/Psionic: adjective: relating to or denoting the practical use of psychic powers./
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—Chapter 02—
Awareness expanding once again, but unfolding now in a more orderly manner, and this time more complete in scope. Species, sex, name, all these were known quantities now as the patient opened her eyes to find a familiar figure seated to the left of her bed. The Vulcan had been reading something on a PADD, but raised his eyes when he felt the patient stir.
"T'Pol!" said Soval, openly pleased to see his former protege wake.
"Ambassador," said T'Pol, her voice still hoarse, and the effort it took for her to speak made Soval reach for the steaming cup of tea next to him.
"Here," said Soval, coming closer, and holding the cup gently to T'Pol's lips. "Take a sip. The nurse just brought it for me, so it is hot. Be careful."
T'Pol did as instructed, made an appreciative noise, then took note for the first time of gravity's pull, and said, "Thank you, Soval. I take it that I am back on Vulcan."
Soval nodded, and said, "Yes. You are on Vulcan, T'Pol. Your mother will be here shortly. She stepped out to purchase some scientific periodicals for when you wake."
T'Pol looked around the large, well lit, attractively furnished room which looked nothing like a hospital room, her eyes momentarily drawn to a lovely ceramic vase, filled by an assortment of Earth's flowers arranged in a sparse but beautiful display, which was decidedly not Vulcan.
Soval noticed the direction of T'Pol's gaze and said, "I am told that Admiral Ryan checks up on your health once a week, speaking to your doctors, discussing your treatment. His secretary, a charming Ms. Kojima, makes a hobby of flower arranging, and the admiral brings flowers each time he comes, for the Humans have a greenhouse at their embassy."
"I will convey my gratitude to the Admiral, next time I see him," said T'Pol.
"You may," said Soval, "but I do not think that is necessary, T'Pol. They consider taking care of you their duty. They have covered your medical bills and picked up the tab for this room. In addition I understand they have placed a sum of money in escrow for you with a Vulcan bank, in the event that you wake from your coma. Your mother will have the details of that matter."
"What happened to me, Soval? What am I doing here?"
"What is the last thing your remember, T'Pol?"
"Rajiin," said T'Pol, coughing, then wetting her throat as Soval raised the cup to her lips once more. "An alien which Captain Archer brought aboard the Enterprise in hopes of getting some information on the Xindi. She came into my quarters and did something to me. Her touch inflamed my emotions even as it stripped me of control, then overpowered me. I blacked out. I remember nothing after that. I take it that I was in bad shape if Captain Archer brought me home for medical treatment. Is the Enterprise still in orbit? If so, I must return to my post."
"T'Pol," said Soval, "the attack you described by this Rajiin, it took place some time ago. You have been in a coma for the past three years."
T'Pol was rocked momentarily by Soval's words, then said, "Earth? The Xindi? Did the Enterprise succeed in its mission to destroy the Xindi weapon?"
"Yes, and no, T'Pol," said Soval. "We can discuss it later, but you are exhausted now. You need rest."
T'Pol's cheeks colored, and she said, "I have been in a coma for three years, Soval. I have rested long enough. Tell me."
Soval placed the PADD he had been reading when T'Pol woke in her hands, and said, "What we know is here for you to read at your leisure, T'Pol, but I will give you an overview. The Enterprise succeeded against all odds and the Xindi weapon was destroyed. Just as impressive, Captain Archer concluded a peace treaty with three of the Xindi species."
"But not the Xindi Reptilians, or Insectoids, I take it," said T'Pol.
"No, T'Pol. Not them," said Soval. "They would have no part of a peace treaty with the Humans, and they broke with the other Xindi races over the issue, and departed for parts unknown."
"What then, Soval?"
"The alien female, Rajiin," said Soval, "had taken a number of physical scans of the Humans during her time aboard the Enterprise, T'Pol. Those scans were used to create a biological weapon, which the Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids deployed against the Humans, a year after their planet cracking weapon was destroyed."
"How do we know it was the Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids who deployed such a weapon, Soval?" said T'Pol. "It might have been someone else, unlikely as that might be."
Soval shook his head, and said, "The Xindi Reptilians sadistically taunted the Humans as they began dying. There is no doubt of the cause of this infection, T'Pol."
"I see," said T'Pol.
Soval paused for a moment, seemingly lost in thought.
"A bio-weapon, you say, Soval," said T'Pol, indicating that the ambassador should continue.
"Yes, T'Pol. I can guess what the Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids scientists intended," said Soval, "but I am certain that they did not envision, or plan, for what happened next. They made a mistake, and that mistake may well cost them everything before all is said and done, the way things are currently unfolding."
T'Pol felt a sense of foreboding as Soval continued speaking, but did not interrupt him.
"The human DNA contains around 20,000 functional genes, T'Pol, that is, the stretches of DNA that encode proteins. But these genes account for only about 1.2 percent of the total genome. The other 98.8 percent is known as non-coding DNA, often called junk DNA. The Xindi scientists saw something in this non-coding DNA which interested them, for the weapon they created targeted a portion of this 'junk' DNA, and did so quite effectively, but there were some major unintended consequences as well."
T'Pol nodded, encouraging Soval to keep going.
"No one knows precisely how the Xindi dispersed their bio-weapon so effectively, but the Humans on Earth, the cities on the Moon and Mars, as well as the huge colony on Jupiter's moon Europa, and the large colonies on Saturn's moons, Titan and Enceladus, they were all affected, T'Pol."
"The aged succumbed first, to madness and then a painfully protracted death, often terminated by suicide in those driven to a state of mental chaos so malignant that apparently death seemed preferable. The mortality rate for this demographic was something like ninety-eight percent. The few survivors were driven irretrievably mad, and their lives were medically terminated, for there was no one to care for them.
"The young were affected next, though the madness progressed relatively quickly among them and often left death in its wake. The mortality rate among that demographic stood at some sixty-four percent.
"The adults were last, and the mortality rate was lowest here, at some fifty-two percent," said Soval. "The madness progressed slowest here, though death was just as inevitable for those susceptible to the effects of the bio-weapon, and though they resisted the onset of the madness the longest, they were also the most destructive, aiming the destructive impulse which came with the madness at others, in violent murderous sprees. By the end of it, of some twenty-two billion Humans spread throughout Earth, Mars and the moon colonies, roughly seven billion survived that first Madness Season."
T'Pol was white faced now from the shock of it all, and she said, "Madness Season?"
"It is what the Humans named the effect of the bio-weapon," said Soval. "The three allied species of Xindi were disgusted by the actions of the Reptilians and Insectoids, and millions of these allied Xindi races came to Earth to aid the Humans, no doubt driven by guilt over their part in this whole nasty event. As you can imagine, the logistics of disposing of all those corpses was an almost impossible task, made viable only through the use of heavy machinery and the aid of the Xindi. Huge pit graves were dug to house tens of thousands of Human bodies to a pit, and a seemingly endless number of these pits had to be dug, or else the bodies were burned in industrial furnaces, and the fires burned day and night T'Pol, for the first eighteen months. Our own people worked to care for the living as best as we could, and we surely did some good with our efforts."
T'Pol was shaken by the changes that had taken place while she had hovered limbo for three years.
"Anyway," said Soval, "the Aquatics tried to broker a peace between Humanity and the Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids, although I do not believe the Humans would have accepted such a peace treaty after the death of some fifteen billion people. In any case, the Aquatics broadcast their offer to mediate out in the open on all channels, on all vectors, but they received no answer to their offer, only a message for the Xindi Aquatics, Primates and Arboreals."
"What message, Soval?"
"You're next, traitors. Upon hearing that, the Aquatics washed their hands, fins, flippers, whatever, of the Reptilians and Insectoids," said Soval, "It was clear to the rest of the Xindi races that the Reptilians and the Insectoids were beyond reason."
"You said there were unintended consequences, Soval," said T'Pol, for she could hear no more of the horrors.
"Indeed," said Soval. "Although the Xindi bio-weapon left madness and death in its wake among the majority of Humans, the genetic alterations which brought on the madness, also unintentionally bestowed gifts upon the survivors. We have not been able to determine the cause of this phenomenon yet, and the Humans are understandably too busy to give the matter the proper attention at this time, but it is enough to know that the weak perished, while the strong willed and strong minded survived the Madness Season and grew into psionic power in the process, for the genetic changes unlocked the powers of the mind, and seemingly jump started Human evolution far ahead of its expected timetable. Essentially, Homo Sapiens became Homo Novus, or the New Man, after that first Madness Season."
"The Humans have a term for something like this, referring to unintended effects," said T'Pol. "They call it Murphy's Law."
"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong," said Soval. "I am familiar with that philosophical maxim, T'Pol."
"And so, Soval… What type of psionic powers were unlocked from the Human genetic code?" said T'Pol. "How wide spread are they among the survivors?"
"I can not yet speak with any authority of the extent of their psionic talents, T'Pol, or their similarity with our own talents," said Soval, "save for Telepathy. I can assure you, they have at least that talent."
T'Pol looked at Soval with interest, for he'd said that oddly, and she then considered his words. All Vulcans had some level of psionic power. Although such talents were frowned upon these days by the High Command, for it was the nature of political power to distrust other powers it could not control, Vulcan history and literature were rich in references to psionic talents, eagerly honed to their utmost and used as weapons in the constant drive for power that was the norm on Old Vulcan. Surak's coming had put an end to those days, for a passion fueled psionic arms race was illogical, yet still, the powers persisted to this day, if in a milder form.
The five basic divisions of Vulcan psionic power were the talents of Clairsentience, Empathy, Focus, Telepathy and Telekinesis, and these talents were further sub-divided into a number of disciplines. Of these five talents, the last, Telekinesis, was practically nonexistent among the Vulcan populace at large, though it was rumored to still exist among the powerful mind-priests of secluded Vulcan monasteries.
T'Pol's main talent lay in Empathy, for she was largely a receptive empath, and it was one of the reasons, besides the Vulcan cultural norms, that she rarely touched others, for she would pick up their emotions quite easily, and that was why she'd avoided shaking Commander Tucker's proffered hand on their initial meeting, despite knowing that the Human would consider it rude, but she was already aggravated by Archer's conduct towards her, and did not wish to pick up more mistrust and dislike from the commander through physical contact with the man, via her empathy.
Days later, when she'd run her hands across his body while in the Decon chamber, she couldn't get enough of the man. His emotions were so rich, so wild, so alluring, that it took him walking away from her to remove her hands from his body. She was disturbed by the encounter for weeks after, for she'd found his emotions seductive, and dangerous, and more so, she could not stop examining the commander's feelings for her: she knew after that first time in the Decon chamber, that he'd been instantly and strongly drawn to her on first sight, in a heady mix of appreciation for her beauty, a desire to taste her lips, and an unabashed lust that urged him to mate with her. Despite the scandalous nature of it all, rather than being repulsed by such raw emotions coming from the man she'd just recently met, T'Pol was drawn to those emotions and the man himself, beyond all reason, and despite all logic.
Her other talent was in Telepathy, though it was a weak talent, once again, mostly receptive, for T'Pol had been largely introverted during her adolescence, when her psionic talents had taken root, and her talents followed her inclinations.
"Where was I," said Soval. "Oh, yes. Though we did our best to be of service during this time, when the Human deaths climbed into the billions and all round us was nothing but madness and despair, it was all too much for us, T'Pol. We left Earth, lest we be overcome by the grief and the pain of the survivors and dragged down into madness with the Humans, though our navy still played a role by patrolling the Sol system, and presumably serving as a deterrent to any more incursions upon the system by Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids."
T'Pol nodded, understanding. The Madness Season and its effects would have been an ugliness which the now logical Vulcan mind would be ill suited to face, though ironically, the Vulcan mindset of the ancient past would have dealt with the situation with much less friction, for her people had gloried in battle and bloodshed in those days, and death, despair and an abundance of corpses were just part and parcel of that life.
"Surprisingly, the Humans hold us no ill will over our departure," said Soval. "The telepaths among them would have understood our reason for leaving, and likely shared it with the rest of humanity. If there are empaths among them as well, I am certain they perceived our reasons on an emotional level, and they would have spoken on our behalf as well. I am speculating here, of course, but I can see no other reasons to explain the matter otherwise."
"So, there are no reports as to how their psionic talents compare to ours?" said T'Pol.
"Nothing definitive, T'Pol. Mostly second hand stories of uncertain providence, but notably, all of the initial reports agree that Human psionic abilities are not dependent on touch, so we might take that as a fact, for now," said Soval, and T'Pol found that intriguing.
The vast majority of Vulcans were natural touch-psychics, with only the adepts in the monasteries, a few of the black ops operatives in the V'Shar, and a relatively small number of the population with power levels high enough to transcend the requirement for touch in order to use their abilities at relatively short distances, though at a cost of a great deal of focus, and concentration. The only consistent exception to the requirement for touch amongst the majority of Vulcans existed among Bonded couples, but this was understandable, for Bonded couples were essentially one mind, one soul.
"I am surprised our people took so little interest in something as unique as the psychic awakening of an entire species, to some degree or other, in the blink of an eye, speaking in an evolutionary sense," said T'Pol.
"Well, the second Madness Season swept through the survivors a year after the first, T'Pol, as the disease mutated in one of the moon colonies, and made its way back towards the center," said Soval, "so we all feared the worst, but the death toll was much lower now, some thirty or forty million, spread out over all the outposts and colonies, as well as Earth, as those most susceptible to the weapon had already been killed by the first wave of infection. In any case, we returned to Earth and the colonies recently in order to help them rebuild, and since then there have been reports from our people of wild talents and disciplines among them for which we have no counterpart among our people, but I suspect that we will learn everything of importance in due time, and we must wait until then to make sense of it all. To do otherwise would be to indulge in nothing more than rank speculation."
"True," said T'Pol. "When will I be discharged from here? I must contact the Enterprise."
"T'Pol, the Enterprise was extensively damaged in the Delphic Expanse," said Soval. "I saw it when it returned to Earth. It looked like a burned out shell, and half the crew died in the Expanse. I was quite relieved to find you still alive on board the Enterprise, even if in a coma."
T'Pol's heart beat like a drum on hearing that last fact, and she said, "Is there a list of survivors?"
"I am not aware of one, T'Pol," said Soval, "but I am certain that StarFleet will have information."
"Yes," said T'Pol. "Continue, please, Soval."
"Accordingly," said Soval, "the Enterprise was decommissioned, and a new vanadium-steel keel was laid out immediately and a new tritanium alloy frame built around it, made of the metal salvaged, melted and forged anew from the former Enterprise. This ship was upgraded with new technologies the Enterprise had come across in the Delphic Expanse. I've seen the list of tech upgrades in this new Enterprise, and it is quite extensive, but I can name a few. The Xindi subspace vortex drives, Andorian anti-matter injectors which Commander Tucker received from Commander Shran, isomagnetic collectors which they supposedly learned of from an alternate version of the Enterprise in another time line. You will love this, T'Pol. Supposedly, an aged version of you assisted the crew of the Enterprise with some crucial information, while your son helped them accomplish their mission."
"My son?" said T'Pol, intrigued.
She knew that Captain Archer would not make up such things, but still… who fathered her son? She'd broken off her engagement with Koss for reasons most Vulcans would consider indefensible, so finding herself another mate would not be a trivial matter.
"Yes, supposedly you and Commander Tucker had a son in an alternate timeline," said Soval, visibly scoffing at the entire story, "who then returned with the aged T'Pol in order to rescue the Enterprise from the Xindi, or something similar."
T'Pol's heart raced at the thought of such a possibility, unlikely as it seemed. She was a graduate of the Vulcan Science Academy, after all, and the idea was fascinating, from scientific point of view.
"The Vulcan Science Academy has determined that time travel is impossible," said T'Pol half-heartedly, and Soval nodded.
"I am aware of that, T'Pol, yet the crew of the Enterprise stands by those claims," said Soval. "In any case, this new ship was named the Enterprise in order to honor the old ship, and though it looks much the same I am told, it packs a much harder punch now. In any case, I will forward a list of the technology that StarFleet has acquired in the Expanse to your PADD. As a scientist you will find it fascinating. Vissian technology, shields from a Kantare ship, Eska night vision goggles, Orion slave control devices to secure prisoners, organic circuitry from a ship supposedly from the future piloted by a mixed species pilot, Klingon weapons specs from a Klingon cruiser trapped in a gas giant, the wreck of a Xindi ship which served as a hatchery, and so on, and so on. The list is long, and though we've tried to talk StarFleet out of allowing the spread of these technologies into the larger fleet, our advice counted for little, given that you were the only Vulcan who aided them in that mission."
"Why does the High Command object to StarFleet making use of these new technologies, Soval?"
"They view it in the same light as giving a live phaser to a child, T'Pol," said Soval, "especially given the added factor of the Madness Season. If there should be more such seasons, and the Humans go completely insane, they would become a plague of such proportions that they would make the Klingons seem like wise and measured statesmen. You should see their ships now, T'Pol. With all the enhancements they're building into them now, these smaller Human ships can now go toe to toe with anyone, and the fact that much of their production line was automated long before the Madness Season struck means that these new models will roll out with impressive haste."
"Well, that is a problem the High Command must tackle another day, Soval," said T'Pol, "given that they can do nothing to stop it. As for me, I would return to duty."
"That is ridiculous, T'Pol," said Soval. "You just roused yourself after a three year coma! I will not hear of it! I will petition the High Command to reinstate your commission, and do my best to get you reassigned back to our embassy on Earth if you like, serving once more with me. You were right to assist the Humans in the Delphic Expanse, T'Pol, even the High Command sees that now, but you have done more than enough for StarFleet."
"I have my duty as I see it, Soval, and I do not wish to rejoin the High Command."
Soval looked at T'Pol, his face inscrutable, and said, "May we speak truth, T'Pol?"
"Always, Soval," said T'Pol, though she was wary, for Soval was wise, and saw deeply into most matters.
"I am certain that you are driven to serve StarFleet by a sense of loyalty, but I suspect that there is also a much more personal reason which drives you, T'Pol."
"I am not certain that I understand your meaning, Soval," said T'Pol, heart racing.
"Are you aware that I am a functional telepath, T'Pol?"
The term functional designated a psion who could use his powers with 100% reliability. The vast majority of Vulcans could not make that claim where their psychic talents were concerned. Of her own talents, T'Pol rated a 79% success rate in Empathy with a random subject, a 91% success rate with someone familiar to her, and a 99.1% success rate with someone dear to her. With Telepathy, a much weaker talent for her, she rated a 9% success rate with a random subject, a 23% success rate with a familiar subject, and a 47% success rate with a subject dear to her, and her power ratings were 4.6 for Empathy and 1.9 for Telepathy.
T'Pol nodded in answer to Soval's question, and said, "Yes, Soval. I read your file while I was serving in the V'Shar. If I remember correctly, your potential psi rating in telepathy was 5.3 - your functional telepathy rating at the time was 5.1. You have also some talent in Clairsentience and Focus, but those ratings are no better than average."
The PSI scale went from 0 to 10, and it was a logarithmic scale rather than a linear scale, so even seemingly small differences in a psion's score actually represented a large variance in power. The typical Human rated a .4 on the psi scale, with their occasional psychic insights, while a talented Human psion such as the remote viewers trained and used by black ops government agencies came in at 1.2 to 1.6, while the average Vulcan started at .9 and went up to 2.5, or so. The Vulcan mind-priests and the specially selected and trained black ops psions of the V'Shar and other similar, and often even more secretive agencies, could sometimes reach the high 6 range. In any case, Soval's 5.1 rating was quite impressive, and generally any Vulcan with a rating of 4.8+ in a talent was functional in that talent.
"Correct on all fronts, T'Pol," said Soval. "Now, do you remember earlier in our conversation, when I said that I was quite certain that Humans have at least Telepathy now?"
"Yes," said T'Pol, curious now over where this was heading.
"I know that is a fact, because I mind shared with a Human telepath," said Soval. "I thought myself quite clever, and lightly brushed against the Human in question as if by accident, but it did not go as I expected."
T'Pol nodded her understanding. A telepath of Soval's power could indeed make contact with another's mind with the lightest physical touch, bypassing the need to touch the psi points on the subject's face, or reciting the usual mantra, which was just a mechanism to focus weaker minds on the task at hand. In addition, once a link was established, he would be able to maintain a telepathic link, without remaining in physical contact, so long as his target remained physically close by.
"Why did you do that, Soval?" said T'Pol, fully aware of how the High Command felt about mind melds, or really anything dealing with psionic powers. "You know the High Command would not approve of your actions."
"I am surprised to find you so solicitous of the High Command's opinions, T'Pol, given your actions of late. In any case, I acted impulsively, T'Pol, thinking that determining the relative degree of sanity left in a Human going through the throes of the Madness Season was an important bit of knowledge," said Soval.
"Explain," said T'Pol.
"The first Madness Season was sweeping Earth and the colonies at the time, and the Humans serving in StarFleet were naturally affected along with the rest," said Soval. "Accordingly, there were discussions among the Admiralty on how best to maintain battle readiness in the fleet, for StarFleet feared that the Xindi Reptilians and Insectoids would launch a physical attack upon Earth at the time. But the sickness was sweeping through StarFleet's ranks as well, though most continued to work until they succumbed to the madness, and began fighting for their lives against the illness."
T'Pol nodded, and said, "Go on."
"The Admirals conducted many consultations with their cadre of officers at StarFleet HQ, and I was a frequent visitor there. On one of these occasions, I came across a familiar figure from the Enterprise in one of the waiting rooms."
"Captain Archer?"
"No," said Soval. "The entire crew of the Enterprise was promoted for successfully completing their mission, and Archer had been promoted to Admiral by then, but at the time he was affected by the madness, and struggling to retain his sanity and his life, at the time."
T'Pol tensed, and said, "Did he survive?"
"Yes, T'Pol."
"Who was it than, Soval?" said T'Pol, curiously, knowing it would be one of the officers, if that Human was being consulted by the Admiralty. "Which crew member of the Enterprise?"
"It was Captain Tucker, T'Pol," said Soval, and T'Pol's breath quickened. "I am certain that you remember him, though he was a commander during the time you both served aboard the Enterprise."
"Interesting," said T'Pol, pretending a sense of detachment she did not feel.
"Indeed, T'Pol," said Soval, looking shrewdly at T'Pol. "Would you like to sample what I felt when I linked with the captain's mind? I know the High Command would not approve of the act, but as you have already resigned from their service, I imagine their disapproval would not concern you."
T'Pol felt Soval's scrutiny, but his offer was too tempting to pass up, for telepathic insights would differ in nature from emphatic insights, but both were valuable. She nodded, her breath quickening.
Soval watched T'Pol struggle with herself and throw caution to the winds for the sake of learning something of Captain Tucker, and his suspicions were confirmed, for he had always sensed that T'Pol was drawn to the Human engineer. He touched T'Pol's wrist with his left hand, and the world dropped away in an instant for them both, as they relived Soval's experience.
T'Pol's mind was instantly assaulted by a malevolent rage, so potent, so wild, that it easily matched uncontrolled Vulcan passions. Captain Tucker turned his head to face her, his eyes filled with the cold fury and cruel arrogance of a BlackSand Hawk. T'Pol was petrified by the man's gaze, but Soval had retained his wits about him. Protective walls were instantly raised in Soval's psyche, and T'Pol, weak telepath though she was, still sensed the superlative strength of Soval's defenses, yet they crumbled after several blows by Captain Tucker that left Soval's psyche throughly shaken by the violence, and by the power. T'Pol felt Soval's distress as the Vulcan struggled to raise his shields again quickly, only to have them brushed aside contemptuously, and she then felt the captain's anger at Soval like a metal spike being driven through her skull and into her mind, and T'Pol screamed at the unbelievable pain, as Captain Tucker cruelly punished Soval for the Vulcan's attempt to probe his mental state. She was not even aware that she had screamed when Captain Tucker had lashed out at Soval, but several nurses came running into T'Pol's room after hearing T'Pol's scream, and looked at T'Pol with uncertainty.
"She just woke from a nightmare," said Soval, and T'Pol nodded her agreement, and all but one of the nurses returned to their stations.
"Would you like a tranquilizer?" said the nurse.
"No," said T'Pol, still breathing heavily. "I will be all right. Thank you."
The nurse nodded, and left.
Soval gave a wan smile, and said, "It was a foolish thing to do, I know, T'Pol."
T'Pol, truly shaken, said, "And I had always considered you a font of wisdom, Soval."
"You were clearly mistaken," said Soval, with a hint of a smile in the corners of his mouth.
"I see that now, Ambassador," said T'Pol, making small talk in order to gain the time needed to compose herself: she breathed in and out deeply.
T'Pol knew that by the time a psionic talent developed, usually at puberty, the being in question had spent a number of years experiencing the world strictly through the physical senses, and so there was a tendency to interpret psionic input as physical sensations, and project psionic output as physical sensations, but even by those standards, Captain Tucker's contact with Soval had been so physically explicit, so seemingly real, that it was quite remarkable.
"Why did Captain Tucker's telepathic contact feel so strongly physical?" said T'Pol. "Is it because of his species?"
"I do not believe his species is relevant here, T'Pol. It is just a matter of his psionic strength. Due to your relatively weak telepathic power levels, your telepathic touch is like an invitation to commune, while Captain Tucker's telepathic touch is a command, unless you have the power to resist that command. I did not."
T'Pol was troubled by Soval's words, and the mental image of a BlackSand Hawk blended with Captain Tucker once again, the cold, arrogant look sending chills down her spine. She wondered now if any part of the man she had known still existed, or if he was gone forever, stolen from her by the Madness Season.
"Was the power discrepancy between you and Captain Tucker as wide as it seemed?" said T'Pol finally, recalling the helplessness she felt when Soval's psyche was handled with such sureness, and such casual brutality, by Captain Tucker.
"Yes," said Soval. "I am fortunate to be alive, T'Pol. Now that you have sampled the madness in their minds, you begin to understand how things have changed, no?"
"Perhaps not as much as you might think, Soval."
"What do you mean, T'Pol?"
"Captain Tucker clearly knew what you were doing," said T'Pol, "what you were attempting to do anyway, the instant you linked your mind to his."
"That is indisputable, T'Pol," said Soval, recalling the dread sensation he'd felt when he'd come to the same realization, looking into Captain Tucker's cold, pitiless, eyes. "What is your point?"
"He controlled his urge to kill you, Soval," said T'Pol. "I felt his rage, and I wonder that he had the strength to restrain himself. The madness tried him, but it did not conquer Captain Tucker."
"We can not say that, T'Pol," said Soval, sensibly. "I was ordered to return to Vulcan soon after, and I lost track of Captain Tucker. He may have succumbed to the madness later during that first season, or perhaps a year later during the second Madness Season."
"He has not, Soval."
"How do you know, T'Pol?"
T'Pol said nothing, for Soval would dismiss her 'hunch' as foolishness picked up from her time spent with Humans.
"Since you will not answer me," said Soval, "we should resume our meld. You were startled and broke the mind meld before I finished showing you all I meant to show you."
"If you believe it necessary," said T'Pol, and reached out for Soval's touch once more, though her hand trembled.
The world vanished once more for T'Pol, and Soval had mercifully moved past the rough treatment he'd taken from Captain Tucker's psyche, to now allow T'Pol to feel Captain Tucker's thoughts moving through her mind, well Soval's mind, which they both experienced in their own manner. Soval had interpreted that mental invasion abstractly, as thousands of lines of telepathic power moving through his mind, which was not the same as moving through his brain. These lines moved swiftly on a meandering path, searching for a particular topic, and then moving on, in search of more and more data on that topic. There was no pain for Soval this time, but he was still uneasy, for he could not block this invasion of his being. Captain Tucker's conduct would have been considered a crime by most Vulcans, save for the fact that it had been Soval himself who had begun it all, by trying to mind meld with Captain Tucker without the man's permission.
T'Pol, with a different perspective on Captain Tucker, felt the invasion of Soval's mind as if it was an invasion of her own mind, yet she had no desire to resist, nor could she muster the will power to do so. It was intimidating, this movement of Captain Tucker through her psyche, for she felt what Soval felt, but still, a shudder of pleasure moved through T'Pol, incongruous as that might be given the situation at hand, for it was a physical reaction to the commander's intent, which was clear to her immediately.
Soval felt the captain's purpose as well, felt that same act as a relentless probe of every single fact which touched upon T'Pol. The entire process took a fraction of a second, then Captain Tucker released Soval's psyche, and walked away, still furious with the Vulcan. T'Pol felt Soval's efforts to control emotion for the Vulcan was shaken, and then the ambassador broke his link with T'Pol. He and T'Pol looked at each other now, only Vulcan discipline keeping them from seeming ill at ease with the other.
"You were the only thing Captain Tucker sought from my mind," said Soval finally, "and he was not to be denied. He began with the intent of learning if you had come out of your coma, then he expanded his probe out from there to every single interaction you and I have ever had, every single fact I knew about you, T'Pol."
T'Pol nodded. Captain Tucker's purpose during his mind probe of Soval had been quite clear, and its intensity was disconcerting, and paradoxically, also gratifying.
"Why would Captain Tucker seek every artifact of you in my mind with such intensity, T'Pol?"
"I do not know, Soval," said Soval. "It is logical to assume that Captain Tucker was concerned for the welfare of a fellow crew mate."
Soval looked at T'Pol, clearly skeptical of her words. There was no need for the ambassador to say a thing.
"Well, I do not know if he still feels the same, but it is possible that Captain Tucker was slightly attracted to me three years ago, Soval."
"Slightly attracted to you," said Soval, his voice neutral. "Yes, one might say that, T'Pol, in the same manner that one might say that a black hole in space exerts a slight gravitational pull. And you are also drawn to him, T'Pol. We shared minds, so do not bother to deny it, but the man you knew is gone, even if he still lives. Whatever attracted you to the man in the first place, surely no longer exists. Listen and understand. The Madness Season changed everything, T'Pol."