"Extending your boundaries?" Seven asked back in surprise.

Zimt nodded seriously.

"What kind of boundaries do yo want to extend?"

"I always wanted to be a Borg" Zimt avoided the direct answer. This chimeric life was my goal, since I have learned about you. I have no other tools to extent my abilities."

"Why?" Seven insisted. "You are smart, talented, hard-working… You are whole, you are perfect in a way you are. You don't need to be more!"

"I want to be more!" Zimt said vehemently.

"Why don't you simply enjoy your life? It is worth to be happy in life! Being Borg is nothing, but dangerous. The constant fight will eat up your heart, your whole life! YYou can't even be yourself, let alone more than yourself!"

"What do you mean?" the young woman asked confused.

Seven was in silence for a while. Zimt didn't see her face, because of the dimmed lights, but felt her struggles. Her breathing was erratic, her body was stiff. Zimt felt that, when she caressed her hair.

"Tell me, please!" She asked gently.

Those three quiet words finally broke through the barrier in Seven's soul. She started talking. Slowly, stammering at first, and then flowing, all the bitter memories poured out of her. Seven told Zimt a lot about her experiences, her assimilation, her violent rescue from the collective, about the behavior of the human race, and didn't miss Icheb's and Elle's death.

"Being Borg in the territory of the Federation is fatal" she warned her finally.

"I don't mind!" the young woman smiled. "I could stay in the Delta quadrant! It is our destination anyway. Let me be Borg! Please! "

Seven run out of ideas to convince the young woman that being Borg at her own will was a terrible way to destroy her life. She also knew, she couldn't dissuade the young woman from joining the Borg.

"...and what would you do alone in an unknown space?" she asked her with heavy heart.

"Alone?" she asked back in surprise. "Would you like to stay there with me?"

"Stay with you?" Seven asked, frowned. Elle's disappearance took her mind off, as she had never considered returning to the Delta Quadrant before.

"Yes" Zimt answered happily, carelessly. "If the territory of the Federation is not good for us, let's find another place to live!"

"Another place…"

"Another place. A safer one, a happier one."

Seven suddenly gasped at the bold idea. She never thought about creating a new world where she could live happily as a Borg. Her life has always been about continuous struggle. How nice it would be to relax, watch the sunset peacefully in someone's arms, and not wake up ready for a battle raid!

But this was all dreams.

In a reality, it could never happen. The Borg are not liked in the Delta Quadrant either.

"You can't build a new world alone" she said sadly.

"I won't be alone, if you join me!" the optimistic answer came instantly. "Then there will be two of us. I bet, we will find more Borgs to join us, and we could build a new world for all of us!"

"It is impossible. Everyone hates the Borg. Even in the Delta Quadrant."

"Don't be so pessimistic!" Zimt laughed softly. "No one could colonize the entire Borg space in such a short period of time. We're sure to find a planet that fits our requirements. So the possibilities are endless!"

Seven stayed silent for a while. The offer, Zimt gave her, would be perfect for raising her daughter. But she had find her before.

"So, do you assimilate me?" Zimt asked, waiting for her decision excitedly.

"Let's sleep before I decide about it, okay?"

"That's what I exactly expect from you" an angry voice came from the doctor's office. Beverly came to the biobed, with a hypospray in her hand. "Show me your necks, and sleep. It is an order. If you don't comply, I will lock you in your cabins. Separately."

The Borg and the soon-to-be Borg obediently let Beverly to inject sedatives into their necks. Zimt curled up, and snuggled up to Seven. In a minute they both were sleeping peacefully.

"Do you want a dose too, Admiral?" Beverly turned to Kathryn Janeway.

"No, thank you. I don't think you can make me forget what I did, with a simple dose of sedative" the weak answer came from the old woman.

Beverly sighed. Today everyone was struggling with mental problems. She, or the Admiral would really needed Deanna's expertise. But the doctor still couldn't drag the still-weak betazoid out of bed in the middle of the night.

"What did you do?" she asked finally in professional voice, and hoped, the Admiral would be able to tell her.

"You have heard all of that, haven't you?" Kathryn Janeway replied in sad voice.

"I have heard" Beverly nodded. "Now that you know everything, would you do anything differently?"

"I wouldn't let go of her hand and go with her wherever she took me. But time travel is forbidden."

"Would you try it?" Beverly asked in disbelief of the tone of the Admiral's voice. Kathryn Janeway was speaking about time travel as a viable possibility.

"I would, if I have a chance to save her from the cruel life she lived. But I was strictly warned not to do so. I...I just wish to meet a temporal agent, and ask him or her to give Seven a more happier life. In that case, my daughter would not be assimilated either, and life would go on peacefully."

"I am afraid, that is also not possible. The war between the Federation and the Borg seems to be unavoidable."

"Yes, of course" the Admiral sighed. "The Borg is unacceptable for the Federation."

The two old mother sighed. Both of them were thinking about their children. The Admiral were thinking about the communication of the Federation in the last twenty years, and she could clearly see, how they manipulated the young ones to turn against the Borg. Beverly Crusher was right. The war between the Federation and the weakened Borg was determined. The operations were already in progress. There was no place in the galaxy for the likes of Seven and Amelia.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway's daughter was doomed to die.