xxx
Captain's Ready Room
"Understood, Archer out." Archer cut off the com. The silence was thick in the room.
Once they'd made contact with the monastery, he expected the healers to be ready and eager to jump in and help. He checked his thoughts - eager, yeah, if a Vulcan could ever be eager. Though he'd seen T'Pol tense with suppressed excitement and they could be just as eager as the next guy... It was the 'jump in and help', that was the issue... When would he ever learn that Vulcans never jumped in to help, never. Like that ice-cold bastard Vanik on the T'Muir... Though he did help in the end... Or Soval... Except the Ambassador had helped, from behind the scenes... And T'Pol was always ready to jump in and help... Perhaps he was being unfair. He frowned. Of course he was being unfair. But Vulcans had not been that eager to help his father, so in the end he wasn't wrong.
He turned to the others, each mulling what they'd just heard the Vulcan elder say. "What d'you make of it?" he asked.
"They're scared..." Reed replied.
Archer looked at Phlox, "Do you agree?"
"Considering what will happen to them if it is a telepathic parasite that can't be contained, the reluctance is understandable," Phlox said slowly.
"So we're on our own?"
"Not quite, Captain," the doctor hastened to add, "all the head of the monastery said was that T'Pol cannot be brought down to the surface." He paused, "Which is just as well from a medical perspective. She said they would be in contact again when we reach orbit. That doesn't mean they won't help."
"Glad that's how you understand it, Phlox," Archer cut in, "but I'm not so sure. I agree with Reed they're scared, and you said yourself they have every right to be. They may decline. What d'you think, Trip?" They still hadn't heard from the engineer.
"I say we wait until we reach orbit," Trip replied, "see what they have to say. We're only a few hours away. For all we know they're pulling short straws down in the monastery, see the lucky fellow who's going to come. And nothing says it's a telepathic parasite anyway, so they'll want to check."
Actually, the more time passed, the more Trip was convinced there was no telepathic parasite. This was just much ado about nothing, if they'd let T'Pol wake up, she'd be fine. But that was not something he could voice in public, not with Phlox listening.
xxx
It
It shimmered softly in excitement. The almost-host was back, not for the first time. It was focusing the whole of its energy on getting him to release the stasis field, and every encounter helped. Once the almost-host released the field, It would jump and have him bring It back to the Realm of the Unassigned.
It was one thing to manipulate the ambient energy to facilitate events, another thing entirely to have one lifeform take a specific action. The buildup was incremental, layer after layer of similarly-charged energy particles until internal tension reached a paroxysm, to be released into specific action. Unless it was brutally interrupted before the point of manifestation.
And there were still unresolved questions about the almost-host. A host would see It, right under the field, no longer hidden within the host, but the almost-host didn't seem aware of It's presence. There was no way of telling whether It could direct him as It would a host.
It could not be distracted by unhelpful thoughts. It poured all its energy into modulating the energy fields towards the point of manifestation, pulsating in rhythm with the shimmering of the statis field.
xxx
Sickbay
Trip stared at T'Pol. The bandages on her head were off, there was just the shadows of bruises, some healing cuts. She looked perfectly fine. For some reason, he really felt she'd be okay once she woke up. But Phlox wasn't entertaining that possibility, wouldn't even consider a trial run. That made no sense. They'd all decided it was some kind of telepathic invader, and with no proof, at that - pah! The stuff of cheap science fiction.
He wished her awake with all his strength. He started groping around in his head for the place where he used to feel the bond. Perhaps he could reach back out to her through the bond, if he could find it, wake her up. Like the prince kissing Sleeping Beauty... The thought made him smile. He'd have to tell her the story when she woke up.
The shimmering of the stasis field was a reminder that he couldn't touch her, couldn't try to make her feel better. He checked where the energy source for the stasis field was. Not that he'd ever cared to know before but he was the chief engineer for Enterprise, that's the kind of stuff it was his duty to know.
The thought came to him that it would be an easy reach to shut off that energy supply. A couple of steps, disconnect the junction. He looked around. He was alone in the isolation room, there was nobody around.
Still, he couldn't do that. It was too much of a gamble, he wasn't a doctor after all.
Even if he felt he knew better than the doctors on this point. She was his wife after all. They were bonded.
He looked again at the power supply. Shook himself as if coming out of a dream. He was needed in Engineering.
He snuck out of Sickbay with the demeanor of those with a guilty conscience.
xxx
Enterprise
"I am Captain Archer. Welcome aboard," Archer gave the ta'al, inwardly taking great pleasure into the minute reaction of stupefaction from the Vulcans at his perfection of the form. One didn't house Surak in one's head for days and not have something to show for it.
The small Vulcan in the center stepped forward, pushing back her hood, and the other two followed suit. Archer recognized the woman they'd first made contact with, the elder of the Y'lah'Ru monastery. If the elder herself came, it was a sign of the gravity of the situation. That didn't make him feel better.
She returned the ta'al, "I am Healer E'Shara," she said, "and these are my accolytes, Healer Yadur and Healer Smirak." The men inclined their head in turn as their name was called.
"This is Doctor Phlox," Archer introduced his staff in turn, "You have already met Ensign Mayweather and Lieutenant Reed." Travis had piloted the shuttle and Reed had gone along to make sure there were no Orions hiding behind the doors of the monastery this time.
The Vulcan elder coked her head towards Phlox. "Thee are a healer?"
"I am a Denobulan doctor, m'am," Phlox answered genially, "with degrees in Interspecies Veterinary Medicine, dentistry, hematology, botanical pharmacology, and psychiatry, but unfortunately without any telepathic abilities."
"Dr. Phlox asked that the hallways to Sickbay be cleared, to lessen the telepathic burden on you," Archer cut in, wanting to put his best foot forward for the Vulcan healers.
"Unnecessary," was the curt reply. The elder seemed to sense the awkwardness that her remarks induced. "We are shielding each other," she added, "the emotions of the crew will not be a disturbance."
'We'll have to see about that once you meet Trip,' Archer thought, but kept it to himself. Phlox didn't want to spook the Vulcan healers more than they already were by having to face two potential sources of infection. E'Shara threw him a sharp glance and he suddenly found himself wondering exactly how telepathic the healers were. Fortunate that Vulcan telepathic abilities were shrouded in strict rules of privacy.
"If you would follow me to Sickbay," Phlox looked meaningfully at Archer. He was the one who thought it better to keep Trip away from the healers until they saw T'Pol. Even if Trip was showing no signs of infection. What seemed eminently rational to psi-blind Humans may not come across quite the same way to the Vulcans.
"That is where the infected individual is?" Yadur asked.
Archer got a sense he'd rather be anywhere than on Enterprise. He glared at him, "Her name is T'Pol."
He almost added 'Commander T'Pol' but stopped himself just in time. That was a Starfleet title. The healers would know she'd thrown in her lot with the Humans. It was on a par with the bond with Trip, something better left unsaid until they had fully committed to helping. At this point, they were simply coming to assess the situation. Give them the shadow of an excuse and they would cut loose. Even if their coming in force seemed to indicate they would help. Reed was right, they were definitely scared. Like cats approaching water.
And yet part of him couldn't blame them, given what would happen if they were infected.
xxx
It
It had become a firework of pulsating gyrations, It could hardly contain itself. It had felt the hosts as soon as they set foot on Enterprise. Three hosts, no less. Plus the one he had joined. And the almost-host. It would find its way to the Realm, that was more and more certain.
It ensconced itself in the host again, invisible under the shimmering field. It may be that events were turning in its favor, but It was not going to wait passively. If the hosts were nearby, It could have its choice of jumping to the almost-host or to one of them.
It started shifting the surrounding energy particles into bringing the hosts to It. That would not unduly delay its influence on the almost-host. He was close to the point where he would release the stasis field.
xxx