Unbound-Part 18

Unbound
An "Enterprise" story

Written by Alison M. DOBELL

RATING: PG.
STATUS: New. SEQUEL to "OBLIVION"
ARCHIVE: Yes. Just let me know where.
FEEDBACK: Welcomed.
EMAIL: AlisonMDobell@aol.com
WEBSITE: http://carlajane.50megs.com/Ali00.html
SUMMARY: "The more answers Trip gets the less he knows. Meanwhile the Captain is in danger of losing his sanity before death can claim him."
DISCLAIMER: The usual disclaimers apply. The characters and ‘Enterprise’ are the property of Paramount. No infringement of copyright is intended.

Part 18

"IN ABSENTIA"

* * * * *

Personally Trip thought Dr. Phlox looked like shit yet the Denobulan's eyes were calm. He looked almost peaceful which was incongruous given the circumstances. They did not have more than a couple of hours before Ensign Cutler came off her rest period and returned to sickbay. Any attempt to keep her out would have raised more suspicions than they wanted right now. Sub-Commander T'Pol and Ensign Mayweather watched in silence, neither knowing what it was the doctor wanted to discuss with the Chief Engineer. Travis was surprised he had been allowed to stay.

"If ya want me to perform neurosurgery I'm afraid it's not my specialty, doc."

Dr. Phlox smiled. "No, nothing like that Commander."

Trip tilted his head. "If ya don't my sayin' you look pretty good for a man without a skeleton."

Travis felt his heart miss a beat but Dr. Phlox was laughing lightly, seemingly not in the least offended. "My skeleton is just fine, Trip."

The use of his nickname made the engineer smile. "Well if I can survive a forty foot fall and recover from a broken back then I suppose you can re-solidify melted bones."

That made the doctor laugh harder. Until he wheezed painfully. Sub-Commander T'Pol put a light hand on his shoulder, her eyes darkening with concern. "Do not exert yourself, doctor."

"It's quite alright Sub-Commander. We need to tell him anyway."

Trip frowned. "Tell me what? An' where's Malcolm?"

"Lt. Reed is trying to establish what has happened to the Captain." Said T'Pol.

"We know what happened to the Cap'n, T'Pol. Those stinkin' Xindi abducted him!"

"Not entirely true, Commander." Said the doctor, reverting gently to the use of his rank almost in faint admonishment. Trip felt confused.

"Why's that?"

"The Xindi are being manipulated by the Zenari and the Zenari are controlling the Captain."

The blood began to drain out of Trip's face. He leaned back on a biobed and tried to steady his heart rate. "How much have I missed?"

"Just the formative years." Quipped Dr. Phlox, unable to suppress a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"What happened to your bones?" Asked Travis, unable to keep his curiosity at bay a moment longer.

Trip and T'Pol exchanged a look. Dr. Phlox resisted the Human urge to sigh. "Ensign Cutler exsanguinated the excess body fluids but kept the residue. As you may have already noticed the bruising is already beginning to vanish."

The Commander was still frowning. "I noticed but I don't have a clue what in hell is goin' on."

"They were playing with me, Trip. Much as they did with you only they hoped to break me."

"Break you? Why?"

To his surprise it was T'Pol who answered. "They think the doctor is a spy."

"Spy?" Said Travis. "Why would they think Dr. Phlox is a spy?"

For a moment there was silence then the doctor answered quietly. "Because I am."

Travis and Trip stared at him, mouths agape. Only the Sub-Commander did not look surprised. "Would ya care to explain that fun little comment, doc?"

"I did not come into this project by accident, Trip. Neither did T'Pol. Some of our most sensitive work deals with this area of expertise..."

"Which is?" Prompted an increasingly frustrated Commander.

T'Pol answered. "Time travel."

Trip's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. He was not sure if he wanted to laugh his ass off or choke. "But ya don't believe in time travel!"

Keeping her face expressionless she responded in a flat calm voice. "The Vulcan High Command have determined that there is no such thing as time travel."

She knew she was confusing him. "Exactly."

T'Pol kept her eyes fastened on the Chief Engineer. They could have been the only two people in the room. "I have never stated that I do not believe in time travel."

"Yes ya have, several times."

"You are mistaken, Commander. Whenever the issue has been raised I have merely stated the official position of the Vulcan High Command."

"Kind'a splittin' hairs aren't ya, T'Pol?" When she did not answer he tried another tack. "Are ya sayin' ya don't hold that opinion now?"

"Unofficially I do not *believeknow* it to be fact."

Trip was almost too stunned to evince shock. "I don't understand."

"When the Vulcans made first contact with the Zenari almost a hundred years ago they realised their error too late to save themselves. They sought to flee the inevitable."

"T'Pol, you've lost me."

Travis felt just as lost, his brow furrowed, his look intent. But not for a shipful of gold would he have interrupted. This was one story he could not wait to hear.

"The Zenari terraform minds, Commander."

"I know, ya said that before."

She nodded, her look as grave as he had ever seen it. "They also like to experiment. Manipulate species. That is why you were immobilised and tricked into thinking your back was broken. It is also why the doctor felt as if all his bones had been liquefied. The subconscious manipulation so artful and intense that the body began to produce extra fluids. To in effect break down."

He was not sure but thought he might be sick if she got any more graphic. "Where ya goin' with this, T'Pol?"

"They fled but they did not escape." She paused and when he did not respond she prompted him with a clarification. "The Vulcans."

Trip felt a slither of ice begin to slide down his back in apprehension. He had to ask even though he was dreading the answer. "Where'd they go?"

"The Zenari sent then *back* in time."

The Ensign tried to remember to breathe. "That's impossible..." He muttered.

"Ya mean...?"

She nodded. "Yes. To infect the madness they had engineered in the rest of the Vulcan race. It was an effort to destabilise our species in the hope that we would turn on each other and destroy ourselves."

Commander Tucker shook his head slowly. "It doesn't make sense, T'Pol. If that's true then the Vulcan High Command, the Vulcan Science Directorate and the rest of the Vulcan intelligentsia already *know* that time travel is possible."

"Only the upper echelons and they are in denial, Commander. Fearing what would happen if our people discovered the truth."

He took a moment to consider the ramifications. "Is that why ya were so reluctant to admit the Vulcan relationship to the Romulans?"

T'Pol gracefully inclined her head. "The Delphic Expanse has many peculiar properties."

"Care to be more specific?"

Dr. Phlox spoke up. "It is like a spider's web, Trip."

"That is a good analogy so far as it goes," agreed T'Pol. "But it is not even, not uniform. The Expanse flexes and alters according to the way it is used. When the Vulcan ship *fled* a portal was opened in the web. Time was flexed. They thought they were escaping and the Zenari encouraged that belief."

"Oh my God, they were playin' with 'em." He paused and took a deep breath, his eyes showing a deepening concern. He glanced from T'Pol to the doctor then back again. "We're not gettin' outta here are we?" Another thought occurred to him before she could answer. "Why did ya insist on comin' with us, T'Pol, when you knew this was a one way trip?"

"Because I know the truth about time travel. Dr. Phlox and I have been working on the problem for some time, Trip."

He was silent. All the wind in his sails had vanished. He felt as if any moment now he would be sucking vacuum. Travis knew how he felt.

"We came up with a plan." Said the doctor calmly as if tendering an olive branch.

The Chief Engineer looked dazed. "Plan? Why the hell couldn't ya have told us? Or does givin' me a heart attack pass for entertainment where ya come from?"

T'Pol tried to explain. "The Zenari are masters of manipulation, Trip. They terraform minds."

He was getting more than a little frustrated and annoyed with the circular content of the conversation. "Tell me somethin' I *don't* already know!"

The Vulcan was surprisingly calm and patient. "Human minds are weak. Fertile soil."

Trip frowned. "I think I resent that."

"Nevertheless it is true. Had we confided in you the Zenari would have found out. They would have simply plucked the information out of your minds without you knowing it."

"What about you? What's to stop them doin' the same thing to you an' Dr. Phlox?"

"We are not Human. I have learnt many advanced disciplines, Trip. Some were specifically embraced with this threat in mind. I can reach a number of states through meditation one of which is particularly useful for the secretion of sensitive material."

A slow smile curved the engineer's lips. Ah. A light at the end of the tunnel. "Ya mean ya found a way to hide it?"

"Exactly."

Trip looked from T'Pol to Dr. Phlox. Travis had sat down but was listening intently. The Commander did not think they would be able to prise him out of sickbay with a crowbar. He resisted the urge to smile and forced himself to concentrate. He turned his attention back to T'Pol and the doc. "Is that what the doc does?"

"No. Denobulans can compartmentalise. They can disassociate part of their brain functions so that what is going on in one part of the brain is shut off from another part."

"How does that work?" Asked Travis.

T'Pol glanced at the boomer. It was a good question and had been on the tip of Commander Tucker's tongue only Travis had beaten him to it. "The ability to induce hibernation at will is one example. Ordering the autonomic responses is another as is the individualisation of thought processes and their subsequent compartmentalisation."

"You're talkin' about pigeon holes." Said Trip.

She frowned. "I do not understand that term of reference."

He could feel the inexorable stir of excitement as he began to understand but muted it for her sake. Didn't want to drown her in his Neanderthal emotions. "Humans have a term for mentally sortin' things into separate groupin's; it's called pigeon-holin'. It's simply a way of puttin' certain information together. Nothin' as sophisticated as the doc's compartmentalisation or your altered states but it means I follow what you're sayin'." Another thought occurred to the Commander. "T'Pol, when I was trapped with Malcolm and Dr. Phlox the doc said he'd known ya for nearly 20 years."

She inclined her head but said nothing.

"He said he's trained for this, implyin' that his place on board Enterprise was pre-planned an' not by Starfleet."

"The doctor has worked for the Vulcan Science Directorate for some years, Trip."

The dime dropped inside his head with a clang. "As have you." There was a long silence. "Holy shit! How far back does this little secret go?" No one spoke. His voice became quieter and somehow more intimate. "Why all the secrets T'Pol? I thought we were friends."

The Vulcan's eyes softened slightly. Trip was mesmerised as a hand rose seemingly of its' own volition and gently touched his face. "Because we *are* friends." She paused for a heartbeat, her voice dropping so low that it almost sounded husky to his ear. It was doubtful that anyone else heard what she said next. "It was the only way to protect you."

Stunned he just stared at her, trying to still the rapid beat of his heart as she moved back again. Surely she could not mean him? Trip Tucker? She must be referring to the Human Race. After all they had only known each other during their time aboard Enterprise. So why did this feel so much more personal? And why did he think that what T'Pol left unsaid would fill every library on Earth and leave not a tree standing?

* * * * *

He could feel the descent into Hell as surely as he knew his own name but the darkness was now a stationary thing. The pit of Hell gave volume to its anger and debauchery tearing at his fragile eardrums and pulling a fear out of him that was primeval. What was happening to him? Was he dead? Dying? Or maybe he was incarcerated in the equivalent on the Xindi homeworld? Or should that be the Zenari homeworld? He was confused and slowly the fear receded a little while he struggled for understanding. None of this made any sense. Then he felt it, wriggling its' insidious way deeper and deeper inside his brain.

Captain Jonathan Archer was not a screamer but the intrusion sparked off every horror he had ever imagined then multiplied it to infinity. He felt something sliding around inside his brain, playing with his subconscious but in a way designed to allow him a ringside seat. To make sure he missed nothing. These people were not just accomplished and clinical in their machinations, they were insane. He struggled to grasp something that had been said before he lost consciousness. Slowly memory surfaced, tattered and fragmented but still recognisably consisting of his own thoughts. Or were they? He pushed that unsettling notion away. He had to be focused. Strong. Anything else was another step on the road to death and destruction.

* * * * *

Ensign Sato was glad to see Lt. Reed but he seemed distracted. She longed to question him as Rostov gave up his position to allow the Armoury Officer to work. Rostov did not leave the bridge, some instinct rooting him to the spot while he watched in silence and waited. What for, he did not know. Malcolm seemed oblivious to him and the rest of the bridge crew. Hoshi stood it for as long as she could then had to speak. "What's happening, sir?"

He did not raise his head or look across at her. His eyes glued to the screen at his work station while his fingers flew across the controls. "Have you had any further contact from the Xindi or the Zenari?"

She shook her head. "No, sir."

He mumbled something under his breath that she could not make out. The lack of information was killing her but trying to get him to open up in front of the others would be worse than useless. He might think he could not confide in her and she did not want that. *Come on Malcolm, give me something.* She heard a frustrated sigh flutter from his lips then he looked up. "Damn."

It was softly spoken but unmistakable in the charged silence. He seemed to realise every eye was on him and took a couple of deep breaths. "Rostov."

"Yes, sir?"

"Come with me to the transporter room."

There was a worried look on Hoshi's face now. "Sir? You're not going to beam across to the Xindi ship, are you?"

He shook his head and almost smiled at the alarm on her face. "No Ensign, but I am going to try to get a better fix on the Captain's biosigns."

"And if he is no longer on the ship?"

She could have bit her tongue at the change in his expression though he masked it quickly enough. "Then we do what we can to find out where they've taken him. This ship is going nowhere without its' Captain is that understood, Ensign?"

Hoshi nodded numbly and wanted to kick herself. *Way to go, Hoshi. Now he'll definitely want to bring you into the magic circle.*

Something in her downcast look must have struck home because he gave a small half smile like a peace offering. "Don't worry, we'll get the Captain back."

Then he was striding off the bridge with Rostov and as the door hissed shut behind them Hoshi checked her watch. Twenty minutes until her relief was due. Then she intended to find out what was happening and demand they let her help. They were missing something basic, something fundamental, she was sure of it. But what could it be?

* * * * *

Ensign Liz Cutler knew something was off. The feeling intensified when she reached sickbay as everyone clammed up the minute she stepped through the door. She frowned and went to check on Dr. Phlox pleased to see that he looked a lot happier and was regaining some of his colour. Much of the bruising had died down and the bloated nature of his body had been reduced by her earlier treatment. She just wished she could be as sure that he was healing as well on the inside. He beamed at her as she reached his side and Trip smiled to himself as a flush crept up her face and neck.

Trip suddenly felt very tired. When he turned his head it was to see T'Pol watching him closely. It was at that point that Travis remembered something only he could not speak freely in front of Ensign Cutler. Noticing his expression Trip took the initiative. "I think we should leave Ensign Cutler to see to the doc. We'll come back later to see how you're doin'."

Dr. Phlox just nodded, the small hand on his chest pressing him back producing a wider smile this time. Obediently he lay down and let the Ensign check him over. Once they were in the corridor Trip decided to play it safe and talk in his quarters. They walked in silence and only when the Commander had shut his door behind them did they relax. Trip turned to Travis. "Okay Travis, spit it out."

"It was something Hoshi said about the Zenari and the Xindi, linking their languages together and showing a common link."

T'Pol did not look surprised. "They have been allies for centuries."

"Yeah but Hoshi implied it was more than that."

The Commander and Sub-Commander exchanged a look. "What do ya mean?"

He took a deep breath. "She thinks the Zenari are some kind of ancestors of the Xindi."

Trip shook his head. "Nah, they're nothin' alike. The Zenari have the whole energy thing goin' and from what we could see there's just the one species, no off-shoots of the family tree."

"Not now." Agreed Travis.

He had their undivided attention. Sub-Commander T'Pol gave him a keen look. "What do you mean?"

"I think Hoshi would explain this better than me."

A pause followed then Trip huffed out a breath. "He's right, T'Pol. An' maybe it's about time we started lettin' a few more people know what's goin' on."

The Sub-Commander considered his words. "Very well. Travis ask Hoshi to come to Commander Tucker's quarters."

He nodded and quickly departed. T'Pol flicked her eyes from the closing door to the man standing weary and troubled in the centre of the room. He looked... fragile. Something stirred inside her and she took a step towards him. His eyes had closed, now they fluttered open as if sensing her drawing near.

"Are you well, Trip?"

"Feel a little light headed but other than that..."

She closed the distance between them and touched his hand. He held his breath, hoping to keep the headache at bay so he could drink her in without any distraction. She must have seen the slight wince on his face as the pain pierced him behind his eyeballs. A cool hand touched his brow, warm breath fanning his face with the sweetness of her scent. Something uniquely exotic and one hundred per cent T'Pol. "You need to rest, Ashayam."

"I'll rest once we get the Cap'n back."

Her hand drifted down to cup the side of his face, the temptation to go further almost too strong to deny. "And if we do not?" She whispered, her fingers stroking the side of his face in time to the catch in his throat.

"Can't think like that, T'Pol. We're gonna get Jon back, we have to."

Her lips robbed him of any other words before he could form them, his hands automatically framing her narrow waist and drawing her in close to him as the kiss deepened. Once their lips touched it was as if he were being slowly electrocuted, delicious sparks flying up his veins and shivering through his nervous system setting him on fire. *Oh God, T'Pol. I need ya so much.*

They pulled away reluctantly as if by mutual consent. T'Pol took his hand and kissed the palm, the look in her eyes saying they would continue this later. Then the door chime rang and they turned as Travis and Hoshi joined them. Trip saw the excitement sparking in eyes bright with intelligence as Hoshi stepped into the room and felt his spirits lift with anticipation. Captain Archer had not picked her for Enterprise just because she was pretty or because she was a friend. He had picked her because she had the best ear in Starfleet. Trip just hoped it had picked up something that could be used in this unequal fight. Because unless they could find an edge they were literally standing at the twilight of the Human Race.

* * * * *

Continue to Part 19

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Eight hardy souls have made comments

Been waiting for this one. Now I'm waiting for the next one!

oooooo, this is so good! I'll mail your Muse a box of cookies if she can get the next one out soon!

Another winner, Ali! Keep 'em coming! :-)

Excellent Ali, wow, wow, wow!
Although, I thought Trip is a bit slow today:
"It was the only way to protect you."
Stunned he just stared at her, trying to still the rapid beat of his heart as she moved back again. Surely she could not mean him? Trip Tucker?"

She just called him Ashayam (ch. 17)... Must have been the torture *g*

This is really wonderful, I cant wait for the next installment!! I really love the interaction between Trip and Tpol.She called him her beloved.

Oh this story just gets better and better!

*snicker* love Trip finally realizing that T'Pol had never said she didn't believe in Time Travel.... I got that one a long time ago! So funny and works.

*sigh* stolen moments for TnT!

Hurry more, the agony is horrible with these long waits between posts.

The amount of planning that has gone into this story amazes me, never mind the writing. A terrific job, and one that still has me on the edge of my seat waiting for the resolution of an irresovlable situation.

And what happens next? This is so well done, can hardly wait for the rest. Your plot is very well done and has everyone waiting for more. The best!