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Naomi Wildman, was
yet again roaming the halls of Voyager, when she ran
into someone she hadn't seen on
the ship before.
"Excuse me," the person
said.
Naomi figured it was a very young female,
maybe even her own age! Naomi stepped aside to let her
pass, but
then followed her.
"What's your name?" Naomi
asked politely, and noticed her smile, but then Naomi
also noticed that most of
her face was covered by a cloth mask.
"I am not certain," she
said, which confused Naomi somewhat. "Your ship,
Voyager, discovered my shuttle,
and found me, but I can't seem to
remember anything from before I got here... Your Doctor
calls it 'amnesia',"
the stranger explained.
Naomi had heard of amnesia, from the
Doctor's constant blabbering.
"My name is Naomi, I can give
you a name if you'd like."
The stranger was still smiling.
"I would like that very much,
Naomi. What name would you choose?" she asked.
Naomi was beginning to notice how tall this
stranger really was, and hopes of her being Naomi's age
faded.
Though, after a brief moment of thought, Naomi
came up with the answer to the name problem.
"You look like an 'Amanda' how
would you like that?" Naomi asked.
"I would like that a lot,
Naomi" she said.
So, Amanda was her name for the next few
days that Naomi saw her and spoke to her. Naomi learned
that she
was fifteen years old by human standards, and was
fascinated by Starfleet. Naomi had a lot of fun with her
new
friend throughout the days she was on board. That
is, until something happened...
Naomi was playing by herself in her
quarters when the ship began to shake, she left her room
to see what was
happening, and after a while of wandering, she
asked some crewmembers who were passing by what was
happening. Getting no response, she saw someone
lying in an abandoned corridor, Naomi quickly ran up to
it
and realized it was Amanda, after calling out to
her several times and getting no response, Naomi ran to
sickbay
as fast as she could. Luckily for her it was on
the same deck so she didn't have to endure the slow
turbolift ride.
Finally, after running for quite a while,
Naomi ran into sickbay and activated the Doctor, and
briefed him on the
current situation. Naomi brought the Doctor to
where Amanda lay, and he scanned her briefly with a
tricorder.
After getting to sickbay, the Doctor was able to
scan her fully, it turned out that Naomi's new friend
had taken a
fall, not being accustomed to the shaking, and
had slipped into a coma after hitting her head hard.
Naomi stayed
by the bio-bed for what seemed like an hour, and
then it finally clicked in her three year old brain that
the ship
was under attack, and she had to find her mother,
Ensign Samantha Wildman.
After a day, Voyager had come to terms with
the May'La, the ship that attacked them, and they had
gone on
their way. But Amanda still wasn't awakening.
Now, Naomi stood by the bio-bed. Amanda not stirring.
There was
a creepy eerie-ness to this whole situation as if
Amanda really wasn't who anyone thought she was... As if
Amanda...was a dream.
After several days of being away from
sickbay, Naomi learned that Tuvok had performed a mind
meld with
Amanda, and had learned some of her dreams. And
then, the trader named K'Rok who had recently come
aboard, had requested that Tuvok link him to the
girl, (this could be performed by Tuvok putting one hand
on each
forehead and linking them in a meld) and K'Rok
existed in her dreams for a short amount of time. Naomi
also
learned, that after K'Rok, the Captain herself
linked with Amanda, and was still linked. Immediately
after hearing
this, Naomi Wildman dashed off to sickbay.
When Naomi entered sickbay, nobody inside
noticed her presence. Everyone had turned there
attention to the
girl lying on the bio-bed. Naomi approached, and
stood with the Captain and Tuvok in her sight. After a
few
moments, Tuvok removed his hands from each
person's temple. Kathryn Janeway opened her eyes, and
then
looked over at Amanda who began to stir. Naomi
smiled excitedly, as Amanda sat up drowsily. The hood
from
Amanda's robe was pulled down, so Naomi could now
see that she had a long braid of flowing red hair
streaming
down her back. Curiously, the now awake Amanda
gave Captain Janeway a hug, and then turned to K'Rok and
hugged him too. And then she saw Naomi. and
smiled widely, but neither said anything.
And so, for several more days, they were
friends again, until, Amanda brought Naomi to an empty
cargo bay
and said she had something very important to tell
her. Naomi was curious, as she wondered what this
'important'
thing may be - until Amanda finally spoke, her
voice a soft whisper.
"Naomi.. I have to tell you
something," she began. "I... I... Naomi, I am
not supposed to be here."
Naomi did not understand, but said nothing
as Amanda continued.
"In fact, Naomi, I am not
supposed to exist. I was created as a dream, by a child
some years ago, but was
brought into the real world years ago
when Voyager encountered an anomaly, and it was affected
by Voyager's
engines; I was not supposed to be
born. and soon, Voyager shall encounter the anomaly
again, and I will be
gone, and Voyager will fulfill what
is really supposed to happen. You will not remember
me."
Though she was only three, Naomi Wildman
understood completely, grasping every word Amanda said.
Naomi said nothing, but Amanda still had
something to say.
"My real name is Janees, I am a
doctor on board the U.S.S Enterprise, which is cloaked
and following Voyager,
but when your ship encounters the
anomaly again, my ship will be gone," she said.
Naomi nodded.
"When will Voyager encounter the
anomaly?" asked the three year old K'tarian.
"When the time is right,"
Janees said, and turned around and left the cargo bay,
leaving Naomi Wildman to
ponder her words.
On the bridge several days later, Naomi was
there just to sit because she didn't have anything else
to do.
Janees was there too. They were both staring at
the view screen. Suddenly and unexpectedly, a bright
yellow
image appeared on the view screen. Janees jolted
up into a standing position as she recognized it, and to
Naomi's horror, she eventually realized it too.
Captain Janeway was yelling orders but Naomi didn't
hear. She
only heard Janees' quiet words as she said
"My time has come. Goodbye
everyone...You will forget me."
Janees took a few steps towards the view
screen. Suddenly, a bright flash caressed the ship...
and all was as it
was.
****
Naomi Wildman roamed the corridors of the
U.S.S Voyager, with no memory of her encounter with
Janees,
her new and lost friend.
****
Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation
Starship U.S.S Voyager was talking to Naomi Wildman in
her ready
room adjoining the bridge. From what Janeway
could tell, Naomi was uncomfortable around the Captain,
even
though all they were really talking about was
what the Doctor was teaching Naomi and her 'school'
assignments,
and just plain small talk. Something caught the
captain's eye in the corner of her ready room, a note of
some
sort, on real paper - something rare in this
century.
"What's this?" she asked.
Naomi shrugged, having noticed the paper.
Janeway reached over and picked it up, carefully
unfolding it.
It read: To Captain Kathryn Janeway, of
the U.S.S Voyager. From someone you cannot remember.
Hello
Captain, you cannot remember me, because I am not
real.
Janeway was confused now.
But here is who I am, I was born in 2372 to
Captain James T. Kirk (retired) and...you. You must be
confused,
here's my story. In 2378 The Starship Voyager
encountered an anomaly of some sort. I was living
peacefully in
my world - the imagination. I know this is hard to
explain, so I shall not try to explain quite yet.
Voyager's warp
nacelles interfered with the anomaly's particles,
causing a distortion in the space time continuum, and
where I
existed. I was brought into your universe after
you had been teleported back to your childhood, and grew
up to
marry a legend who had also been brought to your
time.
Captain Kathryn Janeway couldn't believe
what she was reading.
And, when Kirk had been killed by
Romulans, you shut down and were actually treated for
depression. In what
was then 2377 you re-enlisted in Starfleet and
got command of your own ship. I however, was not allowed
with
you on your scientific mission where you
disapeared. Since both you and Kirk were gone, I raised
myself, and
when I was ten, I brought myself 2 inch sole
shoes and played a trick at the Starfleet Academy,
pretending I
was 18. Amazingly, I passed the entry exam
without incident, and I participated in the verbal exam,
and I was
enlisted at Starfleet Academy, where my age was
eventually discovered one day when I took off my Shoes
that
gave me the height of age and looked as youthful
as I was. But still, I had passed both exams, which
meant that
I was smart enough for Academy, and Starfleet,
though I made a deal with a high-commanding admiral that
I
would stay until I was past the age of 15 before
I got my own deep space assignment as an officer. I
graduated
Academy at the age of 13, with nothing to do
until I was 15 because of the deal. I stayed for Medical
school.
When I was finally 15, I was assigned as a doctor
on the U.S.S Enterprise. And then we found your ship,
and,
amazingly, Kirk had survived Romulan torture and
had disguised himself as the Traveler K'Rok on board
your
vessel. Then I slipped into a coma and I was
delivered a message from a person from my own world,
because,
of course I did not remember my life in the land
of dreams.
Kathryn Janeway decided that this must be a
joke of some sort.
And then
I awoke, and Voyager re-encountered the anomoly. And
then I was returned, and your memories were
put back to the life you knew. And now I am no
more in your unvierse or mind. I am writing this letter
because I
don't want to be forgotten.
-Janees Kirk.
P.S Tell Naomi Wildman hello for me, if she still
exists in your universe.
Janeway looked up from the letter, and
looked at Naomi who had been sitting patiently. She
handed the letter
to the child.
"What do you make of this
Naomi?" she asked.
Naomi took the paper and began to read it.
Janeway waited patiently. Finally, Naomi looked up, a
look of
confusion on her face.
"I think you need to make first
contact." she said. There was something the
K'tarian hybrid was hiding,
Janeway could tell.
"Do you know anything of this
Naomi?" she asked.
"Um..." she fidgeted.
"Can I get back to you on that?"
"Naomi, is this some sort of
joke?" Janeway asked, quite seriously.
"No!" Naomi exclaimed
rather loudly. "I know nothing of it!"
The child said it with such urgency that
Janeway just couldn't help but suspect that she was
hiding something.
Janeway decided not to mention anything about it.
It was just a harmless trick for all she cared, wasn't
it?
Naomi Wildman, Captain's assistant, was
relieved when she was finally dismissed from the
Captains presence.
There was some air about her that made Naomi
uncomfortable, especially since she found Janees's note.
Naomi
couldn't explain it, but she remembered the fun
girl who had disguised herself when she first boarded
Voyager
seeking her family and the true meaning to her
life. Now the captain was suspicious of a prank, that
made Naomi
feel terrible. Sitting on her bed in her
quarters, Naomi thought it over. Could there be a way to
communicate with
Janees in her distant universe? There had to be a
way! But, how? Naomi's eyes rolled up to the ceiling, a
gesture
which had been around as long as there had been
existence.
"Where is the answer I
seek?" she called out, pleading.
Suddenly, an image started integrating
right in front of Naomi, at first she thought
transporter, but then she
noticed the configurations of the molecules were
different from those of transport. When the blurring
cleared,
Naomi recognized it instantly.
"Janees!" she exclaimed
quickly.
Janees embraced her. Both had huge smiles
on their faces.
"Janees, the captain discovered
your message, she thinks I'm playing a trick on
her!"
Janees Kirk considered for a minute, her
red hair that was in a braid was a shiny as ever as she
thought.
"I have been watching you,
Naomi. I think you can convince the Captain that you're
innocent. You've matured
a lot over these past few
months."
The thought passed through Naomi's mind
that Janees wasn't going to help her convince Janeway of
the truth,
and was relieved when she spoke.
"I'll go to Captain Janeway, in
a uniform and all, and tell her my story, okay?"
Janees said.
Naomi noticed her clothes, a pants form
made of what Naomi was familiar with as 'Denim' and a
soft sweater,
and a rather plain silver metal necklace.
"Alright, go to the Captain if
you want to. I would appreciate it, Janees."
Naomi smiled at her. And Janees smiled back
with a smile Naomi couldn't help but say was beautiful.
And then
she disappeared, as quickly as she had arrived.
Naomi hoped that she could get this cleared up with
Janeway,
and that Naomi wouldn't be suspected of
anything--crime or not--and that Janees would come back
to see Naomi
again sometime soon. The K'tarian Human four year
old sat on her bed and waited for anything... anything
to
happen.
Janees Kirk, Captain and Doctor in
Starfleet, assigned on the U.S.S Enterprise for a
deep-space assignment,
walked the corridors of the U.S.S Voyager. She
finally found the turbolift after mindless wandering.
And she
hoped that Kathryn Janeway was on the bridge.
"Bridge" she called out to
the computer as she stepped on.
The crew member next to Janees spoke.
"I don't believe I've seen you before" she
said.
"Well, I don't get around that
often. When I'm not on duty I'm in my cabin reading most
of the time," replied
Janees, keeping her voice neutral
from the nervousness she was experiencing over seeing
Kathryn Janeway.
"Oh," replied the crewman.
"I'm Ensign Samantha Wildman," she introduced
herself. "You seem rather young
for your rank."
"You'd be surprised."
Janees stepped off of the lift just as the
doors began to open, and almost banged herself against
them.
Quietly, hoping that the rest of the bridge crew
wouldn't notice her, Janees Kirk slipped into the
Captains ready
room when she saw that Janeway wasn't in her
command seat. The Captains head snapped up as she
noticed
Janees come in.
"Yes?" said the all too
familiar voice of the captain of Voyager.
"Captain, I was just speaking
with your littlest crewmember and she tells me you have
a problem," Janees
replied smoothly, adrenaline running
through her blood.
"Oh?" Janeway asked, as she
set her coffee mug on the desk and sat up straighter.
"Yes'm, she tells me that you
received a note from a prankster."
"Well, I did, and I don't really
know what to make of it. Do you?" her voice trailed
off. "I don't believe we've met."
"Kirk, Captain Janees
Kirk."
Janeway gasped, as Janees knew she would.
"And I tell you Captain,
everything in that letter was true."
Janeway stared at her.
"Did Paris set you up to this,
crewman?" Janeway demanded.
"No ma'am, I am not a prankster,
and Ensign Paris did not set me up to this. Everything
you read and see is
only the truth," was the smooth
reply, despite the excitement. "I've been watching
you, Janeway," she added.
"And I could tell you everything
that happened to Admiral Kirk since he was returned and
his memory erased.
I have been watching you both, and
now, I have to go."
Janees disappeared before Kathryn Janeway's
amazed eyes.
"Naomi, I did it!" Janees
exclaimed as she reintegrated back in Naomi Wildman's
quarters.
"YES!!" Naomi shouted, then
stopped herself. "Mom's asleep, we're going to have
to be quiet."
"Okay," Janees whispered.
"Goodbye Naomi, I have to leave and I won't have an
opportunity to return. But I will
be watching you."
Janees smiled, despite Naomi's heart broken
face, it was still a wonder how she could have
remembered while
everyone else's memory of her had been erased.
Naomi stared at where her friend once was, and a cold
feeling
of dejá vu swallowed her as she stared.
****
Little Naomi Wildman, wasn't necessarily
little anymore; she was getting her own quarters, so she
would have
more room. Her mother, Samantha Wildman didn't
like the idea, but eight year old Naomi won. She was
going to
live down the corridor from her mother. She was
moving out the next day.
Tomorrow she thought happily, as she lay
in bed.
The Starship Voyager's only child stared at
the empty quarters. They were hers now. She drew in a
long breath,
and, from the instincts that she had been born
with, Naomi Wildman explored every detail of where she
was. She
found some intriguing pieces of paper while
looking under the bed. She had no idea as to why she was
exploring
under there... maybe meeting some new dust bunny
friends. She examined the pieces of paper carefully to
find a
trace of origin, then she unfolded them. The top
piece of paper seemed to be poetry, of being lost and
not finding
the true meaning to life; it read:
"...I'm standing here where
no one cares and crying out, but no one's there....And I
am me but who am I and
will I ever find the reason for
life..."
The rest was smudged a little. Naomi could
only make out a few more words. The next page was more
of an
outline of a dream, one that the author must have
had more then once. Part of it read:
"....And I wake up at the sound of a bloodcurdling
scream, but I know it is not the man I am supposed to
believe
it is. It is a hologram; A trick from
those fools. They want me to think he is dead, they want
Mother to believe
he is dead. But I know that he is
here. He is on the ship that I am on. I know he has come
for me and Mother.
And I will love him until I go back
to my own place..."
There was more, Naomi was to curious to sit
through it, she looked on to the next page. It was as if
it had been
a log substitute, and very soon after reading a
few sentences, Naomi had no doubt in her mind of who the
author
was...
The paper
read:
"I have been... 'away' for a while, now I have
returned. but soon I will have to go to a place far from
the galaxy --
far from the universe. I will have to
go back to my own place of existence. You see, dear
reader, whoever you
may be that is lucky enough to find
these papers, and is lucky enough to know how to read
English writing, I
am not from your universe.... It is
kind of hard to explain.. let me think a moment.....
Okay, I'm back, and I'll
explain: There is a place, where...
dreams go... you, dear reader, may be confused. Well, if
you have ever had
an 'imaginary friend' he exists where
I am going/have gone."
It had been so long since Naomi had even
thought about the girl she had met one time aboard her
ship. And
now, she remembered when Captain Janeway had
found one of her letters she had left behind and had
thought it
was a joke until Janees Kirk herself had to come
to Janeway to explain her existence. Knowing the
Captain, she
would have either kept the incident in her brain,
being paranoid, or else she had dismissed it as a dream.
Naomi
decided she preferred the latter somewhat,
because the image of the Captain with paranoia wasn't a
pleasant
sight to Naomi. She kept reading.
"I haven't been there yet... well, technically I
have, but my memory has been swept of the life I
led..... you must
be confused, well, heres the story.::
in the Earth date 2378, The Federation Starship Voyager,
encountered an
anomaly, and to put it simply, time
got rearranged... so what if time is an illusion, it got
rearranged anyway!...
and so what should have happened a
century before happened closer to the time you are in.
And my mommy
married my daddy who was supposed to
be dead... and then came me... and then I went back/am
going back.
And now you have an allergy pill that
will keep you from sneezing, and you look under your bed
trying to find
your tricorder, and you find these
papers instead, and I confuse you... and that's life....
well, either it could have
happened that way or you're Naomi
Wildman and you have to explore everything!"
And that was the end of that page.
Naomi smiled at the previous sentence. She skimmed the
other pages,
making sure she didn't miss anything. She tucked
the papers away and continued exploring. Memories from
when she was three years old were coming back to
her - And of Janees, who had said that she had known
Seven Of Nine before she was assimilated, and who
had taught Naomi Wildman how to play an old Earth game
called 'Checkers'. Naomi needed to talk about her
memories to someone. And decided that Seven was a good
choice, since Neelix was busy and her mom
wouldn't really understand. Naomi headed to astrometrics.
"Seven?" Naomi asked as she
entered astrometrics where Seven Of Nine didn't seem to
be doing anything in
particular.
"Naomi Wildman" she
acknowledged, after four years, she still hadn't become
all the way human; she still
called Naomi by her full name.
"I have to talk to you,"
she stated simply. The ex-drone turned around to face
her and raised a quizzical
eyebrow.
"What is it?" Seven asked.
"I'm remembering someone no one
else does."
Naomi studied Seven of Nine's face for a
reaction.
"What is the name of
this...person?"
"Janees"
"Are you sure you did not just
have a dream?" Seven asked just the way Naomi had
remembered from when
she was littler and had befriended
'The Borg Lady' as she had called her.
"I'm sure." Naomi said.
"But Voyager went through an anomaly and everyone's
memory was affected, and I'm
the only person who remembers her
because my brain waves were different because I was
young. And I am
quite positive that Seven of Nine,
tertiary adjunct of unimatrix zero one doesn't believe
me."
Naomi turned to leave. She had given up,
and had said her last words so softly, she doubted that
Seven had
heard them. She also regretted the words, because
Seven was one of the few very few people that could
understand her sometimes. But Naomi didn't pause
on her way out, that is... until Seven spoke
"Naomi" she said.
"Yes?"
"I...." she paused "I
too remember Janice Kirk. But vaguely, as if her
existence were only as a dream,"
Seven said it just like a human.
Naomi wondered if she was comfortable with
the fact that Seven was acting less and less like her
old self, the
Seven Naomi Wildman knew.
"She was a dream," Naomi
said.
Seven nodded. The fact that she still
remembered was a mystery to Janees.
"I know," Seven said.
"And I remember... I remember being a little girl
and knowing her then, but I also
remember being a little girl at the
same age and living very far from her, and not knowing
anything of her
existence. The latter memory mostly
overcomes the former, but still... it is
confusing." Seven was getting
so depressingly Human.
Naomi didn't know how to respond. They
stood in silence for a long while. Seven eventually
returned to her
control panel. Was that a tear Naomi saw forming
in her eye?
"I better go. I'm moving into
new quarters and I need to get that done before my shift
on the bridge."
Seven nodded an acknowledgment, not looking
from her controls. She had learned how to hide evidence
of her
emotions over the years, but now was getting
close to a failure. Naomi turned and left astrometrics.
That night in
her new bed, was one of a fitful sleep. She
longed for the time before Voyager re-encountered the
anomaly. And
she also realized that she had lived her life
three times over; the first was her life before the
first encounter, the
second was when time was different, and the
third, was now.
She wasn't sure if it was very comforting
of a thought. She also wondered how her life would have
turned out if
there wasn't a second encounter. She thought
between the times she drifted in a dreamless sleep.
Dreamless.
Dreamless... Just like now, she was without her
friend, whom she had known for only days, but remembered
for
four years and two of the times she had lived.
The wake up alarm came painfully soon for eight year old
K'tarian-
Human Naomi Wildman.
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