
With the exception of the Doctor and "Tom," everyone frowned in confusion.
"Doctor, perhaps you could give a *brief* explanation?"
In spite of the fact he did not appear to like the emphasis she had placed on the word "brief," he began to talk. "Very well. Briefly-" A slight dig was made to the Captain and went unnoticed -- "Lieutenant Commander Tuvok's body remains in Sickbay recovering and shall have to remain there for some time. His consciousness, however, currently is residing inside of Mr. Paris' body. As Mr. Tuvok thought he was dying, they performed a Vulcan death ritual that passes on the dying person's katra or essence. However, since he did not die after all, his consciousness will be able to return to his own body once it is able to survive on its own."
There was a stunned silence.
At last, Neelix gestured to Tom. "So you're saying both Tom *and* Tuvok are... in there?"
"Yes, Mr. Neelix, they are."
The Talaxian seemed to be having difficulty believing this. "Mr. Vulcan?"
"Yes, Mr. Neelix, I can assure you that I am, as you say, in here." Though it was Tom's voice speaking, the words clearly were Tuvok's.
Neelix said nothing further, only stared.
"Mr. Paris and I have discussed it," Tuvok informed the Captain, "and I shall be the dominant personality for the duration of this experience. Be assured, Mr. Paris is fine. He is here, can hear everything, and speak when necessary."
"Dominant personality?" Chakotay asked.
"I essentially shall be the one in command of our mutual body." Tuvok all but grimaced. "Over the past seventy-two hours we have confirmed my supposition that Mr. Paris lacks the mental discipline necessary for controlling this experience. By seceding control to me things should go more smoothly from now on."
Tactfully, no one asked him to elaborate on what had transpired to bring them to this conclusion.
Of course tact was not the Doctor's strong suit so the moment did not last. "They have been experiencing disturbing dreams. Some of the mental trauma Ensign Vorik referred to, Captain," he disclosed. "Mr. Paris rather petulantly refuses to discuss them so I can help them through them and it appears to be rubbing off on Mr. Tuvok since he won't talk about them either. Therefore, the dreams have continued and I have resorted to sedating them whenever they become agitated so they can rest. I do not think the dreams or the sedation will do any lasting damage to either one of them."
"I wondered why "Tom" always was asleep when I checked on them," the Captain admitted.
"Well, the sedation has done them some good. Normally Mr. Paris would be crawling the walls and wheedling his way out of Sickbay. At least this way I was able to be certain they got the rest they needed."
Chakotay changed the topic. "So who's duties will you be fulfilling? Tom's or Tuvok's?"
"For the most part, mine, Commander," Tuvok answered. "Unless there is an emergency which demands Mr. Paris."
"Any idea how long you two will be...?"
"Until my body is able to sustain me once more."
The Doctor butted in again. "That may be some time away. The body is in grave condition."
"It may die?" Neelix gasped.
"I think that is a distinct possibility, Mr. Neelix. It is totally dependent on life support. Some progress is being made, but it is minute."
"There's nothing more you can do to help it?" Chakotay asked.
"No. We can only wait and see what happens."
"What about using some of Seven's nanoprobes?" Kathryn suggested.
"They are not a cure-all for everything, Captain. I've investigated that option and ruled it out. It is a complicated explanation. The main problems are-"
She held up her hand to forestall the explanation. "I'll read the report later."
The hologram was miffed. "Very well, Captain."
Everyone let the Doctor's words sink in. Tom was the one who broke the silence. "Tom" visibly shifted from Tuvok to Tom Paris, in attitude, tone of voice, and posture. All except B'Elanna and Harry -- who were back to examining the
tabletop -- saw the transformation and stared, wide-eyed.
"I think we've got to go ahead with preparing another option for a permanent 'home' for Tuvok if his own body doesn't make it, Captain."
"Tom?"
"Yes, Captain."
"What other option is there? Transfer him into someone else?"
"Tuvok and I've discussed that and ruled it out. The only possible host on this ship really would be Vorik since he
is Vulcan himself and would be better able to adapt to this."
"But?"
"But Tuvok would prefer a home of his own."
"Isn't the idea of finding him a new home a little premature?" Chakotay asked. "His body may still survive."
"You heard the Doctor, Chakotay. It might be soon die. Tuvok can't stay inside of me forever. He doesn't want that and I don't want that. It's too hard on both of us."
Kathryn tried to redirect the conversation back to the former topic. "So what do you two suggest as an option?"
"The schematics for the robots who took B'Elanna hostage a couple years ago are still on file. If Engineering can build one then Tuvok's consciousness can be transferred into it."
At the mention of her department, B'Elanna's head snapped up. "Transferred? How?"
"Vulcan's can't mindmeld with machines," Harry blinked at "Tom," "can they?"
"Some can, yes," Tom answered, "but that was not what I was suggesting. There's a highly classified procedure that can be used to do the transfer. I've talked this over with Tuvok and he's agreed to try this as a last resort, if it becomes
necessary."
Kathryn frowned. "How is this an option for Tuvok? If it's highly classified, I doubt Voyager's computer will have any information on it or if it does, I certainly won't know the command codes to access it."
"The file will be there. Leave its retrieval and execution to me."
"If it is so highly classified, then how do you know about it?" Chakotay questioned suspiciously.
"That's not important. I just do. While Engineering's constructing the robot, Tuvok and I'll work on the rest of it."
"What exactly is this 'procedure' anyway?" Kathryn questioned worriedly. "Can you tell us that much?"
"Have you ever heard of Dr. Ira Graves?"
"No, I don't think so."
"I have," Harry interjected. "We covered him in one of our first year Ethics courses. He was a brilliant scientist who had some terminal illness. Before he died, he somehow transferred his consciousness to the android Data then later to the computer on the U.S.S. Enterprise then to a computer at the Daystrom Institute. Other than Data, the Head of the Daystrom, and a few people at Command, no one knows how he did it. There was this huge ethical debate about whether they should continue to protect his research so others wouldn't abuse it or was it more important to preserve the greatest minds in the galaxy and run the risk of abuse. Eventually, bigger matters came up and they had to shelve the entire debate along with the research."
