CHAPTER 2

Sickbay was only a short distance down the corridor. Malcolm was leading the way, followed by T'Pol and the D'nini. Hoshi, at the rear of the group, experienced a sudden apprehension. She pushed past the D'nini as politely as she could and caught up with T'Pol.

"Phlox is male," Hoshi said in a whisper.

T'Pol gave her a sidelong glance. They both were well aware their visitors had requested they see no men. The one man they had seen had caused the D'nini to react in a most unpredictable way.

"Go ahead and tell the doctor to remain out of sight," T'Pol said. "I will have our guests wait outside until sickbay is clear."

"Pardon me," said the silver-haired D'nini from behind them.

Hoshi told herself she really ought to find out their names instead of mentally referring to them by the color of their hair or dresses. For the time being, however, she decided she'd call this one "Silver."

"There is no longer any need for us to be segregated from the men on your ship," Silver told them.

"Excuse me?" Hoshi asked in confusion.

"Do you need to leave us?" asked Silver, a frown marring her perfect features.

Hoshi shook her head. Before she could say anything, T'Pol addressed Silver. "Please elaborate. Why do you no longer wish to be sequestered from the men on Enterprise?"

A beatific smile transformed Silver's face, mirrored by the happy expressions of her companions. She cast a glance at Malcolm, who was waiting next to the sickbay doors. "We have seen his blood," Silver said as if that explained everything.

"You've told us that several times," Hoshi said in exasperation.

"We do not, however," T'Pol said, "understand the significance of this factor."

Silver's eyes widened in comprehension. "Of course! You are not familiar with our customs." Gesturing toward Malcolm, she said, "First let us see to his injury, then all will be explained."

T'Pol indicated Malcolm should enter sickbay. He was followed closely by the D'nini, who clustered around him giving him admiring glances. They hadn't touched him, but Hoshi was willing to bet it was only a matter of time before they were hanging all over him. If it weren't for the fact that she knew Malcolm was incredibly uncomfortable, it would have been funny.

"Uh-oh," Hoshi murmured to T'Pol. "I have a bad feeling about where this is going."

"I believe I have an idea as well, Ensign," T'Pol said quietly as the two women trailed the group into sickbay. "However, we should not leap to conclusions without all the facts. Let us hear what the D'nini have to say."

Doctor Phlox, coming around the partition behind which his supplies were stored, took one look at the assembly of women hovering around Malcolm standing in the middle of sickbay and said, "Oh, my! What do we have here?"

"Can you help him?" asked Silver anxiously, gesturing toward Malcolm who, his expression that of a cornered animal, stood in the midst of the D'nini women.

"Depending on what is wrong with him, I'm sure I can," the doctor answered cheerfully. "But you must give me some room to work, hmmm?"

The D'nini backed a few steps away from Malcolm. Phlox approached Malcolm, who held up his bleeding finger.

"It doesn't look serious. The autosuture should take care of that in no time," Phlox said, reaching for an instrument on a nearby tray. He nodded toward the closest biobed. "If you'll just have a seat?"

T'Pol took the opportunity to draw Silver away from the watching group. "Now would be a good time to explain what is going on," the Vulcan said sternly.

Reluctantly tearing her gaze away from Malcolm, Silver said, "In my culture, a man and a woman who wish to marry must go through certain rituals. The purpose of the rituals, some of which are as old as our species, is to ensure that the pair will remain together for life. One of the most important rituals -- the final one that the man must perform -- is what has happened here. This man has shown us his blood, symbolizing his willingness to keep his life mate safe, even to the point of death."

Hoshi, who had been listening in, said, "But it was an accident. Lieutenant Reed didn't mean to cut himself, and he certainly didn't mean to fall through the ventilation grate."

Silver was already back to gazing adoringly at Malcolm. "It does not matter. It has happened," she said, moving away to rejoin her companions.

Hoshi caught a glimpse of Malcolm's face. He seemed to be doing his best to ignore that he was the center of the D'ninis' attention.

"Their reaction to this incident seems extreme," T'Pol commented.

Hoshi had to agree, especially after how adamant the D'nini had been about not seeing men. She thought about what Silver had told them, in particular that some of their rituals were as old as their species. Perhaps seeing a man's blood triggered some sort of instinctual response among the women of the D'nini. She said as much to T'Pol.

The Vulcan's eyes narrowed as she thought. "Perhaps," she said, "their reaction has been heightened by their lack of contact with men. I will present this theory to Doctor Phlox while you...run interference...for Lieutenant Reed. He appears to be at a loss as to what to do."

Sure enough, Malcolm had scooted back on the biobed, leaning away from the D'nini as they violated his personal space. Hoshi heard him ask that they stop touching him.

"Maybe I can get some more information out of Silver while I'm at it," Hoshi said. T'Pol lifted an eyebrow, and Hoshi quickly added, "The D'nini who told us about the blood ritual."

Malcolm received permission from T'Pol to go to his quarters. He gratefully left sickbay -- alone -- while the D'nini were kept behind on some pretext. He'd have to thank Hoshi later for that. She'd suggested that the D'nini needed to have scans run since they'd never before had contact with humans. Phlox had picked up on the ruse, and was happily demonstrating how the medical scanners worked when Malcolm ducked out of sickbay.

He could have sworn he felt five pairs of eyes on his back before the sickbay doors swooshed shut behind him. He hurried to his cabin and stepped inside where, as soon as the door shut, he shuddered.

The D'nini were... He didn't know what they were. But he could sense some sort of overwhelming intent from them. The most alarming aspect was that their intent was directed at him.

He shuddered again. Now that he'd gotten away from them, he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen next. The little bit he'd overheard in sickbay about the D'nini seeing his blood had been more than disquieting. They didn't look the least bit like vampires, but looks could be deceiving.

Hopefully, he could remain away from them for the duration of their stay. Their ship should be fixed within a matter of hours.

He actually was turning toward the door with the intention of going to speed Trip along with the repairs when he caught himself. What was he doing? That pack of man-hungry females might leave sickbay at any time. He wasn't going to take any chances on running into them. He also supposed the captain's order for the male crew members to remain out of sight still applied to him as well.

With a sigh, Malcolm turned away from the door and flopped down on his bunk. At least Phlox had fixed his finger, he thought as looked at the neatly closed wound. He'd just wait until the all clear was sounded after the D'nini left and it was safe to come out of hiding.

Once Phlox finished the medical exams, the D'ninis' interest in Malcolm resurfaced. They refused to leave sickbay until T'Pol agreed they would see the tactical officer after they were settled in their guest quarters. While Hoshi was occupied with taking them to the cabin, T'Pol consulted with Phlox about his findings, then went in search of the captain.

She found him in his ready room. She didn't make it halfway through her report before he interrupted her.

"They have a biological imperative to mate?" he asked incredulously.

T'Pol had been expecting the outburst. Humans were so fixated on sexual matters. Being Vulcan, however, she could commiserate with the D'nini. She had her own race's biological imperative to worry about every seven years. Not that she was going to bring that subject up.

Trying to quell the captain's rising anxiety, she said, "It is a biological imperative only so far as Lieutenant Reed is concerned. The other male crew members may now be in the D'ninis' presence with no untoward effects."

"Untoward effects?" Jon repeated and sat down in the chair at his desk.

T'Pol took the captain's comment to be rhetorical and requiring no response on her part. She resumed giving her report. Doctor Phlox's scans had shown that indeed the D'nini were acting under an impulse triggered by seeing a man's blood. In talking to Silver, T'Pol had found that only unmated female D'nini had this response. That it had affected five women at once was unusual, but not unheard of, and there were polygamous marriages on their homeworld because of it.

"But they can't seriously believe that Malcolm is in a position to marry them!" Jon said. "He's not even a D'nini! He's a human...and a Starfleet officer!"

"Their emotions are clouding their judgment," T'Pol said, recalling her own even more blatant sexual overtures toward the very same Starfleet officer after a microbe she'd picked up on an away mission had triggered her mating cycle. She hurried on with her report. "In addition, it is Phlox's conclusion that, by remaining isolated from men, the D'ninis' response was heightened more than usual when they saw the lieutenant's blood."

Jon leaned back in his chair. "There's got to be some way to short-circuit their response. Isn't there something Phlox can give them?"

T'Pol raised her eyebrows. "Doctor Phlox has no cure. Even if he did, it could only be administered with the D'ninis' permission, which I seriously doubt would be given."

"Of course it couldn't be that simple," Jon muttered, rubbing his eyes. "Well, they'll be gone in a few hours. That should be the end of it."

Hoshi managed to convince the D'nini to stay in the cabin while she stepped out into the corridor to talk to T'Pol.

"They're getting more and more wound up," she told the first officer. "If they don't see Lieutenant Reed soon, I don't think I can keep them in the cabin. They're talking about going to look for him."

T'Pol told Hoshi about the doctor's findings.

"Can't something be done to change the D'ninis' reaction?" Hoshi asked.

"That is unknown at this time. We need more information about their culture as well as their physiology before we can formulate some resolution to this situation."

Hoshi frowned. "I suppose we could just ask them to leave, but I don't think they'll go for it. By the way, does Lieutenant Reed know about all this?" she asked with a vague wave of her hand toward the cabin door.

"I haven't had the opportunity to tell him. I thought it best to come here first and gather more information." T'Pol thought for a moment. "I will talk to the D'nini while you inform Lieutenant Reed of the situation. If I cannot make them remain in the cabin, perhaps we can come up with a way to distract them. A tour comes to mind, since they no longer desire to remain sequestered."

"Crewman Cutler would be a good person to take them on a tour," Hoshi said. "In the meantime, I'll try to contact their homeworld and see what I can find out."

Malcolm was sitting on his bunk when Hoshi entered his quarters. She wasn't surprised when he jumped to his feet at her news.

"They want to marry me? All of them?" he cried, an expression of mixed disbelief and horror etched on his face. "Just because they saw my blood!"

"Calm down, Malcolm! T'Pol's trying to get more information from them. I just stopped by here to let you know what was going on before I head to the bridge to contact their homeworld."

"To do what? Send out wedding invitations?"

Hoshi scowled at Malcolm and he quickly became apologetic. "Sorry, Hoshi. But it's rather hard to believe. One minute I'm minding my own business, working on some relays, and the next I fall through a ventilation grate -- arse first, no less! -- and have five alien women chasing after me -- because they want to marry me!"

Hoshi cleared her throat. "I'm not so sure they want to marry you." She felt terrible when he glanced hopefully at her, and she hurried on. "They just want to mate with you. It's some sort of biological response to the sight of your blood."

Malcolm groaned, closed his eyes, and sank down onto his bunk.

Hoshi took pity on him. "Look, you stay here. That way the D'nini won't run into you while they're taking a tour of the ship. I'll get up to the bridge and see what I can find out from their homeworld." She opened the door but paused on the threshold. "As soon as I know anything, I'll let you know."

Eyes still closed, Malcolm nodded miserably.