2.18 innocence

In Drayan territory, while exploring a moon for materials for the ship, Tuvok’s shuttlecraft encounters turbulence and crashes, killing his shipmate. The moon, which appeared uninhabited, is habited by 3 children who also crashed and lost their ‘attendants’. They are scared and flock to Tuvok, who takes responsibility for them despite their unruliness and general inferiority to Vulcan children. They are afraid of a monster called a ‘Mordock’; they are convinced that the other Drayans brought them to this moon to die. Janeway makes contact with the Drayans but they do not want to discuss the situation; the moon is a sacred place and they just want Tuvok – and Voyager – to leave. Two of the children disappear during the night, leaving only one, and Tuvok, trying to protect her, takes her on the shuttle and attempts to leave the planet, only to be shot down and forced to land again by the Drayans. There, a meeting between Tuvok, the child, Janeway, and the Drayan ambassador reveals that the child is actually 96 years old, and that the Drayan ageing process happens in reverse. The little girl (somewhat like an Alzheimer’s patient) has reverted to a very simplified state and was brought to this place to be guided in reaching death, which is inevitable. Tuvok, who attempted to guide her so well to stay alive, now agrees to stay to be her ‘attendant’ in a very touching ending scene.

Okay, I’m very excited, because here’s the Big Nit: I assume that the Voyager crew is communicating with the Drayans by using the Universal Translator – what are the odds that the Drayans would speak English? Okay, in that case, why, when describing the beings on the planet (that look like children to us) would the UT interpret whatever word the Drayans used to describe them (which would more likely be something like ‘old ones’ or ‘simplified ones’) as ‘children’? Only one reason – to fool us.