I don't own Relic Hunter or Star Trek the Next Generation; or any of the characters from these shows.

Information - DATA does not shorten his words and neither does WORF.

CHAPTER TWO

Back in Las Vegas Sydney was trying to contact Harry Platt and eventually did, after a couple of days. She managed to locate him via some mutual friends and, to Sydney's astonishment; he told her he'd never made that call and knew nothing about a cavern full of Hopi relics! He explained he'd been in France for the past couple of months and had only been back in Las Vegas a few days. Sydney was very confused as she'd no idea why anyone would have pretended to be him, unless they wanted her in Vegas for some reason and knew she'd do anything to help Harry. She decided, therefore, to stay for a couple more days to see if anyone she knew turned up.

She was still a little annoyed with Nigel, especially when he didn't have the decency to call her to apologise for standing her up. She, therefore, decided not to call him to explain the situation; believing he was probably regretting his actions now. She considered that his punishment for his act of defiance would be to let him agonize over what she'd say or do to him when she got home!

After a few days, despite keeping a high profile, nobody approached her regarding a relic hunt or with an explanation as to why she'd got that call, therefore, realising she was spending too much time away from the college, she had no choice but to go home empty handed.

While flying home to Boston she mulled it over in her mind and came to the conclusion that this little 'adventure' must have been some sort of practical joke, most likely set up by one of her students.

As soon as her plane landed she made her way Trinity College where she intended to see Nigel and give him a gentle lecture about his non attendance and to tell him that the hunt was some sort of prank. She arrived at the college and was immediately greeted by Karen, her pretty blond secretary.

"Hi Syd, welcome back" Karen said smiling widely.

"Hi Karen, is everything OK? Where's Nigel" she asked.

Karen looked at her strangely and said "didn't you come back from the airport together?"

"No, isn't he here? He didn't come to Vegas with me" Sydney said, suddenly realising that Karen had no idea where he was! Sydney thought back to the last time she saw him and remembered he'd claimed to be ill, which rather worried her because it now looked like he actually was.

She called his cell several times, but it was switched off.

Recalling that Nigel had once before been seriously ill, when he caught yellow fever, she wasted no further time and drove to his apartment. The last time he'd been ill she'd taken so long to check on him, he'd become desperately dehydrated; in fact, had she taken any longer he might have died! Sydney vowed she'd never allow that happen again, as the guilt she still felt about that was just awful.

Upon arrival at Nigel's apartment she knocked very hard and practically broke down the door when he failed to respond immediately. It then occurred to her that he probably thought she was angry with him for missing the hunt and was too frightened to let her in. She tried to be calm and sound less aggressive as she called through his door; explaining she wasn't cross but just wanted to make sure he was alright.

Just then, Mrs James, Nigel's landlady, who was an elderly English woman, turned up, having heard the banging at Nigel's door. She was a little nervous as she'd no idea who it was trying so hard to get Nigel's attention.

"Can I help you" Mrs James said, quite bravely, although she didn't feel it!

Sydney looked a little embarrassed realising how bad it must look and explained who she was and why she was looking for Nigel.

Mrs James looked surprised and said "goodness, I haven't seen him for a few days dear, I thought he was with you, he's always telling me about your relic hunting adventures. He's such a nice young man, he always pops in for a cup of tea and a chat when he's home. I hope he's alright!" She started to feel a little worried about her young tenant when she noticed how shocked the professor looked, as it suddenly occurred to Sydney that perhaps her little trip to Vegas wasn't set up by a prankster, but by someone who wanted her out of the way so they could get to Nigel!

She tried to think clearly and then recalled how abrupt she'd been with him before she went to Las Vegas and considered the possibility that he might have been so upset he quit his job and went home to England; which was actually preferable to that other horrible thought, although she certainly didn't want him to leave her!

She called Karen to ask her to check if Nigel had left an envelope, possibly containing his resignation, on her desk. Karen looked very carefully but, of course, she found nothing.

Sydney decided, therefore, that the only way to put her mind at rest on that point was to telephone Preston, Nigel's older brother, to check if her assistant had, in fact, gone home. Preston immediately confirmed that he wasn't there but after interrogating Sydney about the circumstances leading to Nigel's disappearance, his state of mind and general health, he stated that if Nigel hadn't turned up within two more days she was to call him and he'd fly to Boston to help find him. Sydney promised that she'd do that and then told Preston that, in the meantime, she'd telephone as many of their mutual friends and colleagues as she could think of to see if anyone had seen Nigel in the last few days.


Back on the Enterprise Nigel woke up, having slept for a long time; due to whatever Beverly kept squeezing into his arm. The doctor was sat by his bed as he opened his eyes and he immediately requested that she answer the same questions he'd asked the captain the day before. Beverly told him that she wasn't at liberty to tell him much, other than he's getting better and shouldn't worry as everything would be explained to him in due course. Nigel gave Beverly a very pained look and said "Please doctor, I'm scared, I need to know where I am and where Sydney is."

"Sweetie, try not to fret; as the captain said yesterday, you're on the Enterprise. He'll be in to see you in a little while and he'll explain as much as possible then. Now, what would you like for breakfast?" the doctor asked, giving Nigel a reassuring smile.

"I'm not hungry, I just want to see Sydney and go home!" Nigel said, tears threatening to come into his eyes; he just knew something wasn't right.

"Nigel, you have to eat sweetie, you haven't had any food in two days and if you don't eat you won't recover. The captain has no intention of explaining anything to you until you're completely well and able to comprehend what he has to say. Now, what about some scrambled eggs" the doctor said, truly hoping he'd say yes, as she felt he was rather thin and was probably quite weak, having been in bed for two days.

"Alright, I'll have some toast and a cup of tea….. then please will you ask the captain to tell me what's going on?" Nigel said, looking up at Beverly to see if she was listening to him.

"All in good time, now I'll be back in two minutes" she said, walking over to an unusual looking piece of equipment that was fitted into the wall on the opposite side of the room.

"Toast, 2 slices, buttered. How do you like your tea Nigel?" she asked, looking over to her young patient "any milk or sugar?"

"A little milk and one sugar, please" he replied, wondering who she was speaking to in such an odd manner.

"Tea, hot, milk one sugar" Beverly continued, walking back to Nigel with a plate of hot toast.

"There you go sweetie, try to eat it all, I'll just get your tea" she said, and walked back to the machine; immediately returning with Nigel's drink.

"How did you get that so fast?" Nigel asked in amazement.

"That machine's a replicator, it will replicate almost anything you could possibly need" Beverly said, looking at Nigel to see if he understood what she was saying.

"Will it replicate me a ticket home?" Nigel said, looking quite sad and putting down the toast that he'd hardly touched.

"Nigel, please stop fretting and eat your food, then I'll see if the captain is free to talk to you OK? ….. I won't if you don't eat up!" the doctor said, trying to look cross with him but not succeeding; Nigel so reminded her of her own son.

Nigel forced the toast down and drank his tea while Doctor Crusher attended to some chores in sickbay. He noticed that every now and again she'd tap the badge on her lapel and speak into it, quickly getting a response. Nigel was quite fascinated; he'd never seen anyone use a badge for communication purposes before!

He tried really hard to be patient but so hoped the doctor would hurry up with what she was doing and call the captain to talk to him.

"Crusher to Picard" Beverly said, having tapped her badge and walked over to Nigel "Jean Luc, are you ready to talk to Nigel? He's eaten a little and seems much better today."

"On my way doctor" the captain said.

"What's that badge you keep tapping and talking into doctor?" Nigel asked staring at her lapel.

"It's called a combadge, everyone on board has one so that we can speak to each other" Beverly said, smiling and letting him look a little closer.

A few minutes later the captain walked in and sat on a chair by Nigel's bed. He looked at Nigel and said good morning, but seemed to be thinking very carefully about what else he was going to say.

"Nigel, what I'm about to tell you is going to come as a shock, but I promise everything will be alright, you are in no danger and nobody is going to hurt you. Now just sit up straight and listen."

Nigel pulled himself up a little and the captain said, giving him a comforting smile "I told you yesterday that you are on a ship, well I didn't actually mean a ship on the ocean…. I meant a Starship… in outer space."

Nigel looked at the captain and half smiled; the expression on his face was one of scepticism, as he said "I know I'm a bit gullible sometimes, but I'm not that gullible! This is a practical joke, isn't it? You're just another doctor! Who put you up to this; was it Derek Lloyd?"

Derek was the only person Nigel could think of who might have friends who'd help him with a trick as elaborate as this. Derek was a government agent, who'd been on a couple of relic hunts with him and Sydney. Derek constantly poked fun at Nigel, as he was so young and inexperienced compared to him, but they still became friends.

"Where is he?" Nigel asked, starting to laugh a little, really believing it must be a prank and that he was just in a rather modern hospital.

"It's not a joke Nigel and I've no idea who Derek Lloyd is" the captain said, turning around to Beverly "give him something to stop him feeling nauseous and find him some clothes, then I'll take him on a tour of the ship" he said, thinking I can't say that I blame him for being dubious about all this.

Nigel looked at the captain to see if he was laughing, but he wasn't, in fact, he looked rather serious, which took Nigel by surprise. He didn't really know what to think right then and all sorts of worrying thoughts ran through his head. He felt very confused and one thought he had was that he'd been kidnapped, bearing in mind his brother was a millionaire and these people had kept him drugged to stop him escaping.

"Call me when he's ready Beverly" Jean Luc said, as he left the room.

Beverly smiled at him and said "this won't hurt sweetheart" as she placed what she called a hypospray onto the top of his arm, with his sleeve still rolled down! Nigel tried to pull away from her, so she changed tactics and put the device on his neck! Nigel was shocked but Beverly very gently said "sweetie I'm not trying to harm you; that will stop you feeling queasy when you stand up."

Nigel was shaking, but he noticed he felt fine and that the hypospray apparently had no syringe and was completely painless! He did, however, begin to fear that, if this really was a kidnapping, whatever she'd done might affect him later.

Beverly could see he was scared and wanted to try and clarify a few things and said "I'm sorry I had to give you something earlier to ensure you'd feel woozy if you stood up, but as you'll soon see; it was quite necessary to stop you leaving sickbay alone. It would have been quite disturbing for you if you'd wandered out of here without first having a few things explained to you" She was going to say more but Nigel interrupted.

"Do you mean you deliberately made me sick!" Nigel asked; feeling even more alarmed.

"I had to Nigel; you'll understand why in a little while. I promise you haven't been harmed in any way by what I've given you, I did it for your own good, now please put these on" the doctor said, handing him some clothes. "The blue jacket and black trousers belonged to my son, Wesley, when he was about 15, he's grown out of them now, so I'm sure he won't mind you having them" she said, believing Nigel was going to look really nice, like her son had, several years ago, before he'd gone off travelling the universe. She so wished that Wesley would come back to the Enterprise for a visit.

Nigel got out of bed and was relieved to note that he felt fine this time. He asked the doctor to leave so he could get dressed and Beverly obliged by going into her office, even though she'd already seen him naked having examined him when he initially came aboard!

Nigel took off the thin dressing gown he'd been wearing in bed and put on the outfit, noticing the legs of the trousers were rather long, as were the sleeves of the jacket. The boy who wore this was only 15! I must look like a midget to the doctor, he thought. He did his best to fold up the bottom of the legs and the arms, so that they looked presentable and thought the material felt really nice, but strange, like nothing he'd worn before.

Beverly called to ask if he needed any help but, of course, Nigel was not about to let her help him get dressed! "I'm nearly ready doctor" he said, folding the one sleeve back a little more. When he thought he looked OK he walked out to the centre of sickbay and noticed Beverly standing by her office door. She looked at him, smiled and thought; he looks really cute; Nigel blushed a little noticing her staring at him.

Feeling satisfied that Nigel looked healthy enough to leave sickbay for a while, Beverly patted her combadge and said "Crusher to Captain Picard, Nigel is ready for his tour now."

"On my way doctor" he replied.

The captain returned to sickbay a few minutes later and looked at Nigel. Then, giving him a slight smile he said "come with me young man." Nigel hesitated for a couple of seconds and then nervously followed him.

Nigel found himself in a very long corridor, which had other similar corridors branching off of it; he'd never seen corridors like these before and thought they looked really modern. He kept following the captain and every time they came to a door it quickly opened automatically. Nigel had seen doors like these before, of course, they were quite commonplace, but every door was like that and opened almost instantaneously, which he thought was unusual.

Suddenly they entered a very small room where the captain turned around, stood quite still with his back against the wall and said "Bridge". Nigel realised he must be in a lift, although it didn't feel quite right. A few moments later the doors opened and, to Nigel's utter astonishment, he found himself in a circular room, surrounded by lots of computers and all sorts of technology, which he'd never seen the like of before.

He immediately noticed there were some seats in an oval shaped setting, and in front of them were two further seats, placed in front of a huge screen. He felt his knees giving way as he realised it truly looked like they were flying in a spaceship! Looking behind the oval seats, on a slightly raised platform, stood behind some amazing looking computers, was what could only be described as a monster! He was very large, had a ridged forehead and looked quite aggressive. The 'monster' was, however, wearing a uniform very similar to that which everyone else wore; only his was a mustard colour.

Nigel began to have a panic attack and quickly fainted; his mind being simply unable to take in what he was seeing. When he came around he was still in the circular room but had been placed on one of the chairs. Looking directly at him, just a little way off, was a very pale faced man whose eyes look rather odd. Nigel looked at him and then to the side, where he saw, once again, 'the monster' and started to hyperventilate.

"Are you alright young man" the pale faced man asked, realising who Nigel was staring at "that is just Worf; he will not hurt you; he is a Klingon, although he looks quite ferocious, he is actually perfectly friendly. He is our chief of security and he is here to protect us."

Nigel just stared into space; he couldn't speak, although he tried.

Beverly sat next to him and wiped the hair off is face, offered him some water and said "it's alright Nigel, there are a lot of different species on board the Enterprise, they're all friendly, even if they do look quite different; you'll get used to seeing them. I guess you understand now why we couldn't just let you go wandering off on your own!"

Nigel was trying really hard not to cry, but he was terrified; he couldn't believe what was happening.

Beverly looked at him and gently said "sweetie try to understand, you're in no danger; yes you're on board a Starship, and you're seeing beings from other planets, but they won't harm you and everything's going to be alright, I promise." She took hold of his hand for a minute and squeezed it, trying to reassure him.

Beverly turned to the captain and said in slightly annoyed tone of voice "Jean Luc, I told you Nigel wouldn't be able to stand the shock of just finding himself here! You should have prepared him beforehand; it wouldn't have taken much for someone to talk to him and explain things; regardless of whether or not he'd believe them. You really shouldn't have just beamed him here! You read his profile; you know it said that even though he was a genius he was very insecure, nervous and shy until he was almost 30. He's still only 24, so he's nothing like the man he'll eventually became. I know it was necessary for you to have him here right now, but you could have handled it a lot better!" She turned back to Nigel who was now looking very anxious about what might happen because of the doctor's outburst! He also wondered what she meant by 'beamed him here' and what profile she'd read that would reveal what he'd be like in later life!

Jean Luc, although he didn't like being chastised in front of his crew, was used to Beverly being blunt; indeed, he encouraged complete honesty from her. The doctor was, in fact, permitted to override his orders, on medical grounds. On this occasion though, because it was so important to have Nigel on board, she realised she couldn't prevent that from happening. However, her conscience wouldn't permit her to be completely silent either, which was why she'd voiced her opinion about Nigel's likely bad reaction, prior to his arrival.

Jean Luc understood Beverly's concerns and realised she was already feeling maternal towards the young man, which pleased him, as Nigel wasn't there of his own free will and it was important that, eventually, Nigel felt at ease. However, he couldn't let Beverley's feelings interfere with the task at hand and said "Beverly, we will talk about that later, please just make him comfortable; I need to discuss with him why he's here and I don't want him passing out again!"

Nigel couldn't hold back the tears anymore and he didn't care now who saw them; he was terrified and was completely in the hands of these strange 'people'. He could see the stars outside; he'd seen an alien or perhaps two, so it looked very much like Beverly and the captain were telling the truth about being on a spaceship! Nigel couldn't stand it anymore, so putting his knees up to his chest and stretching his arms around his legs he yelled "what's happening to me, what's happening! Let me go home, please, please let me go!" He sobbed so bitterly that Beverly couldn't bear it, so she placed a hypospray on his arm, pressed it and he immediately fell asleep.


Back in Boston, two days had passed since Sydney called Preston and, obviously, there was no sign of her young assistant. The police had been informed and they'd promised to do everything they could to try and find him, particularly bearing in mind how long he'd been missing and the fact that he was from a wealthy family and may have been kidnapped.

Sydney kept her word to Preston and rang him, whereupon she noticed how similar he sounded to Nigel when he got nervous; he even stammered, obviously feeling very alarmed about the whereabouts of his little brother. Sydney didn't really want to have Preston with her while she searched for Nigel, but she realised there was nothing she could do to prevent him from joining her; so she didn't even bother to try.

The next day Preston arrived and Sydney could see the concern on his face. It was obvious he'd not slept for a long time and had not even bothered to shave. Even though he and Nigel hadn't always gotten along, Sydney was fully aware that Preston loved his brother and would do anything he could to help find him. Nigel was his only living relative and he worried a great deal about him, especially since Nigel had told him of the dangers he faced as a relic hunter.

Preston knew that his younger brother wasn't particularly strong and, as such, had to rely on Sydney for protection, as she was a martial arts expert. Sydney was generally able to look after herself and Nigel; as she was amazingly strong and agile. However, Preston always felt that, one of these days, Sydney would be in the wrong place at the wrong time and wouldn't be able to prevent Nigel from being attacked. Preston believed that this could be one of those occasions, as she was in Las Vegas when he disappeared.

Unfortunately, it was also the case that Sydney had made lots of enemies during her years of relic hunting, most of them being rival relic hunters who wanted to steal whatever antiquity she'd found. Preston considered it was quite possible that one of those enemies could have kidnapped him.

Relic hunting was something that Sydney Fox was born to do, whereas Nigel would have been quite happy just reading about lost relics, rather than traipsing off all over the world trying to find them. When he'd first applied for the position at the college he'd no idea what was expected of him. However, the fact was, as clumsy as he was when he first started out; he soon became quite brilliant in the field. Sydney had come to rely on him to read and translate ancient writing and hieroglyphics. He was also an expert at working out the sequence that various things had to be pressed, turned or pulled in order to enter a tomb, or open an ancient sealed door. His knowledge of ancient history and languages was actually even more extensive than hers, plus he had a phenomenal memory and could remember facts from right back when he was a very small child.

A few hours before Preston arrived in the USA, Sydney suddenly recalled that a couple of days before she'd gone to Las Vegas, Cate Hemphill had called her to say she was in town for a visit. It then occurred to her that Cate might have something to do with Nigel's disappearance, as she'd bullied him into helping her with dangerous Interpol cases before. The moment that thought came into her head she rang Cate's cell and thought; if she's got Nigel into some risky escapade, I'll kill her! As soon as Cate answered Sydney ranted down the phone "where's Nigel! What have you gotten him into this time!"

Cate was quite taken aback and said "Sydney, I've no idea what you're talking about, none whatsoever!... I assume he must have gone missing!"

"You know very well he has! You've got him working on a case, haven't you!" Sydney shouted.

"Sydney, I haven't spoken to him in months, I tried to speak to him a while ago, but you answered the call. I guess you didn't tell him I'd rung, otherwise he'd have called me back" Cate said, wondering what had happened to him.

Then it dawned on Sydney, she and Nigel have identical cell phones, so when Cate rang, she must have answered Nigel's phone by mistake!

"Cate, do you swear you don't know where he is?" Sydney asked in a desperate tone of voice.

"Sydney, like I said, I haven't seen or spoken to him for at least two months, I rang to tell him I was in Boston, so we could have a drink together and catch up; but you answered his phone! I've no idea what's happened to him but I promise I'll do everything in my power to try and find him, especially since you're so worried. How long has he been missing?" Cate asked, hoping it wasn't too long.

"A week Cate, he's been gone a week!" Sydney said, thinking where the hell is he!

"You're absolutely sure he's not just gone home to England" Cate asked, thinking he might have had a family emergency, although she considered he would have called his boss by now.

Sydney explained the circumstances leading up to Nigel's disappearance and Cate truly wished she'd called her sooner, realising the trail would probably be cold by now. Cate now began to feel as worried as Sydney because she knew that Nigel was not irresponsible and would have contacted his boss, if he could.


On board the Starship Nigel woke up again and was immediately on edge as he remembered where he was. He was so mixed up by what he'd seen; he couldn't think what to do, especially when he knew there'd be no chance of escape. The fact was, no matter how kind Beverly and the captain appeared to be, he still felt like a prisoner with no chance of parole!

He lay in his bed mulling over his situation and kept thinking about Sydney, believing now he would never have the opportunity to tell her how he really feels about her. The truth was, he was in love with her, but he'd always been convinced that Sydney would never feel the same about him, as she treated him like a kid most of the time. He didn't know if it was his imagination or not, but he thought he'd noticed a slight change in her attitude towards him during the time they were in England, on their last hunt. In fact, he felt she treated him more like a partner than an assistant on that hunt, which had really pleased him.

Of course, he knew she appreciated his brilliance as a young relic hunter; such as when he unravelled clues leading to an amazing find. He even knew how delighted she was by the way he undertook his college duties; as he'd received glowing appraisals each year. But as a man, he thought he could never compete with the kind of guys Sydney was usually attracted to; believing she thought he was too young, too small and too timid for her to even consider as a boyfriend. He lay there thinking about what he would say to her if, by some miracle, he ever got the chance to see her again. The thoughts went over and over in his head, although in the end he came to the conclusion that, in all probability, he'd never see her again, which made him even more miserable.

After lying there torturing himself for about an hour, Beverly came in and said "Nigel sweetie, are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, a bit, but I want to go home, please let me go! I won't tell anyone about what I've seen, or what happened, please let me go!" he begged, as the tears started to fall again; thinking it was no wonder Sydney thought of him the way she did, when he cried like this!

"Oh sweetheart, don't get upset" Beverly said, sitting on the side of his bed and taking his hand "nothing bad is going to happen to you; I won't let it! You really are here for a very good reason but, unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to tell you what that is …. the captain will though. I'll tell you one thing …. it's a matter of life and death! Well, at least to the people of the 24th century anyway" she said, confusing Nigel completely. "You won't be here forever; we'll send you home as soon as we can; so try not to fret" Beverly looked at Nigel, who looked so vulnerable, and truly wished it didn't have to be this way. She tapped her combadge and said "Crusher to Captain Picard."

"Yes Beverly" the captain replied.

"Are you free to see Nigel, he's awake but he's very upset" she said, hoping Jean Luc would agree to see him as it seemed cruel to allow the young man to wait any longer for an explanation.

"Alright; try to calm him down and then bring him to my ready room" the captain said, obviously not looking forward to the meeting, but realising it was necessary.

"Yes captain" she replied.

"OK Nigel, go and freshen up and I'll take you to see the captain again. Don't look so worried sweetie; you're very important to our future and the captain is going to explain why" Beverly said, wishing he didn't have to go through all this.

PLEASE REVIEW - the next chapter I will reveal why Nigel has been taken to the Enterprise.