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Stardate 51367
Most of our crew thought our visit to the world of the Mari was a pleasant interlude, when compared to what we've gone through recently with other races. Everyone's attitude changed after Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres was convicted of "aggravated violent thought resulting in grave bodily harm." When she was roughly shoved by one of the Mari, a desire to retaliate briefly crossed her mind, but she never acted on that thought and proceeded on her way. Later, when a lovely young woman named Talli was killed, the telepathic Mari blamed B'Elanna, even though she was in custody because of an earlier physical assault which they claimed was her fault. She shouldn't have been held responsible for that one, either.
The prescribed sentence for violent thought is to have the violent images purged through the use of an engramatic probe device. Nimira, the Mari's Chief Examiner, admitted there was a risk of some neurological damage, but she didn't think it would be "significant." B'Elanna is a blend of two races, neither of which the Mari had encountered before. How could Nimira know what the outcome of this procedure would be? B'Elanna's brain structure, like mine, is more complicated than most because of hybridization. They couldn't predict how the probe would affect B'Elanna.
Dad filed a diplomatic protest because he knew B'Elanna had done nothing wrong. Father, as Voyager's Senior Tactical and Security Officer, investigated and discovered her angry reaction to being bumped had been provoked by criminals who intended to steal any thoughts of violent retaliation. A gang was involved who purveyed this sort of titillating imagery, which many of the telepathic Mari long to experience vicariously. They were operating beneath the noses of their leaders, who were totally unaware this sort of trafficking existed. After Father revealed the criminals' activities, the Mari leaders had to grapple with a way to deal with the dark side of their "ideal," supposedly non-violent society. Nimira had been one of the last security officers of the Mari; but just before Voyager left orbit, we learned the Mari were reestablishing their security force in order to deal with criminals such as those who had so misused Lieutenant Torres.
Even before the incident with Lieutenant Torres created such an uproar, I didn't consider our visit to the Mari particularly pleasant. Tom and I went down to the planet during one of the first shore leave opportunities. Tom wanted to buy a present for B'Elanna. While he was in the marketplace buying something so personal, he didn't want me to see it, I wandered around, taking in the local scene. One man jostled and then glared at me. I apologized to him for the accident, although his body language suggested he expected me to react differently. Later, I realized I was the victim of the same sort of attack suffered by Lieutenant Torres; but since I didn't respond in the way the assailant hoped, there weren't any violent thoughts he could steal from me.
I spoke about this to Father just before making this log entry. He agrees my logic is sound. Then he asked me if I had been able to hear any of the Mari, who prefer to communicate telepathically. I confessed I never had. His brow furrowed in that way he has when his equilibrium has been disturbed. I asked him if he had been able to communicate with them without the use of verbal speech. He said he had.
Despite a year and a half of diligent practice, I've been unable to learn the Vulcan mind meld technique. I reconciled myself to this lack some time ago. It now seems likely I have no capacity to be telepathic in any way. I must be more like Dad than Father in this regard. I will continue practicing meditation, however. Telepathy is not required for that discipline, and I find it helps center me when "too much Talaxian" begins to interfere with my ability to function logically. Perhaps I'm worrying needlessly, but if this limitation is real, as I'm now relatively certain it is, I must learn to accept it.
I'm disappointed I cannot please Father by becoming accomplished in all facets of Vulcan mental life, but it is what it is. That's a very useful human phrase I've learned from Tom and Harry, who say it often when they encounter something they know they'll be unable to change. Not being telepathic isn't so terrible. None of the humans, Bolians, Bajorans, or our half-Klingon are telepathic, any more than Dad and I are. In that aspect, I'm just one of the gang.
Now that I've seen how troublesome the Mari's telepathic abilities can be, I think I might be glad that I don't seem to have the capacity for it.
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Stardate 51370
Dad is taking the death of Talli very hard. Until Tom told me about the date they'd made to spend time together that afternoon, right after she closed up her fruit and vegetable stand, I had no idea Dad had been on the verge of becoming romantically involved with her. He'd been standing nearby, waiting for her to be free. That's why he witnessed her murder.
Dad hasn't been involved with anyone in a romantic way since his breakup with Kes. Seeing Talli stabbed to death right in front of him - by a very elderly woman, no less - was excruciatingly painful. He denies he's depressed by what happened, but I can see the signs. I can't really blame him for feeling terrible about what he saw. A bright young life was snuffed out because the Mari have turned the very thought of a violent act into forbidden fruit, thereby driving it underground.
Countless examples of the futility of prohibitions like this have been documented on many worlds. Whenever something is forbidden, it entices a criminal element, such as Guill, Frane, and their thugs, to find a way to take advantage of those who wish to experience it. Guill's gang hadn't anticipated that the purveying of thoughts of violence might prod others into thoughtlessly copying what they'd seen in the illicit images they'd sold them. That's what they claimed after they were caught, of course. Since Frane committed an assault on B'Elanna to capture her thoughts about retaliating, the gang was hardly oblivious to their culpability.
Some acts must be forbidden. Murder, assault, theft: there is a whole list of crimes that have one factor in common: a person is harmed, sometimes fatally, by another's actions.
Perhaps the Mari need to learn to mitigate any violent thoughts their telepathic senses pick up, rather than expect to extinguish them entirely. It's a sad fact that conjuring up violent images can be addictive. But wouldn't it be better to develop the self-control necessary to avoid luxuriating in or reenacting such thoughts? Instead, the Mari have deluded themselves into thinking they've banished them from their citizens minds, and express shock and blame a visitor whenever violent thoughts explode from their people in a brutal, even murderous way.
When the Mari use their engramatic purge machine on someone's brain, I very much doubt the violent images have been totally excised, as Nimira claimed. They're only buried deeper, where they can fester and become even more damaging. Guill had previously been convicted of violent thoughts on several occasions and treated by the probe. If he truly had been "cured," why would he be drawn towards participating in his criminal acts again?
Father was able to halt B'Elanna's procedure only a few minutes after it began, when he identified the true culprits and presented them to the Chief Examiner. A few violent engrams were removed, but, as B'Elanna said with good humor afterwards, she still has plenty more where they came from. Her brain wasn't damaged, so she's rather philosophical about the experience.
Talli can't be philosophical about it. She's dead.
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