Lt. Farallon placed his hand to his throat and sighed. He didn't like the way the sigh sounded. It just wasn't normal. Well, he'd have to live with it long enough to get back to the Endeavour. Renos wandered the city of Wakualachu, the world capital of Niven Four. He had gone there with a small Starfleet team comprised of medical personnel from various ships as part of a medical research project. When everyone else had completed their research, Renos elected to stay for a few days, since the shuttle Earhart would be passing by and could pick him up.

He was beginning to regret having taken on this assignment. It was basically extra credit that would look good on his Starfleet record as a future doctor. Now, he couldn't care less about it. Renos walked past people, ignoring them as he went. They wouldn't be able to help him with his predicament. Niven Four had quickly become the Tyran's least liked planet. He prayed to the Ancient Ones that any petition to join the Federation would be forcibly denied.

He wondered if he really deserved his fate. All he had done was warn the city governor about a rumor. A rumor that the governor was a marked man, that someone was going to kill him. Renos had heard this rumor while he was eating at a diner near the medical research facility. Tyran hearing was slightly keener than average, so he hadn't even been listening for it. He just heard it and he felt it was his duty to warn the governor.

The rumor had turned out to be false. Unfortunately, the penalty for gossip and spreading rumors was having the guilty party's vocal chords severed. Renos was obviously reluctant at first, but then put up no protest. He didn't want to cause a major incident, and he figured that Dr. Montgomery could easily undo the damage. He had great faith in her. She had never let him down in the past.

With his voice gone, he would have to use hand gestures to communicate. The Universal Translator would allow him to understand what was said to him, but he just wouldn't be able to respond verbally. He didn't worry about that for the moment, but simply headed back to his room at the medical facility.

* * * * * * Fortunately, the replicator in his room had been preprogrammed with Federation recipes, so at least he knew which touch sequences would garner him food and drink. As he walked over to it, he contemplated tapping into it with the UT in his commbadge. It probably wouldn't work, and he could just see the look on Hyper's face if she were there and he were to attempt it. She'd probably say, "You can't, Renos. it would be like trying to empty out an ocean with a teacup." He smiled when this thought crossed his mind. Renos wished she were here. . .

* * * * * *

There had to be a way around this situation. There just had to be! He couldn't remember who, but someone from the Federation had once said, "There's a way out of every room, a solution to every puzzle. . ." Renos prayed it were true. He sat up in bed and stretched, then glanced over to this medical uniform, which had been laid over a chair in the corner of the room. Becoming a doctor had better be worth all of this, he thought.

After a quick shower and an even quicker breakfast, Renos left to explore the town in hopes of finding some way to contact the shuttle and get it here sooner. He thought about using a computer at the Citybank, but then he thought, What would I be able to say?

All of the shops would be a no-go as well. So would the restaurants. And the government building? Forget it! He'd have to get past too many security guards. His best hope would be the Interstellar Communications Center.

* * * * * *

After coming up with an elaborate ruse, Renos boldly walked into the lobby of the ICC. After the guards scanned him for weapons, they waved him on. He headed to the information desk.

The woman seated there looked up at Renos. "How may I help you?" she asked. Renos was thankful that his commbadge hadn't been taken from him, at least. He tried to come up with hand signals that the woman would understand. She was slightly confused as she watched the med tech's gestures. "Do you need to see someone?" Renos nodded. "Okay, then who?"

Renos struggled to think of the right gestures. When it was clear that they weren't the right ones, the woman spoke up. "The city manager?" Renos shook his head. "The governor?" Another shake. "The interstellar communications officer?" Renos nodded emphatically. "All right, let me give you a clearance pass."

As she typed away at her console, Renos went over his plan to sneak off to a communications console room. It was on the fourth floor, just one floor below where the receptionist thought he'd be going. After being given directions to the ICO's office, Renos smiled and nodded to the receptionist, then headed for the elevator banks.

He got out at the fourth floor and headed for the main console room. The guard beside the door regarded him suspiciously. Just a few meters away, the med tech collapsed. The guard rushed over to offer his help. Renos head-butted him, then knocked him on his back. He quickly picked the guard up. Renos slapped the guard's palm against the ID pad on the right side of the door. After it slid open, he dragged the guard inside with him.

* * * * * *

Renos found the main console and through trail and error was able to access a main menu. He had five main choices. Renos tried each of them, but was unable to figure out which choice would send a subspace message. After twenty minutes, he slammed his first onto the console. He then stared at the screen, determined to figure out this alien language even if it killed him!

He knew Vulcan and Standard Federation English (called "SFE" by most non-Terrans), so why was this one so damned complex?! He studied the screen carefully and then noticed two icons in the lower right corner which he had apparently overlooked before. He touched the one on the right. Nothing happened. He tried the one on the left. A strange, chirp like sound emitted from the console. "Welcome to the main menu," came a female voice.

"Yes!" Renos mouthed, thanking the Federation once again for the inventor of the Universal translator. He tried each selection again, but it was the fifth one that would allow him to send a message. He heard a grunt from the prone guard on the floor. Renos ran to him and pulled the weapon from its holster. Before the guard could even open his mouth, Renos fired on him, hoping that the weapon was set to "stun" and not "kill". The guard collapsed again.

Renos held the weapon aimed carefully at the guard as he returned to the console. He saw the two icons in the corner of the screen again. He switched back to touch interface, and a series of about fifty ornate characters were displayed.

He mentally cursed. He couldn't use this alphabet! No one would understand the message! He wanted to scream or shout. He calmed and tried to think quickly about what he could do. Then, it came to him. Renos worked feverishly to construct a message, praying that it would be understood.

After switching clothes with the guard and sneaking him out of the building, Renos headed towards the medical facility. He ducked into a lavatory where he quickly re-switched clothing with the guard. Then, he rushed down the hall to a small operating room, showing his communicator to anyone who was about to step in front of him. He hadn't expected it to work, but the people he encountered figured that this was part of his medical research work, so they left him alone and didn't try to impeded his progress.

He stepped into the room and locked the door. Renos hoisted the guard onto the operating table then grabbed a Starfleet medkit which sat alone on a nearby table. He flipped it open and worked feverishly to erase the guard's memory. Renos moved the man to a recovery room, then left quickly, hoping that no one would be the wiser.

* * * * * *

"You've got to be kidding," said Hyper as she turned to face her co-pilot.

"Absolute true story," said Ellen DuShane, smiling.

"So, you're saying that your grandmother taught you voodoo?" Connor queried.

"That's right," was the reply.

"Interesting story," Audra commented, not sure what to make of Ellen's yarn.

The four of them sat in the cabin of the Earhart. They leisurely headed towards Niven Four, which was three days away at their current speed. Ellen had been regaling them with stories of her childhood in New Orleans. "I had a great aunt who was a voodoo queen, supposedly," Ellen continued. "Poor thing, she became senile, and a senile voodoo queen is some serious business! She'd misplace the voodoo dolls, then grab the first doll she could find, and then--"

Ellen stopped when her panel beeped. "There's an incoming message from Niven Four," she said. "And it seems to be in some sort of code. The entire message consists of patterns using only two distinct characters." she turned to Hyper. "it doesn't seem to make any sense."

"Put it on the viewscreen," Connor suggested. "Perhaps if we looked at it then we could make better sense of it."

Ellen did so. The characters making up the message seemed to be in random patterns. None of the four of them were able to figure it out, until Riley noticed the first three sequences.

"Morse Code!!:" they all shouted in unexpected unison. The first three sequences were meant as "dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot," or "S-O-S".

"Computer, translate this message using Morse Code," said Hyper.

The computer chirped. "Working." After a few moments, the computer said, "Translation complete." The characters on screen were replaced by a translation into SFE. The message read "SOS AM IN TROUBLE VOICE WAS REMOVED HURRY PLEASE RENOS."

Without a word, Hyper punched the engines up to maximum warp. * * * * * *

Twenty-four hours passed since Renos had sent the message, and no one in the city had caught on. Every minute that passed seemed like a day. He stayed in his room most of the day, anxiously awaiting a response from the Earhart. He didn't know how long he'd have to wait, but he knew it would only be a few more hours at most. Just then, his door chime rang. Renos went to open the door and was surprised to find two security guards.

"Mr. Farallon, we'd like to ask you a few questions," said the first one. "Now, we know that you've been punished for spreading a rumor, so we'll be asking questions that require either a 'yes' or 'no' for an answer."

Renos was very nervous for the next few minutes, since they were asking him if he had anything to do with a security guard's recent memory loss. "Can you account for your time during the interval when this strange event occurred?" the second guard asked. Renos nodded.

Just as they were about to ask another question, the med tech had a tingling feeling---one he knew very well. The subsequent whine and shimmer of light now felt better than anything he had ever known.

* * * * * *

"Transport complete," said Ellen, as she smiled at Renos. Hyper set the engines to maximum again and then ran to the back of the cabin to give Renos a "welcome back" hug. He held her rightly, happy to be with her again after such an ordeal.

"Are you al right?" she asked. Renos placed his hand to his throat and shook his head.

"Renos, what did you mean exactly when you said 'voice was removed' in your message?" Connor asked.

Renos walked over to the viewscreen on the left wall of the shuttle and activated it. After a few minutes of finger play on he panel, a lengthy text message appeared.

"Well," said Hyper when she finished reading it, "you'll be just fine once we get back to the ship in a couple of hours. I'm just glad that you're okay."

Audra and Connor both patted him on the shoulders and smiled. "We all are," said Audra.

* * * * * *

"Nothing to it," Dr. Montgomery said as she put away her tissue knitter. She looked at Renos and smiled. "Now, I need you to recite your native alphabet, Renos."

As he lay on the biobed, Renos did as he was told. His voice wasn't completely back to normal. He sounded a bit gravelly while he spoke. It would be good enough for Renos. The mere fact that he could speak again was a wondrous feeling. He didn't care what he sounded like.

"You know," the doctor continued, "as a Federation citizen, you can press formal charges against Niven Four for what they did to you."

Renos shook his head. "I had to go around the law to get the shuttle there a couple days sooner, Doctor," Renos said, loving the fact that the voice he heard was his own, gravelly or not. "I think that I'm even."

"Well, have it your way. Just don't drink anything too harsh for the next two days, okay?"

"Don't worry, I don't think I'll be having any Klingon fire wine anytime soon."

The doctor laughed. "Good. I'm glad you're back, Lieutenant."

Renos blinked and nodded. "So am I."