we were studying a less developed borg colony on an apparently abandoned industrial planet, trying to learn more about their history and identity. ostensibly we were here just to find out what they were doing here, but the opportunity to learn more about the borg and their technology was too great to pass up. these borg were not like the rest, which i suppose is what drew us here. they are more ... colorful. things had been underway for several weeks, and i was making progress deciphering the workings of their sensorimotor translation device. bits of it were understood well enough to perform a simple test, forwarding the sensorium of one human to another. there was no overlay or double vision, it was all or nothing, either you're here or you're there. or maybe we just hadn't figured out how to turn down the opacity yet. it's quite boring and uncomfortable to sit around and just experience someone else's senses, so i snagged a young greasemonkey from the engineering department who liked to make bets. "oi. got a bet for ya. bet you nobody notices that we've switched bodies with this," i gestured at the device sitting on the bench. he took me up on the bet. I forwarded my sensorium to him, and his to mine. there was, surprisingly, absolutely no residual signal from my actual body, it was like i was occupying a new body. what a shame you have to do something with the other's consciousness, i thought, staring into the mirror at the blue eyes and pale crooked nose. a redhead. he needs to brush his teeth more often. i went about my normal routine that day, attending staff meetings, raising objections in the committee, drinking coffee in the research lounge. it turned out nobody made any sign of noticing that i was now a fifteen year old irish boy. odd, that. i didn't expect to be proven right. was i really so unimportant? i wondered what he had been getting up to with my body, wishing i had chosen a more trustworthy experimental confidant. i never got a chance to find out. when i turned off the box i found myself in an unfamiliar room. our leader, katherine, was a supermodel-like beauty who defied categorization; she was a power, talented in many areas of science and sociology. she was supposed to be doing an observational survey of borg mating habits. what then, were we doing in this underground facility? a toolbox was lying open on the floor, and katherine's ten year old son was sealed in some kind of vertical coffin or capsule, glowing fluorescent lights lining the interior. attached to it was a rail that snaked up into the depths overhead. a borg identity chip had been attached to his left temple. it was active. "what the hell are you doing? that's an identity chip. if they see him they'll think he's damaged and start attaching things to him!" i spluttered. she just glared at me, confused and annoyed. "we already went over this, there aren't any in this sector. it's just an interface test too see if we can use their equipment." just then there was an erratic pounding from the door of the capsule. we looked over to see the boy pushing on the glass in a seizure, foamed drool flicking about the interior. the capsule hummed and shot up overhead, following the twisted rail into the dark labyrinth of unknowable machinery above. ... was the sensorium re-activated? a memory, not mine, what's happening? katherine is on earth, driving her car down the coast of india? virginia? she's looking at the enormous waves below, surfers tumbling helplessly in the water. those are big waves. how can they surf in that? i should keep my eyes on the road. a stretch of bridge had sagged under the tide line here just a bit, and stupidly i had driven into the water. now both wheels are spinning and there's nothing to do but call for help. then a big wave crashes against the side of the car and knocks me off into the water. i'm sinking into an underwater cave, pulled by the downdraft of the sinking car. there are penguins perched on all the rocks, looking at me. no wait, they're people. they're talking in indian penguin voices. i try to talk back, but i'm underwater. i need to breathe soon. kick back to the surface and sunlight streams in. ... a gentle rocking motion woke me. i looked around in the dim light at the boxy compartment; definitely not a borg construction. it must be left over from whoever built this place. a thrumming noise came through the floor. "what. happened." i managed to croak out. katherine was sitting in a corner hugging her knees, red-eyed, looking away from me. her mouth was a gash of anger and guilt. "you freaked out and now noah's gone. i dragged your sorry ass back to the elevator. you're welcome." she maintained unbroken eye contact with the wall. my cheek was oozing from a large scrape. i guess she did drag me over half a kilometer of rubble. "but we should be able to locate the identity chip if we can decipher their network protocols," i offered. "i remember one of the engineers gave a presentation about that last week. maybe they've made progress since then." no answer. the elevator compartment shook gently back and forth as we ascended hundreds of floors. at the top of the ascent the doors opened out onto sheer mayhem. an alarm klaxon was going off, and red lights flashed everywhere. smoke poured out of a hole in the west wall of our little command center. bodies and paper lay scattered everywhere, and several borg were tromping around on the spilled coffee and scattered reports, completely oblivious to the noise.