"Er. Good evening, then."

Laurence goes back to talking to the computer about how starships work for people who didn't get past 24th-century elementary school trigonometry, let alone high school quantum physics.

About 15 minutes later, there's a bang.

The ship starts shaking violently. A klaxon starts wailing, and red lights flash on the walls.

After about 15 seconds of this, the shaking stops, followed shortly by the klaxon and lights.

The ship is silent again, except for the ever-present background hum.

Laurence freezes in place.

Something bad is happening. He considers asking the computer what it is but is worried that it is busy. (What if someone else needs to use it during the emergency?) He knows that the best thing a civilian can do in a gale is stay in their quarters and not disturb those who are working.

He stays in his quarters, and does not disturb anyone.

The silence continues.

Eventually Laurence unfreezes but still doesn't want to disturb the computer, in case there are problems ongoing.

He goes to bed and lies in the dark for a long time before finally falling asleep.

A few hours later, the ship shakes again. About 2 minutes this time.

Laurence wakes briefly then tries his best to get back to sleep.

When he wakes, Laurence notices his head is pounding painfully and he feels nauseated.

He's ill? His stomach roils, whether with nausea or anxiety he isn't sure.

It's not as though he's going to bother anyone in the middle of the night with a minor illness. He considers asking the replicator to make him tea, but getting up feels too difficult just then. He stays in bed and eventually falls asleep again.

A few hours later, the ship shakes again, more violently and for longer than last time. A few minutes after, there's a noise that sounds approximately like:

wwwhhhooooOOAAAAAAYYYYYYEEEEEEE-STHFVZEEEEEWWWWW-GHWOOOSH!

The stars start moving again.

Laurence is awakened more by the strange sound.

He notices that he no longer feels nauseous.

... Is this what passes for a normal night on Voyager?

He grits his teeth, then gets up and asks the replicator for some tea before going back to bed.

"There are 104 variaties of tea available at this replicator. Congou. Pu-erh. Junshan Yinzhen. Maghrebi mint. Andonian. English afternoon. Shui Jin Gui...."

The replicator will go on like this for quite some time.

"English afternoon," he says somewhat randomly, since it sounds the closest to something familiar.

He accepts the tea and drinks it muzzily, marveling at the speed and convenience of the replicator even when compared to having servants on call as he sometimes did at home. Not that he would ever have woken them up in the middle of the night just for tea.

Then he goes back to sleep.

At some point Laurence wakes up. The room is still dark. The stars are unchanged.

"Computer, what time is it?"

"The time is 0600 hours."

Laurence doesn't feel tired at all despite the early hour. He gets up, gets dressed (in his same clothes; it's not like he has any others), and asks the replicator to make him a book about starship operations.

(He'll ask the computer a few clarifying questions about what titles are used to teach this at Starfleet Academy before selecting a specific one to be replicated.)

Starship Operations for Cadets appears.

Laurence will eat something from the replicator and study the book for a long time unless he is interrupted.

He is not usually so bookish, but the situation has him feeling desperately unlearned.

He is interrupted!

"Janeway to Laurence."

"Captain Janeway?" He's still a bit confused by this combadge thing.

"Lieutenant Tuvok tells me you would like to join the crew. Is that correct?"

"Yes," ever so slight pause, "sir."

"In that case, please replicate a Starfleet uniform and meet me in my ready room at 0730."

She pauses for a second.

"Hold on. Is it clear to you how to do both those things?"

"I believe I can find my way to the ready room at the appointed time. Does the replicator ... make adjustments to clothing?" How does this even... work... without a tailor to take your measurements. Everyone he's seen had perfectly fitting clothing, so clearly they're doing *something* to make that happen.

"Yes, the replicator will automatically use your measurements on... file..."

She should have thought of this beforehand.

"However, it seems I've overlooked that you of course have no measurements on file. I'll send Ensign Kim over with a tricorder to take them."

Um. "Yes, sir," he acknowledges. He's had measurements taken before. It seems odd that Ensign Kim would do it, but he's not going to question the captain.