Thank you for reviewing! You're right about the poor boys, they've been through so much... I think I'm going to have to write a lot of fluff to make up for this story ;)...

20

"I... I needed the device to contact someone."

Sahriv frowned. "How did you know that it was a communication device?"

Malcolm glanced at Trip who was limply dangling from the chain, unconscious or close to it. He had to make them take him down, had to end this. Trip would never know what had happened. Malcolm wasn't even sure whether that was a good or a bad thing. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. His mind was rambling, and he knew he had to be quick, before he'd no longer make any sense at all.

"He didn't. I knew. He knows a little bit about technology, so I told him I wanted to contact my... my sister who lives on the other side of the colony. He did what I told him to do. He never knew..."

Knew what? Knew that I was going to leave him all alone in this place after they execute me?

"He never knew what?"

Sahriv nodded at Skonik, and finally, they unhooked the chain, letting Trip drop to the floor. The engineer slumped down in a heap, didn't move at all.

"Never knew what?" The Vulcan took a step closer, and Malcolm dragged his eyes away from the fallen man.

"He... he never knew I was going to contact... my friends." He tried to sit up as straight as he could with his hands chained to the floor, tried to put as much hate into his voice as he could muster. It wasn't hard. "You'll never find us. And you'll never know when we're going to strike, or where. We are many, and more are joining us every day. You'll never know when, but it's going to be soon."

He was tempted to add "death to Vulcan" or something similarly inane, hysteric laughter bubbling in his stomach. If he was going down, he might as well go down with all the dramatics. And they'd leave Trip alone. He'd invent an entire rebel planet if that was what they wanted. If they left Trip alone.

Sahriv's expression had hardened, his cool superiority gone. "What are you saying, human?"

"I'm saying that you'd better be prepared." They believed him, he could see that. "It's going to be soon."

T'Mai slowly began to walk towards him. Malcolm had never seen this kind of hate on anyone's, let alone a Vulcan's face, and shrank back despite himself as she approached.

"It was you, wasn't it? You piece of dirt, it was you!" He had no chance to dodge. Her bootclad foot struck his ribs, sending a sudden, piercing pain through his side. He curled up as well as he could to protect himself as her boots hit him again and again. "Dozens killed in their beds, slaughtered by your mob!" Her voice was strangled. "There were children there! Babies!"

"Officer T'Mai!" Sahriv's voice, sounding harsh and commanding. Slowly, Malcolm raised his head. Sahriv and Skonik had grabbed the Vulcan woman's shoulders, pulling her away from him. She was trembling, staring down at him as if she wanted nothing more than to see him bleeding and dying at her feet.

"Officer T'Mai," Sahriv repeated. "Must I remind you that this is an official interrogation?"

"He killed her." Her voice was little more than a whisper. "He killed my daughter. She was three months old. They'd thrown her on the floor... her forehead was smashed in when I found her..."

"Officer." Even through the haze of pain, Malcolm noticed the discomfort in Sahriv's tone. "We do not even know whether he is telling the truth. It is illogical to assume that he was responsible for any of the raids in the North Country."

"He doesn't care," T'Mai said. She seemed calmer now. "They do not even understand what it means to take a life."

Malcolm forced himself to meet her eyes. This was the first time he'd heard of insurgent humans raiding Vulcan settlements, of infants murdered, but it seemed that it had happened right here in the Jahsif Colony. He'd underestimated the Vulcans' fear of the rebels, maybe fatally so. God only knew what they'd do to him to find out about the "plans" he'd hinted at. He glanced over to where the engineer lay, still not moving. As long as they left Trip alone...

"Look at me, human." There was a strained undertone in Sahriv's voice that hadn't been there before. Malcolm raised his head, and found himself the focus of three pairs of dark eyes – two of them cool and contemptuous, one filled with hatred. "Are you telling the truth? Are you a rebel?"

Malcolm swallowed. If he said yes, he was dead, and if he said no... would they believe him? Would they torture Trip to force the truth out of him? Or would they concentrate on him, believing that Trip was just an uninformed dogsbody?

"Answer the question!" T'Mai stepped towards him, eyes narrowing. "Are you?"

Malcolm looked at her, and suddenly had his answer. As long as he did what he was doing right now – withholding the information they wanted – they'd be far too busy with him to remember Trip. He gave no reply, averting his eyes so she wouldn't see the fear in them. Better to have them think that he wasn't afraid, that he wanted nothing more than to die a martyr for the cause.

Right. They'll find out the truth soon enough.

They would, Malcolm knew that. Trip had been right, a lifetime ago when they'd been trapped on Shuttlepod One with only a few hours of air left. Being a hero didn't suit him. Deep inside him, there was always coward Malcolm, and he'd resurface soon enough when they brought out the thumbscrews and red-hot irons, or whatever they were planning to use on him. In fact, he was scared out of his mind even at the prospect. But there was one thing he couldn't do, and that was stand aside and watch as they tortured Trip. It wasn't a question of courage. He just couldn't do it.

A fist grabbed his hair, forced his head up. "Are you a rebel?" T'Mai repeated quietly, dangerously. "Tell the truth!"

He took a deep breath, and spat a mouthful of blood at her feet. Her face whitened in anger. "You-"

"He's not," a quiet voice said from the other side of the room. "He's not a rebel. Neither of us is. He's lyin'."

Malcolm closed his eyes in despair.

"I'm not wasting any more time with this," he heard Sahriv's sharp voice. "Officer Skonik."

He felt hands grab him and push him down on his back.

"What are you doin'?" Trip's voice again. "Don't-"

Opening his eyes, he saw the flash of a blade, felt a stinging pain as it cut through the fabric of his clothes, its tip biting into his skin.

"No!" Trip yelled, and a far-away part of Malcolm's mind was aware that they must be about to do something really horrible, or Trip wouldn't scream like that. For some reason, though, he couldn't move away, couldn't even try to curl in on himself. He was completely numb.

His trousers were ripped off, and a hand closed painfully on his balls. "Now," Skonik said with a small derisive smile. "You've got exactly five seconds to tell us the truth. Then, I'm going to cut off the first one."

"No!"

Trip was crying, Malcolm realized, Trip never cried, he was "tough as nails", as Captain Archer had so eloquently put it-

"What is going on here?"

Malcolm turned to the voice that had come from the door – correction: the voice he'd thought had come from the door. It couldn't be, of course, and the person he thought was standing there couldn't be real. The truth was that he'd lost it, plain and simple. Not surprising, really, considering that he was about one second away from having his knackers chopped off with a Vulcan dagger.

Hysterical laughter rose in his throat, and they all looked at him as if he were a madman, Trip with his tear-streaked face, T'Mai, Sahriv and Skonik and the not-real person in the door. He couldn't help it. And if his marbles were starting to roll away, he was entitled to a little unprompted laughter, wasn't he?

The person in the door was the first one to move. Slowly, she stepped into the room, pushing her hood back as she spoke, and her voice, he noticed, her voice sounded very real indeed.

"I suggest you release this man immediately," T'Pol said.

TBC...

Surprised? Or not ;)? Anyway, I'm sorry this chapter is rather short; the next one will be longer again! Please let me know what you think!