=/\=

The forest is a beautiful place. The sun is warm, but a fresh, gentle breeze is keeping her cool. Refreshed. The air that lifts the tendrils of hair around her face and neck carries with it the scent of leaves and grasses, overlain by a sweet floral essence. This is a natural world, soothing to the spirit. It seems familiar in a way a she cannot explain. Has she ever been here before? Unlikely.

When she hears voices coming from behind, she turns. Three alien beings are walking on a path, headed in her direction. They're chatting and laughing over something one of them just said. Another says goodbye . . . and he disappears into thin air!

She hears another voice. Warm, male. Shockingly, he calls out to her by name: "Annika!"

She turns around. He reaches out for her . . .

=/\=

Seven opened her eyes with a start. She was standing in her alcove in Cargo Bay Two, or what the Borg children preferred to call "Borg Central." The children had a full schedule of activities planned for today. They wouldn't be back until later, when it was time for them to regenerate. Then it would be their turn to occupy the alcoves. She was alone for now; she was supposed to be regenerating.

She remembered why she'd been so startled. The images - the smells - the sun on her face - the man who'd just called her by name - this couldn't have ever happened to her before. What was going on?

Seven of Nine was never easily intimidated, but this was profoundly disturbing. Jumping off the platform, Seven ran to Sickbay to seek help. Something must be wrong with her cortical array. She needed it fixed. The Doctor would help her - she hoped.

=/\=

"Another milestone. You've had your first dream!" the Doctor exclaimed excitedly.

"I felt awake," Seven said sourly.

"Dreams can often seem quite real," the Doctor explained. He asked her to describe the forest.

After she shared her perceptions, the Doctor suggested that Seven's dream would give them a glimpse into her unconscious mind. He was eager to attach symbolic meaning to the images, particularly that of the young man. "The mysterious stranger, for example - is he a father figure? Or does he represent a repressed desire for male companionship?"

Bringing up father figures was exactly the wrong thing for the Doctor to say in her disquieted state. "I don't wish to dream again! Please repair my cortical array!"

"This isn't a malfunction, Seven," he reassured her. "It's a natural step in your human development." Handing her a small cortical recording device to record her REM cycles, the Doctor eased her out of Sickbay to return to her alcove and complete regeneration.

And perchance to dream.

=/\=

Once she'd attached the REM monitor to her neck, Seven nervously stepped back into her alcove. While the Doctor might be eager for her to experience another dream, Seven would rather not. However, her regeneration cycle had ended prematurely, and she required the energy it provided if she was to perform her duties in an efficient manner. She would heed the Doctor's directions, but she hoped her cycle would proceed as it normally did.

=/\=

Seven opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by mist-filled darkness. Despite the change in scenery, she was certain this was the same forest where she'd just been. This time, the air was cool, almost chilly, and the odors were of moss and damp vegetation.

She turned slightly. A face loomed out of the darkness. A Klingon face.

Seven turned the other way and ran as fast as she could down the path. Her flight was blocked by a man stepping in front of her. Despite the dim lighting, she could see it was the same man who had called her by her birth name the first time was here. "Come with me," he said, holding her gently by the shoulders.

She could feel his touch, but she didn't want to believe she was here. "I'm regenerating," she insisted. "This is only a dream."

"You're not dreaming," he replied. "I brought you here. This is Unimatrix Zero."

=/\=

They walked side by side down the forest path. "There is no Unimatrix Zero," she said firmly. "Who are you?"

"Five of Twelve, Secondary Adjunct of Trimatrix Nine Four Two. But when I'm here, my name is Axum."

She repeated his name. It felt like something she'd said before, many times.

"Sound familiar?" he asked, and she had to admit it did. "Good. It's starting to come back to you."

Before either of them could say anything else, they heard the voice of a young boy. They turned to see him reaching out to them. "I think I'm lost."

Axum introduced himself and Annika to the boy. His casual use of her human name brought a pang of discomfort. Since the last confrontation with the Borg, when she learned how her father had put her in harm's way, she'd understood why she'd developed such an aversion to that name. Still, as they walked along and the boy described an attack by men who looked like machines, Seven decided that when Axum said it, it didn't disturb her as it did when others called her that.

When they reached the end of the path, they were in a clearing perched high above a tranquil bay. The view of the area below revealed dozens of glowing encampments. Axum described Unimatrix Zero, a virtual construct, where some of those who'd been assimilated by the Borg came while they regenerated. "When we're here, our thoughts are our own. You used to come here, before you escaped the Collective. You have the recessive mutation, too. Don't you remember any of it?"

She said she didn't, although in the back of her mind, she knew she would be able to recall coming here if she tried. She had been here before. The details were fuzzy, but yes, Seven of Nine must have come here while she was a drone. "Why did you bring me here now?"

"The Collective has found a way to detect us," he explained. "They've managed to identify and deactivate nearly two hundred of us over the last few months. It's only a matter of time before they find enough of us to isolate the interlink frequency. Once they've done that . . . " He sighed. "You can help us stop them."

"Clarify," she said.

"We've designed a nanovirus that should mask the biochemical signature of the mutation, but we need someone to release it into the Collective."

"You're already on a Borg vessel. Why don't you do it?"

"When we've completed our regeneration cycles we have no memory of this place. But you're not a part of the Collective anymore." You're our only connection to the real world."

The "real" world. Something about that phrase struck a chord in her memory. She'd said the words on Voyager from time to time, but they'd never had the resonance there that it had when Axum whispered into her ear. Or maybe it was the whispering in the ear part that resonated.

Whichever it was, Seven knew, without question, that he was telling her the truth. She trusted him, even though she was dismayed she had no clear image of him, apart from the here and now. She wondered if this could be significant. She couldn't deny that sense that she should remember. She fought to suppress it, fearing what complete recall of her years as a Borg might reveal. It might be better if the secret of Unimatrix Zero should remain shut away in her memory. She suspected that recalling it might bring her as much pain as pleasure.

=/\=

Axum brought Seven to an encampment, consisting of airy, brightly lit tents, located in the middle of a forest clearing. They sat down on a bench (without Seven feeling pain, as she usually did whenever she sat on a hard surface). When an alien materialized, some of the people there called out "Siral." When Seven was surprised she recognized him, Axum said he was her friend.

And she recognized someone else, too. "I told you not to bring her here!" the Klingon who'd confronted her upon her arrival growled.

"We can't do this by ourselves," Axum answered back.

"It's too great a risk!"

"We don't have a choice."

"You do not speak for all of us," the warrior said, glaring at Axum.

"What would you rather do? Have us wait until we're all discovered? You disappoint me. Where's your warrior spirit?"

The Klingon snarled, "P'tak! I'll rip your heart out."

"Go ahead. Kill me," Axum replied. "I'll be back when I begin my next regeneration cycle. You can't stop me, Korok."

Korok turned to Seven. "If you come here again, you'll be putting your Starship at risk - and all of us as well."

"Shouldn't you be off sharpening your teeth?" A woman said, as she entered the clearing. Korok growled as he retreated.

"I know you! Your name is Laura. You're human."

Laura, who was assimilated at Wolf 359, told Seven her cybernetic implants make her look out of place in Unimatrix Zero. Seven had always considered her appearance irrelevant, but Axum disagreed. "No, it's not. They may have turned us into drones, but they can't change the essence of who we are." He paused. "My cycle is about to end. Talk to your captain. We can't do this without . . ." In the middle of a sentence, he was gone.

Seven spent a few minutes talking with Laura before returning to Voyager. She felt the same familiarity with her that she did with Axum. Laura was eager to find out how her friend Annika had fared on Captain Janeway's ship. "When you told us you were ordered onto Voyager to convince the captain to join in the fight against Species 8472, we were all worried, until we heard you were alive. Did you encounter any member of Species 8472 on that ship?"

Seven immediately thought of the one who' d been badly wounded and simply wanted to go back home to die. Without Captain Janeway's permission, she'd transported him to a Hirogen ship. She assumed the hunter had killed him and taken his body parts as trophies. That act bothered her now, and she chose not to tell Laura that story. It was easier to relate the discovery of the Space Station "listening post." Although she hadn't gone down to the station, she had seen the Boothby, Valerie Archer, and Admiral Bulloch replicants when they came to Voyager to confer with the captain. "But I stayed out of their way. I wasn't sure what they'd do to a Borg, even though I was no longer part of the Collective. The captain said the 'Boothby' looked and sounded exactly like the man she knew on Earth. They've been spying on what they call 'Dry Space' people. They're able to change their appearance to mimic just about anyone."

"I don't think they'll be able to infiltrate us in Unimatrix Zero. How would they get here? And I can't see them pretending to be Borg to spy on the Collective."

"I doubt that, too," Seven agreed, amused at the very thought.

Seven shared that Voyager now had contact with the Alpha Quadrant. "Even though it's only possible once a month, the crew has been grateful this form of communication exists. Their families know they're alive." Laura asked Seven if she had any family in the Alpha Quadrant. "None that I remember," Seven replied. "My parents and I were assimilated at the same time."

"I know." Laura's knowledge startled Seven, but then she realized it was another indication that she had been here before.

"I'd better get back," Seven said, and got up off the bench. Just before she left, Seven asked Laura, "Do Korok and Axum challenge each other like that very often?"

Laura laughed. "No. Actually, they're good friends. All four of us were, for a very long time. The disappearances are spooking all of us, I guess, not that Korok would admit it. You know Klingons."

"I know half of one," Seven remarked.

Laura stared at her and smiled quizzically. Perhaps she thought Seven was joking, but her expression quickly sobered. "I'm sure Korok would like to fight, but he doesn't know how. This isn't the kind of enemy you can battle with knives and swords. He'd be more willing to go along with us if he could swing a bat'leth at an enemy. But how can you defend yourself against the possibility that someday, you'll simply disappear?"

=/\=