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top. But when he looked at what a tight-lipped, pale Dr. Lensehad to show them, he realized that the old cliché was actually quite true.
    Borg.
    Hard to believe that one word, comprised of four letters, could produce such violent emotions. But then, Bart had always respected the power of words. Now, as he gazed at the replicated body on the viewscreen, with its lengths of cables and artificial implants, all he could think of was a giant cube sweeping down to assimilate them all.
    â€œWhat do you think, Geordi?” Gold asked, his calm voice breaking the horrified silence that filled the briefing room. “You’ve had some experience with Borg technology.”
    Geordi licked his lips. “I don’t know, Captain. This technology is different from any Borg technology I’ve encountered before. Take a look at the delicacy of that cable, the seamless way the artificial has been integrated with the organic in the brain. Borg technology was …” He searched for the right word. “Crude, but efficient. It got the job done, but not much more. This is almost elegant. Then again, if there’s one thing you can count on with the Borg, it’s that they’re always improving. Upgrading.”
    â€œAssimilating,” said Duffy, managing the complicated trick of putting a sneer of disgust and respect into the single word.
    â€œExactly,” said La Forge.
    â€œBut it was my understanding that the Borg travel ingroups—in a collective, or subdivisions, in a unimatrix. Never just alone like this,” put in Gomez.
    â€œAgain,” said Abromowitz, “that’s always been true … so far. But don’t forget the Borg queen. She is quite definitely an individual.”
    La Forge nodded agreement. “And there was an adolescent male Borg who came aboard the
Enterprise
several years ago, who was able to understand the concept of the individual. We even named him. Called him Hugh. Got kinda fond of the guy, actually.”
    â€œI remember reading about that,” said Abromowitz. “Because of his interaction with the
Enterprise
crew, he was unable to fully reintegrate into Borg society. He joined with others who split off from the Collective, right? What became of him?”
    â€œWe don’t know,” said Geordi. “I like to think that he and his group are all right, but who knows with the Borg? They could have reassimilated him and studied this thing called individuality. They could have found the group and reassimilated them. When you think about it, the Borg are already a blending of organic being and machine. It’s not that big a step to link an individual with a vessel to form a new collective of one unified mind—instead of a humanoid simply being implanted with cybernetics and linked together, link that mind directly with a personal, mobile machine. With a ship.”
    Carol sank back in her chair. “It does sound exactly like something the Borg would do.”
    â€œThe ship’s ability to withstand the crash also points to Borg technology,” said P8 Blue. “It powered up well enough when it wanted to. Self-repair, just like a Borg cube.”
    â€œLet’s think like the Borg for a moment,” said Gold. “Not that it’s a pleasant task. What would be the advantage to the Borg of forming such a collective? Tying only one mind to one machine? What’s the point in that?”
    â€œEasier maintenance,” said Gomez at once. “One person, one ship. Elizabeth, it looked as though that pilot was able to disengage from the ship. Is that right?”
    Lense nodded. “They could join, and I’d imagine they could separate. There was no indication that the pilot required any sustenance while joined. The entire digestive system had shrunk. I suspect the pilot didn’t even eat as we understand the term, but got her nourishment somehow through her connection to the ship.”
    â€œAgain, exactly