Chapter Two
Surprise

"Ceal vas – What it is?" Tia Anlor asked in excited surprise when he handed her the paper wrapped gift. Commander Charles 'Trip' Tucker had long ago noticed that when the enthusiastic young woman was excited she frequently reverted to her native Auran before catching herself and returning to the English she was so determined to learn, though when she spoke English without the crutch of the Universal Translator, she employed Auran syntax.

"Nothing special," he told her, downplaying the gift even while wondering why. "Just something that when I saw it on that planet we were on yesterday, I thought of you. I thought you'd like it." The item he handed her was about eight inches tall, weighed half a kilo and was inexpertly surrounded by white paper. Decorative paper would have required a use of the replicator, but he comforted himself with the knowledge that she had no idea it was an option.

In fact, the most distinct color came from Tia herself. The Auran's blood was based not on iron, or even copper such as with the Vulcans, but gold, in a complex symbiotic biological system only Phlox understood. Thus her skin was tinted gold, particularly at the extremities where humans were notably pink. It wasn't a metallic sheen by any stretch, she looked completely normal if you ignored hair that did contain visible gold and irises that were golden as naturally as humans' were blue, brown or green.

x

"I think that from you anything would pleasant be, Shar-les," she said with a shy smile, her accent lyrical. He wondered, for a brief instant, if she was... well... flirting. But no, that wasn't likely. She wasn't going to be interested in him in that way. "But why paper about it there is?"

"Oh, that's an Earth tradition, it's called 'gift wrapping'. It … well, it delays the seeing of the gift, heightens the… well, you have to tear it open."

She looked up at him, her golden eyes filled with curiosity and delight. Then she ripped the paper away, revealing a large crystal eight inches high and six wide, irregularly shaped but clear as glass. As the light hit the finished gem it broke within into dozens of small rainbows. As she turned it, the rainbows shifted and turned, cast the light in various directions within before casting their prismatic effects upon the cabin and all its contents. To Trip, they seemed particularly attractive when playing upon the young woman.

"It dilithium is?"

"Well, yes. When we bought the crystals, I saw that one and thought you would like it." She held it up and slowly turned it, watching the way the lights in the room caught and broke into a multitude of intersecting rainbows.

Not for his life would he ever tell her that the rainbows in the gem made it totally unsuitable for the warp engines; that the many sources of beauty made it worthless to any Starship. She'll never know that a month ago he would never have touched it, to say nothing of including it in the shipment to be brought aboard. Now, seeing Tia's delight, he couldn't imagine not having done so.

x

In the three weeks since the evening they had spent together in the Mess Hall turned movie hall, he had seen the lovely golden girl so many times, all of them socially, but this was the first time he had worked up the nerve to invite her into his quarters, to say nothing of being so bold as to give her a present. He was now glad that he had.

Even before that day, it had been impossible to get her out of his mind. When they were apart he felt like a piece of him he hadn't been aware that he had had gone missing. When they were together, he was happier than he could ever remember being. But he was sure it was not the same way with her. How could she be interested in someone as alien as he was?

If she did feel anything toward anyone, it would be another Auran, wouldn't it?

"Thank you, Shar-les," she whispered, her eyes alight.

x

Tia stared up at the taller man, searching for… something. On Aura, if a man had given a woman a gift, it would mean he had a desire to establish, or pursue, or even develop a personal relationship with her. She did not know what it meant to humans, wished she could know, because she wished for it to be so with Shar-les.

She had thought about it, dreamed about it, prayed for it, longed for it.

If he reached for her, touched her, even tried to kiss her as she had seen humans do, she would know, and she thought she would explode in ecstasy!

x

For a moment, Tucker didn't know what to say. Any other woman, in this situation, he would probably have taken the first step and tried to kiss her, guided by her reaction. But Tia wasn't human, and he really didn't know her feelings, if any, for him. So he wasn't about to risk ruining a moment, perhaps ruin everything if she didn't feel anything for him at all, even if he did long to take her in his arms and test his chances.

But looking into those gleaming eyes, he wondered if he was beating himself up over nothing. Maybe, possibly she … no. It could not be. She couldn't. But what if he …'Who knows, maybe she –.'

"Archer to Commander Tucker." The Captain's voice came out of the wall intercom, startling them both.

"Yes, sir, Cap'n?"

"Would you report to my Ready Room?"

"Aye, sir." He tried to keep his real thoughts out of his tone. "I'll be right there."

"Also, have you seen Miss Anlor?" In his friend's tone he thought he heard something, like maybe the Captain suspected just where Tia was? But of course, how could he? Their newest crewmate in his quarters? Nevertheless, he nodded to Tia.

"I here am, Mi–" she broke off sharply, remembering their earlier conversation. "Captain."

"Would you please join us as well?"

To Trip, it sounded like he wasn't at all surprised that Tia was in his quarters, almost like.… No. That was ridiculous. But of more importance was what could concern them both in the Captain's sanctum?

"What's up, Cap'n?"

"We've received a communication from Starfleet regarding Aura and the Silurians which I think you'll both want to hear."

He noticed that the look of delight on Tia's face was tinged with apprehension. He didn't think he liked it. "We're on our way."

xxx

When they reached the small room on the Bridge starboard, inward from Reed's Tactical Station, they found the Captain and the Vulcan Science Officer T'Pol already engaged in intense conversation. When they entered, Archer made a particular point of activating the Universal Translator. That he did so without giving Tia any say in the matter was unusual, since he usually asked as a courtesy whether he was going to abide by her preferences or not.

He wanted there to be no doubt at all that what was going to be said would be understood by everyone.

It was still odd for Tia, hearing the three Officers speaking to her in near fluent Auran; as odd as she supposed it must be for them hearing her speak English with the human syntax she could never understand or maintain, even though none of their lips moved in proper accord with their words. She watched the Vulcan, at first curious whether she would revert to her native language, but after a few moments concluded that she did not.

A few moments later she lost all interest in whatever language the others were speaking.

x

It wasn't a long explanation Archer gave to her, but a little more than halfway through it Tia could barely hear him. She sat stiff, huddled into the curved, enclosing seat, hands pressed into her lap, fingers laced together so tightly she could barely feel them, her heart low in her chest pounding its triple beat so hard she could barely hear over its roar.

"Miss Anlor, are you all right?" She could see Archer, hear his voice from a long distance, even if his lips didn't more properly, but she couldn't answer. Her mouth was dry; she fought hard to keep from trembling in her seat, knew that if she gave in she could not stop, the blood roaring in her ears so loudly she couldn't even think.

"Tia?" She barely heard Charles beside her, saw him lean toward her. If he touched her she was going to throw her arms about him in desperate panic and cling to him like her only chance for life. But she would not embarrass herself. She prayed he would not touch her.

"No." Her voice sounded small, but she could not force it further. "You said I was free." She jumps forward. "You told me I could stay!"

"No one's forcing you anywhere." He turned to the man behind the desk. "Are they, Cap'n?"

x

Archer didn't know what to say. He didn't believe in sugarcoating the truth, always believed in having people know just where they stand. But he didn't know Tia, who if she were human seemed seconds away from a panic attack, which would accomplish nothing at all. "I really don't know, Trip. It's up to Admiral Forrest. I felt you should know, but the final word is up to him."

Tia stared at him, motionless, face pale, looking for all the world like someone caught on a burning deck, whose last plank was breaking beneath her. He just couldn't break that plank.

"I'll do all I can, I promise."

x

Tia wanted to answer, but knew begging would only embarrass her. She would not beg or plead, no matter how terrified she was. She wished she could ease the pounding of her heart.

She was just getting used to this life, to her first taste of freedom. Now someone she didn't know, someone typified by the silent, emotionless woman who sat in the room with them, with whom she had exchanged barely a hundred words in the weeks she's been aboard, wanted to take her away and …

And do what? If Archer had told her, she'd been too panic stricken to hear.

"What will they do to me?" she asked the silent woman, willing her to speak.

"You will not be harmed," the woman assured her so unemotionally that it was more terrifying than if she had screamed at her. "They wish only to study you, to learn about your world."

She looked at the two men in carefully restrained desperation. "Have you not told them?"

"Nothing has been held back. But my people believe that they are best suited for learning about your world, and that of the Silurians."

"I know nothing of the demon planet."

"Nonetheless, they desire to know –."

"I KNOW NOTHING OF THE DEMON PLANET!" Tia's cry was just short of a scream, and she knew if she did start screaming she would not be able to stop.

"Sub-Commander." Archer's voice was neither loud nor piercing, but stopped the woman cold. In the silence that followed, Tia tried to gain control of herself; to stop her trembling breath, to unclench her fingers before they went dead. "I can promise you that you will not be harmed, no matter what happens."

"Captain, the Silurians said that too. Then they made us bleed."

xxx

"Getting used I just to this ship was," Tia whispered half to herself as Trip Tucker escorted her down a corridor. She didn't know where she was. They'd left the Captain's Ready Room and she hadn't really seen the Bridge, had barely paid attention to the lowering of the lift, and was so disoriented that she didn't recognize the length of steel corridor they walked along. It could have been anywhere, she had no idea.

"It'll be all right," Trip said in tones she knew were meant to assure her. It didn't work.

"This Admiral, you he as say must do?"

Trip stopped walking and nodded glumly. "Yes."

"If he you say to 'make her go'; will you?" She stared up into his eyes. "Lie to me nyasi. Will you?"

Trip would sooner have torn his heart out than answer. "Yes, I'd have to."

"Do want you to?"

"Tia, no one wants to force you to do anything, especially to go with the Vulcans."

"Nyas. Do want you to?"

"No."

"Then please, Shar-les; to me swear. Be he who does it nyasi!"

He wasn't sure what she was saying. Was she begging for his help? He'd gladly give it. "I don't understand."

"Kraanstat! If for me they come do, be with them nyasi. If forced off this ship I to be am, want it by you I do nyasi!"

"I swear."

She breathed a deep sigh of relief, but it didn't last. "What I can do?"

He reached past her, touched a button which slid open a door. She was surprised to find her own quarters on the other side.

"Try not to be afraid. It's not over." She went in. "The Captain will do all he can." She turned back to where he stood in the corridor. She realized she had not invited him in, opened her mouth, and could not.

"You I trust," she whispered just before the door slid shut, separating them.

She laid a trembling hand on the cold metal, with her other hand she covered her mouth to muffle the sounds and started to cry.