Tell Me How You Got into Trouble

PARIS:

Hey, Neelix, what's up?

NEELIX: 

Oh, nothing. 

Just thought I might give you a hand with whatever it is you're doing.

PARIS: 

Oh, you may regret that. 

Chakotay and I have to pick up a supply of biomimetic gel tomorrow morning, and I am trying to find to find the container that is listed as the proper transport device. 

Starfleet standard issue L647X7.

NEELIX: 

Well, sounds like another set of eyes won't hurt. 

M34, no not that one. L647. 

No, it's Y6. 

Tom, if it's not too bold of me, I wonder if I could ask you something?

PARIS: 

Sure, anything.

NEELIX: 

I've heard you were in some trouble in the past. 

Spent time in prison.

PARIS: 

That's right.

NEELIX: 

Do you, would you, tell me how you got in Trouble?

PARIS: 

I've thought a lot about that, and it comes down to one simple fact. 

I didn't Tell The Truth. 

I made a mistake, which happens to people, but if I'd admitted that mistake it would have been a lot better. 

But I lied about it, and it nearly ruined my life. 

Why do you ask?

NEELIX: 

Oh, no reason. Just wondered.

JANEWAY: 

Would all of you excuse us, please? 

I'd like to talk to Neelix alone.

(Tuvok and Kes leave. The EMH goes to his office after receiving a Look.)

JANEWAY: 

Well, do you have anything to say for yourself?

NEELIX: 

Only that I'm terribly sorry.

JANEWAY: 

Oh. You're sorry. 

Is that supposed to make everything better?

I don't really care whether you're sorry or not, Neelix. 

At this point it doesn't matter. 

I can't imagine what made you behave the way you did, lying to us, sneaking around behind our backs, covering up criminal activity. 

Did you have some misguided reason to think this was acceptable behaviour?

NEELIX: 

No, ma'am.

JANEWAY: 

You've been one of my most trusted advisors since we began this journey. 

How can I ever trust you again?

How can I ever listen to you without wondering whether you're telling the truth or not?

NEELIX: 

I've never been dishonest to you before, I swear, Captain.

I just took one step. 

A step that seemed perfectly reasonable. 

And that step lead to another and another, and before I knew what I was involved in something I didn't know how to handle.

JANEWAY: 

What was it? 

What was so important that you were willing to throw away your principles?

NEELIX: 

I needed a map.

JANEWAY: 

A map?

NEELIX: 

Captain, my usefulness to you was at an end.

I don't know anything about space beyond this point. 

I couldn't let you go into the Nekrit Expanse without knowing what you faced.

JANEWAY: 

You've been on this ship for two years. 

I'd think by now you'd have learned that the first duty of any Starfleet officer is The Truth. 

You violated that duty, Neelix, and there will be consequences.

NEELIX: 

I'm prepared to leave the ship, Captain.

JANEWAY: 

Oh no, it's not that easy. 

You can't just walk away from your responsibilities just because you made a mistake.

 You're part of a family now.

And you have obligations.

NEELIX: 

But, I can't guide you. 

I can't advise you. 

I don't know what's coming.

JANEWAY: 

Well, that's not the point, is it? 

None of us knows what's coming. 

That's what Starfleet is all about. 

We are all in this together, Neelix, and we have to be able to count on each other no matter how hard it gets. 

Do you understand?

NEELIX: 

Yes. Yes, I do.

JANEWAY: 

Well, that's good. 

Report to deuterium maintenance at oh four hundred tomorrow morning. 

You're going to spend the next two weeks scrubbing the exhaust manifolds. 

That should give you time to think about what I've said. 

Dismissed.

Unworthy of Assimilation

Angry and Frustrated, Spike has a schoolteacher by The Collar

I’m a veal kind of guy — You’re too old to eat.

He snaps his neck instead.

But not to kill.

I feel much better.

MARY SHELLEY :

What is your name, sir?

Our Lady : 

Mary, this is not a good time to talk.

MARY SHELLEY : 

Or names. Are you several men? 

A composite of parts.

CYBERMAN: 

I am BETTER than Men.

MARY SHELLEY :

Yet I still see a soul in there.

CYBERMAN: (laughs) 

What do you think you see, child?

MARY SHELLY : 

I see the man who spared my son. 

Were you a father, before?

CYBERMAN: 

I was.

MARY SHELLEY :

You didn't want to be this way. 

They hurt you, this modern Prometheus. 

You loved once. 

And were loved in return. 

You do not wish to kill.

(She holds out her hand, and it touches it.)

CYBERMAN: 

My name was Ashad. 

I DID spare your son... 

(then grabs her arm) 

Because he's a useless runt, sickly and weak. 

And I DID have children. 

I slit their throats when they joined The Resistance.

(It switches to holding the back of her neck.)

CYBERMAN: 

In Death we are transformed, improved, updated, as you will learn.

SEVEN: 

You are a peculiar creature, Neelix.

NEELIX: 

Thanks. I think.... 

Ah! Here it is. 

Oh, this will be perfect for containing a small amount of protomatter.

 

Last time I used this Little Wonder I nearly lost it to the Kazon.

SEVEN: 

The Kazon -- Species-329.

NEELIX: 

You're familiar with them.

SEVEN: 

The Borg encountered a Kazon colony in the Gand Sector, grid 6929.

NEELIX: 

Were they assimilated?

SEVEN: 

Their Biological and Technological Distinctiveness was unremarkable. 

They were Unworthy of Assimilation.

NEELIX: 

I didn't realise the Borg were so discriminating.

SEVEN: 

Why assimilate a species that would detract from Perfection?

NEELIX: 

Good Point. 

GODFATHER

CHAKOTAY: 

You're being called back to your life again, Neelix. 

Don't turn your back on it. 

We're your family now. 

NEELIX: 

It's not enough. 

CHAKOTAY: 

It is for us.

 

‘His function on this crew is diverse.’

That's what Seven of Nine said about you.

 

Even our Borg understands how important you are on this ship. 

It's not just the duties you perform, 

it's the way you make people feel when you're around. 

NEELIX: 

That Neelix is gone. 

CHAKOTAY: 

I don't think he is. 

(Ensign Wildman enters.)

WILDMAN: 

Why didn't you answer me? 

I had to have the computer track you down. 

Naomi thought she saw a monster in the replicator. 

Neelix, what's going on? 

NEELIX: 

I'm trying to decide some things. 

CHAKOTAY: 

That little girl needs you, Neelix. 

Monsters in the replicator? 

Who else on this ship can handle that? 

(Neelix thinks about it, then turns off his tricorder and hands it to Chakotay.) 

NEELIX: 

Duty Calls.

“One reason we hesitate to carry our own gold is that it is dangerously close to God. Our gold has Godlike characteristics, and it is difficult to bear the weight of it.

In Indian culture, there’s a time-honored custom that you have the right to go to another person—a man, a woman, a strangerand ask him or her to be the incarnation of God for you. There are strict laws governing this. If the person agrees to be the incarnation of God for you, you must never pester him. You must never put a heavy weight on himit’s weighty enough as it is. And you must not engage in any other kind of relationship with that person. You don’t become friends, and you don’t marry him. The person becomes a kind of patron saint for you.

J. Krishnamurti was a wonderful man. Lots of people put gold on him. One afternoon, he and I went for a walk in Ojai, California, and a little old lady was kneeling alongside the path. We just walked by. Later he told me, “She has put the image of God on me. She knows what she’s doing. She never talks or asks anything of me. But when I go for a walk, she somehow knows where I’m going to be, and she’s always there.” What was most touching was his attitude. If she needed this, he would do it.

This is the original meaning of the terms godfather and godmother. That person is the carrier of Godlike qualities for you. Nowadays we think of a godparent as the one who will take care of us materially in case our parents are not able to see it through. But the original meaning was of someone who carries the subtle part of your life—a parent in an interior, Godlike way. It’s a wonderful custom. Most parents are worn out just seeing their child through to physical maturity. We need someone else who isn’t bothered with authority issues, like “How much is my allowance this week?” Being a godparent was originally a quiet arrangement for holding a child’s gold.

When I was sixteen, two years after meeting Thor, I desperately needed someone like that. So I appointed a godmother and godfather, and those two people saved my life. They knew instinctively the duties of this need, and they fulfilled them. My godmother died when I was twenty-two, and I wasn’t ready to give her up. It was the most difficult loss of my life. I was forced to take my gold back before I was ready. My godfather lived until I was in my fifties, and by then I was ready to let him go. 

 I love the idea of godparents. Sometimes young people come circling around me, and I bring up this language. “Do you want a godfather?” If it fits, we work out the necessary rules. “You may have this out of me, and you must not ask that.” These are the old godparent laws. It’s a version of the incarnation of God in Indian custom.

Sometimes Gold Is Dark

  I love India, but being there can be challenging, sometimes even dreadful. During one visit, I nearly sank in the darkness.

An Indian friend and I went to Calcutta. He wanted to see his father, who lived in a politically sensitive zone near the city, where foreigners were not allowed. So I said, “Please go. I’ll stay in Calcutta while you visit him.” My friend tried to help me get a hotel, but there were no good ones, so I ended up in a sleazy hotel in a dark part of town. Because he was so anxious to see his father, once he got me settled, I encouraged him to go.

Within hours, a woman on the street thrust a dead baby into my hands, children with amputated limbs poked their stumps into my ribs begging for money, and lepers and corpses were lying in the streets where I walked. It was too much for me, and I didn’t know how to get away from it. Normally I could just go to my room and hole up. As an introvert, that isn’t difficult for me. But my room in that hotel had paper-thin walls, and someone was actually dying in the room on one side, people were screaming and fighting in the room on the other side, and there was a nightlong political rally in the square outside my window. I just couldn’t take it. I had more in me than I could hold, and I started falling to pieces.

Gold comes in many varieties. Sometimes our gold is bright, but at other times it is heavy and difficult, and seems anything but golden. I had no friends and no telephone, and couldn’t cope. Then I remembered the custom I’d witnessed with Krishna-murti. I needed to ask someone to be the incarnation of God for me, someone with whom I could share my burden.

I went to a park nearby to look for a candidate. After standing still and observing many people for about twenty minutes, I selected a middle-aged man who was wearing traditional Indian garb. I felt a particular respect for him. He walked with great dignity. I continued to watch him closely.

Finally, trembling, I went up to him and asked, “Sir, do you speak English?”

“Yes.”

“Will you be the incarnation of God for me?” It was the second sentence I spoke to that man.

And, God bless him, he said, “Yes.”

I told him who I was and how frightened and burdened I was feeling, and that I was unable to stand it. I poured out my misery, and he just listened without saying a word. Finally I wound down and apologized for splashing all over him. I felt so much better. I had my feet under me again.

I thanked him, and then I asked, “And who are you?”

He told me his name. I said, “Yes, and who are you?” 

He said, “I am a Roman Catholic priest.” 

There are very few Catholic priests in India, and I had picked one to be the incarnation of God for me. 

He had listened, heard, and understood. 

Then we bowed to each other and went our separate ways. Because he did that for me, neither of us will ever be the same again. He did exactly what I needed with a grace and a dignity that lives with me to this day.

Excerpt from: "Inner Gold: Understanding Psychological Projection" by Arnie Kotler.

Your Best Friend is Always Someone Somehow Fundamentally Different to You

When Anu had heard their lamentation the gods cried to Aruru, the goddess of creation,  

‘You made Him, O Aruru, 
now create His equal; 

Let it be as like Him as His own reflection, 
His Second Self, 
Stormy Heart for Stormy Heart. 

Let them Contend Together
 and leave Uruk in quiet.’

So The Goddess conceived an image in her mind, 
and it was Of The Stuff of Anu of The Firmament.

She dipped her hands in Water and pinched off clay [Earth], 
she let it fall in The Wilderness, 
and noble Enkidu was created. 

There was virtue in him of The God of War, 
of Ninurta himself. 

His body was rough, 
he had long hair like a woman’s; 

It waved like the hair of Nisaba, 
The Goddess of Corn. 

His body was covered with matted hair like Samuqan’s, 
The God of Cattle. 

He was Innocent of Mankind; 
He knew nothing of the cultivated land.

 
TUVOK:
Vulcans Do Not Dance.

NEELIX: 
I'm going to make it my personal mission to get you to dance at least once before we reach Earth. 

TUVOK: 
Then I suggest you find a more productive hobby.

TUVOK: 
You wanted to see me. 

NEELIX: 

I've detected five warp capable species within two light years of the planet where we're taking the Talaxians. 
I'm worried they might be vulnerable to attack. 

TUVOK: 
They would be vulnerable anywhere. 

NEELIX: 
I thought maybe you could help me devise some defence strategies for their new home. 

TUVOK: 
Frankly, Mister Neelix, they don't seem inclined to defend themselves. 

NEELIX: 

No, I suppose not. 

TUVOK: 
But if they were going to make a stand, their emotional attachment to their present home might be an asset. 

NEELIX: 

Are you saying they should stay? 

TUVOK: 

I'm speaking hypothetically. 

NEELIX: 

Hypothetically, if they wanted to defend the asteroid, 

How would they do it? 

TUVOK: 

To begin with they would need to establish some kind of perimeter. 

NEELIX: 
You mean shields? 

TUVOK: 

Yes. The miners are monitoring the asteroid. 
If they detected the Talaxians erecting a shield, they would attempt to stop them. 

NEELIX: 

I suppose so. 

TUVOK: 

Your people would need competent leadership to defend against a pre-emptive attack. 

NEELIX: 

If you had the captain's permission, 
would you be willing to provide that leadership? 

TUVOK: 

Certainly not. 

It would be a violation of the Prime Directive. 

And even if it weren't, 

I don't believe that I am the person most qualified to assume that role. 

NEELIX: 

You mean me? 

TUVOK: 

I am merely speaking hypothetically. 

NEELIX:

I couldn't lead those people, Mister Tuvok. 

I'm not a fighter. 

I'm just a cook who sometimes imagines himself to be a diplomat. 

TUVOK: 

On the contrary, Mister Neelix. 

You are much more than that. 

You are perhaps the most resourceful individual I have ever known. 

NEELIX: 

I always thought you just tolerated me...

TUVOK: 

You do have some annoying habits. 

However, during your time on Voyager you've developed many valuable skills. 

Skills that would serve you well if you ever decided to assume a leadership role. 

NEELIX: 

You really think so? 

TUVOK: 

Let me be clear. 

I'm not urging you to do anything. 

I'm simply telling you that I believe that you are more than capable.