Why me
(Act 4)
Hoshi stood up unconformed that Phlox had fired something in Spike "What have you done!?"
"What was that!?" Spike came back quickly and displaying a reasonable anger.
"Captain, I developed a device that could interact with his frequency, we have a weapon in became something different from what he is telling us!"
"Are you okay Spike?" Hoshi asked.
"Yes, when you are dead, few things hurt too much. I'm Fine" He adjusted his clothes and turned to Phlox "You started my black list right now! What can you just trust a stranger?"
Archer watched quietly all this scene, but have to interfere "Spike, calm down and tell us how you know all of us too personally!"
"Fine, but I tell you first that are going to be still more unbelievable, because I do not know how it is possible." He didn't sit this time "Well, as vampire, I couldn't go taking walks during daylight till I wanted to keep myself something different from flaming torch, then I had to stay awake inside my crypt during all daylight, I had to do something in order to spent time, my best choice always was the Sci-Fi TV cable channel."
Everybody react confusedly, TPol asked "Why it has to do with us?"
"Guess! Your entire universe, your past and your future, your great detailed history, everything that exists here including you all and everyone you know, from where I came from, is nothing more than a TV series. I know everything about every one of is because I watched every bloody episode! This may seem futuristic to me, but is not the future, I think this is parallel universe!"
"It may seem strange, but there is a Vulcan theory that may collaborate with him." TPol interjected "A human theory is also similar, the Einsten-Kobalsky-Mallory bridge, says that there should exists as many realities as we imagine, and if a huge mass of people believe in this same television story, this universe should grow more dense." She paused a little to think in her conclusion: "In Spike's version, he was living in the edge of a probably end of his word, his universe was clearing ending at least for him, his amulet and his knowledge about us, should activated the bridge between the universes."
"TPol, your explanation is a way too good, but imaginative, why are you acting less skeptic than unusual." It was Captain Archer teasing the Vulcan again.
She cleared her throat, counted till one thousand (in Vulcan high-speed counting measure), bit her lips like a small sly children and answered calmly: "Captain, I simply fit his facts in very respectful scientific theories, sir!"
"This is bullshit! I can't believe that I am not real!" Trip was outraged "Are you saying that we all are words on a script!?"
"It is what I think is true, this universe may have been inspired by something, but now I'm here, It is enough real." Spike claimed.
"Do you really know everything? Addicted to series, like a jerk?" Archer asked, he tried to find a better word than jerk, but he didn't.
"Yes, it is not something that I would be glad to admit, watching all those episodes would certainly qualify me as a brainless nerd, but I do know everything about you, try! Ask me whatever you want?" The vampire challenged.
"Who invented the warp drive?" Trip tried.
"Easy. Zefram Cochrane!"
"Who was the leader of the secret eugenic wars?" Hoshi's turn
"Khan Noonian Singh!"
"What is our highest speed?" Trip again
"Warp 5"
"What is the name of the farm the Klingons and Sulibans attacked three years ago?" Archer's question.
"Broken Bow"
"The name of the hidden Vulcan sanctuary destroyed two years ago?" TPol asked too.
"P'Jem, or something like that?"
After lots of correct answered questions, Phlox asked one that Spike couldn't right: "Are we going to survive the Expanse mission?"
"I don't know much about the expanse." The vampire noticed that they finally hit his flaw.
"You said that you know also about our future!" Archer imposed.
"He is lying." Trip instituted.
"Wait, I can explain, the happenings dealing with the NX01 Enterprise are the actual series, this series that is the fifth one, occurs 100 years before the time from the first series." He tried to seem totally certain about what he was declaring, he was a huge fan of all the series, knew a lot of stuff, but he had his gaps. "Some weeks before I died the electric power was cut off from the city, I could not watch the last ones."
A silence floated, everyone looked to each other, except Malcolm, off course. Then Arched stated "Ok then, we have a lot to think, and we have a lot to discuss too, anyway lets do a pause for lunch." Everybody smiled, he continued "Trip, you bring Malcolm, you two are going to lunch with me, the rest is dismissed." Hoshi noticed a jealous quick reaction from TPol because she wasn't invited for the Captain's lunch today.
When Archer was leaving, Spike intercepted him at the hallway "Hey Jonathan, I would like to inform you, that I am glad to be in this ship, I will collaborate, I won't be a stone on your shoe, but I'm not going to follow your orders if I don't want to!" He finished his speech and left entering into a bulkhead, leaving a discontent captain behind.
Archer, Trip and Malcolm, instead of going lunch, they went to the shadowy section where the Captain was attacked and where he supposedly have sighed that girl wearing Hawaiian shirt. Malcolm was already wake and well (except for a small bruise in his face caused by his recent fall after his last instant-sleeping attack) was holding a big phaser pistol. Trip was searching life forms with his tricorder, they entered in this deck that was all lighted now.
"Captain." Deep eyed Trip said "I adjusted the tricorder to catch similar life forms like this fellow Spike."
"Good idea Trip, but I think the girl I saw was classic flesh-and-bones form." Archer responded.
"Why are you affirming it sir? Because if they were like Spike I may be not able to fire at them with this weapon." Malcolm asked.
"She was stealing bread, at least she was more *alive* than a vampire. And the bump I received was solid enough." Captain gave good reasons. "Trip, is there a way to stay in the ship and keep himself out from sensors?"
"Off course there is, sir, but we don't know about how it would work, if we did, we would surely develop something to hack it." Trip was totally sincere, but it was not what Archer wanted to hear, neither being said this way.
Malcolm entered into a corridor and sooner called "Mr. Tucker please come here." Trip followed him. "See this marks on the bulkhead, they seem like scratches."
"Yes, like if it was removed several times." He agreed and yelled "Captain! You probably would like to check something here!" A minute passed and Archer didn't come... "Captain!!" then the officers glanced at each other.
They ran for the corridors and do not find the Captain, "Where is the Captain?" Trip went to a console and communicated "Tucker to the bridge!"
"Bridge here"
"Who are you?"
"Ensign Michael Zaslow" [clear throat] "sir!"
"Who is there?"
"Just me and I'm with the cleaning team, I think it is lunch time, sir."
"Do you know how to run a life form sensor?"
"Hmm, hmm, no sir, I am a vacuum cleaner operator. But I would like to try!"
"No! Don't touch anything, I am going there! Tucker out" He made a go movement with his head to Malcolm and they got the turbolift.
"Bye Sir!"
"Do you know what I miss most? My red shirt! It always was part of my main badass style, how could I left home that day, to be a major part of the end of the world without my favorite shirt?" Spike was cursing his last acts, Hoshi demonstrate empathy for him showing a little smile, she also thought that she liked the way he talked, sometimes using ancient English slangs, he was an undeniable interest for one lover of linguistics like her. They were at the same cafeteria, some minutes later, Hoshi and TPol were having their lunch, Spike was accompanying them.
"Do you know about Vulcan culture?" TPol, serious as ever, asked.
"Yes, a bit." Rapidly he understood what point she wanted to reach with his conversation, so he easily broke up her next line: "Enough to know about your most favorite ritual. That one linked to the number seven!"
TPol was drinking his Vulcan hot tea, when she got his tease, she almost got choked, the apricot-colored liquid leaked from her lips very infamously (correctly double infamous effect because she was Vulcan). He was clearly referring about the Pon'Farr, the seven year interspaced ceremonial of sexual intercourse, when the most logical species go crazy for a while, it was their highest secret dogma of them.
Hoshi tried "What was that about!?"
"Never mind." Spike saved one explanation, just cross glanced between them.
"You know everything about us, tell more about yourself." Hoshi asked, TPol was still rubbing the result of her tea accident.
He turned into an uneasy state "You know, Love. That is the problem, and that is why I'm here!" He tapped his pockets, searching for a non-present pack of cigarettes "I think when someone is really getting close of real love, something happens!"
"You are not human." Now restated, TPol implied.
"I was, well I am, half!" he raised his index finger and his eyebrow to impose his speech "A quarter human now, I am a ghost."
"Love is an emotion, it just detour our brain from our complete intellectual achievements." She had to express this Vulcan motto.
Spike thought that he always wanted to discuss it with Spock, he may have a chance now if he stays for long. "Eat your logic girl, you may have not noticed that the human goal is love, love for adventure, love for greed, and the love for searching the real love."
"I do not think this way."
"Sure you do, you may have built a wall in front of the feelings, but it was always deep there, pressing your logical brain." The vampire was almost upset, Hoshi liked the way he replied, the rest of the crew always thought the same way about Vulcans. Spike pacified next "No discussion now, gals, lunchtime is for de-stressing."
Hoshi tried a classic ice-breaking question "Do you like music and movies? We have a huge library here."
"Yes, I know about the movie nights you have here. Wait a minute, do you have the last two movies of the Matrix trilogy, I've missed because I left by May." He went enthusiast now.
"What is the matrix?" TPol asked.
"Trilogy? They were four!" Hoshi stated firmly turning paler the face of the vamp!
Trip and Malcolm were alone at the bridge, the cleaning team was already gone, they were running sensors to find where (the hell) the Captain went to, with no success Trip thought that occasionally Archer found the secret way of stay in the ship and still be out of life scans.
About one hour after, Trip was exhausted and sweating, he pressed all buttons on the bridge that would help in their searching crusade, he decided to put the ship in yellow alert, asked Malcolm to organize searching teams and intercommunicated requesting that all high officers should report to come to the bridge. "I did my best! Lets drop the problem at TPol's lap, she is paid for that!" Trip said and Malcolm nodded coherently, then he continued "God! I need a massage!"
This time Malcolm did not have time to express a odd reaction that he would certainly do, because he looked to the turbolift door and sighted Spike, going rightly into deep sleep again, this time he lied over his console, surely more comfortably than last time.
"Could you inform when you are coming? We could avoid that..." Trip asked Spike, showing some discontent sigh.
"I will try!"
Hoshi, TPol and Mayweather entered the room and took their respective seat, Trip and TPol were discussing nearby her console, meanwhile Spike was looking all those controls and stuff seemed seriously real, taking advance over everybody's full concentration, he couldn't restrain himself and sat at the Captain's chair. He's butt testified that the chair was more comfortable than it seemed to be on the TV, he remembered TPol's antic style of sitting over that chair. Then Spike started to whistle 'Faith from the heart' (aka Enterprise Theme) producing upset glances from everybody "Ok! I will be quiet!" he slightly approached TPol and Tucker "What is going on, what all this worry is about?"
"Captain Archer has completely vanished!" TPol affirmed. "This is the fourth unusual event in two days, I checked a pattern, I have to tell you that every event happens in exact intervals of six hours after the time your were freed, You must be the cause!"
Spike moved his eyebrows indicating misunderstood and unconformism.
(End of Act)