CHAPTER 8 – Blue Goo

A day later Naomi decided that it was time to have a bit of fun with the tricorder Leslie had given her. She had used a tricorder only briefly before during some of her lessons with the doctor and once while observing Seven. Her mother was happy to teach her how to scan for life signs and power signatures. She showed her daughter how to record sounds and compare two objects. Naomi played around with it in her quarters for the rest of the evening.

The next afternoon Naomi took to the halls with her nifty new tool. She scanned everything. She scanned the walls and the floors. She investigated the windows in the mess hall and all of Neelix's ingredients. She even examined all of the crewmembers, at least, the ones that didn't look at her too funny.

She then took the tricorder back to her quarters and downloaded the data. It absolutely amazed her that this little box could gather and understand so much information. It knew the blood-types and bone densities of the people. It knew the metallurgical compounds in the bulkheads and the thickness of the glass. It knew the nutritional and caloric properties of each of Neelix's foods. She was smitten.

After her lesson each afternoon Naomi would take to another part of the ship to indulge her latest obsession. Then, one day Naomi noticed that the tricorder lit up like a firefly when she passed a specific point on Deck 4. She walked back and forth several times before she finally stopped in front of a junction panel. Just what was going on inside that wall? The readings indicated that there was something alive back there but also a lot of data being transferred.

Naomi knew that she wasn't supposed to mess with ship systems. She knew exactly that she simply wasn't. But, curiosity and six-year-olds often don't mix. She wanted more than anything to open that panel. Unfortunately there were too many people around. Night shift, she thought. And that's exactly when she came back.

At 0300 hours, Naomi left her quarters and returned to Deck 4, Section 6. She very cautiously looked around for people, but of course there were none. Then she carefully pulled the panel open. Inside was a blue bag. It looked like it was full of some kind of slimy goo. Maybe this is where Tom Paris got that horrible jello stuff he had made her try. The bag was hanging from a clamp and had tubes attached to it. Bio-neural gel pack, she realized. She had heard about them, but never actually seen one. She knew they were very special and very important.

Naomi had believed that all of the gel packs were all in one place. She imagined that they were located in the central computer core. But apparently they were all over the ship, hidden in the walls and who knew where else. Naomi carefully put the panel back in place and returned to bed. What fun, she thought. Tomorrow, I'm going on a scavenger hunt.

Naomi spent her independent study time the next morning learning more about the bio-neural gel packs. Thought she stayed away from a schematic of where they were located. She wanted to see how many she could find on her own. She assumed there were probably some in places she wasn't supposed to go, like engineering or the bridge. But she'd figure a way to get to those ones eventually.

Naomi decided that a methodical search pattern would be best. So, channeling her best little borg-self, she started at Deck 2 and followed a strict plan. Corridor by corridor and room by room she scanned. Of course, she couldn't go into the private quarters, but she did enter a few labs and common areas.

It had taken the girl nearly three straight days but she had finally finished her scavenger hunt of all 15 decks, well, 14 actually. She couldn't just show up on the bridge with a tricorder. She had located a total of 54 gel packs in the generally accessible areas. At 1545 hours on the third day she sat down to her computer station.

Naomi asked the computer to make a map of the locations of the gel packs she had discovered. On the screen she saw displayed all of the places she had scanned. Then she asked the computer what else it could do with the data, because truly she wasn't quite sure.

Following the trail of a series of commands that the computer suggested Naomi stumbled around the information she now possessed. Truth be told she was starting to get a headache. Somewhere along the line she asked the computer to compare the packs. She was curious if they were all the same. That's when she noticed something odd. The packs that she scanned today seemed to be larger than the packs she scanned yesterday. And those were larger than the ones from the day before. She wasn't sure, but she thought that the packs should all be the same size. There was only really one explanation. The packs were growing overnight.

Naomi had a sinking feeling in her stomach. The same feeling as when she noticed that Chell was falling ill right next to two insomniacs.

Something was very, very wrong.

Naomi grabbed her tricorder and ran out the door, or at least, that's what she intended to do. Instead she ran right into her mother.

"Woah, hey!" Samantha said, startled. "Where are you going in such a rush?"

"I….um…." Naomi stuttered. "I'll be right back, I promise." And before her mother could stop her, she was out the door and gone.

Naomi hurried back to Deck 4 where the first gel pack she had stumbled upon resided. She quickly scanned behind the panel and tapped the tricorder interface.

1.2%

The pack had grown 1.2% since the first day. 0.08% since the second day. Not only was it growing, but it was growing exponentially. She rather clumsily changed functions on the tricorder and did a calculation, silently glad she had paid attention to the cell division math that the doctor had taught her. At that rate of growth the bags would burst in just…. tap, tap, tap. Six hours.

Panic hit Naomi like a punch. Wait a minute, she thought. How am I the only one noticing this? Shouldn't someone be doing a diagnostic on these things? But then she realized that the gel packs seemed to be functioning properly despite their increased size. Maybe no one did notice.

Without caring who saw her, Naomi pulled off the panel. She visually inspected the pack but it looked basically the same as it had three days ago. It was still blue and transparent. A crewman passed her in the hall and gave her a strange look. Naomi smiled awkwardly back at him. "I, uh….I lost my book," she said. Thankfully the man kept walking.

She put the panel back on and slumped to sit on the floor then studied the device in her hand. Was it possible that she was using it incorrectly? She was just a child after all. She really didn't want to make a fool of herself. But this was possibly the safety of the ship she was talking about. And the last time she felt this way, acting on her concerns had saved a life.

Maria Brooks said she had good instincts. She had to tell someone.

In the briefing room all of the senior staff was assembled. The Captain was getting ready to put Voyager in orbit of a planet that had some unusual readings coming from the surface. The problem was that this particular planet also had a very strong gravimetric ring they would need to navigate. It was going to be tricky at best to safely assume a position, but in the name of scientific exploration they were going to give it a try. The Captain was just about to adjourn so that they could commence with their plans when Lieutenant Torres's communicator chirped.

Naomi Wildman to Lieutenant Torres

The captain stopped talking and looked at the engineer. Torres shrugged her shoulders.

"Torres here."

Uh….I'm um. I'm sorry to bother you Lieutenant.

Torres looked cautiously to the captain who motioned that she should hear the girl out. Naomi was never one to intrude, so for her to have contacted a senior officer during their shift something must have been amiss.

"Not a bother, what's up?" The Klingon replied.

I think there's something wrong.

B'Elanna's face turned concerned right along with everyone else who was listening in. "Something wrong with what Naomi?"

With the gel packs. I think they're growing.

All eyes were now firmly on B'Elanna's combadge. Commander Chakotay broke his glare to silently confer with the at the captain on his right.

"Naomi, this is Captain Janeway. Come to the senior briefing room on Deck 1 immediately."

The whole room heard Naomi swallow.

Yes ma'am.