open - naomi wildman ---> i went into the wilderness

[minicaptain]

She was having a nightmare.

It felt real, but she didn't want it to be. Everything was confusing, twisting and turning around her, and Naomi felt as though she might fall over and out of her bed. She whimpered to herself and rolled over, squeezing her eyes shut and hugging one of her stuffed animals tightly to her chest.

She didn't want to be here. Her mother was busy. That meant...

"Neelix?"

Was he even there? Was he in the room with her?

Normally, it wouldn't matter as much. She loved Neelix and he was very important to her, but normally she could manage on her own.

Tonight... tonight was different.

Tonight, the monster under her bed was back. And Neelix wasn't there to scare it away.

Comments

[minicaptain]

"You're a boy," she answered bluntly, as though this were the most obvious and reasonable thing in the universe. "But there aren't any boys my age on Voyager. I don't think." The Captain might have brought someone else on board while she was asleep but why would there be a boy in her bed?

[fantasies]

"Well, I'm here, and I'm definitely a boy." He shifts, and casts his eyes over her shoulder; the room is too dark to see. It's starting to finally sink in to his sleep-addled mind that he's not where he should be. "What's a Voyager?"

[minicaptain]

Either he isn't or she isn't. Naomi hasn't decided yet, her focus more on the boy than whose bed they're in. He might notice the three little horn-like ridges on her forehead in a moment, if he starts paying attention enough.

"The Federation Starship Voyager," she answers, as though it's the most natural thing in the world. For her, it is. "Did Captain Janeway let you come on board?"

[fantasies]

"I don't know. I was just here." He shifts so that he has his chin propped up on his hand. "Starship like a star ship? Like in space?"

He sounds unconvinced.

[minicaptain]

Naomi nods easily. It's normal to her. She was born on Voyager and it's the only home she's ever known. The idea of living anywhere else is foreign to her.

"We're in the Delta Quadrant."

Because that's not classified information. Everyone knows that.

But now's the time that she looks around to see if this really is her room. Her mom always keeps the windows covered for her when she sleeps, so the various stars and moons they pass won't keep her awake. This makes it hard to tell where they are exactly, but she'll do her best.

"I think we're in my room." She thinks, but may not be right.

[fantasies]

He shakes his head.

"I don't even know what a Delta Quadrant is. That sounds like something out of a movie."

He sits up, and squints harder at her. It's getting easier to make out her features as his eyes adjust to the light and the drowsiness starts to clear, but his eyes must be playing tricks on him. Unless....

"Is this another world?"

[minicaptain]

Naomi would have explained about the Delta Quadrant, but his comparison catches her off-guard and she frowns. "What's a movie?" It's nothing she's ever heard of -- or seen -- before. She would have remembered something like that.

Except now he's looking at her a little more. She's never particularly felt self-conscious before, but now she's aware that she's the only person with Ktarian blood on Voyager and maybe if Henry doesn't know about the Delta Quadrant, he won't know what a Ktarian even is.

"I don't know." She shrugs in response. "If you're asking whether we're on another planet... then no. We're... on a starship, headed for Earth. But it's a really long way."