'I must forget her' she repeated for the fifty fourth time. The words did not make any more sense this time than they had the first. 'How can I forget?' The absurdity of asking a Borg to forget anything added to the sense of unfairness. She tried another approach with herself.

'This love is flawed and should be terminated. Lieutenant Torres cannot love me now or ever and how can I love, if love it is, someone who believes Ensign Paris is a suitable mate. Am I insufficient compared to Ensign Paris?'

Seven forced herself to consider the possibility of his superiority and rejected the foolish idea with a small smile on her lips before the tight despair squeezing her vital organs wiped the smile clean away.

'Why must B'Elanna love him?' howled her inner human.

'Perhaps he is better suited to her needs,' reasoned the Borg and began to analyse how this might be: he doesn't get in her way; he spends all his days in the holodeck or drinking with his friends; she is free to pursue her life.

'But free from what?' objected Seven to herself.

Perhaps free from the endless mating games that the humans played. Maybe B'Elanna Torres wants to be alone or free and Tom Paris is a like a wall behind which she can hide her true feelings.

'Unwarranted supposition and sentimentality' sneered the inner Borg. 'You have no reason to imagine she has any other feelings than those which are manifest.'