The Chute

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Star Trek: Voyager episode
"The Chute"
Harry and Tom in prison
Episode no.	Season 3, Episode 3
Prod. code	147
Airdate	September 18, 1996
Writer(s)	Clayvon C. Harris Kenneth Biller
Director	Les Landau
Year	2373
Stardate	50156.2
Episode chronology
Previous	"Flashback"
Next	"The Swarm"

"The Chute" is the name of the 45^th episode of Star Trek: Voyager, the third episode of the third season.

1 Plot
2 Guest appearances
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Plot

In the episode, Tom Paris and Harry Kim are accused of terrorist atrocities on the Akritirian homeworld and sent to a brutal prison where inmates fend for themselves.

An element of the prison sometimes drives prisoners insane. Kim must deal with changing loyalties, no place to actually bed down, a plan to escape and Paris' mental affliction. The aforemention chute is a long, thin tunnel in which prisoners and food are dropped.

Kim also tries to recruit the other prisoners into working together, which meets with limited success. Kim manages to gain one partner, who works with him to discover the prison is actually a giant space station.

Paris goes completely mad and wrecks a small device that Kim had been building. Kim, afflicted as well, attacks Paris in return but manages to hold onto his sanity.

The Voyager crew manages to track down the prison. Using Neelix's ship, which is still in the shuttlebay, they manage to hook into the chute. A small Away team consisting of Janeway, Tuvok and a few security guards pacify the prisoners and rescue Kim and Paris.

Back on board, Kim is horrified at what he had almost done while afflicted. Paris convinces him to use a week's worth of replicator rations on recreating some of the meals they had discussed while in prison.

The plot of this episode bears several striking similarities with the Lois McMaster Bujold short story, Borders of Infinity.