Part 14 Explanations
Trip found himself a seat whilst Hoshi, Phlox and Reed moved their seats closer to the Captain's bed all deeply intrigued by what Tetia could tell them about their current predicament.
"As I explained to T'pol," Tetia began, "to understand what is happening I need to tell you a little about our people and our history. The first thing you must know about us is that our people have some telepathic abilities."
"You mean you can read minds, talk to each other without speaking, that sort of thing?" Trip asked.
Tetia turned to look at him. "Not exactly," she replied. "Most of our people have very basic skills; the ability to sense your mood, perhaps scan your surface thoughts." There was the briefest of pauses before she added, "and yes, we can communicate without speaking."
It took a second or so to register that she had not spoken the last part of the sentence but somehow they had all 'heard' it.
When she continued, she returned to normal speech. "The problem is that for most of us transferring thoughts in that way is like shouting. Everyone in the immediate vicinity can pick up on what is being said, so such abilities were not often used, until about fifteen years ago when things began to change. It started with a research group at one of the universities. They discovered that there were some people with much stronger latent abilities than others and they set up a simple standard test so that anyone could measure their potential. Some of those who gained the highest scores on the tests formed an elitist group, they called themselves Tesla, and members of the group began to develop techniques to train their abilities. On the surface it all seemed harmless enough but in reality a subversive sub culture was developing. Their leaders believed that those with the ability should be in charge of the government and should be using their talents. So they worked on a plan to take over, by last year they had the skills and the numbers to carry it out. You see, they had developed the ability to alter people's perceptions. They could make them see and hear what they wanted them to. They could also read surface thoughts, knew what people expected to see. They used this to slowly replace everyone in a position of power, government, military, police, all of the leaders were replaced by people from Tesla, by the time anyone realised what was going on it was too late, they were in control, a bloodless coup had occurred. They dropped their pretense slowly and let people know who they were."
"But surely the people could have objected, stopped them once they knew what was going on." Reed said.
"They could have but the Tesla leaders were very cunning. They launched a huge propaganda machine. What they had done had very little effect on ordinary people, their lives went on as always, so there was no reason for them to fight, besides, how can you fight people who can make you believe that they are your neighbour, your friend, your brother, your son? It would have been impossible." She paused for a moment to allow this idea to sink in before continuing. "The Tesla also made certain promises, that they would use their abilities to help them obtain alien technology and that that would use that to make everyone's lives better."
"And that is where we come in." Archer said.
"I'm afraid so," Tetia turned to look at him her expression full of regret. "You are the third ship to come to the planet since they took over. The other two crews were," she hesitated before continuing, "disposed of, once they had control of the ships, and then they looted them for the technology they held." She scanned the group. "You are the first crew that has shown any signs of being able to resist them. As far as we can tell the previous crews were completely oblivious to anything being wrong until it was too late for them. We have spies in their organisation, people whose own telepathic abilities are powerful enough for them to avoid being discovered." She looked at the Captain. "When we found out you had escaped from the compound we decided to help. There was little that we could do for the others." Again her tone showed her regret, "but we may be able to stop the same fate from befalling your crew."
"Amen to that." Trip said.
"First we need to understand how you managed to resist their telepathy and why they chose to show their hand so early with you Captain."
"I think that was because of me." T'pol stated. "As a Vulcan I have a great deal more control over my thoughts than most other races. I began to see things as they really were shortly before their attitude towards us changed. I was just about to inform the Captain when they hit him."
"And from then on he would have been in pain," Reed continued. "We discovered that pain somehow blocks the false perceptions."
"Pain in humans causes subtle alterations in their brain chemistry," Phlox picked up the explanation, "Those changes must interfere with the telepathic signals."
"Interesting," Tetia said, "So whilst your people are in pain their senses cannot be fooled."
"You keep saying 'we'," it was Archer's turn to ask a question. "I take it that you are some sort of resistance group?"
"Yes, as I said the Tesla's activities did not affect the lives of most ordinary people but the government and military leaders, the ones the Tesla replaced, they were.." She swallowed before continuing, her voice a little shakier than it had been, "killed, so that they could not pose any threat to the new government. Then their family and friends began to be systematically rounded up and 'moved for their own safety.' Those of us who saw what was coming dropped out of sight and formed the resistance movement you see now."
Despite the fact that she had attempted to continue her narrative it was clear that Tetia found this part of her explanation difficult. Archer couldn't let it pass without offering some form of condolence. "Did you lose someone close?" He asked
"My father," she replied quietly
"I'm sorry," Archer gave the only response that he could, knowing that it was inadequate for such a loss, but then any words were.
Tetia took a deep breath and visibly suppressed the emotions that had been pulled to the surface. "There are many here who have suffered similar losses," she continued with her explanation, "but we have also been able to recruit others who believe that what is happening is wrong. Some of them fortunately from within Tesla itself., that is how we knew what was happening to you."
"Do your people know what is happening on Enterprise now?" Archer asked.
She nodded. "According to our last report they have replaced twenty crew members so far. They also reported Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Hoshi killed in a tragic shuttlepod accident. They needed to explain the loss of the pod."
"What about the Doc?" Trip asked.
"It appears they replaced him." Tetia replied. "It seems they were keen for someone to be working in your sick bay."
"Presumably so that they could find out more about human physiology and work out for themselves why their telepathy was ineffective." T'pol postulated.
"So," Archer said thoughtfully, "if they've already replaced a quarter of the crew. We don't have much time to do something about it."
"The loss of one of the shuttlepods has caused them to slow down their replacement program but you are correct we do not have much time before they have replaced enough of the crew to take over." She gazed directly into the Captain's eyes. "Once they have succeeded they will kill the crew. The only thing keeping them alive at the moment is the fact that they may need them or their knowledge in order to access all of your technology."
"Damn," Reed let the curse pass his lips almost without realising it. "If only I'd stayed on the ship."
"Why's that Lieutenant?" Archer asked.
"Because I believe I've worked out a way to get through to the crew."
"One that doesn't involve hitting them in the face one at a time?" Trip couldn't resist asking. Archer raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "I'll explain later," Trip said directing the comment at his friend.
Reed ignored him. "I was thinking about it last night. It would take a bit of work but I believe that I could rig the ship to give a small electrical shock to everyone in contact with something metal and, let's face it, that covers most of the surfaces on board., enough to hurt but not enough to cause any permanent damage. That would allow them all to see what was really going on." He sighed. "But it's no use because I'm not up there any more."
Jonathan Archer's mind was working rapidly. Now that he had all of the facts, he needed to come up with a strategy and fast. Not only to take the Enterprise back, but also, if he could, to help Tetia and her friends take back control of their planet from the Tesla. The idea of leaving this beautiful woman to live in hiding whilst her world was run by a group, no better than space pirates, was not one that he could easily stomach. He knew T'pol wouldn't approve, would probably remind him that it was not a good idea to interfere in the government of a planet and would probably even tell him the position of the Vulcan high command on such matters, but he was damned if he would leave these people in power to do this to some other poor unsuspecting crew. If, by some miracle he could get his ship back, then he had every intention of using it to stop the Tesla.
"OK. Lieutenant I want you to explain to T'pol exactly what you have in mind." Archer pushed himself off the cushions that he had been resting on to a full sitting position, ignoring the pain as adrenaline coursed through his system. There was a certain fire in his eyes, a determination in his expression that his crew recognised instantly. Their Captain had a plan. "Tetia, I think I know a way we can get my ship back and help your resistance movement at the same time but I'm going to need the help and cooperation of your people and it's going to be dangerous." He held her gaze. "I'll understand if you want to say no, you have already risked a lot to help us."
Tetia shook her head. "There are others that I have to consult but I am sure they will want to help."
"OK, good, first I need information, the layouts of the place where our people are being held and the whereabouts of the damaged shuttle, along with details of how it's being guarded."
Tetia stood. "Give me a few minutes," she said and turned and left the room.
Archer turned his attention to Trip. "How badly damaged is the Pod and her systems?"
"Well, we aren't going to get it to fly again without a couple of days of major repairs," Trip replied
"What about the internal systems, communications?"
Trip tried hard to remember, the time around the crash was still a little hazy. He couldn't really recall anything before the dash across the clearing to the trees.
"They were functioning when we left," Reed replied, noticing Trip's hesitation. "Commander Tucker suffered a concussion in the crash sir," he explained, "and he didn't really have chance to examine any of the systems, but the internal damage was fairly minor."
"Well let's hope it stayed that way." Archer said, swinging his legs round off the bed. He couldn't recall ever feeling so weak and it took all of his willpower to hold his position as the room tilted alarmingly at the movement. He swayed slightly and instantly felt two pairs of strong hands gripping him either side. As his vision cleared he looked up at the sea of alarmed faces. Trip supporting him on one side. Phlox on the other.
"Captain you really shouldn't be trying to move around yet." Phlox said, in as stern a tone as he ever used. "Please, lie down again."
Archer held up his good arm and waved both Trip and the Doctor back. "I'm fine," he said unconvincingly. Realising that he wasn't going to get through this without some help, he looked Phlox in the eye. "Doc I need you to give me something to get me back on my feet for the next few hours."
Phlox held his gaze. "You need to rest, your system has suffered.."
"Doc I don't have time to rest," Archer interrupted. "You heard Tetia, if we don't do something soon then the rest of the crew could be killed and these fanatics will have control of a warp capable ship. I'm sure I don't need to point out what sort of hazard the Tesla could cause if they spread their piracy beyond the planet." He paused briefly. "Please doctor, there are things that I have to do."
Phlox sighed, "I can give you an artificial stimulant and painkillers which will help mask the effects of the injuries, but you will have to be careful and I can't vouch for how you will feel when the effects wear off."
"Not important," Archer said grimly, "because if this plan of mine doesn't work. I don't think it's going to matter how I feel."
Trip found himself a seat whilst Hoshi, Phlox and Reed moved their seats closer to the Captain's bed all deeply intrigued by what Tetia could tell them about their current predicament.
"As I explained to T'pol," Tetia began, "to understand what is happening I need to tell you a little about our people and our history. The first thing you must know about us is that our people have some telepathic abilities."
"You mean you can read minds, talk to each other without speaking, that sort of thing?" Trip asked.
Tetia turned to look at him. "Not exactly," she replied. "Most of our people have very basic skills; the ability to sense your mood, perhaps scan your surface thoughts." There was the briefest of pauses before she added, "and yes, we can communicate without speaking."
It took a second or so to register that she had not spoken the last part of the sentence but somehow they had all 'heard' it.
When she continued, she returned to normal speech. "The problem is that for most of us transferring thoughts in that way is like shouting. Everyone in the immediate vicinity can pick up on what is being said, so such abilities were not often used, until about fifteen years ago when things began to change. It started with a research group at one of the universities. They discovered that there were some people with much stronger latent abilities than others and they set up a simple standard test so that anyone could measure their potential. Some of those who gained the highest scores on the tests formed an elitist group, they called themselves Tesla, and members of the group began to develop techniques to train their abilities. On the surface it all seemed harmless enough but in reality a subversive sub culture was developing. Their leaders believed that those with the ability should be in charge of the government and should be using their talents. So they worked on a plan to take over, by last year they had the skills and the numbers to carry it out. You see, they had developed the ability to alter people's perceptions. They could make them see and hear what they wanted them to. They could also read surface thoughts, knew what people expected to see. They used this to slowly replace everyone in a position of power, government, military, police, all of the leaders were replaced by people from Tesla, by the time anyone realised what was going on it was too late, they were in control, a bloodless coup had occurred. They dropped their pretense slowly and let people know who they were."
"But surely the people could have objected, stopped them once they knew what was going on." Reed said.
"They could have but the Tesla leaders were very cunning. They launched a huge propaganda machine. What they had done had very little effect on ordinary people, their lives went on as always, so there was no reason for them to fight, besides, how can you fight people who can make you believe that they are your neighbour, your friend, your brother, your son? It would have been impossible." She paused for a moment to allow this idea to sink in before continuing. "The Tesla also made certain promises, that they would use their abilities to help them obtain alien technology and that that would use that to make everyone's lives better."
"And that is where we come in." Archer said.
"I'm afraid so," Tetia turned to look at him her expression full of regret. "You are the third ship to come to the planet since they took over. The other two crews were," she hesitated before continuing, "disposed of, once they had control of the ships, and then they looted them for the technology they held." She scanned the group. "You are the first crew that has shown any signs of being able to resist them. As far as we can tell the previous crews were completely oblivious to anything being wrong until it was too late for them. We have spies in their organisation, people whose own telepathic abilities are powerful enough for them to avoid being discovered." She looked at the Captain. "When we found out you had escaped from the compound we decided to help. There was little that we could do for the others." Again her tone showed her regret, "but we may be able to stop the same fate from befalling your crew."
"Amen to that." Trip said.
"First we need to understand how you managed to resist their telepathy and why they chose to show their hand so early with you Captain."
"I think that was because of me." T'pol stated. "As a Vulcan I have a great deal more control over my thoughts than most other races. I began to see things as they really were shortly before their attitude towards us changed. I was just about to inform the Captain when they hit him."
"And from then on he would have been in pain," Reed continued. "We discovered that pain somehow blocks the false perceptions."
"Pain in humans causes subtle alterations in their brain chemistry," Phlox picked up the explanation, "Those changes must interfere with the telepathic signals."
"Interesting," Tetia said, "So whilst your people are in pain their senses cannot be fooled."
"You keep saying 'we'," it was Archer's turn to ask a question. "I take it that you are some sort of resistance group?"
"Yes, as I said the Tesla's activities did not affect the lives of most ordinary people but the government and military leaders, the ones the Tesla replaced, they were.." She swallowed before continuing, her voice a little shakier than it had been, "killed, so that they could not pose any threat to the new government. Then their family and friends began to be systematically rounded up and 'moved for their own safety.' Those of us who saw what was coming dropped out of sight and formed the resistance movement you see now."
Despite the fact that she had attempted to continue her narrative it was clear that Tetia found this part of her explanation difficult. Archer couldn't let it pass without offering some form of condolence. "Did you lose someone close?" He asked
"My father," she replied quietly
"I'm sorry," Archer gave the only response that he could, knowing that it was inadequate for such a loss, but then any words were.
Tetia took a deep breath and visibly suppressed the emotions that had been pulled to the surface. "There are many here who have suffered similar losses," she continued with her explanation, "but we have also been able to recruit others who believe that what is happening is wrong. Some of them fortunately from within Tesla itself., that is how we knew what was happening to you."
"Do your people know what is happening on Enterprise now?" Archer asked.
She nodded. "According to our last report they have replaced twenty crew members so far. They also reported Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Hoshi killed in a tragic shuttlepod accident. They needed to explain the loss of the pod."
"What about the Doc?" Trip asked.
"It appears they replaced him." Tetia replied. "It seems they were keen for someone to be working in your sick bay."
"Presumably so that they could find out more about human physiology and work out for themselves why their telepathy was ineffective." T'pol postulated.
"So," Archer said thoughtfully, "if they've already replaced a quarter of the crew. We don't have much time to do something about it."
"The loss of one of the shuttlepods has caused them to slow down their replacement program but you are correct we do not have much time before they have replaced enough of the crew to take over." She gazed directly into the Captain's eyes. "Once they have succeeded they will kill the crew. The only thing keeping them alive at the moment is the fact that they may need them or their knowledge in order to access all of your technology."
"Damn," Reed let the curse pass his lips almost without realising it. "If only I'd stayed on the ship."
"Why's that Lieutenant?" Archer asked.
"Because I believe I've worked out a way to get through to the crew."
"One that doesn't involve hitting them in the face one at a time?" Trip couldn't resist asking. Archer raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. "I'll explain later," Trip said directing the comment at his friend.
Reed ignored him. "I was thinking about it last night. It would take a bit of work but I believe that I could rig the ship to give a small electrical shock to everyone in contact with something metal and, let's face it, that covers most of the surfaces on board., enough to hurt but not enough to cause any permanent damage. That would allow them all to see what was really going on." He sighed. "But it's no use because I'm not up there any more."
Jonathan Archer's mind was working rapidly. Now that he had all of the facts, he needed to come up with a strategy and fast. Not only to take the Enterprise back, but also, if he could, to help Tetia and her friends take back control of their planet from the Tesla. The idea of leaving this beautiful woman to live in hiding whilst her world was run by a group, no better than space pirates, was not one that he could easily stomach. He knew T'pol wouldn't approve, would probably remind him that it was not a good idea to interfere in the government of a planet and would probably even tell him the position of the Vulcan high command on such matters, but he was damned if he would leave these people in power to do this to some other poor unsuspecting crew. If, by some miracle he could get his ship back, then he had every intention of using it to stop the Tesla.
"OK. Lieutenant I want you to explain to T'pol exactly what you have in mind." Archer pushed himself off the cushions that he had been resting on to a full sitting position, ignoring the pain as adrenaline coursed through his system. There was a certain fire in his eyes, a determination in his expression that his crew recognised instantly. Their Captain had a plan. "Tetia, I think I know a way we can get my ship back and help your resistance movement at the same time but I'm going to need the help and cooperation of your people and it's going to be dangerous." He held her gaze. "I'll understand if you want to say no, you have already risked a lot to help us."
Tetia shook her head. "There are others that I have to consult but I am sure they will want to help."
"OK, good, first I need information, the layouts of the place where our people are being held and the whereabouts of the damaged shuttle, along with details of how it's being guarded."
Tetia stood. "Give me a few minutes," she said and turned and left the room.
Archer turned his attention to Trip. "How badly damaged is the Pod and her systems?"
"Well, we aren't going to get it to fly again without a couple of days of major repairs," Trip replied
"What about the internal systems, communications?"
Trip tried hard to remember, the time around the crash was still a little hazy. He couldn't really recall anything before the dash across the clearing to the trees.
"They were functioning when we left," Reed replied, noticing Trip's hesitation. "Commander Tucker suffered a concussion in the crash sir," he explained, "and he didn't really have chance to examine any of the systems, but the internal damage was fairly minor."
"Well let's hope it stayed that way." Archer said, swinging his legs round off the bed. He couldn't recall ever feeling so weak and it took all of his willpower to hold his position as the room tilted alarmingly at the movement. He swayed slightly and instantly felt two pairs of strong hands gripping him either side. As his vision cleared he looked up at the sea of alarmed faces. Trip supporting him on one side. Phlox on the other.
"Captain you really shouldn't be trying to move around yet." Phlox said, in as stern a tone as he ever used. "Please, lie down again."
Archer held up his good arm and waved both Trip and the Doctor back. "I'm fine," he said unconvincingly. Realising that he wasn't going to get through this without some help, he looked Phlox in the eye. "Doc I need you to give me something to get me back on my feet for the next few hours."
Phlox held his gaze. "You need to rest, your system has suffered.."
"Doc I don't have time to rest," Archer interrupted. "You heard Tetia, if we don't do something soon then the rest of the crew could be killed and these fanatics will have control of a warp capable ship. I'm sure I don't need to point out what sort of hazard the Tesla could cause if they spread their piracy beyond the planet." He paused briefly. "Please doctor, there are things that I have to do."
Phlox sighed, "I can give you an artificial stimulant and painkillers which will help mask the effects of the injuries, but you will have to be careful and I can't vouch for how you will feel when the effects wear off."
"Not important," Archer said grimly, "because if this plan of mine doesn't work. I don't think it's going to matter how I feel."