“Twisted” is episode six of season two of Star Trek: Voyager.
Kes walks into Tom’s bar in the holodeck to find no lights but candles and it apparently empty. Then the lights come on and everyone shouts ‘Surprise’ and ‘Happy Birthday.’ Kes is two years old. Kes asks why they were hiding and is told it’s an old Earth custom. The Doctor is also in the holodeck; in a professional capacity, despite being behind the bar. As he explains all the problems that can arise from a surprise party.
Harry is on the bridge and tells Tuvok what he has just done. And the other stuff he has just done. And is there anything else he can do? Tuvok understands that Harry wants to get to Holodeck 2, but there are still 34 minutes left on his shift. However, he can go and inspect the holodeck power conduits. Before Harry can leave, Tuvok calls all stop. There is something ahead. He tells Harry the inspection will have to wait.
Neelix brings Kes a cake and she is told to make a wish as she blows out the candles – but she can’t say it out loud. Tom has got a present for Kes, a locket on a necklace. She likes it. Neelix has got his jealous face on. Janeway takes a look and explains to Kes that you can put little photos of loved ones inside it. Neelix starts asking Chakotay if he saw what Tom did – but only says he did a lovely wrapping job. Then Tuvok contacts them from the bridge about the phenomenon, but the com system malfunctions.
B’Elanna suggests it might be a localised malfunction. The captain cuts the party short and B’Elanna heads to engineering. Neelix asks what about the cake and the captain tells him to save her a slice.
On the bridge, Harry says that space is literally changing shape. It’s a spatial distortion wave that is emitting intense pulses of EM radiation. One will intercept them in less than 10 minutes. Unfortunately, reverse doesn’t work. They are completely surrounded by the ring, so Tuvok orders ahead at warp speed; they are going to be in contact anyway, so it makes sense to minimise the time. Only the warp field collapses. Tuvok tells Harry to find the captain. On the way, Harry bumps into Lt. Baxter, who asks what’s going on. Harry explains and, when Baxter asks if he should report to his duty station, Harry says that’s probably a good idea.
Tom, Captain Janeway and Chakotay are in a turbolift heading to the bridge. Only they arrive on deck 4. So, they use the manual controls. Neelix is asking Kes if she liked her surprise party. And, of course, brings up the necklace. Carefully pointing out that the necklace was replicated but Neelix baked the cake. They arrive at what turns out to not be Kes’s quarters. B’Elanna arrives in the galley and states that it isn’t engineering. Getting her an ‘of course it isn’t’ look. The turbolift this time sends Tom and the others to engineering. B’Elanna arrives in a transporter room, where Baxter is. She asks what he’s doing here. He wishes he knew. He’s been trying to find the cargo bay. At least B’Elanna knows she isn’t going crazy. Baxter mentions that Harry is looking for the captain.
The Doctor is unable to return to sickbay and the hologram of Sandrine is hitting on him. Harry arrives as she is kissing him. The Doctor explains he cannot get back to sickbay, and he can’t shut down the program. Nor can Harry. Harry is leaving, but the Doctor convinces him to stay and help first.
Kes and Neelix are looking at the doors to various crewmembers’ quarters. None are near Kes’ quarters – nor are they even on the same deck. Neelix wonders how Kes knows where their quarters are. Has she been in them all?
B’Elanna finds Harry outside the holodeck. He wants to know why she’s here; she wants to know where ‘here’ is. Kes and Neelix arrive at this point, saying they can’t find Kes’s quarters. Then Tom, Janeway and Chakotay arrive and Tom asks if anyone knows the way to the bridge.
Back in the holodeck, Harry suggests they are being pushed into the centre of the ship. B’Elanna says there are rooms in the wrong places. The distortion ring is changing the layout of the ship. The Doctor says that it could be their perceptions of the ship that are changing. The captain says they need to get to the bridge. B’Elanna suggests a site to site transport; she wants to get to engineering and Tom says they got there. So, he and B’Elanna will try and get there again. Captain Janeway will try to use the Jeffries tubes to get to the bridge. Chakotay, with Neelix’s help, will attempt to map the changes. Kes can stay with the Doctor and help him fend off Sandrine’s advances.
Tom and B’Elanna do get to engineering, but one of the doors leads to personal quarters with a half-naked crewman. Tom thinks she handled the situation very well. Neelix talks to Chakotay about jealousy, and is relieved to find that it is normal. Albeit unpleasant. Things start turning potentially dangerous and wandering out of sight of people results in Neelix vanishing. Nothing they do to try to fix the situation seems to be working.