The door hissed open to the Astrometrics Lab, and Sarai saw Icheb hunched over a console on the opposite side of the room. Sarai bit her lip and smiled, padding in on her bare feet as the door closed behind her. The duranium steel floors were cool, but they afforded her silence as Sarai crept up behind him. Sarai could feel, or maybe just imagine, the ever-present vibrations of Voyager's engines against her soles. Sarai was sure Icheb had noticed her entrance, but he was intensely focused on the Federation practice exam flashing on the screen before him. Sarai slid her sweaty hands down the replicated red silk of her floor-length dress, and only after she had crossed half the length of the lab did Sarai remember to breathe.
As Sarai neared Icheb—ten meters, five—she saw the countdown of the test's clock dwindling from thirty seconds. He's almost done. Just wait until he's done. Sarai stopped when she was only a foot away from him, and she knew he could feel her practically breathing down his back. She kneeled on the floor behind his chair, her head level with his shoulder. Ten seconds. You can't distract him any more than you already have. A tractor beam had locked onto her torso and was pulling her towards him, an ache filling her abdomen as she longed to reach out to him. Five, four, three...
As soon as the exam ended, before Icheb could turn to face her, Sarai slid her hands along his sides and around his torso, hugging him from behind, and buried her face in his neck.
"Sarai," he said, his voice a rumble against her ridged nose. He placed his hands over hers, sending a jolt up her nerves like anti-matter up a warp coil. His face turned so his mouth brushed against her hair. Sarai could feel the smile in his voice, even though she already knew it would be barely perceptible on his face. It made her smile despite her nerves.
"Icheb," Sarai breathed into his neck, and the sound of his name made her smile even bigger. He pulled her hands away from his slim stomach, separating her face from his neck. Sarai stifled her sigh. He turned around in his chair to face her straight-on.
Sarai saw his eyes flick up and down her form-fitting dress, and she grinned. His eyes narrowed just slightly. "You have never greeted me like that before."
"I know," Sarai said, biting her lip again.
Icheb stood from his chair, extending his hand to help her up. "You are here early."
"I know," Sarai said again. "I'm excited about our...about tonight."
Icheb inclined his head. "Why do you avoid using the word 'date'?" Sarai could feel her cheeks flushing. "That is the proper term for a romantic engagement?"
"Yes," Sarai said, feeling breathless again. "It is just, um, sometimes perceived as, uh, presumptuous to assume the intentions are romantic."
"Ah," Icheb said. "In that case, I have been looking forward to tonight's date as well. I have finished my duties for this evening—we may proceed."
He started towards the door, although he waited for her to meet his stride. As they exited the Astrometrics Lab and turned down the corridor towards the turbolift, Icheb said, "The dress you are wearing is..." he trailed off, his eyes casting down her body again in the swiftest of motions, "beautiful."
"Thank you," Sarai said. "This is my first date."
"Mine as well," Icheb said. They stepped into the turbolift, and as the doors closed Icheb said, "Holodeck 2." He hesitated, then said, "I must admit that I have asked Seven for advice."
Sarai met his gaze. "Me too." This made them smile, then look away from each other. As the turbolift whirred up the decks, Sarai said, "Which program did you have in mind?"
"I thought we might study the atmospheric phenomena of Kelonis Prime," he said.
"Atmospheric phenomena?"
"I researched desirable date locations for several hours—Kelonis Prime is my first choice, although you are welcome to peruse the database as well."
"No," Sarai said, almost too hastily. "I trust your judgment."
They stepped out of the turbolift, and almost ran right into Seven. Her eyes flicked up and down Sarai's dress, then over to Icheb. Her face didn't show it, but Sarai knew she was smirking beneath her Borg facade. Sarai's face burned. She nodded as she took their place in the turbolift. As they walked toward the holodeck, Sarai received several other suppressed expressions from various crewmen. Sarai felt herself shrinking inward, wanting to cover her chest with crossed arms. I wasn't ashamed of my body when I was a drone. Why am I so hot? Why are they all giving me those looks?
"Your posture is altering. Are you uncomfortable?" Icheb said.
"Just a little self-conscious," Sarai said. "I feel like everyone's judging me. Maybe I shouldn't have replicated this dress..."
"I appreciate it," Icheb said. "And since I believe that was its purpose, I don't see why you should have doubts."
Sarai smiled. "Okay then."
When we got to the holodeck, Icheb said, "Computer, begin program Icheb Nine."
When the door opened, her jaw dropped. Sarai stepped into a lush forest, covered from ground to treetops in bioflorescent baby roses. Each bud was as small as a fingernail, and glowed in warm colors: gold, pink, red. As Sarai stepped with bare feet into the foliage, the petals melted and tingled against her soles, embracing the spaces between her toes. As the doors closed behind them, Sarai became aware of the song ringing through the trees unlike any animal Sarai had ever heard, so symphonic and harmonious that it sounded like a composition. The gentlest of fragrances caressed her skin on the breeze.
Without hardly thinking—although Sarai had thought about the moment for hours before—Sarai reached for Icheb's hand. He initially flinched with surprise, but then his fingers slid into the spaces between hers and flooded her palm with petal-soft warmth. Sarai could hardly breathe, let alone speak, but she turned to look at Icheb and knew her awed expression spoke for her. For the first time, Sarai saw Icheb smile; not a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, or a smirk, or a smothered expression, but an eye-crinkling, teeth-showing smile.
Sarai smiled back. "I've never seen you smile before."
His face fell a bit, an expression of confusion and contemplation coming over it.
"No!" Sarai said, turning to him. "No, put it back," Sarai laughed, and he smiled again too. She couldn't look away from his hazel eyes. His smile caught her eyes again, and she found herself staring at his mouth. Her breath caught in her chest.
Just as Sarai was allowing myself to drift closer, Icheb turned away from her and pulled her forward. Sarai exhaled, deflating slightly but also tingling from fingertips to toes. Her feet padded through the petals. She glanced at the ground behind her and saw the roses spring back up to full volume where she'd stepped, glowing even more fervently than before.
Icheb pulled her through tree trunks laced with vines, the same buds adding color along the navy blue bark. The leaves that hung far over their heads were emerald, but the veins sparkled with vibrant gold that pulsed along like throbbing blood. As Sarai stepped over one of the tree roots, she saw that gold shoot up a spike along the trunk, a branch, into the leaves, and it pulsed at the same rate as her heart.
The already wide-spread trees cleared, and they came to the edge of a precipice. Over the edge, Sarai saw a stream, about three meters below, trickling softly over smooth stones. On the other side, there was an open field of deep blue grass. Among the meter-tall blades were sprinkled stalks of white flowers that had the same bioluminescent glow as those under her feet.
Icheb's hand was growing even warmer against hers, and Sarai felt both of their pulses filling up the narrow space between their palms. Sarai pressed the tips of her fingers into the spaces between his bones. "Icheb..."
"Sit down," he said, and he pulled his hand out of hers. "I'll be right back." He turned before Sarai could respond and stepped back into the grove of trees. Sarai was about to protest, but she succumbed to the lure of the soft ground and sank into the rose petals. As she hung her feet over the ledge, a soft breeze blew her skirt around her ankles. She ran her fingers through the rose buds. When she tried to pick one off the ground, however, she was met with surprising resistance. Another firm tug told her that the roots of these flowers were much stronger than the unassuming buds suggested, and even those were resilient enough that Sarai couldn't remove so much as a petal.
When Sarai heard Icheb's footsteps coming behind her, Sarai said, "You might think to reprogram the flowers to be pickable," Sarai said.
"They're not naturally-occurring," Icheb said, and Sarai turned to see him sit down beside her with a picnic basket in hand. "The scientists of Kelonis Prime engineered this species of flora to withstand any external influences. Their natural life-cycle lasts ten years."
"Ten years?" Sarai gawked. "You mean they don't wilt and die for ten years?"
"And even then, they're programmed to dissolve into the plant network and be reborn as a new bud."
"That's amazing," Sarai said, but her eyes had drifted back to study Icheb's face instead of the plant life. When his eyes flicked up to meet hers, Sarai was drawn into them for a moment before she remembered to inhale. She broke eye contact. "So what's in the basket?" Sarai gestured towards the wicker container he'd set between them.
"I've replicated a sampling of traditional Kelonian cuisine," he said. He swung his legs around and turned his body to face her, crossing his legs on top of the petals. He opened one of the flaps on the basket and took out a container heaped with plump golden berries. "These are mara berries; they're only found in the southern hemisphere during a certain time of year. According to the database, they have incredible medical properties."
"Yeah?" Sarai said, smiling. "How do they taste?"
Icheb's lips twitched. "Let's find out."
They both reached for the berries, their fingers brushing as they each picked one up. Her face grew hot, and when her eyes flicked up, he was staring at her. He popped his own berry in his mouth, which Sarai tried not to stare at as she put her own on her tongue. Her teeth met no resistance, and soon the mara berry juice fizzed like it was carbonated. She giggled. "This is fun and tasty!" She reached for more. Icheb smiled too, and soon we were both popping mara berries left and right. When the juice got on her fingers, it tingled like a cool sonic shower.
Just as Sarai was reaching for another handful, she got a sharp sensation in her throat like she'd swallowed ice too fast. Her face scrunched up, biting back the harsh feeling.
"Are you well?" Icheb said.
Sarai wanted to answer in the affirmative, so she waited for the uncomfortable pain to pass. But instead of fading like a brain freeze, it started running down the rest of her esophagus. "I don't know..." Sarai opened her eyes and tried to smile to pass it off, but then her throat seized up. She gasped, but air barely passed through her trachea. She grabbed Icheb's hand, her eyes wide and pleading for help. She tried to inhale again, and only the slightest trickle of oxygen made it through the constricted passageway.
Icheb slapped his com-badge. "Icheb to the Doctor; medical emergency in Holodeck 2. Beam Sarai directly to sick bay."
The edges of her peripheral vision started to darken, like bola gnats swarming inward. Sarai kept her eyes on Icheb even when she felt the familiar tingle of the transporter. By the time she reappeared on a bio-bed in sick bay, only a few pinpricks of light were still there for her to hold on to. She tried to gasp for another breath of air, and this time, her diaphragm seized, but nothing passed into her lungs. She was vaguely aware of the Doctor's presence when she lost consciousness.