Did I Just See a Mermaid?- Part 2

Did I Just See a Mermaid?

by Hoshissis

Disclaimers in Part 1

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Chapter Three

After what seemed a lifetime for Captain Archer, yet in reality had only been a few minutes, Trip drew in a huge intake of air then started to cough as he expelled the water from his lungs.

“I think I just saw a Mermaid!” said Trip, in a half dazed and half coughing voice before collapsing back into unconsciousness.

Captain Archer shook his head at this unusual outburst then quickly placed Trip on his side, rubbing his back at the same time to provide some comfort. Everyone looked pale from the shock of having to breathe the life back into Commander Tucker and from the reality at how close they had come to losing him. Phlox, who had just been transported down from the ship, came running up. He knelt down next to Trip, scanning him with his tricorder to gauge his condition.

“Let’s get him back to the ship,” said Phlox. “He’s still got a lot of water inside of his lungs that I need to get out and he’s in shock. I need to get him back quick so I can warm him up. Captain Archer you as well, you look like you could do with some hot tea and a blanket.”

“Three to transport, have a medical team standing by,” said Phlox.

The next instant the three of them shimmered out of existence, back to the ship.

Having composed herself Subcommander T’Pol looked over at Malcolm and Travis, “Let’s get the teams rounded up and back to Enterprise, once everyone’s checked in we can check on Commander Tucker’s condition.”

“Yes Subcommamder!” said Travis as he headed to the shuttles contacting the rest of the away teams on the way.

Malcolm was still rooted on the ground, where minutes ago he had been massaging Trip’s heart to kick start it back to life. He’d always had a huge phobia of drowning, so he generally avoided going anywhere near water to avoid any possible embarrassing scenes. On seeing Commander Tucker and Captain Archer approach the lake, he had hung back thinking of an excuse to go back the other way, but on seeing his friend get in to difficulty he forgot all about his phobia and ran to help his friend. Now it was all over, the realisation that Commander Tucker had nearly drowned hit him hard turning his whole body to jelly.

T’Pol sensing his shock carefully approached him, “Are you okay Mr Reed!” she quietly asked, while gently touching his shoulder.

“Yes Subcommander!” replied Malcolm gathering his composure again, slightly embarrassed that he had let it slip. “Let’s get back to Enterprise.”

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Trip was resting quietly in sickbay, after having the remaining water in his lungs pumped out by Phlox. A procedure he didn’t ever want to go through again. At the moment he was beginning to feel himself again, wrapped up warmly and snugly in a thick blanket. He wasn’t sure what had happened, everything was still a little hazy after falling in the water. He was certain that he had seen a mermaid before he lost consciousness, it was the most incredible sight he had ever seen perfect in ever detail in fact. He had mentioned this to Phlox, but he had assured him that it was probably a hallucination brought on by the lack of oxygen. Trip however was not convinced, she had seemed so real, too perfect to be just a figure of his imagination.

Captain Archer was in his quarters under orders from Phlox to get something warm inside him then rest in bed. He was feeling a lot better knowing that Trip would be alright, seeing him cold, still and lifeless lying on the grass after being pulled from the water had scared the life out of him. Thank god he had remembered his basic life saving training; if they had waited for Phlox to arrive Trip wouldn’t have survived.

Subcommander T’Pol and Malcolm Reed were in the situation room just off the bridge. They were trying to find out why their scanners hadn’t picked up the creatures biosign that had tried to kill Commander Tucker. They still had three more days for away teams to go planet side and gather data, so T’Pol didn’t want any more surprises announcing themselves.

“Why didn’t our scanners detect that creature’s biosign?” T’Pol asked

“Our scanners can’t penetrate the lake below a few metres,” replied Malcolm. “The mineral in the ground surrounding the lake seems to be reflecting our scans back.”

“It would be logical to assume that there must be caves within the lake where the creature is able to hide undetected. Please advise the away teams to stay away from areas with a sizeable quantity of this mineral, especially caves, in case there are any more creatures hiding,” said T’Pol. “The bridge is yours Mr Reed; I am going to check up on Commander Tucker and Captain Archer.”

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Sickbay was quiet when T’Pol entered, Phlox was nowhere in sight so she walked quietly up to the bio bed where Commander Tucker lay resting behind the screen. He looked up as T’Pol entered.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” said T’Pol gently as she stood by the side of the bed.

“You didn’t!” replied Trip, “I was already awake.”

“How are you feeling Commander?”

“Glad to be breathing again Subcommander, I thought I was a goner there.”

“So did we, please refrain from doing that again Commander. We are a long way from Earth, it would take a while returning for a replacement,” said T’Pol.

“Thanks for caring T’Pol!” replied Trip in a joking tone of voice. He could read T’Pol like a book and knew even though she was teasing him, deep down she really cared. “I’ll be more careful in future,” he replied in a gentler tone before smiling.

“See that you do Commander, I don’t have any spare time to train a new Chief Engineer.”

Trip started to chuckle at this obviously comeback, // Who ever said Vulcan’s don’t have a sense of humour really needs to meet T’Pol, he’d eat his words, / he thought. He was about to come back with a smart reply when he gripped his leg, grimacing in pain.

T’Pol looked on in concern. “Are you okay Commander?” she asked.

“No! Can you get Phlox? I’ve got shooting pains running up my whole leg and my foot is starting to go numb.”

T’Pol went to the comm. unit on the wall. “T’Pol to Phlox………”

“Phlox! What can I do for you Subcommander? I’m just in the mess hall.”

“Can you get back to sickbay Doctor, Mr Tucker is in need of your assistance,” she replied, trying not to sound too anxious.

“I’ll be right there, Subcommander!” said Phlox.

A few minutes later Phlox comes running into sickbay. “Now then Commander lets see what the problem is,” said Phlox as he picks up his tricorder.

“It’s my leg Doc! I’ve got shooting pains running up my leg and my whole foot has gone numb,” answered Trip gripping his leg.

“Hmmmmmmm!” said Phlox, “Curious, it seems your little encounter left more than water in your lungs.”

“What do you mean?” replied Trip

“The tendril which wrapped around your leg had some microscopic spikes on it. Some of these have been dislodged and injected into your body. Unfortunately these spikes seem to contain a poison, which is now starting to affect you,” answered Phlox. He was annoyed with himself that he had missed this previously in the rush to render aid.

“Poison!” said a rather worried Trip. “How bad is it?”

“Let me run some tests first,” answered Phlox, “but from the speed it’s affecting your body, I’m going to have to find an antidote fast.”

A/N Please review. I would appreciate any thoughts and ideas that I can inject into this story.

TBC

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