Two Bundles, Side By Side.

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 380

Ensign Harry Kim wanders the halls of this Voyager, confused and a little wary. Something wasn't exactly right here. It felt as if ... boundaries had been crossed. A little...mixing. Sure, Voyager had recently hopped through dimensions more times then he had cared to count. Still...

And then it happened. He met Ensign Chen. Now Ensign Chen had been a human stranded in a Delta Quadrant some time ago and rescued by Voyager. He had gone through the Academy equivalency tests and been given a field promotion by Captain Janeway. He was even seen around the ship in the company of the furry Ensign Wildman.

But this normalcy didn't register with Harry Kim. He ran forward and lifted Chen up against the wall. "You don't belong here!" he screamed. "GO AWAY BEFORE YOU DESTROY US ALL!"

From somewhere, Mulcahey and Carey pulled Kim away from Chen. Carey paged both doctors and a raving Kim was sedated and taken to Sickbay.

Hours pass...

The human doctor spoke quietly to the human Janeway.
"From what I've been able to decipher of his ramblings, Ensign Kim believes Ensign Chen to be a dangerous element with more destructive power then we could possibly imagine."
"The chaos energy, doctor." Janeway said.
"Yes, we know how Chen gets without the safety precautions. According to Kim this is radically different. Chen is not from this dimension, though neither are we. Apparently Chen is not from this multiverse at all."
"I don't believe I understand."
"I'm not sure I do either." the Doctor sighed. "I've only managed to pierce this together from hours of Mr. Kim's ravings.
"Previous records tell of how Starfleet personnell journeyed throughout different quantum states. Each state corresponded to an alternate reality. A ship blows up a hundred years ago. One string. It doesn't blow up. Another string. All these strings are tied together in one big bundle, representing the infinite possibilities inherent in the quantum state fluctuations. Imagine another bundle seperate form ours. That's where Mr. Kim believes Mr. Chen is from."
"Amazing." breathed Janeway. "But how would he know all this?"
"Well, Mr. Kim's experienced way more quantum fluctuations then the average crewmember. I believe this makes him more susceptible to this type of phenomena."
Janeway looked over at the now sleeping Ensign Kim. "We have to ask one of the Tuvok's to volunteer for a mind meld. The possibility that this is true is too important to pass up."

Both Tuvoks volunteered. In the end, furry Tuvok melded with the sleeping Kim and discovered...

  1. ...that the doctor's words were true.
  2. ...that Ensign Kim has had a nervous breakdown and simply needs counseling.
  3. ...something else entirely.

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Lots42@aol.com

11/8/1999 12:14:57 AM

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