Inside a Vulcan Mind

Inside a Vulcan Mind

By TLR

Rated G
Disclaimer: Enterprise is the property of UPN and Paramount Pictures. I can't help it if they are idiots to cancel such a great thing…. I just write things I like.
Summary: This story is a little something that came to me during my last few mind bending weeks of class. And no I haven't forgotten about "The Warp 7 project", it's just that class took a major turn and it was all I could do to keep up and go to work, so I had to put writing on hold until I finished it. Now that that horrible class is over (I got an A, by the way, thank goodness) I want to get back to more pleasant pleasures during the week off I have before my next class starts. I am finishing Chapter 5 during that time and in the meantime here is a little something that just hit me which I thought you'd all like.

This story picks up just after Trip and T'Pol come to terms with their bond and decide to try to go with it. It has a lot of warm interplay between Trip and Archer, which helps to tell the story better than living through the scenes themselves. I hope you like it.

December 1, 2006

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"We never meant to lie to you, Cap'n." Trip added sitting in the soft overstuffed leather chair in his best friend's office. He reached out for the half filled glass of bourbon Archer handed his way. "It's just that it happened so fast and we didn't even know what we were dealing with for a long time after it did."

Jon leaned back into his desk chair as he listened to the engineer's nervous confession. Porthos lay at his feet, eyes tilted upward at the edgy movement of the blond haired man in his favorite seat.

"Well I guess it didn't happen all that fast……I mean….. it took time for us to get so comfortable with each other, but …." Trip's stuttering grew with every passing moment of silence on the Captain's part. Archer finally realized he wasn't helping matters and decided to take control.

"When what happened, Trip?…. You still haven't told me what a bond is." He leaned forward ready to learn more about what was affecting his old friend so.

"It's a connection Cap'n,…. I guess Humans would call it love, but good luck getting the Vulcans to admit to it." Trip felt a bit relieved that he hadn't lost a very dear friend. "Vulcans are creatures of the mind Cap'n…. They concentrate solely on bettering their intellect…. It's like their only passion in life." The engineer tried to get his friend to understand things as he saw them.

"They have empathic abilities that help them to sense what everyone around them is feeling." Trip started remembering the long discussion on the subject with his newly accepted mate. "T'Pol says that that trait was originally a survival mechanism for her ancestors to be able to tell what an animal or humanoid was about to do. It helped them anticipate attacks so they could better prepare to defend themselves. Since in their environment, survival was so difficult, it was looked upon as a very desired trait and so her people cultivated it to its fullest."

Archer remembered their little run in with the wild sehlat and was quick to agree it was a good thing. "Yes…. T'Pol could sense we were in danger long before I could see that creature that tried to attack us. I can see where empathic abilities would be a very useful thing to have."

"Her people began to breed it into their blood lines, so much so that it became overwhelming to them. They could not only sense what was posing a threat, but could even feel other people's emotions. This is a large part of why they all went sorta…..mad." Trip didn't want to use that term, but after T'Pol's explanation of what her ancestors went through, it still seemed the most accurate description. His term caused Jon's eye brow to raise.

"They became inundated with other people's feelings and they couldn't find any peace except by killing those that posed a threat to their sanity. That and their desire to better their species' intelligence are largely to blame for the mass killing of Vulcans during their planets endless centuries of war." Trip looked for understanding and was happy to find that his friend wasn't lost to his words.

"And then Surak came and showed them how to control their emotions through logic." Archer remembered the many chapters of the book T'Pol had given him to relax with on Risa. He also recalled the knowledge left to him by his mind meld with Surak's katra, a parting gift from that great man for allowing his consciousness to be housed briefly in such a manner.

"Exactly Cap'n….. When they learned to control their emotions, they stopped spraying other's with them. This allowed Vulcans to start finding peace in their minds again. That along with meditation techniques helped to quiet the endless clutter of emotions that threatened their sanity." Trip's words suddenly put a lot of pieces of the puzzle together for the captain. He remembered the tortured look on his first officer's face as she struggled after her attack by Tolaris. Also the pained expression she wore aboard the Seleya, as T'Pol felt her control slipping away."

"But I thought controlling their emotions was more about keeping them from acting upon them." Archer questioned his friend's interpretation of this material.

"It is Cap'n, but remember, not controlling their own reactions to their emotions is one thing, but knowingly inflicting their emotions onto another is also just as grievous of a crime to Vulcans. That's why T'Pol gets so uneasy around her own people lately." The young engineer saw his captain's face twist in puzzlement and he continued. "Since the Trellium exposure aboard the Seleya, T'Pol never really fully recovered. There was some residual damage to her centers of control." Trip thought a moment and decided to help his friend understand their circumstance more fully. "In fact I think that had a big part to play in our becoming bonded. She didn't have the controls she needed to keep it from happening."

"I don't understand…. How do you stop from falling in love with somebody and why would it make T'Pol more uneasy around her own people?" Archer was even more puzzled.

"Because Cap'n…. Vulcans are extremely sensitive to emotional slips, no matter how faint. Ambassador Soval and even her own mother picked up on her state just by being around her… She knows they sense it and tries to force her control even harder, but it's very tiresome and she couldn't keep it up all the time. That's how I slipped through." That statement by the blond-haired man drew a bemused smile from his friend.

"Actually I have you to thank for this…" Trip quipped back at the captain's response.

"ME….!!!" Archer coughed up a bit of the bourbon he was sipping. "How did I get mixed up in this?"

"Weren't you the one that ordered her to fraternize……just a little." Trip's smile grew even broader as he remembered his mate relating the story of the catwalk to him during one of their many long talks.

"I told her to go out and get to know the crew a bit more than just their names and star fleet jackets. I didn't tell her to have an affair with my chief engineer." Archer wasn't sure if he was kidding or deadly serious about his accusation.

"Actually Cap'n, that's exactly why it happened." Trip was chuckling softly as he took another sip from his glass. He saw the shocked look upon Jon's face and played out a dramatic pause to heighten the suspense.

"How the hell did I cause this…..bond to form just by telling T'Pol to try to get to know the crew a bit more?" Archer was bordering on defensive.

"Because Cap'n,…. Vulcans have arranged marriages….They don't make friends for fear they may not want to go through with the marriage when the time comes. They keep their acquaintances down to simple colleagues, especially when they are dealing with members of the opposite sex, so they don't accidentally fall for someone else. That would cause jealousy, and that could lead to violence….See what I mean? It's simply not logical." Trip added that last part to get a rise from his friend. It didn't go unnoticed, as Archer shot a quick look of bemusement back to him.

"As I recall, T'Pol got married to her fiancé. Are you saying that this ….bond… started after her marriage broke up?" Jon knew full well these two had been good friends long before. By the way T'Pol reacted to his congratulations at the announcement of her marriage, Jon assumed that there was something up, but didn't comment at the time.

"No Cap'n…. we were bonded then…. We just didn't know about it…. T'Pol was saving her mother by going through with the marriage to Koss. Boy was that the hardest thing either one of us had ever done." Trip became lost in the memory of all that pain.

"What do you mean, saving her mother… Was that about her being a Syrranite

"No…. that part hadn't come up yet…. T'Les was being persecuted by the High Command for T'Pol's uncovering the P'Jem listening post and for her insistence that Enterprise's mission be allowed to continue after the disaster at Paraga 2. Anyone who bucked that old system would have been punished, but they couldn't get to T'Pol aboard Enterprise, so they took it out on her mother instead." Jon was floored by this information. He knew the government had acted corruptly, but didn't know to what extent it affected his first officer.

"I guess it's a good thing that the government acted so illogically… or else we'd never have known there were Romulan spies within it." Trip added. "Sure wish it didn't have to cause T'Pol to loose her mother though…." He concentrated on the pain and sadness he could feel from his mate every time the memory of that night entered her mind.

"Sometimes when T'Pol thinks about her mom, the pain is so intense, I can barely breathe… she struggles so with the memory of that awful night, but manages to keep control of it. I am the one that ends up in a ball on the floor." Trip brought the glass to his lips once more inhaling the aroma of the dark liquid as he sipped.

"You feel what she feels?" Jon was floored by his admission.

"Yep…. Every little bit of it…. That's how I knew she was in trouble yesterday…. I could feel her dying. It was all I could do to keep going myself long enough to get to her." The engineer's eyes filled with large pools of moisture as he remembered that horror filled moment of realization. "When I saw the conduit blow so close to her head, I knew she was going to be injured. I just didn't realize until the connection grew silent that she was nearing death. It is a good thing she showed me how to stabilize her neuropathways, so that Phlox could get her into status."

"Well you did…. And because of your connection she is alive and already released from sickbay." Archer inched forward placing a warm hand on his friend's shoulder.

"She was released from sickbay because the animal's emotions are too noisy for her to rest…. And did you know that Porthos asks her for cheese all the time." Trip threw that in knowing his friend would find it fascinating. He saw the stunned look as Archer sat back and picked up his glass once more.

"Yep Cap'n…. animals can sense that she is empathic and try to communicate. Porthos started day one when he jumped up on her leg and begged her to tell you he wanted more cheese." He chuckled as he relayed that little tidbit.

"T'Pol told you that about Porthos?" The captain looked down at his trusty companion and saw those innocent brown eyes staring back at him. He turned back to his friend and saw him nod.

"What else has he told her?" A huge smile grew on the senior officer's face.

"That he really cares for you. You are his father and he feels safe as long as he is with you." Trip was quick to add what little his mate told him about the canine. This brought a warmer smile to his friend.

"I am glad you two have this connection." Archer added after several minutes of silence. He saw Trip's face turn from the glass back to him. T'Pol's injuries were life threatening, but you pulled her through it and for that I can't be upset by this bond thing."

"I know Cap'n….. when we first realized we were bonded, I sorta freaked out…. I wasn't sure I wanted her in my head and vise versa, but the more we are together, the better I feel about it. It's like a warm covering that protects you from the harshness of the outside world. You never feel alone, because the other is always there." Trip's eyes looked off into the distance remembering that terrible moment. "It's only when that connection is broken that you feel the pain and loneliness return and it hits you like a ton of bricks."

"You still haven't told me how it happened…. Do you even know, yourselves?" Archer was totally intrigued by this phenomena.

"Sorta….. Vulcans arrange their marriages so that the idea of finding someone to date isn't an option, …..at least not a first option. The father picks a proper suitor for his daughter from those that offer their son's just after each child has passed their Kas'wan."

Archer remembered that word from his talk with T'Pol in the catwalk. "That 10 day desert survival trip?"

"Yes…. It is thought that if a child can't pass their Kas'wan, then they will not survive long enough to reach mating age." Trip saw his friend become fascinated by the thought process.

"Actually T'Pol failed her first attempt, but Koss' father chose to request her hand even before she took it over again."

"Why would he do that if passing the Kas'wan was so important to them?" Jon was captivated.

"Cause she didn't fail because of her skills. She failed because she stopped to help another child who was injured." The young man finished his bourbon and held the glass over for a refill.

"She failed for helping another?" The captain was floored by this cultures ethics. He filled the glass more than intended and spilt a drop over the rim before realizing it. It fell upon the engineer's pants making him all the more aware of his friend's lack of attention. Trip wiped at the smudge and pulled his glass back.

"She interacted with another during her test. That is not allowed, no matter what the circumstance." Trip saw the quizzical look he was getting and was forced to continue. "T'Pol chose to take the harder trail trying to cut down the number of days she was out in the desert. Along the way she came across another child who took the same difficult route and had fallen onto a ledge. She could see he was bleeding and had no way of getting him up. Instead of going on and leaving the child to die, she eased down and stayed with him, putting pressure on his leg wound. As other children passed by, T'Pol cried out for help, but no other child stopped to lend assistance. Finally, when the first of the children arrived at the retrieval point, one told of the injured pair and help was dispatched." Archer leaned forward totally seeing the story being told.

"When they got to them, the male child was alive but both were very dehydrated from exposure. When the injured boy related what T'Pol did for him, she was disqualified."

"What…… she should have been given a metal…..Why would anyone disqualify a child for doing a brave deed? That doesn't sound too logical to me." Jon was steamed and saw his friend's hand come up.

"Cap'n… she was disqualified because it was a test of her abilities to survive by herself in the desert for 10 days. She was clearly not by herself. However the dozen or so children that came across them and wouldn't stop didn't pass either, because they chose to finish their test rather than save a life. I think that is the reason Koss' dad was so determined to have T'Pol be his son's mate. She showed pure logic at only 7 yrs of age. To them, that is extraordinary." Archer couldn't argue with that determination. Many was the time he thought that about the small woman who had saved him and his crew with her logic.

"So if their marriages are arranged, how do they know they will come to love the person they are mated with? You telling me that they simply accept a life with someone they don't love?"

"No Cap'n…. a marriage to them is just an excuse to start dating… or what we think of as dating. They move into the same house, but not the same room. They start spending time with one another, taking their meals together…. Going to activities as a couple… Eventually they allow for brief contact and joined meditation. If they become familiar with each other, a bond can form and if it does so, then the couple is considered truly married. They will remain joined for the rest of their lives." Trip sipped at his glass.

"What if this connection doesn't form?" Jon was curious.

"If after a full Vulcan year, the bond doesn't happen, then neither are held to blame and the marriage is dissolved without shame to either family. At this point T'Pol and Koss would be free to choose new mates and start the process again."

"Is that what she hoped to do?" Porthos moved to his master's foot and pawed at the pants leg. Archer bent down and scratched the pup on his head, then ordered him with a wave to go lay down.

"I guess…. We were bonded then, so there was no hope of any bond forming between them. I think Koss knew that at some level…. All I knew is that I wanted to kill him for making her go through with the marriage anyway." Trip leaned his head back and looked up at the dot filled ceiling tiles.

"You knew then that you were bonded?" Jon thought he was getting to the bottom of things.

"I knew I loved her more than life itself, but no, we didn't know about the bond yet. She knew she had feelings for me, but had to go through with the marriage to help her mother. I could feel her pain….see it in her face as she stood there preparing to marry a guy she hated more than anything. It was like she was being bartered away. It was all I could do not to grab her and run off. I just stood there, my heart was breaking and I just stood there." Trip seemed to be chastising himself, a fact his friend could hear clearly.

"What could you have done? If you did steal her away, wouldn't they have just taken it out on her mother?"

"I know….I think that is exactly why I didn't do anything…. Because boy was I ready too." There was a long silence then Archer asked a rather prickly question.

"She didn't have too……. I mean they didn't consummate the marriage did they?"

"Hell NO…" Trip's anger was clear even though it was pointed at his friend for asking such a thing.

"Hey…. All I knew was that she was on Vulcan for three weeks….. I just assumed it was so hard for her because she had too…." Jon put up a hand to ward off the negative feelings he was getting.

"She left the reception and went to Mt Seleya to meditate for the rest of her stay. The only time they were together was during the ceremony and I was there the whole time." The engineer's voice still held a bit of defensiveness to it.

"Okay… well at least you can take some solace in that fact." Jon was playing peace keeper. "When did you finally know about the bond's existence?"

"Right after I came back from Columbia…. It wasn't enough that we were in each other's dreams night after night, and often didn't have to speak to know what the other was working on….. When I started showing up in her plain white space, things really became weird."

"What do you mean….you showed up in her white space?"

"Vulcans use a stimulus free place to settle their minds before they go to bed. This keeps them from dreaming and stabilizes their controls. T'Pol uses a huge white space as her place to go to achieve this." Trip chuckled at his reaction the first time he was there.

"I told her she really should choose something more adventurous like a beach or one of those fire plains she showed me, but no she needed a plain white space."

"You ended up in her mind?" Jon was truly amazed.

"That's what a bond is Cap'n…. a part of each of our consciousness is imprinted on the other. We know what each other is doing, we know what each other is feeling…. Hell the first time I realized this, I had eaten half the stores in the mess hall. I was starving, but had consumed enough for half the crew. Then I realized it was T'Pol who hadn't eaten. And I can't tell you the number of times when someone pisses her off, and I end up sniping at someone else totally for no reason at all."

Jon snorted through his drink. "You exhibit her anger?"

"Yep, just like she exhibits my unfortunate sense of humor at times…." A light bulb went off in the captain's head.

"You mean that comment in sickbay about the Orion women was yours?"

"Yep…. I was thinking it and she didn't realize it wasn't meant to be said and well you know the rest." The two men began to laugh hysterically.

"What's it like to have her read your mind?" Archer asked wondering about how his friend could tolerate such an intrusion.

"She can read my mind Cap'n but she doesn't. Being human I have no barriers that would allow me to have a private thought, so she simply doesn't go that far."

"But you said that thought was yours." Jon was quick to point out.

"Yes, but I thought it out loud. It's hard to explain Cap'n….. There are general thoughts you have and then there are those that are at the foremost part of your mind. Almost like you are speaking them, but they simply never come out. That's what I mean about thinking them out loud. We can communicate in just that manner. I think something at her and she can do the same to me. Beyond that point is where private thoughts are and T'Pol does not breach that barrier because I have no ability to stop her. It's a trust thing…. I know she will not cross that line, so I feel freer to share my thoughts with her, like you would talk with someone."

"Can she do that with anyone?" Jon asked a bit nervous.

"Not exactly… She can read your emotions then speculate what you are thinking based on them and the current circumstances, but as for reading your mind, I think she would need a mind meld to do that." Trip was quick to point out this to his old friend.

"Is this shared consciousness all the time, day or night?"

"Sometimes…. We often share dreams, but mostly when one of us is sleeping, the other is the only one aware of what's going on. Kinda like having a sneak peak into the other person's head." The young man's smile grew.

"Can you tell what she is feeling now?" Jon was just as curious about his alien first officer as most.

"She's sleeping at this moment. Luckily Vulcan's don't dream much….. They have the worst nightmares….. I almost had a heart attack once when she had one. They are so real and vivid, you'd swear you were there." Trip continued to work at the level of his drink.

"She mentioned once that humans were lucky to have such nice dreams. I thought she was just exaggerating."

"Nope…. She was telling the truth, although she seems to be having fun with my dreams. They are usually so silly she just rolls her eyes. Secretly though I think she enjoys them because I get a sense of mild bemusement every time." The young engineer smiled brightly at his admission. "Though you didn't hear it from me." he added quickly. The two men chuckled.

A moment went by then Trip decided to relate another well kept secret. "You know Cap'n, our time in the expanse was very hard on T'Pol. The crew's heightened emotions, the spacial anomalies and especially her being aboard the Seleya, left its mark upon her. She struggles so with things that used to come so easily to her. I just thought you should know that when she seems to be a bit off, its not because she isn't trying…. She's just so tired from all the extra she has to do just to get back to baseline, I just wanted you to know that." Trip seemed earnest in his confession.

"I know Trip…. She's had it hard ever since she's come aboard the Enterprise…. I guess we all just assumed she could handle it as always." Jon was warm in his understanding.

"She can handle it… it just takes her a little while longer sometimes to….." The young man's words halted in mid sentence. His head cocked and eyes squinted against the hidden stimulus. Then suddenly he jumped from his chair and slammed down his glass upon the edge of the desk. "Pardon me Cap'n" was his last words as Trip bolted from the ready room and headed toward the turbo lift. Archer was right behind frightened by the intensity of his friend's expression.

As they made their way down the corridors of C deck, Jon remained silent, not at all knowing what was driving his chief engineer. They reached T'Pol's quarters and without hesitation, Trip keyed in the emergency code. The door swooped open on a darkened room. The blue haze from the floor lamp was the only illumination available. Archer watched as Trip headed right for T'Pol as she lay their struggling with an unknown attacker. He clicked on the light and grabbed the small woman into his arms.

"T'Pol….. T'Pol it's all right." The Vulcan's eyes flew open in sheer terror. Her limbs curled up immediately around her and her head dug deep into her mate's shoulder. Breathing was ragged as Trip rocked his mate back and forth, soothing down all the frays of fear that she was exuding. "It's okay….. it was only a dream…. They are not on board the ship with you…. That was the Seleya, not the Enterprise." Trip pulled her back to look deep into his eyes. The Vulcan's eyes still showed the horror of what had to be a reenactment of the fated ship's events. Jon watched totally unnoticed by the two as they shared the pain she was feeling.

After several long minutes Trip coaxed her back down onto the bed. He covered her up and began stroking at a point just behind her delicately pointed ear. Their eyes were linked, the intensity of which even Archer could sense from his position. Neither strayed from the other as Trip's attempts at neuro pressure began to have their affect. Slowly T'Pol's eyes closed and her breathing became more even. It was several more minutes before Trip felt comfortable leaving her side, if only to let the Captain in on what just took place.

The two men stepped out into the corridor and waited for the door to close before starting their conversation.

"She still dreams of the Seleya and her crew?" Jon was floored it would haunt her so.

"Yes Cap'n….It is every Vulcan's worst fear to turn into those creatures….. She had the experience of seeing her worst nightmare come to life. What she felt going on inside of her while she was aboard, feeling the torment they went through from the Trellium exposure….. That is something that I worry will never go away." Trip looked back at the cabin door and took a collective sense that she was still sound asleep.

"She's even afraid that she will loose control and hurt me…. Those dreams are really frightening for her."

"The Seleya's crew were severely damaged by the trellium exposure… they weren't normal Vulcans anymore… She has to know that." Jon was truly shocked T'Pol would fear that sickness was still a threat.

"Cap'n,… all the trellium did was affect their ability to control their emotions. That loosing their minds thing we spoke of before…. That was it." Trip was dead serious as he spoke. "That is why they struggle so…. They never want to revert into those creatures. It is why they do what they do and I have to tell ya, having seen just a little of what T'Pol faces every day in dealing with 85 Humans' emotions, I can see where it could drive her mad. I get dizzy sometimes just experiencing it second hand."

"It's really that hard for her here?" The captain was feeling a bit worried for his first officer.

"Yeah Cap'n, but there is no place she'd rather be… I guess she has learned to live with it and I guess that is what I will have to do too." Trip's head turned again toward the cabin door. He could sense her stirring a bit. Archer saw this and knew his friend had other things on his mind.

"You'd better make sure she is all right….. I'll catch up with you tomorrow morning and you can finish filling me in on things." Jon turned to leave then stopped. "I hope she'll be okay." He smiled knowing all to well his friend would see to it.

"She will Cap'n…. She will." Trip turned and went into T'Pol's cabin. As the door slid shut, Jon continued on his way down the corridor. Inside, the young man sat quietly down beside his mate. She was once more sleeping softly, the strained lines on her face easing over the last few minutes.

"We'll both be okay my darlin….. I promise." He whispered then lay down beside her. Taking her body into his arms, Trip fell into an equally peaceful slumber that lasted the remainder of the night.

The End.

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Again thanks for everyone's patience. I hope to have part 5 of the Warp 7 project: the Enterprise Trials out really soon. T.

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A whole mess of folks have made comments

Glad you got an A! I am reading your story over lunch.

Great story, I could see the characters as I read this.

You have a superior gift for descriptive dialog. Compact but complete. It's good to have you back. Congrats on the A. :) I appreciate teh way you pointed out that she may still be havign lingering after effects from the Seleya incident for a long time. Things like that don't always just go away. They become part of a person's history, part of who they are. The whole story line of those two is a composite tapestry woven together to make them who they are. You do a great job of showing it. Very nice.

Wow!! I loved the tenderness and humor. I can picture this conversation and even almost hear it just from your writing. You write Trip very well!

Thank you!!

Interesting. I very much like the idea that Trip might snap at someone when T'Pol is angry. T'Pol communicating with Porthos is a little more than I'm willing to believe, but this is well-written and the nightmare thing makes perfect sense. I bet she would be "bemused" by his dreams, too.
When I saw "Bound" I missed the joke. Can someone fill me in?

double wow, like an episode from the t.v show!

The joke on bound was that T'Pol made the statement "that the Orion women has some superior attributes". That's a guy line and it was what all the men were thinking, but she was the one saying it. T.

I think that I've seen the part about the Vulcan Survival Test(KAHS-WAN) in a fanfiction book, and I believe that it centered on Spock. Spock passed.

The Vulcan Academy Murders by Jean Lorrah, 1984. See Chapter 31.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or at least I hope so, since I imitate people right and left on this site. :)

good one Trek Fan. A great book for Vulcan family life. T

Another good book on Vulcan homelife is "Spock's World" It tells his growing up per his father, as well as give hints into the practices within a Vulcan family, although "The Vulcan Science Academy Murders" is still my favorite. I recommend anyone who loves the original ST to read it. It reads fast and is just delightfully told. T

Oh, that was the joke. Thanks. (I was rather offended by that episode's crassness and have no desire to actually see it again. The bond was the only part I liked.) With something like that, it makes sense that if they nurture the bond it would go both ways, like you have here. Neat.

OK, this has quickly become one of my favorites ever (which is not a title I bestow lightly). Yes, there's the T/T aspect (which IMO you did very nicely here), but what really got to me was your sensitive, honest treatment of a character with an invisible disability. In particular, your line:

"She struggles so with things that used to come so easily to her. I just thought you should know that when she seems to be a bit off, its not because she isn't trying…. She's just so tired from all the extra she has to do just to get back to baseline, I just wanted you to know that."

was really resonant with me. I read that and thought "man, he could be describing *me*."

(Also, re: the joke: imo, that was a female line. That is, the girls are in charge, so they can't be all bad.)

Hi TLR,

I've got Spock's World. It's been a while since I've read it. I need to pick it up and read it again.

I just want to thank all the Fanfiction writers for keeping Enterprise and the other Series alive.

You're right Blackn'blue, "imitation is the sincerist form of flattery."

Thanks again Fanfiction writers!

Actually, TLR, you got the joke wrong. The men were commenting on how the Orion women were really the ones in control and the men their slaves. And T'Pol pipes up with a comment like "Well, it just goes to show that all cultures have something to recommend them," as though she favored women's rule. It doesn't sound like something that Trip, as a man, would think, unless, in the bond, T'Pol inadvertantly influenced him in some way. Maybe she thought it first, then Trip picked it up from and added his strong humor, and then she said aloud without stopping to analyze what she was saying?

Not that I am being argumentative, but I still think it was about the women's attributes.

Her exact words were "It proves that even the most disagreeable species have some positive attributes." I still think it was about their looks. If you take it from the guys joking perspective, then it would be a funnier joke. T'Pol talking about the womens attributes. What does everyone think? T

Not that I am being argumentative, but I still think it was about the women's attributes.

Her exact words were "It proves that even the most disagreeable species have some positive attributes." I still think it was about their looks. If you take it from the guys joking perspective, then it would be a funnier joke. T'Pol talking about the womens attributes. What does everyone think? T

I always took that joke to mean that T'Pol thought it might be "logical" for women to be in charge over men. It was a bit of a friendly jab at the menfolk she was with at the time and it appeared as though they all took it in the spirit it was meant to be taken in.

But if she was saying what Trip was thinking, then why would he think women being in charge was such a plus. He would more than likely be thinking something about their scantily clad outfits and over the top bodies. I can see T'Pol thinking women in charge was superior, but why would she use the word attributes if she really meant ideas or practices. I still think it was Trip's thought and she just said it by accident. T.

It's an attribute of the species as a society.

Ooh, or a compromise. She got the exact word "attributes" from Trip but the crack itself is hers.

Sorry for posting twice in a row, btw.

Perhaps it's both. Maybe T'Pol thinks she should be able to control Trip like the Orion women control the male members of the crew. I bet she would love that.

Uh... she does.

Interesting how everyone interprets the scene differently. I always thought that T'Pol was being "in tune" with Trip simply because she was making a joke in the first place. The joke itself was hers, I believe. Either way, it was a cute scene.

A cornucopia of Vulcan telepathy culture! You have great ideas like reluctance for Vulcans to make friends with people of the opposite sex for fear it will make it difficult to keep to their original bonding and may cause jealosy and fights. And possibly a death since the tradition of Kali fe (did I spell that right?) is still in practice.

"I am the one that ends up in a ball on the floor" - nice imagery.

"The animals' emotions are too noisy for her to rest." - very funny, great conception

The bit about T'Pol stopping to help another child during her Kas'wan is good. Spock did the same thing, but I can't remember if that was canon or some novel. Novel, probably.

I like the tradidtion of living togeter for a year with the option of splitting up at the end of the year. Not sure with Vulcan tenacity if I accept that they would allow this, but it does sound logical - you have to have an out for the people who just can't make it together. Sounds like the Pagan 'year and a day' handfasting, with the same option to walk away from the marriage if it is not working.

But I am not sure I agree with Trip not being able to block his thoughts from T'Pol. I would think he could learn techniques for that. It could be true for awhile untill he learns, but of course Vulcan ethics would preclude mind rape and T'Pol is an ethical person.

I think you are on to something about powerful Vulcan nightmares since underneath lie powerful Vulcan emotions.

So how much control is really necessary? Are the V'tosh Ku'tar wrong in trying to feel some emotion? How much is too much? Vulcans are so afraid of loosing control. As Kov said "My people, so many inhibitions".

TLR, I love your exploration of Vulcan culture as it comes up against Human culture! Please keep on exploring!