In VOY S1E05 āPhageā, Neelixās lungs are stolen by the Vidiians, and The Doctor creates a set of holographic lungs operated by the holo emitters installed in sickbay.
The procedure is successful, but due to technical limitations, that places two very heavy restrictions on Neelix:
- He has to have his movement completely restrained as the computer cannot compensate quickly enough to keep the holo-lungs in alignment with his internal physilogy
- Like The Doctor, he cannot leave sickbay even if the computer could process fast enough to keep his holographic lungs aligned
Potentially, Neelix could also be transported to the holodeck with his holo-lungs intact, but given its frequent malfunctions, it may not be a wise action unless thereās no other alternative. He would also still need to be restrained to keep the lungs in place.
The mobile emitter, though introduced two seasons later in Season 3ās āFutureās Endā, might alleviate both of those restrictions and have applications in field medicine and other emergency care.
Being 29th century technology, it may very well be fast and responsive enough to keep the holographic organs aligned with the bodyās nervous, respiratory, and circulatory systems without requring the patient to be immobilized. Additionally, it would give the patient unrestricted mobility without confining them to a location equipped with holo emitters.
Given that by the time of PIC in 2401 the mobile emitter has been reverse engineered and reproduced, it would be logical to explore its application as an emergency organ transplant given that the procedure was successfully proven by the crew of Voyager.
Given the high degree of McGuffinness of the portable emitter, youāre probably right. Iād still think it would be difficult though. Your guts are never quite in the same place when you move so the emitter would still need to adjust for our humanoid stretchiness. And if Voyagerās big gel-packed computer core couldnāt do the calculations, Iād have trouble imagining this tiny gadget could do it while also being the power supply. Even while factoring in that it is future tech brought backwards in time. But thatās more of a feeling on my part than a scientific argument.
I was rooting for the Vidiians in S1.
I was not wild about the direction holo tech went. I mean with voyager its like. Well ships might as well just be warp cores and holo emmitters.
Captain Hugh manne, youāll be the first to test this new holoship design of yours.
It canāt cloak, goes W8.6, has two warp cores, and a computer between them powering holographic emitters that can craft your ship into whatever youād like.
From there, itāll function normally as long as no ensign turns on the safety on holo weapons.
why canāt it cloak? you would think it would be super cloakable.
Itās because thatās why.
Canāt have the Romulans getting pissy.
Couldnāt he also be placed in transporter stasis until they figured something out? Itās been a while since Iāve watched, idk if that was discussed.
The Doctor didnāt consider that in āPhageā and I only recall VOY using the transporter buffer trick once when they had to hide the telepathic crew members when theyāre traveling through Devore space.
