1.18 twisted

Another one of those bizarre clouds envelopes the ship and begins to distort physical matter. Only the French café on the holodeck is immune, and it is closing in fast. People wander around the ship, ending up at the wrong place, and no one can get to the bridge. Eventually, the majority of the crew ends up in the holodeck, and, as they have exhausted all logical alternatives, Tuvok suggests that they just ‘let it happen’. The wave moves towards them, and there is a (literally) touching moment, as Be’Lanna grasps Chakotay’s hand, Paris does a manly clamp of Kim’s shoulder, and Tuvok moves his hand close to, but not touching, the unconscious and reposed body of Captain Janeway (obviously, Tuvok was torn between showing physical affection and the possibility of a sexual harassment suit). The wave passes through, and everyone and everything is okay. Darned if it wasn’t just one of them there alien races again, trying to communicate. The wave downloaded Voyager’s entire database and uploaded a few gigaquads of info too. That’s just how they say ‘Hello’ in that culture.