Chapter 9
The very next day the crew was in the mess hall eating their breakfast. What was being served looked like a substance of yogurt and rice pudding. Wesley handed T'Pol a bowl of the white goopy stuff.
"Here you go, over easy right?" He said jokingly.
He took a seat with the other members of the crew and a few moments later she joined them. In a way she couldn't help but feel like the new kid on her first day of school. She poked at her food trying to figure out what it was.
"Breakfast of champions, T'Pol." Malcolm said.
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's single celled protein. We process it in a huge vat that's attached to the ship." Wesley told her.
The substance jiggled in her bowl until it came to a stop. She didn't know what to think.
"It's not so bad, long as you don't think about liposuction." Dawn said.
T'Pol decided to try it, it tasted bland but what could she do about it? It was food. Archer entered the mess hall.
"I want everyone on a twelve-hour stand by. We're going in. I'm taking T'Pol to see him." Archer said.
And then he turned and left the mess hall. T'Pol now wondered who else she now needed to see.
"See who?" She asked.
"The Prophet." Wesley explained.
Dawn nudged T'Pol.
"So I understand you were starting your training with Archer."
"Yes."
"So what did you think of him?" Dawn asked with a wink.
"Who?"
"You know the hottie in the black Armani suit? I programmed him myself you know."
"Really?"
"Yeah his name is Smith. You know if you ever need any special attention, if you know what I mean, I can hook you up. And he's a way better toy that doesn't require AA batteries." Dawn told her with a grin like a cheshire cat.
Malcolm and Travis rolled their eyes.
"Dawn the cyber-madame. Don't you ever quit?" Malcolm said.
"Jealous?" Dawn asked him.
"Oh baby, why would we be jealous of a virtual man?" Travis chimed in.
"Well at least my virtual man doesn't come up short like some guys on this ship that I know." Dawn said with a sarcastic smile.
Both Travis and Malcolm fell silent and excused themselves from the table.
"Yeah just as I thought." Dawn said with a sound of satisfaction in her voice as they left the mess hall.
On the bridge Archer sent Hoshi in first to be a lookout. Once she was inside, she made her way to street side café. She took a seat and ordered a mocha, a few moments later three women a human, a klingon and a borg in dark suits entered and spotted her, instead of running she stayed in her seat as they calmly walked towards her.
"Miss Sato, I presume." Said the human female.
"Yes." Hoshi answered.
"I believe you have something for us." Said the human female.
"Yes, I do." She answered.
The three women took their seats across from her.
"Can you give us the codes to your home world's defense system?"
"No, I don't but I can give you something else that is of value." Hoshi told her with a gleam in her eye.
"And what is that?" The human woman asked.
"The captain of the Enterprise." Hoshi answered.
"And what do you want in return?" The woman asked.
"To be put back into the plant. And this time I want to be someone important ... like a supermodel ... with lots of money ... and really hot boyfriend." Hoshi told her.
"Well then Miss Sato, do we have a deal?" She asked.
Hoshi lit up a cigarette and took a long drag and then she took a sip of her mocha.
"You know the thing is I can taste this cigarette and it tastes so good, especially since I can't smoke it in the real world. And I know this coffee isn't real either."
She took another drag.
"But you know what they say, ignorance is bliss." She answered with a smile.
It was then the three women knew that the deal was sealed just by Hoshi's words.
A few hours later Archer and the rest of the crew were inside Hoshi met them outside. The door opened and T'Pol squinted her eyes since she was the only one not wearing sunglasses. Archer flipped open his communicator.
"We should be back in about an hour." Archer said.
Hoshi walked alongside of the group and when no one was looking, she dropped her communicator into a nearby trash can. They got into an SUV hovercraft and were now on their way to see the Prophet. T'Pol looked out the window as she passed by all to places that she used to hang out before she became unplugged.
"Almost unbelievable isn't it?" Archer asked.
T'Pol nodded as the SUV glided through the busy city
"God ..." T'Pol said.
"What?" Tripp asked.
"I used to eat there ... really good Klingon cuisine." She answered.
It was like she was speaking to herself almost in a whisper.
"I have these memories, from my entire life but ... none of them really happened." She said.
She turned to Tripp.
"What does that mean?"
"This planet cannot tell you who you are." Tripp told her.
"But the Prophet can."
"That's different." Tripp said.
"It is?"
"Are you worried?" He asked her.
"Should I be?"
"No." Tripp reassured her.
She turned to the window for a moment and then turned to Tripp again.
"Did you go to him?" She asked.
"Yes."
"And what did he tell you?"
"He told me ..."
And then suddenly he stopped speaking like he was unable to breathe for a second.
"What?"
The SUV jerked to a stop.
"We're here. T'Pol, come with me." Archer said.
Both T'Pol and Archer stepped out of the car. Hoshi looked out of the rearview mirror at Tripp.
"Here we go again huh, Tripp?"
She smiled at him as he turned to look out the window.
A few moments later both T'Pol and Archer were in the hallway of the old building. Archer nodded to a blind woman and she nodded back. The whole idea of learning her own fate weighed very heavily on her as they made their way to the ancient looking, turbo lift. The doors opened as T'Pol stepped inside with Archer following behind her. The higher the turbolift went the more uneasy she was feeling about the whole visit.
"So this is the same Prophet who made the prophecy?" T'Pol asked.
"Yes, he is very old. He's been with us since the beginning." Archer said.
"The beginning?"
"Of the resistance."
"And he knows what? Everything?"
"He would say he knows enough."
"How does he know?"
"He is a true psychic. He sees beyond the relativity of time. For him there is no present, past or future. There is only what is."
"And he's never wrong."
"Don't think of it in terms of right or wrong. He is a guide T'Pol. He can help you find the path."
"He helped you?"
"Yes."
"And what did he tell you?"
"That I would find the one." He answered with a smile.
Finally the turbolift door opened. And they stepped into a long dark hall. He followed him out of the turbolift as the doors rattled shut behind them. With every step a growing sense of dread was taking over her whole being. They reached the end of the hall and Archer stepped to the side of the door.
"I told you that I can only show you the door. You have to step through it." Archer said.
T'Pol toook a deep breath as she reached for the door handle, she hesitated.
"Archer, I don't think this is a very good idea."
"Why?"
"I told you, I don't believe in this stuff. No matter what he says, I'm not going to believe it, so what is the point?"
"What do you believe in?" Archer asked her.
"What do I believe? Are you kidding me? What do you think? I'm still trying to deal with the fact that everything I believed in was real, wasn't. The whole universe, my entire life was a lie. I don't know anything anymore, Archer."
"That is why we are here."
"Why? So I can hear some old man tell me what? That I'm this woman that everyone is waiting for? The one that is supposed to save the galaxy? Come on. How do in the hell do I respond to that? I can't. It's illogical. I mean who am I? I'm nobody, I'm just a woman. What did I do Archer? Why me?"
"Faith is beyond the reach of whys and why nots. These things are not a matter of cause and effect. T'Pol. I do not believe these thing with my mind. I believe them with my heart and my gut."
"And you still believe I'm The One."
Archer smiled at her.
"Yes I do."
T'Pol looked a little angry as she continued to speak.
"Yeah? Well what about the other five women before me? What about them?" She asked.
Archer felt like his heart was about to be ripped out of his chest when she asked him that.
"Did you believe in them too?" She asked.
Archer was silent for a moment and then he answered.
"No. I did not. I have never told anyone this, T'Pol. After I saw the Prophet I thought ... no, I misunderstood what he told me. I believed it was all about me. That I would find The One, not that she would find me."
It was difficult for him admit that to her at that moment.
"I believed that all I had to do was point my finger and anoint whoever I chose. I was wrong. T'Pol. Terribly wrong. And not a night or day goes by that I do not think about them. After the fifth, I lost my way. I doubted everything The Prophet said. I doubted myself."
He took off his sunglasses and looked into her eyes.
"And then I saw you on the net, searching for me and everything changed. I felt this charge, this electricity running through my body. I started laughing and tears poured out of my eyes, because I knew, I knew that you were The One."
His eyes blazed as he continued to speak.
"Listen to me, T'Pol. I know that you are afraid to go through that door. You can't get free of the thinking that I could be wrong. You must believe me. There is a greatness inside of you, T'Pol. A greatness that is going to lift you to unimaginable heights and that in time will change the universe."
"Archer, I don't know..."
"I know that is why it is important for you to go. Please, T'Pol, I'm asking to find whatever respectr you may have for me and trust me."
There was a desperation in his eyes. T'Pol nodded.
"Alright."
She reached for the handle and the door opened without him touching it. Standing before her, was a middle agedasian man with dark hair dressed all in white.
"Hello T'Pol you are right on time." He said with a smile.
