Glimpse
a tag
for Vanishing Point
by Setcheti
Disclaimer:
In the end, it went down as a mystery. No one could figure out why or how Enterprise’s communications officer had experienced what she had during the very brief time she was ‘stuck’ in the transporter matrix, although the ship’s chief medical officer assured them – well, assured T’Pol, who’d been the only person to question it anyway – that Hoshi wasn’t delusional. So once everyone was satisfied that they knew as much as they were going to know Hoshi had headed down to the mess with Tucker and Reed. The two senior officers had done their not-inconsiderable best to be entertaining and she’d enjoyed their company after the first rush of déjà vu from her earlier experience had passed, and after that she’d gone to her quarters and read some mail before getting ready for bed. Hoshi had expected sleep to be long in coming, but she hadn’t reckoned on how exhausted she really was and so fell asleep before she even realized she was doing it.
It was hours later that night that she had the dream – no, not a dream, a glimpse back into the world she’d spent eight-point-three seconds and three days in earlier. Lieutenant Reed and Dr. Phlox were talking to the captain in his ready room, faces serious, voices low. Sound joined the picture gradually, the grim, low voices underscored by the soft hum of the ship’s engines. “…can’t be let to go on like this,” Reed was saying. “Sir, you have to relieve him of duty.”
“I concur, Captain,” Phlox added. “The commander is not…dealing with Ensign Sato’s death well. He blames himself, on a number of levels.”
“The guilt is eating him alive,” Reed said bluntly. “And begging your pardon, sir, but you’re not helping the situation any. I know we’ve all had our hands full since we turned up those alien explosive devices on board, but you’ve barely spoken to Commander Tucker since we discovered what happened with the transporter and it…it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the rest of the crew. The general scuttlebutt is that he’s going to be drummed out of Starfleet just as soon as the investigation is over.”
“Dammit.” Archer ran a tired hand through his hair. “I wasn’t meaning to avoid him – or blame him, either. If anything I think he’s been avoiding me.” He stood up. “All right, Malcolm let’s you and I go down to Engineering. Doctor, we’ll meet you in Sickbay after I’ve seen Trip.”
“Very well, Captain,” the Denobulan agreed. “I will be there. Will you be bringing the commander with you?”
Archer sighed. “If nothing else he probably could use a good night’s sleep, so yes, we will. Have your hypo ready.”
Hoshi didn’t wait for the men to leave the ready room; she was in Engineering with a thought. Commander Tucker was there, surrounded by padds and diagrams and stray bits of machinery, his head down on the worktable and his shoulders slumped. His uniform was wrinkled and his hair unwashed, and it broke her heart. “It wasn’t your fault,” she whispered. “I told Commander Tu…I told you, my you, what had happened here and he said it was just one of those things that could go wrong – and then he took off to put a sensor on the coils so we’d know if they shifted out of alignment. You couldn’t have known.” But she knew he couldn’t hear her, just like he’d known she couldn’t hear him before; she was talking to herself, reassuring herself in his place.
That was when Archer and Reed appeared, pausing in the doorway to take in the sight of the devastated engineer. “Oh God,” Archer whispered. He moved the rest of the way into the room and stopped beside the desk, running his fingers over the piled padds. “Transporter schematics, function reports, design specs, test results…no wonder I haven’t seen his report on the incident, he’s got himself so bogged down he probably can’t remember exactly what happened anymore.”
“Or what day it is, or whether he’s eaten or slept,” Malcolm added just as quietly. “But I think a good sleep and a talk or two will put him to rights, Captain.” He leaned over the sleeping man and shook him. “Commander, wake up.”
Tucker jerked awake with a gasp. “What…”
Archer pulled the engineer to his feet. “Come on, Trip, there’s a bed down in Sickbay with your name on it.”
“My name?” Tucker blinked at him in confusion and then tried to sit back down. “No, have to finish this…”
Reed slipped an arm around him from the other side, forcing him to stay upright. “No, I don’t think this is something you can finish on your own, Trip,” he said gently. “But we’ll help you get it all sorted out, I promise. Let’s go see Phlox now, shall we?”
“Phlox?” The engineer seemed to be trying to process what was going on without much luck. “Is it somethin’ about Hoshi?”
“It is,” Archer assured him. “Pick up your feet, now, you’re too heavy to carry and I don’t want to drag you.”
“I c’n walk by m’self,” Tucker protested immediately, but he didn’t appear to notice that his feet were still dragging and the other two men were supporting a good deal of his weight as they maneuvered him toward the door. “It’s about Hoshi?”
Reed looked at the floor, and Archer’s shoulders slumped. “Yes, Trip, it’s about Hoshi.”
Hoshi woke up in a cold sweat.
Ten minutes later, unable to get back to sleep, she was padding quietly down to Engineering. Tucker wouldn’t be there, she knew he was off duty, but she had to reassure herself that she was in the right place by seeing his absence firsthand.
He was there, slumped over his worktable, surrounded by padds and parts, and she all but stopped breathing. No, it couldn’t be…she hadn’t actually been there, right? She was still debating on what to do next when from the other side of the room came the sound of a door hissing open and then closed again as brisk footsteps approached. She shrank back into the shadows as the footsteps slowed, growing nearer, and then Malcolm Reed came into view. He stopped in place and cocked his head, looking at the sleeping engineer…and then he smiled, shaking his head. “Bloody idiot.” He closed the distance between them and shook Tucker gently but insistently. “Commander, wake up.”
Tucker came awake with a start, blue eyes blinking wildly in confusion. “Mal, what…”
“You fell asleep over your work again,” the armory officer scolded, but he was still smiling. “It’s turning into a joke, you know; your staff says you should just move down here and be done with it. Now up you get, it’s time to go back to your real quarters for the night.”
The engineer frowned up at him. “You’re still here too, you know.”
“Ah yes, but I’m still awake, you see – no joke to be found here.” He hauled Tucker out of the chair and began pushing him out of the room. “Come along now, don’t make me drag you.”
Tucker threw an indignant look over his shoulder. “I’d like to see you try.” There was a surprised yelp followed by a thud. “Malcolm!”
“You asked for that one,” she heard Reed chuckle. “Now do you want a hand up or shall I drag you?”
“You wouldn’t…” Tucker’s voice trailed off uncertainly, and then he said in a put-upon tone, “Okay, okay, help me up – since you put me down here to begin with. That’s gonna leave a bruise...”
“Only on your pride,” Reed snorted. “And don’t even think about trying to yank me down there with you, I see that look in your eyes.”
There was a grunt, and then it was Tucker’s turn to laugh. “You’re seein’ it reflected back from yours, Mal. Can I stop at the…”
“No,” Reed told him flatly, but even though their voices were receding quickly out of hearing Hoshi could hear the teasing note in his voice. “Any attempt at a detour will result in your being dragged. If you want something from the mess I’ll fetch it for you while you clean up a bit, you smell more like the inside of the engine than is socially acceptable at the moment…”
Hoshi waited in her hiding place unit she was sure the two men were
well away, and then she laughed all the way back to her quarters. Yes, she was definitely back on the right