Sorry I didn't get this up yesterday and that it's kinda short. I had a lot of stuff to do yesterday. But still- thank you to ravenwings6 for the review. Nice to have consistent reviewers.
hmm... Don't know what else to say, so... here's the chapter.
B'Elanna went to the mess hall, suddenly feeling hungry. She hadn't realized that mostly mental work could be just as hard as working in engineering. She got her food and sat in the corner. She had just started eating when something occurred to her.
"Neelix?" She went back to the counter to face the Talaxian cook.
"What is it, B'Elanna?" Neelix asked. "Something wrong with your food?"
"No, not this time. I was thinking about Seven. Has she been in the mess hall lately?"
Neelix thought for a moment. "Well, she hasn't been here since the planet incident, and I don't remember having seen her for a day or so before that. Why? Has she gone missing?"
B'Elanna shook her head. "No, I know exactly where she is… and that's the problem."
-
So, Seven hadn't eaten for a few days. Normally, this wouldn't bother B'Elanna much, but when it was coupled with what had already happened… she had to tell the Doctor.
She entered sickbay and looked around. When she couldn't see the Doctor, she sighed exasperatedly. "Computer, activate Emergency Medical Hologram."
Thankfully, the Doctor didn't say his usual phrase when he was activated, and looked at B'Elanna curiously.
"Is there something wrong, B'Elanna?" he asked.
"With Seven, there is. Doctor, she hasn't regenerated in two days, hasn't eaten since before the planet incident- really, all anyone's seen her do in days is work. I think there's something wrong."
The Doctor nodded. "I see. I appreciate you telling me, but since you haven't cared about Seven before, I am slightly anxious for the possibility of an ulterior motive."
B'Elanna blinked, having forgotten that she usually did anything but care about the Borg, and felt slightly annoyed at herself for forgetting.
"I have no motive, Doctor. I guess I just noticed and thought I should tell you."
The Doctor seemed just as surprised about her stoke of kindness as she was, but nodded.
"Thank you, B'Elanna. I will speak with her about it the next time I see her. Should I notify the captain?"
"She already knows," B'Elanna said hastily. "Just get to Seven."
"Will do."
B'Elanna let a small smile grace her features as she turned to leave. "Thank you."
-
As she walked away from sickbay, she felt rather foolish. Janeway didn't know about the eating part of the problem, and of course the Doctor would tell her anyway, and she'd get upset and start fussing over Seven… B'Elanna stopped that thought right there. What was she thinking? It didn't matter to her- she was just reporting a problem to the captain.
So why did it feel like such a big deal?
-
The first thing Seven noticed upon exiting her regenerating cycle was that her stomach was bothering her. She wasn't sick, she knew that. When she looked up what caused "stomachaches" in humans, she found not eating was a common cause. So maybe she couldn't live on solely regenerating.
Well, she could just eat what she needed to make the pain go away. It would use up far less resources than if she continued to eat three times a day, even if she wasn't hungry. Then the energy could be used for more important things. A sense of satisfaction came over her as she noticed she was being efficient. Efficient was good.
Seven's combadge chirped, startling her out of her thoughts.
"Doctor to Seven of Nine."
"Seven here. What is it?"
"Please report to sickbay. I need to discuss something with you."
"Understood. Seven out."
Seven had no idea what the Doctor wanted, but figured it couldn't hurt to go see.
"What did you need, Doctor?" she asked once she had arrived at sickbay.
"I was informed that you haven't been eating lately, Seven," the Doctor replied. "Care to tell me about it?"
"I am merely trying to be efficient. If I can survive through mostly regeneration and eating when my body needs to, I do not see the problem."
The Doctor sighed exasperatedly. "Seven, I see where you're getting these thoughts, but things just don't work that way. You need to eat your regular three meals, even if you might not be hungry. It gives your body the nutrition it needs to keep functioning properly."
"Humans eat to gain energy. I gain energy through my alcove. As long as I eat when my body starts to have a… stomachache, I see no problem."
The Doctor sighed yet again. "Fine, fine. Try your little experiment in "efficiency," but don't start complaining to me when…" and his little rant faded off into annoyed mumbles as he returned to some other work. Seven assumed that was her cue to leave, and she headed off to the mess hall to get her one glass of nutrition for the day.