Author's Note: if you read A Moment in the Sun after this, see if you can spot the reference in this chapter to that story! (couldn't resist)

3

"How did you sleep last night?", Bashir asked as the tricorder took its readings.

"Not that well," Tanner admitted.

"No? Why not?"

"After the T'Kail, DS9 just seems so… noisy."

"Well, a lot of people have troubles with the noises in the infirmary, the machines and whatnot."

Tanner shook her head as Bashir, apparently satisfied with the readings, snapped the tricorder shut.

"No, it isn't that. It's people talking."

"Talking?"

She nodded.

"I can always hear people talking, right at the edge of my hearing. Whispered conversations in which I can hear the voices, but not the words."

Bashir frowned.

"That's odd. I know Dr. Ilia and Nurse Nadir were on duty last night, but I doubt they spent their entire shift having a conversation."

"Someone was," Tanner replied, then sighed. "And I can still hear it."

Bashir gave her a puzzled look.

"What do you mean, now? Aside from us, the only other person here is Nurse Jabara."

Tanner frowned.

"You can't hear anything?", she asked.

Bashir was silent for a moment, his features pressing into a frown of concentration.

"I don't hear anything but the machinery."

Tanner shook her head at him.

"I can hear people talking, Julian."

"Male or female?"

"Both."

"But you can't hear what they're saying?"

"No, just the sound of their voices."

Bashir flipped the tricorder open and scanned the room quickly, before stepping out into the corridor and repeating his action.

"The only other person I'm picking up is Jabara."

Tanner sighed as her old friend came back into the room. He put the tricorder away and gave her an intent look she knew very well.

"Shan, I'd like to ask one of the Vulcans about this. Maybe this has something to do with your new brain wave patterns. Is there any one of them you can trust to keep this quiet?"

"T'Sarak," Tanner replied immediately.

"All right. I think it might be a good idea if she did a mind meld, if that's all right with you. I can't get any information from scans of your brain, but she might be able to pick up something else."

Tanner gave Bashir a wry smile.

"That's a medical practice not often used."

Bashir shrugged one shoulder.

"You were with them for eleven months, and T'Sarak could get inside your mind. At this point, that might be exactly what we need. But I will only do it if you feel comfortable with it."

"I am," Tanner assured him.

She watched him as he called T'Sarak to the infirmary. Bashir was nervous and on edge. Of course, Bashir always seemed somewhat on edge, and Tanner knew why. He felt as if he were constantly on the verge of being discovered, of having the genetic engineering exposed. She knew he probably didn't realize it, but it was always there, if just beneath the surface.

However, she knew that, at the moment, he was concerned for her, and frustrated that despite his skills, he didn't know what was going on.

She herself did not feel frustrated or anxious. She rarely did, because she approached everything pragmatically and knew this wasn't a problem she could solve. She wasn't even sure it was a problem. She certainly didn't seem to be suffering any ill effects from it.

When Bashir was done his conversation with T'Sarak, he turned back to Tanner, looking displeased at the situation in general. He handed her a datapad.

"These are the scans I got from the Vulcans," he said and Tanner looked down at them. She saw the pattern as he pointed it out to her.

"Julian, is this supposed to be possible?", she asked.

"No," he replied bluntly. Then he gave her an evaluating look, the one that meant he might as well be reading her mind, he knew her so well. "Why isn't this bothering you?"

"It's a medical mystery, Julian, not an astrophysics one. It's not that I don't want to know what's going on, it's that I don't have the training to figure it out. If it were a G-type star burning in the A-type temperature range, I'd be your woman. As it stands…" She gave him a smile and squeezed his arm; in return, he relaxed a bit, looking more the way she always remembered him, with that small smile turning up only the corners of his lips and touching his eyes. "I trust you to figure it out."

"Well," he sighed. "That makes one of us."

"You're the best damn doctor in Starfleet, Julian," Tanner said.

"I can't argue there," he joked, and there again was the more relaxed Bashir.

T'Sarak chose that moment to enter, looking impassive as always, but her dark eyes were always what gave her away. They were sharp and quick, contrasting her calm demeanor and expressionless features.

She nodded at Tanner.

"Shannon. Good to see you awake again."

"Thank you, T'Sarak," she replied, genuinely glad the other woman was there.

"Computer," Bashir said. "Restrict infirmary access to request or emergency only, and notify me if anyone comes within five meters of this room."

"Acknowledged," the computer's mechanical female voice droned.

"Is there a problem, Doctor?", T'Sarak asked in her level, Vulcan voice.

"Not as such, Lieutenant," Bashir replied. He glanced at Tanner and she nodded her permission. He explained the situation to T'Sarak the same way he had explained it to Tanner, using the Vulcan data, Tanner's previous Starfleet exams and medical records, and the new exam results. T'Sarak listened thoughtfully without interrupting. Bashir went through the tests he had performed in order to determine the cause, and how he had come up with nothing for each one. He finished by requesting that T'Sarak perform a mind meld on Tanner, to see if she could come up with anything.

T'Sarak turned to Tanner.

"Do you wish to do this?", she inquired.

"Yes," Tanner replied with a nod.

"Very well. But I remind you, Doctor Bashir, I am not a medical expert. I am uncertain as to what it is I am looking for."

Bashir sighed, pursing his lips unhappily.

"The problem is, so am I."

T'Sarak remained impassive.

"Very well." She approached Tanner and put her thumb and first two fingers on the human woman's face, very lightly. Her hands were warm, but Vulcan hands were always warm. She closed her eyes and stayed still and silent for a moment before speaking again. "My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your thoughts."

Tanner kept her eyes open, but gathered her concentration as she had learned to do during her eleven months on the Vulcan science ship. She breathed slowly and deliberately, keeping track of her thoughts and the sensations of her body. All at once, T'Sarak was inside her mind, her presence cool and collected. She gave instructions for Tanner to remain calm and not to resist, and Tanner obeyed, sitting patiently as T'Sarak examined her mind.

Tanner flicked her eyes to look at Bashir, who was watching with a frown. He seemed displeased at his options, and Tanner wondered how frustrated he really was that he had not solved this yet. He would take it personally, she knew, that he could not figure this out for her, that he had to rely on other means.

"…doesn't make any damn sense!", she heard suddenly, and very clearly in her mind. "There's got to be some explanation!"

Tanner jerked back quickly, breaking the physical connection between herself and T'Sarak, effectively severing the mental connection as well. T'Sarak looked mildly surprised, then composed herself again, as Tanner put her hands against her temple, Bashir's voice echoing in her mind.

She had heard him. Not just T'Sarak.. She knew this could be possible if Bashir had been physically touching either her or T'Sarak during the mind meld, but he hadn't been. And she had heard his thoughts clear as a klaxon.

"What is it?", Bashir asked.

"Just dizzy," Tanner replied automatically.

Bashir put down the 'pad he'd been holding and helped her lie down quickly.

"Easy does it," he said as Tanner closed her eyes, putting one hand over them. "Take some deep breaths. Do you feel nauseous?"

"No," Tanner replied. "I think I'll be all right."

"Did you find anything?", Bashir asked T'Sarak.

The Vulcan shook her head.

"No. I was not in contact with Shannon long enough," she replied.

"T'Sarak, can I talk to Julian alone for a moment?", Tanner asked, her hand still over her eyes, feeling frightened for the first time.

"Of course," the Vulcan said and Tanner listened to her leave the room. She removed her hand from her eyes and saw Bashir hovering over her, face dark with concern.

"What's the matter?", he asked quietly.

Tanner sighed, pushing herself into a sitting position. Bashir helped her quickly, telling her to be careful. She sighed, looking at him, suddenly at a loss for words.

"Shan, tell me what happened," he instructed gently.

"I heard your thoughts," Tanner replied, and wasn't surprised by the instant shock on his face.

"What?", he asked.

"I heard you, Julian, not T'Sarak."

"What was I thinking?"

"I heard you say– think: 'Doesn't make any damn sense. There's got to be some explanation.' "

Bashir stared her, his brown eyes wide and bright with disbelief.

"That's impossible," he whispered.

"It should be," Tanner agreed. "If you'd been touching me or T'Sarak, it would have been reasonable, but it shouldn't have happened the way it did."

Bashir closed his eyes and sighed, rubbing his forehead wearily.

"All right. I think I need to do a detailed scan of your brain. I did one while you were unconscious, but it only showed the activity a comatose person would normally show. Do you want T'Sarak to stay here?"

"No, she can go," Tanner replied.

Bashir left for a moment to release T'Sarak, then came back and started setting up his equipment, while Tanner lay quietly, her hands folded across her stomach.

"How long will this take?", she asked when he appeared in her field of vision again, standing over a small console, keying in a few commands.

"A few minutes," he replied, sounding somewhat distracted.

She watched him while he worked, for lack of anything else to do. He seemed even more tense now, and Tanner wondered what he was seeing, or if the images were showing up yet. The minutes dragged by, with a faint humming sound in her ears and a prickling sensation in her scalp which she knew was probably imagined.

"All right," Bashir finally said.

"What did you find?", Tanner asked.

"Nothing yet," he replied. "I haven't called up the images. I'd like you to see them, too."

"I don't know anything about how my brain images are supposed to look," she replied.

"I know, but if there's something odd, I want to be able to show you."

That sounds promising, she thought wryly.

Bashir removed the scanners and allowed her to get up and join him at the console. She felt fine on her feet, no dizziness or unsteadiness, which he took as a good sign. She wondered if he would release her despite this brain mystery.

"All right," he said again. "Here we are…"

Tanner watched his reaction instead of the display in front of them, knowing she would get much more out of that than from looking at the images. For a moment, his face was blank, then his eyes went wide again and he moved a fraction of a centimeter closer to the console, gripping the top with his left hand.

Tanner looked at the images.

"My God," Bashir whispered quietly.

"What is it?", Tanner asked.

Quickly, he keyed in some commands and another image popped up.

"This is a human reference sample," he said. "Do you see the difference?"

Tanner nodded, but was uncertain what it meant.

"Can you explain?", she asked.

Bashir pointed to an image of her brain.

"You see all this activity in the left temporal lobe? And this spot here in the right temporal lobe?"

"Yes."

"You shouldn't have that. I've never seen anything like that in a human before. Shan, your brain is making use of parts of itself that no other human brain does. If anyone else showed this to me, I'd say it was impossible, but it's happening."

"What does it mean?", she asked.

Bashir sighed.

"I don't know yet, but I think it may go a long way toward explaining some of the things you've been experiencing. It may be that some or all of your senses have been heightened, and that's why you're hearing conversations no one else is. That might even just be your brain's increased activity trying to adjust to itself. It might even…" he sighed, shaking his head. "This sounds unbelievable. It might be giving you some sort of telepathic sensitivity."

Tanner stared at him.

"That's impossible," she said. "Humans aren't telepathic."

"No, they aren't," he agreed. "But you've been taught to meditate by Vulcans, which means you've likely got a good command of your mind, and are able to focus quickly and very sharply. And when you came into contact with a telepath, T'Sarak, it might have heightened this condition," he finished, tapping the screen in front of them.

"Is there any way to find out for sure?", she asked.

"I've got a lot of research to do," he admitted, almost grimly. "But I'll find out what I can."

"Will you discharge me?", she asked.

This made him smile and look up from the images.

"Not until tonight, at least. I want to make sure your injuries are fully healed and I do not want you straining yourself by playing racquetball or the like."

Tanner nodded.

"Get some rest," he advised. "I'm going to my office to work on this. I'll let you know when I find anything, and give you a check up this evening before I let you go."


The next morning, after a good night's sleep, Tanner went down to the infirmary to find Bashir already there, in his office. He had discharged her the night before and Major Kira had assigned her guest quarters. It had been good not to sleep on a biobed in the infirmary.

Bashir looked up and smiled when she came in; she was relieved he was still treating her like he always had.

"Good morning," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"I feel fine," she said honestly as she took the seat across from him. She'd had the chance to meditate the previous night, the first chance in several days, and it had helped immensely. The background noise she'd told Bashir about had vanished and her mind felt focused and rested.

"Did you get to talk to your parents?", he asked.

Tanner rolled her eyes.

"Yes, and when my mother found out I was here, I got ten minutes of 'that Julian is such a nice young man and I hear he's doing very well for himself as a doctor, you know.'"

Bashir chuckled.

"I get that, too," he told her. "Whenever I do talk to my parents, they want to know how you're doing and why I haven't married you yet."

Tanner laughed.

"It makes me afraid to date anyone; I'm sure they have a little chart at home with all your perfect qualities. You're a high standard to live up to, Julian Bashir."

He flashed her a grin.

"Perhaps I should develop some nasty habits or start breaking some laws?"

"Couldn't hurt," Tanner agreed. "Have you found anything?"

His smile vanished and he shook his head.

"No, not yet. I've sent a message to a friend of mine at Starfleet medical, Doctor David Bearns, asking if he knows of any research on anomalous human brain activity. I didn't mention you, though, don't worry. As far as he knows, I'm satisfying my own curiosity."

Tanner nodded.

"Good."

Bashir sighed.

"But, until he gets back to me, or until I come across something on my own, there's really nothing I can tell you. I've tried to find anything on human brain images after learning Vulcan meditation, but there isn't anything. One study was done about fifty years ago, and yielded nothing we don't already know about activity during meditation."

"You mean that brain activity is different when a person's meditating?"

"Of course. It's different when a person is in different stages of sleep, awake, meditating. We've known for a long time that meditation stimulates the use of other areas of the brain, but not like yours has been. Unfortunately, while we can observe things about the brain, there's still a lot we don't know about how it works." He gave her an apologetic look. "It may be that you'll have to live with that explanation, such as it is."

"Well," Tanner said thoughtfully. "What does that mean, then?"

"It means that I'm giving you a clean bill of health and allowing you to go back to work. I'd like to see you again tomorrow, as your doctor, just to make sure that everything has healed the way it's supposed to. Other than that, I'll keep researching, but I may turn up nothing. You're fit for duty and I see no reason you can't resume your life."

Tanner smiled.

"Thanks, Julian."

"You're welcome. It's given me something to think about, that's for sure. Maybe if something does come of it, I'll write a paper about it."

Tanner rolled her eyes.

"I always wanted to be your lab rat."

"Funny, I always thought you took those deep space missions to get away from me."

"It's all about you," she agreed with a grin. "Come on. Let's go get some breakfast."

"I think I could handle that," he replied with a smile of his own, rising to join her as she left his office.


After breakfast and a long meeting with the Vulcans, Tanner and T'Sarak made their way to the station's science lab. Lieutenant Jadzia Dax was already there, working on something of her own, and looked up, smiling, when the two other officers entered.

"I've received all your data from the Vulcans," she said to them. "It's been waiting for you."

Tanner smiled and T'Sarak gave a nod of acknowledgment.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Tanner said. Dax smiled in return and went back to her work. Tanner and T'Sarak claimed two stations and set about going through their data, discussing how it could best be broken down and dealt with. Even though only a fraction of the scientific data collected during the past eleven months was the intellectual property of the two Starfleet officers, there was enough here to keep them busy for at least half a year. Only the barest of preliminary assessments had been conducted in the Gamma quadrant; the scientists had been too busy gathering new information to catalogue and analyze what they had.

Tanner was looking forward to it immensely. She had seen things no other human ever had, and analyzing and describing them would be a challenge and an adventure. She had known before she left how much Starfleet Astrophysics was looking forward to the results of Tanner and T'Sarak's studies, and had even received a communiqué from the research station in Tau Ceti that morning. News that she and T'Sarak were back traveled quickly, it seemed, and she doubted the day would be done before messages from colleagues on Earth began pouring in.

But it was the other deep space scientists that would really take an interest, Tanner knew. They would want to know what she and T'Sarak had discovered in the Gamma quadrant, to know what to look for in their own research. Publishing the papers was going to be exciting and probably entertaining. To Tanner, there was little quite as funny as watching scientists presented with new ideas, especially if they knew those new ideas were coming. "Like kids at Christmas" one of her fellow physicists back on Earth had commented to her once.

That was how she felt right now, with all the information at her fingertips, all new, all just waiting to be discovered, to be examined.

Tanner keyed in a few commands, pulling up the inventory dates for their data.

"We need to start by dividing these into similar star types," she said.

"Agreed," T'Sarak said.

"–And making dinner tonight–", a male voice said.

Tanner spun round, her eyes doing a quick sweep of the science lab. Aside from her and T'Sarak, Dax was still the only other person there.

"Commander?", T'Sarak asked.

"Did you just hear that?", Tanner asked.

"Hear what?", T'Sarak returned.

"A man's voice," Tanner replied. This caught Dax's attention and she looked up from her work.

"Commander?", she asked.

"I just heard a man say something about making dinner tonight," Tanner said. "And I do realize how ridiculous that sounds."

Dax frowned.

"Computer, identify the occupants of this lab," she said.

"Lieutenant Jadzia Dax, Lieutenant-Commander Shannon Tanner, Lieutenant T'Sarak."

Tanner frowned.

"Are you certain you heard something?", Dax asked.

"Yes," Tanner replied firmly. She was always certain of what her senses were telling her; it was a confidence she'd had all her life, and it had only been further reinforced during her time with the Vulcans.

"Computer, was there any attempted communication between anywhere else on the station and this lab?", T'Sarak asked.

"Negative," the computer replied in its bland voice.

"Identify anyone else within ten meters of this lab," T'Sarak ordered.

"There is no one within specified parameters."

"Maybe you should go down to the infirmary and have Julian look at you," Dax suggested.

Tanner shook her head. She knew that wouldn't do any good; he would find that her brainwave activity was off, like it had been since sometime on the Vulcan ship. This wasn't a hallucination brought on by her concussion, Tanner knew. She felt too clear headed and she had been present in her mind when it had happened.

Dax held up one hand helplessly.

"I'm all right," Tanner assured her. "I don't know what it was, but I don't intend to spend the day running about trying to figure it out. I have to work to do."

With a sigh, Dax nodded and went back to her own work. Tanner and T'Sarak returned to theirs as well.

"Once that's done, I think we need to start with the neutrino star we observed five months ago. It's the most anomalous, and given their scarcity–"

She stopped suddenly, looking down at hands that were no longer hers. She had been in the middle of calling up the information on the neutrino star from their list of dates when the image in front of her vanished replaced by a tricorder being held by very definitely male hands.

"–Recalibrating these things. I don't know why Starfleet–"

It was Bashir's voice. She could recognize that.

"–Wonder if David got– I really need to order new tricorders– Shan– Tomorrow Kira needs– But she won't come–"

Tanner squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get her mind back under her own control. Bashir's mental voice kept up its broken chatter as dizziness gripped her.

"Commander?", she heard T'Sarak's voice come from a long way away

"–There's another damn–", Bashir's voice said and Tanner's world went black.


She awoke in the infirmary, blinking against the light and the dull pain in her forehead. Tanner groaned, almost immediately, Bashir's face appeared in her field of vision, his features pressed into a frown of concern, his dark eyes bright with worry.

"Ow," Tanner muttered. "What happened?"

"You collapsed in the science lab. No, stay lying down."

"Why?", Tanner asked.

"I don't want it happening again," Bashir replied.

"No, I mean why did I collapse?"

"I'm still trying to figure that out. It's most likely your body is still recovering."

"But you're not sure."

"No," he admitted.

Tanner let out a sigh, rubbing her forehead. She tried to concentrate, but the headache was too distracting.

"Can I get something for this headache?", she asked.

"Of course." Bashir disappeared for a moment, then returned. Tanner felt the cool touch of metal against her neck and then the quick, cold injection entering her bloodstream.

"Thank you," she said.

He nodded and moved away again. Tanner waited the few minutes it took for the analgesic to kick in, then rolled over carefully, watching Bashir as he ran some quick tests, a disapproving expression on his face. Tanner, her mind back under her control, went through what had happened that day leading up to her collapse.

When she remembered what had been the cause, her eyes widened.

"What is it?", Bashir asked.

"Computer, is there anyone else in the infirmary? Aside from Doctor Bashir and myself," she asked.

"Lieutenant Ashad and Ensign Nadir," the computer replied.

Tanner looked questioningly up at Bashir.

"Two of my nurses," he replied.

She nodded.

"Computer, establish an alert perimeter of five meters around Doctor Bashir and myself."

"Acknowledged," the computer said as Bashir gave her a confused look.

"Shan?", he asked.

She sat up carefully, brushing off his attempts to get her to lie back down, and met his eyes squarely.

"There's something I need to know, Julian," she said.

He shook his head once, slightly, frowning.

Taking a deep breath, Tanner brought her mind to heal, focusing her concentration easily, then reached out and put her thumb against Bashir's cheek and her first two fingers on his forehead. She closed her eyes, gathering courage, then opened them again.

"My mind to your mind," she said quietly but firmly. "My thoughts to your thoughts. Our thoughts are one. Our minds are one."

And there was suddenly nothing between them. Tanner could hear the babble of background thoughts in his mind, the very strong, very vocal "What the hell?" that was at the forefront of his thoughts.

His confusion was her own, his disbelief was indistinguishable from hers.

She could feel everything he felt. There was the subtle, constant anxiety that someone would find out about the genetic engineering, the depth of friendship and respect he had for her, the utter confusion and irritation that he didn't know what was going on, the fear that came with something unknown and unexpected, something which should have been impossible.

It was enough.

She pulled her hand back and they stared at each other, frozen for a moment. Part of Tanner's mind knew they must look ridiculous, but her own shock wouldn't let her move to tear her gaze from Bashir's.

"That's not possible," he whispered. "You have no Vulcan ancestry. I checked."

"I know," she replied quietly.

He took a deep breath and that broke part of the tension. Bashir pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head.

"I ran every test–", he started, then cut himself off, realization dawning on his face. "No, I didn't."

"What?", Tanner asked. "What didn't you do?"

"A genome sequence," he replied. "It never even occurred to me, but it might…"

He trailed off, snagging a tricorder and flipping it open. Bashir scanned her quickly, then hurried over to a console and began downloading the information.

"How long will this take?", Tanner asked.

"A few hours, at least," he replied, glancing over his shoulder.

"Do I need to stay here?"

Bashir turned back to her, frowning slightly.

"You did collapse," he pointed out.

"Yes, but now we know why."

"If not how," he agreed. "Still, I think I should keep you here for observation."

"What kind of observation?", Tanner said sharply.

Bashir looked taken aback.

"Shan, what's happened to you has never happened to any human before."

"That we know of," she contradicted. "Julian, you have the information you need. Why do need me here?"

"I am your doctor," he replied.

"And is there any medical reason I need to stay?"

He looked slightly flustered.

"The computer will run the sequence. It's not as if I need to stay so you can scan each base pair one at a time," she pointed out.

Bashir sighed, tapping the console absently.

"Well– it would be nice to have you around for company," he said. "It's been eleven months since we've seen each other and this visit hasn't been the most– relaxing."

Tanner sighed.

"Then let the computer do the work. You can't do anything anyway, and you know you can set it to contact you when the sequencing is done." She paused, sighing. "Look, Julian, this is happening to me. It's confusing and kind of frightening. I don't want to be treated like a lab specimen. Whatever your test turns up, I have to live with this, and this is still my life. I don't want to stay here. I want to work and enjoy my time off and spend time with you."

Bashir blinked at her, then nodded slowly.

"All right. What did you have in mind?"

Tanner spread her hands.

"A drink? A game of racquetball– and don't say it! Don't say I'm not well enough for a game of racquetball. Because if I really weren't, you'd be all over the chance to trounce me."

Crossing his arms, Bashir grinned.

"Are you telling me that in your eleven months with the Vulcans, you were able to practice?"

Tanner smiled back, sweetly.

"Commander Sokath spent five years at the Venutian research station, as a visiting scientist. He learned to play, and he's good."

Bashir's lips twitched.

"I still think you're going to be rusty. You're on. Computer, restrict access to this test to Julian Bashir, authorization Bashir-alpha-three-one-four. Notify me when the test is complete."

"Acknowledged," the computer replied.

"All right," Bashir said, smiling at Tanner. "Let's go."