Chapter 5

Being an active starship, there was no time of day when everyone on Voyager was asleep or off duty. But as a shuttle pod, Alice was used to working around this little hitch. The crew of this ship was far bigger than the ones she usually acquired, but people were people the galaxy over, and all she really needed them to do was not pay much attention. The wee hours of the morning meant most of the crew was at their stations or sound asleep.

Pulling her attention from the list of checks Tom would need to run before the flight, Alice shifted over to the consol used for her voice. Adjusting the various aspects of speech, she ran a few tests to ensure mimicry. If she'd had a face, she would've smiled.

...

With a soft "oomph", Harry blinked himself awake. He couldn't remember what he'd been dreaming about, but it must have been something awful for him to role off the couch. Tom's couch wasn't the most comfortable sleeping surface, but it beat the floor. Sometimes he slept on Tom's bed, curled up next to his friend, but Tom had been arguing with his ship a lot today and Harry didn't want to wake him up on accident.

Not that it was likely. Tom had been even more exhausted than his companion when they'd gotten back that night. Harry had pulled out his pajamas and turned down the bed covers, babbling about his lessons with Naomi and Tuvok to keep Tom awake enough to change. When Tom had finally gotten into his bed, Harry had tucked the covers up by his chin and kissed his forehead. It's what his mother did when she tucked him into bed, so he thought it should work for Tom, too.

That was hours ago, and the room now was quiet and dark. Neither of them liked sleeping with lights on, so Harry had dropped them to almost completely off before climbing on the couch under a spare blanket.

Peering into the gloom, the boy jumped as the badge Tuvok had given him beeped on the table in front of him.

"Tom to Harry. You up yet?"

Yawning, Harry picked up the badge. "No. It's nighttime."

"Don't tell me you forgot. We're supposed to go out flying, remember? I was going to show you how Alice worked, now that she's all fixed."

Harry blinked sleepily. He remembered Tom talking about flying the little ship, and there had been an offer to take Harry with him. Tom had developed a really bad headache after that, so Harry had let it go. But the boy didn't remember anything about leaving at night.

"Har?"

"I have to get dressed."

"Well, don't take too long. We've got a flight plan to keep to so the Captain doesn't get mad at me again."

That sounded more like Tom.

Folding the blanket back up, Harry placed it neatly on the couch by his pillow before traipsing over to switch his pajamas for the clothes Tom had gotten him his first day here.

...

Walking through the ship by himself wasn't scary, per se, but Harry wished there was more noise. Usually there were lots of people going about their assigned tasks. They'd smile or wave at Harry, swap words with Tom, and keep going, but there were always people. The hallways now were creepy in their emptiness.

Reaching the cargo bay, Harry reached up and tapped the code in that Tom had taught him. Most of the doors in this part of the ship didn't actually have locks, but they all had the option. Worried about someone tampering with Alice, Tom had activated this one.

Inside, the room was brightly lit as usual. Harry looked around, feeling nervousness creep up his spine. "Tom?"

"In here, Harry." Tom's voice sounded like it was coming from inside Alice. Harry shivered. He didn't like the little ship, but flying with Tom sounded like fun.

Harry walked over to the ship's entrance and peered inside. All sorts of lights were on, blinking away as scans were run and the ship was readied for flight. Carefully, Harry walked up the ramp into Alice's interior. He hoped if he didn't stomp then maybe the ship would be nicer to Tom.

The door behind whirred shut. A normal part of take off. Harry looked around for somewhere to sit, something with a harness. "Tom, where do I sit?"

"Wherever you want."

Harry flopped to the floor, feeling the air push down like someone was sitting on him. He snapped his mouth shut as the voice laughed, shifting from Tom's cheerful one to a woman's voice.

"It doesn't matter, Harry. This shuttle was designed for only one passenger. And you're not on the list."

A hissing sound had started, the air inside the shuttle clouding up with something that smelled awful. Worse than Neelix's attempt at broiling alien cucumbers!

Coughing, Harry tried to roll over. Something was screaming at him, to run away or curl up small, something to make him harder to see. But the air was still heavy and his head was starting to hurt. He could feel tears rolling down his cheeks.

"Tom." The boy coughed, kicking weakly against the enemy he couldn't fight. "Tom." Harry curled his hands into fists, one closing around the badge he'd forgotten to pin to his chest. "Tom…"