Unbound- Part 4

Unbound
An "Enterprise" story

By Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: G.
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed.
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html

SUMMARY: "Captain Archer takes his Away Team down to Zeon. Sub-Commander T'Pol is going frantic inside with the growing conviction that they are in danger."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and 'Enterprise' are the property of Paramount.
No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part Four

"THE VELVET GLOVE"

* * * * *

The crystalline chamber was at once marvelous, awesome and serene. Dr Phlox was mesmerised, his attention scanning every square inch of the fabulous creation. Ambassador Chot was politely talking to Captain Archer but his attention was very much on the Denobulan, a fact that only Lt Reed seemed to notice with a small almost insignificant part of his back brain. His own attention effectively diverted by Ran Tok, the Zenari Master at Arms. He thought it an oddly Human title for such an alien species to adopt and flicked a glance towards Ensign Hoshi Sato as if to query it but the linguist was deep in conversation with her counterpart. Her face was animated and eager, her eyes shining with enthusiasm as she conversed more and more articulately with their Counsellor. It was the first female of the species any of them had seen and to all outward appearances she seemed no different from the males. Only in her subtle movements, the way she always deferred gently to her male colleagues, her lighter but more agile voice, and some indefinable something in her eyes was her gender hinted at then confirmed when Hoshi simply asked her outright.

"Forgive me if I seem blunt, Counselor Rok, but are you female? Among Humans I am female; every other member of our landing party is male."

Something that could have been amusement skated over the oddly coloured orbs of her eyes. Sometimes they seemed a marl grey, sometimes greeny-blue, at other times almost black. "Yes. You would call me such."

Hoshi ran that through her auditory senses one more time but it came out the same. Was that a yes or a no? Perhaps it was no more than the equivalent of an idiomatic speech pattern rather than an attempt to be vague. She shrugged it off and continued firing eager questions at her compliant host. Metaphorically making hay while the sun shone. Who knew when or if they would ever get this opportunity again? Hoshi did not intend to waste a second. "Would I be right in surmising that your language has more than one tongue?"

Counsellor Rok inclined her head slowly, the grey of her eyes swirling slowly into a deep black mist. "You have sharp ears."

The Ensign laughed. "Sub-Commander T'Pol would call them 'efficient'."

A second passed in unfilled silence before the Counsellor spoke again. "How many dialects do you think we have?"

Hoshi immediately launched into her favourite subject with gusto. Dr Phlox was not really listening to them, his attention flitting like a butterfly from group to group while the rest of his senses expanded to take in everything he could see, touch, smell, feel and intuit. This place was very light, almost oppressively so. Above their heads towered a many tiered ceiling of crystal, the effect being of layers of ice when viewed from an ocean bed. It was oddly hypnotic and a little frightening even though the lowest section of the multilayered ceiling was over forty feet above their heads. He could almost feel the weight pressing down on him like the lid on some huge ornate coffin. He was fascinated by the effect, the skill of the workmanship if it could be called that and curious about what it was for. Although he had never met the Zenari and knew little about them instinct told him this was a functional place. Not a frivolous expense used to impress strangers. Therefore they had been brought here for a reason. It sharpened his attentiveness to realise that he was the only one who appeared to be thinking along these lines. Yet it was so tempting to allow himself to be swept him along on a tide of utter amazement and pleasure.

Commander Tucker had listened for a short while to the Captain talking to Ambassador Chot but to put it mildly he was rapidly getting bored out of his skull. If he wanted to yammer away with them he could have done it over the com and had the comfort of staying on Enterprise. Fortunately Kentak rescued him from saying something inappropriate that would certainly have earned him the Captain's disfavour and perhaps got them all thrown off Zeon.

"Commander, I believe you were promised a more in depth tour of our engineering facilities?"

A smile broke out on his face, the whole universe suddenly changing on a dime before his eyes into a box of delights. "Now you're talkin', but where's the other guy?"

"Hyak is balancing the field."

"He's what?"

The aide bowed slightly. "If you will permit me I can take you to him?"

Beaming back at him the Commander fell into step beside the aide. "Thought you'd never ask."

By the time the Captain finished talking about his mission to the Ambassador, Trip was no longer in the crystal chamber with them. Hoshi was walking towards a carved doorway on one side of the huge polished room with the Counsellor. Lt. Reed was staring hard at something the Master of Arms was showing him on an intricately carved wall. It was as if the relief had been carved in ice, the layers giving it the feel of something you could just walk through like a moving landscape. It was playing havoc with his depth perception like an exotic kind of Escher print come to life. When he blinked the vertical planes were flat again. Obviously it was an optical illusion. The Lieutenant leaned closer and stared intently. As if to see how it was done. But like the dead it would not give up its' secrets. Interesting.

When he turned to ask the Master at Arms another question he almost fancied the alien was smiling at him. A pretty impossible feat for a species with no mouth. He was about to say what was on his mind when he caught a fleeting sparkle of something sharp and bright glittering deep in the Zenarian's eyes then blinked in mild confusion. Suddenly the carving was no longer a vertical representation. No more a mere optical illusion. No stunningly beautiful relief to draw the heart as well as the eye. In a fraction of a heartbeat the carving had become three dimensional with himself trapped like an insect in amber right at the very heart of it.

* * * * *

Ensign Travis Mayweather tried not to stare but the sight was so unprecedented he could not stop himself. Sub-Commander T'Pol was pacing the command deck of the bridge. No. Really. She was. Pacing. Her back ramrod straight, arms braced behind her back, hands clasped until the knuckles were white. Every now and then she would stop, stare off at nothing, then start again. All without uttering a word. He had never seen the Sub-Commander this worried about anything. Not when the Suliban attacked. Not when she had been tortured. Not when the Commander and the Captain had been covered in that alien goo. So many dangers faced, life and death situations overcome by skill, ingenuity and friendship. What was it about the Zenari that terrified her so much? And why would she not tell the Captain what it was? It seemed incongruous to him that having decided to throw in her lot with the crew of Enterprise in direct defiance of the orders of the Vulcan High Command and Science Directorate that she should keep back something as fundamental to their safety as this.

The Sub-Commander could not rationalise her state of near panic. Her frustration with Captain Archer rising to new heights. Concern for Ensign Sato. Relief that at least Lt. Reed was with them with a couple of his armoury officers to 'ride shotgun' as the Humans would say. Commander Tucker was another worry however. The Chief Engineer was like a lightening rod for trouble. She stopped pacing, her thoughts inward. Recalling the look in his eyes just before the Away Team left. A sense that he was as disturbed by this species as she was despite his childlike eagerness to walk where angels feared to tread. But that was the Human Race for you. No notion of self preservation. No comprehension of the risks they took so casually with their lives and those who went with them. A reckless race yet they had qualities in compensation. Their compassion and need to form communities sometimes drew diametrically opposed races to them. Their oddness a magnet that other beings seemed to find hard to resist. Often to their peril. Her lips compressed tightly into a thin line. Even certain Vulcans it would seem were not immune.

Catching the concern on the boomer's face the Sub-Commander forced herself to calm down. Silently she went through some Vulcan calming exercises then began to recite the teachings of Surak. In alphabetical order. After all. This promised to be the longest of days.

* * * * *

The Commander stopped in his tracks, head back to stare up at the huge mosaic of light filaments that tangled with the crystal interlays. Such delicate intricate pathways he could not follow them all. A wiring diagram for the sun would be more straightforward than this. But that was what he found so exciting and exhilarating. This went beyond cutting edge technology. The chief binary biomolecular engineer Hyak detached himself from the middle of a console of light. The blaze of it had momentarily dazzled Trip so he had not at first seen the scientist. As he detached from the shining background, Trip took an involuntary step back to adjust his eyes.

"Hyak! I see it but I don't believe it. What is it an' where can I get one?"

Hyak made an odd noise then modulated his voice into a melodious tenor. Trip liked his voice, was pleased as punch Hoshi's universal translator was picking up more of the alien's nuances of speech than before. Still. Almost anything beat two cocoa tins and a piece of string. "This is our primary nexus. The equivalent of the brain stem if you liken it to the Human body."

That surprised the Chief Engineer. "Ya know about Human biology? Wait till Phlox gets a load of this."

"Phlox?"

"Ah, sorry, I mean Dr Phlox. Our physician."

"You have a doctor with you?"

Trip was smiling, still staring with undisguised pleasure at the huge light panels. "Yeah, Cap'n thought it would be useful."

"You are injured?"

The Chief Engineer forced himself to look at Hyak, unable to stop himself from laughing lightly. "No, but he's an important member of our crew. He keeps us fit an' healthy an' one way in which he keeps up to date as we travel through different parts of space is by comin' with us to some of the planets we visit. He'll take soil, plant samples that kind of thing. Test the air, take readin's of the bein's we encounter, then back at the ship he'll examine his findin's. In this way the doc can discover if there are any diseases we should be worried about. We have a decontamination chamber back on Enterprise to make sure anythin' we pick up on away missions doesn't get to evolve language skills on board ship. There's no tellin' what microscopic things might harm us. In fact we wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for Dr Phlox. He's saved our bacon more times than I care to count."

"Bacon?"

Another laugh. "Yeah, it means he's saved our asses. We would have just gone blunderin' in and got ourselves killed by now."

*You still might* thought Hyak silently.

"Okay, Hyak. Now are ya gonna tell me how this works or not?"

If Hyak had been able to do so he would have smiled. "I can do better than that for you, Commander. I will show you."

* * * * *

The vast reaches of space were nothing. Time was a construed ribbon of quantum mechanics that obeyed no Human rhyme but they were aware of the theory and many other musings from a myriad of exotic races about forces both subtle and rare as well as others beyond all understanding. The infinite mind of space could not have dreamt them into existence. Even the Gods of endless worlds would quail at the very notion. To breed chaos into such an insecure lifeform would seem wholly inappropriate yet stranger things had been born of flesh and blood no matter the colour, texture or physical composition. They conferred among their various sub-species. Delicately played with the mathematics of a higher race and sailed between solar systems dropping in and out of space and time like a needle stitching the fabric of eternity.

They had an agenda. A plan. A course preset for them while each thought they were shaping destiny to the unending glory of their race. None knew or suspected the true perspective. Unseen hands guided the pattern of their souls. Dark thoughts drove them. Twisted honour uplifted them. The doom they sought to escape slowly and inexorably tightened its' patient grip. Unknowing. Unseeing. They sailed on. Eternity watched with a calm impassive unblinking eye.

* * * * *

Captain Archer blinked. Surely not. He had misheard him. The universal translator was not working. The Ambassador waited. Watching him calmly. The Captain cleared his throat carefully. "I'm sorry, Ambassador, I seem to have misunderstood you. Please could you repeat that?"

"You will return to your ship now, Captain."

"But I thought we were going to eat with you, get to know you so that our two races can become allies?"

The Ambassador tilted his head slightly. The Captain found it somewhat disconcerting listening to the Ambassador talk when he had no mouth. He noticed his heavy cloak shift slightly and flickers of light seemed to sparkle in the folds yet he could not see clearly enough to satisfy his curiosity. A curiosity edged with a growing tinge of fear. "Captain, we have had a chance to evaluate your species and reluctantly realise that our forms of sustenance would be harmful to your race. What you would term poisonous."

Relief flooded his mind. The mundane explanation temporarily arresting his fanciful fears though he was still uneasy. Where were the others? How did they manage to get separated? He would have felt much happier if he could see Trip or Malcolm, or hear Hoshi talking or the doctor making his odd and often amusing observations. He could not even see the two armoury officers who had accompanied Lt Reed. It was all very unsettling. He did not realise that Ambassador Chot could easily read his thoughts, taste his apprehension and understand his reservations. "Oh, it never occurred to me that your food might be incompatible to our species. Thank you for the warning." He paused, still looking around him and craning his neck without trying to be too obvious about it. "Um, I can't seem to see any of my crew."

"They are currently taking advantage of our hospitality. Each examining different aspects of our culture and technology. I believe your doctor is fascinated by our biological composition and the pattern of our brain waves."

The Captain smiled. He could imagine that all too easily. "Yes, Dr Phlox is a very dedicated and gifted doctor. We are very lucky to have him."

Just then he heard faint voices slowly growing nearer. He turned his head but it was another full minute before Ensign Sato came into view through a huge ornate archway, deep in animated conversation with the Counsellor, the two armoury men trailing behind them. As they joined them the Ambassador turned to Hoshi. "I trust you have found your time with us of value to you?"

Hoshi beamed. "Yes, Ambassador. I can't believe you have 47 languages making up the major tongue and thirty two minor tongues. How do you remember so many complex variations?"

"Ah, do you like music Ensign?"

She nodded. "Yes, I love it."

"Do you like just one type of music?"

"No, I..." She broke off, realised what he had been about to say and smiled at him. "You liken the diversity of language to that of music?"

He inclined his head. "We enjoy infinite variation. We celebrate the complex levels of life. Are not all forms precious? Is not all music a gift of sound? A celebration of the silences that punctuate and fashion each note to perfection?"

Hoshi laughed. Delighted. "I've never heard it put that way before, Ambassador. You have a unique perspective and I thank you for sharing it with me."

The Ambassador bowed formally. "The pleasure was my gift. Know that you are welcome among us."

Captain Archer stared. Stunned by the courtesy and respect being shown to his communications officer and ridiculously pleased with himself for bringing her with them. Maybe they would not get feted the way he had expected with exotic foods and fabulous wines but this was going better than he had expected. Except for one thing. "Ambassador."

"You have a request, Captain?"

"Yes, though I do not wish to offend by asking for your assistance our situation is grave enough for me to approach you."

"Then speak Captain and let no unsaid words make war between us."

He blinked. What did he mean by that? Had he just been threatened or reassured? "I assure you Ambassador we seek only information. Our homeworld was recently attacked by a race we have never heard of. They call themselves the Xindi. This may sound fantastic but this race has traveled through time to strike at our homeworld - Earth - in order to destroy the Human Race."

Said aloud like that it did sound pretty ridiculous but Captain Archer was firm and solemn in putting the facts as they stood before the Ambassador. From what he could see this race, the Zenari, was obviously very advanced technologically and appeared to be an ancient species. How old he could not tell.

"Why would they wish to harm your people, Captain?"

"Apparently they believe that in the future our race will destroy theirs. I have no idea where they have such an idea from but they appear to believe it."

"Then they are trying to protect themselves?"

He blinked again. Ah. "From their perspective, yes, but we have made no offensive overtures to them I assure you and I cannot imagine that in the future we would wage war on them or seek to wipe them out."

"A future, Captain, you cannot see."

He felt uncomfortable. "That is true, Ambassador."

"Then how do we know which side is blameless in any conflict? To assist one over the other would be an act of aggression we had not intended. Your war is not our war."

"No, you don't understand. I'm not asking you to intervene just if you have any information about the Xindi? Anything that can help me understand them so I can make contact with them and try to diffuse a potentially apocalyptic future from unfolding. We don't want anyone to die, Ambassador. Not our people, not theirs, but if we have to defend ourselves we will do so."

* * * * *

Commander Tucker was smiling. His hands following the convoluted paths of light. Listening to Hyak instruct him without turning his head, all his attention on the complex frame of light. It seemed to change from moment to moment. At one point it looked like a huge light panel, then a complex piece of circuitry, each blink of the eye revealing a new face. He was fascinated. Could feel the power of it. As he reached out the power seemed to embrace him in such a subtle way he was neither alarmed nor in any way harmed. It was almost a layer of warmth touching his skin, oblivious of the layers of clothing in between. He had never felt or sensed anything quite like it. But that was not the shock. As he adjusted to it and stepped deeper into the construct trickles of light rained through the pores of his skin. Enervated him and heightened his sense of awareness. He could *feel* the light now. Converse with the energy softly pulsing through him, shining through his eyelids and flickering in slow elongated waves through his torso.

"Wow, this is incredible, Hyak..." He enthused in quiet awe.

Pleased with his reaction the biomolecular engineer murmured softly in response. "Commander..."

"Call me Trip."

"Trip. Think don't speak."

*How does that work?*

Trip felt Hyak smile in his mind only it was not in his mind, it was his WHOLE body. Wired for sound. * Perfectly*.

*In phase*

That expression clicked in the Commander's brain and understanding was swift to follow. He had his eyes closed now as if having a light shower. It was weird, beautiful and totally mesmerising. Gently warmth washed his nerve endings and seemed to flush through every cell in his body with feelings of well being that brought him to the brink of ecstasy. He had never felt so relaxed, so content. He loved it. Now that Hyak had showed him how, he was aware that the biomolecular engineer was pleased. Happy with him. *Hyak? Is this your energy source?*

Humour. *A manifestation of part of it. Yes*

Part? *What the hell does that mean?*

*What do you want it to mean?*

A pause. *Are ya playin' with me?*

*We are endlessly playing with each other it is just that some games are more serious that others are they not?*

He thought about that but was determined to let nothing spoil his current obsession. *Tell me about this. What it does*

*Ask* Came the softer response this time.

He paused then just decided to go with it. What the hell, when in Rome and all that. *What are you?*

The answer did not come in words, or thoughts, but rippled through him in a feeling, a deep gentle flowing sense of meaning. The closest he could get to what it was saying was 'reflections'. He was not sure he was any wiser. Then he felt Hyak's thoughts gently ebb into the stream of his consciousness.

*Come. Your Captain grows restless*

He felt a swift surge of irritation quickly smothered by his sense of duty. Nevertheless he knew he would miss this. *You can always return, Trip*

*I'd like that*

Then he was out of the light. Emerged from the energy to feel the dull heavy weight of normalcy like some cumbersome cloak dulling his movements and slowing his wits. He felt the insane urge to cry at the sense of loss. To his surprise Hyak placed a hand on his shoulder in what seemed like a gesture of comfort. "When you are unhappy or distressed think of us and embrace our light."

He nodded, unable to form the words he wanted to thank him. Hyak understood. In silence they left the engineering nexus and began to make their way back to the others.

* * * * *

On the bridge of Enterprise Sub-Commander T'Pol straightened in the command chair. The Captain's assertion that they would be returning shortly greatly relieving her growing sense of unease. She did not ask if they were all accounted for and unharmed. If the Captain was returning he would not be leaving anyone behind. He sounded happy and that made her relax.

Ensign Mayweather watched the tension fall from the Vulcan's shoulders. Her facial expression became a calm mask once more rather than a tight and rigid effort at control. They would all breathe more easily once the crew were reunited.

* * * * *

The quality of the reliefs that Lt. Reed had so marveled at no longer held the joy and fascination they had once done. Figures moving across an unwritten landscape had outmaneuvered him. He gasped out loud when they broke into three dimensions. His eyes widening in undisguised horror and alarm he found himself screaming when they surrounded him and the first clawed hand touched his skin.

* * * * *

Continue to Part 5

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Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!

Half a dozen of you have made comments

Aaaah! How can you leave it there? I need to know what's going to happen to Reed. :)

I'm curious as to why they're still shining on the rest of the crew, but not Reed. Suppose I'll just have to be patient. Darn.

I was quite interested in how Phlox saw things differently than the rest of them. But he has to fight to keep himself from getting swept away by it all. The coffin description was quite chilling.

Loved Travis staring at T'Pol because was pacing. It was priceless.

Obviously, I'm a bit worried about Trip. Addiction is bad. Wonder if T'Pol will sense anythign different about him next time she sees him.

You've got one heck of an imagination, Ali! The world and the aliens you've created are amazing. Thank you and I'll be watching for the next installment! :-)

Although everyone except Malcolm APPEARS to be safe and sound, somehow I don't believe it's as simple as that.

Another chilling chapter...great work.

Ali! You can't just leave it there! I (like everybody else) have to know what's going on! And I also wonder why Reed and Trip are the ones in trouble. hmmmm, oh, and the description of T'Pol was wonderful, as was travis' reaction to her. can't wait for more!

Glad I've not had time for regular updates - I get to read three at once! It's a terrific story and I've absolutely no idea where it's going which is great fun. I hope Trip's got more sense than to trust an alien who says 'think of us' but somehow I doubt it! Looking forward to more later.

Oh, what a wonderful installment! I cannot wait to see what happens next! You never fail to amaze and entertain with your stories.

More, more please!