This is an alternative beginning to the story of Melanie on the Enterprise. She is a character used in "Magic" from Rina Meunier, but she's my character. For backstory; Melanie was attending a boarding school in Germany and she disappeared in her time when she was in the cellar of the school at the eve of her last day of school in year 11.

Everything was dark. The floor underneath Melanie was very hard to determine but at the moment she didn't really care. She was lying on her stomach and her bag was still in her hand. After a few minutes her surroundings stopped spinning. She got up and tried to reach a wall and after two slow steps her fingers touched a surface. When she used her other hand she noticed that there were several panels. One of them was elastic, obviously a button. She pushed it and the light in the room went on. It stung in her eyes like needles and she tossed her arms in front of her face.

"Ahh", she screamed and the sound bounced off the walls. It made her think of a very huge room. She slowly opened her eyes and indeed the room was huge. It was more like a hall with a lot of barrels stacked up against the wall. There were some spots in regular distance from each other that looked like doors and windows. Next to each spot were the same elastic buttons like the light switch. She pushed one of these buttons and the two small doors slid apart. Behind them was a narrow gangway and a few meters farther another small door. Suddenly she could hear a voice from nowhere particular saying.

"Intruder alert!" Without thinking she lifted herself on the platform and crawled forward. As soon as she was through the doors they closed behind her but fortunately the light stayed on. Through the door someone was speaking.

"Where is the intruder? Search through very corner and don't forget the service slots!" The voice was very dark; darker than a human voice.

"What if he's already gone?" This time it was a female voice. "It's better to check the service slots." Melanie looked around her and realized that her bag was gone. However there was still her phone in her pocket. She heard quiet footstep at the other side of the door and she quickly moved to the other door. After a few meters behind the second door she heard the hiss of these strange doors and panic rose in her. Behind the second door was a third door and then another one. After this one was a narrow shaft. As fast as she could she climbed up the ladder and crawled into another slot. At the same time the door closed behind her she heard another one opening.

"Where is it?" The woman asked.

"Judging from the bag she left behind I think it's a girl but I suppose we've lost her." Another male voice said. The door hissed again and the two obviously left. She collapsed at the wall and tried to hold back the tears. When she realized that she was completely alone and not under threat anymore she felt dog tired. Before she fell asleep she crawled farther into the slot where she tried to get as comfortable as possible and finally fell asleep.

Hours later she woke up again and all of her body was aching. She moaned and stretched and got up as far as it was possible. In the first moments she didn't realized where she was but after a few more seconds she remembered the events of the previous day. There was a door behind her and in front of her. She wasn't really sure which one lead to the shaft so she tried the one to the right. Instead of the shaft she discovered a lose panel. It was hardly secured to the wall and easy to break out. Behind it was a pretty wide space with rectangle tiles and the tiles were separated by beams. Suddenly she heard a voice from underneath the piles.

"Have you already found the intruder?" It was an unfamiliar but female voice.

"No we haven't but she lost her bag, Dr." The gap between the slot and the tiles was tiny. It was just big enough for her shoulders to fit through but she didn't dare to try because she didn't want to make any noise.

"Do you think there is anything dangerous in there?" The doctor asked.

"I don't think so. The tricoder scanned no radioactive or explosive material. We can open it." A very strange sound appeared in the room with the two women but Melanie couldn't figure out what it was. She didn't even have the slightest idea how to describe it.

"There is a picture of her. It's her ID card. See!" This was the voice of the doctor. Melanie could hear another chirp.

"Yar to security. We have a picture. Program the computer for facial recognition." She stayed were she was and listened to the two women's conversation.

Soon later they left the room and everything was silent. She waited thirty minutes before she dared to squeeze herself through the hole. When she was done she felt incredibly thirsty. One of the tiles gave way a little when put pressure on but not much. In each corner was a little screw not more than a few millimeters in diameter. She got her pocket knife out of her pants pocket and opened the screw driver. It was amazing to see how easy the old screw driver fitted into the screw. The screws weren't very long either and it wasn't hard to remove them. With the knife she slowly lifted the tile to see.

The room underneath the tile was furnished like a futuristic apartment and about two and a half meters high. With all her caution she put her leg through the hole and then her hips and finally her whole body. The floor underneath was just a meter away from her feet and she jumped. As soon as she landed she remembered the intruder alert one of the women spoke of. She covered her mouth with her scarf and looked around. Apparently she was in a living room where a couple of doors led to other rooms. Most of them were open.

She went through the bedroom and found something that looked like a bathroom. The door was open and she entered. After a while she had figured out how to use the toilette and the shower. The water coming out of the shower was drinkable and she satisfied her thirst. There was no food in the apartment whatsoever and finally after a long search she decided to stay hungry.

When she walked passed what seemed like the entrance door a loud bell started ringing and the light changed to red. The intruder alert she thought and rushed back to the spot where she had entered the apartment. She pulled a chair under the hole climbed on it and pulled herself back in the ceiling. After that she quickly made her way through the small gap and put the panel back in place. Through the closing gap she could hear voices both male and female coming from the apartment but she couldn't understand what they were saying. As quietly as possible she crawled down the gangway to another shaft. Her heart was still pumping really fast and it only slowed down when she was far away from the lose panel and the apartment.

Unfortunately her stomach wasn't happy after a day without food and the sudden adrenalin rush and it started rumbling. It was so loud that she almost feared someone could hear it. In her mind there was a battle between the wish to eat something and the fear of getting caught. Finally her hunger succeeded and she started searching for a door to a main corridor. She had no idea how late it was but the corridor she finally reached was deserted and the light was dimmed. Before she turned around the next corner she pressed herself against the wall and carefully looked around the edge. In the next corridor she saw a woman with extremely curly hair coming through a door, maybe her apartment.

The women walked away from her down the corridor to another door. It opened and she entered a tiny room more like a broom chamber. Melanie turned around the corner and headed for the door the other woman had left. It wasn't locked and behaved like the doors in a shopping center. The apartment she was standing in was even bigger than the one she had already entered. At first sight she didn't see anything that looked like a kitchen or anything eatable. However what amazed her most was the view from the window. It kind of looked like the windows screen saver. Stars were drifting by the window. She went to the room on the left but it wasn't a kitchen. Instead she was standing in the woman's bedroom. The bed was huge and looked very comfortable. She sat down on it and the mattress adapted the shape of her body.

After a while she was laying completely on the bed and very close to sleep. The hiss of the main door let her leap off the bed and she stood against the wall so she couldn't be seen from the entrance.

"Is there someone?" The voice was female but unfamiliar. She didn't say anything. "I can sense your presence." Now or never she thought, opened her pocket knife and stepped in the other room. The other woman turned around when she heard the sound of the knife and stretched her hands to the sides.

"Put down the knife please!" Melanie just shook her head. The woman pushed a button on her shirt. "Security to my quarters. She's here." Melanie stepped closer to her and reached out with her knife.

"Call them back and I won't want to harm you." The woman was very calm for the situation and she tried to grab the knife.

"No!" Melanie screamed and cut into the hand of the woman. The cut wasn't too deep but it started bleeding a second later. The woman reached for button on her chest again and Melanie moved quicker than she though was possible. She touched the neck of the woman with the tip of her knife.

"Don't move!" Melanie could clearly see that her opponent was starting to panic. The door behind them opened and she quickly turned around just to see three people in strange yellow suits entering the room.

"Get away from the counsellor!" The only woman in the team screamed. Her voice was very familiar to Melanie. She moved around the counsellor and pushed the knife closer to the woman's neck.

"No! Leave me alone!" The knife pushed harder into the skin and a little drop of blood found its way down the knife. One of the men in the yellow suits pointed a strange instrument in her direction and pulled the trigger. A stream of light coming from the instrument hit Melanie's body right under her arm and she collapsed. The pain came when she touched the floor. She dropped the knife and screamed. Another stream hit her and she lost her conscience.

"...almost dislocated joint. What have you done with her?" This voice was the doctor's voice which she had heard in the apartment through the ceiling.

"I can tolerate the two bruises here and here but what is with the rest of her injuries?" She slowly opened her eyes and stared in a bright white light.

"I'm sorry doctor. I don't know about any other injuries. Whatever it is it's not our fault." She tries to lift her hand but it was blocked by a strange force that prevented her from moving her arm any farther than about ten centimeters away from her body. The force made her hand burn and she quickly moved it back.

"Wait, she's moving." The doctor said and a moment later Melanie felt a sharp pain and she felt dizzy again.

She woke up from a heavy headache. Her head felt like twice the size from normal but when she lifted her hand to reach for her head she noticed that she wasn't restrained anymore. She waited a few minutes and finally it started disappearing. Everything had changed. Instead of the jeans and sweatshirt she was now wearing something like a jersey jumpsuit with no pockets. When she realized that she panicky started looking for her phone and her knife. However both of them were gone. She got up and looked around.

The room she was in was rather tiny but it was equipped with a bed and a tiny bathroom. Behind the room was another one with a huge desk. She wanted to walk to the desk but there was another force field between the two rooms and she bumped into it. There was no other exit to the room she was in and the conclusion that she was in prison finally settled. After a while she noticed a plate with food in one corner of her cell. It wasn't very fancy but she was so hungry she ate everything.

When she was finished she heard the hiss of the doors and a woman entered. Melanie not only recognized her because of her yellow suit but also because of her face and voice and the she spoke to her.

"You are aboard the USS Enterprise and you will be under surveillance until your charges are complete. We have locked you up because you were a threat to ships security." Melanie put her plate to the side and came close to the force field. The hair on her arms stood up because of the electric current.

"What is the USS Enterprise? It's a ship? Where exactly am I?" The face of the woman didn't change but her next question confused her a little.

"What year are you born?"

"1996!" The woman raised an eyebrow and she got something out of her pocket.

"Is this you ID card?" Melanie stepped a little closer and saw her picture on the little plastic card.

"Yes this is mine. Can I have my phone and my knife back?" The woman shook her head.

"No you can't. Star fleet regulations don't allow any personal objects in the brig."

"The brig? Star fleet? What is all this?" A few seconds later the face of the woman relaxed a bit because she noticed that Melanie had no clue whatsoever what was going on.

"I will send you someone who knows a bit more about your century than I do." The woman turned around and wanted to leave the room but Melanie pressed herself against the force field ignoring the burns.

"Wait! My century? What do you mean with that?"

"I told you. Someone will explain it to you." With these words she left the room and the doors closed behind her.

Melanie was left in raging anger. She threw herself against the field and the whole side of her body was burning. The pain eased up a bit of the anger but it wasn't really helping in the end. Finally the whole situation seemed to overwhelm her and the first tears started flowing down her cheeks. She sat on the bed pulled her knees to her chest and cried into the strange fabric of her pants. When her tears were fading she got up and again stood in front of the field. She reached out her hand and touched it. The pain took a bit of her mental pain and she tried it again. This time she leaned against the field with her whole back and the field burned itself through her clothes onto her skin. The fire on her back distracted her from almost everything. The wound heated up and she could feel fluid dripping down her back.

After a while the pain made her knees collapsed and she fell against the field again. The second time was even more painful than the first time and she screamed. Her knees gave way completely and she fell on the floor. There she concentrated on breathing in and out. The part of injured skin which touched the floor burned even harder than the rest of her back. Just when she thought her back had cooled down the door opened again but she didn't dare to move. Melanie couldn't see the person entering but she could hear two people inhaling.

"Data deactivate the force field, now!" Melanie recognized the voice of the doctor. She bent down to her and turned Melanie's head around.

"Can you hear me?" She squeezed out a silent "yes".

"What have you done with your skin?" The doctor repaired her skin with a strange instrument but it was incredibly painful. Therefore instead of answering her she let out a scream and tried to crawl away from the doctor.

"Stay where you are or I'll have you restrained." The instrument reached her neck and the burns slowly disappeared.

"Tell me what have you done to your back?" The doctor helped her stand up and sit on the bed.

"I leaned against the force field. Can you tell me what's going on?" The doctor removed a small blinking object from her instrument and held it in front of her. She didn't answer her but only stared at her instrument in concern.

"Please tell me what happened. Where am I?"

"Stay, don't move!" Now she also noticed the other person entering with the doctor. He was a strange looking man also in a yellow suit while the doctor was wearing a blue one. The man had unhealthy pale skin and yellow eyes. Even the skin had through its paleness a yellow touch.

"Lie down on the bed and stay still or I'll put a force field around you. You can lie on your back. It's now fully recovered." She got up and Melanie stretched out in front of her. There was something strange in this situation. Again the doctor moved the blinking object up and down her body staring at her other instrument.

"Your feet have recovered and your inner organs are working fine again?" Melanie wanted to support herself on her elbows but the doctor pushed her back.

"Are you saying I'm sick?" The doctor shook her head.

"You were sick. Your right foot was infected and the joints were not ok. Furthermore you were carrying various diseases in your system but the symptoms haven't developed yet." She put the object back in its holding and shut her instrument. After that she stepped into the other section of the room and the force field in the middle was activated. Melanie got up and asked again.

"Please tell me what's happening! Nobody wants to say a word." Instead of the woman the man spoke and also his voice and way of speaking was strange.

"In your time it's the year 2364. You are aboard the USS Enterprise, galaxy class star ship." Her jaw dropped almost to the floor.

"A space ship? Are you kidding me? It can't be the year 2364. This is 350 years too far!" The man showed no emotions and continued explaining.

"You have travelled 350 years in time." She shook her head violently.

"It can't be. My friends. What about them?" The man wanted to speak again but the doctor stopped him.

"See Melanie, I don't want to give you any false hope. You can't go back." She opened a slot near the force field.

"Computer, delta zero ten, authorization crusher." A glass with a clear liquid appeared on the tray. She pushed through a channel and it appeared in Melanie's cell.

"This is a sedative to make you sleep. And you need to sleep. Data will ask you some questions tomorrow." The two of them turned to the door but Melanie had one last question.

"What about the trial?" The man turned back to her and answered. "The captain will decide but it's the counsellor's choice of reporting your actions." She took the glass and walked back to the bed. Maybe it was a rather good decision to go to sleep and she drank the clear liquid. Her eyes grew heavy and she just had the energy to put the glass away and crawl under the blanket. A moment later she was fast asleep.

There are a few more chapters coming, so please review!