It was too strange to be a coincidence. Almost every close member of the crew to Tom Paris had heard his voice when asked. And some had seen him in a dark cage, shivering and desperately crying out, "I'm not dead!"
Too strange, in fact, for even a practical woman like Janeway to dismiss. Tom's funeral was postponed and his body beamed back to sickbay. A more direct searching probe of his brain would provide answers, Janeway was sure.
And she was correct.
"At first glance, there is no brain activity. The body is not functioning. But I ran a more extensive probe and found the barest of brain activity. Logically, Tom Paris is dead; he died yesterday at 0700 hours. But technically, he is alive. I have Mr. Paris connected to the biobed. What he is like now constitutes, loosely, into a coma. What to do to get him out of it, I have no idea," the Doctor summarized in sickbay, hovering near the prone Paris.
Janeway pursed her lips. "What about the cueproan?"
The Doctor grew even graver. "The news there is odd. I would like to examine Seven once more before I present my theory."
Janeway nodded. "Do it. Meanwhile, I'm going to go comfort Neelix. He hasn't cooked anything since he found out something that he concocted caused this. Contact me the moment you know anything." She strode out of sickbay and managed to catch the turbolift alone. Once inside, she leaned her head against the padded walls.
Thank you, Captain.
She jerked her head up. There was Tom's voice again. Was her imagination conjuring it, or something else? Or was it really him? The Doctor had said the only activity showing Tom was, in a sense, alive was that margin of brain activity. Could the voice be Tom?
Her vision misted and she was suddenly thrust into a dark room. Immediately, she concentrated on noises and sounds around her, crouching in a reflexive gesture.
"Captain? Is that you?"
Janeway relaxed at Tom's actual voice, though only marginally. "Tom? Where are we?"
Abruptly, the room brightened and she could see an apparently washed out and huddled Tom Paris in a cage with no doors. He was sorely abused, bruises and cuts visible through his torn uniform jacket and pants.
She kept her eyes and mind alert for danger while she approached Tom. He didn't even seem to see her. Cautiously, she knelt on the outside of the cage, so close to Tom that she could see that he was indeed faded in color and outline.
"Tom?" She prompted.
He jumped, clearly not expecting her to be so close. "Captain," he began. His voice broke over unshed tears. "I can't see. I don't know where I am, only that I can't get out and it can get in." As he said 'it', he shivered.
Janeway sensed that his reaction was important. "Tom," she said gently. "'It'? What does 'it' do to you?"
He grabbed the bars of the cage blindly and turned sightless blue eyes to rest near hers. He took a deep breath. "It drains me. But I'm not me, I'm in my mind—my 'self', I think. I've had a lot of time to think lately. It throws me around to get my adrenaline high, then it drains some of my energy. It never takes all. It allows me to gain some of it back, and then it does it again. Captain, you've got to get me out of here."
She held her breath for a moment, thinking. "We're working on that, Tom. We've got your body in stasis, ready for when we can get you back. Don't lose hope, Tom. I think that might also be a big part of this."
Tom nodded, his expression one of determination. "It took me so long to get you to hear me but I knew you'd have a plan of action, Captain. I knew it."
Janeway's curiosity was aroused. "Have you been speaking to B'Elanna, Tuvok, and Harry? Why not Chakotay?"
Tom adamantly shook his head. "No, not Chakotay. It wants that. It will transfer, somehow, to Chakotay's mind if I try to communicate with him. It is becoming more powerful. Hurry, Captain. I don't think there's much time left."
And then Janeway found herself standing in the turbolift, staring blankly at the open doors and the galley outside of it. Her mind raced. Neelix would have to wait. She was needed in sickbay now.
"Tom's alive and imprisoned in his mind? We're not going crazy?" B'Elanna whispered, unbelieving. She yearned to hear the Captain's next words.
"That's right. He's counting on us to help him and that's what we've got to do," Janeway said firmly.
Tuvok frowned, just a little. "That would explain certain aspects of this situation. Only, why can he not see?"
"I believe Commander Chakotay and I can answer that," the Doctor intervened. "If you'll come over here?"
Janeway, Torres, Tuvok, and Kim joined Chakotay and the Doctor at a monitor. Seven was laying on the other biobed again to help show them something the Doctor had found.
"This is a diagram of Seven's cancer as it was only twenty-four hours previous," the Doctor said, pointing at the huge two blobs of cancer in the diagram of Seven's right arm and brain.
"And here it is as it looks now…"
B'Elanna expected to see an all-consuming fiend. The absence of either cancer blot astounded the gathered group.
B'Elanna folded her arms. "So this means…?"
Seven sat up, gingerly, and explained. "The cueproan transferred completely from my brain to Tom Paris'. The Doctor believes this was right before Mr. Paris' body almost ceased to function."
Chakotay shot B'Elanna a warning look, which she ignored. She was furious.
"So what you mean to say is that, somehow, your brain resisted and Tom's didn't. You killed him," B'Elanna said flatly. She loved Tom more than she cared to admit and the ex-Borg's attitude was unnerving to her.
Seven met her angry gaze, unafraid. "In a sense, correct."
The Doctor hurriedly stepped in before B'Elanna could say anything more. "There's more. I've listened to all of your stories of visiting a dark room with Mr. Paris in a cage and I believe I understand what it symbolizes." He paused, waiting to gain B'Elanna's complete attention. Once she reluctantly turned away from an unwavering Seven of Nine, he continued, punching up the recent scan of Tom's body. The twin black masses were festering and huge.
"When Mr. Paris told the Captain that he couldn't risk communicating mentally with Commander Chakotay, I believe that what he was trying to say was that if the cueproan sensed a certain type of mind, it would mentally transfer into the new host. Now, I still have some theories but I'll let Captain Janeway go first."
B'Elanna hid a snarl. She wanted to do something to save Tom now. Instead, she focused on the Captain.
Janeway was standing near Tom's body, messing with the controls. She finished, double-checked her handiwork, then stepped back to a safe distance. She fiddled with another console and a force field went up around Tom's biobed.
B'Elanna started forward, dropping her hands, about to protest, when Janeway began to explain what she was doing.
"I have a theory of my own on how much oxygen Tom will need in order to come around. I believe that if I increase the oxygen level slowly, Tom will be freed from his 'cage'. The 'cage' he is in is asphyxiation; once his body stopped breathing, he couldn't go back. Now, all we do is watch. Except for the Doctor," she nodded at the Doctor and he was suddenly behind the force field beside Tom's body.
The Doctor observed the biobed consoles as B'Elanna strode as far forward as she could eagerly. After a few minutes, he nodded to the Captain and she fed more oxygen in. Then more. Then past what a normal human could stand, obviously answering the unspoken question of why they couldn't help inside the force field.
B'Elanna crossed her arms again to keep from wringing her hands as she waited anxiously. Everyone was silent, waiting, their eyes glued to Tom's body.
Until Tom took a shuddering cough. Just one, at first. Then another, spaced out in a long heartbeat. Then another, until he began to inhale normally.
The Doctor waited a few moments more, then motioned for the Captain to slowly lower the oxygen to human levels. Once the force field was down, B'Elanna was at Tom's side.
"Talk to him, B'Elanna," Janeway urged.
The Doctor agreed. "It might help bring him around quicker."
Feeling all eyes on her, B'Elanna leaned over Tom. His breaths were shallow and that worried her. Was he truly back? Was it best to bring him from his oblivion? Oh, but she wanted to hear him argue with her!
"Tom?" She began tentatively. "Tom, come on. Follow my voice. Tom, come back to me. Come on. Tom…" She trailed off as his eyelids flickered and quivered.
Chakotay picked up where she had left off. "Tom? Come on, Tom…"
And suddenly everyone gathered there—even Seven and Tuvok—were urging Tom to open his eyes and regain consciousness.
Tom opened his eyes with a suddenness that startled B'Elanna. He gazed, unseeing, at the bulkheads. Weakly, he moistened his very dry lips. "'Lanna?" He croaked.
B'Elanna suppressed a shriek of joy and in its place smothered Tom's dry lips in a fiery kiss. They only parted with Chakotay cleared his throat from behind them.
Janeway was grinning. "Welcome back, Tom. How does it feel?"
Tom was silent a moment. Then he said quietly, "I still can't see. Why can I not see?"
The Doctor poked at the console of the biobed some more before answering. "The cueproan is so large in your brain that I'm afraid the pressure against your eyes, in a sense, shut them down."
Seven of Nine approached the Doctor, making a wide berth around B'Elanna. "Do you mean to say he's blind?"
Sadly, the Doctor nodded. He turned to Tom. "Do you feel like sitting up, Mr. Paris?"
Tom cracked a lopsided grin. "Would I ever!"
Without another word, the metal wings of the biobed sank back down into the bed. Tom wiggled his fingers and toes, not saying anything, but obviously happy. At a nod from the Doctor, B'Elanna and Chakotay helped Tom to sit up. His muscles were weak from lack of use so he leaned on B'Elanna for support.
"Captain?" Tom asked, turning his head, not certain where the Captain was.
"Right here, Tom," she answered, coming around in front of him so he could find her easier.
Tom cleared his throat. "Thank you, Captain. I…"
Janeway placed her hand over his mouth, a surprisingly mother-like gesture. "It's nothing, Tom. What wouldn't a captain do for her crew? Especially one as unusual as you?" Janeway smiled, although Tom couldn't see it. "And life is too dull on this ship without you," she teased.
Tom grinned. "Yeah, I guess so."
"Mr. Paris," Tuvok said. "Let me be the first to tell you of our somewhat awkward plight." He raised a reproving eyebrow in the group's general direction. "We would love to stay and talk but the Borg have placed a time limit on how long we can stay in hiding."
Tom sucked in a breath. "The Borg?"
Seven nodded, forgetting for a moment that Tom was blind. "Correct. We are in orbit around an M-class planet…"
"…the same planet that houses the cueproan, the parasite inside of you," Chakotay jumped in. And suddenly everyone was filling Tom in on what had transpired since he was unconscious.
B'Elanna herself grew confused as to what had happened after a moment, and she had been on the bridge. "Enough!" She and Captain Janeway chorused. They glanced at each other in surprise. B'Elanna held Tom's hand and let the Captain finish the tale. When the captain was through, Harry walked up to Tom.
"Hey, Tom, sorry I didn't get the hint earlier. I was going to follow through on your directions but that's when the Borg decided to pop in," he apologized.
Tom chuckled. "That's okay. I just kept thinking of people to try until one of them understood and talked with me. I'm still not sure how I did what I did."
"Do not underestimate the powers of your mind, Lieutenant Paris," Tuvok intoned solemnly.
Before Tom could answer, his stomach growled. He laughed. "Is it safe to eat, Doc? I'm starved."
The Doctor smiled in return. "As well you should be. You've been a complete cycle without food. I'll have Neelix bring you up some tomato soup, if you like."
Tom nodded eagerly. "Oh yeah!"
"And we, people," Janeway interrupted the conversations that had started up around Tom, "need to come up with a plan of action. The Borg are still out there. They'll find us soon. We need to have something to throw back at them. Let's let Tom get fed and rested, then we can drop in on him later and say our hellos."
Chakotay echoed her, "Let's get to work."