DISPLACED
Episode 66
Part A

 

Torres stalks out of the Holodeck on Deck 6. holodeck doors Paris follows her.

Paris: "Where are you going? You were doing great. You were in perfect position to deliver the death blow, all you had to do was follow through. Come on, let's try it again." Torres: "Don't push me, Tom."

She is holding a bat'leth and he watches it warily as she is not thinking about its sharp dangerous points and edges. Paris: "I am not pushing you. I'm encouraging you." Torres: "To do what?!" Paris: "Try something new. This martial arts program is the best work-out I've ever had. No, no, it's more than that. Working with a bat'leth is an art. You have to use your mind and body, your movements-" Torres: "Look, you may find all of this Klingon stuff really fascinating, but I don't. I'm not going to waste my time trying to disembowel a bunch of holographic monsters. I only came down here because you tricked me into that stupid bet!" She refers to the bet they made recently (in [#65 Distant Origin]).

Paris: "Do watch it! You could take somebody's head off with that thing!" Torres repositions her hold on the bat'leth. "I have tried this, and now I am finished. Got it?" Paris: "Look, if you don't like the program that's fine. Why do you always have to get so hostile?" Torres: "I am NOT hostile!"

They turn as an alien humanoid suddenly materialises nearby. translocator The bewildered alien shivers and asks: "Where am I?"

Paris taps his combadge. combadge "Paris to bridge. We have an alien visitor on Deck 6." The alien, whose name is Dammar, seems frightened. "What do you want with me? Why have I been abducted?"

Torres: "We didn't abduct you. You just appeared here. We had nothing to do with it." Dammar: "What is this place?" Paris: "You're on a starship called Voyager. Where were you before?" Dammar: "My colony on Nyria III. I was walking home. Then I was here." Paris: "What's wrong?" Dammar, shivering and cowering from the light: "It's cold here, and too bright." Torres: "Let us take you to Sickbay. Our Doctor can run some scans, maybe we can get some answers."

Torres and Paris, their fight put on hold, escort the Nyrian.

Voyager's Sickbay. Doctor: "I've increased the temperature to 45° Celsius, and the light level should be more comfortable for you now." Dammar: "Yes, thank you. You're very considerate."

Dammar to Janeway: "I hope you'll excuse my initial suspicion. This experience has been very unnerving."
Janeway: "I'd feel the same way in your place."
Tuvok: "Do your people possess technology which could have transported you here?"
Dammar: "Not that I know of. I've heard of other races that have it. Maybe one of them brought be here, but I can't imagine why."
Doctor: "Please describe the physical sensation of your experience."
Dammar: "First I felt light-headed. Then everything around me seemed to bend or ripple. There, there was a moment of blackness and, er, I felt a curious sensation of insects crawling on my skin, and then I found myself on your ship."
Doctor: "Interesting. I'll run a microcellular scan for residual energy traces."
Tuvok: "Can you tell us where your colony is located?"
Dammar: "We're on the third planet of the Nyrian system, a red giant star with a large cloud of interstellar dust just beyond the fifth planet."
Janeway: "Doesn't sound like any system we've encountered. Unfortunately our knowledge of this area of space is limited. I'd like you to look at a star chart, to see if you recognise any astronomical markers."
Dammar: "Of course."
Janeway: "In the meantime, my crew's begun scanning the area for any clues about what happened to you."
Doctor, handing the tricorder to Tuvok: "Lieutenant, if you don't mind."
Tuvok: "Where is Kes today?"
Doctor: "I don't know. She's late for her duty shift. Computer, locate Kes."

Computer: "Kes is not on board Voyager." Janeway, surprised: "When did she leave?" Computer: "1132 hours." Janeway: "What time did our alien visitor come on board?" Computer: "1132 hours."

Main Engineering. Kim: "There's nothing to indicate that any other ships have been in this area for weeks, and the nearest inhabited world is over ten light years away." Torres: "Whoever or whatever did this had to leave some kind of energy trace." Kim: "Internal sensors aren't showing anything unusual in the corridor where the Nyrian appeared, or Kes' last known location." Torres: "Then let's concentrate on the time. Run a level 1 analysis on all sensor readings, internal and external, at the exact moment it happened."

Kim: "I'll get it started. It may take a while." Torres: "You don't think I'm hostile, do you?" Kim, warily: "I, er, wouldn't describe you that way, no."

Torres: "I know I have a temper, but that doesn't mean I'm always hostile, does it?" Kim: "No, of course not."

Torres, firmly: "I'm forthright. I speak my mind. But that's very different from being hostile." Kim: "Very different." Torres: "And if someone described me that way, they'd be way off of the mark, wouldn't they?" Kim: "Way off." Torres: "Then why do you look like you're afraid for your life?"

She looks at a display reading as an audio alert sounds. "What is this?" Kim: "Looks like a surge of polaron particles." Torres: "Localise the source. I'll try to increase the sensor resolution." He goes over to a console and starts to do so. "Do you have anything yet?" She turns to look at him when he does not reply.

But there is no one at the console. "Harry?" He has disappeared! She taps her combadge combadge and signals: "Torres to bridge. Ensign Kim just disappeared."

Janeway, on the Bridge, via comms: "And we just got another visitor." A Nyrian, just materialised, is looking around, bewildered.

A crewman exits a turbolift and walks down the corridor. Suddenly he dematerialises and vanishes. translocator

At the same time, a bewildered Nyrian materialises on the Holodeck, in the Paxau Resort holoprogram. He sees two of the Holodeck characters.

Some minutes later, Janeway goes over to Tuvok at the tactical/security station. Janeway: "Mr Tuvok, have you made any progress?"

Tuvok: "Increasing the shield strength has had no apparent effect. However, it-" He suddenly vanishes. translocator

In engineering, another Nyrian appears. Crewman William McKenzie, noticing him, taps his combadge to report. combadge

USS Voyager.

Security guards escort a Nyrian to Sickbay. The warm dark room is full of Nyrians, and an overworked Doctor. Doctor to the new arrival: "Welcome to Sickbay. Take a number." "Welcome to sickbay."

Briefing room. Chakotay: "In the last three hours we've lost twenty-two of our people. According to the Nyrians, they've all showed up on their colony as though we're switching places." Paris: "I went over our navigational charts with Dammar, but he's completely unfamiliar with this part of space. For all we know, that colony could be thousands of light years away."

Chakotay: "Any idea what might be causing these transfers?" Torres sighs in frustration. "I'm not sure. Harry and I detected a surge of polaron particles right before he disappeared. They created a spatial distortion field around him, but it collapsed as soon as he vanished."

Paris: "Could it have been some kind of spatial anomaly?" Torres: "It could've been anything - a naturally occurring phenomenon, like a wormhole or a subspace flow field or a kind of technology like our transporters." Janeway: "Alright. Get back to your stations and keep looking. Confine the Nyrians to the cargo bays and post security details at every access point."

Chakotay: "In all fairness, Captain, they haven't been threatening in any way. They seem as puzzled by all this as we are." Janeway: "Chakotay, I don't care how they seem. All I care about is that I've had a knot in my stomach since the first Nyrian arrived. Something about this is wrong, I can smell it. Look at us, running around the ship, checking sensors and spinning theories, while the Nyrians slowly replace our crew! Consider this. There has been a consistent interval of nine minutes and twenty seconds between these exchanges. At that rate, our entire crew will be gone in eighteen hours. Tell me that doesn't put a knot in your stomach. You have your orders."