Tom Paris stared at the ceiling. Even though he couldn't see it, it gave him something to focus on. He almost forgot how cold the tiny room was. He had almost drifted off to sleep when he heard the scraping sound. He looked over at the bottom of the door, and saw the outline of a small object.
Looks like it's hairballs again, Paris thought as he went over to the food.
He picked it up unenthusiasticaly, and took a bite out of the cold food.
Just pretend it's a peach, Paris thought as he forced himself to chew the food, then gulp it down.
The food tasted awful, but it had been hours since he last ate. The aliens seemed to only feed him twice a day. It was one way for him to count out the days. Soon, though, he lost count. The serving of the food, and the blackness of his room made everything seem to run together after awhile. He did not know if the fuzz ball he was eating was breakfast or dinner. With this in mind, he began to wonder just how long he had been here, and where here was.
He swallowed the last of the furry meal, and finished the water. He then crawled over to the wall, and knocked on it loud enough to get B'Elanna's attention.
"B'Elanna!? Are you awake?"
"I am now," Torres' voice floated to his ears.
"How long have we been here?" He asked, "I lost track."
"About four days from my last count."
"Four days," Paris whispered to himself, but Torres heard him.
"Voyager will find us," she reasured him.
Paris said nothing for awhile. He knew Voyager was looking for them, but that knowledge did not help.
"Maybe it's the rats they're feeding is or the cold, but I really feel depressed," he said finally.
B'Elanna chuckled and said, "It's probably the rats. I'd be depressed as well with eating the same thing over and over."
Paris stared at the wall in surprise, "They're not feeding you the fuzz balls!?"
"Not as often. Yesterday morning, I had fuzz ball soup. At least, I think it was soup."
"Lucky," Paris attempted some humor, but he only felt more depressed, "I sense favortism here."
Torres smiled in the darkness. She touched the cold wall as if she could reach through it and try to soothe Paris, "We'll get out of here, Tom, just keep that in mind."
"I do, but it doesn't help."
"Then don't think about it at all," Torres said.
"Oh, that'll help a lot."
Torres tried not to laugh, "No. I mean block everything out. Meditate. It helps me."
"I'll have to try that."
"How 'bout now?"
"Trying to get me to shut up, are we?"
"Trying to stop you from being depressed, Tom."
"I'll take that as a hint," Paris said.

"The planet is in viewing range," Tuvok announced. "On screen."
The view screen image changed from the stars to a small blue-grey planet. Whitish-blue clouds covered most of the planet. "It's a class M plantoid," Tuvok reported, "There are four million inhabitants on the largest continent."
"We are being hailed," Kim said suddenly, "Audio only."
"Let's hear it," Janeway said.
"You are entering the Caydr System," a gruff voice sounded through the bridge, "Identify yourself."
"I am Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. We are looking for a strange dark ship that has two of our crew members prisoner."
"You followed it here," the gruff voice finished, "The only ships that ever come here belong to the Lyante."
"Can you give is any information on them?" Janeway asked hoping for a lead.
"Only that they are agressive, and they can't stand any kind of light. They've taken many of my people."
"Do you know why?" Janeway felt a sudden sense of dread fall over her.
"There have been rumors. Some believe them to be soul takers, for none of the missing have returned alive."
Captian Janeway looked at her second in command. His eyes registering what she felt.

B'Elanna heard a door open. Her eyes flew open, and she sat up on the metal bed. She looked around the room, but did not see the glowing eyes coming toward her.
Believing that the aliens were trying to trick her, she strained her ears to hear for footfalls. She heard them, but they sounded far away.
She then realized that the aliens had entered Tom's room. She got up and ran to the wall. She pounded on it and screamed, "Tom! The aliens are in your room! Tom, wake up!" She continued to shout at the wall until she was almost hoarse. She stopped only once to hear the door to Paris' room open and shut. After that, she continued to shout.
Suddenly, she heard the door to her room open. She spun around, and saw the glowing green eyes hover before her. There were two pairs of eyes, but that did not stop her from charging.
B'Elanna felt herself being stopped forcefully. She then felt her arms being forced behind her back. Shr struggled against them, but the alien only tightened its grip.
Torres kicked the alien's knee hard enough to break it, but the creature only squeezed tighter. She then felt her skin being pricked. She fought against that, but to no avail.
After a moment, the alien who had been holding her, tossed her into the metal bed. She hit her shoulder against it, but she didn't cry out. Instead, she growled viciously and cursed that them in Klingon. She then quickly got up, and ran toward the door, but it had closed before she got across the room.
"Paris!" She called one final time before she sank to the floor.

Tom heard B'Elanna's shouts of warning, but the creatures had grabbed him before he could repsond. He felt himself being tossed, and he landed at the foot of the door barely missed hitting his head.
He got to his feet and was about to fight back when strong hands grabbed his arms, and forced them behind his back. He then heard the heavy door open, and he knew what was happening.
"Let me guess," he said with a hint of biting sarcasm in his voice, "you want to take me somewhere. I hope it's not on a date, cause I doubt you're my type."
Paris felt something hard connect to his face. His head turned to the right with the force of the blow. He knew that the alien had hit him. Touchy, he thought.
The alien, who was standing beside him, shoved him out the door. He almost tripped over his own feet if the first alien had not grabbed his arm, and led him into the dark corridor.
They must have something against light.
The footfalls echoed loudly in his ears. He shut his eyes tightly against the noise until stars sparkled. He opened them only when the aliens had stopped.
He heard the sound of a heavy door opening, and he knew that they had come to another room. He also saw that this room was lightless.
Wonderful. It can't get much better than this.
Paris felt himself being shoved forward again.
"Alright! Alright, quit pushing!" He yelled.
He was answered by something being pushed into his back. He fell foward with the force of the blow, and ran into something hard. He conncected with it with his mid-section and nearly doubled over it. He couldn't see it, but he knew that it was another metal bed.
Paris sank to the floor, coughing. He barely had time to catch his breath before he was lifted to his feet, and placed on the table. He opened his eyes, and stared at the glowing eyes that hovered over him.

Continue to Chapter Three
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