Derby
by Erin AlpertWow, am I up to four already? Geez. Well, if you don’t know, I guess I
should tell you what the Pinewood Derby is. It is a Boy Scout car race
thingy, and I got the inspiration for this while at it a few weeks ago. Bree
didn’t win, oh well, maybe next year. In case you didn’t know, Bree is my
little brother, real name’s Brian. You can tell I’ve watched TNG’s
“Rascals” to many times, it’s one of my faves.
The shuttle was being shook, but she never noticed. The walls around her
were pounding, but she never realized it. Her Engineering console was
flashing and making noises at her, but her mind was wandering.
“B’Elanna, do they have a lock on us?” The voice startled her.
“Huh, what? Of, yes Captain,” she replied, still dazed.
“Good,” she nodded at her first officer, and awaited to be transported.It was a small ship, a shuttle, but never-the-less, most of the senior
officers were aboard it. All but Neelix, actually. The Doc had been
transferred into the shuttle’s memory, holo-emiter aboard as well. Janeway
had one of the four chairs on the miniature bridge, B’Elanna had another,
Paris a third, Chakotay the last. Tuvok, Kim, and Kes were all in the minuet
passenger section.The transporter swept them up, then dropped them into existence again.
Torres looked around, and saw no one she noticed, and nothing else was
familiar, not even herself.It wasn’t that she was alone, but that there was no person she noticed.
There was a blonde kid, around 12 or 13, who was kind of cute, in a childish
sort of way. There was a teenager, probably 15 or 16, who’s hair was pulled
back into a pony-tail, and was curiously scanning the room with her blue
eyes. The last person in the room, looked something like Chakotay. Same dark
hair. Same brown eyes. Same tattoo? That scared Torres.
“B’Elanna?” the voice sounded familiar, but different, changed some how.
“Yeah,” she answered suspiciously.
Then she stopped. Her voice was different, she wasn’t herself.
“Who said that?” she snapped.
“Me,” the voice belonged to the blonde male.
“How do you know who I am?”
“B’Elanna, the ridges gave it away.”
She reached up and touched her face, “who are you?”
Torres could now feel the other four eyes staring at her.
“It’s me, Tom.”
“Tom?” this time the voice wasn’t B’Elanna, but the other female.
“Captain?” the one who looked all too much like the Commander asked.
“Chakotay?”
Now, they almost had who they were figured out, but where were the others?
*******************
“Like a child,
You whisper softly to me.
Your in control,
Just like a child.
Now I’m dancing,
It’s like a dream,
No end and no beginning.
You’re here with me,
It’s like a dream.
Let the choir sing.”
Madonna-- Like a Prayer
********************A group of children walked over, with the exception of one person. Tall
compared to the rest, and a receding hair line, and unmistakably, the Doctor.
The one who was apparently the second oldest was around 18 or 19, and had the
Vulcan pointy ears, Tuvok. The other two were very young. The dark haired
male, who was apparently Kim, was around 7 or 8, maybe 9. But the blonde
haired girl was a toddler, with short cropped hair revealing her Ocampan
features“Doctor, what happened?” Janeway was the first to speak, as usual.
“We... uh.. you have all been reduced to the psychical state of a child.”“What about mentally?” Torres snorted, not happy with her new self.
“Easy B’Elanna,” Tom gently touched her arm.
“Mentally, you are all the same,” the Doctor seemed un-affected by her
hostile words.
“Didn’t this happen to someone else?” Kim asked.
Paris chuckled, it was hard to take him seriously in his small size.
“Yeah, it happened to Captain Jean-Luc Picard, and three other crew members,”
Janeway told the ensign, resisting the urge to bend down to his eye level.
“Including Laren,” Torres smiled, looking toward Chakotay, then Paris.
“Laren?” Kes asked, voice much higher, and more childish than ever.
“Ensign Ro Laren, I knew her, and so did they,” Tom said, making a vague
gesture at Torres and Chakotay.They didn’t know where they were. They ground was paved, and they were
standing under some kind of brick over hang. There were clear glass doors
that lead into a lobby of some sorts. Through the doors they could see
posters and other decorations hanging up.“Are we going to go in?” Paris asked, voice sounding so much different then
usual.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Janeway told him, and the rest of her colleagues, and she
headed in.It wasn’t until then Torres realized that the crew member’s clothes had
changed. Janeway had jeans on, as did most of the crew, with the sole
exception of Kes. Her shirt was long-sleeved, and a tannish colored.
Chakotay had a short sleeve shirt with writing on it. Kim had a long sleeve,
blue colored shirt, covered with badges and patched, he also had a hat on.
The doctor had a simple white tee-shirt on. Tuvok was wearing a long sleeve,
red shirt, a turtle-neck, to be exact. Kes was wearing a cute, little dress,
with bows and lace on it, she looked rather uncomfortable. Paris had a
simple yellow shirt on, short sleeve, but it looked good. And B’Elanna was
wearing a striped shirt. A blue-with-black-strips baby-tee. She had jeans
on, but they were shorts. And of course, a baseball cap.The inside of the building looked like a school of some sort. The word
“Forestville” was painted on the inside.
“Where are we?” Torres whispered to Paris.
“I don’t know,” he told her.
Just then, a man, who was walking and searching frantically, came over o the
bunch. He stopped and looked straight at Kim.
“You, young man, have to hurry up... They’ll start with out you,” he shouted
at him, as Harry flashed a surprise glance and Paris and Torres, who both
shrugged.
The man walked up to B’Elanna, “I thought I told you to stay away from these
kids. We’ll talk later, now, go in there with your brother.”
She looked confused as she looked back at Tom, then focused a hateful stare
at the old man.
“Don’t look at me that way, miss. You’re in enough trouble as it is.... In
there, now,” he pointed toward the doorway that led to a bright room filled
with boys under the age of 11, and their families.
Torres shrugged and wandered in. The man turned back to her companions.
“As for you guys, get out, now, and stay away from her,” then he left.“What the hell?” Paris muttered after watching his two best friends leave.
“It’s okay Tom,” The toddler form of Kes said.
“Thanks, Kes.”
“I’m not leaving my crew here,” Janeway spoke up, as she and the five others
headed out the doors leading to the grass out side.
“You have a plan?” Chakotay smiled at her.
“No, but I’ll think of one,” She smirked.“Captain, I suggest.....” the Doctor faded out of existence.
“What the hell just happened?” Kathryn snapped.
“It would be logical to say that the Doctor had dissa.....” Tuvok vanished as
well.
“What is going on?” The Captain demanded.
Silence answered her.
Paris paused a moment before saying, “There might be another door into that,
that, cafeteria.”
“Well, Mr. Paris, let’s take a look.”The group of 4 turned a corner of the building, and saw an open door, marked
with a sign that said, “Buses only,” yet it lead into the cafeteria.
“Huh?” Kes asked, “Why does it say ‘Buses only’?”
“I don’t know, but, let’s go in,” Tom said as he set foot into the large
room, followed by the 3 others.
*******************“Do you think that we connect?
That the chemistry’s correct?”
Your words walk right through my ears,
Presuming I like what I hear.And now I’m stuck in,
The web you’re spinning,
You’ve got me for your prey.”
No Doubt--Spiderwebs
*******************The room was filled with annoying, screaming, kids, and it was giving Paris a
head-ache. He held his hands over his ears and continued to look for Kim and
Torres. B’Elanna was sitting down on a chair, waiting impatiently for
something. But what? Kim was across the room from her, sitting on the
bleachers, with a bunch of over-excited 7, 8 or 9 year olds, and looking very
annoyed, and bored.Tom carefully, and, casually, trying not to arouse suspicion, wandered over
to sit next to Torres.
“What did you find out?” he whispered.
“Not much, I don’t know where we are, but I did find out some thing about
Harry.”
“What?”
She looked cautiously around, then leaned closer to Paris to whisper lower to
him, “Where ever we are, he’s my.... brother.”
“Brother?” Paris yelped.
“Shhhh.... not so loud, he might hear us.”
“Who might hear us?”
She paused again, “The man, my... here at least..... father. He doesn’t like
you guys.”
“Well, we have some problems.”
“What?” B’Elanna impatiently asked.
“The Doctor and Tuvok have disappeared.”
Torres gave him a piercing and confused glare, and a voice spoke up.
“Welcome to the 9th annual Pack 55, Forestville, Pinewood Derby, our first
race is the Wolfs.”
*Huh?* Torres didn’t say anything, but her look told Tom what she meant.
“When you hear your name, come up and get your car, and we’ll race them. The
first race is..... Harry Kim, and..... Brian Alpert.”
Kim looked startled, almost shocked, for a moment. Then he slowly walked up
to the front of the room, where a blondish, brownish-haired kid was standing.Kim looked at the two cars, one was decorated like a bullet, with fire in
front, the other kid, Brian, picked up that one. The second car was blue,
with gold stripes, and Harry assumed it was his. He lifted it up and handed
it to the announcer, like Brian had done. The announcer put the cars on a
track , and turned two levers at the same time. The cars sped down the
slanted track, but the bullet one was in front. The cars hit a pillow at the
bottom of the track, the fire-fronted one leading.
One of the boys who was sitting where the track ended shouted, “Number one,”
and the announcer wrote the number one on a small piece of paper, then
collected the cars again.
He set them on the track, let them go, and once again, the other car won, so
the boy called, “Number one,” and the man wrote it down again.
The announcer turned to Kim, and handed him his car, “Sorry Harry. Maybe next
year.”
Kim nodded slowly, and turned to Paris, “C’mon, lets get out of here.”
“Okay, I’ll get B’Elanna, you meet Janeway, Chakotay and Kes.”
“Okay, gotcha,” Harry said, as he rushed over to find the others.Kim looked and looked, but couldn’t find them. He waited for Paris and
Torres.
“Where are they Harry?” Tom asked.
Kim shrugged, “I don’t know.”
“What do you mean: ‘I don’t know’?” B’Elanna snapped.
“I mean, I don’t know.”
“Hey, hey... quit it. We have to find... uh-oh..” Paris got a stunning look
of worry.
Torres tried to read his expression, and the look in his eyes, but couldn’t,
“What-oh?”
“What if they disappeared like the Doc and Tuvok.”
“It’s a possibility,” Kim offered.
“We should split up and look for them,” Torres suggested.
“Good idea. B’Elanna, you and I should try to find a way out first. Harry,
you look for the others.”
“But...”
“No buts about it, *ensign*,” Paris was using his rank, not his name, to make
him feel inferior.
“Fine,” he gave in, and they went their separate ways.
*************************
“Dreams last,
For so long,
Even after you’re gone.
I know, you love me.
And soon you will see.
You were meant for me,
And I was meant for you.”
Jewel-- You Were Meant For Me
****************************Paris and Torres had found them selves out side of the school, in the parking
lot. There were some kids roller-blading.
“B’Elanna, you ever been roller-blading?”
“No... I don’t think so, what is it?”
“I’ll have to teach you, if we get back.”
“When, we get back,” she corrected him.
“Okay,” he smiled.
And they went on looking in silence.Kim was just in the hall way of the school, when he felt something catch him.
But it wasn’t a human, it was, a transporter? He, like the others, was gone.“So, you have any plans?” Paris’s question popped up while Torres’s mind was
wandering.
“Huh!? Plans for what?” The first things that came to mind were about
relationships, and other things of that mater.
“To get out of here,” he informed her.
“Oh, no, not a thing,” she sighed.
“What is it, B’Ela....” he disappeared.
“Tom? Where’d you go. I don’t see you any....” she was gone, like the rest.
****************************“So tired of broken hearts,
Of loosing at this game,
Before I start this dance,
I’ll take a chance in telling you,
I want more than just romance.
You are my destiny,
I can’t let go baby.
Can’t you see?
Cupid please take your aim at me.”
Madonna-- Cherish
*****************************B’Elanna looked around, she was in the Transporter room, back to her regular
old self.
“What happened?” She shot out to whoever cared to answer.
“Your normal again,” Paris told her.
“More detail please?”
“We have changed you back to your original state of being, before our
transporter malfunction, using the same procedure Captain Picard’s crew used
to return three of his crew, and himself,” Tuvok was one for detail.
Torres nodded at him, then asked, “Where was I?”
“The Holodeck!” Paris told her, still surprised.
“The Holodeck?!?!?”
“Yeah, we were on Voyager the whole time. Neelix was working on a program,
it wasn’t finished, but somehow the computer accessed it, and ran the
program, then transported us there.”
“Wow,” she breathed.
Tom smiled, “C’mon, lemmie take you rollar-blading.”“Tom, this is stupid,” Torres complained, still wearing the clothes she had
in the previous Holodeck, blue and black striped shirt.
“No,.... C’mon, just try it,” Paris was obviously having fun.
B’Elanna’s roller-blades were not behaving. She kept slipping, and nearly
fell flat on her face, and would have, if Paris didn’t catch her. But Tom
was easily standing, even on roller-blades.
“You’re sick....... I’ll never get this,” Torres complained, faltering, then
falling into Tom’s arms, knocking them both to the ground.
“Okay, maybe you won’t,” Paris agreed.
B’Elanna pulled herself to her knees, “you finally agree?”
Paris was standing again, but Torres was still down, “For once.”
She smiled slightly, then pushed him with her hand, sending him plummeting to
the ground.
“Hey,” Tom didn’t look serious, and B’Elanna was laughing.
“Serves you right.”
“Oh well, maybe I’ll find something your good at.”
“No! Tom, don’t even think about it,” she cautioned.
He pretended to look like he was thinking, “Y’know, I think you’d like
horse-back riding...”
She frowned, staring into his blue eyes, “I’m warning you..”They were definatly themselves again.... and in many ways, more than they
were before....The
End
:+)HeHeHe!! Gloat mode on... gloat mode off..
Copyright 1997, by Erin Alpert
You know the drill.... Viacom owns characters, I own story... blah blah
blah... comments go to Eraalpert@aol.com..... Viacom owns Paramount, or
something like that....