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"Chocophoria"
Rating: PG-13 Please read and review! Thanks! Seven “You know what this reminds me of?” “What?” Liz Cutler asked. She kept her gaze riveted to the person above her. Travis Mayweather climbed the emergency ladder on the side of the turbolift shaft. They’d been stuck in the lift together on the way to Sickbay. Travis and Liz had managed to climb through the emergency hatch at the top of the lift and reached the ladder. Now if the power doesn’t come back on while we’re still in the shaft, we should be okay, Liz thought. Then she heard Phlox’s voice in her mind, Have a little optimism, Liz! “Remember when we were in the Expanse and we had all of those weird blorphs move through the ship?” “You mean those weird anomaly thingies?” Liz shivered at the memory of those singularities moving through Enterprise, blowing out power couplings and distorting access ladders. “Yeah, this whole thing seems like one big screwed-up anomaly.” Liz grunted in response. “You think this might be cause by one of those things?” “Dunno, but that’s the only thing I can think of—“ Travis paused and swore, “Damn.” Her fear spiked sharply. “What’s wrong?” “What deck are we on? I lost count.” “You lost count?” She sounded astonished. “You, the helmsman with the inner sense of direction, forgot where we are? The ship isn’t that big.” He bristled and replied, “I was a bit distracted. Can you see the deck markings on the side of the shaft?” She sighed and glanced downward. It was a long way down; she almost wished she hadn’t. The glowing letters were easily seen through the gloom. “E Deck. The next hatch should be the one leading to the corridor to Sickbay.” “Okay...I see it. Hang on, Liz, I’m gonna try to get this hatch open.” Travis shifted his weight on the ladder, then gripped the door handle with his right hand. “It’s stuck. I’m need some help.” “All right, move over and I’ll squeeze in next to you.” He did so, and together, they managed to turn the latch. Travis pushed his shoulder against the hatch, then it popped open. They climbed out of the shaft and onto the brightly lighted deck. “Sickbay,” Liz said, and headed for that direction. Suddenly, her vision swam, and out of nowhere, she smelled snow and tasted sweet maple syrup on her tongue. She was back in her childhood in New England, and the frozen lake ahead beckoned, and she couldn’t wait to skate on its slick surface... Then she blinked and she saw the Sickbay doors ahead of her. They didn’t open as they approached. Dazed, she waved her hand in front of it, then made her hand into a fist and rapped her knuckles on it. The door stayed closed. “Phlox!” she yelled. “Phlox! You okay?” The Denobulan’s voice was clear through the transparent door. “Liz? I’m all right; the door is jammed and communications are out. Something is happening; there might be people hurt on the various decks.” “Doctor?” Travis called. “We were stuck in the turbolift and had to climb through the emergency shaft.” “Lieutenant Mayweather? I would appreciate it if you could send word to Engineering about the situation.” If Liz hadn’t known better, she would’ve thought Phlox sounded irritated. “Liz, can you gather a small team and start checking people, deck by deck? I am trapped in here and can’t do it myself.” “No problem, Phlox. I’ll get right on it.” She and Travis exchanged looks, then Travis nodded and headed back for the ladder. “Just one thing—“ “What is it?” “A minute ago, I thought I was back home, I mean in New England...I saw a frozen lake and I had my skates on and—“ Phlox said nothing for a long moment, then said, “A childhood memory...am I correct?” Liz nodded, though she knew he couldn’t see it. “The memories may increase in frequency and duration. There is a compound in the mokka that may affect the higher regions of the Human, Vulcan and Denobulan brain. It is probably one the more active ingredients in the recipe.” “You’re saying the Dnayun did something to the chocolate to make us all loopy?” His voice sounded reassuring. “I don’t think they had any malicious intent, Liz. By itself, the ingredient is processed out of the body with little problem. There has to be something that is preventing its absorption, and it is enhancing and strengthening the effects instead. I am continuing my investigation.” Liz nodded again. “I’ll get right to checking the other crew members and I’ll also see if I can get a hold of the captain and Subcommander T’Pol.” “Thank you, Liz,” Phlox said, relieved. “I know I can depend on you.” She blushed at the compliment; though he did compliment her regularly on her skills, she always had the feeling that he meant it. “Thanks, Phlox.” She went down the hall, forcing her mind on the business at hand. Thirty minutes later, Liz had recruited several other people from Life Sciences and Astrometrics as emergency medics. There were minor injuries, mostly bumps and bruises from unexpected tumbles. They’d managed to get the doors to the Armory and the Astrometrics labs open, and the doors to Cargo Bay Two unstuck. All in all, the overall damage was minor, though she’d heard that Captain Archer, Subcommander T’Pol and Commander Tucker had been trapped in Archer’s Ready Room, and that Ensign Mueller had to pry a surprised (and blissfully unaware) Lieutenant Commander Reed from Lieutenant Sato’s quarters. The embarrassed Armory Officer was horrified at the whole situation, but since his and Hoshi’s relationship was an “open secret” anyway, no one had been overly surprised. Liz smiled to herself, though. The mokka and the red dress had obviously done wonders. The incident would be worth a few teases later on. She’d looked at the captain’s wrist (slightly bruised, but nothing serious) and had told him about Phlox’s discoveries. Just as she finished applying a bandage to it, the com chimed. “Hoshi must’ve gotten it running again,” Archer said, but Liz saw that he was trying not to smirk too widely. He touched the button. “Archer.” “Cap’n,” replied Trip Tucker. “I got Sickbay’s doors to work, but like the Armory and the Cargo Bay, there doesn’t seem to be anythin’ wrong with the doors themselves. Talk about weird. Travis told me ‘bout it bein’ similar to when we were in the Expanse and we were hit by the blorps.” T’Pol’s eyebrows knit together in thought. “There should not be any such singularities in this area of space. This is a well-traveled corridor, with no records of anomalies...” She glanced at Archer. “With your permission, Captain, I will check the sensors to confirm.” “Go ahead, T’Pol. Crewman Cutler and I will be down in Sickbay.” Archer nodded at Liz and smiled. “Shall we?” Liz and Archer gazed at the results on the screen as Phlox repeated his suspicions to the captain. At the doctor’s insistence, she also recounted her memory of the snow and skating. Archer said nothing, only listened with a slight frown. “I took a baseline reading of Ensign Trace, for he was one of the few people who did not partake of the mokka. His brain chemistry shows completely normal. But this is of Subcommander T’Pol and of Crewman Cutler earlier—“ the screen changed. “The Vulcan and Human brains are different, but they both showed increased activity in the limbic region, the cerebral cortex and the amygdala.” “The pleasure area and the impulse control of the brain,” Liz murmured. “Indeed.” Phlox sounded pleased at her identification. “The subcommander and I have isolated the compound, and I am formulating a countermeasure to it. We haven’t identified which ingredient in the mokka is responsible, however.” Archer nodded. “I’ll have Chef and Hoshi work on that. They’re the ones who translated the recipe in the first place.” He glanced back at Phlox. “Will this affect the crew to the point where we’ll need to isolate anyone?” “Difficult to tell, Captain. It seems that the symptoms are random and unpredictable in some people, and rather, well, constant and obvious in others.” If Denobulans blushed, Liz was sure Phlox would be blushing now. “One thing seems to be happening, though: couples who might not have gotten together without the mokka’s influence are together now.” “Um.” Archer looked like he really didn’t want to hear names, though Liz was sure he knew exactly to whom Phlox referred. “All right, Doctor, keep at it. Commander Tucker and his Engineering team are working on the equipment malfunctions and Subcommander T’Pol is pursuing another angle to the problem.” “Yes, Captain.” The com erupted again; Archer turned and gave it a dirty look. “Engineering to Sickbay. Doctor Phlox to Engineering.” It was Kelby’s voice. “What is the matter?” Phlox asked. “Um...we’ve got a bit of a fistfight down here between Lieutenant Hess and Crewman Rostov, I don’t think they’re really hurting each other badly, but—“ That was enough for Phlox and Archer. “Stay here, Liz,” Phlox ordered as he grabbed his medkit and rushed off at Archer’s heels. Liz sighed and rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “Lover’s spat,” she muttered. |
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