I Naviganti 2: "K'lalatar Prnak'lirli K'lalatar Prkori
(Infinite Combinations in Infinite Diversity)"
by Monica MicioGatta
with Seti's collaboration.
Author's note: Please, let me know if you like this story. Translate is a hard work, and it's not worth it if nobody's reading. Thank you to everyone who's leaving feedback!
§35
When the doorbell rang, T'Pol jumped up and went to open it. Trip smiled at her doorway and she brought a finger to her lips.
«What?» whispered Trip.
T'Pol looked toward the bed. «T'Mir is sleeping.»
He looked at his daughter, asleep, with her hands near her face, sleeping like a baby. «I'm glad she seems not to suffer from insomnia like me...» he whispered. «Why is she sleeping in your bed?»
«I gave her neuropressure. She had back pain. She has fallen asleep there.»
Tucker turned to her. «We did a good job.» he whispered, and his soft breath pulled back slightly the hair from her ears. T'Mir was right: he found them sexy.
«In another universe,» she said.
Trip put his hand on her hip and leaned so close he was almost touching her. «So why not try to do so here?»
T'Pol thought over the temptation for a while. Sure, she wanted to repeat the «experiment» of a few days before... She gave him a slight push on his chest, to move away. «Not in front of our daughter.»
This time he could not blame her. «Then you like her.»
T'Pol stared at him. «Of course, she's my daughter.»
Tucker laughed softly. «Logical.»
«NOOOOOOOOO!»
T'Pol and Trip turned toward T'Mir. The Vulcan knelt beside her and took her by the shoulders. «T'Mir. Wake up. It's just a dream.»
She opened her eyes and sat up suddenly in bed. «Where...?»
«On Enterprise.» The vulcan sat down beside her.
«Where are they?»
«Calm down. You're safe,» T'Pol held her, making her put her head on her shoulder as in the vision of their mind meld.
«They who?» asked Trip.
T'Mir shook her head. «No... nothing... «
He hugged both women. «You're trembling.» he whispered, kissing her daughter on her hair.
«Can we stay like this for a while?»
«Of course,» whispered T'Pol.
§35bis
«Archer to T'Pol.»
... «Archer to T'Pol.»
... «Sub-commander, please reply.»
... «T'Pol?»
...
T'Mir opened her eyes. She was lying on T'Pol's bed, turned slightly on her left side, her forehead resting on her mother's shoulder, who was sleeping with her back against the wall. She could feel a warm body behind her, and imagined that Trip had fallen asleep on the same bed with her in the middle.
She put a hand on the vulcan's shoulder. «M'aih» she said. «Hey... T'Pol.»
The woman awoke with a start. «Yes? What is it?»
«Jonathan is calling you.»
T'Pol started to get up but stopped when she saw Trip sleeping like a baby, on the outer side of the bed.
«Do I need to move away?» asked T'Mir.
«No.» She shook her head. «I don't want to wake up... your father. I will climb over.» She got up slowly, put her foot on the edge of the bed and...
«T'Pol?»
...Slipped and fell completely over Tucker.
«T'Pol, not here with the baby,» said Trip, waking with a start. T'Pol pulled up quickly and ran to the door.
T'Mir threw a punch, not too hard, on Trip's shoulder.
«What have I done?» he said.
«I'm not a baby!»
Meanwhile, T'Pol had opened the door to Archer, who was calling her, and was now looking at her strangely. «You okay? I've been calling for almost five minutes.»
«Yes... Captain...»
Archer noted an inflection of embarrassment in her voice and could not help but draw a little personal satisfaction.
«I'm sorry, I must have been sleeping deeply.»
Hearing in the background - and especially having recognized the male voice - Archer leaned slightly into the doorway. «Have I interrupted something?»
T'Mir sat up and, leaning over Tucker, exclaimed: «Yes, we were sleeping great!»
«T'Mir!» Trip was tempted to plug her mouth with one hand.
Archer looked at the girl and laughed. «Sorry, but I need my science officer.»
T'Mir shrugged and laid back on the bed, resting her forehead on Trip's arm. «If you only need her, I go back to sleep.»
«I'll get dressed and I'll be right on the bridge, Captain.»
Archer nodded. «Of course, see you on the bridge.» He turned around and before leaving he added: «I'm sorry if I interrupted your family reunion. But it is a case of force majeure.»
«He knows?» asked Trip.
T'Mir nodded, but before the captain went away, she shouted after him something that neither he nor the other two officers understood. The tone seemed playful, and Archer walked away laughing. On the bridge, he approached Sato, and, almost in a whisper, asked: «Hoshi, what does the word ^rompipalle^ mean?»
The communications officer looked at him in amazement. «It's ... it's an Italian word.» she said, trying to wander. At the time on Enterprise Hoshi knew there were only two people who knew Italian: she and T'Mir.
«And what does it means?» he asked.
«Trust me. You do not want to know.»
(rompipalle = pain in the ass - more or less!)
§35ter
Left alone with Trip, T'Mir leaned on her father's chest and kissed him on the cheek. «Does it bother you if I stay here?» she asked, resting her head just above his heart.
«No,» he said, encircling her shoulders with one arm.
«I was often in this position... listening to your heart beating.»
Trip smiled slightly. «Yours is here below.» He said, brushing her side just through the covers. «Right?»
She nodded. «Vulcan heart, Human blood.»
«Manual skills of your father.»
T'Mir laughed. «Stop teasing T'Pol,» she sighed, «she did not want me to stay here.»
«Why?»
«She said that you spoiled me so.»
He laughed. «And I did it?»
«Oh, yes, you did.» T'Mir laughed too. «We had quarters like Archer's... I don't know if in this universe he has equal quarters. But it was big enough and there was the door of my room, smaller than this... but very nice. You brought me a souvenir from every planet where you had to land without me... A doll, a dress... I still love clothes. Once you've brought on board a tribble.»
«And... What is it?»
«A pet that can replicate itself over and over... Within a day they had infested the ship, fortunately Phlox had unleashed his animals and Archer's cat.»
«Archer has a cat in your universe?» It sounded very strange. Maybe it was a fighter cat.
«Yes, a beautiful tortoise shell cat.» She sighed. «When T'Pol began her shift before you, I got up and slipped in your bed to play with you. You called me 'my Dizzy Lizzy'.»
«Lizzy?» asked her father.
«Lizzy. Diminutive of Elizabeth. My Terran name, chosen by T'Pol. Elizabeth T'Mir Tucker IV, captain of Verne.» she said proudly.
«Your mother had to go crazy living with two Tuckers.»
They laughed together.
But then he turned serious, let out a slow sigh: «You know... who Elizabeth was? «
T'Mir nodded. «Yes, I know.»
§35quater
«Oh, is it already taken?»
Travis heard the musical voice coming over his head and looked up. T'Mir had one hand on the hatch and was watching him 'upside down'.
«There's room for both.» He smiled. «Come up.»
T'Mir gave a push and began to float in the air toward the helmsman. Within inches of him, she turned upside down and sat down gracefully beside him. «Am I disturbing you?»
Travis shook his head. «It seems that I'm not the only one on this ship to enjoy the 'sweet spot'.» He smiled. «As I call this place.» The helmsman was referring to a point about halfway between the gravity generator and the bow plate, where gravity would disappear for a few centimeters, then reverse.
«Appropriate term,» T'Mir said.
«It seems that you are used to it. You came here without any trouble.»
She nodded. «When I was a child, I came to a place like this. Verne doesn't have it.» In the hand that she hadn't used to thrust, she kept a container. She opened it and handed it to Travis. «Want some?»
«Strawberries?» He smiled. «Thank you. Very good... Hoshi told me that you attended the Academy in Milan.»
«Yes, but I've actually done much more directly on the ship where I was born. Like you, on the other hand, isn't it?»
Travis smiled. «The privilege of us space boomers. It was a cargo ship?»
«No, an exploration ship.»
«Commander Tucker said that Verne went to warp seven. What is it like to pilot a ship so fast?»
T'Mir finished eating a strawberry. «It's awfully hard to avoid the asteroids.»
Mayweather smiled.
«By the way,» T'Mir closed the empty container, since they had finished the strawberries. «Is it true that once Captain Archer threatened to fire you if you hit one bump?»
Travis laughed, T'Mir joined him. What excuse could she find to stay on Enterprise?
(To be continued...)
Thanks to Tishkajaku and Zero Credibility who's betareading this story in English, and to Seti and Franz who had betaread it in Italian.
All my stories are published in Italian on my blog.