5.08 nothing human

Responding to an unintelligible message, Voyager rescues a badly injured, four-foot long insect-like creature from its badly damaged ship; it jumps out from behind a force field in sick bay and attaches itself to B’Elanna in such a way that it cannot be extricated without killing her. Assuming that the message was a distress call, Janeway resends it on all subspace frequencies, hoping to elicit help from the species. The doctor elicits help from a holographic program of a famous Cardassian doctor who won awards for curing an epidemic virus on Bajor. B’Elanna, with her history in the Maquis, isn’t happy with the choice, but it gets worse when a Bajoran crewman identifies the Cardassian as having performed cruel experiments on Bajorans (including his grandfather) in order to find a cure for the virus. This information isn’t part of history, nor is it part of the memory of the hologram, but the dodgy ‘ends justifies the means’ morals are still there – as are some interesting arguments regarding why a line is drawn between ‘animal’ experimentation (which in some circles is considered okay) and human experimentation. Some members of the crew want the hologram turned off, and feel that by benefiting from his research on humans it condones such research. Others, like Tom Paris, want B’Elanna saved at all costs. The captain intervenes, deciding that B’Elanna life comes first, and moral questions come later; she agrees to take moral responsibility for the decision. Joined by the aliens, who have engulfed Voyager in a tractor beam and are intent on getting their crewmember back, the doctors operate (with Voyager’s doctor having to take over the operation to stop the Cardassian doctor from killing the alien life form). The lifeform is saved and extricated; Voyager beams it back onto the alien ship, and the ship sends another unintelligible message which Janeway assumes is ‘thank you.’ Janeway is left to confront an angry B’Elanna about her decision to use the Cardassian’s knowledge to save her life. The doctor is left to decide if the Cardassian’s program and knowledge should remain on line; he chooses to delete the program.