idea of how to recover my memory?” Kes asked quietly.
“There are several methods used by different schools of theory,” The Doctor said. “Hypnosis is always popular, the idea being that the individual never forgets anything, only represses it.
There is talk therapy, discussing different aspects until things start to make sense. That can take a long time. And then there’s reenactment, where the patient confronts the realities of the past and acts them out again, but this time changes things to effect the outcome. Taking charge of the past and rewriting it.”
“I don’t know that there’s anything to rewrite,” Kes said quietly.
“But how is this reenactment done?”
“Well, we could certainly do it on the holodeck,” The Doctor said.
“You would have to create the program, and then you go and live it out.”
“I don’t know how to make a holodeck program,” Kes said. “I haven’t been on the holodeck much, except for a picnic with Neelix. He wouldn’t like me going with anyone else.”
“Well, I’m sure someone would help you with the program,” The Doctor said. “All you would have to do is to describe your memories to the best of your ability. Then as you reenact it, you can change things as you remember, to make them more realistic.”
“I would like you to come with me,” Kes said.
“What?” The Doctor asked. He blinked. He had gone to the holodeck before. In fact, it was one of the few places outside of sickbay he could go and retain his full integrity. After all, the holodeck was set up for holograms.
“Why?” he asked, bemused.
“To explain it as we go along,” Kes said. “Isn’t it true that you’re not supposed to try therapeutic techniques alone?”
The Doctor was silent. He couldn’t refute her, not when he himself remembered saying that to her in one of their very few discussions of psychotherapy.
“Well, of course a patient isn’t supposed to be alone throughout the process. But breakthroughs happen all the time, not just during the therapeutic hour. That time is reserved to reflect and understand new insights.”
Kes smiled softly. “And do you believe that, Doctor? Or do you just want more encouragement to return to the holodeck?”
“It might be nice to get out of sickbay,” he grudgingly replied.
“But where you’re going isn’t where I would choose.”
“And what would you choose?”
The Doctor cocked his head to one side. He had to think for a moment.
“There are a lot of places and times before direct download was possible. Galen, Hippocrates—it would be interesting to talk to Hippocrates. But if I had to choose only one, I think it would be Louis Pasteur. You remember who he was?”
The question was rhetorical. Kes never forgot anything. “The first human to create a vaccine,” she answered promptly.
“Preventing disease is better than curing it,” The Doctor acknowledged.
“Not that we’ll have any time for any research here.” He sighed at the remains of the ruined experiment. Kes turned away and hung her head.
“Not as long as they keep playing with that ski program,” Kes agreed.
Then Kes and The Doctor both smiled together. Kes knew they were thinking the same thing. If she took over the holodeck for her therapy, it would cut down on ski injuries for the day.
***
He was sitting in the captain’s chair on the bridge. Chakotay knew that. And he was concentrating firmly on the problem at hand. Still, his thoughts kept wandering in a way he had trained against for years, ever since he had been a youngster.
Maybe it was just indigestion, he thought. He had sampled several of Neelix’s cookies after dinner. In truth, dinner had been too unpalatable to eat, but he had still been hungry. The cookies hadn’t been bad, which had been a surprise. They were probably the first thing Neelix had ever created that Chakotay could actually say that he liked. And he had eaten a good number of them.
And now he felt—unquiet. As
Massimo Carlotto, Anthony Shugaar