Welcome readers, the master of horror returns with this chilling tale. Please note this story does contain scenes of violence, though they are not graphic. For a long time I have wanted to write a Voyager horror story, yet the details have eluded me until now. Please enjoy, and try not to have nightmares.
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Seven was confused, after reluctantly spending time in the mess hall at the Captain's request, after a unusual event she was now making her way back to the solitude of her cargo bay. The evenings conversation had been entirely focused on the strange discovery earlier that day. While scanning a nebular for materials they could use, Harry Kim had made a discovery. A small ship was adrift inside the giant cloud and was now making its way slowly towards them. It had been abandoned, but appeared to be undamaged. Janeway had ordered a small away team across to see if they could salvage anything from that ship. Seven, Chakotay, Tom Paris and B'Elanna had been sent by transporter, they mission short and unproductive. The ship was old and broken down, there were no viable power sources and virtually everything had been covered in a thin film of rust. Returning empty handed they had then immediately proceeded to the mess hall. Seven had sat and listened to them talk about ghost ships, and creepy feelings. She herself had thought nothing of the abandoned old ship, but had chosen to remain silent on the subject. Having limited grasp still on human intuition, and a dislike for group conversation, she had excused herself. Now though as she wondered the decks alone, she began to ponder this seemingly universal dislike for the vessel they had discovered. Finally stepping into the cargo bay and deciding that she would consult the Doctor on this matter in the morning. Seven prepared herself for her regeneration cycle, making sure the system was set correctly, and that she would be finished before her next duty shift began she stepped inside. Closing her eyes and feeling the machine take over her body functions Seven relaxed into the familiar sensation. It was only a moment before she felt the pain at her temples. Attempting to move and get out of the alcove she found her body paralysed. Her hands drew upwards, clenching into tight fist, her fingernails boring holes into her palms. The pain in her head was beyond bearable now, yet she could not remove herself from it. The muscles in her neck stood out strained beyond what they were able to cope with. Blood ran off her palms and dripped onto the floor. Small pools of crimson beneath feet that could not escape from the device that was designed to keep her alive. A single thought ran through Seven's mind as tears began to stream from her eyes, a thought she would not have dared to believe if she was not about to die in this manner. There was a presence here, she could feel it just below the surface and it was laughing at her. Finally the tension broke and Seven collapsed lifeless against the rear wall of the alcove.
The Doctor discovered the body at oh eight hundred hours the next morning. Seven had been scheduled for a routine check up, but had failed to turn up on time, something highly unusual for the former drone. It took the Doctor less than a minute to discover what had happened to her. The computer had said that Seven was in her alcove, something that no one thought was odd until they all sat around the briefing room table.
"Hold on, if she was dead shouldn't the computer have said something." B'Elanna said now leaning forward on her clasped hands and looking around at the concerned faces of the senior staff. No one replied, B'Elanna wasn't sure if it was because they were afraid to speculate, or if they honestly didn't know the answer.
"As far as I am aware we ran a full computer diagnostic yesterday, everything was functioning within normal parameters, I of course will be investigating this matter further." Tuvok said then, computer maintenance really wasn't in his job description, which told the others that he suspected foul play. No one however made further comment.
"I will do the autopsy as soon as we leave here, but my cursory exam showed massive signs of haemorrhaging, possibly due to electric shock." The Doctor continued as more silence fell across the room. Janeway had yet to say anything, she seemed to have been in some kind of trance since the discovery of Seven's body this morning. She sat now at the head of the table and looked only at her own hands clasped in front of her.
"I will start interviewing crew members who may have seen or heard anything, starting with the on duty staff." Chakotay threw out there also to fill the silence, but as it stood, no one wanted to believe they had a killer on board. Of course they had not wanted to believe it before when Suiter had killed. Now though it was different, they had been together for six years. Seven although her time here shorter, was a valued member of the crew. No longer despised for her part she played as a Borg. At least that's what everyone had thought.
"I want the results of your investigation as soon as you have them." Janeway said standing up and officially ending the meeting without actually saying so. Walking out of the briefing room and going straight into her ready room, Janeway did not allow the single tear to fall from her eye until the door was fully closed. Swiping at the lone tear like it stung, she ordered coffee and sat heavily in her chair.
The expected door chime came only moments later, Janeway had prepared herself for this conversation, but was surprised when the door opened to reveal a timid looking Harry Kim.
"What can I do for you Harry?" Janeway questioned, immediately loosing her hard edge that she had built up. The look in her youngest bridge officers eyes was something she had not seen in him for a very long time. Genuine fear shone there, and as he sat on the long white sofa, his eyes darted from side to side.
"Captain, I know this sounds silly, even maybe mad, but I can't shake the feeling that this has something to do with that abandoned ship we discovered. Everyone said there was something very strange about it, and Seven was on that mission." Harry said almost all in one breath as Janeway sat and listened to him.
"I know we have nothing to go on, and its only a hunch, but something happened to the crew of that ship, maybe whatever it was, was still there, and it came back with the away team." Harry continued, knowing he had to get this all out before he lost his nerve. For a moment Janeway sat and pondered the idea in silence. Harry's theory had merits, it did mean none of Voyager's crew was responsible, but meant there was a hostile running around the ship killing people.
"Harry I won't discount your idea, in fact I think you should look at the transporter logs and see if anything is a miss. However I think its a long shot and maybe some wishful thinking. There are a million reasons why that ship was abandoned, and right now I want facts, not fiction." Janeway said standing up and ordering yet another cup of coffee.
"Aye Captain." Harry said looking down briefly at his shoes before Janeway's voice brought his eyes back up to meet hers.
"Don't get swept up in scary stories Harry, real life can be far more gruesome." With a small nod Harry left Janeway alone once more, she sat back down and turned towards the window, only seeing the stars streaking by, she wondered exactly what else she had expected.
The Doctor had finished his autopsy on Seven, Tuvok had been awaiting the results, and had been observing quietly in the corner of sickbay.
"She died because of a massive overload to her Borg systems. A malfunction of her alcove, or sabotage I could not say, but that's what killed her." The Doctor finally said turning towards the stoic Vulcan as he noted it down on his PADD.
"Then I guess the rest is up to me Doctor, thank you." Tuvok replied, and without further conversation left the room, and headed for cargo bay two.
Being a Vulcan, and like any good Vulcan attached to logic, Tuvok had paid no attention to the idea of the ghost ship being somehow involved in Seven's death. After examining the alcove his conclusion was unsatisfactory, his logic somewhat failing him for a moment as he stood there in the half darkness. He could not astatine either way if the alcove had malfunctioned, or if someone had rigged it. He did know however that there were very few people on board Voyager with enough knowledge to both sabotage the Borg alcove, and, this was probably the more difficult of the two, cover their tracks so completely. Moving away from the door and out into the hallway, Tuvok began writing his findings on to his PADD, also the names of the people who could have pulled off this murder. It was a short list. Getting into the turbo lift he called for the bridge. Looking at the names once more, he knew the Captain was not going to be happy about his discovery. There was something telling Tuvok that this was no accident. It had nothing to do with logic, something he was unlikely to admit to, more experience, intuition, although that might have been pushing it to far. Tuvok didn't realise something was wrong until he felt a pressure in his chest. His thoughts had distracted him from what was going on around him. The turbo lift was being drained of its oxygen. Going for his communicator, Tuvok found it useless as he gasped for breath, forcing the now limited oxygen into his lungs. Moving slowly but with purpose, he made it to the doors. Pushing on them hard enough to force small dents into the metal, Tuvok heaved for breath as they remained firmly closed. His vision swimming and his brain shutting down as the vacuum now inside the turbo lift now shut down even his systems, Tuvok made it to his PADD. Unable to see, and guessing what he was writing finally exhaling his last breath, Tuvok lay motionless on the floor of the turbo lift. It finally reached it's destination. Revealing it's gruesome secret to the horrified bridge crew.
Tom Paris had been walking past when the doors had opened, he had been on his way to report to the Capitan. He had been helping Harry with the transporter logs, and they had come up with something. It could have just been a glitch, but for a moment, the energy beam had been amplified. Tom's optimism had been cut short, when Tuvok's hand had dropped out from between the doors of the turbo lift and bushed Tom's calf on its way to the floor. Jumping back, he had let out some kind of scream as everyone had turned to look at him. Janeway had been the first up the ramp. Her hand going for her communicator even before she had seen Tuvok.
"Medical emergency Doctor to the bridge."
The Doctor could do nothing, nothing but remove Tuvok's body, and leave the rest of the crew in shock. Janeway had not remained silent this time. Calling a meeting immediately of the senior staff and giving no warning as to what was to come.
"I think we have to face the possibility that we have a very clever killer on board. Seven's death could have been an accident, but now I am certain it wasn't. I want no one to go anywhere alone, anyone who has single quarters is to pair up, and any isolated work stations are to be abandoned unless required." Janeway began with, waving a PADD around in her hands.
"What have you discovered Mr Paris?" Janeway then asked without pause as she took a perched seat on the edge of the table.
"Harry and I found a small power glitch in the transporter logs. For a moment the power was amplified, but it could have been some kind of interference from the nebular. It's something to look into though." Tom concluded, giving a small nod in Harry's direction as Janeway tapped the PADD on the table.
"B'Elanna, did you find anything in the computer logs, or malfunctions?" Janeway then asked as the half Klingon tuned slightly in her chair.
"Nothing, even the gel packs seem to be operating well for a change, which I guess is something strange in itself." B'Elanna said, it was almost as if she were thinking out loud at this point and the room for a moment fell silent.
"Tuvok had this with him when he died, it was a list of names he thought capable of sabotaging Seven's alcove. I believe he may have been killed because he was getting close to the killer. I also hate to inform you that everyone sat at this table is on the list. Due to the nature of his death, the Doctor has informed me, that the killer did not have to be present when Tuvok was killed. So an alibi for his time of death is pointless. Our job now is to find out who did this, I believe we will do that by finding out how it was done. I want everything checked, and a level three diagnostic of the computer ran. Shut everything down if you have to, we will hang in space if that's what's necessary." Janeway said slightly breathless, she couldn't believe she maybe looking at a killer right now. And yet from Tuvok's evidence it was the most likely conclusion.
"I am going to randomly assign pairs now, I want you to stick with that person like glue." Janeway said going over to the computer and imputing the algorithm she had been working on.
"What if your the one paired with the killer?" Tom said looking around the table with somewhat large eyes.
"Then they would be pretty silly to kill their partner, dead give away wouldn't you say." Janeway replied as the computer spat out a list of names.
"Ok this is a random selection based on room numbers. Chakotay you will be paired with Vorik, B'Elanna with Ayala. Harry with Joe Carey. The Doctor with Neelix, and myself and Tom will make up the final pair for us. Chakotay I will ask you to make sure everyone else is made aware of their new partner." Janeway said handing him a PADD with the list on and turning to the Doctor.
"Find out what happened Doctor, don't leave anything out." Janeway said, emotion cracking her voice as everyone but Tom stood to leave.
"What can I do for you Tom." Janeway said after everyone had left and he still stood there quite and calm, watching her pull herself back together visibly under the strain.
"Nothing, I am your partner remember, not supposed to leave you." Tom said kind of awkwardly, before Janeway gave him a week smile.
"Of course, and first things first we check out that turbo lift."
It had been confirmed that Tuvok had died from asphyxiation, that somehow the life support had been cut off to the turbo lift. For a moment the computer had taken control of the lift, sucked out the oxygen, over ridden the voice controls, and locked the Vulcan inside and killed him. The Doctor had talked though it with Neelix, who was now making dinner in the mess hall. The Doctor could only sit there and watch, having to stick with his new partner, and not actually being able to eat, was starting to irk him.
"You know it could still be a simple computer error. I know it has had tragic consequences, but I still can't believe someone on Voyager would kill Seven or Mr Tuvok." Neelix continued to speak, ever the optimist, the Doctor had to smile, even though he didn't really feel like it.
"I doubt it Mr Neelix, but I am glad you are still thinking on the positive side." The Doctor ended with as people started to filter into the mess hall for dinner. The atmosphere was tense to say the least. People were paired together, yet they all seemed to gravitate towards their old friends. The Doctor listened to snippets of conversation. None of which was as optimistic as Neelix's had been. Most seemed to think it was one of the senior staff, bent on taking out anyone who was going to stop them from getting home by any means. This took the Captain somewhat off the suspects list. But the Doctor heard her name a few times also. It wasn't until he turned around that he discovered Neelix was missing. Getting up quickly and rushing around to the back of the serving area, the Doctor looked about frantically. Calling the Talaxian's name under his breath. When he received no reply, the Doctor went for his comm badge. Knowing he would get in trouble for taking his eyes off his partner though, The Doctor hesitated. Rushing outside and down the hallway, he walked round the bend and saw nothing. Not knowing what to do the Doctor made his way back to the mess hall, the fear running through him now was not just for Neelix's safety, but for everyone else's. As much as the Doctor could not believe the loveable Talaxian was responsible for the death of his friends, the evidence now seemed to be pointing towards it. Entering the mess hall the Doctor looked around the room, he saw nothing had changed since he left, including the continued absence of Neelix.
Harry sat with Joe in a quite corner of engineering. They had been running a diagnostic on the bio metric gel packs, it had required a huge shut down in systems. Everything but life support and lights had been shut off, and now the ship was beyond quite. B'Elanna and Ayala had left to get something to eat about ten minutes ago, leaving the pair alone.
"Ok last set, main computer function and control." Joe said walking over to the console and tapping panels on its illuminated surface.
"Ok I will go in and check the results." Harry said moving into the Jeffreys tube, and opening the panel on the wall. The lights flickered slightly as Harry held still for a moment thinking he heard something outside.
"Joe, hey Joe you there?" Harry called but he was only met with silence.
B'Elanna had stopped at the transporter room on the way to the mess hall. Ayala hadn't wanted to, claiming he was starving, and that he could eat anything. But had of course had to agree because he couldn't leave the head strong engineer. Standing just outside the doorway now Ayala thought he heard something coming from down the corridor.
"Hey Torres, you here that?" Ayala asked as B'Elanna's muffled no came from under the padds control panel.
"I'm going to check it out, sounds like someone is in trouble." Ayala said moving off towards the sound and ignoring B'Elanna's protests.
"Dam idiot." B'Elanna hissed as she extracted herself from the transporter padd and followed Ayala out of the room. He was gone by the time she reached the door however and for a moment panic set in.
"Ayala, where are you!" She yelled, but only loud enough to be heard by someone close by. Moving forward quickly, B'Elanna soon realised that she had no idea which way he had gone.
"For crying out loud now what am I going to do." She hissed under her breath, as she moved back towards the transporter room. Looking backwards and hearing what sounded like footsteps, B'Elanna moved faster until she reached the transporter room. Picking up her tool kit she suddenly didn't want to be there any more. Heading for the turbo lift she stepped inside and quickly jumped straight back out again.
"No way." She said turning from the lift and heading back for the transporter room. Programming in her destination she stood on the PADD. Watching as the world de-materialised she knew something was wrong. It was taking too long, the tingling in her body grew stronger. Her very molecules being torn apart piece by piece until there was finally nothing left. Nothing but a small residue stain on the padd below.
Janeway was sitting in her ready room, Tom was on the sofa napping when three separate calls came in almost one after the other. It seemed that Joe Carey, Neelix and B'Elanna were missing. Waking Tom quickly the pair had headed for the mess hall, a general order given for everyone to meet there immediately. The room was filled to capacity, the tension so thick a knife would have been over kill to cut it with. When Neelix walked in followed by Joe Carey the tension if it were possible rose even higher.
"I thought I heard someone crying." Ayala explained as Joe and Neelix nodded in unison, claiming they had heard the same thing, all at the same time.
"Could it have been a communication malfunction?" Janeway asked but both Harry and Joe shook their heads.
"No way everything was shut down for the system diagnostic, there was no comm traffic at that time." Harry said looking around and realising that B'Elanna was still missing.
"You know out of everyone, she has the most knowledge of Voyager's systems, she could have easily rigged Seven's alcove, and the turbo lift." The Doctor said hating to be the voice of gloom here, but someone had to say it.
"Computer locate Lieutenant Torres." Janeway asked
"Lieutenant Torres is no longer on board." The computer replied as the entire room erupted in whispers. Janeway could feel them running through her, stinging words, actuations, until the leash broke.
"Enough, that's an order! We don't know anything yet, I want a search made of the ship, starting with the transporter room. If she has gone then a shuttle should be missing, or a ship in the area. Find out." Janeway barked looking around at the faces, and for the first time, trusting no one. She looked at Tom, at least she knew one person was innocent. Realising no one had moved she turned to the room again.
"Now!" Was her final command before Voyager's crew sprang into action.
The discovery of B'Elanna's remains on the transporter padd was the last straw for Janeway, nearly half of her senior staff had been cut down in twenty four hours and they were still no closer to finding their killer. Ayala, Joe and Neelix had been confined to Neelix's quarters together and locked inside. They were for now the prime suspects. With nothing else to go on, Janeway sat in her darkened room with the worst headache she had ever had. Tom sat quietly in the corner once more, the only sound the slight tapping of his fingers on his PADD. Janeway had blocked out the noise, but with only her inner thoughts to concentrate on she had finally had enough.
"I can't just sit here, someone is killing my crew, and there is nothing I can do about it." She said her voice calm, almost haunting. It stopped Tom's fingers immediately, complete silence now the only thing filling the room. That and darkness. Neither of them had commented on the lack of illumination, the dark room seemed to reflect their mood. Now though it seemed oppressive, foreboding, and Tom felt the weight all of a sudden.
"Computer lights fifty percent." He called, when nothing happened, Janeway looked at him between the shadows.
"Computer lights." Janeway barked, again there was no response.
"Maybe they are playing with the systems again?" Toms suggested, but he knew it was a long shot. Janeway had ordered everyone to their quarters for rest.
"Janeway to Chakotay." Silence was all that greeted her in response.
"Ok something is going on here, come on lets go and find him." Janeway said standing up and moving towards the door. It did not open in response to her presence however and she called of it to open.
"Kathryn." Tom said, the use of her first name snapping her out of the thoughts now running through her mind.
"What Tom?" she asked the edge in her voice still present, as she turned to face him.
"Maybe we should go back to that ship, the one we found floating in space, I have a feeling that we picked up something there, something that was left behind." Tom's words haunted her for a moment. Was it possible that something had got on board Voyager and was now killing its crew members one by one. And if that were the case how did you fight something like that.
"Ok as soon as we can, we will go back, I have a feeling however that is going to be more difficult than it sounds." Janeway replied going over to the panel on the left hand side of the door and retrieving the manual release device.
After forcing the door open, and making their way round to every occupied crew quarters they came across, including Chakotay who was almost to the point of killing Vorik they had come up with a plan.
"You want to fly Voyager manually." Chakotay asked in disbelief. Not only because it was crazy, but also it seemed that Janeway agreed with him.
"I think we have to open ourselves up to the possibility that something is controlling Voyager, probably through the gel packs. It obviously has intelligence, and wants to harm us. I still expect people to remain in their pairs, there is every chance we are wrong about this. But so far we have come up with no motive and no means for a single crew member to have done all of this. In the light of this latest development, I think going back to the ship, and Tom flying without the computer is the safest way." Janeway said concluding like there was no more to discuss. Chakotay had other ideas.
"What if Tom is the killer, he could fly us all to our deaths." All eyes turned to Tom then, who shook his head furiously and waved his hands palm up.
"I swear it isn't me, I have been with the Captain all day." He replied quickly as Janeway stepped forward.
"I trust him, plus I have a feeling if Mr Paris wanted to do that, we would be dead already." That did end the conversation. Harry turned to his console, reading out the last long range scan and giving Tom an idea where to head. Then they shut it all down.
"Transferring helm to manual." Tom said as his screen illuminated once more, turning to look at Janeway behind him he nodded.
"Course laid in." He said turning back to his console and watching as the readouts levelled off.
"Engage."
TBC... I did want to write this in one go, but it is proving far longer than I planned. Any feed back is welcomed thank you for reading XxX