Hoshi

"... so I set it up so that our words come out as bird calls and chirps...," Hoshi explains as a team of science specialists sets up the intermodular frequency inhertzion on her console, under the watchful eye of the chief engineer. She turns to Archer, "Our words most probably won't mean anything to anyone down there who's listening, but they will recognize that there is an intent to communicate."

Archer nods. He has a sudden mental image of Porthos yapping and howling. How would it feel if his dog actually said something? Clearly enough that there's no doubt it's talking? He's between amused and creeped out.

Hoshi speaks slowly in the inhertzion modulator, "Starship Enterprise... Starship Enterprise... Starship Enterprise..." It comes out like the plaintive two-tone call of a brown desert nowi. She waits, and repeats, "Starship Enterprise... Starship Enterprise... Starship Enterprise..." There's no knowing if anyone on the planet will get it.

Suddenly a bird's call fills the bridge, like the song of a nightingale. It repeats three times then stops. And then repeats again. Hoshi looks up at Archer, they've made contact! She fiddles with the settings of the inhertzor, her brow furrowed, speaking as she does, "The regularity of the response is a positive sign..." She falls silent, blows a wayward strand off the corner of her mouth. The song keeps playing on the bridge, she keeps fiddling with the controls, but the inhertzor remains mute.

"And..." Archer's voice cuts through.

Hoshi looks up, reminded that she's left her audience hanging, "I believe they're responding, Captain, but the structure is unlike anything I've seen before...," she looks down at the silent inhertzor. Perhaps she's made a mistake in the calculations. If T'Pol was there to check... but T'Pol isn't there. "I need more time," she says, "the UT is not programmed for anything like this..." She falls silent again.

Archer turns to Trip, "I want everyone in Science and Engineering to help figure this out." He stares at the screen, His captain instincts tell him what he needs to do. He motions to Hoshi, "Get me on that thing," and she opens a line for him.

Archer clears his throat, "This is Captain Archer of the Starship Enterprise. We come in peace. We are bringing one of your people back." He stops, listens to the responding call. There's no variation in the bird song. If only he knew what it's saying...

"Set it to loop'," he tells Hoshi. The song, his song, repeats end to end. It sounds like a lilting answer to the nightingale call. Still no reaction from the other side. He sits back heavily. Looks like they're in for another brisk round of waiting...

xxx

T'Pol

And then there was darkness... no more...

Something... Something is rousing her from her dreamless sleep. She does not know what it is.

Something... She must escape. It is prying into her mind... She sees the shadow, mentally foresees its progress through her synaptic structure... That thing... It is invading her mind... Trying to... When a lari'ku bites, one must remove the offending organ, or see the poison slowly spreads up the limbs to death... She must remove... Her ... self.

She must kill herself... the primeval urge is slowly waking her up stronger than any instinct to live... She cannot move, limbs laden with the amnesia of drugs... she strains for further awakening.

The life support machines recognize the impending awareness, inject a larger dose of relaxant.

Blissful oblivion... She sinks under the darkness...

On the overhead monitors, a heart rate stabilizes.

The vitals flirt with the orange zone but not enough to elicit a warning. The monitors dutifully remain silent.

xxx

Bridge

The bridge is tensely silent. Everyone's only too aware of the science specialists around Hoshi's console and the lack of progress. The inhertzion modulator remains stubbornly silent, won't tell them the meaning of the bird song that repeats endlessly.

Archer catches his fingers just as they start drumming on the arm of the Captain's chair. He clenches a fist, unclenches it and works the muscles. The sound of his drumming will only add to the ambient stress. He's getting impatient, a little bit disappointed, truly. Hoshi's usually all over new dialects, new languages. Why can't she nail this one? Perhaps he's come to expect too much of her.

Hoshi knits her brow. Why can't she figure this one out? It's only a matter of deciphering whistles, thrills, calls, cacaws. The scientists have checked all her calculations, everything's right. So why isn't the machine working? What is missing? What is she missing? She thinks back to the distress signal from the alien planet. How did she know it was a distress signal? 'Come on, Hoshi... think!'

Trip is adjusting the modulator settings, inputting the revised calculations. That will remove a low vibration from the power source, avoid the unwanted suppression of any sound wave. The machine remains mute. Perhaps there's something else he's not hearing. T'Pol would be able to tell. Except she's not there, is she? The alien melody is sinking into his brain, it's like the sound of his engines enveloping him. He's feeling safe. He has a sudden urge to go home. To where the song is.

Reed is listening intently to the repetitive song. He's got it down pat - tad, tad, tid, tid, ta-ad with a whirl at the end. So long as that doesn't change, they're ok. The moment it starts sounding like 'ten... nine... eight...', he'll yell 'red alert' and Enterprise will warp out at top speed. They'll only have a few seconds to escape. He's mentally mapping all the steps, the Captain's order, Trip rushing to his station, the sequence of weapons he'll fire at the planet.

xxx

Phlox

Phlox looks up with a frown, gets up from the medical desk. He looks around Sickbay, makes his round, checking the insulation unit. Everything's as it should be.

Then why is he feeling something's off? He looks again, but all the monitors are blinking steadily, healthily. Still something doesn't quite feel right. He can't quite put his finger on it.

A third look reveals still nothing. He shakes himself, goes back to his desk. It may be that he is externalizing his anxious search for an answer to how to disentangle T'Pol from the alien and keep her alive. He hasn't found it yet. There's no mention of anything like it in the database or any of the journals. He glances at the wall clock. It's been a while since the Captain went back to the bridge. That means they haven't made contact yet. He still has a little bit more time, which is a good thing. Once he's ready he'll be counting the minutes until his patient's freed of the alien presence. But for now it's a good thing.

Perhaps his unease stems from the uncertainty Hoshi can figure this one out. Check that, he's certain she can. The young Human female is an ace at languages, he's seen her at work many times. He's confident she'll decipher this one too, be able to reach out to the aliens.

He hopes.

xxx

Bridge

Alpha shift turns into beta, is slowly coming to delta, and still nothing's come out of the modulator other than slight variations in the nightingale's song. Each time, Reed tenses up, then relaxes as the new tune turns out to be very much like the old one.

Archer is wearily mulling. There's no doubt the aliens are trying to make contact. If only — His thoughts are shrilly interrupted by the armchair com. He almost jumps out of his seat, snaps the com open, "Archer here!"

"This is Phlox, Captain. You have to come down." Archer looks at the com, frowns. That's the second time in less than as many days. "Alone," adds Phlox. Archer looks at Trip, who's straightened up from where he was bent over the modulator. "Very well, Doctor."

He's loathe to leave the bridge, what if that thing finally works? He looks at Trip again, realizes he's not sure he can trust he's free from the influence of the alien. "Reed, you have the com," he says as he gets up from his chair.

"Captain!" Trip is glaring at him, "I'm the one in contact with the alien on board!" The meaning is clear, it should be him.

Archer privately thinks that's exactly the reason why not, replies "Trip, I need you to make that thing work!" He's already in the lift, and gone.

xxx

Sickbay

The two men stare at the sea of monitors above the stasis field. "You've got to make it stop!" Archer exclaims. The doctor looks up from where he's entering a long string of commands, "That's what I'm trying to do, Captain!" A human doctor might have said 'You think?!'

Some of the vital indicators flutter, then stabilize to orange. Phlox looks up "That's only temporary. All I can figure out is that the alien is attacking her somehow." He turns to Archer, "You need to communicate with it."

Archer just stares back dumbstruck. Communicate with it?! Him?! "Trip?" his mind shortcuts.

Phlox sighs, "No, you. E'Shara says that the alien understands what we say. You need to talk to It." Then seeing Archer is not following, "If you remember, you're the one who made the deal."

"What deal?"

Phlox inwardly sighs. There are days when he wonders why he chose to serve on a ship full of Humans. "That you would release the stasis field when we arrived at the planet," he says. "We've arrived at the planet." In case that's not obvious.

"But we're still trying to make contact with them!" Archer exclaims.

Phlox privately thinks it must be exhaustion clouding the Captain's brain. "And of course, we've communicated that to the alien, hmm?"

"Trip is in contact with the alien," Archer reflexively replies. He looks around for the commander but Trip is not there.

"Commander Tucker is not the captain of this ship," Phlox sharply retorts.

Archer stares at Phlox speechlessly, then regroups. "You think that It will leave T'Pol alone if I do?"

Phlox shrugs, "It may, in any case it's our best shot right now."

Archer positions himself next to the stasis field, talking loudly to a point slightly above T'Pol's head, on the wall. "You agreed you would release my officer when we arrived at the planet —

"Actually, when we released the stasis field," Phlox corrects in a whisper.

Archer glares at him, why is it that healers always feel the need to shoot their mouths off? He turns back to the stasis field, "We have arrived at your planet and we are trying to make contact with your people." He stops, waiting for an answer. There is no answer. "We will release the field as soon as we find out how to bring you planetside," he adds. They watch as one of the indicators briefly dips to red than slowly lifts back to orange. Archer smiles victoriously at Phlox, "It's heard us," he says. If that's not a signal, he doesn't know what is.

Phlox is scowling, looking into the medical computer. "I have to eliminate the possibility of a random event," is his only reply.

xxx

It

E'Shara was right about many things, but not about Its ability to understand what is being said. It understood, yes, but that was thanks to the connection she had established.

It is in the midst of trying to wake up the host and have her bring It to the Realm when the transports come in. The first thing It notices is that the almost-host is not present. That does not bide well for their intentions. It contracts rhythmically in concern, psionic colors slowly gyrating through It.

One of the transports comes close and speaks. It does not understand what is being said but there is no noticeable psionic charge of aggression, or ill-intent. The words flow through It without meaning. It needs the almost-host to fully understand. That requires It to make a choice. A few seconds pass and It abruptly releases its pression on the host. It has made its choice. It can focus back on the host later.

On the overhead monitor, one of the indicators dips into red then orange in reaction to the sudden release of pressure, but It is unaware of that. Right now, It is summoning the almost-host.

xxx