Surak's Soul - J.M. Dillard [37]
“A condo on Kauai,” Trip countered archly. “Captain, don’t get morbid on me.”
Archer sighed and straightened, carefully so as not to disturb the now-napping Porthos. “Trip, you know I’ve got to. The situation isn’t good.”
All pretense of good humor fled Tucker’s features; they sagged downward as he set his glass down on Archer’s desk and said, darkly, “I know.”
“We’re not even sure the Shikedans can help us. And twenty hours to get there—that’s a long time.” He did not add, A lot of people can die in that time. When Trip looked away and failed to reply, Archer continued. “There are a few things we need to talk about—as captain and commander.”
Tucker straightened and faced him. “Yes, sir.”
“Let’s assume I’m out of commission. The first situation is that T’Pol will assume command. I want to be sure that this ship gets in touch with the Shikedans. I’m leaving taped orders to that effect; and if she doesn’t comply, then I’m ordering you to take command and fulfill those orders. We’ve got to be certain this isn’t a microbe.”
It was tantamount to mutiny for Trip to override T’Pol—but he didn’t even flinch at the thought. “You’ve got it, Captain.”
“Second thing: I want to be sure that, if this is a microbe, it doesn’t spread.”
“Understood. I’ll make sure strict quarantine is maintained until we’re sure.”
“Good.” Archer paused, then absently stroked Porthos’s head; the dog opened one eye and glared balefully at him for disturbing his slumber. “Third: If we do lose a lot of crew…” He sighed, casting about for the right words. “If more than just the landing party is affected…”
Trip read his mind. “You don’t want the Vulcans using this as an excuse to scrap the mission.”
It was a reasonable worry; while T’Pol might now thoroughly support the right of humans to explore space without their big Vulcan brother watching their every move, the same could still not be said for her superior, Ambassador Soval. Soval would be first to claim that any disaster involving Enterprise was proof that she should be recalled home.
Archer nodded grimly, glancing down at the image of his father and promising silently, Never.
He looked up to see Trip studying the captain’s expression, and reading it loud and clear.
“I’ll stop it, sir,” Tucker vowed. He did not qualify the statement by saying, If at all possible, an omission Archer noted and appreciated. “You have my word.”
“Good,” Archer said. He lifted Porthos into his arms and stood. “Now let’s see if we can’t get a few hours’ sleep before the next shift.”
Trip set down his partially drunk glass of bourbon and rose stiffly, stretching as he did so. “God knows I could use some.”
“Me, too,” Archer said. “See you in the morning.”
As he stood in the doorway, Trip shot him a look that said, I’ll take that as a promise. “See you in the morning, Captain.”
Exhausted and bleary-eyed, Hoshi worked in her small laboratory near sickbay, which she now shared—most uncomfortably—with Wanderer. T’Pol had gone to the bridge to take over the conn, leaving the entity to scan Enterprise’ s databases, presumably in order to learn more about human and Vulcan culture.
“Hello,” Hoshi had greeted the semitransparent column of blue-green swirls when it had first entered the laboratory. The presence of the energy being made Hoshi nervous, perhaps because of pure human prejudice: it just seemed unnatural that a conscious creature should not possess a body. Or perhaps her discomfort was due to the fact that her whole life was centered around communicating with other species—and here was one species that she could not communicate with.
Most of all, perhaps a part of her could not forgive Wanderer for desecrating Kano’s body.
Yet at the same time, it had seemed rude not to acknowledge its