A bucolic scene.
Seven of Nine walks through woods. People are in the distance. "Anika," says a man, reaching his hand out.
Seven awakens, disturbed.
In Sick Bay, the
Doctor tells her she's had her first dream. She wants to be "repaired," but the Doctor says it's not a malfunction, so much as part of becoming human. She's concerned because it seemed so real, the guy seemed familiar, and he used her original name.
Tom is 22 seconds late for his shift on the Bridge. Janeway and her management team start to chew him out, but this turns out to be a ruse. He's been reinstated as lieutenant. A pip is waiting on his chair.
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No time for fun
A distress call comes, albeit one without specific content. Yellow alert. They find an asteroid colony but no life signs. Weapons signatures indicate that the Borg were recently here.
Seven reluctantly goes back to sleep in her alcove.
The woods are darker now. A Klingon taps her shoulder. Then the guy from the first time shows up and says this is no dream, this is Unimatrix Zero. And he brought her here.
His name is Axum. He is a familiar, perhaps reassuring presence. A boy shows up, saying that machine-like men had attacked his people. The kid's just been assimilated, Axum tells Seven. In the waking world, he's probably still in a maturation chamber.
Unimatrix Zero, Axum explains, is where Borg dream -- not all Borg, just the one in a million or so that have a recessive mutation. They regain their individuality here, then forget it when awake.
The holodeck revolution
The Collective has been trying, with some success, to find its wayward members. But it needs a precise frequency that's used to link the dreaming drones.
Elsewhere, the Borg Queen examines the severed head of the unfortunate Four of Twelve. She rhapsodizes that disembodiment is the epitome of perfection. She's gained useful info from the drone's cortical array but still doesn’t have the exact frequency.
The woods. Seven now is starting to remember Axum, and others. She had once been a dreaming drone herself, and had lots of friends here. He wants her help. She agrees to give it, with Voyager's assistance.
The Klingon, Korok, is angry that Axum is making unilateral decisions. But Laura, a human drone, tells him to go sharpen his teeth.
Axum and Laura note that Seven still has some implants. She doesn't have to look that way. Not here.
The good morning call
But for now, Axum's regeneration cycle is done. He vanishes from the woods. And on a Borg ship, he walks away, a clueless drone.
Voyager. The officers are worried about fighting the Borg yet again. But Seven says the sleeping drones need their help.
Tuvok suggests three-way bridging of minds with Seven and Janeway, so the Captain can have some matrix time.
Janeway is in the woods. Seven welcomes her. She has no implants now, and prefers to be called Anika.
The Borg Queen is doing a careful analysis of several severed heads. She tries to disrupt the dreamers' frequency, but doesn't have it right yet. She takes a new tack -- sending loyal drones into dreamland.
The woods. The drones show up and start hunting folks down. Queen watches on screen.
A familiar face
In the chaos, Janeway attacks a drone. The Queen recognizes her and looks very serious.
Voyager. Janeway solicits
Chakotay's support for a plan that violates various regulations. Though she's done things without his backing in the past, this time she needs him to be fully on board.
She wants to insert a nanovirus into the Borg. He agrees the risk to Voyager is worth it, since this is a chance to beat the Collective in major way. Prepare the virus, she orders the Doctor.
In the woods, Klingons, Hirogen, and others are fighting drones. It's dark, murky. The drones use red laser beams similar to those deployed by Mulder in the X-Files
season finale.
Sevan and Anika hide, his arm on her shoulder. She remembers now: They were more than just friends, during those 6 years of intermittent dreaming. She's uncomfortable, annoyed he didn’t say anything. Saying her name is Seven, not Anika, she leaves, awakening on Voyager.
The Kathryn Janeway School of Diplomacy
A Borg cube is nearby. Janeway wants to board it, alone, and do some viral marketing. Tuvok and
B'Elanna want to go with her. Chakotay wants them to go too, and even threatens to ask the Doctor to declare Janeway unfit to command if she disagrees.
Suddenly the lights flicker.
Harry calls Janeway to the Bridge. The Queen is on screen.
There is an exchange of pleasantries. The Queen offers to help Voyager get home, using some good transwarp technology, in return for Janeway keeping her nose out of Borg business. Janeway refuses.
"We'll see you soon, Harry," the Queen says, cryptically.
Tom's unhappy that B'Elanna's going on this dangerous mission, but helps her prepare the Delta Flyer. She, Tuvok and Janeway fly off.
Feeling pretty while they shave Janeway's head
Seven or Anika or whatever her name is now, is in the woods, wearing a pink blouse. She tells Axum their previous relationship is irrelevant. He'll keep that in mind, he says, with some bitterness.
A heavily armed Borg cube is on the move. It exchanges fire with Voyager. The starship is hurt but keeps fighting.
The Queen, watching this from somewhere, notices the Flyer off in the background. "Captain, I expected something more cunning of you," she murmurs with contempt.
The Delta Flyer is destroyed, as Janeway, Tuvok and B'Elanna beam onto the cube with phaser rifles.
Drones approach and fight with them. After a while, the three are subdued.
Voyager flies off. But Chakotay seems pleased. Presumably this is all part of the plan.
B'Elanna and Janeway are bald. They are scowling. Apparently, they have been assimilated.
Return to the main review of this episode.
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