Title: Dream Lover Author: Ben Mason Contact: tychocelchu@mpx.com.au Series: Voy Part: 1/1 Rating: G Code: K/7 Date: Summary: Harry has a recurring dream. Archive: You betcha. Disclaimer: If trek is a dream, then Paramount must be the dreamer. D'oh! * * * * As quickly and as quietly as he could, Harry Kim unwrapped the shroud from around his face. Perhaps with his eyes open he could determine exactly how it was that these people died while in these cenitaphs. The vacuole itself didn't cause death, after all, he had come through the first time with no injury. Just a little disorientation. Problem was he could see virtually nothing. He had hoped that before activation, there would be some sort of lighting, or display, on the inside, enough to make out some details and avoid the need for a resuscitation. Despite his bravado earlier, there was always a chance that he would remain dead, despite any and all attempts to the contrary. But the only light in the small chamber came from the rapidly approaching rods at the level of his neck. It wasn't until they touched his skin and the pain overwhelmed him that he realised their purpose. He didn't even have the time to call himself an idiot before darkness claimed him. * * * * Sensation. ? Floating. Light. Sight. Vision. Colours. An uncountable number in a veritable kaleidoscope. At the same time nothing. No light, no darkness. Void. Familiar? Mother. Sound. Voice. Speech. Beautiful, rich with timbre and melody. Unknown and yet comfortingly familiar. Source? There! It approaches. Or do I go closer? Who knows? Who cares? Tall. Female. Human? Yes. And beautiful. Achingly beautiful. Who is she? Features blurred. Focus. Fading . . . NO! Gone. Returning. * * * * Harry awoke with a start, the disorientation making him panic and glance rapidly around at the figures surrounding him. His captain. Janeway. The doctor. A hologram. Others. Unimportant. Only the woman in his vision mattered, and she wasn't here. But who was she? He had never seen her before in his life, and considering the lack of humans in this part of space, it was unlikely he would any time soon. Time. Already the image was fading. Within moments he would be completely unable to recall her at all, and later that day he would laugh in disbelief in his own vision. But he would see her again. * * * * Harry lunged for the step of the ladder above him as the hull beneath him exploded outwards, and the jeffries tube was exposed to hard vacuum. He looked up to see the anguished face of Be'lanna Torres slipping further away as he flew violently out of the ship. Stars interrupted his vision, both real and from lack of oxygen. The last thing he saw as the dark void claimed him, was a beautiful woman with hair of gold. * * * * Crazed, Harry raised the broken pipe over his head, ready to smash the skull of the injured man cowering before him. Harry's scalp itched like a thousand fleas, driving him further into madness. The human's arms were raised in a feeble attempt to ward off the forthcoming blow, his eyes full of the fear that paralysed him. Never before had anyone actually been frightened of Harry Kim, and it made him stop and think. Who was this man he was about to kill? And what exactly had he done to be worth killing? Harry had never killed anyone in cold blood, and at this moment vowed he never would. But the rage and madness were still there, and he closed his eyes in an attempt to gain full control again. The world of the prison went quiet around him. The noise continued but he did not hear it. The clamp itched but he did not feel it. For he saw a woman in his mind's eye. One he somehow knew but could not recognise. But the smile she gave him said he had done the right thing. * * * * Harry was in pain. He was being eaten alive by just a few small cells. A few small cells that had multiplied by the billions and were apparently invulnerable to everything. He was going to die. The agony as the tendrils forced their way further and deeper into his body was almost so extreme as to be exquisite. Only one thing kept him from screaming mindlessly with the pain. The blue eyes staring into his own, exhorting and encouraging him to fight on, to not give in. Only when the doctor injected him with the nanoprobes did they vanish from his sight. He had won this battle, and could be strong on his own. Over the next several weeks he did not make the connection between those eyes and another pair, for the other pair changed gradually from one hard sterile orb to those that had haunted his most desperate moments * * * * Harry Kim was asleep. And dreaming. It was a dream that he had not had in quite some time, but after his death in the vacuole, he had dreamed it almost every night for several weeks. In fact, as far as he could tell, it was his only memory between unwrapping himself during the transference ritual, and waking up in Voyager's sickbay. It wasn't a bad dream, in fact, as near as he could tell it was quite pleasant. The problem was that he could never remember the details for more than a few moments upon waking. It was over a year now since the last time, probably closer to two. He wasn't really sure, he hadn't kept track. But it was definitely the same one. He could remember the half darkness of the cenitaph, the pain of the glowing rods, then a sensation of floating. Could remember them, yet not actually feel them. Soon, now, he would see the face that he could never remember. All he knew was that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. There! There she was. As always her face was blurred to begin with, as if seen through a fog in the dark. The first thing he noticed was the gold of her hair, it was either short or pulled back he wasn't sure. Then the intense cornflower blue of her eyes, the full red lips. He caught a glimpse of silver at her ear, perhaps an earring? It was star shaped, and yet not. Like someone had sculpted a star then broken it in half, yet it suited her beauty perfectly, as did the piece above her brow. With that realisation the entire picture became clear, at the same moment that someone removed his sleepmask. His eyes opened, but the image before them didn't change. Still the face remained in front of him. Only now she spoke. "Ensign Kim, I require your assistance...." "Seven," Harry didn't speak her name, he merely breathed it, as he would the name of god. Or a lover. "How did I know you before I met you?" Fin Sequel coming to your screens soon.........