The Chute (episode)

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"The Chute"
VOY, Episode 3x03 Production number: 147 First aired: 18 September 1996
←	46th of 168 produced in VOY	→
←	44th of 168 released in VOY	→
	{{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 168 released in VOY Remastered
←	425th of 726 released in all	→
Teleplay By Kenneth Biller Story By Clayvon C. Harris Directed By Les Landau
50156.2 (2373)
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Following the bombing of an Akritirian canteen, Harry Kim and Tom Paris are found guilty and imprisoned in a prison where a neural implant gradually drives the inmates mad. When Tom is stabbed, Harry must juggle between trying to escape, caring for his injured friend, and trying to survive the savage environment.

Contents 1 Summary 2 Log Entries 3 Memorable Quotes 4 Background Information 4.1 Video and DVD releases 5 Links and References 5.1 Guest Stars 5.2 Uncredited Co-Stars 5.3 References

[edit] Summary

Kim and Paris are imprisoned after being accused of using trilithium to bomb the Laktivia recreational facility on Akritiri, killing 47 off-duty patrollers. Tom tells Harry that they are in a Akritirian maximum security detention facility more than 300 meters underground with fifty other prisoners. They are controlled by a neural implant called a clamp, which makes the prisoners paranoid and violent.

The only exit is a chute which the Akritirians use to send food and new prisoners into the holding area. However, it is protected by a force field which shocks anyone who touches it. Harry finds a way to disable the field. As Tom and Harry are trying to do so, the other prisoners find them and stab Tom.

Harry takes Tom back to their shelter, but it has been taken over by other prisoners. He then approaches Zio, and offers to take Zio with him while he escapes in exchange for shelter, food and bandages. Zio and Harry disable the force field, and climb up the chute, only to find that it leads to a hatch into space. They are not underground, but imprisoned on a satellite so escape to the surface is not possible.

Harry tries to convince the other prisoners that they need to join together to raid the vessel that brings food and prisoners, however, they refuse. Harry goes back to the shelter where Tom is, Tom has taken apart the device that disrupts the force field. Harry is furious and the two fight, Harry nearly kills Tom. Zio tells him that he should kill Tom because he is a drain on resources.

On USS Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway is trying to negotiate with Ambassador Liria of Akritiri so that she can find her crewmen. They tell her that Kim and Paris have confessed to the bombing, and that Voyager is the only possible source of the trilithium used for the bomb in the sector. Two Akritirian patrol ships appear and threaten to board Voyager and imprison the entire crew. Janeway retreats. Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres reports that paralithium can also be converted to trilithium and that paralithium is used to power impulse ships.

Voyager reviews its logs of vessels that their sensors recorded while in orbit of Akritiri and finds four that are powered by paralithium. They track down the vessels, and find the bombers, two siblings named Piri and Vel, who are affiliated with a terrorist group called Open Sky. Janeway goes back to Akritiri and offers to exchange them for Kim and Paris. However, the ambassador flatly refuses, saying that Kim and Paris's convictions cannot be overturned.

Janeway approaches the bombers, who say that they know the location of the prison. Janeway offers to let them go if they give them access to the prison. Janeway decides to get close to the prison in Neelix's small ship.

Back in the prison, the prisoners are suddenly alerted to the arrival of someone coming down the chute. The prisoners crowd around, ready to "greet" the new arrivals, when Janeway comes down the chute, large weapon in her hand. She stuns several of the prisoners as Tuvok comes down the chute after her. The two senior officers are able to locate Harry, who brings them to Tom. The four Starfleet officers make their escape, just as an Akritiri ship announces its plan to board the Talaxian vessel.

Back on Voyager, Tom, Harry, Neelix, Janeway, and The Doctor gather in sickbay to give Tom the stamp of health. Tom and Harry go to dinner together, and Harry awkwardly tries to apologize to Tom for almost killing him. Tom stops him short, saying that he doesn't remember that. "What I remember," he says, "is a voice saying, 'This man is my friend. No one touches him.'" The two friends leave to enjoy a hearty, much-dreamed-about dinner.

[edit] Log Entries

• Captain's log, stardate 50156.2. After 72 hours, Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim are still missing, and I'm quickly losing patience with the Akritirian authorities. They continue to deny us access to the surface, and they've yet to confirm whether our crewmen were killed in the bombing.

• Captain's log, supplemental. So far, we've located three ships with paralithium plasma emissions, but none of them appears to have produced explosives. We're currently in pursuit of a fourth vessel.

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"I'm only in the mood for good news today, ambassador."

- Kathryn Janeway, to the Akritirian ambassador

"This man is my friend; nobody touches him."

- Harry Kim, to prisoners about Tom Paris

"Right now, I'm so hungry, I could eat a bowl of Neelix's leola root stew."
"Me, too. Never thought I'd say that."

- Harry Kim and Tom Paris

"Tom, listen to me. I... I almost killed you."
"What are you saying? You're the one that kept me alive."
"I was ready to hit you with the pipe. Don't you remember?"
"You want to know what l remember? Someone saying, This man is my friend. Nobody touches him. I'll remember that for a long time."

- Harry Kim and Tom Paris

[edit] Background Information

• This was the first episode to be shot in the third season, as "Sacred Ground", "False Profits", "Flashback" and "Basics, Part II" were shot in the second season and held back.
  ^{(citation needed • edit)}
• One of the Akritirian inmates wears a costume originally created for one of the Aaamazzarites in (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
• Paralithium is introduced here as a further branch of the "futuristic" lithium family of starship fuels, producing the highly dangerous trilithium as a by-product.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.2, 3 February 1997.
• As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection.

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Guest Stars

• Don R. McManus as Zio
• Robert Pine as Liria
• James Parks as Vel
• Ed Trotta as Pit
• Beans Morocco as Rib
• Rosemary Morgan as Piri

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Louis Ortiz as Culhane
• Kerry Hoyt as Fitzpatrick
• Tom Morga as an Akritirian prisoner

[edit] References

2296; 47; acetylcholine; Akritiri; Akritirian; Akritirian cargo vessel; Akritirian maximum security detention facility; Akritirian patrol ship; Baxial; Chateau Lafite Rothschild; cherry pie; clamp; fettran sauce; fire ant; flambé noodles; food cake; fudge ripple pudding; Heva VII; hypothalamus; Delaney, Megan; Foster; ion propulsion; Laktivia recreational facility; lamb; leola root stew; multispectral subsurface scan; mushroom; onion rings; Open Sky; paralithium; plasma; pulse gun; potato; rice; Risan bean; Sandrine's; shrimp; steak; synaptic stimulator; trilithium

Previous episode: "Flashback"

Star Trek: Voyager Season 3

Next episode: "The Swarm"