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x-x

If Trip had been happy to be sleeping in his own bed last night, today he was absolutely freekin' ecstatic to be back at work in engineering. Sure, Malcolm had a rep for hating sickbay and working the system until he was released, but it was really Trip who usually ended up being able to wheedle his way out of the doc's care; it was just that he'd do it in such a nice way, people didn't even realise that he was doing it. Case in point - his release from sickbay yesterday.

Trip picked up a calliper and began working on the gauge he'd set on the workbench in front of him. He knew that he and Malcolm should drag their asses back to sickbay and tell the doc about the odd, well, he'd best describe it as a link, that they'd experienced last night. But they could just as easily go to sickbay after their shifts as before them. And he needed to do something normal, to focus on the mundane business of the day, to forget about all that...forgetting.

It was liked the device had plucked the idea of the Xindi out of his head, and used that to draw him planet-side. And then making him forget the things that he had - the whole situation, thinking about it, was driving him nuts.

He stopped in his work and stared at the device before him, the calliper hanging uselessly from his hand. There was something...something niggling at the back of his mind, something wrong, but he wasn't sure what it was.

He laid the calliper carefully onto the table before him and propped both hands on its edge, leaning into it, his head hanging down. Something was different there, sort of all of a sudden, or creeping up on him. Something had changed, or was missing, or lost. His head flashed up when he realised, and he took a quick step toward the door.

Malcolm. Malcolm was sick, or something was wrong, or...Trip stumbled and the floor rushed up to meet him.

x-x

Trip woke in sickbay to Phlox's way-too-cheerful face. "You fainted, Commander," the doctor said far too brightly for the situation.

"Can't you at least say I passed out?" Trip asked as Phlox helped him sit.

"Fainted is the proper medical term," the doctor replied evenly as he moved to the side, revealing Malcolm on the next biobed over. Malcolm gave Trip a wan smile as Phlox stepped back into Trip's line of sight. "The fainting was caused by after-effects from your experience with the device. It seems that neither of you had the forethought to come to sickbay when you realised that you were still experiencing its effects," the doctor said, raising his voice as if to be sure that Malcolm could also hear. "Such lack of forethought, I believe was also caused by the device." Phlox stepped back and moved so that he could see both of them. "Neither of you, gentlemen, are acting like yourselves."

"Thought you said we were recovered," Trip said, feeling somewhat chagrined.

"I was incorrect," Phlox replied crisply. "Which I believe you both knew."

Trip blushed. "Sorry."

"Yes."

Trip heard the door open and looked up to see Archer stride through. The captain cast a guarded look at Trip as he waved Phlox away, and he and the doctor began having a discussion which Trip couldn't catch. Soon T'Pol joined them, and they adjourned into Phlox's office.

Trip exchanged a glance with Malcolm, who simply rolled his eyes.

"So, do you think we're acting, I don't know, funny?" Trip asked.

"Well, I admit that what Phlox said - that we'd normally have reported our "link" last night - does ring true, but I don't feel differently that I normally do." Malcolm frowned. "Although I did faint."

"Neither do I," Trip said. "Feel bad, I mean. I feel all right." Then he grimaced, and added, "Well, that's not exactly true. I did know that something was wrong just before I passed out. In fact, I think I knew that you'd fainted just before I did myself."

"Which seems odd."

"Very."

Archer, T'Pol and Phlox stepped back into the room. Moving to their bedsides, the captain said, "We believe that you are both still under the influence of the alien..." Archer's voice trailed away, and Phlox stepped in.

"Device."

"But I feel fine," Malcolm said.

"Yet neither of you is precisely fine," Phlox said, with emphasis on the last word. "Mr. Reed told me a bit of your experiences last night. Not only is the device allowing you to -"

"Get into each other's heads," Trip added quickly.

Phlox nodded. "It is also influencing your thought processes."

"I'm thinking fine," Trip said, puzzled.

"You are not thinking as you might be if you were not under the influence." Phlox turned to Malcolm. "Are there any other symptoms that you have experienced, or odd things that happened while on the plant or after?"

Malcolm nodded. "We both forgot about Enterprise."

"And I forgot my sister's death," Trip said.

Phlox nodded dispassionately, entering this information into his notes.

Malcolm looked at Trip pointedly. "And Malcolm and I are kind of, um, linked," Trip said finally.

"Could you be more specific?"

"Well, there was that bit about 'The Waltons'," Trip said.

Malcolm nodded. "And the school colors."

As Phlox and Archer stepped closer to Malcolm and they began talking, T'Pol moved to Trip's side. " I believe that the data you received from the planet was specifically crafted to draw you in," she said calmly.

Trip nodded slowly. "I'd figured as much," he said. "It's like it looked inside me and found the one thing guaranteed to get me down there." He cocked his head to the side. "Why do you think it did that?"

"I am not yet sure," T'Pol replied. "Ensign Sato is having trouble with the translation of the markings on the device, and additional fly-bys of the site have not generated similar signals."

Archer stepped to Trip's side. "You're off duty until this is resolved."

Trip nodded and began to slide off the bed, but the captain stopped him with a hand on his arm. Apologetically, Archer added, "And you're both confined to sickbay."

x-x

Trip was finding sleep elusive. Between the noises of sickbay, the narrow, uncomfortable mattress, and the too-thin blankets, forget it, sleep was just impossible. He turned over in frustration and stared at the back of Malcolm's head as his friend lay on the next bed over. He knew that Malcolm wasn't asleep, although he wasn't sure how he knew - it was like there was a tickle in the back of his mind. Focusing on it, he pushed a bit, and Malcolm turned towards him.

"I've got to get out of here," Trip said quietly.

"But..."

"Just to get some sleep," Trip added.

"But..."

"Just for tonight." When he saw that Malcolm was about to interject another "But," Trip added, "We're not going far."

"We?"

"I know a place." Trip wiggled his eyebrows. "And we could explore the link, see how it works. Report back to Phlox." At Malcolm's obvious doubt, he added, using all his charm, "You know, for medical science." When Malcolm didn't respond, he added, "All right, all right. I'll bring snacks."

Malcolm finally laughed.

x-x

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