October
Part 2: Aliens and Holodecks
They walked down some corridors that looked like they could be in a spaceship and headed towards a thing that Janeway called a turbo-lift. She explained that it was like an elevator and could take you to just about anywhere on the ship that you wanted to go. Cuddy was in complete awe, and though she listened to everything that Janeway was saying, she realized she probably wouldn't remember any of it when it came down to the wire. After a brief ride in the turbo-lift they exited and walked down a hallway, where they stopped at a pair of double doors. So far Cuddy had not seen any windows in the vessel but by the look of things she was guessing that she would indeed find out that they were in outer space.
"We're going into the mess-hall now. Be prepared because our chef is a Talaxian, his name is Neelix." Janeway said slowly. Cuddy arched an eyebrow, she had absolutely no idea what a Talaxian was, hell she had never even heard the word Talaxian.
"What's a Talaxian?" Cuddy asked softly and then the doors to the mess-hall opened. Taking Cuddy's arm again, Janeway led her inside. Behind the counter was the thing, man, whatever, that was probably Neelix. Cuddy's eyes went wide and she gently pulled away from Janeway and got closer to him. His skin was littered with spots, he had ears almost like a gerbil, and whiskers. She got as close to him as she possibly could without being rude, and just stared.
"Why hello, who are you?" Neelix asked her. Cuddy had barely realized that she was standing out compared to the rest of the crew. She was wearing a black pants suit with matching heels. Everyone else seemed to be in some sort of uniform, but none of that mattered now because she was looking at an alien.
"Oh my God." Cuddy said softly, she wanted nothing more then to reach out and touch him to see if he was actually real. Janeway quickly came up behind her and put a hand on her arm. "Are you real?"
"Neelix, this is Dr. Cuddy she's going to be a guest on our ship for a little while." Janeway said in a friendly tone of voice. Neelix smiled at Cuddy, showing the teeth of his race, and Cuddy sort of winced but it was barely noticeable. She looked at Janeway and then back to Neelix. "I thought you would be the perfect person to show her around. She's from, 2008." Janeway added the last part as if this would explain a lot, and to Neelix it obviously did.
"You can call me Lisa, it's okay." Cuddy said to the both of them, "We aren't in a hospital so no need for formalities."
"Well then Lisa, I'm going to leave you in Neelix's capable hands, I have some business to attend to." Janeway said and then Cuddy reached out and grabbed Janeway's arm and squeezed it slightly. Janeway put her hand on top of Cuddy's and offered her a soft smile, "It's okay, Neelix is our ambassador. I need to figure out how we are going to get you back you do agree that's important don't you?"
"Yes, very." Cuddy replied not liking the position she was in. She was getting the feeling that all eyes were on her, even though things in the mess hall seemed to be going like they normally would. She looked around at all of the crewmembers briefly and then back to Neelix. He certainly was an interesting looking creature. "Will I see you later?"
"Yes, we'll chat over coffee. I'll see you later." Janeway said and then Cuddy let go of her arm and let her walk away. She watched until the captain was completely out of the mess hall before turning back to Neelix. She had a million questions about the ship, the delta quadrant, and what in the hell kind of aliens she was going to meet while there. Neelix took off his apron and hung it up on a hook before approaching her. She still found herself wanting to touch his face, just to make sure that it wasn't an elaborate set of makeup.
"How about we start with a tour?" Neelix offered her. She smiled weakly and nodded her head slowly. If she was going to be stuck there then she at least wanted to know her way around the place. "You're a doctor, maybe you would like to see sickbay." He offered. Until that point she didn't even think about the kind of advanced medical technology they might have on the ship. Seeing it first hand would be one hell of a wonderful experience for her.
"That would be wonderful, Neelix." Cuddy said, brightening considerably at the idea that she was about to see things that no one else from her time would ever see.
"This way then." Neelix said and then started walking as he motioned for her to follow. Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. She wondered how good their doctor was, what he or she was like, if he or she was personable. Little did she know, she was about to be privy to a technology that did not yet exist on Earth.
Seven was still waiting for Cuddy to return with her comm.-badge, she sat on the edge of her bed wishing that she had something other then the hospital gown to wear. She was feeling completely fine, her head throbbed gently but she had been shot by phasers before, not to mention the things the Borg did to her in the past. She looked at the guard that was sitting by the door, he was dozing just slightly, or looked like he was but Seven didn't want to tempt fate. When Cuddy got back with her badge she could excuse herself into the restroom and ask to be transported back to Voyager. Little did she know the ship was already back in the right time and place.
From behind her, the sliding glass door opened, and a nurse in purple scrubs and white coat came into the room with a tray of food. Hearing the door open, Seven turned to look at the nurse, who nearly dropped her tray. Seven wondered why she was so startled but then soon realized that she was out of place in this time, hell she was out of place a lot of time in the 24th century, she told herself not to expect anything different from any of the people that now surrounded her. The nurse approached and set the tray of food down on the table that was positioned over Seven's bed. Her name tag said "Gina" in black letters against a white background.
"I brought you lunch." Gina said, still staring at the metal implant above Seven's eye. "Does it hurt?"
"Excuse me?" Seven asked, not exactly knowing what the nurse was referring to. She had had the implants so long that she didn't even notice them any more, even when she looked in the mirror they weren't off putting.
"That thing, on your face." Gina clarified. Seven brought her hand up to her eye and touched the metal and then brought it back down.
"No it does not." Seven finally said after another moment. The nurse looked at her like she was weird but then turned to leave, closing the door behind her. Seven sighed and pulled her legs up onto the bed and lifted the cover that was on the tray to see what had been brought for her. It was just a turkey sandwich with a container of orange juice tucked back on the corner of the tray. She picked up the juice container and opened it slowly and took a few gulps. Before she had ended up on this planet in this time frame she had been up for nearly 72 hours. Normally by this time, she would have been in regeneration, but because she was stuck on Earth that was impossible. She was starting to feel weak and dizzy, she thought if she got some sugar into her system it might perk her up. She wasn't hungry though, and even if she was she didn't think she wanted to eat that sandwich.
"How's the lunch?" The doctor known to her as House asked as he entered the room. One hand was holding the cane he was using to help him walk, and the other hand was holding an icepack to his eye. Seven got the feeling that he was only toting the icepack around because he wanted to show her that what she had done had actually hurt him. Either way, it wasn't affecting her in the least.
"Where is Dr. Cuddy?" Seven asked immediately. House looked around the room with a sarcastic interest as to where Cuddy was and then back to Seven.
"Probably in her office. What do you want with her?" House responded, lowering the icepack away from his face. Then his eyes got wider, for a brief moment, and settled back to their normal look, "She was supposed to get that badge for you, right. I'll go see if I can find her." He then turned and left her alone, for which she was glad. She didn't know what was taking Cuddy so long to get her comm.-badge but she silently wished the woman would hurry up.
"Here we go…this is sickbay." Neelix said as both him and Cuddy entered the room. Cuddy looked around, basically all she saw was three beds and an area that looked like an office. There was no doctor. Cuddy didn't really mind that there was no doctor, it would give her a chance to look over everything while Neelix talked. It wasn't like she didn't like Neelix but he had been going on and on about stuff that she really didn't care about. Well it wasn't that she didn't care, it was just she was so excited at the prospect of seeing a futuristic hospital that she wasn't really paying attention, also his voice was sort of annoying but she would still rather deal with Neelix then with House.
"Where's the doctor?" Cuddy asked after walking over to the nearest bed and running her hands over it gently. She pressed down on the bed and then turned around and sat down on it, letting her legs dangle over the side.
"Good question." Neelix said, "Computer locate the doctor."
"The EMH is currently offline." The computer chirped a millisecond later. Cuddy was amazed, of course Neelix had already told her about the computer systems, and she knew the turbo-lift was voice activated, but she hadn't heard the computer respond yet. The voice was nice, not at all mechanical, she also didn't know that the computer would have been keeping track as to where everyone on the ship was. She barely caught the phrase "EMH" thinking that it was just a futuristic term for calling someone "doctor".
"Computer activate EMH." Neelix said and then out of nowhere a man appeared. It was so out of nowhere that Cuddy had just convinced herself that she blinked and he came out of a magic hole, or had been transported in, who knew? This was the 24th century.
"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." "The doctor said and then turned to Neelix, "Mr. Neelix how can I help—" The doctor said and then noticed Cuddy, "Hello, who are you?" He said to her, completely ignoring Neelix now. Neelix didn't seem to mind, Cuddy guessed that he probably got ignored more then he got paid attention to anyway.
"Dr. Lisa Cuddy, where did you come from?" Cuddy asked and then got off of the bed and held out her hand for him to shake. He took her hand in his and shook it firmly with a smile on his face, even though he looked quite annoyed and slightly bothered by her presents.
"What do you mean, "where did I come from" where did you come from?" The doctor asked her and she smiled slightly.
"Well you just appeared out of nowhere, is there like a secret compartment or something?" Cuddy replied and then looked at Neelix. She got a feeling that even if this doctor didn't explain to her where exactly he came from Neelix wouldn't hesitate to.
"Dr. Cuddy he's a hologram." Neelix said to her and then turned to the doctor, "Doctor, Dr. Cuddy is a visitor on the ship for a while, she's from the 21st century." The doctor then gave Cuddy a look like it explained a lot, Cuddy on the other hand was confused that the doctor was a hologram.
"A hologram, a configuration of lights? I just touched him, he's not a hologram." Cuddy said and then went to touch the doctor again and her hand went through him. She seemed perplexed by this and started swinging her hand back and fourth, going through him each time. Finally the doctor had enough of that and grabbed her hand.
"That's enough." He said and she looked at him with one eyebrow arched.
"I don't get it." Cuddy said and then gently pulled her hand out of the doctor's grasp, "What's your name?"
"Doctor." He replied
"Doctor what?" Cuddy quickly responded and the doctor let out an aggravated sigh.
"We just call him Doctor." Neelix interjected. Cuddy turned to look at him, and despite the fact that she had already spent some time with Neelix she still wasn't getting used to his odd appearance. She forced a smile that she hoped didn't look to forced and turned back to the doctor.
"So what do you have here that'll amaze me?" Cuddy asked and then went over to a tray of stuff and started to poke around. The doctor came up behind her and grabbed her wrist to keep her from touching everything.
"I just got that stuff organized. Maybe Mr. Neelix would want to show you the holodeck." The doctor offered and then glared in Neelix's direction. Cuddy didn't take her eyes off of the tray in front of her. She picked up an item and then held it up, but out of the doctor's reach.
"What's this thing?" She asked.
"A hypospray." The doctor replied and then quickly reached and snatched it out of Cuddy's hand and put it back in its holder. "It's used to inject things into patients." Cuddy reached and tried to get the hypospray back but the doctor was taller then her and held it out of her reach.
"I'd like to see you use it." Cuddy said and then turned to Neelix, "Can he notify me when someone comes in here?" Neelix looked at the doctor, he was standing behind Cuddy and out of her sight so he was shaking his head no and making all sorts of hand gestures that said 'absolutely not'. Neelix smiled and then walked over to Cuddy.
"I'm sure the doctor would be happy to notify you the next time he is treating a patient." Neelix said and then walked over to Cuddy and took her arm, "In the mean time I'm sure you would be quite amazed by our holodeck."
"What's a holodeck? Is it anything like this guy?" Cuddy asked motioning to the doctor who just rolled his eyes and put the hypospray back on the tray.
"It's the most amazing place, you can choose any setting you want in there, act out stories, play games, read holo-novels. I'm sure you'd enjoy it." Neelix explained and then started to lead her out of sickbay. Cuddy was intrigued by this idea although it didn't explain as to what exactly a holodeck was. She assumed that she would be present if the doctor decided to treat anyone so she followed Neelix out into the hallway.
"So it's like virtual reality?"
"In a manner of speaking it is. It's best if I just show you what it's all about." Neelix said and they started to walk towards the turbo-lift. Cuddy smiled, she wasn't the type of person for video games but she was thinking that this holodeck thing was probably the 24th century version of a video game and she was more then willing to experience that.
"I just want to look at your eye, can I do that?" Cameron asked Seven, who was being none to helpful. Seven glared at her and turned away not really having anything to say at that point. Cameron was overly interested in Seven's implants and for the moment she had her alone so she wanted to take advantage of that. Cameron didn't know about the black eye Seven gave to House just minutes before. In fact, she had no idea where House was currently. "Just let me see your eye…" Cameron reached out to touch Seven when her hand was grabbed in a death grip and twisted to the side.
"Do not touch me." Seven growled at her and then let her hand go.
"Ow!" Cameron shouted and then shook her hand a bit to get the feeling back into it. Just then the door slid open and House made his appearance.
"You're lucky she didn't punch you." He said and Cameron's eyes went to his instantly, where she saw the black eye. It looked horribly painful, and she looked back at Seven, amazed that the woman was able to knock House down.
"You hit him?" She asked.
"He touched me." Seven replied coldly, "Where is Dr. Cuddy?" That was directed at House and for the moment he had no idea where Cuddy was. He had paged her twice, after looking in her office, and still she was a no show.
"I thought she'd be back up here with you, but that apparently isn't the case." House said to her. He had tossed the ice pack a few minutes ago and popped two vicodin so he was pretty much good to go. Seven looked at him like it was his fault that Cuddy had seemingly vanished into thin air.
"I need the badge that came in with me." Seven said her voice just as strong and defiant as ever.
"She'll be here, it's not like her to duck out of duty." House said and then walked over to her bed and leaned against the edge of it, "So, are you ever going to tell me what all that funky metal does to you?" He offered her a smile and it was almost cute in a sad puppy dog way. Seven knew that she couldn't just tell him what her implants were all about, she had to get back to Voyager, although that was looking less and less likely as time went by.
"I said I cannot tell you anything." Seven replied.
"She hasn't touched her food." Cameron leaned in and whispered to House, even though Seven appeared to hear what was said. House looked at the tray of food that was still sitting in front of Seven and then back to Cameron.
"Robots don't need to eat." House replied and then smiled brightly at Seven.
"I am not a robot." Seven said, "Would eating convince you that I am not robotic?" She then added. She reached to the tray of food and slowly picked up half of the sandwich and looked at it as if she had never seen one before.
"It would help." House said honestly. Seven shot him a glare and brought the sandwich up to her mouth and tried to take a bite. It was very quick but she missed the sandwich all together on the first try, but she got it on the second. Her motor skills were decreasing because she hadn't regenerated. She knew that her stamina and brain function would continue to deteriorate the longer she went without regeneration but there really was nothing she could do about it. House noticed that on her first try the sandwich didn't get anywhere near her mouth before she tried to bite, but because of the metal they couldn't send her for an MRI so he was going to have to work out what was wrong with her without the use of scans.
"It took you a moment to get that sandwich to your mouth." House said, as if Seven didn't notice this herself.
"I am fine, see? I am eating." Seven replied after chewing her food and swallowing it. She set the rest of the sandwich back on the tray and folded her arms over her chest. House didn't see her as fine, he saw her as someone with impaired brain function.
"Come on Cameron, help me find Cuddy." House said and then started to walk towards the door. Cameron wanted nothing more then to stay with Seven and learn more about the implants but House wasn't going to let her. She took one last look at Seven and sighed before walking out into the hall with House where he slid the door shut. House knew that somehow the badge Seven was asking for was important and he was going to have to find Cuddy and get that badge to her as soon as possible.
"Computer, who is in holodeck two?" Neelix asked as he and Cuddy stopped by a set of double doors. The doors looked normal, just like every other set of doors that they had stopped at before.
"Lieutenant Monica Edwards." The computer chirped, Neelix seemed pleased by this and he turned to look at Cuddy.
"Lt. Edwards is an expert on the 21st century, I'm sure she would be delighted to meet you." Neelix said and then tapped the badge on his chest to summon Lt. Edwards. Cuddy looked at the badge, it was a communication device and she had taken it away from Seven Of Nine cause she thought it looked expensive. It probably was worth more in the 21st century then it was in the 24th century, but Cuddy felt bad taking one without permission. When she was beamed aboard the ship she slipped the communicator into her pocket, she had forgotten about it until right that moment. Suddenly the doors to the holodeck opened and a young woman in a black bikini stood there. She raised her sunglasses and looked at Neelix. Cuddy on the other hand was looking into the holodeck.
Inside it was like earth, a white sand beach, an ocean and a towel set up with an umbrella over it to create shade. Cuddy could smell the beach, she could hear the waves, and she was pretty sure if she were to step inside she would feel the sand too. It was absolutely amazing, like nothing she had ever seen before, it was way more then virtual reality, it was exactly reality. Without a word she stepped passed Lt. Edwards and onto the sand. It felt like sand all right, she could feel its movement under the soles of her heels. Not twenty feet away was the ocean, and she suddenly felt like stripping naked and just jumping in, of course she couldn't, but it didn't stop her from feeling that way. She turned back to the lieutenant and Neelix.
"How is this possible? How?" She asked motioning to the sand and the water and the sky.
"Would you mind showing Dr. Cuddy around? I have dinner to get started." Neelix said in his overly happy tone. Lt. Edwards smiled brightly.
"You're from the 21st century?" Edwards asked her and she nodded her head slowly. Apparently Neelix and Monica had an entire conversation while she was zoned out looking at the holodeck. If only they had this technology on earth now someone could be making a fortune off of it. "You can call me Monica." Then she held out her hand for Cuddy to shake.
"Nice to meet you, call me Lisa." Cuddy replied as she took the lieutenant's hand and shook it.
"I'll see you at dinner then, Lisa." Neelix said, he waved goodbye to the both of them and headed off down the hallway. Monica let out what seemed to be a sigh of relief that Neelix was gone. If Neelix annoyed her too, they already had something in common.
"Well come on in, I was just running my beaches of Hawaii program. I love this beach and it's the closest I'm going to get to being back home." Monica said and then stepped back into the holodeck. She was wearing black strappy sandals with a slight platform on them. As they got closer to the water, the doors behind them closed and vanished into thin air. Cuddy was a little startled by this and went to walk back to where the doors were, but was met with only more beach.
"What the…"
"It's a holodeck, you'll get used to it." Monica said and then sat down on her towel. Cuddy reached down and slipped off her shoes and sat down next to Monica. She was completely dumfounded by what she was seeing and how real it all was.
"I don't understand how any of this is possible. Wasn't I just on a space ship?" Cuddy asked as a seagull flew by and landed not three feet away from them. Monica shut the book she was reading and placed it on the edge of the towel. Cuddy then noticed that about a hundred feet away from them was a small bar erected where there were other people sipping drinks and talking. "Who are those people?"
"Holograms, just part of the program. Have you met our doctor? He's a hologram." Monica said and then raised her hand and snapped her fingers. The bartender seemed to notice this and started to come towards them, "This is all done with holo-emitters, they put a bunch of information together and voila, you have the beaches of Hawaii, or anything else you want."
"Can I help you, Monica?" The bartender guy asked he was quite attractive, tan skin, light blond hair and blue eyes. He was only wearing a pair of swim trunks that were red with random white flowers on them and his chest was well oiled and muscular. Cuddy suddenly felt over dressed in her business suit. He smiled at her and she blushed just slightly, he was only a hologram though, not real, she was going to have to keep telling herself that.
"I'll have a tequila sunrise." Monica said without so much as a second glance at the perfectly chiseled bartender. "What do you want?"
"I can have something?" Cuddy asked and then felt stupid for that response, "I'll have the same."
"Very good choice, Monica who's your friend?" The bartender asked and then reached and took Cuddy's hand in his and kissed it gently. Monica rolled her eyes and put her sunglasses back on.
"Her name is Lisa, could you have Mia bring the drinks over, I'd like to tell her something." Monica said and then laid back on the towel. Cuddy looked at her, she was positively gorgeous. Her hair was tied into a bun on the top of her head and it was raven black. Her eyes, which were now hidden by the sunglasses, were a bright green. Her facial features were perfect and her lips were full and just begging to be kissed. Cuddy actually felt attracted to her but not more so then the bartender who had just kissed her hand.
"Sure thing. You're drinks will be coming right up." The bartender said and then walked away. Monica sighed contently and then rolled onto her side to look at Cuddy. She brought her sunglasses up and rested them on top of her head.
"Mia is way hotter then Jake." Monica said as if that was an explanation, "So what year are you from?" Cuddy snapped out of her daze and tried to process the information, wasn't Mia a girls name? Cuddy then assumed that Monica was a lesbian, or bi, but to each there own, no harm done.
"2008." Cuddy said, "How are you an expert on the 21st century?"
"The same way Tom Paris is an expert of the 20th century, it's just something that entertains us." Monica replied. First of all, she didn't know who the hell Tom Paris was but she assumed that he was someone on the ship. Secondly, she didn't understand how a period of time could be entertaining, especially her period of time. Then again there were renaissance fairs and civil war reenactments, so she supposed it could be some of the same thing.
"Who's Tom Paris?" Cuddy asked as she noticed a woman with green spots trailing down her body approach them with a tray of drinks. She assumed this woman was some sort of alien hologram but Monica was right, she was very attractive.
"Oh you'll probably meet him once he finds out about you he'll be around." Monica said and then the woman in the purple bathing suit with the spots on her got down to serve them drinks. She handed one to Monica and one to Cuddy.
"You wanted to tell me something Monica?" The woman said and then brushed some of her dark black hair out of her face.
"Just that you are doing a wonderful job today, oh and looking hot as usual." Monica said, Mia smiled and then giggled a little before turning and walking back towards the bar. Monica took a sip of her drink and then set it down in the sand. Cuddy was expecting the drinks to be holographic too, but when she took a sip of hers it was exactly like a tequila sunrise, she was amazed.
"Wow this is amazing, it tastes just like a tequila sunrise." Cuddy said to Monica.
"Yeah, what were you expecting?" Monica asked and then picked up her drink and took another sip, "There's this thing on this ship called a replicator it can make anything you want whether it's food or clothes, or anything else you could ever want."
"Wow." Cuddy said and then took another sip of her drink. Just then Monica's comm.-badge beeped and she picked it up from the edge of the towel.
"Edwards here." She said.
"I understand you are with Dr. Cuddy, could you bring her to the conference room?" the voice said and Cuddy recognized it as Janeway's voice. Monica nodded her head slightly.
"We're on our way." She said and then stood up and grabbed a robe that was folded up on the edge of the towel. She put the robe on and offered her hand to Cuddy to help her up. Cuddy took it firmly and got up. Then she bent down and picked up her heels from the beach. "Computer end program." Monica said and a split second later the beach was replaced with a bland room, where doors were clearly visible. Cuddy blinked a few times trying to tell herself that she wasn't really on a beach, it was all a light show.
"That's disorienting." She said to Monica. Monica smiled at her.
"I'd say you'd get used to it but hopefully we'll get you back home before you do." Monica replied and then headed for the doors. Cuddy slipped on her shoes and started to follow Monica out into the corridors. They were going to the conference room, maybe the captain had figured out what happened and they were going to get her home. It was all she could hope for at that point.