Disclaimer: Paramount owns Voyager, its crew, and Lotty's and Isaac's last names. I own Lucira, its people, Megan, and Micheltsikof. JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter series. William Blake has been dead long enough that it doesn't matter. So there.
Summary: Shoreleave on Lucira promises to be an interesting experience for Megan and the gang....
Timeframe: Season 7, canon w/ everything before Human Error. My reasons for this are simple: J/C good, C/7 bad. Okay?
Rating: G!

The Misadventures of Megan Quincy

Chapter 6: Eternity in an Hour

by galadriel

Wendy Jenkins had gorgeous hair. It was a brilliant golden color, reminiscent of Goldilocks' curls and Rapunzel's long tresses, the chin-length strands shimmering as light hit it at different angles. I was incredibly envious of it, seeing that my hair was dull brown and bone straight. Over the years I had tried to remedy this problem in various ways, but a perm left it frizzy and an auburn dye gave it a distinctively orange tint. Eventually, I gave up and left my hair alone, content with adding the occasional purple or blue streaks, but I still dreamed of having hair like Wendy's. I thought I deserved at least something about my body that I liked. All I had right now was nice eyebrows and a gradually improving figure.

These minor attributes did not console me as I spotted Wendy's hair from across the mess hall. She was sitting by the window, mulling over a PADD and a cup of coffee. I grabbed a cup of half-decent fruit juice and went to sit down with her.

"Hey, mind some company?" I asked as I approached her table.

Wendy looked up at me with pale blue eyes, another asset of hers. "Oh, hi, Meg," she greeted in her pleasant, musical voice, putting down her coffee. "Sit down, please."

I nodded and sat across from her. "Why aren't you down on the planet?" I asked. The mess hall was nearly empty, since the majority of the crew was either working or on shore leave.

"I was there for a few hours this morning," she explained, "but I have night shift in a few minutes. I thought I'd relax and catch up on my reading before I have to spend six hours listening to Lieutenant Chapman ask for the ship's status every ten minutes. He's almost as bad as Harry."

I smiled, remembering Harry's overthorough manner when he was on the night shift. "I see."

"So," Wendy asked as I gulped down some fruit juice in a rather loud and rude manner that made her blink and frown, "You're not down there either?"

I shook my head. "I had a lot of work to do tonight and I'm beat. I'm going down tomorrow with Naomi and Icheb." I saw Wendy stifling a grin. "What?" I asked, giving her a funny look.

"Nothing," she insisted with a wave of her hand. "It's nothing." She deliberately looked away to the window, which revealed a spectacular view of a smallish blue-green planet below us. I somehow hadn't noticed it before, and seeing it now made my mouth open ever so slightly.

"It's beautiful, isn't it," Wendy said softly. She put her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands, gazing at the planet with a contented look.

I nodded silently. Finally, I found the words to speak. "I never imagined that I'd ever look out my window and see a planet. It's too unreal."

She shrugged. "You get used to it, especially out here. They're all beautiful, but not like Earth. When we get back, you've got to see Earth, Megan. It's so amazing, so tiny and fragile, and yet so enormous and magnificent. It's like... poetry." She suddenly burst out in melodic laughter, laughter like bells chiming. "Wow. That sounded weird. I must be reading too much of this." She waved the PADD that she held in her hand.

"What is it?"

"William Blake. He was an English poet from the early 19th century of Earth...."

"I know who he is," I interrupted, rolling my eyes. "I did take freshman English class, you know. The Poison Tree and all that good stuff."

Wendy nodded, not noticing the sarcasm in my words. "Well, listen to this. To see a World in a grain of sand, And a Heaven in a wild flower, Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand, And Eternity in an hour."

"Cool," I murmured. Tried to say more, but there were no words. It was beautiful poetry, although I wasn't altogether sure what William Blake was trying to say. Maybe that the smallest things can be significant, that you can find all the beauty of Heaven in a single rose or a small planet or a golden strand of Wendy Jenkin's hair. Something like that.

"What are you reading?" Wendy asked in turn, motioning to my PADD.

"Harry Potter," I muttered sheepishly. "The fifth one hadn't been published yet, so I figured I'd take advantage of the benefits of time travel and read it."

"Harry Potter?"

I nodded, and proceeded to give her a longwinded description of the Harry Potter series. "It's not as lame as it sounds," I finished. "Well, technically it's a kid's book, but lots of people read it. Even my history teacher read it... although maybe that's not saying much, since my history teacher is kind of strange. Well, it really is good." I suddenly felt a burning sense of uncoolness reminiscent of having barfed in front of everyone at Kelly Widman's ninth birthday, including a certain boy by the name of Tim Petrarch, whose name was written in my diary surrounded by little hearts. You get the picture.

"Interesting," Wendy replied with a polite smile. Soon, the smile faded. "Hey... you know Lotty told me what happened. How are you doing?"

I shrugged, as if it was no big deal. "I'm concerned, but I figure America has a few more years until it goes the way of Rome." Really, I was afraid, terrified even, but I couldn't tell Wendy that. "Maybe if they're lucky Micheltsikof will get run over by a bus or something." Wendy smiled at my feeble joke. "I just... I guess I hope that they're ok."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." Wendy's voice was confident, but her eyes were fixed on the planet, sad and thoughtful. Her next words were slower, almost hesitant. "I suppose we're all the same, you and me and the rest of Voyager. Just a bunch of people who want to go home."

"You have more of a chance of that than I do," I pointed out.

"Maybe. Sometimes I'm not so sure." She motioned to Lucira. "Every time I see a planet like that, part of me wants to stay and live out the rest of my life in peace. But another part of me knows that it would never be home. Even if I did find something there, I'd always wonder, could we have made it? Could we have gotten home? So here I am."

There was a contemplative pause, and then Wendy stood up abruptly, jolting us both back to reality. "I'd better get ready for my shift," she announced with an upside-down smile. "Wish me luck."

"Lots. Good night."

"Good night," she replied, and left me alone with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and my own thoughts.

My own thoughts were too dreary. I chose Harry Potter.

***

"Megan, hurry up!"

I groaned inwardly. "Just a second, Naomi," I called, my voice resounding throughout my quarters. Then I returned to the impossible task of fixing my hair in a ponytail. I'd gotten my hair cut yesterday by the ship's mindless but talented holographic hairdresser, but the layers that she'd put in it made it difficult to put my hair up without tons of bobby pins. Leaving it down was not an option, since it was summer in Saren, the district we were visiting, and I didn't wish to overheat.

After a long and trying battle, my hair won, and I consented to tying only the top half of my hair up. I hadn't worn my hair like this since maybe third grade, and I was sure the bottom would turn into a sweaty mess before the day was done.

"All right, I'm coming," I said. I grabbed my wallet from the bathroom counter and shoved it in my back pocket. It contained a collection of Lucirian coins, small asterisk-shaped pieces made of blue or green stone. We'd obtained them from the local government in exchange for their worth in dilithium, so that the crew would have money for meals and such.

Naomi was waiting in the main room, wearing a yellow tee shirt and blue pants the exact color of denim. Lately it seemed like she was dressing more and more like me, but maybe that was my imagination. "Are we going now?" she asked, uncrossing her arms.

"Yes, yes," I replied. "My hair was being disagreeable, that's all. Let's go."

As we walked towards the transporter room, which was on the opposite end of deck four, I asked, "What do you want to see today?"

"There's a park in the city that sounds nice," Naomi said, a toothy grin on her face. In the past few days, all the talk about Lucira had finally gotten her excited. She was practically running down the corridor. "It's an entire biosphere enclosed in a force field, and the wildlife is allowed to go free, so they can come up to you. There's supposed to be beautiful flowers there too."

"That sounds worth seeing," I agreed.

Suddenly, two ensigns who I didn't recognize entered the corridor from an adjacent one. They smiled down at us with a mixture of amusement and disdain. I attempted to speed up and pass them, but Naomi was lagging behind, forcing me to slow my pace again. Trying to ignore them, I continued talking. "I'm probably going window shopping with Lotty, Isaac, Harry, and the Delaney sisters after lunch. You and Icheb don't have to come if you'd rather do something else."

"It depends," Naomi said slowly, coming to a standstill. "What's window shopping?"

I smiled. "We'll be browsing the stores, looking at the window displays as we pass. Assuming that they have window displays on Lucira, that is."

"Oh, ok. I'll come." Naomi paused thoughtfully. Then she asked, "Megan, do you have a crush on Harry?"

"What?" I exclaimed, turning a brilliant shade of red as the two nameless ensigns tried not to burst out in laughter. Only one succeeded; the other, a young woman who I suddenly recognized as being Ensign Redding from Engineering, burst out in a single high-pitched giggle before clamping her hand over her mouth.

"No! No, of course not. What made you think that I did?"

As I spoke, the two ensigns stopped at a door labeled "Phaser Maintenance" and went inside. I heard them whispering and laughing as the doors swished behind them. I suddenly remembered reading in some cheesy magazine that 90% of the times a girl thinks someone is talking about her behind her back are induced by paranoia only. I had a queasy feeling that this belonged to the other 10 percent.

Naomi, oblivious to what had just passed, answered in a rational voice, "Because you're always spending time with him and talking with him."

I rolled my eyes. "I spend time with lots of people. And I talk about him because I know a lot about him. That doesn't mean I like him."

"Do you have a crush on anyone?" was the next question.

I thought about this, and decided my minor infatuation with Gerron, who I rarely saw anyway, didn't count. "Yes. But he's not on Voyager."

"What's his name?"

"Zach Hudson," I said, feeling happy and dizzy because the name invoked images of Zach, Zach at his locker, Zach smiling, Zach and I walking home from school together.... But I digress.

Naomi giggled. "That's a weird name. Zach."

I stared at her incredulously. "You know people named Icheb and Neelix, and you think that Zach is a funny name?"

"Well, it is." Naomi began walking swiftly again, her long strawberry-blonde ponytail bobbing back and forth. I shook my head in wonder. She was downright giddy today. I tried to think why she was asking me all these questions in the first place. Then it occurred to me.

"Naomi," I asked, "do you have a crush on somebody?"

Naomi turned an even brighter shade of red than I had, if this was possible. After a long pause, she answered. "Kilik Frebres," she murmured, her eyes focused on the ground.

"What?"

She looked up at me, a small, shy smile on her face. "I-I kinda like Freddy Bristow. He used to watch me sometimes when Mom and Neelix were both on duty. He gave me this for my last birthday." She held up the small green cloth purse that was slung over her shoulder.

"Freddy Bristow!" I summoned up all of my inner strength to not laugh, and somehow managed to keep a straight face. Freddy Bristow... the poor doting ensign who had a crush on Beltane in The Swarm... well, she had good taste, at least, he wasn't that bad looking and he was a pretty nice guy. I told her so.

Naomi beamed. "Really? Mom thinks I'm too young to have a crush. But I am nine and a half, by human growth standards anyway. Hey, there's Icheb." I looked up, and there he was, standing by the transporter room door. He was holding a PADD and, surprisingly enough, had a smile on his face. Compared to his usual nondescript facial expressions, he was positively glowing.

"Hello," he greeted as we approached. "If you don't mind, I'd like to go to the work site first. I have to give Seven this PADD."

"That's fine," I replied. "Now come on, let's hurry. By the time we get down there, we'll have missed all the fun."

Both Naomi and Icheb gave me their customary concerned looks.

I sighed. "Never mind. Let's just go."


The transporter ride was intimidating, to say the least. I had never been transported before, unless my mysterious appearance on Voyager counted, and the idea of my molecules being ripped apart and put back together again was rather daunting.

Staring at the transporter pad for a few seconds, I finally gathered up the courage to step onto it.

"Are you sure that this thing isn't going to scramble up my atoms," I whispered to Icheb, who was standing next to me. I hated to be such a Barclay, but my anxiety destroyed any scrap of sensibility that I'd possessed before.

Icheb shook his head, amused. "It is extremely safe. Safer than the automobiles of your time."

"I know, I know. I'm just being paranoid." I turned to the transporter chief. "OK, we're ready." Then shut my eyes tightly in order to brace myself for whatever was to come.

A few seconds later, I opened my eyes again, expecting to find myself still in the transporter room, or, worse, in molecular limbo. Instead, I was standing in a small circular room tastefully decorated in blues and greens-the lobby of the Engineering Complex of Saren, I immediately realized. I was on Lucira. There had been a faint tingling sensation, now that I looked back on it, but nothing to alert me that I was being shredded into millions of pieces and then reassembled.

"This way," Icheb instructed, leading us through a tall, narrow doorway. He had been on Lucira last night to research a report that he was writing about warp development in different cultures and knew his way around the Complex.

After passing through a labyrinth of hallways that only an ex-Borg could navigate, we found ourselves in the lab where the Voyager crew was working. The Lucirians seemed to have a thing for strangely shaped rooms; this one was a large octagon with blue control panels around the perimeter. In the center was a small holographic projection chamber that was currently displaying a section of a warp core. A few Lucirians, identifiable by their sleeveless tunics and a long indentation running down their forehead, worked at the panels alongside officers from Voyager, but Seven was nowhere to be seen. As I looked up, I realized that the room was open to the outdoors, with an intense blue sky where the ceiling should be.

"It's not open," a gentle, yet commanding voice explained.

I looked in the direction that the voice was coming from, and saw a young woman standing beside me, looking up at the sky. "It's not open," she repeated. "There's a force field sealing off this chamber from the outside. The architect thought it would look nice. He considered leaving it open, but the complex has temperature control. Not to mention the problems that would arise when it rained." She turned her head towards us, her deep violet eyes smiling. "I'm Jensin, the Engineering director of Saren." She lifted her left hand and touched it to her shoulder-a greeting, I conjectured. "Welcome to the Complex."

Jensin received three simultaneous greetings, names, and extended hands. "It's nice to meet you, Megan, Icheb, Naomi," she said, and then paused, looking at our hands quizzically.

"Oh, yes," she exclaimed after a few seconds, and quickly shook each of our hands with a firm grip. "I'm sorry, I've never been good remembering alien customs." She smiled apologetically, and I realized that Jensin was perhaps the most exotic-looking person I'd ever seen. Everything about her was decidedly foreign, from her bright blue ankle-length robe to her wavy silver hair, of which she had reams. She was beautiful, but at the same time utterly alien, in more ways than one.

"It's not a problem," Icheb replied courteously.

"So," Jensin asked, "What brings you three here?"

"I have some data...." Icheb began, but right on cue, Seven of Nine entered the room through the door behind us. She was talking with one of the Lucirian engineers, a tall, tan young man who was decent-looking, although his thick black hair was cut strangely, chin-length and uneven. Seven looked strange herself, although it took me a few seconds to realize why. Then it hit me-seven was smiling! It was a smile that would be unremarkable on anyone else, but on Seven, it was pure radiance; her eyes seemed larger than usual, shining brilliant blue. Her Lucirian friend was grinning as well; it was as they were laughing at an enormous, private joke that only the two of them were in on.

Seven shifted into Efficient Mode as soon as she saw us. "Icheb, Naomi Wildman, Megan Quincy," she spat out faster than you can say Resistance is Futile. "Director Jensin," she added in a more measured voice, greeting her with a polite nod of the head.

"I have the data you requested," said Icheb, handing her the PADD.

Seven took it and quickly skimmed its contents. "It is sufficient. Thank you." She turned to the man beside her. "We should return to work."

I briefly wondered what they had been doing, if not work, but stopped myself from any further speculation. Instead, I asked Seven if she had any recommendations for lunch, seeing that she'd been working down here for two days.

Seven didn't, but Jensin had plenty to say on the topic. "There are a few cafes on the main street that range from good to so-so, and a plaza in the center of the city that has a wide selection. And then there's the Miratah Yehnank Preserve...."

Naomi cut her off with excited chatter about how we were going to the Preserve, and how great it sounded, and could we really eat there?

Jensin smiled patiently. "Yes, there's a very nice open-air restaurant there. If you decide to go, look for my telikke-" I frowned, confused, and wondered briefly why the translator couldn't handle or ignored certain words-B'Elanna's colorful Klingon swears, for instance. I decided it wasn't worth asking; the answer would probably be over-technical. "Godson if you prefer," Jensin continued. "That is, I'm his mother's best friend. His name is Jarek. He's working there in the gardens right now." She suddenly laughed, a soft quivering sound like wind blowing through the trees. "You'll recognize him by the ridiculous white boots he'll be wearing. All the boys are wearing them these days, and of course Jarek has to have them in white. His mother is always complaining how muddy he gets them." She shook her head. "You young ones are so strange. I'm not sure I'd like to repeat those years again." Her eyes shown with wisdom, and I wondered if Jensin wasn't older than I'd first thought.

"Let's go," Naomi appealed. "Before it gets too late." Due to inevitable differences between Voyager (Earth) time and Lucirian time, it was nearly "noon" in Saren-whatever noon meant on a planet with a 27-hour day. Four hours from now, the brighter of Lucira's suns, Miro, would be at its apex, lesser Suto following closely behind. While most Lucirians could tolerate the heat and intense sunlight, they preferred not to. Humans were even less tolerant to the conditions. The Doctor had given us hyposprays to block UV rays and such, but hanging out outside in 105-degree weather still didn't sound like much fun.

"Well, bye, everyone," I said clumsily. "Thank you for the dining advice," I added to Jensin.

She smiled and nodded. "Any time." Her violet eyes shone in the sunlight. Again, I had the strange sensation that I was talking to an unworldly being, some kind of angel.

When we left the building, Icheb produced a map of the surrounding area on a PADD. "This way," he instructed, motioning to the left. We began walking. At first, nondescript buildings in boring shades of gray and tan lined the road, but these soon showed up less and less, eventually disappearing entirely. We found ourselves on a path surrounded by thick forest that seemed to stretch on forever. Lucirians obviously didn't understand the concept of building things close together.

After what seemed like hours, the path split along the edges of a large pond, bluish-green with life. Icheb directed us to the left route. Here, long-limbed trees cast shadows over the perimeter of the pond, the bright sunlight filtering through the leaves, adding layers of light and shadows to the verdant foliage. Bizarre orange amphibians skimmed the surface of the water on broad webbed feet. White birds swooped down and impaled small translucent fish with the two points of their long forked beaks, then shot out their tongues and gulped them up. A furry blue mammal used its six legs to climb up a slender gray tree, swallowing green insects that populated the bark as it went. I couldn't decide which it was more like, a nature preserve or Disneyworld.

"Look!" Naomi exclaimed suddenly, pointing down the trail. I squinted and saw that there was a white pavilion off in the distance. The faint scent of citrus wafted from it. All three of us stared in hunger; it was surely lunchtime by now.

"Come on, let's go," I said, but Icheb was staring at the building thoughtfully.

"What would you say to us having a race?" he finally asked, a mischievous smile on his face. "Losers pay for lunch."

I frowned. "That's really fair. Two girls, one of them ten, racing a sixteen-year-old guy. Thanks, but no thanks." I began walking toward the pavilion at a quick pace.

"So you don't think that you can beat me?" he called from behind.

I stopped and turned around. "I didn't say that," I replied with mock annoyance. "I just don't think it's fair to make Naomi race against you- us, I mean."

"I can too," Naomi insisted, and with that, she began hurtling down the path. Icheb and I briefly glanced at each other as if to say, it figures, and then began sprinting madly behind her.

All my years of gym class suddenly paid off. Icheb was soon ahead of me, but not by much. Naomi was a few yards behind us, but she was still running quickly for a kid her age. I inhaled deeply and began to speed up, a sudden spurt of energy coursing through my body. There was something wonderfully invigorating about Lucira. It was all around me-in the air, in the glistening water beside the road, in the twin suns that shown warmly above. It sounded terribly crazy, but at the same time I knew that it was completely true.

The scenery flew by swiftly, unseen by my eyes. There was only me, and the road, and the sounds of my sneakers hitting gravel and of heavy breathing. Then a dark shape moving closer, and closer....

I suddenly crashed into it and fell back, taking whatever-it-was with me. We rolled onto the bank, tumbled through a thicket of green and brown, and fell into the water with a splash.

Cold water rushed into my mouth and stung my eyes. It was not the kind of pond that you could swim in; it was thick and green with algae. I immediately began struggling towards the surface. Luckily, the water wasn't too deep, and after a minimal amount of splashing I was lying on the grass, coughing. My clothes, soaked with water, clung to my skin. My hair had come out of its dorky ponytail and was now a wet, tangled mess.

"Are you all right?"

I looked for the source of the voice and saw a boy sitting next to me. He looked about sixteen, with dark hair and a Lucirian forehead, and was just as drenched as I was. My stomach went weak as I realized that he was the object with which I had collided. "Yeah... god, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" I stood up and offered a hand for leverage.

"Thanks." He slowly pulled himself up and swept some of the dirt off his pants. "Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm sorry; I wasn't paying attention-"

"It wasn't your fault!" I insisted. "I was the one who knocked you over. Are you sure you're okay?"

He smiled and nodded, pushing some of his dark hair away from his forehead. I couldn't help but admire the expressiveness of his eyes. It was as if everything he was feeling was there, blue-green and gleaming. My heart began to beat faster, and I knew it had nothing to do with falling into the lake.

Suddenly, Naomi and Icheb appeared, breathing heavily. "Are you injured?" Icheb asked. "We heard the splash...."

"You're wet," Naomi interrupted in a worried tone. "We won't have to go back to Voyager now, will we?"

"Please," the boy interjected, "We keep towels and dryers in the gardening shed. If you and your friends would like to come, we can dry ourselves. No need to go back to your ship."

"Thank you, that would be wonderful," I said rather breathlessly. It was just that I knew too many boys who would get angry after something like that. Anything but apologize and offer to help you dry off. It was... nice.

"You are from Voyager, correct?" asked the boy as we walked up the hill.

I raised my eyebrows. "Yeah. How do you know about Voyager?"

"My telsanke is the Engineering director. She is working with your people on a project."

Jensin! Did that mean... I glanced at his boots for confirmation. Yep, they were bizarre white suede things, apparently the height of Lucirian style.

"You're Jarek!" I exclaimed.

He laughed. "Yes, but how do you know me?"

"Your godmother told us all about you," Naomi chimed in.

"Well, not all about you," I corrected. "She just told us that you work here and complained about your shoes." The sentence seemed awkward and unnecessary as soon as it came from my mouth.

"Now that you know all about me," Jarek replied good-naturedly, "at least tell me your names."

When I said my name, he smiled broadly. "Megan," he pronounced slowly, having difficulty with the "g". "That is almost like a Saren name, Mejin. It means 'flower petal'. It is a very beautiful name, both in my language and in yours."

I smiled, feeling a blush creep onto my face. There was no denying it-he was absolutely charming.

Naomi giggled.

Icheb... glared?


***

Edone Sarenkah - language of Saren

Yes, I know I'm a nerd. To emphasize this fact, I now present a guide to the Saren language, the language of the Saren province and the predominant language of Lucira. Well, only the words that you need to know to make sense of what's in this chapter, plus a few extra. Here you go!

Pronunciation guide: The words w/ lines over them [e] are long vowels. If you failed phonics, a long vowel is sounded like the pronunciation of the letter (game, beef, knife, home, flute). The rest are normal, short vowels (cat, wreck, slip, not, cut).
The syllable with the apostrophe ['] after it is stressed. For example, "football" has a stress on the first syllable - foot'ball, while "annoying" has a stress on the second syllable - a.nnoy'ing. Hear the difference?

arelah - beautiful (a.rel.ah')
brella - wind (brel'la)
edone - language (a.don'e)
ekke - son (ek'ke)
enke - daughter (on'ke)
jar - blue (jar)
lucib - home (lus'eb)
Miro - the brighter sun of Lucira (mi'ro)]
mej - flower petal (mej)
miratah - radiant (mi.ra.tah')
sanke - mother (sawn'ke)
telsanke - "godmother" (tel.sawn'ke)
Saren - the most powerful province of Lucira (saw'ren)
Sarenah - Sarenese (saw.ren.aw')
Sarenkah - of the Sarenese people (saw.ren'kaw)
Sarenke - Sarenese person (saw.ren'ke)
Suto - the lesser sun of Lucira (su'to)
telike - friend (te.li'ke)
tilikke - "god-son" (te.lik'ke)
telinke - "god-daughter" (te.lin'ke)
yehnank - forest (yeh.nawnk')