'You wanted to see me Doctor?"

"Yes, yes, take a seat. I wanted to run a diagnostic, see how things are proceeding."

"May I remind you that you ran a diagnostic a week ago, when we arrived at Starbase 4. I fail to see how a week could make a difference when you yourself said not to expect progress on less than a monthly basis."

"I know very well what I said." Phlox was a little peeved at having his words thrown back at him "I need to check your optic nerve again and I have something to discuss with you." He paused. "I also asked Commander Tucker to join us."

T'Pol didn't reply, though an elegant eyebrow pointed out that may not have been the most inspired decision. "I doubt Commander Tucker can be drawn away from his engines."

"Was that a snide comment?" Phlox had sensed for a while that things were tense between thje two of them but he had brushed that off as adjustment pains. He had hoped that the brief stay at Starbase 4 would give Trip the opportunity to rest and reset, help the two of them get into the new normal. Obviously his hope had been disappointed.

"A statement of fact."

"He will come." He made a note to dig a little deeper once the agitation of departing from Starbase 4 had subsided.

"Very well, Doctor." An aura of reprobation emanated from his patient while Phlox went through a series of scans and measurements. Finally the doctor looked up again.

"I know this is slim satisfaction but the optic nerve has not atrophied. That's actually a very good sign."

"If we are quite done, I would like to return to duty."

"Not so fast, T'Pol, not so fast." Phlox bounced on his heels in anticipation. "I wanted to talk to you about an experimental device that is being developed by the Federation Institute of Technology under the oversight of the Interspecies Medical Exchange. It's a fairly groundbreaking project, not many know about it. They're trying to recreate eyesight by transmitting visual signals directly into the brain. Hmm, it's a little bit more technical than that but in essence that is what is achieved. At least according to preliminary results."

T'Pol looked towards Phlox with upraised eyebrows. The doctor was going on. "It's still very much in prototype stage, and not available to the public. I contacted the IME when we left Luspypso. Let's just say that given our, hmm, intervention on Luspypso they were favorably inclined to select Enterprise as a site for their field testing."

"I do not understand."

Phlox nodded. She understood all right, she wasn't sure she believed it. "They agreed that you are an optimal candidate for prototype testing, given your training and experience as a scientist, and having only recently become sightless. While not strictly necessary, the fact that your optic nerves are still healthy will enable a true comparison of the functionality of the equipment." Phlox grinned. "They've sent us one of their units to test. The parameters are to use it and record the adjustments to be made, help make the device universally helpful." He cleared his throat. "That's where you come in."

"But the use and improvement of a prototype requires the involvement of one of the technicians that participated in its elaboration."

"Exactly!"

At that precise moment the doors swished open and Trip walked in. "Ah, Commander Tucker! Your timing couldn't have been better!" Phlox turned to T'Pol "Commander Tucker has become certified as a technician for the prototype and will be intimately involved in configuring the device as we go through the test phases."

T'Pol was staring at Trip through the echolocation device. There was a lot of data to process and the emotional arousal resulting from Trip's involvement made it very difficult for the higher cortical functions to dominate. Thus she was speechless. She saw Phlox's mouth move but with the delay from the echolocation wasn't sure if he was talking or had been talking. A white noise seemed to be drowning everything around her.

Phlox had noticed that his patient looked shell-shocked and he kept talking to give her the time to digest the information. "The FIT scientists call the prototype "Big Brother". I think it's meant to be an ironic reference to a literature classic from old Americania but it doesn't translate very well for us aliens. We'll have to find a new name, hmm?"

Trip had walked to T'Pol's side, careful not to touch her as she seemed on the verge of an emotional overload. He started talking technology, knowing the purely scientific angle would give her mind an anchor of sort. "It's still fairly rudimentary at this point, but the concept is not that dissimilar to echolocation. Except they're not relying on sound waves. The equipment is actually compressing images and feeding them directly in the brain. Not as images, of course, but as neural impulses. I understand it's pretty close to being able to see."

T'Pol was starting to look her normal green self again.

"Shall we, hmmm?" Phlox has finally stopped bouncing on his heels, and he walked to a large crate resting on his deck, extracting a helmet-like contraption that looked like an old style American football helmet, with a grid in front.

"This is the prototype, Big Brother, also known as FITMIE Proto S301. Don't ask if it means anything." Phlox told her. "Commander Tucker has already initialized the software and it's ready to be used. Unfortunately, none of us can tell if it works or not or how it's going to work. For that, you need to put the device on."

T'Pol turned to Trip, having finally regained the use of her executive functions. "You are certified in the use of the device?"

"Yes I am." He smiled at her. "A lot of late-working evenings, and I mean a lot."

T'Pol didn't answer. She had much to think about. Phlox was approaching with the helmet "I need you to stay on the bio bed so I can monitor your stress reaction."

"Stress reaction?" she felt she kept repeating what was said to her.

"The areas of your brain that process visual images have been, ah, under-stimulated for the past couple of months, we don't know how this will feel, and the images may not appear as regular images. It also depends which area they're going to feed into. That's why it's a prototype, hmm?"

Phlox was handing her a padd. "I have told them I take entire responsibility for anything that happens but they still asked for a formal release." T'Pol nodded and affixed her thumbprint to the screen. She didn't need to read what made no difference in her decision.

Phlox had electrodes in his hand. "One of the aspects we need to work on is portability. Right now I need to set up a bunch of electrodes for the device to feed into but we're looking to pare these down to what is strictly necessary." T'Pl nodded and waited until he had finished. That didn't make the device very practical.

"Actually, I think I've already figured that one out." Trip interrupted. "We can integrate the electrodes all around the inside of the helmet with fuel cell batteries. Those should generate enough moisture for contact, since the skin is a conductive organ. That's just going to require some fiddling around."

"First, let's figure out exactly which electrodes we need."

T'Pol had a definite sense the conversation was going on around her and not through her. It was a different experience to be the experiment rather than the one conducting it. The limited visual range of the echolocation device reinforced her sense of being a laboratory subject. While her relative situation to Trip and Phlox was logical, she found that it was not particularly pleasant or gratifying and she would not be looking to repeat it should there be other choices. She stored in her database of personal information that she did not like being a guinea pig.

Just then, Phlox brought the helmet by. "Commander, I need to repeat that this is a prototype and we do not know how it works or the dangers involved. The test subjects who have used it where all sighted and only put it on for very short amounts of time. We do not know what may happen with more consistent use. You can still refuse to be part of the experiment, I want you to know."

"It would be a waste of resources to return the device at this time."

Trip smiled briefly at the well-known evasion, knowing the echolocation device would not capture it. Coming from T'Pol, that was an admission she couldn't wait to try it.

Phlox handed him the helmet and he deftly took it with the ease of someone who had familiarity with it. He helped T'Pol take off the echolocation device and guided her hands around the helmet, helping her slide it on. He noted how the rounded design was not adapted to her ears. More pressure points he would have to be careful of, see if there was a way to adjust. The helmet completely hid her features and gave her the appearance of having just come back from a moon walk.

"I'm going to turn it on now." He looked at Phlox, waiting to make sure the doctor was ready. They both held their breath as he connected the electrodes.

There was an audible gasp and T'Pl bought her hands to her head. "Do you need us to turn it off?" Trip asked. There was no answer. Trip watch the arrows on the monitor above the bio bed shoot to the top of the range. "Doctor?" His voice was strained.

Phlox was busy with his hand held scanner, not looking at Trip. He gave a brusque shake of his head "No, no, this is a normal reaction, the system is stressed, it should adjust momentarily." T'Pol was breathing harshly, it could have been from pain or from the sudden neural stimulation.

"Are you ok?" Trip asked again. "Do you want us to turn it off?"

"No... No..." The helmet slowly turned to him. He was standing right by the biobed. She reached out and touched his sleeve. "I can ... see ... you."

"You can see me?" Trip thought he was going to burst from joy.

"Yes, though you're indistinct." The helmet turned to where Phlox was standing "I can see Dr, Phlox too, and Sickbay." Trip tried to resist but found he could not. He started jumping up and down across Sickbay. Phlox was grinning from one of his head to the other. The two men stared at each other in triumph. They had done it.

"Can you stand?" Phlox asked.

He waited for T'Pol to answer. He saw the helmet turn to him and then she suddenly pitched forward while the monitor dials went crazy. Phlox just caught her before she fell off the biobed.

xx

T'Pol woke up in the dark, wondering where she was. She couldn't remember going back to her quarters. She also couldn't remember taking the echolocation device off but she had memories of seeing. Slowly it came back to her, the prototype, Sickbay. She felt to see if she still had the helmet on.

"Ah you're waking up" Phlox voice was by her side. She heard him come closer. "How are you feeling?"

How was she feeling? The question always was a struggle for her, there were so many different planes of feeling. Phlox must have remembered who he was talking to, adjusted quickly. "I mean, are you functional?"

That, she understood. "Yes, Doctor. What happened?"

"That's what I was going to ask you."

The doors to Sickbay switched open and she felt Trip walk in. The bond had alerted him that she as awake again. "How are you doing?" He asked as soon as he got in.

"I am fine. Where is the visual device?"

"We took everything off, I need to scan your synaptic connections now that you're awake."

T'Pol stayed still while Phlox activated his scanner. The doctor harrumphed when he was done. "Well it looks like there's no damage."

"Where's the visual device?" T'Pol asked more insistently

"I'm not sure about this." Trip replied. "You went into a dead faint. It looked pretty bad."

"We need to try again." Her voice left no room for discussion.

"I'm not going to chance it."

Phlox looked at Trip in surprise. If this is how he was approaching T'Pol's disability, perhaps it was no wonder that the two of them were at odds recently. "Commander Tucker, may I remind you that Commander T'Pol has willingly agreed to test the prototype, hmm? If there's a medical reason not to go forward, I believe I am the one best qualified to decide so, hmm?"

Trip looked definitely somber. "What if there is permanent damage? You said yourself that could happen."

Phlox looked at the young man appraisingly. It seemed to be worried about something else happening. Perhaps handling one disability was already a stretch, two might be more than he could take.

"But it didn't." Phlox curtly shut him down.

He turned to T'Pol. "I checked and the previous testers of the prototypes were all sighted and they didn't wear the device for longer than two or three minutes, to check if it powered on and that kind of things. This was the first time someone has had the helmet on for longer than five minutes. What do you remember just before you passed out?"

"I do not remember passing out."

"No, I'm sure you don't. The Vulcan synaptic system has this wonderful cut-off feature that prevents it being overwhelmed. But you must remember the minutes before."

T'Pol stayed silent, thinking awhile. Then she turned to where she thought Phlox's voice had come from. "Initially, I could see Trip and I could see you and the room, but as the image became more distinct it was as if every detail of the entire visual range was being impressed on me at once."

Phlox nodded. No wonder the synapses had cut off. "There was too much sensory input. The normal visual system notices everything within sight, but the brain filters most of it out so it can focus on the image it needs to. Otherwise, it would be like trying to see every detail of a postcard all at once. Our brains are not set up for that." He turned to Trip. "We need to filter the input, prevent it from being overwhelming."

"How are we going to do that? I mean how do we determine what gets filtered out?" Trip was chewing on his lower lip. They all stayed silent, thinking.

"The echolocation device." T'Pol said after a few minutes. Trip looked up. "What about the echolocation device?"

"It naturally filters the information, the range is reduced, the impressions rendered are based on distance to the object. That is similar to what would be close-up as compared to background in a picture."

She couldn't see Trip's face suddenly becoming illuminated. "There might be a way to transform the echolocation readings into neural packetsThen we could integrate the echolocation mechanism within the visual sensors, provide them with an ordering algorithm!"

"Can it be done?" This was technical stuff, beyond Phlox's ken.

"Yes, yes it can." Trip was nodding vigorously. "It would be one additional input into the system, it would come first, as a kind of traffic handling mechanism for the neural packets. The images of what is closest would come first, and the rest would follow in order. The delay would be too minuscule to measure but the brain would not be overloaded."

"How long before it is done?" For the first time since Luspypso T'Pol very logically wished she could see, so she could help Trip refine the device more quickly.

"No more than a day to replicate the echolocation circuits, I've already done a fair amount of work on understanding how it works. Integrating it will simply be a question of figuring out where it can physically lay within the helmet."

"Why does it need to be integrated? Could it be wrapped around the helmet and feed directly into the captors?"

Trip stared at T'Pol. "That's a brilliant idea. Then all I have to work on is the interface, I'll ask Hess to help, it won't take longer than a day or two. If she starts while I'm replicating the echolocation circuits, we could have the visual device ready for another spin in two days."

"Let's get on it, then." Phlox noted that they were both referring to the equipment as visual device. Perhaps there was something to that.

xx

It was well after the end of their shift on the second day and Trip and T'Pol were back in Sickbay to the great delight of Phlox who was enjoying the company almost as much as the medical exploration.

As the clock crept close to the time when T'Pol collapsed on the previous attempt, the two men held their breath, waiting. Five minutes ticked by, then ten, and still there was no adverse reaction from the test subject. Trip was all business while Phlox was taking copious notes. Once he was satisfied that all vital systems had stabilized, he signaled Trip that they were entering the second test.

"Can you stand up?"

T'Pol did, sticking close to the biobed, seeming tentative about moving forward.

"What is it?" Phlox asked.

"I am not able to decipher the relative position of everything in the room." T'Pol straightened imperceptibly, put her hands behind her back. "It seems as if everything in the room is exactly 1.3 meters away from me."

Trip's eyebrows hit his hairline. He looked up at Phlox. "Do you think it's due to how the brain processes the images?"

"Whether it is or not, we need to figure out why it is happening and find a way to fix it." Phlox was scowling. The prototype was much more of a prototype than he had been expecting. FIT was lucky that they had a top-notch trio of scientists helping this thing come to life. He suddenly looked up at the monitors.

"We're going to have to interrupt this. Showing your synapses are closed to being overloaded. Also there are signs of pain. We're going to try again tomorrow, I need to set up a training schedule, see how much of this is due to using new areas of your brain."

Trip was already by T'Pol's side. "Where does the pain come from?"

"The pressure on my ears is uncomfortable."

Trip helped T'Pol pull off the helmet, carefully lifting it over her ears. He winced when he saw the tips of her ears were bright green. He gently passed his fingers over the bruised tip, feeling himself swell in response as an answering green tint crept up in her neck. It seemed their bodies had come to associate the gesture with erotic arousal.

He blushed at Phlox's chuckle, this was bad enough without a witness. T'Pol brushed his hand with hers and his embarrassment flew out the window. Not paying much attention to what Phlox was saying, he helped her step off the bed then put the echolocation device back on, aware that every touch was heightening the physical tension for both of them.

"Well, Doc, we'll see you tomorrow." He knew through the bond that she thought taking leave was unnecessary, Phlox was not Human and would not expect them to stick around after the test was over.

Phlox just hemmed in response and then he was guiding her down the hallway to their quarters. As soon as the door closed she turned to him and he embraced her though the deep kissing did little to alleviate their shared need. In an expedient shortcut he grabbed her and carried her to the bed where he could finally pay proper attention to her ear tips. The physical pressure intensified until it became almost painful. Soon, they had freed each other from the restrictive uniforms and he was inside her in the syncopated dance of life. As the endorphins swept them off into oblivion, a whisper of a thought trailed that their release had been physically satisfying but emotionally unfulfilling.

He didn't know whether it was his thought or her thought.