"Truth Scores" by A. Rhea King Rating: PG Disclaimer: Don't own them, CBS/Paramount does. Genre: Humor Description: They're ewoks? Diaper 1 and Malcolm 0, the finer points of Animal Crackers is discussed, Travis and Archer find themselves on the business end of a cranky feline, and Trip shows Eartik a thing or two about gravity. Mother Nature’s Little Reminders (8) This was published in Strange New Worlds 9. The contract forbids me from publishing it here, or anywhere else for that matter. What Goes Up (9) Trip stretched his arm out as far as it would go so the scanner could read the circuits on the opposite of the vertical Jeffery tube. The scanner beeped and Trip pulled himself back to the ladder, waiting for the scanner to process the data. Trip looked up the tube, his mind drifting over a conversation he had with T’Pol that morning. Trip smiled, remembering her face. He loved her face. Hell, he loved everything about her. “Trip!” Trip jumped, losing his grip on the ladder. On the way down the six feet he’d climbed up he hit his chin on a ladder rung, biting his bottom lip followed by hitting his head on a ledge. He rammed his elbow against the side of the Jeffery tube and something protruding cutting through his uniform and into flesh of his forearm. He hit the floor hard, knocking the wind out of him and making his whole body throb with sudden pain. Trip closed his eyes, trying to get a full breath and unable to. “I am so sorry!” Eartik cried, kneeling down beside him. “It’s okay,” Trip grunted. He closed his eyes. “I’ll go get a doctor.” Eartik leapt up to leave. “No,” Trip gasped. “No.” “But—” “Just got the wind,” Trip coughed, “Knocked out of me. Hold on.” Eartik came back, crouching beside him. “You’re head’s bleeding.” “So is my arm and lip.” “I didn’t mean to scare you.” “It’s okay. Shh. Give me a couple minutes.” Eartik stayed quiet as ordered. Trip lay for several minutes, trying to get his breath back and stop the world from spinning. His breath came back, but the world was still spinning. “Help me up, Eartik.” Eartik got up and helped Trip to his feet. “The scanner,” Trip turned. “It’s broken.” Eartik picked it up, holding it up for Trip to see. Trip took the broken scanner from Eartik, staring at it. It was spinning like everything else. Trip bent down to go through the access door and had to catch himself on the door to keep from tipping over. Trip slowly left the access tunnel and stood up straight in the hall. He felt Eartik take his hand and let the child lead him to Sickbay. “Commander,” Trip heard Doctor Phlox said. “Doc—” Trip passed out. # Archer glanced at Eartik as he passed him. He stopped, looking down at him. Eartik was staring at his hands. “Eartik?” The boy slowly looked up at him. “Why are you sitting by Sickbay?” “I made Trip fall and get hurt.” “How?” “I scared ‘im.” “On purpose?” “No. I was bringing him all these tools he asked for and he was scanning a shunt. When I said his name he fell.” Archer smiled, crouching down. “That was an accident. If you’d come up behind him and yelled ‘boo’, then you should feel bad.” “But I made ‘im fall.” “He’s been through worse.” “He fell when we got to Sickbay. And from the access tunnel to here, he couldn’t walk straight and he was leaning really hard on me. He’s hurt and it’s my fault.” “I bet he’s fine. I’ll go in and check, okay?” Archer stood up. Eartik nodded. Archer walked into Sickbay, spotting Trip laying on a biobed. Trip had a dark green and purple bruise from his temple to cheek and a swollen bottom lip. His arm was bandaged and he was holding a cold pack to his elbow. “Hey,” Trip said. “You know, you can’t fly Trip. You have to quit trying.” “My head hurts,” Trip complained. “Eartik’s outside. He’s feeling really bad and thinks he made you fall.” “Poor kid. Wasn’t his fault. I was off somewhere else and he startled me.” “Are ya gonna die? Do I need to start looking for another senior engineer?” Trip smiled. “Not any time soon, Captain,” Doctor Phlox said, walking up to Trip. He pressed a hypospray to Trip’s neck. “That should help with the headache, but I’m afraid the aching body will go away in time. Let me know if you have any more dizzy spells. The concussion is pretty mild, but it did give you a jar”. “I’ll live?” “For today.” “Can I go?” “Yes. But you really should go lie down for the rest of today.” Trip looked at Archer for permission. “Maybe instead you should take Eartik and break out a game or something. He’s feeling pretty bad about making you fall.” Trip smiled. “Doc?” “Just don’t do anything extraneous.” Trip got up and pulled the top of his uniform back on. He glanced at Archer. “I’m going to tell the crew you hit me.” Trip pointed to his lip. “Make them more afraid of you.” Archer laughed, watching Trip leave. Trip stopped outside the door, looking down at Eartik. Eartik slowly looked up at him. “Ya up to a game of Go Fish?” Trip asked him. “You’re not mad at me?” “Nope. Wasn’t your fault, kid-lit.” Trip held his hand out to Eartik. Eartik stood and slid his hand into Trip’s. “I’ll hold your hand to make sure you don’t fall down again.” Trip smiled at him. “Good idea.” The two headed for the lift. “Trip?” Eartik looked up at Trip. “Yeah, Eartik?” “Can you have more than one best friend?” “Can I have more than one best friend?” “Can anyone?” “Oh sure!” “K’pan and Malcolm are your best friends, right?” “Mm-hm. T’Pol too.” “Can I be your best friend too?” Trip stepped onto the lift, looking down at Eartik. “Well, ya see, that’s not possible.” Trip smiled. “Why not?” “Because sometimes you have friends that are even better than best friends and you’re better than a best friend to me, so you can’t be my best friend.” “I can be your better best friend?” “Yep.” Eartik grinned, hugging Trip. Trip chuckled, hugging him back. Back to Chapter 7 The next short story is One Man's Trash The next Tweens story is I'd Rather Be...

Like it? Hate it? Just want to point out a typo? Join the discussion now.

Disclaimer: Star Trek in all its various forms and its characters are the property of CBS/Paramount. No copyright infringement is intended by the authors of this site, which is solely for the purpose of entertainment and is not for profit. This site is owned by CX and was opened to the public in February 2008.