"Sono" Part Eleven
Disclaimers in part one.
She walks beneath a tree, reaches up and lets its fronds flow through her hands. The air is heavy with the fragrance of flowers, with the lingering heat of the day. She wishes the cool breezes that will come later in the evening were here now.
Far away, the sound of merry voices weigh like honey on the wind and she feels a stab of melancholia. They have not lit the fires yet that will burn throughout the night in celebration of the child she will bear, born out of a sanctioned union.
She watched him, this evening, saw how his eyes lingered, knew that tonight they would slip away, that they would no longer give excuses for not staying away. Her heart has been unfaithful, but her body has not. She could not cause that pain to the one who has not been but loving and gentle to her, an unexpected grace.
She sighs and leans against the tree. She sees an orange glow flare and spread, and the smell of burning wood drifts to her. When will he come? What will she say?
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"She passed out, Doctor. I mean, look at her!" Malcolm pointed, his finger shaking, back at Hoshi, lying on the biobed. Her eyes were still closed. The vitals monitor above her beeped in soft chimes with the rhythm of her heart.
Phlox held his hands up in a pacifying gesture.
"I understand your concern, Commander," Phlox tried to soothe, "but I need some time--"
The doors to Sickbay hissed open. Captain Archer charged in, followed by T'Pol, in stark contrast, walking at her usual sedate pace. She moved to stand beside Malcolm.
Archer took one look at Hoshi and demanded, "What happened to her?"
Phlox answered, "That's what I'm trying to determine."
"Is this a relapse? I thought she'd recovered."
"I've only had a few minutes to check her vitals. If you can allow me some time to analyze the data, I'll have an answer."
Phlox's answer didn't sit well with Archer. "How long?" he asked, his jaw tight with impatience.
"I need to take some scans. It shouldn't take long."
Archer exhaled through his nose and nodded, leaving Phlox to his duty. He turned to see T'Pol and Malcolm standing side by side. Though T'Pol stood with her usual graceful at-ease, it was Malcolm's quick stiffening of his spine that caught Archer's attention. He looked into Malcolm's eyes, noting the distress there, the same question lurking there that was repeating in Archer's mind--why was Hoshi back in sickbay?
He walked to his Armory Officer's side. Malcolm turned to him, putting his hands behind his back.
Archer said gently, "Tell me what happened, Malcolm."
For a moment, Malcolm just looked at Archer, as if he hadn't understood what had been said. Then he said, "We were talking. She seemed all right, until..." he paused, his forehead creasing. "She said something, something right before she passed out. I think--"
Phlox's voice turned their attention to him. "Commander, Captain, I've found something."
Archer asked, "What is it?"
"From what I can tell, she's in a state of paradoxical sleep."
The unfamiliarity of the term jolted Archer into asking, his tone sharp, "I'm sorry, in what?"
Phlox gave him a dismayed look, until he realized what he'd said. He explained, "Excuse me-- REM sleep."
"So she's sleeping again."
"Not in the way she was before."
T'Pol asked, "Will she awaken?"
"I don't know. At this moment, I would say not," Phlox answered.
Archer snapped, "So it's a coma?"
"It's not that either. Ensign Sato has lowered orexin levels. This is indicative of narcolepsy, a rare sleep disorder. All the readings, and Commander Reed's description of her losing consciousness seems to substantiate that diagnosis," Phlox paused, before continuing, a puzzled tone seeping into his voice, "however--"
"Yes?" Archer prodded.
Phlox shook his head, flustered, "Ensign Sato has never suffered from any sleep disorders, which indicates to me there was something else affecting her. Something which at first affected her homeostasis, preventing normal transitioning into pa--REM sleep and causing her sleep deprivation, and is now causing this."
Archer said, "I don't understand--you said she is in REM sleep. If--"
Phlox said, "If she was suffering from narcolepsy, this wouldn't be unusual. Narcoleptics can enter REM sleep with great rapidity, and sometimes even suffer from waking hallucinations."
"She hasn't been acting like herself..." Malcolm trailed off, a series of memories coming to the surface--Hoshi's confusion when he'd asked her what she had felt in the garden on the Epa-in planet, staring at him in the moonlight, as if he were someone else, what she said after she had kissed him, the vertigo he'd felt in each instance...
"What do you mean?" Archer asked.
...Hoshi holding a pink flower, twirling it.
Malcolm murmured to himself, "The flowers."
"What are you talking about, Malcolm?" Archer pressed.
Malcolm looked up. "I think I know what's caused this, Captain."
"Explain, Commander."
Phlox said, "I'd like to hear as well."
"I can't be certain, but the flowers, the plant that Tolias gave us--I didn't make the connection until now. When we were on the planet, her strange behavior, and my paranoia, and the flowers--they were always there. We were in hydroponics when she passed out."
The implications were unmistakable. There was a pause while Archer contemplated this, a grim look settling on his face. He said, "If that's so...I should have listened to you, Malcolm."
"My suspicions are still unconfirmed, Captain." Malcolm pointed out.
Archer said, "We'll find out soon enough. T'Pol, go with Malcolm and gather some samples of those flowers from hydroponics. Turn them over to Phlox, and when he's finished running tests, get the results to me."
Archer started to leave, but turned back at the sound of T'Pol's voice.
"Captain, a moment? I have reason to believe that the trip to hydroponics might be unnecessary."
"What makes you think that?"
"My theory may not be correct, but I believe it is...if you'll give us leave?"
"Whatever you're thinking, T'Pol, just get some samples to Doctor Phlox. I'll be on the bridge, Doctor, once you have the results."