Summary: Inspired by TNGs ‘Conundrum’. The crew of Voyager lose their
memories. The fastest piece of fanfiction I’ve written yet.
Disclaimer: This is mine. They are not.
Feedback: taztrek2003@yahoo.co.uk
Completed August 2003 (in only 2 days!).
Conundrum
By Keanna
For a moment the swirling mass of colours in front
of them captivated the bridge crews imagination. None of them could look away
from it, not even when the consoles around them began to beep. People moved
away from them as if to get a closer look at the beauty that had appeared
before them.
But then, just as
quickly as it had appeared, it vanished.
The sudden shock
of the dark space in front of them forced everyone back into reality. Looking around,
people tried to make sense of their surroundings. Consoles everywhere were
sounding alerts and one by one the crew curiously moved towards them.
A young man in a
yellow jacket, turned to find himself standing in front of one of these
consoles. He moved around to the other side of it and briefly examined the
readings. “All systems are operating within normal parameters,” he said
automatically.
Everybody turned
to face him, “Well that’s good,” said another man who displayed a tattoo on his
forehead. He looked across at a woman with shoulder length hair who was stood
near to him with a worried look on her face. She looked back, “I don’t know
where I am,” she said nervously.
“Neither do I,”
the tattoo man replied.
Another man with
blond hair who was stood at the very front of the bridge spoke up, “Well I
guess we’re all in the same boat, or at least on the same ship,” he said.
“It would be wise
to assume that this ship has a crew,” said a Vulcan, “and that crew may know
what has occurred.”
“According to
these readings,” the young man said, “there is a communications system on
board. I believe that we could use these,” he indicated to a badge on his
uniform.
“It’s worth a
try,” said the tattoo man. He reached up and touched his comm badge. “Uh, bridge
to all hands,” he said, a little unsure as to what he was doing, “would all
departments please select representative to report your status. Um, bridge
out.”
“Did that work?”
the women asked.
“I think so,” said
the young man, “We’ll know soon enough anyway.”
The tattoo man
looked over at the woman. She looked scared and he had this over whelming urge
to put his arms around her and tell her that it would be ok. Then he noticed
something. He moved over to her, “You have four pips,” he said, and then put his
hand on his own collar.
“But you don’t
have any,” she replied, “Yours is different. Maybe you’re the Captain.”
“I do not have a
uniform,” spoke up a woman in a catsuit, “I could be the one in charge.”
“We need to find
some sort of crew manifest,” said the tattoo man, “We should search the
computers.”
“We should
probably find out how the rest of the crew is first,” said the young man,
“Someone might know something.”
“Ok,” said the
tattoo man, “We should split into teams.”
“But first we need
to know where we are going,” said the blond haired man, “Can we find a map of
the ship or something?”
“I might be able
to do that,” said the young man tapping at the computer console. The woman in
the catsuit moved over to help him as everybody else crowded around.
A layout of the
ship appeared before them. “USS Voyager,” read the woman, “A nice name for a
ship.”
“Fifteen decks,”
said the blond haired man, “We should split into twos and take the busy decks
first.”
They worked out
what the busy decks would be, split up and headed off into the unknown.
As she walked
along she tried to calm her nerves but was finding that it was easier said than
done. She hated this uncertainty, not knowing who she was or what she was doing
on this ship. She had been relieved when the man with the tattoo had suggested
that they go around together. He seemed so sure of himself and she felt
comfortable around him.
“You know it’s
strange,” he said as they walked to engineering, “We don’t remember who we are
or where we came from yet we still know how to use this technology.”
“So what do you
think that means?”
“I don’t know but
I’m sure that we’ll figure it out,” he said.
“I think that
you’re from some sort of tribe,” she said thoughtfully.
“What? Why do you think that?”
“Well your tattoo.
It looks tribal.”
“Tattoo? Where?”
She laughed. “On
your forehead. Come here,” she pulled him over to a display on the wall where
he could see his reflection.
“Wow,” he said
tracing the tattoo with his finger, “I wonder what it means?”
“You’ll remember,”
she said as they continued walking, “Soon enough.”
When they arrived
in engineering everybody was stood around looking confused. One woman with
ridges on her forehead came over to speak to them. “Do you know what’s going
on?” she asked.
They both shook
their heads, “I’m afraid not,” said the man, “I don’t suppose there’s any clues
here?”
She shook her
head, “No. We don’t know anything, except that we don’t know who we are.”
“Join the club,”
said the woman.
“Do you know how
to use everything here?” asked the man.
“I think so,” she
replied, “I must be an engineer of some sort. And I can tell you that
everything seems to be working ok.”
“We were hoping
that the engineering computers might be able to give us some idea as to what
happened.”
“We could try,”
said the woman with the ridges, “But there would be a better record on the
bridge. I think.”
“We’re heading
back there,” said the woman, “You should come along and see what you can do.”
“Um, ok, but I
don’t know if I’m in charge down here.”
“We don’t know who’s in charge. Period,” said the man, “but you seem to know what you’re doing. It might be an idea to bring a few other people along too.”
“Ok,” she turned
around, “Uh, who wants to come along?” she asked everyone. A few people stepped
forward and then they all returned to the bridge.
The blond haired
man and the young Asian man were strolling down deck five on their way to
sickbay. “What are the chances that we get there and find that it’s empty?”
said the blond haired man.
“There’ll probably
be a doctor there,” replied the other man.
“And he or she
could also be in their quarters, or in the mess hall or on the holodeck…”
“Yeah, well it’s
worth a try. There’s probably a medical reason for this.”
“We could just
have called the doctor over the comm system though. Instead of traipsing all
the way down here,”
“You sound like
you regret coming down here,”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.
It’s all…uncertain. There could be anything down here, any alien could be
hiding around the corner.”
“You don’t strike
me as being the cowardly type,”
“Well you don’t
strike me as the ‘take charge’ type but that’s certainly what you were doing on
the bridge.”
The young man
smiled, “Well I just seemed to know what to do,” he said.
“Who knows, maybe
you’re the captain,”
“Maybe,”
They arrived in
sickbay to find a woman with bond hair stood there in a blue uniform looking
uncertain. “Hi there,” said the blond haired man.
“Hi,” she said,
“Any idea as to what’s happening?”
“Nope. Are you the
only one here?”
“Yeah,”
“Then I guess that
you’re the doctor,” said the young man.
“The doctor? I
don’t feel like a doctor,” she said.
“Don’t worry. Come
with us to the bridge and I’m sure we’ll sort it all out.”
Once again
everyone was assembled on the bridge. “Ok, lets look for this crew manifest,”
said the tattoo man.
“I have located
some crew information,” spoke up the woman in the catsuit.
“Is there a crew
manifest?”
“Possibly,”
They worked in
silence for a few minutes they finally a crew manifest appeared. Everybody
smiled as they saw names and photos and ranks. The tattoo man began to read out
names.
“Captain Tuvok,
Commander Harry Kim, Lieutenant Commander B’Elanna Torres, Lieutenant Kathryn
Janeway, Lieutenant Chakotay, Ensign Tom Paris, Doctor Samantha Wildman,” He
stopped. “Well there it is,” he said.
“Now that we have
discovered our identities we should proceed to inform the rest of the crew and
inform them of their quarters,” said Tuvok, taking command, “If they see their quarters
there is a likelihood that personal possessions could trigger memories.”
“I’ll download
crew information into PADDs,” said Tom.
“Proceed
Commander. Doctor,” Tuvok said tuning to Samantha, “it would be a good idea if
you were to begin to attempt to work out what has happened to the crew’s
memories.”
“Yes Sir, I could
do some brain scans and try to see if there’s anything out of place,”
“Lieutenants
Janeway and Chakotay, please assist the doctor with her scans then you may
proceed to your quarters to see if you can remember anything.”
“Yes Sir,” they
said together then left with Sam.
“Whoa. If these
are your quarters then I’d love to see the captain’s,” said Chakotay in awe as
they looked around the quarters after Sam had scanned them.
“They are pretty
big,” she said, “Are you sure that these are the right quarters?”
Chakotay checked
the PADD, “Yeah. They’re definitely yours. And looking at the size of this
place, I wouldn’t question it.”
Kathryn walked in
a bit further and spied a photo on the table. She picked it up and looked down
at herself cuddling a dog. “Well I guess this proves it,” she said showing
Chakotay the picture. She headed further into her quarters. “Nice view,” she
said staring out of the window.
Chakotay joined
her, “It’s good to see you so happy,” he said.
“What do you
mean?”
“Earlier, on the
bridge, you looked scared,”
“Uncertainty I
guess,” she shrugged, “Now I know my name. It’s amazing what a difference it
makes.”
“So, Kathryn,” he
said, “What do you think that you’d be doing now if everything was normal?”
“I’m not sure,”
she said moving a little closer to him, “I suppose it depends who I was with.”
“What if you were
with me,” he pushed her hair back off her face.
“Well, I think I’d
be standing here and I’d take your hand,”
“And I’d take your
other hand,” Chakotay continued, “and move a little closer,”
“And I’d put my
arms around your waist,” she whispered.
“And I’d lean down
slightly and,”
As they kissed
they felt overwhelming feelings for each other. And as they fell onto her bed
they knew, deep down that they were right for each other.
Sam Wildman sat looking over her readings again.
She still didn’t quite understand them. Surely being a doctor I should
understand a few brain scans? she thought. She sighed and went to replicate
some coffee. Holding the mug for a second she tried to compose herself. Then,
taking a deep breath, she sat back down. But reading them again still didn’t
help. “Dammit,” she said out loud. She looked around the sickbay hoping to find
the answer. But of course it wasn’t written on the wall.
She decided to look at some of the medical files
of the crew. But when she went to access them she found that they weren’t
there. Puzzled, she tried to access medical logs but still no such luck. Drawn
into the mystery she began to go through the medical computer bit by bit. Until
she came across something interesting. A holographic file.
Curious, she opened it and to her amazement a
hologram who looked very much like a doctor appeared before her. The hologram
looked wildly around then spotted her.
“Sam?” he said.
“Who are you?” she asked.
“I’m the doctor,” he replied, “Are you alright
Sam?”
It was then that she realised that she’d found the
answer.
A while later they lay contently in each other’s arms.
“I don’t want to move,” sighed Kathryn.
“So don’t,” said
Chakotay.
She laughed
softly, “They’ll miss us,”
“No they won’t,”
he said, “It’s not like we’re the command team or anything,”
“It’s a good thing
that we’re not, because we’d probably regret doing what we’d just did,”
“We might end up
regretting it any way,”
“I’ll never regret
it. Ever.”
“Careful. I might
hold you to that one day.”
“Please do,” she
said and rolled over so that she was leaning gently on her chest. She kissed
him tenderly.
“I wonder if we’ve
done this before,” said Chakotay.
“Who knows? At the
moment I’m just happy with the way that things are going,” Kathryn replied.
“Well still, there
are a lot of unknowns in our lives at the moment and-”
“All senior staff
please report to sickbay,” cut in Samantha’s voice.
They looked at
each other. “Well, by the sounds of that,” Kathryn said almost regretfully, “It
doesn’t look like our unknowns are going to be unknown for much longer.”
“I am the Emergency Medical Hologram and I have
been the acting Chief Medical Officer on this ship for almost seven years,” the
hologram was saying as Kathryn and Chakotay arrived. Everybody else was already
there and they looked around as they walked in. “Uh, sorry we’re late,” said
Chakotay.
“What’s going on?” asked Kathryn.
“I’ve found the ships doctor,” said Sam excitedly,
“and he knows who we all are!”
“That’s great!” said Chakotay, “Do you know what’s
happened to us?”
“Well you see Commander,” began the Doctor, “I
believe-”
“Wait,” interrupted Kathryn, “You just called
Chakotay ‘Commander’,”
The Doctor looked confused, “Yes, of course I did
Captain. Why-”
“And you just called me ‘Captain’,”
“Well you are. I don’t-”
“What do you mean I am? I can’t be the Captain. Tuvok
is the Captain. I am a Lieutenant.”
“You’re a Lieutenant?” exclaimed the Doctor, “and
Tuvok is the Captain? But that’s ridiculous! There must have been some mistake.
I mean you’re all confused.”
“But we got the information from the crew
manifest,” said Harry.
“Then there must have been some damage to the
computers. The manifest is wrong.”
“That is possible,” spoke up B’Elanna, “I mean the
damage isn’t obvious to at the moment but if we knew who we really were then
we’d have picked up on it straight away.”
“But how do we know that you are not damaged?”
said Seven to the Doctor.
“I can access the medical files and logs using my
command code,” said the Doctor defensively.
“Do it,” Kathryn said quickly and the Doctor gave
a small knowing smile. He moved over to a computer console and began tapping in
his command code. After a moment several medical files appeared - those of
Ensign Harry Kim, Lieutenant Commander Tuvok and Captain Kathryn Janeway.
It took a second for everyone to regain their
composure. “Now do you believe me?” asked the Doctor.
“Do you have a copy of the crew manifest?” asked
Kathryn.
“Just a second,” he said tapping at the console,
“Here it is,”
Everyone crowded around and examined the crew
manifest. “Well,” said Harry, “I guess that explains why I only have one pip,”
“Doctor,” said Chakotay, “Do you know what
happened?”
“Well as I was saying earlier, I believe that the
nebula that we encountered was releasing some high energy radiation. This
radiation is known to affect the memory engrams in humanoids and computer
systems mainly files. The files in the medical computer were unaffected because
they are protected in a different way to the rest of the ships computers.”
“So how do we reverse the effects? Has everything
been lost for good?” asked Tom.
“No, nothing has been lost. The files in the
computers still exist, the information in them has just been rearranged. The
rearrangement just needs to be reversed.”
“That can be done,” said B’Elanna, “It’s a fairly
easy process and I think that everything could be sorted out in a few hours.”
“But what about our memories?” asked Chakotay.
“It’s a similar sort of process. The information
is still there, but it has been hidden due to the effect of the radiation. All
we need to do is reverse the effects and the memories will return.”
“When can you begin?” asked Kathryn who was
beginning to sub consciously slip back into her Captain role.
“Pretty much straight away. The procedure doesn’t
take long and it’s fairly easy to do. There is virtually no recovery period. Mr
Paris, if I could start on you then teach you the process and you can assist
me.”
“Me? Assist you?” Tom was shocked.
“Believe it or not Tom, you’re quite a competent
medic,” the Doctor smiled.
“Well in that case,” Tom said, “Let’s get
started.”
A few hours later and the retrieval of the crew’s
memories was well under way. Once the Doctor had treated Tom the two had easily
gotten through most of the crew. They’d started on the senior staff and once
they’d been treated they helped to undo the damage on the computers. It wasn’t
long before nearly everything was back to how it was supposed to be and the
crew began to mentally recover and readjust to their usual ranks. Especially the command team.
Chakotay walked into the ready room to find
Kathryn smiling as she gazed out of the window. He walked up to her and she
turned to him.
“You’re smiling,”
he said.
“What’s wrong with
that?”
“Nothing,” he
grinned, “I just didn’t expect to see you looking so happy.”
“What did you
expect me look like?”
Chakotay moved
over to the couch and sat down. Indicating for her to do the same he said, “I’m
not sure. I had a feeling that you’d been doing some thinking.”
“I have,” she
said, “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”
“About us?”
She nodded, “About
us.”
“Kathryn, I don’t
want to break up with you,” he said.
She held up her
hand, “Chakotay, let me speak. I love you. I have loved you for a long time but
I never let myself act on it. I always put my command position first. I thought
that it was the right thing to do. But then this happened and I didn’t have a
command position to put first. And we did act on it. And now I don’t think that
I can go back. I don’t want to go back. I love you too much Chakotay, I don’t
want us to be just friends. My command position’s going second this time.”
Chakotay took a
moment to realise what she had said. He stood up and pulled her up too.
Brushing away a hair out of her eyes, he leant down and gently kissed her. When
they reluctantly pulled away he said, “I love you Kathryn. You make me the
happiest man alive. And I don’t want to go back.”
“So is that a
deal?” she asked smiling, “We only go forward?”
He nodded, “It’s a
deal,” he said and kissed her again.
The End