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"An Ounce of Patience" by A. Rhea King
Rating: PG CHAPTER 2 Archer sat down in the captain’s chair. “Are we ready?” Archer looked at T’Pol. “Yes, Captain. The probes that are in place will continue transmitting data.” “All right.” Archer glanced at Hoshi. She didn’t look at him. He could tell she was working hard to mask her anger. “Travis, set a cour--” “All the probes are malfunctioning,” T’Pol said, looking over her controls. Archer looked at her. “What?” “The probes have stopped transmitting data.” T’Pol worked her controls. “I’m not detecting their sub-warp signature.” “Captain, believe me now?” Hoshi asked. Archer looked at her. One of the aliens was standing next to Hoshi. Another one was standing next to Travis. They spoke and it sounded like opera singers tuning up. “What are they saying, Hoshi?” Hoshi turned to her controls, working on it for a few minutes. She turned to Archer. “The translator is only hearing music, sir, and I can’t translate it.” “T’Pol, do you have any music background?” “No.” Archer tapped the companel on his chair. “Archer to Trip.” “Go ahead, Cap’n.” “Can you read music?” “A bit, why?” “Report to the bridge immediately.” “On my way.” Archer rose to his feet, watching the aliens move around so the were standing close to the two crewmen. Their song rose several octaves. The lift door opened and Trip walked off, stopping short when he saw the aliens. “What in the hell are those?” “They’re the aliens from the planet,” Hoshi said, smiling. “I told you so.” “What are they singing?” “I was hoping you could tell us,” Archer said. Trip listened to the song for a couple minutes. “It sounds like random notes. There doesn’t appear to be any pattern. T’Pol, there should be a program on the mainframe for composing songs. See if between that program and the translator it can analyze it to make a pattern.” T’Pol did as he said. “The computer is indicating that a translation, if there is any, will take five days. That’s just from the few seconds of song it’s captured. The music the composing program is capturing is very complex.” Trip walked around, looking at it. He whistled and the song suddenly stopped. Trip looked up. The aliens were staring at him. “Does that mean I should or shouldn’t whistle again?” Trip asked Archer. “I don’t know.” Trip’s lips rounded to whistle again. Suddenly the song resumed and the alien’s attention was on Hoshi and Travis again. “Don’t whistle, Commander,” T’Pol ordered. “You think I offended them?” “I don’t know, but it showed up in the music.” T’Pol pointed at the screen. The aliens stopped singing and stared at the two crewmen. As one they reached up toward the crewmen’s neck. Before the crewmen could move a spike shot from their wrist and punctured the crewmen’s neck into the jugular and then retracted. The prick was the size of pin, only causing a dribble of blood to escape. But whatever they injected into the two caused them both to pass out. Archer reached for the one closest to him. The alien looked at Archer, sung a short note and then shimmered away. The second alien followed without a sound. Trip tapped a companel near him. “Trip to Sickbay.” “Go ahead,” Phlox said. “Report to the bridge. We have injured.” Trip ran over to Hoshi, checking for a pulse. “She’s alive.” Archer had crouched down beside Travis and did the same. “So is he. T’Pol, try to decipher that song.” # “They’re asleep,” Phlox said. Archer looked at Phlox. “Asleep?” “It’s a deep sleep, but other than that, there isn’t anything else wrong with them.” Phlox looked up from his scanner to Hoshi’s face. He turned to Archer beside him. “And there doesn’t appear to be any chemicals in their blood. I don’t know what the aliens injected them with.” Phlox looked down at the small puncture wound on Hoshi’s neck. “But if they did inject anything, it isn’t showing up on scans, which means it isn’t harmful. I will run more tests to make sure it’s not something I’ve missed, but so far there doesn’t appear to be anything else wrong with them.” Archer looked at Hoshi and then Travis’ faces. “At least that explains why they look peaceful,” Archer joked. Phlox smiled, walking around Archer to a monitor over Travis. “When are they going to wake up?” Archer asked. “That’s hard to say, since I don’t know why they’re asleep in the first place. But if they don’t wake on their own by morning, I’ll wake them.” “Let me know if their condition changes.” “I will, Captain. Archer walked out of Sickbay. # Hoshi read the report on her PADD as she ate oatmeal. She heard someone sit down to her right. “Good morning, Hoshi,” Travis greeted. “Morning.” “Good morning you two,” Trip said as he sat down with them. “Good morning, sir,” the two said. “How ya feeling Travis?” Trip asked. “Tired. I keep having really bizarre dreams.” “Bizarre how?” “I keep dreaming of the planet, but it’s lit up with bright colors. And I hear those aliens singing somewhere but I can’t find them no matter how hard I search for them. I feel like they’re calling out to me.” Hoshi froze with a bite of her oatmeal halfway to her lips. She looked up at Travis. “I’m having that same dream.” Travis looked at her. “You are?” Hoshi nodded. “Phlox said that whatever those things injected you two with may have some side effects,” Trip said. “Dreaming the same dream is a side effect?” Hoshi asked. “Or that you two have both been to the same planet, seen the same terrain, heard these aliens sing. The stuff they injected you with could just be a catalyst.” “How often do two people see the same thing when they dream?” Hoshi asked. Trip’s eyes narrowed. “Nice to have you back, Hoshi.” “I’m just asking, sir.” Trip smiled, looking down at his plate. “Whatever the reason, you two are both back on duty, so you’d better--” Trip looked up, stopping what he was saying. Hoshi and Travis were both asleep, still sitting in their chairs. Trip looked at the crewmen around him. “Hey, Eddy,” Trip said to the crewman closest to a companel. “Get Phlox up here.” The crewman obeyed. # The singing had changed. The sense of urgency in it felt stronger, but she had been walking for what felt like days across the barren land without any luck in finding the singers. “Ensign,” Archer said. Hoshi stopped and turned. She didn’t see anyone so she turned back to follow the singing. “Ensign Sato, wake up.” Hoshi started to turn her head... # Hoshi woke with a gasp, sitting up in her chair and accidentally flinging a spoonful of oatmeal on Doctor Phlox beside her, making him frown, but not move his scanner away from her. She didn’t notice the accident. She was confused and dazed, trying to figure out where she was and why. She looked at Archer, watching him crouch beside her. “What happened?” Hoshi asked. “You and Ensign Mayweather, fell asleep. Trip said one minute you two were talking to him and the next, you two were out like lights.” “That’s impossible. I never fall asleep in chairs,” Hoshi protested. Phlox lowered his scanner. “I can’t find anything wrong with her,” He told Archer. “Scans of both Ensign Sato and Ensign Mayweather do not show anything out of the ordinary.” “That’s impossible. They just fell asleep eating breakfast.” “I’m aware of that, Captain, but I can’t treat an illness that I can’t detect.” Archer stood, looking at Travis for a moment. “Travis?” “Sir?” Travis looked up at him. “Do you feel like you can work?” “Yes, sir. I feel like I’ve just had a good night’s sleep.” “Hoshi?” Archer looked back at her. “I feel fine, sir. Just a little confused about what happened.” Archer thought for a moment. “Phlox, I want you to do another scan and run as many tests as you know. Those aliens did something to these two and I want you to find out what.” “I’ll do what I can, but again, if I can’t detect an illness or pathogen, I can’t treat it.” “Look anyway.” “If you two will come with me.” Hoshi stood up, facing Archer. “Sir, I’m sorry for all of this.” Archer’s brow furrowed. “Sorry for all of what?” “Everything.” Archer laid his hand on her shoulder. “Hoshi, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Hoshi didn’t look very assured. Archer smiled, patting her shoulder. “As soon as you two are done in Sickbay, report to the bridge. You’re behind on some work I noticed.” Hoshi smiled. She turned and followed Phlox and Travis. Archer was aware of Trip stepping close. In a voice that was almost a whisper, Trip told him, “Maybe you oughta follow your own advice, Captain. It coulda been you or me out there and kicking yourself isn’t going to make it go away.” Trip sat back down to his breakfast. Archer glanced at him. He walked back to the Captain’s mess without comment. # Hoshi saved her finished report and opened another. She put the back of her hand over her mouth, stifling her yawn. She glanced back at Archer sitting in the Captain’s chair. He was reading something on a PADD. Hoshi looked back at her controls. She heard the lift open and footsteps crossed the bridge. “The last probe was destroyed trying to exit the gravity pull,” T’Pol told Archer as she sat down at her station. “So how many are left?” Archer looked at her. “Five of fifteen.” “Not a good percentage, T’Pol.” “No. It is not. However, I was able to get most of the data from the ten that were destroyed. It will prove beneficial.” “Were there any signs of life?” “There was an abundance of various biologics, but there were no humanoid bio-signs. Whatever came aboard Enterprise does not appear to show as a humanoid life form.” “Well, let’s get underway,” Archer said. “Travis, put us back on course at warp two.” “Aye, sir.” Archer turned to Trip. “We’ll make those repairs when...” Archer trailed off when Trip suddenly jumped over his console and ran over to Travis. He yanked Travis from his chair, roughly waking the man as he tossed him on the floor and took over helm. Archer looked up at the view screen. Enterprise was drifting toward the planet and the engines were still winding up to jump to warp. Trip steered Enterprise back toward space just as the ship jumped to warp two. Trip let out a breath before looking down at Travis. Travis was sitting on the floor, staring at the screen with a shocked look. “He fell asleep again, sir,” Trip told Archer. “I didn’t mean to.” Travis got to his feet, turning to Archer. “Sir, I don’t know what just happened.” “Ensign Sato is also asleep,” T’Pol said. Archer looked over to Hoshi. She was sound asleep in her chair. Archer looked back at Travis. “How are you feeling now?” “Refreshed, sir.” “Do you feel like you want to take the helm again?” Travis looked at the view screen. “I don’t know--” Travis fell asleep, collapsing to the floor. Trip looked back at Archer. “You sure you want him flying like this?” “No.” Archer tapped this chair’s companel. “Archer to Phlox.” “Yes, Captain?” “Travis just fell asleep twice and nearly sent us into the planet’s atmosphere, and Hoshi is sound asleep where she’s sitting.” “Captain?” Hoshi asked. Archer looked at her. She was awake again, staring at him. “What?” Archer asked her. Hoshi looked at Trip and then down at Travis and back at Archer. “What happened to Travis, sir?” “You both fell asleep.” “Perhaps it would be best if they both had the rest of the day off, Captain. From the sounds of things, Travis isn’t fit to fly at the moment.” “I agree. Hoshi, return to your quarters.” “But I--” “That’s an order, Ensign.” Hoshi got up and left the bridge. Archer walked over to Travis and crouched down, shaking him awake. “Go to your quarters, Travis.” Travis left without argument. Archer turned around to Trip. “Call Ensign Carter to the bridge to take helm.” Trip nodded and tapped the companel to call Ensign Carter to the bridge. Archer sat back down, watching the view screen. T’Pol turned to a monitor behind her at the sound of a soft beep. She rolled her chair over to the monitor, tapping the control as she watched the screen. Her brow furrowed. She moved closer, working on the information on the screen. |
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