Chapter 5
T'Pol stood facing Archer. Finally she spoke.
"It is an honor to meet you finally." She said.
Archer gestured over to two chairs that were a faded red but were still made of very soft velvet.
"Come, sit." He told her.
He nodded to Tripp
"Thank you Tripp."
Tripp bowed his head slightly in acknowledgment to his leader and headed for the door to the adjacent room. T'Pol and Archer took their seats across from each other. He spoke again in a very calm yet hypnotic voice.
"I imagine right now, you must be feeling a little bit like Dorothy, being sucked into the tornado."
"Yes you could say that." She answered him.
"I can see it in your eyes. You have to look at someone who accepts what they see, because they are expecting to wake up."
A smile curled the corner of Archer's lips as he continued to speak.
"Ironically, this is not too far from the truth. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. Can you tell me, T'Pol, why you are here?" He asked her as he raised one eyebrow through his mirrored sunglasses.
"You are Archer, you're a legend. Most hackers across the galaxy would die to meet you." She answered.
Archer nodded.
"Yes. Thank you. But I believe we both know there is more to it than that. Do you believe in fate, T'Pol?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I do not like the idea that I am not in control of my own life."
Archer smiled back at her.
"I know exactly what you mean."
He pauses and leaned back in his chair as he folded his hands in his lap. He spoke again.
"Let me tell you why you are here. You are here because you have the gift."
T'Pol was now confused by Archer's comment.
"The gift?"
He leaned in and spoke.
"I've watched you T'Pol. You do not use a computer like a tool. You use it like it was a part of yourself. What you can do inside a computer is not normal for any life form. I know. I have seen it. And what you do is considered magic.
T'Pol shrugged at his comment.
"It is not really magic." She told him.
"But it is T'Pol. It is. How else would you describe what has been happening to you."
He leaned closer to her.
"We are trained in this galaxy to accept only what is rational and logical. Have you ever wondered why?"
T'Pol shook her head.
"As children we do not separate the impossible from the possible which is why a younger mind is the easier to free while a mind like yours can be very difficult."
Free from what?" T'Pol asked him.
"The matrix." Archer answered her.
She tried locking her eyes on to Archers but all she saw was her reflection in his mirrored sunglasses.
"Do you want to know what it is T'Pol?"
She nodded her head. The chair creaked a little as he sat back.
"The matrix is everywhere, it's all around us. You can see it out your window, or while you're travling to another planet. You feel it when you go to work, pay your taxes, or even go to church. It is the universe that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth."
"What truth?"
"That you are a slave, T'Pol. That you, like everyone else, was born into bondage ... kept inside a little prison that you cannot smell, taste, or even touch. A prison for your mind."
Outside the wind howled and rain battered the loose pane of glass next to them.
"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself."
"How?" T'Pol asked him.
Archer held out both of his hands. In his right hand was a blue pill and in the other hand was a red pill. Archer continued to speak.
"This is your last chance. After this, there is no going back."
He held out the hand with the blue pill.
"You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe."
And then he held out the hand with the red pill.
"You take the red pill and you stay in Oz and I show you how far the tornado goes."
T'Pol looked at both pills, trying to decide.
"Remember all that I am offering is the truth. Nothing more." Archer told her.
T'Pol took the red pill and swallowed it. Archer smiled like a cheshire cat.
"Follow me." He told her.
They went to the adjacent room where Tripp was. It was full of high-tech equipment and several computer screens with keyboards. Tripp, Hoshi, and a Denobian by the name of Phlox looked their way.
Hoshi let out a disappointed sigh.
"Shit." She said.
"I knew she would." Tripp answered with a smile.
Hoshi took Archer aside and spoke to him in a hushed tone away from T'Pol.
"Listen, I know what you believe but I think this is a mistake. You're rushing her and she's too old. I'm afraid she might pop." She said with concern.
"Haven't I always told you, Hoshi, not to let fear control your life."
He turned to Phlox.
"Phlox are we online?"
"Almost." Phlox answered.
Phlox and Tripp were working quickly, hardwiring a system of monitors, modules, drives and keyboards. T'Pol looked towards Phlox.
"Phlox? Didn't you write the Pon Far virus?" She asked.
"Yep that was me." Phlox said proudly.
Archer spoke again.
"T'Pol, time is always against us. Will you take a seat there?" He said as he pointed to the seat behind her.
T'Pol sat and Tripp gently attached white electrode disks to her head, arms and the back of her neck. Right next to her there was a mirror that was cracked.
"I imagine you know something about holographic reality." Archer said.
"A little, I know some planets have it and we don't." T'Pol answered him.
"Well, tell me about it."
"Essentially, it is a holographic matrix system that uses a dilithium energy source. Voice protocals are used to make it as real or a s unreal as you want it to make you feel that you are in some sort of program." T'Pol explained.
"Well if the holographic matrix system as you put it is wired to all your senses and voice protocols had controlled them completely. You would be able to tell the difference between the real world and the holographic world?" Archer asked.
"No, you wouldn't." T'Pol said.
She turned and saw the mirror slowly repair itself.
"What the fuck? What is happening here?" She asked Archer.
"The pill you took was a part of a trace program. It's going to make things seem a little strange." Archer explained.
T'Pol poked two fingers at the mirror, it stretched and bowed as she pulled them away. Leaving this cool liquid metal that was now creeping up her arm. She started to panic.
"SHIT!"
She was now afraid for her life as the ooze was now making it's way to her throat. Not doing anything, Archer sat there calmly while Phlox, Hoshi, and Tripp were all checking her vital signs on the screen.
"What the hell did you just give me?" T'Pol asked him.
"Just relax T'Pol." Archer told her in a calm tone.
She looked at her arm which was now covered in liquid silver and it slowly creeped up her chin and up to her mouth..
"Oh my God!"
"It's going into replication captain." Tripp told Archer.
"Phlox?"
"Still nothing." Phlox answered.
Archer took out his communicator, it chirped as he flipped it open.
"Malcolm, we're going to need the signal soon!" Archer said
And then he turned to T'Pol.
"Stay calm." He reassured her.
The liquid ooze took on a life of it's own as it spread over her.
"It's so cold." She could barely speak.
She strected trying to keep her mouth above the silver ooze.
"It's all over me." She said with panic in her voice.
"I got a fibrillation!" Tripp said.
Hoshi shook her head next to Tripp.
"Goddammit, I knew it." She said.
"Shit! Phlox?" Archer turned towards the Denoblian.
Streams of silver went up T'Pol's mouth and nose.
"Almost there!" Phlox said.
An alarm sounded. Tripp snapped his head quickly tot look at the screen behind him.
"Captain! She's going into arrest!" He shouted.
"Lock! I got her!" Phlox shouted in triumph.
"Now Macolm! Now!" Archer said into his communicator.
It was not too late, the liquid silver spread to her whole body, she tried to scream but she couldn't, she arched in agony and she felt like she was being pulled through a small corridor. She closed her eyes ...
She opened them again and she was submerged in a red goo, tubes were everywhere on her body and it looked like a very surreal nightmare. Her body spasmed fighting against the thick jello like substance that surrounded her. She pressed up and the roof to the pod she was in lifted off she emerged form her cell and looked all around her. A few moments later, the tubes snapped from her body like snakes and she jerked as each one broke free from her body. All around her, the goo drained from the pod and she was sent spiraling down a tunnel. She could not stop, she was out of control and there was nothing she could do about it. Finally she went out a large hole and was dropped into a dark murky lake of water. She struggled to keep her head above water. Out of nowhere, set of claws grabbed her and she fell unconscious as they pulled her into the waiting ship. Once inside, she was still a little disoriented as they took her sick bay. She was laid down on a bio bed and monitored. She looked up and there was Archer, Tripp, Hohsi and Phlox all staring down at her. She looked in Archers direction as he smiled at her.
"Welcome to the real world, T'Pol." He said
And then everything went black.
