CHAPTER TWO

Archer stared at the viewscreen. He wasn't looking at the stars rushing by, for his thoughts were elsewhere. The bridge crew, picking up on his bad mood, went about their duties silently. When they had to speak, their tones were hushed. No one wanted to draw the captain's attention when his disposition was such that he'd already put two crewmen on report simply for failing to salute when he'd stepped onto the bridge.

The captain usually wasn't petty. Of all the ship commanders in the Terran Imperial fleet, he was the one they most wanted to serve with. He had a reputation of being fair, which was something of an oddity in the empire. There were times, however, when he could make the most tyrannical captains look tame. Now was one of those times.

The scuttlebutt had already spread of the mystery woman in the captain's cabin. They'd come across the small craft she'd been piloting in the restricted zone just as it had crashed into one of the asteroids. If their egotistical doctor was to be believed, he'd saved her life from injuries she'd sustained in the crash. That he'd almost killed her with his treatment was also general knowledge, although he could be excused on the grounds that he'd been ordered to do it. No one would dare contradict the captain when he insisted.

The woman's craft was a puzzle. It didn't match any ship's specs in the Imperial database. What was left of it was in one of the launch bays, where Commander Tucker, the chief engineer, was analyzing it with the help of Commander T'Pol, the only Vulcan in the crew.

The intercom panel on the command chair's armrest signaled. Every eye went to the captain as he answered the page. "Go ahead."

"I've finished my preliminary analysis of the vessel, sir," came Tucker's voice.

Archer didn't bother to respond. He thumbed off the connection, rose to his feet, and headed for the turbolift.

There was a collective sigh of relief on the bridge as the turbolift door shut behind him.

Tucker, scanner in hand, was standing near a large piece of the wreckage when Archer entered the launch bay. T'Pol, the science officer, was at a work station using a microscanner on a smaller piece. Archer was pleased to sense tension between the two.

Archer had learned long ago that the best way to keep his subordinates in check was to pit them against each other, thereby lessening his own status as a target. Tucker was very talented, perhaps the best engineer in the fleet, but there were areas where T'Pol's scientific expertise surpassed Tucker's abilities. Even though they had the same rank, Tucker was T'Pol's superior by virtue of seniority, but Archer relied more often on T'Pol's counsel than Tucker's. Archer knew Tucker was jealous of that, but more importantly, the engineer was often frustrated, and the cause of his frustration was T'Pol. While this would have been enough to keep the engineer occupied with thoughts other than that of mutiny, there was an added bonus as far as Archer was concerned. Tucker desired T'Pol, and in wanting her, would make no overt move to harm her.

Archer also knew that T'Pol resented being outranked by someone as boorish and, to her way of thinking, emotionally immature as Tucker. She would never willingly enter into a partnership with him. What Tucker didn't know was that Archer kept T'Pol in line with certain privileges, and threatened to take them away when her loyalty showed the slightest hint of wavering.

Archer was just waiting for T'Pol's next pon farr to come around. The fireworks between the two commanders ought to be something to see, although such a relationship could have serious consequences for him if she and Tucker did decide to work together to stage a shipboard coup.

"Report!" he said as he joined Tucker.

"There's nothing in our database that corresponds with this shuttle," Tucker said. "It looks a lot like one of ours, but there are differences."

Archer glared at him. Had Tucker called him down here to tell him something he already knew?

Tucker glanced up from the scanner, saw Archer's harsh expression, and hastily gestured toward the wreckage. "This didn't come from around here."

Archer's eyes narrowed in displeasure. "Tell me something I don't know."

"What Commander Tucker is not saying is where it did come from," T'Pol said. Her expression appeared smug as she added, "It comes from another universe."

Archer's irritation vanished. He'd read the reports some months ago of the discovery of an advanced starship that had been found only three light years from their current position. At first he'd scoffed at the idea that it had come from another universe. How the empire's scientists could be certain of that? But T'Pol had waded through all the technical mumbo-jumbo in the reports and had pronounced it plausible, although highly unlikely. Something about a set of unusual conditions being absolutely perfect and so on. He hadn't paid much attention to the details, but in matters such as this, he believed her. She had no reason to lie, and every reason to be honest with him. He'd long ago seen to that when he'd spared her mother's life, having her put in an Imperial work camp instead of in front of an execution squad.

All this passed through his mind in a flash before his thoughts went to the woman in his cabin. "That means our guest is from another universe."

"It is most likely," T'Pol said.

Tucker angled to get his attention. "There's some technology here we might be able to use," he said.

Archer turned back to him. "Such as?"

Archer didn't miss the smirk Tucker gave T'Pol before addressing him. Tucker enjoyed besting the Vulcan in front of their commanding officer. "From what I can tell, some sort of alloy I've never seen before is used as a shield on vital systems." He picked up a piece of charred circuitry. "If this had been in one of our shuttlepods, there wouldn't be even this much left."

"Can you isolate the alloy? Figure out its compounds?" Archer asked, already envisioning a stronger Enterprise and how that would work to his advantage.

"I might. But, as much as it pains me to say it--" A sly look came over the engineer's face as he glanced in T'Pol's direction. "--I might need some help."

Archer wasn't fooled. Despite his jealousy, Tucker wanted to be near the Vulcan. In this case, they'd both be working on a project for him, and if Archer didn't see results, they'd both be punished. He knew that by working together, they'd be more productive than working individually on the same thing. "T'Pol, give the Commander a hand."

The captain had left her alone is his cabin. She wasn't sure he'd believed her when she said she couldn't remember her name or how she'd come to be here. She'd been relieved when he'd left, despite hearing the click of a lock engaging as the door shut behind him. If he was worried she'd escape, she had news for him. She was so weak she doubted she could make it across the room, much less out of the bed.

He'd said she was on a starship. Where would she go if she did manage to wander off, she thought numbly. At least he'd left the glass of tea next to the bed. She finished it and settled back into the pillow. She drifted off to slumber, her battered body demanding that she sleep, but also wondering if he'd drugged her drink. She felt so lethargic.

Her sleep wasn't peaceful. When the sound of the door opening awakened her, she was shaking and covered in cold sweat, the remnants of a dream clouding her mind.

The captain had returned, but he wasn't alone. He was followed by a strange looking man in a dark tunic and trousers. From the black bag the newcomer was carrying, she deduced that he was a doctor. Her impression of him when she'd first heard his voice, that he was cold and uncaring, was reinforced by the lack of warmth in his large blue eyes. Indeed, the only thing she could see in them was morbid curiosity. That, along with the strange ridges on his face -- unless that was another thing she couldn't remember -- told her that she'd strayed very far from home.

That thought startled her. She had no idea where her home was.

The doctor bluntly asked, "You don't know who you are?"

"No," she said. "I don't know who I am." Images from the dream still lingered in her mind, upsetting her concentration. "I..."

When she trailed off, he asked impatiently, "You what?"

"I was dreaming right before you came in." She glanced nervously at the captain, who was standing off to one side watching her. She looked down at her hands, which were clutching the sheet. "It was a silly dream."

"It may be your subconscious trying to tell you something, or it may be nothing at all. Your bumps and bruises appear to be healing, but I'm going to take a closer look, especially at the back of your head."

She touched the back of her head, feeling the large bump there, as the doctor opened the medical bag and pulled out a scanner and activated it. She hadn't realized she'd hit her head.

"What was the dream about?" the doctor asked.

"Rocks."

That made the doctor pause in his work. "Rocks?"

She nodded ever so slightly. "Rocks. They were in the air all around me. I was afraid one of them was going to hit me. I couldn't get out of their way. And..." She trailed off, frowning.

Looking at the readings on his scanner, the doctor asked absently, "And what?"

"I think I was up in the air. In space. And it was dark."

"Hmmmm."

She watched as he adjusted the scanner. He didn't seem the least bit interested in what she was saying, so she decided to tell him the detail of the dream that most unsettled her. "I was out in space by myself. No spacesuit, no ship, nothing protecting me."

"Definitely a dream," the doctor said dismissively.

"But it fits, though," the captain said, finally taking part in the conversation. "Your shuttle was damaged in an asteroid field. That's why it crashed into one of them."

She stared at him. Even in her confusion, she was aware of his overpowering presence. Tall, strong, commanding. She wanted him to believe her but she couldn't remember anything. "I was in a shuttle?" Then a more disquieting thought struck her. "Were there any other survivors?"

"You were the only one on board," he said.

Now she was truly confused. If she had been the only one in the shuttle, that meant she had to have been piloting it. "I don't know how to fly a ship like that! At least, I don't think I do."

The captain took a deep breath. She was certain he was going to accuse her of lying, because there was no mistaking the displeased expression on his face. Before he could speak, however, she received help from an unexpected source.

"She's telling the truth," the doctor said. "These readings only confirm what my original diagnosis in sickbay told me. She's got amnesia."

"Will she recover her memory?" the captain asked, beating her to the question to which she desperately needed an answer.

The doctor shrugged as he put the scanner back in his medical bag. "It may return without any treatment. It may not. If it does, it's just a matter of when."

The woman in his bunk seemed to relax slightly after Phlox left. He'd have to remember that. It might come in handy later, knowing that she was scared of the doctor. In any case, she was right to be leery of the alien physician. The man didn't have an ethical bone in his Denobulan body.

He was aware of her watching him as he moved around the cabin, taking off his jacket and hanging it in the closet, then pouring himself a drink from the decanter of scotch he kept on the bookshelf. When he turned to face her, she quickly looked away.

"So," he said, moving over to the chair at his desk and sitting down. "It seems you're telling the truth after all."

She made a small noise in the back of her throat, much like a cornered animal might. The cringing type didn't appeal to him, so he was pleased when a spark of defiance showed in her brown eyes.

"Why should I lie?" she asked.

He stared at her, still not totally convinced that her amnesia was real. "You really don't have a clue, do you?"

She sighed heavily. "Not about anything," she admitted.

He watched as she plucked at the edge of the sheet. His presence obviously made her uncomfortable, yet she was starting to show some strength of character. She was no longer cowering. He got the impression there was a lot going on in her mind, even if the doctor thought it was empty of memories. While he didn't consider her dangerous, she might be clever. That could be a problem. Clever people often came up with clever ideas that didn't match his own agenda.

He looked at the pictures of previous ships named Enterprise on his cabin wall as he considered the ramifications of finding her. There was new technology on her shuttle. If Tucker and T'Pol could figure out how to use it, it couldn't do anything but advance his reputation and strength in the empire. If this woman regained her memory, she might also be able to provide other data that could prove valuable to him. When that starship from another universe had been found, there had been no people on board. No living people, that is. But here, right before him, was someone from another universe. She could well turn out to be a font of valuable information.

He turned his head to look at her, only to catch her assessing him in return. She was sizing him up. A smile, in part in anticipation of what he might learn from her, crossed his face. But he also recognized something else about his reaction. She was an attractive woman, and it had been a long time since he'd had one in his bed.