Author's Notes: Ah, but what happened to the healers? We should find out what happened to the healers in the next chapter.

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Trip (cont'd)

Archer walked towards him, fury in his eyes and voice. "What are you doing here?!" he barked.

"She's my wife, my place is with her," Trip replied. His eyes were cold, his voice flat.

Archer took a sharp breath. That was exactly what they'd been trying to hide from the Vulcans. Doubtless the sons of bitches had heard it, too. He came almost nose to nose with Trip, "You were ordered to remain in Engineering," he said between clenched teeth.

Trip looked past Archer, at the healers, checking that they were not going into the isolation room. He needed to be at T'Pol's side before them. Phlox had said the eye in the dream represented her telepathic abilities. They would destroy them, destroy her. And he wasn't going to let them. In his dream he had stopped the three representatives because the constitution didn't allow it... The constitution.

He spoke loudly, "Under Vulcan regulations I have every right to be here. My place is at her side. She is my bondmate," he stared at the healers, daring them to challenge him on that point.

Nobody moved.

If Archer'd been alone, he'd have taken his head in his hands in frustration. There they were, three Vulcan healers on the verge of chickening out and now Trip telling them that she was bonded to a Human. It could be the straw that broke the camel's back. From past experience, Vulcan doctors were not the most progressive fellows. They'd think she was a deviant. He was certain E'Shara and the others were going to excuse themselves, turn on their heels, and leave.

And there was nothing he could do about it.

Phlox was watching the scene with great interest, trying to gauge the healers' state of mind. Keeping Trip out of sight had nothing to do with the fact he was T'Pol's bondmate. Simply he didn't want to alarm the healers about another possible source of infection. Obviously a telepathic parasite was already a stretch for the Vulcans healers. Dealing with two victims may be more than they had heart for, no matter how logically they'd frame it. Indeed, the healers were watching Trip goggled-eyed, as if a monster had just sprung out of the closet. Phlox thought he needed to say something, anything.

But Trip beat him to it. "If you'll excuse me," he coldly said to Archer, walking past him to the privacy curtain.

E'Shara took a step back as he approached, her eyes growing even wider. Phlox almost put a hand out to prevent her from darting away. Yadur and Smirak seemed to stoop even more slightly, as the strain had gone greater. That set Phlox to wondering if perhaps what was affecting T'Pol was bleeding through to Trip.

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It

It was happening.

The three hosts were in close proximity. The almost-host was there too. Their close presence was making it easier to manipulate the energy fields. It went on shrinking and expanding rhythmically, beckoning them to It.

Once they were close to It, It could finally escape the stasis field and find another host.

It started compressing itself for the jump. There had been too many times already when It had acted too slowly.

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Trip

Trip paused at the entrance to the isolation room and turned to look at the healers before slipping through the curtains. There were a couple of beats then as if some tenuous balance had shifted E'Shara went in after him, followed by Yadur and Smirak. Phlox rushed in right after, he didn't want them alone in there. Archer hurried to catch up, wondering what Trip was up to, having the feeling he'd just let a dangerous weapon loose. Behind him, the doors to Sickbay swooshed open and Reed walked in. The chief of security hesitated, taking in Archer slipping behind the curtain. He took a step then stopped. And remained where he was, phaser in hand.

Trip's heart was beating fast. He needed to protect T'Pol from the healers but they were in there with him. Everyone had trooped in after him. He looked at the biobed where she laid peacefully under the stasis field. And froze. He turned to Phlox, ignoring E'Shara and her accolytes, "What's with that?"

"What's with what?" asked Phlox.

"The respirator!"

Phlox sighed but before he could answer E'Shara spoke, "You suppressed all her psi abilities?" she asked, her tone conveying immense amounts of surprise.

Phlox nodded, "Yes, I realize the risk but it was necessary to prevent further damage." He looked at Trip, "I had to put her in a deep coma, deep enough to affect the psi abilities. Those are intimately interconnected with vital processes," he made a half-gesture towards the respirator, "life-support measures will only increase."

"Then you have to wake her up!" Trip growled.

E'Shara looked at him sharply, "Waking her up could kill her." She turned to Phlox, "I need to enter into a shallow mindmeld, through the stasis field. Healer Yadur and Healer Smirak know what to do." Phlox had a sudden mental image of the two healers dispatching E'Shara if she became infected. And yet there was no other choice. He nodded and moved out of the way.

E'Shara stepped forward but Trip was still at the head of the bed, preventing access. Yadur and Smirak took position a foot behind and on each side of her. The three healers were facing the engineer, patiently waiting for him to move. Nobody said a word.

Trip's eyes went from the healers to Phlox, thinking about his options. There was only so much he could do. He couldn't physically stop the healers. If he resisted, the Captain would order him to stand down and could have the guards take him out. He had to be cagey, he had to be smart about this.

The thought came unbidden to him that he needed to release the stasis field. Once released, T'Pol would wake up, be back to herself. And then the healers would no longer be needed, they'd have to leave the ship. Just like in his dream.

"Sorry, m'am," Trip walked around to the other side, ostensibly moving out of the way of the healer, actually moving closer to where the stasis field was connected to the power source. He looked at the wall of machinery, portraying interest, actually checking his bearings in relation to the connection plug. It was in the near corner. Now all he needed was a time when everyone's attention was distracted.

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It

A wave of pulsating ecstasy went through It, ricocheting from one side of the room to the other. The plan had succeeded. The point of inflection had been successfully reached and had tipped along the expected fault lines. Exactly as expected. This was worthy of celebration. It was not uncommon for the emergy build-up to go awry at the last minute, either failing completely or manifesting itself into some action that was far from the intended result.

But the universe had smiled on It. The stasis field penning It would soon be released and he would jump to the new hosts. Their ship was smaller, it would be easier to redirect it and have them bring It to the Realm of the Unassigned.

There It would be safe. It yearned for the Realm, yearned for one of the futures that would once again be open to It. Any future would do. It had learned its lesson.

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Phlox

E'Shara's turned to Phlox, "I will need access."

The doctor nodded, "We have anti-stasis suits ready for you. Are you familiar with their operation?"

E'Shara shook her head, "We seldom are faced with a stasis field."

"Of course, of course," Phlox purred, "It's very simple, really. It's set to a frequency that minimizes stasis interference without suppressing it. My understanding is that this will be enough for a shallow examination, hmm?"

E'Shara looked at Yadur before looking back at Phlox. She nodded, "I will only be checking for a foreign telepathic presence." Her tone remained unemotional but Phlox sensed she was embarrassed not to be doing more. At the same time, doing more might be a death sentence. An awful, ugly, bloody death sentence. He couldn't blame her, really. "That will be perfectly all right," he replied.

He saw from the corner of his eye that Archer was choking on that, about to say something. But the Captain must have realized the unfairness of demanding more. He closed his mouth wordlessly, his stress showing instead in his clenched fists.

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Trip

E'shara was fully suited, hands steepled in front of her face, eyes closed. She opened her eyes and extended her hand towards the stasis field, taking a hesitant step closer. The whole room's attention was riveted on her.

That's what Trip had been waiting for. He reached over and behind the medical console, grabbing the stasis connector with both hands. Trip started twisting, working hard against the connection. The thing was electromagnetically anchored to the wall. Fortunately, it was made to give way in an emergency. Trip had plenty of experience with recalcitrant hardware, and the muscles to show for it.

"Stop! Commander Tucker, Stop!" Phlox shouted from behind. E'Shara had backed away from the biobed. Trip didn't stop, twisting further. The connection slowly loosened. Archer rushed to him but Phlox was already there. The doctor grabbed the engineer's back, trying to block his arms. Instead, Trip yanked harder.

The statis field shimmered and went off.

There was a gasp, perhaps from one of the Vulcans, then the sound of footsteps precipitously leaving the isolation room.

And then the stasis field re-established itself.

Trip swore. He'd forgotten about the safety override.

The switch was further on the wall. Trip reached for it. Phlox clung even harder to him, trying to pull him off the wall. Trip jabbed the doctor with one elbow, then turned and shoved him hard and away. Phlox reeled backwards onto the stasis field, rolling off onto the floor, dazed. Trip turned back to the override and Archer jumped on him in turn, trying to get him into a headlock in spite of his injured shoulder.

Trip arched his back, destabilizing the Captain, and slammed his elbow full force into his friend's side. Archer grunted but didn't let go. Trip ducked from under Archer's grip, pivoted hard and hit Archer's bad shoulder with the butt of his hand. Archer screamed and doubled over. Trip reached for the safety override again.

The sizzle of a phaser lit up the room briefly.

Trip fell in a heap. Phlox was getting back to his feet. He turned to where the phaser fire had come from. The healers were gone and in their place Lieutenant Reed was standing at the entrance to the isolation room, putting his phaser back in its holster.

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