Through the Looking Glass

Did you have your brain with you when you left Sickbay?
That made her snicker even as dark blotches threatened her consciousness. Then Seven grasped
her shoulder. "Astrometrics to Transporter Room Two. Intraship beaming. Three to Sickbay."
The world around them disintegrated into a billion pinpoints of light.
*********************
Janeway entered a Sickbay gone mad. Her ears were assaulted by relentless screaming. On the
floor lay one of her crew. The Doctor, Seven of Nine and Rayna Merris struggled to put him onto
a biobed. She rushed to assist.
Half of the fallen man's body was covered in glistening diamonds of ice and his legs were
unnaturally twisted. His uniform was literally crumbling away. The skin on his face was cracked
like a reflection in a broken mirror. Trails of frozen tears tracked down his cheeks to mingle with
scarlet drops of blood. He screamed again, and pink bubbles popped at his lips. The Doctor
injected him twice, without visible effect.
"He's on the bed, now let him go," he barked at Merris. Only then did Janeway notice that the
woman had not released her grip.
"I would if that were possible," the words were spoken through clenched teeth. Merris' fingers
were as gray as the slate colored carpet in sickbay.
Jesus.
"Seven," Janeway called the ex-Borg over. "What happened?"
"The Cardassian Hibernation Unit exploded as Crewmen Bonneville and Mallory were moving it
into the Cargo Bay. Cause is, as yet, unknown." Seven's voice was flat, almost toneless. It was a
peculiarly hollow sound that she adopted only when something had profoundly affected her.
"Crewman Merris rescued Bonneville almost immediately." She nodded toward another biobed.
Lt. Paris was bent over its occupant. Janeway couldn't see Bonneville's face because his
hands…if the gray, lifeless lumps could be called such…were frozen fast to it.
"I instructed her to leave the Cargo Bay," Seven continued her narration. "I do not know if she
heard me; however, she did not leave. We found Mallory moments later and beamed to
Sickbay."
"It's raining." The whispered words snapped Janeway's head around. Merris still held Mallory by
the arm. "Can you feel it on your face?" Dark eyes closed. "Cooling… soothing…" Pale brows
lowered. "The flames of pain are dying." Merris' face suffused with golden color as blood rushed
to the surface of her skin.