* * STATION JEFFERIES TUBE SYSTEM - TUBE 37 * *
On a Starbase, there are hundreds of kilometers of Jefferies tubes. Sometimes these tubes stretch through decks vertically, connecting everything from main engineering to Station Ops by ladders. Other times, they go across decks, following countless kilometers of ODN cable and millions of bio-neural gel packs. Sometimes, they even end at dead ends, stopping at an important isolinear circuitry panel, a maintenance point for a piece of crucial equipment, an access point for a main computer data relay or even a critical EPS conduit hub. All in all, the Jefferies tube system created a dangerous maze of pitfalls, corridors and dead ends that could put even Earth's most famed haunted mansion, the Winchester house, to shame.
Miral walked upright through the tube, her head almost reaching the top of the shallow space. Luckily, she'd been able to escape the thing that had attacked her back in the last room she visited, but now she didn't know where she was and she defiantly knew that her mommy wasn't in here. But still she moved on, because though she would stubbornly never admit it, she was afraid of the thing that attacked her. All she knew was that that thing was back where she had come from and that it certainly wasn't in here.
Approaching an alcove on the side of the tube, she came across a bulky figure that was elbow-deep into some circuitry in the wall. Remembering the bad luck she was having with strangers today, she made an attempt to sneak by the man, but before she could, he pulled himself out of the wall and fell back on the palms of his hands. Letting out a deep breath, he suddenly noticed the little pair of blue eyes staring back at him.
"Whoa. A munchkin."
Miral stood incensed; all thoughts of escaping the stranger now out of the question. She'd herd the term 'munchkin' before, and understood that it was generally meant as an endearing term of sorts. But that didn't mean that she had to like it.
"I am not a munchkin," she said, her arms crossed and her eyes giving a fair imitation of the 'death glare'. "I'll have you know that I'm four years old."
To conceal both the shock of seeing a child in a Jefferies tube and the amusement of said child flashing 'the glare', the man found it necessary to peer down at Miral and respond in kind with a glare of his own. Despite the man's glare, Miral remained unfazed. The man spoke, "Well, do you have a name, then? And how did you get down here anyway?"
Still standing with arms crossed, but now dropping the death glare, Miral responded to the man's question. "I'm Miral. I was looking for my mommy. But then these mean men tried to take me away from her and then this monster chased me, so I went in here." Resuming her four-year-old version of 'the glare', she looked back up at the man, "And who are you, mister? And whadda you doing in here?"
The man stuck out his hand, which Miral reluctantly accepted. "I'm Ethan. As to what I'm doing…" he gave it thought, unsure how to explain to a little girl what he was doing arm-deep in a wall panel, "Well, uh… Well, I'm fixing the computer."
"Oh," she said curiously, "Why?"
"Uh… well, um… because the computer is uh… sick. Yeah, sick."
"Mommy says that cheese makes the computer sick."
Ethan paused and thought about that comment. "Cheese?"
"Mmm-hmmm. Mommy says that the cheese is a fun guy and it makes the gel sick."
Fun guy? Gel? Sudden realization hit, "Oh… the gel packs. She's right, cheese can make the computer very sick, but that's not why it's sick today."
"Why 'zit sick, mister?" She gave Ethan one of the most blatantly innocent looks he'd ever seen. The thought of a sick computer intrigued her and she knew that the 'innocent look' would keep him talking.
"Well… the computer is having trouble talking to itself."
"Why?"
"Erm… well, 'cause one of these wires fell out and it slowed the computer down."
"Oh." Miral paused and looked away for a second before turning her inquisitive glare back to Ethan. "Why?"
"Uh… well, erm…" Ethan gave up in frustration. "I dunno. Maybe a rat ate it or something!"
"Ewww… My friend Tyler says that in the sewers there are rats this big," she stretched out her arms as far as they would go.
Ethan had the sudden distasteful realization that he wouldn't be shaking this kid anytime soon. "Umm… okay…"
"Uh-huh. And he also says that they eat people."
"Uh, well I don't know about that…"
"And that they have big, ugly green teeth."
It was hitting Ethan just how weird this conversation was getting. He was hunched over in a Jefferies tube and talking to a little girl about mutant sewer rats that ate people. He looked down and mentally groaned. And still she talks…
"…but they don't scare me!" Miral flashed a wide grin, "I'm part Klingon!"
"Uh-huh… Does this mean that we're done talking about giant mutant rats?"
"Yep!"
Ethan got back to work, ignoring the little girl who was standing next to him, staring intently. It then dawned upon him that there was, in fact, a four-year old girl next to him in a Jefferies tube! The repercussions started wafting into his head. A four-year-old could get themselves seriously lost, or even worse, hurt inside the Jefferies tube system. He decided that he'd have to be proactive in keeping this kid from killing herself. One wrong turn at the next junction and Tube 37 would meet Tube 12, which ran vertically from Engineering to Ops, featuring a 30 deck vertical drop.
"Umm… Miral, right?"
"Yep! That's my name, don't wear it out," Miral intoned, this phrase gained from watching too much TV with daddy.
For the life of him, Ethan couldn't figure out what on God's green Earth she was talking about, but then he remembered that he wasn't on God's green Earth at the moment, so he ignored the little girl's strange comment.
"Well… Miral… This isn't a very safe place for a young lady to be," His mind raced as to where the nearest hatch opened. "Ah! I know! You're looking for…"
"My mommy."
"Yeah. What's your mommy's name?"
"B'Elanna Torres," she pronounced with a smile, proud for having learned her mommy's full name all on her own. With an even bigger smile she stated matter-of-factly, "My mommy is an engineer. A chief engineer!"
Ethan put the name to the face and he smacked his communicator, "Ensign Vaughn to Commander Torres."
The frustrated, frantic voice of B'Elanna Torres escaped from the device, "Ensign, I'm a little busy at the moment," she paused, "Actually, have you seen…"
"A little girl, part Klingon, blue eyes, light brown hair, blue dress?"
"Yes! Yes! Where is she? Do you have her?!"
"She's fine, Chief. I found her in Tube 37, Section 18c. We're at CDR 151-Bravo."
"I'm right behind you."
Moments later, B'Elanna Torres-Paris arrived at Computer Data Relay 151-Bravo and tearfully embraced her little girl, who was herself overjoyed to see her long sought after mommy.