"No," whispered Sadness, falling to his knees. "No … I don't believe it. How could this happen?"

He was a tall blond man who resembled Magnus Hansen. He wore a deep blue shirt and trousers that matched the color of his wise and gentle eyes. Those eyes filled with tears as he took in the devastation the Borg had wrought in Headquarters, the missing Personality Worlds, the gray Borg World, and their human host's imprisonment.

He rifled through the scattered puzzle pieces on the floor, all the Facts and Opinions delivered by the latest Shuttle of Thought. Anger and Disgust were using them to fuel their argument with Captain Janeway, and discarding them just as quickly. Sadness picked one up and sighed. It was metallic and spider-shaped, like a nanoprobe. It jumped off his hand and scuttled away into the shadows. He shuddered.

"There's no time for that!" Fear tugged on Sadness' arm. "You can cry later. Do something!"

"You're right." He swallowed hard and wiped his eyes. "You're right. I'm sorry. This has been harder on you than on anyone else, hasn't it? You shouldn't be by yourself." He put a hand on Fear's shoulder to help him stand up, and once he was on his feet again, he brushed the little girl's tumbled hair out of her eyes and kissed her on the forehead.

"Now. Tell me everything, my dear, and we'll see what we can do."

She updated him in hushed whispers, looking over her shoulder at Anger and Disgust, who were still at the console. Soon, however, Sadness's eyes unfocused; he began following the actions on the viewscreen with an intensity that was typical of him, the same intensity Fear remembered from when the Hansen family had first left Earth. Sadness had memorized every line of their Aunt Irene's face, and every square meter of their house and garden on Earth. What was he thinking about now?

"Look," he whispered. "That woman. Doesn't she remind you of someone?"

Fear looked hard at Captain Janeway. Their captor, regardless of personal safety, had taken down the force field and entered the cell. She was speaking calmly and quietly – surprisingly so, after the way Seven had been shouting – and holding out a photograph. It showed them Annika, smiling in the sunshine, just as she appeared in Joy's finest memories.

"Who was that little girl?" asked the Starfleet officer, regarding Seven – and the viewscreen – with compassionate blue eyes. "Who were her parents? What was her favorite color?"

Anger and Disgust directed their host to knock the photograph out of the other woman's hand and continue the fight, but Fear and Sadness were fascinated.

"She reminds me of you, Sadness," said Fear, without thinking.

"She reminds me of our mother," said Sadness softly.

"What? Mama didn't lock us up!"

"She sent us to our room sometimes when we were bad," the man pointed out. "Think of it. Seven of Nine tried to assimilate Voyager. The Captain could have killed us for that, and look at her, trying to save us instead. She wants the same thing we want – for our girl to be herself again."

"But what can we do?" asked Fear, bouncing anxiously on her toes.

Sadness's blue eyes narrowed with quiet determination. Instead of answering, he strode over to the Core Memory Center and knelt down beside it. The darkness that covered the core memories was a thick layer of dust and nanoprobes. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and began to wipe them.

"What are you doing?" Fear scurried after him.

"Memories," he said. "Janeway's questions – she's trying to activate our core memories. That's what we need to do."

"Oh!" Fear gasped with sudden comprehension.

She used the edge of her dress to help, but the dust was thick and caked on after so many years, and the nanoprobes crawled up her arms so repulsively that she screamed and batted them away.

"I can't do it!" Sadness threw his handkerchief down onto the floor and rubbed his forehead. "It's no use. We're not strong enough. We need Joy."

"Joy?" Fear was skeptical. "Are you sure?" Joy was certainly fun to be around, but would that help in a crisis like this?"

"If we ever want to bring our Annika back, it will take all five of us," said Sadness gravely. "Trust me. I know."