Kate Mulgrew credited as playing...
Capt. Kathryn Janeway
- [last lines]
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: It must have been difficult.
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: Difficult?
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: To destroy what you created.
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: It was necessary.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: I read your report. It was no small achievement, B'Elanna. You gave that unit life.
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: You should have seen it, Captain. It was incredible. I installed that module, and the prototype looked up at me... and asked me for programming.
- Captain Kathryn Janeway: As I said - it must have been difficult.
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres: It was necessary.
- Torres: Apparently thousands of them were built as service modules, but the race who created them, these Builders, were killed off decades ago in a war.
- Janeway: Leaving the automated units to fend for themselves.
- Torres: Now they're wearing out, breaking down. They've learnt to make repairs to themselves, some pretty complex, but the construction of a power module, the device which sustains them, is beyond their grasp. It's an incredible challenge, Captain, but with enough time to study their systems, I might be able to do it.
- Janeway: I don't doubt your abilities, B'Elanna, but helping them reproduce is a clear violation of the Prime Directive.
- Torres: They've expressed a desire to procreate. That's basic to any life form.
- Janeway: I'm not saying they don't have the same rights as any organic species. That's not the issue here.
- Torres: Are you sure? Suppose they were organic but they had become sterile, and we had a treatment that would enable them to start reproducing again. Would you withhold that treatment?
- Janeway: Maybe. I'd have to know more about the circumstances, but we're not talking about treating a disorder here, are we?
- Torres: What's the difference?
- Janeway: Unlike a species who's become sterile, the robots never had the ability to reproduce. What you're talking about is giving them new abilities, which is the equivalent of altering their genetic structure.
- Torres: To correct a flaw.
- Janeway: You can't call it a flaw. This is the way they were designed.
- Torres: I'm trying to save them from extinction.
- Janeway: Unfortunately extinction is often the natural end of evolution.
- Torres: So you're just willing to let their entire society die off.
- Janeway: We don't know that's going to happen. If they're adaptable, as you say, and capable of educating themselves, they might very well learn to build a power module themselves someday.
- Torres: Someday could be too late. There are only a few hundred of them left.
- Janeway: I feel for the robot's plight, but what you're proposing is exactly the kind of tampering the Prime Directive prohibits. We know almost nothing about these creatures or the race that built them. What would be the consequences of increasing their population, both to their own civilization and others in this quadrant? Who are we to swoop in, play God and then continue on our way without the slightest consideration of the long term effects of our actions?
- Torres: Captain...!
- Janeway: B'Elanna, I share your scientific curiosity and I admire your compassion, but the answer is no.