Sailing on Emotions

*"I want it! Give it to me!"
"No! You can't have them! They're my memories!"
The creature was coming, coming closer, closer, closer. Then, it
zoomed in for the kill.*

"Oh! God!"
B'Elanna Torres shot up from her bed, nearly bolting on to the floor,
but managed to retrain herself.
"Oh, God, that was a bad dream, a nightmare."
She didn't know who she was talking to.
"B'Elanna, you're talking to yourself. Computer, lights."
No answer.
"Computer, lights!"
No answer.
Torres fumbled out of bed, and in the darkness, searched for the
manual control. She practically tripped on something hard that was
laying on the floor, she didn't know what it was, but it was cold and
hard on her bare toes.  She placed her hand blindly on the wall, but
instead of the manual control panel, there was some kind of switch.
She flipped it, half expecting something to explode, but the only
thing that did was the illumination in the room.  After she recovered
from the shock of the bright lights hitting her darkness adjusted
eyes, she immediately noticed something, she wasn't in her quarters.

Torres opened her mouth to ask, *Computer, where the hell am I?* but
stopped herself upon realizing she was no where were a computer would
answer.  The room appeared to be from the late twentieth century, at
least, that's what she thought, but Tom was the expert of the 1900's.

B'Elanna went back to look at what she tripped over.  It was small,
black and appeared to able to be opened.  She picked it up and opened
it. It folded out into two sections, a small screen on the top, and a
panel of keys with numbers, letters, symbols and words written all
over them.  It looked like a small, old computer. A laptop, as she
once heard Paris say.

Torres decided she wasn't staying in her room forever.  She headed
for the door and kept walking, but the door stopped her as she hit
it, hard, forgetting that it didn't open automatically. She moaned,
rubbed her head, and went back to sit on the bed. It wasn't until
then she realized she was still wearing her pajamas.

"If I'm going to be leaving this room, I better put some clothes on,"
she told herself. 
And off she went to find the closet.
***************
*"I want it! Give it to me!"
"No! You can't have them! They're my memories!"
The creature was coming, coming closer, closer, closer. Then, it
zoomed in for the kill.*

"Whoa!"
Tom Paris was shocked at the terrible reality of his nightmare.  It
wasn't like him to have nightmares, especially ones that freaked him
out this much.
"Computer, lights."
No response.
"Computer, lights!"
Again, no answer.
Paris rolled out of his bed  in search of the manual controls.  When
he reached where they would be, all he found was a switch. Tom closed
his eyes and flicked the switch, hoping nothing to terrible would
happen.  When he opened his eyes again, the room was bright.
"Ah, a light switch,"  he told himself, as if it would help him
figure out what to do next.
He decided that if he really wanted to find out what happened, he'd
need to go outside the door, and to do that, he'd probably want to be
dressed. 
So he headed to find the clothes closet.
***************

*"I want it! Give it to me!"
"No! You can't have them! They're my memories!"
The creature was coming, coming closer, closer, closer. Then, it
zoomed in for the kill.*

"What happened?"
Harry Kim shot himself out of bed, nearly injuring himself in the
process. He hadn't remembered having any dreams like that since he
was very little.  Kim wandered out the door, remembering to open it,
even though he had no clue as to where he was.
"Ha ha! You still got your Pjs on!" some little kids teased as Harry
walked out his door. He quickly stepped back inside.
"Computer, lights."
No answer.
"Computer, lights, please."
Sill no response. 
He was too tired to argue with a piece of machinery right now.  He
went to get dressed, then stopped to think.
*What are those kids doing here?*
He pondered it as he headed to his closet.
***************

"What kind of clothes are these?!!?"
Torres had never seen such odd looking clothes in real life, in her
holodeck programs, yes, but not in real life.  In the closet, there
were rows of tee-shirts and shorts, all hung up neatly.
"This is crazy," she muttered as she searched for something decent to
wear.  After rummaging through the clothing, she finally pulled out a
plain black tee-shirt and denim shorts
She pulled on her clothes, and went outside, in search of answers.
***************

"What the? I haven't worn clothes like this since the *last* time I
was in the 1990's!"
Paris had just opened the closet door and was mortified.  All that
was there were jeans and tee-shirts.  Since there wasn't much of a
variety to choose from, he chose a white shirt and, well, jeans.  He
got dressed and ventured out of his room, hoping to find out what was
going on.
***************

"Whoa!"
The flash of colors that appeared when Kim opened his closet was
blinding.  Rows and rows of orange, yellow, blue, green and other
colored tee-shirts were hanging up. 
Kim was trying for the subtle look, so he chose a light blue shirt,
and a pair of jeans.
"Where ever I am, it must be pretty warm," Harry told himself as he
got dressed. Then he stepped out of his room, this time confident he
*wasn't* wearing "Pjs".
***************

The first thought that crossed B'Elanna's mind was about how much
where-ever she was looked a lot like Voyager.  It had long, flowing,
light gray corridors, lined with doors.  Torres wandered blindly
through out the corridors in hope she'd find some clue as to were she
was.  Then, she spotted a familiar figure, brownish blonde hair,
pulled into a double ponytail, blue eyes, Captain Kathryn Janeway. 
B'Elanna rushed up to see her, "Captain!"
Janeway stared blankly at her, "Do I know you?" 
Torres all of a sudden realized that Janeway didn't know who she was.
"No, I, um, thought you were someone else," She spat out, and quickly
walked away.
*That is one crazy woman,* Kate thought as she walked down the
corridor.

Paris was wandering aimlessly around the corridors, that was, at
least until he spotted someone he knew.
"Captain," He called.
This was getting weird for Janeway.
"Do I know you?"
Paris immediately noticed that where ever he was, that Janeway had no
clue who he was.
"I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else," Paris stuttered, and
hurried away before Janeway could severely injure him, or something
like that.

Kim  was lost in the maze of corridors. He had no clue as to what was
happening. He looked up and saw a familiar face.
"Captain!"
*Okay, I'm going crazy,* Janeway told herself.
"Do I know you?" She asked.
Kim speculated that Kathryn, if that's who she really was, didn't
know who he was. 
"I guess I thought you were someone else," He said, and turned to
leave, but felt a hand grip his arm.
"Hold it kid, you are the third person to call me 'Captain', who is
she, and why do I look so much like her?"
"Third person? Who were the others?"
"I don't know who they were, they're total strangers."
"What did they look like?"
Janeway had no trouble recalling that.
"There was a woman, she had dark hair, and a really messed up face.
And, there was a tall blond haried man."
"Thank You," Kim told her, and hurried off to find Tom and B'Elanna.
*I am loosing it! I am going to go lie down! I am loosing it! I will
go lie down before I hurt myself! I am loosing it......* Kathryn
thought as she walked back to her room.
*****************

Still walking around with no clues about anything, Torres spotted
another familiar face, this time, it was Tom. She was about to go
talk to him, but then thought about what happened with Janeway, and
nixed the idea.

Paris was wandering throughout the halls, not knowing where he was
going. He quickly spotted B'Elanna out of the corner of his eye, but
decided not to say anything, instead, he followed her.

Torres sensed she was being followed.  She whipped around and saw
Paris, not far behind her.
"Tom?"
"You know who I am?"
"No, I guess I thought you were someone else," B'Elanna quickly
explained.
Paris stooped her from going anywhere, "B'Elanna?"
Tom watched the smile on Torres' face broaden into a wide grin.
"Oh my God!" She said.
"Is it some big deal to see me?"
"Not usually, but, today, I've been wandering around here for a half
an hour."
"I'm disappointed."
"Why, because it's not a big deal to see you, or that I didn't stay
lost?"
Paris frowned at her, as she began to laugh softly, and the two of
them began to roam around the place they were, which seemed about the
size of the world.
***************
"Roam if you want to,
Roam around the world.
Roam if you want to,
Without wings, without wheels.
Roam if you want to,
Roam around the world,
Without anything but the love we feel."
The B-52's--Roam
**************** 

Kim was truly lost. Somehow, through-out all of his walking, he ended
up in the same place he started, with no sign of Paris or Torres.
That was the bad news, the good news was t hat he actually had an
idea as to where he was. From the looks of things, he was on a ship
of the late twentieth century, 1997, If he was correct.  It wasn't a
starship, a space ship or even an air ship, but a cruise ship, one
that sailed on the water.  Harry kept wandering, and wandering, and
wandering, and wandering.......

Tom and B'Elanna had wandered out onto the deck of what appeared to
be a cruise ship.  There was a swimming pool, a tennis court, a gym
and food courts, among other things.
"If we aren't planning on going anywhere, I suggest we enjoy
ourselves," Paris told B'Elanna.
"Agreed," Torres replied, trying to hide a smile by acting as serious
as possible, but failed miserably, and burst into laughter.  It was
hard to take a suggestion to  have fun without laughing.

 They split to go in different directions, Torres toward the swimming
pools and Paris to the gym.  B'Elanna laid herself out on one of the
chairs and stared at the sky, trying to make shapes out of the
clouds.  It made her feel content and some-what happy, sort of
relaxed.
"Excuse me?"
Torres looked up and saw Paris, who had so rudely disturbed her rest.
"What do you want?"
"I was wondering if you'd like to go swimming," he said, stepping
back to show the pool behind him, then turning to face Torres again.
B'Elanna stood up and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell you what, how about you take a dip," she said, taking a step
forward, cause Tom to step backward.
"Don't you want to come?" 
B'Elanna took another step.
"No," and with that, she pushed Paris, who was at the edge of the
pool, splashing into the warm water. 
The sopping wet lieutenant pulled himself out of the water.
"So you want to play rough?" 
"Not really," Torres smirked, right as she found herself in the
water. 
"Okay, that's it," she frowned, trying to hide the laughter bubbling
inside her. She got out of the swimming pool, pushed Paris *back* in,
then jumped in herself.
"There," she said, "I saved you the trouble. Now you don't have to
push me back in!"
***************
"I am barely breathing,
I can't find the air.
Don't know who I'm kidding,
Imagining you care.
I could stand here waiting,
Ohh, for another day.
I don't s'pose it's worth the price, worth the price,
The price that I would pay.
But, I'm thinking it over anyway."
Ducan Sheik --Barely Breathing
***************

.............And wandering and wandering and wandering, until Kim
thought he should go look for Janeway again.  He figured he'd
wouldn't find her, and maybe even manage to get himself more lost. 
What a feat that would be! But, Kim decided not to, and kept
wandering and wandering and wandering.........

"Oh great, now I'm soaking wet!" Torres complained, after getting out
of the pool.
"Hey, quit complaining, you pushed me in first," Tom retorted.
"You deserved it!"
"Did not."
"Well, anyway, you pushed me back in," B'Elanna snapped playfully.
"One word, B'Elanna, one word. Revenge!"
"Revenge isn't always the answer."
"Ha! That coming from you."
"Don't go there."
"Why not?!"
Then Paris stopped talking, looked at B'Elanna, and started laughing.
"WHAT?!" She asked him.
"You're *soaking* wet!!"
"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, genius."
"Thank you, I never thought you'd call me that!"
"Stupid. Anyway, you're wetter than I am."
"Well then, I suggest we find towels," Tom said, as he went off to
look.
"Fine! Leave me here!" B'Elanna shouted, but Tom didn't hear her.
She stood there for a few minutes, waiting for Paris to return. 
Eventually he returned, with two towels in hand. He handed one to
Torres.
"Thanks," she told him, wrapping her towel around herself.
"You're welcome," he replied, doing the same thing.
And the two of them headed back to their rooms.


....And wandering, and wandering, and wandering, until he saw two
familiar figures walking toward him.  B'Elanna's hair was soaking
wet, and brushed back, looking unusually flat.  Tom was just as wet,
tiny water droplets dripping where he was walking.
"What happened to you two?"
Paris and Torres looked at each other, and smiled, desperately trying
to contain their laughter.
"It's a long story, and hard to explain," Paris eventually said,
trying not to crack up with laughter, like Torres had just done.
"I look forward to hearing it," Kim told him, sounding, and looking,
very confused.  That only fed the laughter inside Paris, causing him
too to start laughing, as the three of them walked on.

"Where are we going?" Kim asked.
"I don't know," Paris told his best friend.
"We could go to my room," B'Elanna offered.
"If you don't mind getting your carpet all wet," Paris commented.
"I couldn't care less about the carpets," Torres remarked.
They stopped talking until Torres stopped, and walked inside a door.
The two men followed her inside.
"I think you got a better room than I did," Harry noted.
"Hey! You get a *laptop*," Paris complained as he picked up the small
black machine.
"Yeah."
"Maybe it could tell us where we are," Paris told his comrades.
"How?" Kim asked.
"If there's a daily planner, we could look up what's happening."
Torres opened up the laptop, which was now sitting on her lap, and
turned it on.  She found a program called "Windows '95" and clicked
on it.  The screen filled with an image of clouds.  At the bottom of
the screen, there was a small bar graphic, with a section that said,
"Start". Torres moved the trackball mouse and clicked on it. A list
of programs came up.  There was one called "Daily Planner".
"I think this is the one we want," she said, pointing at the screen.
Paris leaned over her shoulder to see the screen, and noticed a
bruise on her forehead.
"Ouch. How'd you get that?" He asked, pointed to the discolored area
of her face trying not to touch it.
"I, um, ran into a door."
"And you call *me* stupid!" His attention shifted back to the
computer screen, "yeah, that's what we want."
Torres let go of the mouse, causing the program to launch.
"Today is: Wednesday, June fourth, 1997. Activities you have planned
today: third day aboard the cruise ship 'Joy'." The computer said.
"Well, imagine that. Sailing on an emotion," Paris commented.
"In more than one way," Torres murmured, trying not to let anyone
hear her.
"What did you say?" Tom asked.
"Nothing," she quickly retorted.
"You said something."
"Did not."
"Ahem!! Could we please get back to the task at hand," Kim broke in.
There was a little image of a globe in the top, right-hand corner of
the screen, Torres clicked  on it.  There was a map of the world,
from a satellite's picture. 
"Look at the sky," Torres said.
"Look at the oceans, they're huge," Paris smiled at her.
"And beautiful," she smiled back at him.
***************

"Fly the great big sky.
See the great, big seas.
Kick through, continents,
Bustin boundaries.
Take a hip to hip,
Rocket through the wilderness.
Around the world,
The trip begins with a kiss."
The B-52s--Roam
**************

After the two soaking wet lieutenants had both gotten into dry
clothes in their rooms, they reconvened with Kim.
"So, if we really are on a cruise ship, what are we going to do now?"
 Paris asked.
"I don't know, try to figure out how to get back to Voyager," Kim
suggested
"No, really? I thought we'd just stay here forever," Torres
sarcastically remarked. She closed her, eyes, and there it was. 
*Give them to me, to me, to me...*
"B'Elanna?" Tom asked, "you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. No, I'm not okay."
"What's wrong?" 
"It's this really weird dream I had last night."
"Funny, I had a weird dream."
"Me too," Kim added.
"Well, anyway, in this dream, this thing is after something.  It
wants my..."
"...Memories," Paris cut in.
"How'd you know that?"
"That's the dream I had."
"Me too," said Harry "Me Too" Kim.
Things were getting weird. 

Later that evening, after having a wonderful dinner with Tom,
B'Elanna returned to her room.  She was ready for bed, and was bored.
 She wasn't ready to sleep, so she turned on the television.
"Next time, on Voyager...."
Torres didn't hear what the voice on the TV said next, for she was
concentrating on the screen.  There was a picture of her, then Tom,
then Harry, until all the crew had been shown.  Words zipped across
the screen, and videos played, but they were all of Voyager.
"Coming up next: Star Trek: Deep space Nine.  When Captain Sisko..."
Sisko, the name rang a bell.  He was the captain of DS9.  What was
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine?  It was getting too weird.

Torres bolted out the door, being careful to open it this time.  She
shot down the hallway, toward Tom's room. 

<Ding-Dong> She rang the door bell.
A sleepy-eyed Paris came to the door.
"Whatever you're selling, I don't want it."
"Tom!!! It's me!"
He snapped to it.
"B'Elanna!"
"Can I come in?"
"Of course!"

She quickly walked inside, shutting the door after her.  Torres sat
on the couch, and picked up the TV remote.  
"I just saw me, you, Kim, Voyager, and everyone else, on *TV*!"
"B'Elanna, you were probably just imagining things," Paris tried to
calm her down.
"No really!! I'll prove it to you," she pushed the power button on
the remote.
"That's Captain Sisko!!"
"I've been trying to tell you that!!"
"We'll tell Harry in the morning," Paris said.
"Good idea.  What'll we do 'till then?"
"How about you go to your room, and get some rest."
"Good idea. Bye," but Tom could have sworn he saw Torres hesitate
before she left, but it was probably just his imagination.
He sat back down, to watch TV.
"Hmmm.. Commander Dax is looking pretty good these days, for a really
old person.  But Torres, ahh, well she," he stopped talking to
himself when he noticed someone else on the TV, "Doc?  Is that the
Doc?"
*Duh Tom!! He's a holoprogram.  He's probably installed on the
station!*

Torres lay in bed, until sleep finally found her.
*Time keeps on slipping into the future.  The present is the past,
the future is now, the past is gone forever.*
***************

"Time keeps on slipping
Into the future.
Time keeps on slipping,
Into the future.
So I'm gonna fly like an eagle,
To the sea.
Fly like an eagle,
Let the spirit carry me.
I'm gonna fly,
Fly right into the future."
Seal-- Fly Like an Eagle 
****************

Tom lay on his couch, feeling like a first-year academy student after
a strenuous training exercise, tired.  He drifted off.
*Time keeps on slipping into the future.  The present is the past,
the future is now, the past is gone forever.*
***************

"Time keeps on slipping
Into the future.
Time keeps on slipping,
Into the future.
So I'm gonna fly like an eagle,
To the sea.
Fly like an eagle,
Let the spirit carry me.
I'm gonna fly,
Fly right into the future."
Seal-- Fly Like an Eagle 
****************

Kim was sleeping, he had fallen asleep faster than either of his
friends.
*Time keeps on slipping into the future.  The present is the past,
the future is now, the past is gone forever.*
***************

"Time keeps on slipping
Into the future.
Time keeps on slipping,
Into the future.
So I'm gonna fly like an eagle,
To the sea.
Fly like an eagle,
Let the spirit carry me.
I'm gonna fly,
Fly right into the future."
Seal-- Fly Like an Eagle 
****************

Things had gotten weirder, and weirder.  Flying into the future? What
did it mean?  But there was no time to question that now, she had to
meet Tom and Harry for Breakfast.  She walked down the hallway,
quickly and quietly.  She was looking down at her feet, until she
bumped into someone.  She looked up.
"Chakotay?"  It looked like him, but no tattoo.
"That's my character's name.  Do I know you?"
Just like what Janeway did.
*Crazy woman.  Most likely the same one Kate saw yesterday.*
"No, you don't know me.  I've just seen you somewhere."
"Probably on TV."
"Oh, I guess so, sorry."
"Bye!"

Torres hurried to go meet her friends for breakfast.  IT wasn't good
to start the day off late.  She finally spotted them at a three
person table in the back of a large room.
"Did you tell him?" She asked Paris.
"Tell me what?" Kim broke in.
"About the TV?" B'Elanna asked Paris again.
"Oh, no," Paris told Torres, then began to explain the thing about
them on TV to Kim.
Torres wasn't listening, her attention was now on the room, or more
to the point, the people in it.  There were several people in
*Starfleet* uniforms.  She began to wonder why, or how, they were
wearing them, but a voice broke her meditation.
"We welcome you to the number one Star Trek convention in the
world..."
"Tom?"
"What B'Elanna?"
"That word, Star Trek, I heard it again."
"...Our guests for today are Robert Picardo, Robert Beltran, Jenifer
Lein, and the famous Captain  Janeway, Kate Mulgrew."
"Who are those people?" Kim asked curiously.
"I don't know, wait..." Torres stopped and looked up at the stage,
"that's   Chakotay, that's Kathryn, that's the Doc, but I don't know
who she is."
Both Paris and Kim looked up on the stage at the blond girl, with
long, some-what curly hair.  

The people on the stage talked and talked and talked and talked some
more.  Then the announcer's voice came back.
"Now, it's time for our costume and make-up contest."
People in Starfleet uniforms and name tags came around to look at all
those in the breakfast room.  They stopped at the table where the
three *real* Starfleet officers were sitting.  The men pointed down
at them, and the announcer nodded his head.
"Go up there," one of the men said, pointing to the stage.
Not knowing what would happen,  Paris, Kim and Torres reluctantly
walked toward the stage.  
"Well, I think we have a winner, no make that a three way tie." The
announcer said.
A roar of applause filled the room.  Paris and Torres looked at each
other, then at Kim, wondering if he was as confused as they were.
"Amazing,"  the woman called Kate walked up to the trio, "they look
just like them, especially her." 
Kate took Torres by the arm, and led her over to the micro phone. 
"This young woman looks just like B'Elanna," Ms. Mulgrew said, making
random gestures at Torres' face.
B'Elanna ripped her arm from Kate's grasp, "I am B'Elanna."
"Wow, she's even acting like the part, very good," Jenifer cut in.
Torres glanced over toward Tom and Harry.  Paris nodded, and Torres
interpreted that as a sign to make a break for it.  They dashed off
stage, dodging tables and chairs, they ran out of the room, down the
halls, and into B'Elanna's room.

"What the hell was that about?"  B'Elanna asked.
"I d'know," Kim replied.
Paris just shook his head, to much out of breath to say anything.
"Last night, I had a dream, it said to 'fly right into the future',
it's a shot, but we need something to fly."  Torres said.
Paris and Kim looked at each other, then at Torres.
"Don't tell me you had that dream too?"
Both men nodded.
"This is too weird," Torres murmured.
"A kite!" Paris exclaimed.
"What?" Torres burst out.
"A kite, it didn't say we had to be in the air, it just said to fly
into the future, and kites fly," Paris quickly exclaimed.
B'Elanna looked thoughtfully at him for a moment, then looked at him
like he was crazy.
"Good idea," she said sarcastically.
"You got a better one?"
"Where can we find a kite?" It was obvious she didn't.
"Let's just go back onto the deck, maybe we'll find one," Kim
offered.
"Oh yeah, a kite will just fall from the sky," Torres said as they
stepped out her door, and right before a kite came crashing down at
her feet.
She looked shocked, and startled.  She almost jumped backward into
Paris, but managed to restrain herself.
"I guess it will," Paris whispered, just loud enough for her to hear
him.
Two kids walked up in front of them.
"I'm sorry lady," One girl said as she picked up her kite.
B'Elanna smiled, "It's okay.  Say, can we borrow your kite?"
The boy behind the little girl looked at Kim, "Hey Katie, it's PJ
boy."
Katie laughed.
Paris turned his head to look at Kim, "PJ boy?"
"Don't even ask," Harry told him.
"Sure, you can borrow my kite," Katie finally decided, as she handed
it to Torres.
"Bye," B'Elanna said, as Katie and the boy ran away.

Later, Paris and Torres were alone in B'Elanna's quarters.
"You ever thought about having kids B'Elanna?"
"Hmm.. What?"
"Kids? You ever thought about having kids?"
"The thought has crossed my mind, I guess, but I never seriously
considered it. Why'd you ask?"
"I don't know, I guess Katie made me think about it."
"I guess so."
"Y'know, Katie is a good name for a girl."
"Katie Paris, it sounds okay," B'Elanna told him.
"Oh, well. C'mon B'Elanna, let's go fly a kite."
"Okay," she smiled.

"I have been waiting forever for you," Kim said when his two friends
finally arrived.
Harry had the kite ready to fly, and let it soar into the air.  All
of a sudden, as if magically, everything moved faster, and faster,
and faster.  B'Elanna pushed herself back a few steps, and Tom took
her arm, balancing himself against the strong winds.
"What's happening?" Kim called over the roaring air.
"The future is becoming the present," Paris answered.
"And the present is becoming the past," Torres added.
A strong gust of wind shook them, knocking them to the floor.  The
area around them was rapidly changing.  B'Elanna looked into the
changing mass, until it all faded to black.

When B'Elanna regained conciseness, she was lying on a shuttle
craft's floor, Paris' arms around her and Kim near by.  She stood up.
"What happened?"
Paris pulled himself up, "What ever happened, we're back in the Delta
Quadrant, where we were before this mess started."
"What were those weird dreams for?"
"No explanation."
"Shuttle craft to Voyager, prepare for docking."

"B'Elanna, Tom, Harry, good to see you all," Janeway greeted them.
"Good to see you too," Paris responded.
Torres nodded.  Kim did the same. 
"You all are off duty for the next week."
"Thank you, Captain," Torres said.

<Ding-Dong>
"Come in," Paris called.
Torres stepped in.
"B'Elanna, good to see you."
"I doubt it," she murmured, "good to see you too."
"So, how can I help you?"
"I just came to keep you company."
"Why?"
"Because I'm ssssooooo bored!"
Paris smiled, then Torres did.
"So what do you want to do?"
"I don't know, the holodeck sounds good.  I created a new program."
"Paris, what's it about?"
"It's a cruise ship."
Torres punched him playfully.
"Hey!"
"You deserved it."
"I'm just trying to be nice," Tom complained.
"C'mon, I'm sure we can find something else to do."
And with that, they left the room.

The
End

Copyright 1997, by Erin Alpert.  I know Viacom owns these characters, but the
story is mine, all mine <sinister laughter>.  If you like it, or have some
constructive criticism, let me know, eraalpert@aol.com