With a gasp and a cough, Janeway bolted upright.

"Oh, thank the Spirits," she heard Chakotay say.

As her breathing evened, her vision cleared, and she realized she was in Sickbay.

"What happened?" she asked.

"B'Elanna found you in a turbolift, unconscious," Chakotay told her. "You must have collapsed on your way back to your quarters."

"I never made it to my quarters?"

"No."

Kathryn took a moment to digest this information.

"Kathryn, what's going on with you?" Chakotay asked, rubbing her shoulder sympathetically. "And don't tell me you're fine."

Kathryn rubbed her hands over her face. "I wish I knew," she said, her voice trembling.

Chakotay pulled her close. "Tell me everything."

Just then the Doctor came out of his office. "Ah, Captain, you're awake. I was getting concerned."

"How long was I out?"

"Almost four hours."

The Doctor approached with his tricorder at the ready and began to scan her. As he moved over her left side, a frown creased his face and he scanned more slowly. "Hm."

"What is it?" Chakotay asked.

"I think we have a slight problem," the Doctor said. He moved around to Janeway's left side and lifted the sleeve of her jacket.

The silver snake was wrapped tightly around her wrist, and her hand was a deep blue.

"We have to consider the possibility that the aliens at the Sanctuary knew about this entity and intentionally inflicted it upon the Captain," Tuvok said.

The senior staff had gathered in sickbay to discuss what Janeway told them about the snake-like entity.

"But why would they do that?" Harry asked. "They seemed so nice and peaceful."

"Perhaps it's a ploy to take over the ship by incapacitating the crew, one by one," Neelix suggested.

"Whatever their reasons, our most immediate problem is how to remove this… thing from the Captain's arm," the Doctor said. "As we've already seen, my laser scalpel can't cut through it and I'm hesitant to use a phaser that close to the Captain's skin. But if we don't do something soon, she may end up losing that hand.

"Actually," he said, a sudden look of inspiration on his face, "that might be a viable solution. I can surgically remove the hand to try and get the device off and then reattach—"

"No!" Janeway said sharply. "Let's try something a little less drastic first," she added. "I'd like to keep my limbs where they are for now.

"Tom, go set a course back to that planet. That's where all this started, I think we can find out how to end it there."

Tom nodded and left the room.

"In the meantime I'd like continuous…" Her voice trailed off.

"… Captain?" Chakotay prompted her.

"Uh, continuous internal sensor sweeps." Janeway continued to stare into the middle distance, past the gathered officers.

Chakotay touched her shoulder and she jumped.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

Janeway hesitated. "Do you see anything… odd… in the room?" she asked eventually.

Everyone glanced around. "No." Chakotay said. "What do you see?"

"I see all of you," Janeway said, "and I see a black mist. Right over there." She gestured to the far side of the room, towards the ceiling.

The Doctor came over and scanned her. "It's worse than I thought. You're hallucinating."

"Can you stop the hallucinations?" Janeway asked.

"Not without knowing what's causing them," the Doctor replied.

"What if it's not an hallucination?" Harry suggested. Everyone turned towards him. "What if this snake… thing… is real?"

"I think I like that idea even less than the idea that I'm hallucinating the whole thing," Janeway said. "Mental illness I can deal with. Ghost snakes I don't want to get started with."

A sudden stabbing pain lanced through her left arm and she winced. The snake had coiled even tighter around her, digging into her flesh sharply.

"Whatever it is we're dealing with," she said, "I think we're running out of time."