Changes
to the USS Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram ( EMH ), known simply
as the Doctor to the crew, are easily described in terms of additional
megaquads and teraquads grafted to a heuristic matrix originally rated
for 1500 hours continuous use.
The
Doctor’s evolution may never have taken root if it were not for Kes.
She treated the Doctor like another member of the crew and persuaded him
to think likewise. Her support serves as a challenge for the Doctor to
go beyond his original programming parameters. The Doctor’s first act
of self-definition was
the right to turn himself off. He soon develops changes to his
subroutines to better serve the crew- like giving himself an illness to
improve his bedside manner and creating a holographic family. He
invented photonic treatments, visited the holodeck, and had his first
experience with love and sex.
In 2373
the Doctor received an autonomous holoemitter, giving him the ability to
travel outside sickbay and opening his mind to new interests.
Not every
new experiment was successful or without pain. The Doctor’s
long-winded lectures were dreaded, but dutifully attended. His attempt
at psychiatric counseling in 2374 resulted in the death of an innocent
Entharan. In 2375, his choice to save Harry Kim over Ensign Jetal,
simply because Kim was a closer friend, created an ethical And cognitive
subroutine feedback loop that almost permanently crashed his program.
Since no
one on Voyager had experience with a sentient hologram, the Doctor
believes he is forced to press for equal treatment and that he doesn’t
always receive it. This belief leads the Doctor to decide to leave
Voyager on two occasions - one with the Qomar and another with photonics
insurgents. Both decisions are disastrous and the Doctor returns to
Voyager. On another occasion, he does gain three years of life
experience on a time-displaced planet, where he had a female companion
and a ‘son’.
By 2376
the Doctor helped save Voyager from the Kazon and the Hirogen, and
successfully engaged the Romulans. This leads to the belief that an
Emergency Command Hologram ( ECH ) program- a back-up captain- be
developed. In 2377 the ECH goes online, following a temporary crew
evacuation, thus giving the Doctor his first duty of command on board
Voyager- the first hologram in Starfleet with such authority.
That year
the Doctor also spends a brief time living through Seven of Nine’s
body, when he can taste food, drink and feel other sensations of the
body for the first time. Not only were these experiences a revelation,
they brought the Doctor and Seven closer. The Doctor’s affection and
mentor-like relationship with Seven continues to evolve.
