"Reality Flux" by A. Rhea King Rating: PG Disclaimer: Don't own them, CBS/Paramount does. Summary: Reed and the child T'Pol saved from the Jakisau world are kidnapped by a slave merchant, but fate rescues them by throwing them into the future. Now they are trying as desperately to return to their present, as the crew is trying to bring them back. CHAPTER 4 “Jon.” Archer opened his eyes. Trip sat in the desk chair next to the couch. Archer had fallen asleep reading and the book rested on his chest. Trip smiled, holding a tiny pill out to him in the palm of his hand. A glass of water waited in his other. Archer sat up, taking the pill, and downed it with the water. He sat the glass on his desk and sat back, closing his eyes. Trip didn’t leave or speak. Archer looked at him, watching him stare out the port window and stare at the nebula. Quietly he told Archer, “Somewhere in that thing are Aina and Malcolm.” Archer glanced at the nebula. “Is that why we’ve been here so long? Is it a standoff?” Trip shook his head. “Naw. They’re lost somewhere in time. All these anomalies coming out of these are like waves that cut through time, and they have the same energy signature as what Daniels left. Hoshi and I went to the other side when we got here, and saw Enterprise leave it. You were in command, so T’Pol thinks we saw something from the future.” “Sounds like it.” Trip suddenly smiled. “I’m looking forward to you being in command again. We all are.” “Let’s not get the cart before the horse, Trip. Seeing something in the future doesn’t make it true.” Trip nodded, losing his smile. Archer leaned forward, catching his eye. “I didn’t say it wouldn’t happen, just not now.” Trip’s smile returned and he nodded. “Commander Tucker to the bridge,” T’Pol said over the intercom. “Go find my armory officer and that little girl.” “Aye, sir.” Trip got up and left. Archer walked to the port, watching the nebula. # Reed stood slightly stooped with graying hair, his face wrinkled with age and twisted with frustration. He cursed at the resequencer, hitting it hard. Instead of it working, he hurt his hand. “Stupid piece of junk!” Reed hissed at it. “Da.” Reed looked back. Aina walked up to the resequencer and gently tapped a button. She had grown into a beautiful young woman, with a gorgeous smile. The loose shirt she wore was fastened at the waist with a wide belt. Her long black hair was tied back with a piece of string that was twisted and curled down the length. “Aketish,” she ordered. In the slot a plate appeared with the ordered food and a fork. She gave Reed a sidelong look. “Impatience never served us, Da. And after all these years you know hitting it won’t hurt it, only you.” “Don’t lecture me, Aina.” She laughed, and then handing him the plate before placing an order for herself. Reed turned and shuffled to a table in the mess hall of the alien ship. He sat down with a sigh. Aina sat across from him and they began eating in silence. Reed stopped, looking up at Aina. “I had a dream last night, Aina.” “What was it?” “I was back on Earth. In the Himalayas. It was beautiful.” She smiled, but it was sad. “I’ve never seen them.” “Aina...I’m not going to be here for much longer.” Aina lost her appetite. She put her fork down. “Da, let’s not talk--” “We have to, child. We have to talk about this. We can’t wait for later any more. We’ve done that for years and it hasn’t done an ounce of good. Now we talk about it.” Aina looked up at him. She started crying. “I don’t want to be alone.” Reed reached out, laying his hand on hers. “I know you don’t, poppet, but it’s inevitable. Humans die, Jakisau die. I’m almost eighty and you hardly look a day over twenty. You’re going to have to carry on when I’m gone, poppet. You have to get back to our time, if nothing else, to prevent this from happening.” “And convince you to keep me,” Aina said, looking down. Reed squeezed her hand. He avoided the subject by changing it. “You know that PADD you always see me carrying?” “Yes.” “Give it to me when you get back, okay?” “What if a wave never comes, Da?” Aina looks up at him. “What if there never is one with the right time flux signature in it?” “It will come. You will find it. Who knows, maybe it will even happen tomorrow.” Aina smiled. “Maybe so, Da.” Reed squeezed her hand again and then started eating. “So how are the plants doing in hydroponics?” Aina’s eyes lit up as she began telling him about a new species she was working on grafting. Reed listened, smiling to see Aina’s face so alive and bright. # Aina walked through the halls, working on a PADD. An alarm went off. Aina ran to a companel and tapped it. “Da.” She waited but Reed didn’t answer. “Da, answer me.” When he didn’t, she turned and ran. # Reed had stared out the window of these quarters for years, watching ghosts of ships come and go. His eyes were tired and he could feel the moment drawing closer with every labored breath. His eyes drifted to the PADD in his hand. He smiled a little. There was a picture of him carrying Aina on his shoulders as a toddler. “She’s grown into such a beautiful girl, T’Pol,” Reed said. Reed’s eyes looked up when the alarm went off. Following it was Aina calling for him. Reed looked down at the PADD. “Hear her, T’Pol? She doesn’t look a day over thirty now. I’m sure Phlox would find the reason, but don’t put much into it.” The hull of the ship groaned. Reed’s eyes drifted to the window, watching the reds of the nebula pass the window. “Not much at all, T’Pol.” His quarter doors opened and Aina ran in. She knelt by his chair, grabbing his arm. “We have to go to helm, Da. Come on.” “I’m not going today.” Reed looked at her. “Da, this could be--” “Go on, child. Make sure you haven’t missed the wave. Take this PADD with you and give it to me or T’Pol when you get back.” Aina looked at the PADD and then him. “We’ll be separated if you don’t go with me.” Reed smiled, closing his eyes. “We’re going to be separated regardless, poppet.” “Wha-- Da, what do you mean?” Reed looked up at her. “Come here, poppet.” Aina leaned over him, her long, sweet smelling hair surrounding him. He always enjoyed the smell of the flowers she made her shampoo with. “What, Da?” “I love you, poppet. You make sure to put me between two waves when they come. I want to go wherever that alien went. Maybe I’ll be able to exact some revenge for us.” “You’d die if you did that.” Reed reached a trembling hand up and touched her face. She looked into his eyes. His eyes shined bright for a brief moment and then faded and his body relaxed. “Da?” Aina touched his face. “Da?” The PADD slid from Reed’s hand into his lap. Aina gasped back a sob. “Da, don’t leave me alone. Please, Da.” She shook his shoulder. “DA!” Aina fell to her knees beside him, grabbing his hand. She pressed it against her forehead, wailing and rocking. A clear wave came through the wall and passed over them, but to her, time stood still. # Aina sat at helm with her feet up on it. She was reading a PADD, engrossed in what she was reading. She glanced at a control when it started beeping. She turned back to the PADD. The alarm tone changed. She dropped her feet and leaned toward it. Her eyes widened. She dropped the PADD and started punching controls. She suddenly jumped up and ran off the bridge. The ship began moving for the first time in eighty years, heading toward a rippling wave that was moving toward the edge of the nebula. # Reed watched the nebula on the view screen growing closer. On the bunk, Reed had wrapped Aina in a blanket and she was sleeping soundly. Ahead was a larger alien ship. His kidnapper tapped a button and a conversation ensued. The alien turned, so he didn’t see what Reed did. Behind the ship a shimmering wave appeared and in it was a ship identical to the one they were approaching, save it was a little more beaten up. It separated from the wave, heading toward its twin in an aggressive attack. Before the kidnapper could turn away it had destroyed the other ship and was bearing down on the kidnapper’s ship. The ship rocked from the attack. The rocking woke Aina and she started crying. Reed turned and picked her up. He sat down on the bunk, watching the view screen. The ship rocked several more times before losing speed. The alien started talking, clearly cursing. The ship came to a stand still. A figure transported onto the ship and before the alien could pick up a weapon the figure shot him. The figure stood a moment, their hand dropping to their side. Reed could tell it was a female from the back. She sighed, turning. Reed’s breath caught. While her body and face were much older, Reed recognized the eyes, the expression – she was Aina. Aina worked the controls by the lit bars and they disappeared. She walked up to Reed, looking down at herself. She smiled, looking into Reed’s eyes. Aina reached out, her fingers lightly brushing his cheek. Aina reached behind her and pulled a PADD she had in a back pocket. She handed it to Reed. “You’ve told me so many things over the years, Da, but I only remember some. I imagine you put it all on there. You carried around all the time to make sure it would travel with us when the waves came. You said someone on Enterprise would know how to read it if I ever got it back to you.” “I don’t understand.” “You see those waves there,” Aina pointed at the view screen, looking at it. “Right there. See that one going away from us there?” Reed stood, walking to the view screen. A sparkling rainbow color wave was heading away from the nebula into space. “What of them?” “You called them time fluxes. If you go into them, they’ll transport you back and forth through time. They’re coming from the nebula, but you said you weren’t T’Pol, you couldn’t explain how and why.” Reed really looked at Aina’s face. The baby he held in his arms had a face that was more golden than hers. Her face now was more of a pearl color. “And...we were caught in one?” “I guess. I was her age when it happened. You said our kidnapper, that one,” Aina pointed at the unconscious alien on the floor, “Stunned you. When you woke up, we were alone on the alien ship.” Adult Aina leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “I never got to say good-bye when you died, Da. If you can’t make T’Pol realize how much she cares about me, you take care of me. You were a very good father, Da.” Reed smiled, realizing what she was talking about. “We must have been among those waves for a long time, Aina.” “Poppet. You always called me poppet.” Reed nodded. “I’ll remember that.” Aina stepped back, taking a device out of a pocket. “You don’t have to leave, Aina. You can stay.” Aina looked up at him. “You always warned me not to. You said it would mess up the time line and that the Temporal Cold War was doing a fine job of that without my help.” “This isn’t the same.” Aina smiled, pressing the device and was transported off the ship. The alien ship flew away, heading toward a wave. It entered the wave, becoming translucent before disappearing. Reed looked down at Aina. She smiled at him. Reed tapped her nose, making her giggle. Reed sat Aina on the floor. He grabbed the alien by the arms and drug him into the cell. He figured out the controls and turned the bars on again. Reed walked back to helm and sat down. It took him one a few minutes to figure out the controls and headed into space in search of Enterprise. He smiled when he heard Aina let out a squeal, looking back. She’d found one of the alien’s cooking pots and was wearing it for a hat. Reed laughed, looking back at the view screen. # Reed walked into the ready room. T’Pol was sitting in the armchair, staring at the worn PADD in her hand. A fabricated playpen sat in a corner and Aina was sleeping soundly in it, covered by a blanket, surrounded by toys and comforts she had become accustomed to. Reed started to pull himself into attention. “Why don’t you want to adopt Aina?” T’Pol asked, looking up at him. The shock of the question made him forget to be professional. “I... I’m not suitable.” “From what I’ve observed of these recordings, you could be.” “T’Pol, I firmly believe a single man should not try raising a child by choice.” T’Pol stood, walking up to him. She held his gaze with one that Reed had never seen before. “But you won’t be. While not her blood relatives, you’d have eighty-one aunts and uncles to assist you.” Reed didn’t reply. T’Pol didn’t look away. “It would interfere with my duties, ma’am.” “I am aware of that. At the same time I cannot think of anyone more suitable.” “Why don’t you want to adopt her? I listened to the recordings on that PADD too. I kept telling you about her and what to expect. Clearly even that version of myself saw you as a suitable mother. Something I see even now.” T’Pol looked away. She stepped back. “It’s Trip, isn’t it?” T’Pol looked at him. She didn’t have to answer the question. The answer was in her eyes. Reed smiled. “Stop trying to find her a set of parents, T’Pol, and give him a chance. He adores her. Every time you leave to find her parents it breaks his heart. Everyone on this ship sees it and knows it. Why don’t you?” T’Pol looked away. Reed walked up and laid his hand on her shoulder. She looked back at him. He smiled. “Give the situation a chance and if you need a break, I don’t mind helping out with her. I do love her, but I’m not ready to be a father. What you see on that PADD was a father by circumstance. Do you understand?” T’Pol nodded. Reed dropped his hand. “Will that be all, ma’am?” T’Pol nodded. Reed turned, reaching for the door controls. “I have come to one firm belief these last six months, Lieutenant.” Reed turned back, smiling. “Oh?” “Captain Archer chose the wrong first officer in both me and Commander Tucker.” Reed chuckled. “Again. It was a position of circumstance, T’Pol. I’m sure, in a different situation, you’d feel differently about that.” “I do not believe that.” “As is your right. Good-day, T’Pol.” Reed left the ready room. This time the door opening and closing woke Aina. She woke up whimpering, “Ma.” T’Pol sat the PADD aside and walked to the playpen. Aina pulled herself up to a stand and reached up for her. T’Pol’s hard expression melted into a faint smile. She lifted Aina from the playpen and walked back to the armchair. She sat down, sitting Aina on her lap. “I’ve memorized some of the nursery rhymes from the database. Shall I recite one for you?” T’Pol asked. Aina smiled, grabbing T’Pol’s nose. T’Pol began reciting the rhymes, making Aina squeal with joy every time she added a movement to emphasize something in them. Back to Chapter 3

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