~*~Disclaimer=me no own~*~I apologise deeply for the shortness of the last chapter, I had the worst writers block ever! First I'm going to finish this, then finish Sometimes I Stare and then concentrate on Little Cotton Socks and Daddy's Little Girl because I hate leaving stories unfinished so I'm determined to finish this one whether my brain will work or not!!!!! Thanks for all the reviews!!!!!! This chapter will actually involve a dream so bear with me!~*~

For a moment Trip's heart stopped, he thought it was the machines monitoring Malcolm that was beeping.

He was about to make his tracks for the night when Malcolm suddenly stirred and opened his eyes.

"Doc! He's awake!" Trip exclaimed joyfully.

"Shurrup, head hurts," Malcolm murmured shooting Trip a reproachful glance.

He closed his eyes again and took a deep breath as if to orientate himself. Then he opened his eyes again.

"How are you feeling?" Phlox asked smiling broadly.

*Did you graduate from the school of stupid questions? I feel like crap! Mind you, am I on Enterprise? Is that really Trip and Phlox? No it can't be-they showed me the footage of the explosion, this is another trick. Urgh, thinking hurts, in fact everything hurts-what the hell have they done to me?*

"Fine," Malcolm replied eventually.

He closed his eyes and chose to ignore the rest of what they said to him.

"Is this a good sign?" Trip asked, "It must mean he's getting' better,"

"We shall see," Phlox replied. "It's time for you to go Commander-you need your rest too-Mr Reed will still be here in the morning."

Trip opened his mouth to argue but let it go and walked out.

'Malcolm walked into the mess hall, his friends and colleagues were all there, their gaze boring into him. Their expressions were uncharacteristically hard and hatred burned brightly in their eyes.

"You took your time," said Hoshi coldly.

"What?" Malcolm asked confused.

"Forget about ya duties did we?" Trip snapped. "Where the hell were ya?"

"When?" he asked, glancing around almost nervously as they closed in around him.

"What d'ya mean when?" Trip snarled. "When the Jennerns attacked us!"

"What? No!" Malcolm exclaimed. "I couldn't do anything!"

"Well that much is obvious," said T'Pol raising an eyebrow.

"Where were you Malcolm?" Hoshi asked her tone becoming more desperate. "Your replacement couldn't cope, it was horrible............people were screaming. Where were you?"

"They captured me, they were interrogating me!" Malcolm tried to explain.

"Oh you poor diddums," said Travis sarcastically. "My heart bleeds for you I assure you."

"It did actually," cut in T'Pol looking thoughtful.

Malcolm shook his head.

"This isn't real," He said firmly.

"It doesn't change what you did," said Trip, practically nose to nose with him. "You killed us you ungrateful little sonofabitch!"

"I couldn't do anything! They were holding me captive!" Malcolm practically screamed.

"It. Was. All. Your. Fault." Trip snarled. "Ya wouldn't admit you were ill! If you had gone to sickbay that morning instead of insisting ya were fine when ya so obviously weren't, the Jennerns wouldn't have taken ya, they wouldn't have interrogated ya and we would still. Be. Alive!"

"A domino effect," said Travis. "So really, it is your fault. I hope you're proud of yourself."

He turned around hearing blasts from down the corridor. He turned back hearing screams of pain and agony.

He recoiled in horror, all around him the others were bleeding, crying, screaming. Bones were broken, the smell of burnt flesh was rising and a crimson lake was running through the mess hall.

"Why?" asked Hoshi starring at her burnt bloody fingers. "Why did you do it?"'

Malcolm woke with a start, his breath coming in shaky gasps.

"Oh God, what have I done?"

~*~Please review! I know the people in his dream were out of character-they were supposed to be! So yeah, please review!~*~