Well we just finished watching an episode of Star Trek: Voyager where two of the main characters were merged into one life form due to a transporter mishap. (pesky transporters again! -Ed.)

The two officers in question, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and uh..Neelix, were merged into a person named Tuvix. The episode progresses and the crew gets used to Mr. Tuvix, and Mr. Tuvix seems to be getting along with the crew and his duties. About half-way through the episode, the Emergency Medical Hologram finds a way that can separate Tuvok from Neelix and vice versa. The crew is happy about it, all except Mr. Tuvix, who exclaims "I don’t want to die!"

I found the episode to get really interesting at this point because it was just like treatment for multiples but reversed. Instead of a multiple integrating, it’s a singlet separating. The Rights issue is the same to us. Just like we would not like to be integrated, we would not want to force separation onto a singlet.

-- I have a hard decision to make.

-- You’re acting like it’s your decision to make, Captain.

-- I have a responsibility to my two crew members.

"What you’re suggesting, Captain, is no less than execution! Something that was done centuries ago to criminals, and I’ve done nothing wrong," says a disconcerted Mr. Tuvix during the private discussion with Captain Janeway.

"Are you not asking the same thing of Tuvok and Nelix?" is her reply.

Things just got a whole lot more complicated and bring up an important issue. Whose rights come first in a situation like that? Tuvok and Neelix were there first, but can you deny the life of the new Tuvix? It made me and a few others think. TA, a prominent person in our system, has been quick to shoot down the possibility of integration from the beginning stating, "I have as much a right to be here as anyone." Is integration murder? Just like the separation of Mr. Tuvix? TA feels it is, as do several others in our system. Yet many multiples seek this kind of treatment, do they not think about the implications or are they being selfish and just thinking about themselves? It’s something to be discussed during a moral debate.

At the end of the episode the captain decides that the separation must take place, sacrificing the one life for the two. In the spirit of Federation bravery! A frantic Tuvix tries to look to his fellow officers for help but they’re all silent. The captain and two security officers escorts Mr. Tuvix to Sickbay. I was glad when the doctor said that he would not perform the procedure because he was sworn not to do harm to a living thing. Kudos to the Emergency Medical Hologram! The captain does the process herself, and Mr. Neelix and Mr. Tuvok are returned to their former selves. Neelix and his friend Kess embrace, as the logical Vulcan says his greetings. The captain welcomes them back and proceeds to leave the Sickbay alone. The camera follows the captain and as she walks alone a deserted corridor you can see the hurt in her eyes at what she had to do. I was glad to see at least some remorse for the separation.

It was also refreshing to see a reversed look at integration, because being multiple I always hear about integration this, integration that, and it was a new concept to have it reversed. Integration and Separation -- two things that could be considered quite harmful even criminal. This was actually a good take on the issue.

Renegade of The Kokuei Collective