Lit by torches, a Greek Chorus is declaiming their part of the play for their rapt audience.)
CHORUS: Captain's log, stardate 53896. B'Elanna Torres has requested permission to take the Delta Flyer and search for dilithium. Shining Voyager, far from home, far from the gleaming cities of Earth.
KELIS: Headstrong B'Elanna Torres, and young Harry Kim, speed away from Voyager on the Delta Flyer in search of their treasures.
(The principals hold masks in front of their faces that represent the characters. Yes, the Torres one does have a ridged forehead.)
JERO: I've trimmed the sails but the sea is rough. Maybe we should return.
LAYNA: I know what I'm doing.
CHORUS: A wave as high as a mountain struck the Delta Flyer.
LAYNA: Get into the escape pod.
JERO: We die together.
LAYNA: No one is going to die. Go.
CHORUS: Young Harry Kim left her side and B'Elanna Torres was thrown against the rocks, the rocks of our very shore.
KELIS: Which is where I, Kelis the poet, found her. Broken, dying. She told me her story, and now I've told you.
(Everyone waits with bated breath for one man to applaud. When he does, they join in enthusiastically.)
AUTARCH: An excellent conceit, that you discovered her yourself.
KELIS: Thank you.
AUTARCH: Well, now that B'Elanna Torres has come to our shore, what will happen? Does Captain Janeway come searching for her, or does she give her up for lost?
KELIS: Who can say?
AUTARCH: Well, I would hope that you can. I want to see more of these Voyager Eternals.
KELIS: Inspiration can't be forced.
AUTARCH: One week.
KELIS: Or three weeks. Maybe two. One week. The story will continue. Have you noticed how thin my performers have gotten?
AUTARCH: Let them eat this.
(He throws Kelis a jewel that was hanging around his consort's neck.)

[Backstage]

KELIS: Ladies and gentlemen, our patron salutes you.
JERO: Finally!
KELIS: We're doing another Voyager play. As soon as I can write it.
LAYNA: Shall we celebrate, the two of us?
KELIS: I have very little time. Celebrating will have to wait.

[Delta Flyer - night]

(The Flyer has crashed on a mountainside. Candles illuminate the inside. Torres is in the pilot's seat and her hands are tied. Kelis reaches forward with his knife to cut her bonds, and she hits him.)
TORRES: Who are you?
KELIS: Kelis, Kelis the poet. Your servant.
TORRES: My servant? All right. Let me go.
KELIS: I can't.
TORRES: Why not?
KELIS: You'll fly from me, the way inspiration always does.
TORRES: You're trying to kill me.
(There are cuts on her forearm.)
KELIS: I'm releasing the heat from your veins.
TORRES: What are you talking about?
KELIS: You've been in a fever since I found you. Bleeding is the best way to treat it.
TORRES: Oh, I can see I'm in good hands.
KELIS: Something tells me you have your doubts.
TORRES: There's a medkit over there. A box, made out of metal. There's a small cylinder inside. Bring it here. Give it to me.
(Kelis does. She turns it on.)
TORRES: Don't be afraid, it won't hurt you. Here. Pass it over where you cut me.
(The dermal regenerator heals the cuts.)
KELIS: You're an Eternal. I suppose such things are to be expected.
TORRES: What other things do you expect from an Eternal?
KELIS: The power to make the ground open up and the sky to fall. All the strange events sung by the ancient poets. Fortunately for me, no poet has ever sung about your clan. I'm the first.
TORRES: My clan?
KELIS: The Eternals on Voyager. Shining Voyager, far from home.
TORRES: What do you know about that?
TORRES [OC]: Delta Flyer log, stardate 53918. Harry and I are continuing toward the fourth planet. Sensors have picked up natural dilithium deposits on nearly every land mass.
(Fast forward.)
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Acknowledged. Has your warp core been damaged?
TORRES [OC]: Yes. We're running on thrusters. Can you track our position?
TORRES: How long have I been here?
KELIS: Eight days. I was walking through these mountains. I saw a light burn across the sky and I heard a terrible sound. When I arrived, I found you. I treated your wounds.
TORRES: And you tied me to this chair.
KELIS: When a gift falls from the heavens, only a fool would let her go. You've already given me one play. The story told by those voices. I pieced them together, tried to fill in the gaps.
TORRES: You made a play out of our logs?
KELIS: The Away Mission of B'Elanna Torres. My patron was impressed.
TORRES: He has great taste. Now take that knife of yours and cut me free.
KELIS: That would be unwise.
TORRES: Why?
KELIS: My patron is intrigued by the Voyager Eternals. He wants another play. To compose that, I need more details.
TORRES: And you expect to get them from me?
KELIS: I did save your life.
TORRES: I need to get back to Voyager.
KELIS: I need another play.
TORRES: What exactly do you want to know?
KELIS: Everything.
TORRES: It's not possible. We Eternals have our rules. We can't just give everything away.
KELIS: How did you get lost?
TORRES: Cut me free and I'll tell you.
KELIS: You won't leave me?
TORRES: Cut me free.
(Kelis cuts the ropes. Torres picks up a phaser.)
TORRES: You're the one who's leaving.
(She fires the phaser at a tree branch, vaporising it.)
TORRES: Don't come back.

[Delta Flyer - day]

TORRES: Computer, bring the subspace transmitter online.
COMPUTER: Unable to comply.
TORRES: Why not?
COMPUTER: Insufficient power.
(She goes to another console, but)
TORRES: Great. Now there's no power.
KELIS: Are you hungry?
TORRES: I told you not to come back.
KELIS: You haven't eaten in days. We have to support each other, we poets.
(Torres takes the proffered berries.)
TORRES: I'm an engineer. I fix things.
KELIS: From the looks of it, you're not doing so well.
TORRES: Are you a poet or a critic?
KELIS: Tell me about Earth.
TORRES: I have to sing for my supper, huh?
KELIS: We all do, in one way or another. Earth.
(He offers her his bag of food.)
TORRES: It's a, an island. A beautiful island, blue and green.
KELIS: And Voyager, a great ship?
TORRES: In a long line of great ships.
KELIS: How did Voyager get lost?
TORRES: The Caretaker.
KELIS: An Eternal?
TORRES: Yes, you could say that. He caused a storm, which blew us off course.
KELIS: Tom Paris. Are you in love with him?
TORRES: Supper is over. Come with me.

[Delta Flyer - aft compartment]

(She sticks a portable power cell onto a panel.)
TORRES: This is where we put all the names and dates when our heads won't hold any more.
KELIS: A memory.
TORRES: Exactly. Tell me, have you ever seen this before?
(She calls up an image of a crystalline structure.)
KELIS: Winter's tears.
TORRES: Can you get me some?
KELIS: This is dilithium, isn't it? What you were looking for?
TORRES: Where can I find it?
KELIS: The only deposit I know of is on the hunting grounds of my patron. He'd execute me for trespassing. And you, well, he'd love to capture an Eternal.
TORRES: Maybe I'm more powerful than he is.
KELIS: Perhaps, but if he caught you he'd force you to fight against his enemies. They're constantly at each other's throats. Bickering over territory, raiding each other's land, starting wars whenever they can be guaranteed of good weather. And we suffer the consequences. You don't want to get involved with them.
TORRES: Which is why you're going to get the dilithium.
KELIS: I told you, I'd be executed if I'm caught.
TORRES: The dilithium. Or I don't say another word about Shining Voyager, far from home.
(A thunderstorm breaks overhead.)
KELIS: Did you?
TORRES: Don't get caught.

[Delta Flyer - evening]

(It is still raining. Kelis returns.)
TORRES: Well?
(He hands her his bag, and she takes out a large chunk of crystal.)
TORRES: Beautiful. I've got an idea for your next play.

[Open Air Theatre]

KELIS: I've been visited by inspiration herself. How does this sound? The Rescue of B'Elanna Torres. Right here, in one week.
CHORUS 2: One week?
KELIS: Let's get to work.

[Briefing room]

JANEWAY: Dismissed.
PARIS: That's it?
EMH: Mister Paris, try to stay calm.
PARIS: No, that's not going to happen. Isn't there anything else we can do?
JANEWAY: Not until something shows up on sensors.
PARIS: I'll take a shuttle out myself. I'll run a planet by planet search.
SEVEN: An inefficient plan.
CHAKOTAY: And too dangerous. You could be hit by the same spatial eddies that sent the Flyer off course.
JANEWAY: We need to concentrate our efforts from here, Tom. All right? Dismissed.

[Open Air Theatre]

(The company are reading their new lines.)
CHORUS 1: Steady-armed Paris, bound by a sleep that brings no rest.
CHORUS 2:The door opens. The shadow of a woman falls on the helmsman. His eyes open.
JERO: Seven of Nine, did you find B'Elanna Torres?
LAYNA: I'm sorry to disappoint you.
KELIS: Closer. Closer!
JERO: Unpleasant news delivered by the most pleasing of messengers.
(Jero sits up to kiss Layna.)
KELIS: No, no, no, no. Seven of Nine is a Borg, the scourge of the Eternals. You're portraying her like a shy bride on her wedding night Once more.
JERO: Seven of Nine, did you find B'Elanna Torres?
LAYNA: I am sorry to disappoint you.

[Delta Flyer - night]

(Torres is mending the power grid, ready for the crystal.)
KELIS: I can't blame my performers. These Eternals on Voyager are difficult to understand.
TORRES: Will you stop walking around? You're going to break something.
KELIS: This Tuvok, for example. He's not like anybody I've ever met. No emotions? How is that possible?
TORRES: It just is.
KELIS: It worked?
TORRES: It worked.
(She puts the new crystal into a holder.)
TORRES: Okay, Computer, bring subspace transmitter online.
(Explosion.)
KELIS: What happened?
TORRES: I don't know. The transmitter must have been weakened in the crash. It couldn't take the energy surge.
KELIS: These Vulcans.
TORRES: Enough! What kind of metallurgic technology do you people have? Alloys. Which ones can you make? Steel? Bronze?
KELIS: Bronze.
TORRES: Bronze, all right. I need a plate of metal this big, as thin as it can be, three parts tin to five parts bronze. One side coated with gold.
KELIS: Gold is expensive. I can't afford it.
TORRES: Then you're going into debt.
KELIS: Then tell me about the Vulcans.
TORRES: Get me the plate, and then I'll tell you.
KELIS: Everyone's asleep. I'll do it in the morning. The Vulcans?

[Mess hall]

NEELIX: Maybe I've miscounted but, I don't think you've slept in ten days?
TUVOK: Your count is accurate.
NEELIX: Don't you think you should go to bed?
TUVOK: As a Vulcan, I can function without sleep for more than two weeks.
NEELIX: But there's a point of diminishing returns, when your mind starts to play tricks on you.
TUVOK: My mind, Mister Neelix, does not play tricks.
NEELIX: The ship is lonely without them, isn't it?
TUVOK: If you would allow me to continue my sensor analysis, I might be able to locate them.
NEELIX: If there's anything else you need. A stronger tea, perhaps.

[Open Air Theatre]

JERO: When a friend is lost, the mind is split in half, Divided between memory of the past and fear of the future. Harry Kim, Ensign. Only a boy when fate took you from the arms of blue green Earth. B'Elanna Torres, half Klingon, half Human. I am honoured to call you
KELIS: What are you doing? Is that a tear?
JERO: Yes.
KELIS: Logical Tuvok doesn't cry. That's why they call him Logical.
JERO: Everybody cries.
KELIS: The land of Vulcan has no laughter, and it has no tears. It is a very quiet place. Calm, just like Tuvok.
JERO: I can't believe that.
KELIS: You don't have to, just don't cry.
JERO: The audience won't believe it either. They'll either think Tuvok is an unfeeling monster, or that I am a bad performer.
KELIS: They'll realise that beneath your unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking, silently, and in more pain than any of us can possibly understand, because that's what it is to be Vulcan. Try it again.
CHORUS 3: Kelis!
KELIS: What's wrong?
CHORUS 3: Our patron has been insulted by his enemy to the north. The armouries are open.
KELIS: Has a battlefield been chosen?
CHORUS 3: Not yet.
KELIS: Then we have a chance.

[Delta Flyer]

KELIS: I need your help.
TORRES: I've given you enough help. Where's that piece of metal?
(Kelis hands it over.)
TORRES: Not bad.
KELIS: My patron's been angered by the leader of a neighbouring state. He'll want to take revenge. It could lead to war.
TORRES: We Eternals aren't supposed to take sides.
KELIS: I'm not asking you to fight. I need a way to change his mind.
TORRES: I don't have that kind of magical power.
KELIS: Yes, you do. I believe the right kind of play can turn the mind from violent thoughts. The perfect play might even stop a war.
TORRES: I can't fix the transmitter with this. There's too many impurities. It'll never carry a plasma charge.
KELIS: If the fighting starts, scouting parties will start moving through these mountains. You'll be discovered. But my play, it could stop it from happening. You have to help me.
TORRES: There's nothing I can do.
KELIS: Then come with me. I'll show you what I've done so far. It's our only chance.

[Open Air Theatre]

KELIS: She's a fellow poet from across the Eastern Sea, an expert on the Voyager Eternals. She's devoted her life to them. She's here to help.
(Layna walks away.)

[Backstage]

KELIS: The Rescue of B'Elanna Torres. We begin with Harry Kim reaching Voyager in the escape pod. He tells Captain Janeway that B'Elanna Torres is lost. We continue to the point where they discover a piece of the Delta Flyer. After that
TORRES: It's simple. They search for B'Elanna Torres. B'Elanna Torres is found.
KELIS: Or not found.
TORRES: Or not found. The end. It sounds pretty straightforward to me.
KELIS: That's exactly the problem. Where is the mistaken identity, the discovery, the sudden reversal? Mistaken identity, a character who is someone else. Discovery, the moment when that identity is revealed. Reversal, a situation that turns from good to bad in a blink of an eye.
CHORUS 1: Find the truth of your story and you won't need all those tricks. I don't know how things are done across the Eastern Sea, but here poets have become lazy. They rely on manipulation to move their audience. It wasn't always that way. Welcome.
TORRES: Thank you.
KELIS: The truth of my story. It's an old-fashioned idea. Today, audiences want excitement, passion. Let me show you what I've done with Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay. Let's make a good impression on our visitor.

[Open Air Theatre]

TANIS: Chakotay, why must I be denied what every other female officer on this ship can have?
JERO: Captain?
TANIS: The privilege of your touch.
(They kiss.)

[Ready room]

(Door bell.)
JANEWAY: Come in.
(Chakotay enters with a PADD.)
JANEWAY: If that was good news, you'd be smiling.
CHAKOTAY: I was just contacted by an alien transport vessel. They picked up the Delta Flyer's distress call.
TORRES [OC]: The primary controls are offline. I've ordered Harry to eject. I still have thrusters. I'm setting a course for an L class planet. I'll try to maintain contact.
CHAKOTAY: They couldn't get a fix on her position. That was ten days ago.
JANEWAY: B'Elanna ordered Harry into an escape pod. What's the longest he could survive?
CHAKOTAY: Less than ten days.
JANEWAY: An L class planet.
CHAKOTAY: I've already narrowed the search parameters.
JANEWAY: If B'Elanna made it there, it's possible Harry did too. Good night, Commander.
CHAKOTAY: Captain.

[Open Air Theatre - night]

KELIS: We'll have a final rehearsal in the morning.
JERO: The last Tuvok scene doesn't make sense to me, and we still don't have an ending.
KELIS: I've got the rest of the night to work on it. Maybe you can get some sleep.
(Jero follows the rest of the company.)
KELIS: What did you think?
TORRES: Captain Janeway kissing Commander Chakotay? Tom Paris kissing Seven of Nine? I don't see the point.
KELIS: Anger is like fire. Love can be the rain that extinguishes it. My patron is filled with hatred for his rival, so our play should be filled with love.
TORRES: You can't change somebody's way of life with a few lines of dialogue.
KELIS: Yes, you can. It's been done before. Do you know what this place used to be a hundred years ago? A temple, and this was the altar stone. Every year a victim would be sacrificed on it in honour of winter. And then one year, nobody remembers exactly when or why, a play took the place of the ritual, and no one had to die here again. Why can't my play take the place of a war?
TORRES: Well, you're going to have to do a lot better than Harry Kim kissing the Delaney sisters.
KELIS: Why?
TORRES: Because when you think that you are surrounded by enemies, when you're up against the Borg, or, or Species 8472, the last thing on your mind is romance.
KELIS: You're an Eternal. You have to help me.
TORRES: I'm sorry, Kelis.
KELIS: The Borg. Tell me more about them.
TORRES: They're soldiers, part of a vast army. They all think the same thoughts, and they travel on ships that look like hives.
KELIS: Like insect colonies.
TORRES: They even have a queen.
KELIS: That sounds terrifying. Captain Janeway hasn't been able to destroy them
TORRES: She is a Starfleet officer, trained to avoid violence whenever possible. She would make peace with the Borg if she could.
KELIS: This is what I need. An enemy, someone to stand in the way of Voyager finding B'Elanna Torres. Captain Janeway, driven by vengeance, must seek out the Queen of the Borg. The audience thinks she plans to destroy them all, but
TORRES: Go on.
KELIS: The Sudden Reversal. Captain Janeway, holding her spear at the queen's throat, throws her weapon aside and she argues passionately to put an end to their conflict in words no one will fail to understand.
TORRES: Including your patron? It's much better than all that kissing.
KELIS: Stay and help me. I still need an ending.
TORRES: You'll figure something out.
KELIS: B'Elanna Torres dies tragically.
TORRES: You wouldn't dare.

[Delta Flyer - night]

LAYNA: I followed you here expecting to find a love nest. It's quite a nest. You're no poet from across the sea. You're an Eternal. Maybe even B'Elanna Torres herself.
TORRES: Don't be ridiculous.
LAYNA: You know all he thinks about is you?
TORRES: We're collaborators, that's all.
LAYNA: If you come to the performance tomorrow night, I'll expose you to the Autarch. Just leave us alone. Fix your ship and go, please.
(Layna runs out, crying.)
KIM: Friend of yours?
(Kim looks in through the shattered front window.)
TORRES: Harry?
KIM: Give me a hand.
TORRES: Oh. How?
KIM: I ran into some turbulence in the escape pod, decided to turn around and follow your ion trail. Landed about two hundred kilometres from here.
TORRES: You walked?
KIM: At night. I tracked your position with a tricorder and tried to stay hidden during the day. I've got some emergency rations left, a phaser, and the escape pod's transmitter, which I didn't have power left to run, but
TORRES: Harry Kim saves the day. Just the ending I was looking for.

[Open Air Theatre]

(Kelis is pacing.)
KELIS: The final moment, the last scene, more important than anything that's gone before. But what is it? Where is she?
LAYNA: Your collaborator's probably halfway across the Eastern Sea by now.
KELIS: She'll be here.
CHORUS 3: You said we'd have an ending by mid-morning. We won't have time to learn it.
KELIS: It'll come to me. Don't worry.

[Delta Flyer]

KIM: Want to give it a try?
TORRES: Why not? The thirty eighth time might be the charm.
(The console comes alive.)
KIM: It's working.
COMPUTER: The subspace transmitter is online.
KIM: Why don't you do the honours?
TORRES: Voyager, this is the Delta Flyer.

[Backstage]

JERO: Our patron has arrived. He's not in a very good mood.
KELIS: He will be.
(Kelis is still writing.)
CHORUS 3: Not if this is any indication.
CHORUS 2: Kelis, this is no way to end a play.
CHORUS 1: It doesn't make sense.
KELIS: It'll have to. Go, go. 
CHORUS 1 [OC]: Who are the enemies of Voyager? The Borg.
CHORUS 2 [OC]: Species 8472.
(Two young men are sitting making copies of the play. Kelis speaks to one of them.)
KELIS: You know where the ridge ends just below the peak? Run there as fast as you can. You'll find a vessel wrecked against the rocks. Go inside and give this to our friend. Don't be frightened. Go.

[Bridge]

(Tuvok is in the Captain's chair, snoring.)
PARIS: Tuvok. Tuvok!
TUVOK: As you were. Bridge to Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Go ahead.
TUVOK: Request permission to be relieved.
CHAKOTAY [OC]: Understood. I'll be right there.
TUVOK: We're picking up a subspace transmission. Starfleet frequency.
PARIS: It's a little rough. Hang on.
TORRES [OC]: Delta Flyer. Harry and I are all right. We're on an L class planet. Propulsion is down.
TUVOK: Origin?
PARIS: Five point two light years, F type star, looks like the fourth planet.
TUVOK: Lay in a course. Maximum warp.

[Open Air Theatre]

TANIS: Seven of Nine.
LAYNA: Captain.
TANIS: The Delta Flyer has been found in pieces, on a rocky shore.
LAYNA: And B'Elanna Torres?
TANIS: No sign of her. Seven of Nine, you are my eyes and my ears. If anyone can find her, it is you.
LAYNA: (to audience) Her eyes and her ears. And the viper in her nest. I, Seven of Nine, have no intention of finding B'Elanna Torres. I, Seven of Nine, am Queen of the Borg. Surprised? No one will be more surprised than Janeway when I take my revenge on Voyager. Say nothing or you, too, will be assimilated. (to Janeway) Captain, I will comply. (exits)
TANIS: My enemies are everywhere without and within. Seven of Nine is Queen of the Borg. Surprised? So was I. Tell her nothing, or I will lose my advantage, and my ship as well.

[Delta Flyer]

PARIS [OC]: Are you okay?
TORRES: Yes.
KIM: We're fine.
PARIS [OC]: Good to hear it. We'll see you soon.
(The copyist enters.)
TORRES: Don't be afraid.
(He hands over the message and runs.)
KIM: What is it?
TORRES: Without inspiration, B'Elanna Torres will perish. He's threatening to kill off B'Elanna as the climax to his play.
KIM: Let him.
TORRES: That means that he still can't figure out the ending.
KIM: Who cares?
TORRES: I do.
KIM: You're serious?
TORRES: Harry, have you ever inspired anybody?
KIM: That's kind of a strange question.
TORRES: It's been a strange couple of weeks. He needs me, or he's the one who's going to die on that stage.
KIM: What are you talking about?
COMPUTER: The transporter is online.
TORRES: Tell the Captain I'll be a little late.
KIM: B'Elanna.
TORRES: Wait for my signal.
(She beams herself away.)

[Open Air Theatre]

(Janeway has Seven at the end of her spear.)
LAYNA: My death is irrelevant. You will never see the gleaming cities of Earth. You will be assimilated.
TANIS: And if I let you live?
LAYNA: Also irrelevant.
TANIS: You don't believe that. (Janeway throws down the spear.)
TANIS: The battle is over. Go home.
LAYNA: How foolish of you to let me go, free to attack you again.
TANIS: And again and again, until all your drones and all my crew are destroyed. Until everything we value is gone, and there is nothing left but our hatred.

[Backstage]

JERO: This final scene will ruin everything that we've done out there. We'll have to improvise.
KELIS: It's too late.
TORRES: No, it's not.
KELIS: I knew you'd come.
LAYNA: And I told you not to.
TORRES: Wait! Let's go.

[Open Air Theatre]

CHORUS: Finally, Voyager has reached our shores.
TORRES: And not a moment too soon. Kelis the poet must say goodbye as B'Elanna Torres returns to the Eternals in a dazzling blaze of light.
CHORUS 3: On a far-away, snow-covered peak.
TORRES: No, right here before your eyes.
LAYNA: Wait! She's not from across the Eastern Sea. She's an Eternal. I'm telling you she's B'Elanna Torres. The real B'Elanna Torres! I saw her ship.
CHORUS 1: The lead actress, in a fit of jealousy, brands her rival an Eternal. Our patron rises to his feet to stop the play.
AUTARCH: Nicely done. I almost believed you. Continue.
KELIS: Stay.
TORRES: Voyager needs me.
KELIS: So do I.
TORRES: No, you don't. You have all that you need right here.
(Torres hands him her mask.)
KELIS: I'll be inspired every time I think of you.
TORRES: One to beam, to ascend to the heavens.
(Torres is beamed away.)
CHORUS 1: And so ends the rescue of B'Elanna Torres. Half Klingon B'Elanna Torres. Half human B'Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer.
KELIS: These stories will continue for as long as we have the breath to tell them. And as long as our patrons remain wise and compassionate. And Voyager will continue on her journey to the gleaming cities of Earth, where peace reigns and hatred has no home.