“Eye of the Needle” is episode seven of season one of Star Trek: Voyager.
The episode opens with Captain Janeway saying in her log that the crew has been scanning constantly looking for space anomalies that could shorten their voyage home, and Harry has discovered something. A subspace disturbance that could be a wormhole. The captain agrees but the question is if it would be stable to enter and where it might lead. Tuvok states there is a 75% probability that it wouldn’t lead to the Alpha Quadrant; the captain prefers to think of this as a one in four chance that it might. They need to get closer to make a detailed analysis, which will require a substantial course change. Janeway thinks it’s worth it. Tom suggests that, if it works, they should get it called the ‘Harry Kim Wormhole.’
When the wormhole is approached, the screen has to be turned to the highest magnification. Chakotay thinks it may be the smallest wormhole on record; according to Harry, it’s only 30 cm in diameter. Tom comments that it’s too small to fly the ship through. However, they may be able to get a message through. Only they don’t know where the wormhole leads. Tuvok suggests sending a microprobe through.
The wormhole isn’t like any Tom has studied and Janeway suggests it may be in an advanced state of decay. An ancient wormhole, collapsing for centuries. They can still get a message through, once the find where the wormhole leads. Only the probe gets stuck and will never get free. Then Harry reports that someone on the other side has just scanned it.
Kes is helping the Doctor; in the previous episode, “The Cloud”, he suggested she might want to study medicine. They are treating a crewman, who is only talking to Kes, asking if the EMH can really do everything a real doctor does. The Doctor says he can; the crewman would think twice about having surgery though. The Doctor tells him if he is lucky, he wouldn’t die on the table whilst making up his mind. Afterwards, Kes isn’t happy about how the Doctor was treated. This is apparently common; Kes is the only one who seems to regularly treat him like a real person.
The microprobe has been scanned several times. Tuvok suggests that it could be a microscopic entity in the wormhole. The probe will be crushed in 72 hours, but until then it might be possible to use it as a relay. Which Harry and B’Elanna look into. Which leads into a discussion about people back home. Harry was always in regular contact with his parents. B’Elanna hasn’t seen her father since she was five and she thinks her mother is on the Klingon homeworld. They are not close. The Maquis are the closest think B’Elanna has to a family, and most of her friends are here. So, no, she doesn’t have anyone back home.
A test signal is transmitted, and they wait to see if someone answers. And wait. Then there’s finally a response, and it is identified as coming from the Alpha Quadrant. A voice link is tried and the signal is cleared up. It is coming from a cargo vessel, but the captain doesn’t believe they are calling from the Delta Quadrant. They are obviously lying, so the other captain terminates communications. Chakotay wonders why and Tuvok has an answer. The message came from a Romulan ship, and there are no known shipping lanes in that region. So, it wasn’t a cargo vessel. Instead, it was probably a science vessel and the captain feared they were Federation spies.
Communications are finally re-established, but eh Romulan captain is still suspicious. Admittedly, that seems to be a default state for Romulans, so the crew must try and convince him they are telling the truth.
Kes, meanwhile, asks to speak to Captain Janeway. She asks if the needs of a member of the captain’s crew weren’t being met, would she want to know. Yes, she would, and asks if it’s Neelix and Kes that have a problem. No, they are fine; it’s the Doctor. Kes says that he is ignored and treated as if he doesn’t exist. Janeway says that the crew have complained about the Doctor; he’s rude, brusque and lacks any bedside manner. They were considering reprogramming him. Kes thinks that isn’t right. Janeway says he’s only a hologram; Kes disagrees. He’s the ship’s chief medical officer, alive and self-aware and has the ability to learn.
So Janeway goes to see the Doctor. Yes, he was designed to be used in a limited fashion in an emergency, but he’s become more than that. The Doctor agrees; he’s doctor, nurse and now, with Kes, instructor as well. The captain says he is no longer just the EMH but a full-fledged member of the crew. So, is there anything he needs or wants? One thing springs to mind. The Doctor isn’t always switched off when people leave, and when they do remember, they don’t ask him if it’s convenient. Captain Janeway thinks it should be possible to give the Doctor control over his deactivations sequence. So he can turn himself off, or prevent others from doing so. The Doctor thinks he would like that. By the end of the episode, he thinks of some other things as well.