My sincerest thanks go to all those who reviewed this story. I was planning on doing a bit more on the aquaphobia but felt it go a bit lengthy, so it will just have to go in Chapter seven.
Exploded Pen - Yup...very sheepish in this one. Keep giglin'
Spootycup - Well, something in the Reed family has changed, as possibly Malcolm. The bird's role comes more apparent in this chapter, i hope it answers you questions also
Tata - Indeed they did...I went a bit further this chapter. Thanks!
Volley - Glad you did. Will do
Emiliana Keladry - Phew! I'm glad...yeah..it was a little wasn't it? I guess because of all the other fictionsI got up that need updating with chaptersI got kinda lost.
The Libran Iniquity - I just had to go with that...lol. I didn't go into it much but it's very apparant:D:D. Thanks..i hope you like this one.
Earlier on in the day he visited his Armoury team and was happy to know that they were relieved to see him again. He was sure his hand would never be the same again after all the vigorous hand shakes it had gone through in a space of roughly three to four minutes.
The day closed to an end and Malcolm enjoyed the feeling of the gravity and air around him. The door chimed and Malcolm looked at the door disdainfully. He knew full well who would be behind that door, so he put on a fresh uniform and nodded to himself.
'Come,' Sure enough the engineer bounded through the room with his usual happy face and that made Malcolm smile.
'Ya ready Malcolm?'
Malcolm nodded and together they walked the journey towards the captain's mess. It wasn't often Malcolm got invited to join his captain for dinner, but he considered what had happened and smiled slightly.
His mind drifted back to the bird that had flown to him. It had given him the strength to go on, the willpower that was left in him to arise from the depths of him and to keep him going till the crew had found him. Seeing Trip's face again was the most brilliant thing he had seen for ages. He wondered if they would ever return to that planet again sometime in the future.
They eventually reached the mess to find the Captain and the Sub Commander already waiting for them. T'Pol was sitting to Archer's right and she nodded to Malcolm and Trip as they came in.
'Glad you could come Malcolm…I was worried you would do a "Rain Check" on us. Have a seat' Archer gestured to a random spare seat and Malcolm sat down and Trip sat down also. Malcolm found himself seated opposite the Captain and smiled slightly.
'I doubt that Commander Tucker would let me pass this up Sir.' Malcolm replied.
'It's Trip. Remember? Trip.' Tucker shook his head in amusement.
'Trip' Malcolm corrected himself, nodding whilst smiling. He looked at the southerner briefly.
'I bet he didn't. Chef has chosen tonight's meal and apparently it's going to be something grand…for desert, well now that's a surprise,' Archer grinned and to his own surprise, Malcolm returned it.
Just then, several stewards entered the room carrying trays in their arms and Archer nodded slightly.
'Serve Lieutenant Reed first...he deserves it for a change' Archer lifted his eyebrows, smiled and nodded lightly. Yes he thought, I think this dinner will go very smoothly. The main meal turned out to be a good old-fashioned roast beef with all the trimmings, except for T'Pol of course who had chosen a separate meal earlier with her being a vegetarian.
'I figured we could use an alcoholic beverage to celebrate your return Malcolm…I hope you like Cabinet Sauvignon.'
'Sure,' Malcolm replied with one of his trademark smiles, and Archer nodded towards a steward who poured Malcolm a glass and set in front of the man. The steward then went on to serve the others, save T'Pol, as she was drinking water.
They began their meal and enjoyed the wine. A steward stood by the door waiting for any command, should he be given one.
'So, what happened down there?' Trip asked, before putting a piece of meat into his mouth.
Malcolm cleared his mouth with a sip or two of wine before he started to regale them with his adventure from the deep.
'Well…after sinking into deep water I came to find myself looking at two merpeople. It would explain the five hundred thousand inhabitants we detected before. The two I met were Hermes and Aphri. They seemed friendly at the time and generally wanted to help. '
'Hang on, how was you able to breathe Malcolm? Only god knows how long you were down there for' Trip interrupted, forgetting his meal.
'Well…the water…they said something about it having a mind of her own and allowing people to breathe underwater. She could sense the weakness or fear in people…or something like that. It's rather complex to be honest.'
'Ah' Trip raised his eyebrows, blinked and continued to eat.
' They said they could help me and they took me to this chair thing. I was surprised at all the technology they had down there…it was amazing. It had a machine next to it that tapped into my memories, it would find the last place I was that I was living and if possible, send an automated message to that particular place. Obviously, it had done exactly that' Archer smiled and nodded. He had much to thank for to these mermen that Malcolm was telling them about. Malcolm looked at the people around him. Archer was smiling, Trip was smiling, looking at him whilst eating and T'Pol was looking at him curiously, evidently fascinated by what he was telling them
'They connected it to me by attaching two mechanical devices to my forehead and the back of my head.'
'Did the procedure hurt you at all Lieutenant?' This had come from the Sub Commander and Malcolm looked at her.
'Yes…it did twinge a bit then I just got really tired and practically dozed off. We all saw it as a dream really; least that's what they said. Then they said that she, or what they called the Ocean Blue decided I could leave so I did. With some of their help of course.'
'How'd they help?' Trip asked, smiling slightly.
'Well, Hermes gave me a staff with a forked part at the end…it reminded me of Neptune's staff. They said it would help defend off the enemy, which had turned out to be a shark. They sent me along with a fish guide, massive thing he was. This fish looked like that of a Yellow Finned Tuna, he took me part of the way and I had to go the rest alone as he wouldn't go much further. So I swam on and who should I meet but one of those sharks.'
Malcolm stopped to take another bit of his meal and washing that down with a sip of wine.
'So this shark advances on me and I point the staff at him. He got reasonably close, close enough to double me over and I managed to get him with the staff but it glowed a fire red bubble and increased in size till it had engulfed me. The shark swam away so I continued upwards and surfaced. It was a relief to breathe fresh air again. I made for the shoreline and walked to a tree…and I knew nothing more for a while till a bird came. It was almost like a dream at the time so I just closed my eyes again and you know the rest'
No one said anything for a long while and Malcolm swallowed nervously, he continued to eat his meal finishing the last bit of roast potato and beef. He set his cutlery to meet twelve and relaxed slightly in his chair. His eyes looked from Trip on his right, right through to Archer and then to T'Pol on his left.
Malcolm's eyes made another clean sweep from his colleagues and he fidgeted slightly in his chair, waiting for them to make a sound.
'Wow' Trip's single statement stabbed at the air. The others nodded, agreeing with Trip's punctuating expression.
'Yes…you could put it that way' Malcolm smiled slightly and took a sip of his wine. He savored the taste on his tongue before swirling and rushing it down the back of his throat. He enjoyed the wine thoroughly and wondered what cook would be delighting them with next. He knew cook was renowned for making illustrious meals and deserts.
'Was it exactly like a shark?' Archer asked, his green eyes paying Malcolm undivided attention.
'Um…I don't quite remember, I was concentrating more on getting away from the predator…rather than getting close to it…uh, I far as I can remember Sir, it was bigger than that of a Great White and it had numerous stripes covering it's back and fins…that's all I remember from it.'
'Must've been quite a fight Malcolm…three pronged staff…we didn't find one with you' Trip asked, having finished the last scarps of his meal.
'I left it by the beach…I figured they might want it back some time…besides, what could you do with it on land. It wouldn't have made for a good weapon…too clumsy on its part' Malcolm returned, smiling slightly.
Archer and T'Pol finished their meals in unison, and the stewards put away the plates into the adjoining room. They later returned holding plates and like before Malcolm was served first in honour of his miraculous return. The stewards refilled glasses and left just as quickly as they came, not wanting to disturb their senior officer's conversation for a moment longer.
'I hope it's okay. The only thing that cook had left was lots of Pineapple' Archer informed the Englishman whose features into a large smile and wrinkling around the stormy eyes.
'How's it taste Mal?' Trip asked, holding his spoon but received a look from Malcolm and laughed slightly. He watched as Malcolm cut into the upside down pineapple cake with his own spoon and planted it firmly into his mouth. Everyone watched, waiting in anticipation while Malcolm chewed and swallowing a mouthful
'I'll have to ask Cook to make this again' and Archer and Trip both smiled.
'Glad you liked it Malcolm. We figured you'd be warming up to Pineapple after what you've gone through. How's the Armoury team coping? I hated telling them we thought you were dead' Archer visibly winced at the memory. How he did not want go through that agony ever again.
'Oh. They're certainly happier than before Sir, although my hand won't ever feel the same again.' Malcolm replied, smiling as he took a sip from his glass. The other two humans in the room laughed and T'Pol raised an eyebrow. Malcolm was glad to be back home and cook had definitely outdone himself as usual, nothing ever changed there.
The whole crew knew Cook was always creating new recipes and trying to make the old ones better then before. It was a known fact not to disturb him when he was in the middle of creating. The kitchen was the cook's lair and even the Captain couldn't do anything to change that idea.
'That's good' Archer replied, before forking a mouthful into his mouth.
The evening wore on with a deep conversation between them all, with T'Pol occasionally throwing in the odd comment or two. It was quite a while before any of them retired to their quarters.
--
The next morning brought a sleepy Archer waking to see Porthos rolling on his dog bed, with four short, stubby legs protruding into the air. Archer smiled at the snoozing Beagle and sat up, yawning, bring his hands behind his head and stretched his body. I need a coffee…god am I tired Archer thought as he got up to dress. It was then he remembered he still had to contact Malcolm's family and inform them of the miraculous event. He felt rather sheepish and he sighed.
'Archer to Bridge' Archer called, pressing the COM button. He knew the Alpha shift didn't start for at least a few more hours but thankfully the Beta shift communications officer answered the call and Archer was soon asking him of his request.
The call ended and Archer got himself a coffee before pressing a button that would connect him to the Reed household. He wasn't really looking forward to doing this, having to tell parents that their son wasn't dead after all. And for the first time in a while he felt a pang of nervousness.
He took a deep breath and closed him slightly; he opened them again and waited for someone to answer. He ran a hand through his hair sighing again.
It didn't take long for Malcolm's father to appear on the screen. Archer took a moment to take a look at the man. His eyes look haunted and weary, his hair was a mess and the lines round his face seemed to have deepened more.
It also looked like Stuart Reed was looking at his appearance for his voice was croaky yet soft. And that took Archer by surprise, he had always heard from Trip that from the engineer's conversations with the Englishman that Stuart Reed was very hard spoken and stern.
'Captain… you all right?' Stuart asked, his steel blue eyes searching the green eyes of Archer.
'I'm fine. Thank you Admiral. It's been a trying week for all of us, I'm sure' Archer responded with a small sigh at the end and Stuart nodded. 'I guess I have some news to tell you…you might want to get your wife and daughter Mr. Reed'
Stuart Reed nodded and turned his head, whilst half getting out of his seat, 'Mary! Maddie…come to the study!' He sat back down again and Archer waited patiently, growing more nervous by the second and tried not to look too sheepish.
'What is it?' A familiar voice filled the room and Archer recognized it as Madeline's. 'What's happened?'
Madeline and Mary appeared in the screen behind their husband and father, Mary gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
Archer took a deep breath and began the story of how Malcolm wasn't dead after all and how he was saved by two merpeople and the sea, and how he was guided by a Tuna and the fight between Malcolm and the great shark with nothing but a weapon that resembled Neptune's staff.
Stuart, Mary and Madeline just listened. They were too shocked at what they were hearing from the American talking to them on the screen. Stuart's breathing increased as the realization hit him squarely on the chest. There's still time he mused, I can still let him know, I can make a difference and end this barrier between my son and me. He thought more and more about his relationship with his son and smiled, his eyes wrinkled
'We found him, propped up against a tree…he didn't look too with it at the time so we just got him back home and to the doctor. I'm sure you're all glad to know he's returned safe and sound' Archer finished, taking a long sip of his coffee. He didn't care what the Reeds thought about it, but they seemed not to have noticed.
'Thank you Captain. This means a lot to me,' Stuart told him 'Can I speak with my son as soon as possible? There are some things between us that need discussing'
Both Madeline and Mary looked at Stuart and Madeline drew him into a hug, as she was so glad something good did come out of the whole affair.
'Of course, please wait a moment'
'Thank you so much!' Madeline exclaimed, looking at Archer. Archer smiled and nodded. He stood and reached for the COM.
'Archer to Lieutenant Reed' He called out briskly.
'Yes Sir?' Archer could have sworn he heard the Lieutenant yawn.
'There are some people I think you should talk to. I'll put them through to your station, is that all right?' Archer asked, casting a glance back at the rest of the Reed family, who had now resorted to hugging each other in happiness. He smiled.
'Sure' came a rather sleepy British reply.
'Malcolm… get some coffee'
'Will do, Sir' the line ended and Archer returned to the screen, he sat down and pressed a button.
'He's up. I'm putting you through to his station.' Archer informed them, taking another sip of his own coffee.
'Thank you Captain. Before you do, I wish to say something,' Stuart replied, his eyes looked urgently at the American and Archer nodded 'I have been cynical about Starfleet in the past, believing it to be not essential to Earth but I see that's different now. Enterprise does have a purpose and it has changed many lives, including ours. If Malcolm hadn't joined Starfleet then I think we may have stayed the same way forever. We're both stubborn men and I'm glad I can see what Malcolm sees in Starfleet now. I was wrong to think such things about Starfleet and Enterprise, and regrettably, you. You have shown much to the rest of us.'
'Thank you very much Admiral…that means a lot' Archer replied, and nodded whilst the two men shared a warm smile. 'I'll patch you through now, shall I?' Archer asked, smiling slightly.
'If you would be so kind'
Archer nodded and pressed the button. Stuart's face disappeared from Archer's screen and reappeared at another on the same ship. Archer had a feeling that everything would turn out all right in the end.
As usual Reviews are always welcomed