Written November 2003
Disclaimer The ship Voyager and
every Trek character appearing in this fic
belongs to Paramount.
by VoyGirl
Chakotay stared into the fire for a while, then squared his shoulders and looked up.
There was a log on the other side of the fire too, quite like the one he was sitting on,
and over the dancing flames he met Kathryn’s uneasy glance. She was not alone on
the other log. No, there was another young woman sitting next to her. The woman
had spread her legs and knees wide, looking more like a rugged macho man than
the petite young woman she really was. She chewed, rather loudly, on a fried
chicken wing which Neelix had sent with the team especially for bribing the local
wildlife. Though, it had probably been another kind of wildlife he’d meant. For along
time, all that could be heard was the crackling of the fire, and the alien woman’s
slurping.
When she finally had finished the chicken, she tossed the bong aside and carefully
studied her palms for leftovers. Her entire face; everything between the artistic,
arched eyebrows, to the straight nose, to the pointy chin, was covered in grease.
She tried to lick her fingers clean, but apparently it did not have the desired effect,
because she finally settled for wiping her hands off on her baggy, dark grey pants.
There was probably not a clean spot on the entire clothing. But, after all, Chakotay
and Kathryn had met the woman in the middle of an otherwise deserted forest, and
she was the best they could find as long as they remained in the same.
”So, Romara,” Kathryn finally broke the awkward silence, instinctively feeling greasy
herself. ”We gave you supper. Now, will you be our guide, or do you need more time
to think about it?”
Romara merely shrugged. ”Sure.” She had some sort of page-boy coiffure, with the
ends cut straight off an inch above her bony, but quite broad, shoulders. The hair
itself had a peculiar color; a very light blonde at the roots, with a tree inch outgrowth
in the same color. Though all the hair that was left had adopted a mahogany red,
almost metallic color, which was in sharp contrast to the lighter hair. And on top of it
all, the entire forelock looked like it hadn’t been combed through for weeks.
Romara, who seemed totally unconcerned of her looks, raked a set of greasy fingers
through the hair; a gesture which not exactly enhanced her appearance. Other than
the hair, which was the most prominent o her features, she had two, rather big, eyes
which shimmered in varying shades of light brown and gold. The only alien mark
which separated her from the two humans was a couple of dark dots scattered over
her temples.
”Shall we go now, or do you wish to see the town in the morning?” Her voice was
dark, a good octave lower than Chakotay’s, and the speech itself was proper and
overly articulated; a tone she probably had adopted for the sake of her new
employers.
”I think we’d better wait until the morning,” Kathryn decided.
”Okay,” Romara shrugged again. ”I’ll show you the town tomorrow morning then.”
With those words, she rose from the log, draped her brown coat without sleeves tight
around herself and walked a few meters further into the glade. There, she promptly
hit the ground, calmly advising Chakotay and Kathryn to go to sleep.
*
Chakotay had expected to wake up to dazzling sunshine and brittle bird song to
compensate for the raw welcome they’d gotten by the dirty grey edge of a dark forest
the afternoon before. But alas, he was roused awake by something hard and pointy,
which found his diaphragm with the skill of an expert, and banged into it. Several
times. When his eyes flew open after a few jolts of pain, Chakotay found out what it
really was that had woken him up.
Romara’s face hovered above him, her right foot was lifted form the ground, the
pointy shoe ready to give him another brutal nudge. ”the town is waking up. You will
miss the morning.” Her explanation was abrupt. She still had the dull cape draped
around herself, only though this time it was accompanied by an even more modest
scarf wrapped around her peculiar hair.
Kathryn was still wrapped in her blanket, chest heaving up and down in a steady
rhythm.
”I can wake her up for you,” Romara offered, while scrutinizing Kathryn’s middle with
a predatory smile.
”No!” Chakotay freed himself of his own blanket, scrambling up from the, still very
dry, grass he’d slept on. There was no dew in sight. ”I’ll wake her up myself.”
*
The city was definitely waking up. The two suns were pale and not especially warm
at all, but still window shutters flew up all over town, oval bowls filled with the
leftovers from last night were placed on the ground beside every door, ready to be
picked up by the waste disposal.
Kathryn and Chakotay looked around and about, feeling a little out of place in their
colorful uniform jackets. ”I wonder if the groups in the other towns have found
anything yet?” Kathryn asked, but was cut off by their guide.
”This is the eastern market,” Romara gestured to the line of small tables placed short
side to short side in a little alley, wedged in between two large houses, which both
had the same color as sand. ”The food is over there,” she pointed vaguely. ”I’m
going to do some errands in this direction. I’ll be back soon, okay?”
”Of course,” Kathryn said, actually glad to be left alone with Chakotay again. She
watched Romara blend in with the crowd; they were all dressed in dark, dull colors.
”Let’s go this way, then, ”Chakotay said, looking out over the many tables to his
right.
*
There surely was a wide selection presented to them; each table seemed to have
bigger, more colorful and more inviting sorts of food to sell. The colors were many
and gaudy, quite opposite the dull clothes and houses. One merchant had even
succeeded in making ever single fruit in a big bowl to clash with at least two of the
others.
”See anything Neelix would like?” Chakotay asked, holding a fragile vegetable
shaped like a small egg to the light. It varied in many different shades of lilac and
purple.
”I see a lot of things Neelix would like. I’m just not so sure one of us would be
that pleased.”
”I think I would enjoy this for dessert,” he held the vegetable so that Kathryn could
get a good look.
”You are supposed to drink what’s in it,” the merchant put in, sulkily. His eyes were
fixed somewhere above Kathryn’s forehead.
”Oh, thank you for telling us that,” she smiled, tried to be polite, nice to the man. But
his eyes still wouldn’t leave the top of her head. She cleared her throat, laying off the
smile. ”We’ll take twenty.”
The tall, stern merchant finally torn his gaze from Kathryn. Then he placed twenty of
the delicate vegetables in a big cloth, which he folded and then handed to Chakotay,
who was prepared with the container, which hung in a strap over his shoulder.
Chakotay paid the local merchant, before the two humans quickly left that particular
stand.
”What about these?” He quickly spotted a bowl of something light green, though he
quickly changed his mind when the content of the bowl began to move rhythmically,
twitching and turning in the sunlight.
Suddenly, someone patted Kathryn on the shoulder. It turned out to be a very
stressed Romara. ”Can you take care of this?” The young woman pleaded, while she
let Kathryn have a glimpse of a thick necklace. ”I don’t have anywhere to put it.”
”Of course,” Kathryn coaxed the container, which she’d taken care of, off her
shoulder. ”Put it in here.”
Romara did as she was told, licking a set of dry lips nervously. ”Thank you.”
”Can you answer me a question?”
”Sure,” Romara seemed more and more relaxed; she even gave Kathryn a crooked
smile.
”Why is it that every man here is bald, and all the woman have short blonde hair?
And why does people keep staring at my hair like it was something hideous?”
”Oh, the man are all born without any hair at all, but the women cut theirs on a
regular basis. The ones that can, of course. You see, here, a woman’s hair turns red
when it reaches a certain lengths, and the red color is a sort of... sign. Only the
more... unfortunate women lets the red show, and the others, the ones with jobs and
so on, cut theirs as soon as the first red hair shows. ” Romara brought a hand to the
scarf tied neatly around her head. All one could see was a few strands of white
blonde hair.
”Oh,” Kathryn breathed, not wanting to ask the wrong questions. She raked a few
fingers through her own hair, thinking about how the every person in the entire town
had to see her.
”Don’t worry. People can see that you’re not from here. Um, I have a few more things
to take care of... I’ll be at the corner if you need me.”
”All right,” Kathryn watched Romara blend into the crowd once again, before she
returned to Chakotay’s said a few feet away. The merchant was just reeling off what
his products were, and what they were food for, though he sounded like he was
reciting the law. At least Chakotay was busy.
Kathryn tried to decide whether a couple of small, red balls looked more tempting
than something big, rectangular and milk white, when a heavy hand was placed on
her shoulder, weighing it down so much that she nearly lost her foothold.
When she had managed to free herself of the hand, she turned around and faced a
tall, broad and stern man, with another one just like him a few feet away. Both their
heads gleamed in the sun.
”Yes?” Kathryn asked, trying not to sound too suspicious.
”We want to search you bag,” one of the men, who probably were guards, said,
making clear that was an exhortation and not a question.
A timid little man showed up; he had hid himself behind the second guard. He
clutched a cap between his hands, and looked ready to faint.
One of the guards took the container from Kathryn, unnecessarily brutally, stuck his
hand down and routed around for a mere seconds before hauling out Romara’s
necklace, holding it up in front of the little man.
”That’s it,” he confirmed, giving Kathryn a frightened glance.
”You shall come with us,” the other one of the guards said. ”That necklace is stolen.”
”But that’s not mine!” She protested, ”That belongs to a local... friend of mine.”
”Don’t try that. It has never worked so far.”
”But it’s true!”
”Oh, is it? Where is your friend now, then?”
”Right here. That container and its content belongs to me.” Chakotay had
deliberately placed himself a few feet away from the center of the event, and now he
took his chance to jump in.
”Chakotay! No!” Kathryn protested loudly, feeling utterly powerless. How could all
this happen so fast?
”He confessed,” the first guard said to the second. ”We have to take him instead.”
”Chakotay!” She was ready to pull rank on him, but the two alien men were already
leading him away.
”Find Romara!” Chakotay shouted, looking back over his shoulder, as he was
escorted away.
Kathryn noted that he was taller than both men, and that the whole thing almost was
funny. If it just hadn’t been her it happened to. Or him. Not any other innocent being.
She looked after them until the red dot that was Chakotay’s jacket had disappeared.
Then she picked up the container which had been tossed aside, squared her
shoulder, swallowed her chagrin and set course for the ”corner”.
*
The street was busy and lacked a sign which said if people should walk to the left or
the right, thus people could walk where ever they wanted. There were people all
over the street, and not a single of them did anything that could help Kathryn to find
the corner she was looking for.
After almost being knocked out by a tall woman with a stick, Kathryn was ready to
burst with repressed anger and worry. That was when she finally found the right
corner.
It turned out to be a bar. Small, dark and almost empty. Romara was alone at the bar
counter, leaning over a bowl of something dark yellow.
Kathryn did not have the time, nor the strength to choose her words properly. ”You
thief!” She hollered, banging the container down on the disk beside the unsuspecting
Romara.
*
She could have sworn that the young girl jumped a good foot from his stool, facing
Kathryn with her eyes open wide. Her slim nostrils quivered.
”And now he is in jail,” Kathryn growled, as the grand finale of the story she had
whispered to Romara.
There were three men in a corner of the bar, gathered around some sort of board
game, and they did not seem to pay the two women much attention at all. The
bartender was nowhere to be seen.
Romara had gathered herself, emptied her yellow drink in one single gulp and rose.
”Thank you for letting me know. We’ll simply have to get him out of there.”
”It was your fault!”
”I know.”
”Why did you... And put it in... Stupid,” Kathryn muttered under her breath.
Romara hung her head for a little while, then she looked up. ”I can’t do anything
else. I explained about the hair, didn’t I? I’m an orphan, you see... And an orphan is
not exactly a trophy for the employers around here. If I could work with something
else, something I like, I definitely would. Let’s go now. When was it your ship was
going to pick you up?”
!”A shuttle... In about two hours. We were only here to do some shopping. There are
teams of two in the other towns nearby too, and they will be picked up first.” Kathryn
sighed. She wouldn’t be able to communicate with the shuttle craft until it was nearly
on the surface. ”But I don’t think that any of the other teams have had something
quite like this happening to them.”
The town jail turned out to be the prettiest building in the entire town. It was large,
crimson red and many windows, all with red or purple glass. Though thinking about
how that town looked on the color red, Kathryn was certain that the people living
there not saw the building the way she did.
”Don’t worry,” Romara said quietly as the two women approached two wideopen
doors, which lead straight into a reception. ”Your friend will be fine. And the guards
here don’t even care if he’s gone. Prisoners escape to left and right, and the guards
have just stopped caring.”
”Have you been in here?” It was cool inside. The walls had a dull, beige color. And
three women, who apparently worked in the reception, were gathered around a desk,
laughing and waving. Not one of them spared Kathryn, nor Romara, a look.
”Once, but I got out after a few hours.”
”How?”
”Jumped out a window. I was on my way to the dining room, when I saw that there
was one open in the hallway. I just took the chance.”
”You think we’ll be that lucky today?”
”Maybe, but probably not.” She seemed to know her way in there, walking through
the many hallways like she had a map. ”It’s this way. The new ones are always
placed in the oldest cells first.”
*
The cells looked pretty much like Kathryn had expected. Grey, with an invisible force
field covering one side of the rectangular room.
”Chakotay!” Kathryn said, as soon as she could see him through the field. There was
no one who could operate it in sight.
”Are you here? I wasn’t sure visitors were allowed.” He quickly got up from the bunk
he’d sat on when the two women arrived.
”Of course,” Romara laughed. ”Why wouldn’t they?”
”We’re going to get you out of there.”
”By short-circuiting the field?”
Now it was Kathryn’s turn to laugh a little. ”It took us over an hour to get here and
find you. The shuttle will be close enough soon.”
”Ah, the good old transporters,” Chakotay gave a bleak smile. ”I do hope they hurry.
The guards told me that it was casserole day in the dining room.”
”How are you feeling?” Kathryn was as close the field as she could come. The tip of
her nose was merely an inch away from a painful jolt of electricity.
”Restless. I keep seeing myself like one of those green worms in a bowl.”
”It won’t be long now. The shuttle will be within range in a minute or two.”
Chakotay paced the floor inside his cell. ”It can’t be this easy to get out of jail.”
”On this planet, it is.”
”I know, but it... doesn’t feel right.”
Kathryn sighed, about to say something about innocence and morale, when a whole
group of guards approached. There were five of them, but neither was any of the
guards who had captured Chakotay. They whole group ushered three prisoners
forward.
”You have to leave now,” the tallest guard said to Romara. He didn’t even
acknowledge Kathryn with a simple look. ”The interns will have dinner now.”
”I’m not really that hungry, so if I could stay here and talk to--”
”No!” The five guards interrupted Chakotay as one. ”You eat now.”
One of the guards held a small card, approached a box beside Chakotay’s cell and
inserted it. The force field blinked, it was also red, and then, it was gone. The same
guard motioned to Chakotay that he should step out.
Kathryn felt how the panic began to flood inside her, drowning everything else. The
stress, the worry, everything disappeared, until there was nothing left but the sheep
panic.
She didn’t know what to do, and Romara just stood next to her, dumbfound.
In the same moment as Chakotay took his first step out into the hallway, Kathryn’s
comm badge chirped.
*
”From casserole to casserole...” Chakotay marked when he materialized alongside
the two women.
Neelix, who was in the shuttle because he’d been to another town and bought a little
stock of fruit and vegetables, was making casserole, too. He did all he could to make
the dinner and show Romara the shuttle at the same time.
”I’ve never seen something like this... It’s like a small ship!” She was full of awe,
looking around with her mouth open.
”I’m sorry, Romara... But we have to go back to our ship.” Kathryn said, hoping that
the younger woman would leave as she came; without anything except the clothes
she wore.
”I see... All right, where shall I stand?”
”Right there will be just fine. Ready to beam...” Kathryn cut herself off, while she took
a good look at Romara.
The young woman hung her head, eyed fixed on the fingers she’d laced together.
When Kathryn became quiet, she looked up. ”I want you to have the necklace. You
and Chakotay. When I get back to the surface, I will find the merchant, explain and
pay him for it.”
”But that was left in jail.”
Romara smiled, showing her regret, putting her hand in a pocket, hidden somewhere
under the coat. After a moment, she could show they the necklace; a turquoise jewel
on a thick, golden chain. ”I couldn’t help myself.”
Kathryn sighed, but accepted the gift. Somehow, she did believe their failed guide.
”Thank you,” she said quietly. ”Get ready to beam... I can’t do it!” She gave up,
closing her eyes.
Romara had given her such a heart-rending look. That young woman was without a
decent future, and that vexed Kathryn.
”Neelix,” she ordered. ”Give Romara a plate of that casserole, and when she has
eaten, give her your entire stock of leola root.”
”Captain?”
”I know you have several barrels hidden back there, just give them to her!”
”Why?” Chakotay asked, approaching the others.
”You told Neelix you like to handle food, but not cook,” Kathryn turned to Romara,
who nodded. ”Then this will be perfect. That market we visited... I know what it
lacked.”
”Leola root?” Chakotay smiled, realizing what Kathryn had planned.
Both Neelix and Romara, however, looked left in the dark.
”Romara can sell leola, and when it’s all gone, she can use the money she made to
buy other vegetables.”
Romara’s eyes were alight; she threw her arms around Kathryn’s neck and hugged
her. ”Thank you! I don’t deserve this...” She let go of Janeway, and wandered about
to the other section of the shuttle.
”Chakotay...” Kathryn turned to him. ”Replicate me an old-fashioned pair of scissors.
There’s hair to cut.”
”Of course, if I just can do one thing first.”
”What?”
He reached out, coaxed the necklace out of her grip and placed it around her neck.
”I knew that would fit.”
She smiled, touching the cool chain. ”How about a set of hoverball tonight?”
”Of course,” he repeated himself. ”You know me; restless like a worm in a
bowl.”
The End
Index
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