[Infinity bridge]

ZERO: Oh hello there. Yes, I, you're a telepath too. It's been so long,
GWYN: Zero. Who are you talking to?
ZERO: Another Medusan calling out. They say they can help me.
(Later.)
DAL: A non-corporeal colony?
ZERO: A collective of all kinds. Paxans, Medusans, Calamarains.
POG: Sounds like a bunch of nobodies. Get it? 'Cause non-corporeal beings have no bodies.
GWYN: They said they can help you. How?
ZERO: They assured me they could replace my suit. Though I couldn't read their thoughts, I sensed no ill intention. They gave me coordinates, not too far from here, and said the choice is mine.
DAL: Guys, we need to find the Protostar.
ZERO: You needn't worry about me. The mission comes first.
GWYN: Zero just sacrificed themselves for the good of others and still they won't ask for the help they need. Me and the Protostar can wait.
ROK: She makes a good point.
DAL: All right, what are the coordinates?
ZERO: Really? Oh, how spectacular! I suppose it is time I got an upgrade. Yip! Yip!

[Planet surface]

ION: It is all right. You may remove your protective eyewear. Welcome, friends. My name is Ion, and this is Ovidia IV.
DAL: Er, thanks, but there must be some sort of mix-up. We thought this was a colony of non-corporeals.
ION: I assure you, we are. Energy-based lifeforms from across our galaxy have all flocked to this planet for its unique ability to foster our physical forms.
ZERO: Non-corporeals with living bodies? You're who I spoke with. I've never met a Medusan like you.
ION: You must be Zero, the curious one. You have come at no greater time. For tonight, we celebrate the Feast of Senses.
VILLAGER: (about Pog) Mmm. His odour is so pungent. You must try.
ZERO: And you can experience senses. How?
ION: The answers you seek lie within.

[Dome]

ZERO: How did you come to call this place home?
ION: I was lost, like you. Then I was invited by another non-corporeal, as they were invited before them, the rings of this planet decay into the atmosphere, providing healing nutrients our bodies utilise.
ROK: Unique hydrocarbons, the physical building blocks of life.
ZERO: Creating organic bodies? Energy to matter?
ION: Marvellous, isn't it? We neither use nor need anything as rudimentary as your containment suit, for this is far more rewarding. To see, to feel. It is beyond explanation.
ZERO: This transfiguration, could you do the same for me?
ION: If that is what you would like, it is your decision to make.
ZERO: I've always had this uncertainty and emptiness within, yearning to experience life, to touch and feel as you do. It might be what I've been missing.
ROK: Well, I think this is super cool, scientifically and personally. Biotransference? I mean, come on!
ZERO: Well then, I'll do it.
ION: You all must be tired from your long journey. Our colony will take very good care of you while you wait for the procedure.
GWYN: All that matters is that you take good care of Zero.
ION: You have my word.
(Zero's broken globe is placed in a pod.)
ZERO: Will... will I feel anything?
ION: You will feel everything.
VILLAGER 2: You did not tell them everything.
ION: I gave them the choice, nothing more. The truth will come.

[Voyager games holodeck]

HOLO-DAL: Ha, ha! Fast, but not fast enough.
HOLO-ROK: Ha, ha! Kaboom! Rok-Tahk just served you some percussive maintenance.
(Holo-Murf scores the winner.)
HOLO-DAL: It appears we are victorious! Yip yip!
HOLO-POG: That was so much fun! Can we do it again? Please? Please?
MAJ'EL: Should we proceed with another round, or have you seen enough?
JANEWAY [OC]: Computer, end Parrises squares programme. Their behaviour is unusual. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Maj'el. Dismissed.
HOLO-ZERO: Hey, what is this, a setup?
EMH: Their lifesigns read completely normal, yet their personalities appear to be interchanged.
HOLO-ROK: Whoa, whoa! Watch where you put that tricorder!
TYSESS: There must be some explanation. A virus. Mind-meld gone wrong.
HOLO-DAL: Ooo, a mystery. I love mysteries. It reminds me of your holonovel.
EMH: Oh? Which part? When Velencia is torn between lovers, or when Rodrigo created holo-duplicates of himself to evade detection. Oh, no. Oh, no.
JANEWAY: Computer, turn off all holo-emitters in this room, save for the Doctor. Admiral override.
EMH: I can't believe this. They created imposters with fake life sign subroutines to fool my sensors. I've been betrayed by my own brilliant storylines.
TYSESS: Those holograms were their only biosignatures on Voyager.
JANEWAY: And Gwyn? She wasn't on that holodeck.
TYSESS: Her last biosignature was two days ago, and no record since.
JANEWAY: There's no way they could have left the ship. All shuttles are accounted for.
TYSESS: Except for the Infinity, which we assumed was destroyed.
JANEWAY: Reverse course, and get me a lock on the Infinity's warp trail.
TYSESS: Yes, Admiral.
JANEWAY: And Gwyn, or this holo-version of her, find her. I need answers. Now.

[Dome]

(The pod opens to reveal a figure. It gets out and totters unsteadily.)
ZERO: Oh. Oh. Oh dear. Well.
ION: How do you feel?
ZERO: I feel like there's something in my mouth.
ION: Take your time. It's all right.
ZERO: I feel... I feel!
DAL: Is Zero awake?
ROK: Can we see them?
ION: You have some visitors who'd like to see you. Shall I let them in?
DAL: Zero. Taller than me, but wow.
ROK: I've waited so long to do this.
(Group hug.)
ZERO: Now this, this feels... glorious! Strangely delightful.
ION: If you enjoy these sensations, you'll experience more at our Feast of Senses.

[Settlement]

ION: Let your senses live. Enjoy the life you've only dreamed of.
ZERO: What is this? Oh, they all smell so, so delectable. Such... such visions of flavour in my head. Oh, my belly is angry.
ROK: That just means you're hungry.
POG: Take it from an expert. Time to start shoving things in your mouth. Mmm.
ZERO: This is the best thing I've ever tasted. The only thing I've ever tasted. No, this one's better. So many delights. I feel something welling up inside me. Is this unbridled bliss or euphoria, or...
(Massive burp.)
ZERO: Oh my.
POG: Oh, ample sound, pungent bouquet. Pog is impressed.
ROK: Murf, I think we get the point.
VILLAGER: Is that you, Zero? Wow. You look amazing. Come, dance with us.
DAL: If you want to go for it, say yes.
ZERO: Yes.
POG: Hey, let's go live a little, kid.
ROK: I'm too big. I don't want to step on their tiny new feet.
POG: Don't you worry about that. Jankom Pog's moves clear the dance floor.
ROK: Okay, okay.
DAL: Hey. You hungry?
GWYN: I'm starving. Zero looks so happy.
DAL: They do. Thanks for speaking up for Zero. Sometimes I get so focused on where I think we need to be, I forget to stop and take a breath. Or take a sip of whatever this is, which is possibly the greatest thing I have ever tasted! We'll make things right.
GWYN: Will we?
DAL: We have to.
ION: Enjoying yourselves?
DAL: What is in this drink? 'Cause I gotta get me another one.
ION: Mmm. Stomach juices of the Villar Hog.
DAL: You know what? It is so filling.
GWYN: Thank you for this. This means a lot to our friend.
DAL: What's the deal with the crown?
ION: They're preparing for the Running of the Nazamon, a celebration of the forgotten sense.
DAL: Er, sight, sound, smell, touch, taste. What are we forgetting?
ION: Fear.
GWYN: What do you mean, fear?
ION: The feeling of mortality, that life is fleeting. Of all the senses, it is the one that makes our corporeal bodies feel most alive.
DAL: You're scaring us, Ion. Just what exactly happens during this Running of the whatevers?
ION: It's the pinnacle of the feast. If they survive the running, every non-corporeal feels one with their body. And since our physical forms deteriorate if we leave Ovidia IV, no one ever chooses to leave this planet.
DAL: We have to tell Zero before they start the Running of the Nazamon. Zero doesn't know what they're getting into.
GWYN: Yeah, but where is Zero?
DAL: Have you seen Zero?
POG: Yeah! Zee's right here! Hey, Zero! Oh.
DAL: Zero? Zero!
ION: It is time for the Running of the Nazamon.
DAL: Gah! We're too late!
ROK: What's wrong?
DAL: Zee's in danger. We may lose them forever.

[Hilltop]

ZERO: It's haunting. Captivating. But I'm so curious about what this is for.
(A headdress.)
VILLAGER: It's to attract the Nazamon. Just try to keep up and hopefully we'll make it to the other side.
ZERO: Some don't?
VILLAGER: It's okay to be afraid. It's why we're here.
DAL: Zero!
GWYN: Zero!
ROK: Zero!
ZERO: Friends! Over here!
ROK: I found them! This way!
(A horn sounds and the villagers start running. Zero joins in.)
GWYN: It's already started.
DAL: Then we're going in. Whether Zee stays or goes won't matter if they don't survive this thing.
VILLAGER 3: Ah! Over here! Pick me!
GWYN: What is that?
VILLAGER 3: The Nazamon. And now it feasts!
(A giant ray-type creature materialises and everyone drops to the ground as it scoops up flowers. Then they run again.)
VILLAGER: Did you feel your heart beating?
ZERO: Yes! Yes!
VILLAGER: Then run faster or you'll spend eternity in its belly!
DAL: Zero!
ZERO: Isn't this wondrous?
DAL: No, it is not!
GWYN: We need to tell you something.
ZERO: We need to get to the other side.
DAL: Ion said that no one ever leaves this planet.
ZERO: Ion said what? What do you mean, they never leave?
GWYN: They don't want to. Your bodies degenerate if they leave Ovidia IV.
ZERO: They do?
DAL: If they survive the race. No one wants to give up their senses.
ZERO: You risked your lives to tell me?
DAL: Of course. You're Zero!
GWYN: Ion wasn't wrong. The choice is yours, but you have a right to know everything before you make it.
DAL: Zero. If it were me...
(The Nazamon scoops him up.)
GWYN: Dal!
ZERO: Hang in there, Dal!
(Zero jumps up into the maw.)
DAL: Oh, why'd I look down?
ZERO: Hold on!
GWYN: It's not coming down. We need to lure it back. Hurry!
(The Nazamon flies up into the sky.)

[Nazamon]

DAL: I fly starships, not Nazamon. What do we do?
ZERO: We let it follow its senses. I'm terrified, but I won't lie. This feels spectacular!
(The Nazamon swoops down again, Dal and Zero get out of its maw, across its back and roll to the ground.)

[Hilltop]

GWYN: I think I'm done with this Feast of Senses.
DAL: So we survived. How are you feeling, Zee? What happens now?
ZERO: I'll decide when I cross the finish line.
DAL: Then we'll finish it together.

[Settlement]

ION: Zero, you've completed the Feast of Senses. How do you feel?
ZERO: Grateful for the experience. No, transformed. I don't want to leave. To lose my senses would be heart-breaking, which is ironic, because I didn't have one before. But I have friends who would risk their own, simply to clarify a choice that was, for whatever reason, kept from me.
ION: You needed to experience it before you knew what you could lose.
ZERO: But my life is my own to decide. In a way, you've helped me come to my senses. I know where I belong. With them. Perhaps my body will degrade and my senses will dull. Or maybe this is the first step in a journey of self-discovery and unknown possibility. Either way, I'll take it with those most important to me. My family.
ION: A noble choice. I am proud to have met you, curious one.
ZERO: As am I. Thank you. Truly.

[Sickbay]

JANEWAY: Status report.
TYSESS: The doctor has tracked down and reconstructed the missing Gwyn hologram, with the appropriate personality.
JANEWAY: Good. I like Murf, but his conversations can be a bit one-sided.
EMH: There's something else I came across that is deeply troubling. Shortly before her programme went offline, there was a gap of roughly eight minutes missing in the ship's logs.
JANEWAY: Our computers can't lose minutes.
EMH: I was hoping to ask her about that. Computer, unfreeze Gwyn programme.
JANEWAY: Gwyn, I know this may come as a shock, but we know you are a hologram, and we fear the real Gwyn could be in danger.
TYSESS: We are also aware your counterparts took the Infinity.
HOLO-GWYN: They had to. They received a secret message.
JANEWAY: A secret message? From whom?
HOLO-GWYN: We think it was... Captain Chakotay.
EMH: And your disappearance. What do you remember of it?
HOLO-GWYN: I... I can hear them.
EMH: Hear what?
HOLO-GWYN: The sounds. Such awful sounds. I couldn't moved, like time stopped. They were there to take me.
JANEWAY: Who are they?
HOLO-GWYN: Please, make it stop. They're coming closer. Let me go. Let me go!
EMH: Computer, end programme.
MAJ'EL: I believe she was lost in a terrible memory.
JANEWAY: That's what I'm afraid of. I don't know who or what is after them, but if we don't find them first, we may lose more than just eight minutes.