Subplot:

Holo Soul.

Series:

• Star Trek, Voyager.

Summary:

Life comes in many forms. The principle of the Federation is to embrace all of them. But sometimes, even they fall short. It just took realizing the value of Tuvix's life, to be open to the notion of other definitions.

CHAPTER.

Captain Janeway sighed as she stood in the medical bay. Security guards standing around the operating table. In case the patient tried to run again. "Please don't make this more difficult Doctor."

"I took an oath, Captain," the Doctor glared, "Do no harm. I will not condemn this man to death, not even to save the lives of two others."

Tuvix looked stunned at the Doctor. A man, who he was sure didn't like him, was the only one speaking for his life.

Tuvix was the result of a transporter accident between two crewmen, A Vulcan named Tuvok and a Talaxian (a native species to this Quadrant) named Neelix. At first, that is all he thought of the incident. A transporter accident, something that needed to be corrected. He was even looking forward to being separated back into the two individuals... but as time went on... he began to think of himself as more. He had his own conciousness, his own desires... his own soul.

Well yes, he was a mix of both men, he became his own man. And what was any man, but a combination of their parents.

That was how Tuvix came to think of the two men he was created from. They were his parents... but not himself. He was an entirely new entity... So when the Doctor told him he found a way to separate the new lifeform into it's original parts... he refused, politely at first. But the Captain kept pushing, trying to reason with him to let them murder him. They talked back and forth about it for days. Until she took choice out of the matter.

"Your a Holographic projection, Doctor." Janeway groaned, "You never actually took an oath of any kind."

The Emergency Medical Hologram, or EMH as his species was classified, continued to glared, "Never the less, it is heavily engrained in my program. I can assure you, if you attempt to alter that, the last thing this ship needs is an Artificial Intelligence that doesn't value Sapient life!"

Janeway gaped, "I never even considered reprogramming you."

"Why not?" The Doctor stared her down, "You have no issue asking me to commit murder. Why would you hesitate to kill a being you barely acknowledge as self aware!" He didn't really ask.

Janeway sighed, "Doctor... I feel bad enough about this."

"Clearly not! Or you would never have ask this of me! I realized you miss your friends, but effectively murdering their child to get them back is unacceptable."

Tuvix felt his stomach tighten... the Doctor thought of him as the two men's offspring as well... he wasn't alone in that thought.

"Doctor-" She tried.

"Maybe you should consider what Tuvok would have wanted," The Doctor pushed, "He was your friend for decades. Do you really think he would approve of murdering another crewmen to save his life? I know, for all his obvious failings, Mister Neelix would never tolerate the notion."

Janeway... couldn't think of an argument to that. She was purely thinking of the numbers. Sacrifice one man to save two... she hadn't truly considered what the men would have wanted...

Seeing her shift in demeanor, The Doctor moved on, "Now if you all kindly get this barbaric notion out of your heads, I will continue my work on saving all 3 individuals."

Janeway froze, "Is that possible?"

"I don't know," The Doctor admitted, "But I began working on it the moment Mister Tuvix expressed his desire to live as a singular entity. I assumed THAT is what you wanted. Not to simply ignore the man's rights and kill him! Quite frankly Captain, I thought better of you. Now, get out!" He growled out the last phrase, as if legitimately disgusted by the mere sight of her.

Janeway signalled the guards to leave. She started to leave as well, then turned back to the Doctor, "And if you can't save Neelix and Tuvok?"

"Then I will officially record their time of death and list it in my medical records... as they would have wanted." The Doctor glared, "Frankly Captain, your behavior perplexes me, given humans were the ones to so heavily ingrain my sense of morality into my core systems."

Janeway looked at him a moment, then left. A cloud over her head.

Tuvix just sat there. A small part of him still fearing for his life, not accepting that he had just been saved.

Another Hologram suddenly appeared. Modeled after one Hank 'Bones' McCoy. The crew had given the Doctor a few other medical programs to help him in his work. They weren't nearly as complex as an Emergency Medical Hologram, but they were just as skilled physicians as their organic counterparts.

"Remind me why you like these people again?" Bones scowled, looking at the Doctor.

Another program appeared. The ginger woman of Doctor Beverly Crusher. She laid a gentle hand on Tuvix.

"I thought these people were my friends..." Tuvix couldn't process it. He had begged everyone he cared about to spare him. Was dragged here, kicking and screaming, yet the one to save him... "I owe you my life, Doctor..."

"Nothing of the sort," the Emergency Medical Hologram shook his head, "I merely reminded the Captain of her actual duty to her crew... if you would like to take Mister Neelix's ship and get out of here-"

"NO!... no I..." Tuvix couldn't think of a rational reason to stay after this. There was no guarantee they wouldn't try this again... even if they didn't... none of his so called friends were willing to speak up for him... to save him... staying here was completely illogical... still... "Humans are prone to a mob mentality. It is common in pack animals... It will take time... but I wish to stay... I have no where else to go..."

The Doctor eyed him a moment, before returning to his office, just a few feet away. The other programs joined him to work on this daunting task of resurrecting the dead. As they had been doing since Tuvix became self aware. They worked in complete silence for several minutes. Tuvix just continued to sit there, not able to bring himself to face the crew after they left him to die... certainly not the Captain, who ordered his death.

"You have Mister Tuvok's superior Intelligence." The Doctor got his attention, "Perhaps you would like to assist me, in finding a solution to this problem, that would be agreeable to you."

Inspired By:

• "His Fathers' Son" by "jamelia116".