AXIS MUNDI : Those Alpha Waves Will Lead Me North

Well. No matter, Otis. You'll hear of them again.  Those Alpha Waves Will Lead Me North - to his Secret. And when I have that secret - I'll have Superman.

ARCHER: 

The Admiral thinks that they're humanoids enhanced with technology. 

He believes they abducted the research team. 

REED:

We're a long way from the Arctic. What can we do? 

ARCHER:

Earth tracking stations spotted the transport leaving orbit at warp three point nine. 

TUCKER: 

That's impossible. 

Those transports can't exceed one point four. 

And it comes to one great statement, which for me is a key statement of the understanding of myth and symbols. He says. 

“I saw myself on The Central Mountain of The World, the highest place. 

And I had a vision, because I was seeing in a sacred manner, of the world.”

 And the sacred central mountain was Harney Peak in South Dakota. 

And then he says, 

“But the central mountain is everywhere.” 

That is a real mythological realization.

BILL MOYERS: 

Why?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

It distinguishes between the local cult image, Harney Peak, and its connotation, the center of the world. 

The center of the world is the hub of the universe, axis mundi, do you know, the central point, the pole star around which all revolves. 

The central point of the world is the point where stillness and movement are together. 

Movement is time, stillness is eternity, realizing the relationship of the temporal moment to the eternal not moment, but forever -is the sense of life. 

Realising how this moment in your life is actually a moment of eternity, and the experience of the eternal aspect of what you’re doing in the temporal experience is the mythological experience, and he had it. 

So is the central mountain of the world Jerusalem, Rome, Banaras. 

Lhasa, Mexico City, you know? 

Mexico City, Jerusalem, is symbolic of a spiritual principle as the center of the world.

BILL MOYERS: 

So this little Indian was saying, there is a shining point where all lines intersect?

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

That’s exactly what he said.

BILL MOYERS: 

He was saying God has no circumference.

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: 

God is an intelligible sphere, let’s say a sphere known to the mind, not to the senses, whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere. 

And the center, Bill, is right where you’re sitting, and the other one is right where I’m sitting.

 And each of us is a manifestation of that mystery.

CLOSE ON LUTHOR AND OTIS

LUTHOR stands in front of a large tub of water, transfers  wet clothes from a vat, rinses them, hands them to OTIS  who rings them out, runs them through an old-fashioned  roller-type dryer, stacks them neatly in a hamper. LUTHOR, 

clearly depressed, sighs deeply.

LUTHOR

So this is how it ends for the greatest criminal mind of our time. Not with a  whimper, mind you. Not with a bang.

 (examines hands)

With washwoman's thumb...

LUTHOR sighs again, continues rinsing. OTIS squeezes a garment in the rollers. looks over sympathetically.

OTIS

I know, Mr. Luthor. I know...

LUTHOR

What could you know? You've only got a twenty-year sentence. A sissy sentence. 

But how do they choose to reward Lex Luthor, the world's one true genius? Do they give me treasure? Do they give me glory? What, in fact, do they give me?

 OTIS

Life plus twenty-five years.

(cheerfully)

It almost worked out, Mr. Luthor. The West 

 Coast was almost destroyed. Millions of people were alomost killed.

LUTHOR

Almost. Almost, Otis. But as it turned out, thanks to Superman, not one drop of blood was shed.

LUTHOR grits his teeth, hands OTIS some wet clothes.

LUTHOR

All I want now is to get out of here and destroy that miserable, glad-handing showboat.

OTIS

How? You've tried everything. Nothing seems to stop him.

LUTHOR

 Every man has a vulnerable point. Some like you, Otis, have several. I just didn't find his in time. But now - finally - thanks to my invention, patience, and skill - my black box is nearly ready.

OTIS

That black box in your cell?

LUTHOR

(frantic)

 Ssssshh.....!

OTIS

(whisper)

That black box in your cell? What's it 

 for?

LUTHOR looks at OTIS secretively, hands him a wet garment.

OTIS

 It's only one sock.....

LUTHOR

Pegleg Horvath only needs one sock.....

(back to rinsing)

All attempts to track Superman with conventional means have failed, including radar, correct? Correct. He flies at super-speed. And yet we know that every so often, when he isn't all tied up with  "doing good" and taking bows and kissing babies... he goes North. North. Where? We don't know. The tracking device always loses him.... now why would he go North?

OTIS

 To ski?

 LUTHOR

It's incredible, Otis. Your brain defies all known scientific laws....

 OTIS

 Thanks, Mr. Luthor....

LUTHOR

In its infinite capacity to deteriorate.....

(rinsing)

That black box, Otis - that innocent looking piece of devilish genius - goes beyond all means of conventional radar.

(leans in)

It tracks Alpha Waves.

OTIS

 (impressed)

Alpha Waves!

 LUTHOR

I could have said linguini, couldn't I.

Well. No matter, Otis. You'll hear of them again.  Those Alpha Waves Will Lead Me North - to his Secret. And when I have that secret - I'll have Superman.

LUTHOR picks up a wet garment, looks at it with extreme 

distaste.

LUTHOR

Slasher Fogelstein is a bedwetter. 

Pass it 

 on.

OTIS nods, turns to no one.

SEVEN:

What are the other options? 

EMH:

They could be returned to the Borg. 

If they were reassimilated into the Collective, they would regain consciousness, and then live out a normal life span. 

SEVEN:

As drones. 

EMH:

As drones. 

But they'd be alive, Seven.

JANEWAY: 

Let me ask you something. 

Do you think of these people as family? 

SEVEN: 

Is it relevant? 

JANEWAY: 

There's an old saying. 

Blood is thicker than water. 

It means that the ties of family run deeper than any other kind of relationship. 

We'll often do things for members of our family we'd never dream of doing for anyone else.

[Corridor]

NAOMI: 

Seven. Seven. 

SEVEN: 

Naomi Wildman. 

NAOMI: 

I heard about the drones. 

Did they hurt you? 

SEVEN: 

I am not damaged. 

NAOMI: 

What do they want? 

SEVEN: 

They are seeking information from me, but I am uncertain whether I can help them. 

NAOMI: 

Oh. Be careful. 

SEVEN: 

Naomi Wildman, do you consider me to be family? 

NAOMI: 

I, I don't, I mean. 

Yes. Is that okay? 

SEVEN: 

I have no objection. 

NAOMI: 

Do you think of •me• as family? 

SEVEN: 

Yes.

CHAKOTAY: 

A month as an individual, or a lifetime as a drone. 

Which option would you choose?

[Doctor's office]

SEVEN: 

Survival is insufficient. 

EMH: 

I beg your pardon? 

SEVEN: 

Eight years ago, I forced them to return to the Collective. 

I won't make the same mistake again. 

They deserve to exist as individuals. 

We must terminate the link between them. 

EMH: 

I understand that you feel a certain responsibility for these patients, but as their physician, so do I. 

It's my duty to preserve their lives for as long as possible, even if that means -

SEVEN: 

I will not return them to the Borg. 

EMH: 

Are you thinking of what's best for them, or for you? 

SEVEN: 

Clarify. 

EMH: 

You said it yourself. 

You made a mistake. 

And Seven of Nine doesn't like to make mistakes. 

She strives for perfection. 

I want you to think about the motivation behind your decision. 

Are you doing what's right for those three people, or are you trying to alleviate the guilt you feel over what happened eight years ago? 

SEVEN: 

The damage I did can never be repaired, and my guilt is irrelevant. 

I simply want them to experience individuality, as I have. As you have. 

At one time, you were confined to this Sickbay. 

Your programme was limited to emergency medical protocols. 

In some ways, you were not unlike a drone. 

But you were granted the opportunity to explore your individuality. 

You were allowed to expand your programme. 

Your mobile emitter gives you freedom of movement. 

Your thoughts are your own. 

If you were told you had to become a drone again, I believe you would resist. 

EMH: 

Yes. I suppose I would. 

SEVEN: 

They would resist as well. 

They would choose freedom, no matter how fleeting. 

Only you and I can truly understand that. 

EMH: 

Survival is insufficient.