Chapter 2: A Different Mirror
Trip awoke with a slight tingling feeling on his ears. The fuzziness of drug-induced sleep slipped away as the real world rushed in. Trip said one last goodbye to T'Pol through their bond. Sending love and courage her way, he felt a rush of the same from her and smiled. Trip sat up slowly and took in his surroundings. He felt like he could hear just about everything. The tingling on his ears turned into a slight itch and he reached up to scratch his right ear.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The familiar British accent reached his highly aware ears and be swung his head around to see Malcolm Reed staring at him. "You might want to let them heal a little before you go scratching your new ears."
Trip grimaced. "Right. Any chance you have a mirror I can take a look into?" Malcolm moved towards a counter and picked up a handheld mirror and passed it to Trip. Trip slowly lifted until he could see his whole head. The gasp he took was sharp and painful. He didn't even recognize himself, not really. Vaguely he wondered how Malcolm had recognized him. The man starring back at him was not someone he recognized and yet there was a faint trace of the human beneath the Vulcan. The bright blue eyes shone true and hinted at mischief as they had for most of Trip's life. The rest of the face had taken on the angular shape of a VUlcan and his ears curved up to a point. It was unnerving to look into a mirror and see a stranger looking back. Through his bond with T'Pol he could feel concern from him and confusion. He knew that his fear and disgust were effecting her and she didn't know what was happening to him. He took a steadying breath like the ones T'Pol had taught him to take and focused on the eyes. No matter how long he looked like that he wouldn't forget who he was because he would always be looking at the universe with those eyes.
T'Pol took a steadying breath. She could tell that Trip was uncomfortable and she didn't know why. She didn't feel pain or anger from him so she assumed he was well. It is illogical to dwell on the unknown or what might be. She looked up from the conference table she was sitting at and glanced around. The room was filled with a giant conference table the was circular in shape and had a hole in the center. Each seat was filled with a delegate from a different world or system who were part of the negations for the forming of the Federation of Planets. Denobulans, Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Tellerites, Orions, were just a few of the species represented here. Right now President Samuels was droning on about something related to trading agreements near the Orion Syndicate's wasn't well informed about nor particularly interested in the subject so she once again turned her thoughts inward.
She focused on the little ball of light at the base of her skull. She opened it up and let it blossom. Suddenly she felt very warm and very nauseous. She couldn't tell if it was her or Trip who was feeling this and it was overwhelming. She braced herself on the table and took steadying breaths. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Phlox looking down on her with concern. She shook her head to answer his question. What is happening? I feel unwell, but is it me or is it Trip? Is he hurt? Is he dying? What am I going to do? That last question barely crossed her mind before the darkness enveloped her. T'Pol's body went limp and gently fell into the waiting arms of Doctor Phlox. The rest of the assembled watched in either mild interest, concern, or in the case of the crew of the Enterprise, horror.
He quickly pulled out his medical tricorder and began scanning T'Pol for any sign of what was happening to her. Her brain activity was low, as if she had just entered a sleep cycle but her body temperature was above average by 2.75 centigrade. Her digestive enzymes had begun mass producing causing what he would consider strong nausea and she was perspiring in a cold sweat. Phlox had the emergency personnel rush her to the nearest medical bay and he hastened after them. Whatever was happening to her was like nothing he had seen before. Once he arrived in the medical bay he sighed in relief to see a Vulcan doctor on call. Doctor P'Lar would know more about Vulcan physiology and possible recognize what is happening to T'Pol. On the journey to the medical bay she had begun to convulse. Suddenly Doctor Phlox wondered if she was reacting to the severed bond with Commander Tucker. It was delayed but perhaps she had simply been suppressing it. It wouldn't surprise him at all if that was the case. T'Pol had been know to hold back on her naturally heightened P'Lar to examine T'Pol before he approached.
"Tell me doctor, have you ever seen anything like this before?" He tried to keep a professional sound to his voice but his words caught at the end. He suppressed the urge to panic and waited for the reply.
"No doctor, I have never seen this in a Vulcan. It reminds me of a condition humans suffered after the third world war. Often pregnant women who suffered from radiation exposure would have episodes like this. However, Commander T'Pol is neither human nor bonded so it seems illogical to assume she is suffering of some form of radiation pregnancy. I will need to continue performing tests on the commander to determine what is happening to her."
"Doctor, you should know that T'Pol is bonded." Phlox wasn't sure how to introduce this revelation to P'Lar but he knew it was important. "Commander T'Pol was, until his recent death, bonded to Commander Tucker." P'Lar raised an eyebrow at this new information.
"In light of this information I will need to change how I approach her treatment. However, we have scanned T'Pol's brain and have located no scar tissue associated with a broken bond. Are you certain they were bonded?"
"Positive." Phlox was confused by this. T'Pol and Commander Tucker had clearly been bonded for over six years.
"Then perhaps this Commander Tucker is not dead. We will wait until Commander T'Pol regains consciousness and ask her. Of course doctor, if he is alive and that is supposed to be private information then we will simply need to keep it confidential according to doctor-patient confidentiality."
"Of course." What was happening? Why would Commander Tucker fake his death? Why wouldn't T'Pol tell him?
T'Pol awoke from a deep sleep with a slight pressure in her forehead and the faint taste of bile in her mouth. She slowly sat up on the bio-bed and took in her surroundings. She could feel a light pressure in her left ear and her hearing on that side was muted. The room she was in was completely white and held a window on one wall and a door on the opposite. Her bed and the counter across from it were the only furnishings. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stood up. It must have been to quickly because she immediately fell to the ground and a sharp cry of pain escaped her mouth.