TRIP FICTION

TripFiles
TripFocus
Tuckerites
TuckerNuts
Trinneer
¡TRIP!

If you are seeing this paragraph, the site is not displaying correctly. You can see the content, but your current browser does not support CSS which is necessary to view our site properly. For the best visual experience, you will need to upgrade your browser to Netscape 6.0 or higher, MSIE 5.5 or higher, or Opera 3.6 or higher. If, however, you don't wish to upgrade your browser, scroll down and read the content - everything is still visible, it just doesn't look as pretty.

Psyche and Sound - Chapter 2

Author - Orion9
Fan Fiction Main Page | Stories sorted by title, author, genre, and rating

Psyche and Sound

by Orion9

Rating: PG
Genre: General/Drama


Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N: Sorry for the delay. It seems that work and RL just blasted into smithereens my plan to post at least once a week. But I hope that you’ll stay with me while I try my best to update this as often as possible. Thanks! :)

******


Chapter Two – Developments

When it happened the following night, just as he was passing Hoshi at the corridor, it took Trip completely by surprise. Pleased that he was finally released from Sickbay, the engineer was in high spirits as he headed for the turbolift. It’d be good to sleep in his quarters and on his own bed tonight. He might even pay a visit to the Mess Hall for a light supper before he turned in for the night. With some luck, there would be a slice of pecan pie left, just waiting for him.

“Night, Commander.”

Trip returned the ensign’s smile with one of his own. “Night, Ho–”

::flash::

Clear blue eyes widening, Trip froze in mid-stride, jaw suddenly going slack. What the…?

Hoshi frowned, her own steps faltering as she caught sight of the odd expression on Tucker’s face.

“Commander? What is it?” she asked hesitantly after a while when he didn’t move. Trip was staring at her like he’d never seen her before. She eyeballed him nervously, ignoring the strong urge to go find a mirror right now and look into it. What was it? Did she forget to zip up her uniform or something?

“Commander Tucker?” Hoshi tried again, this time in a louder voice. The Chief Engineer’s peculiar immobility was starting to creep her out. “Trip?”

“Hmmm?”

Glad to see that a certain measure of awareness was slowly returning to his eyes, Hoshi took a step closer, relieved that the man was finally snapping out of whatever strange stupor he seemed to have fallen into.

“Are you all right?”

Realising with a start that he’d been staring blankly at her for the past few seconds, Trip flushed in embarrassment as he ducked his head, eyes quickly flickering away.

“Yes … sorry,” he mumbled to a spot on the floor.

Hoshi frowned, unconvinced. The Commander suddenly looked terrible; his face was colourless except for the twin slashes of red on his cheeks.

“Are you sure?” she asked softly, putting a hand on his arm. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost or something.”

“No, no,” he quickly assured her, trying to smile but only managing a pained grimace. “I’m okay, jus’ got a lil’ caught off guard back there.”

“What do you mean?”

Trip shook his head, anxious to get away from further unwanted questions. He flashed her another shaky smile. “It’s nothin’ … really. Havin’ a splitting headache, that’s all. I … err … I guess I’m more exhausted than I thought. Um … g’night, Hoshi.”

Without waiting for a reply, he continued down the corridor in wide strides, leaving one very confused, and extremely worried, ensign staring after him.

* * * * *

Travis and Hoshi spotted him the moment he walked in for a late lunch two days later.

“Hey, Commander!” Travis waved, gesturing to him to come over to their table.

Acknowledging their invitation with a wave of his own, Trip headed for the food counters, and peered hungrily at the choices available for the day. Quickly placing the plate of fried catfish on his tray, he also grabbed a generous slice of pecan pie before heading over to where the ensigns were seated.

“How are you, Sir?” Travis greeted the moment he sat down.

“Never better, Travis,” Trip answered as he picked up his fork. “Thanks.”

After being ordered to rest following his little incident, and practically doing nothing the following day, Trip was more than glad to be given the opportunity to accompany T’Pol and the rest of the Science Department down to the surface of the planet early this morning to complete the science survey.

In light of what happened the last time they were on the surface of the planet, it was no surprise that Malcolm had insisted on coming along. Despite the Tactical Officer’s extra precautions however, nothing particularly unusual happened, unless you could count the Lieutenant almost dunking himself in a stream as one.

Remembering the incident, Trip couldn’t help but smile. Once the last of the surface scans were completed, the three of them had taken some time to explore the nearby areas. They soon came upon an unusual gold-coloured plant beside the nearby stream. Phlox was extremely intrigued by their initial report on it and had requested a sample for study. As it turned out, the request was easier said that done. The plant had clung to the ground, stubbornly resisting all of their efforts to pull it out.

In the end, frustrated beyond words, Malcolm had grabbed the stalk with both hands, pulling at it with all his might. Suddenly, without warning, the roots gave way and the plant popped out of the ground, almost sending the Lieutenant straight into the water. Only T’Pol’s quick reaction had stopped him from taking an impromptu bath right there and then.

The corners of Trip’s mouth lifted a little more. If only he had his camera with him. The look on Malcolm’s face was priceless. An opportunity too good to be missed, he’d teased the Lieutenant mercilessly on their way back, only stopping when the affronted officer had threatened to seriously shoot him if he were to mention the incident once more.

What was more interesting was the amusement that he’d sworn had danced briefly in T’Pol’s eyes at the whole exchange. It seemed impossible, especially with the impassive look that she’d given him, with one eyebrow eloquently raised, a moment later. Perhaps it was only his imagination but for a split second there, Trip was almost sure that there was a sparkle in her unblinking gaze.

“So, did you find anything interesting down on the planet this morning?”

Hoshi’s question cut his musings short and Trip nodded, forking another slice of fish. He looked up, about to answer her when it happened…

::… pie looks … wonder … time … dessert?::

Flinching slightly at the accompanying pain to his head, Trip froze, his fork halfway to his mouth. Huh? Now that was new…

“Commander?”

Hoshi frowned when the Chief Engineer did not respond to Travis’s call. It reminded her too much of what happened two nights ago. Only this time, instead of just standing there gaping at her, he had a piece of catfish dangling on a raised fork as he stared vacantly into space.

“Commander Tucker? … Sir?”

When he still didn’t respond to Travis’s call, Hoshi reached across the table and tapped him lightly on the arm. At her touch, Trip looked bemusedly down at her hand and then up at her, his brows drawn together in a frown.

“Hmmm? … What?”

“What’s wrong?” the linguist asked, a frown of her own marring the smoothness of her brow.

Trip shook his head, suddenly aware of their concern and obvious unease. With a grimace, he put down his catfish-burdened fork.

“Sorry, got a lil’ distracted jus’ now.”

“Are you sure?” Hoshi asked dubiously. “You were kinda out of it for a while there.”

The Commander nodded absentmindedly, picking up his discarded eating utensil. He cleared his throat, suddenly aware that it was slightly sore.

“I’m fine.”

With that succinct reply, Trip resolutely turned back to his meal. Hoshi and Travis exchanged a look above their companion’s bent head. Tucker had obviously considered the matter closed and they knew from personal experience how atrociously difficult it was to get him to talk about something unless he wanted to discuss it in the first place.

For someone so amicable and friendly, Trip could be very closed-mouthed when he wanted to be. So far, only the Captain and, sometimes Malcolm, have succeeded in accomplishing the virtually impossible task of getting the Commander to talk about whatever that was troubling him during those times. With a shrug, Travis raised his eyebrows at Hoshi in silent comment before returning to the food on his plate.

Taking her cue from her fellow ensign, Hoshi did the same, although she was still very much disturbed by the Commander’s uncharacteristic behaviour. However, the Helm Officer’s next comment managed to distract her from thinking about it further as she turned her attention to his light teasing. With a grin, she responded in kind. It wasn’t long before they resumed easy banter, their laughter becoming part of the general hum of voices in the Mess Hall.

On his side of the table, and only half listening to the conversation around him, Trip wondered if it was time that he talked to someone about what happening to him. As far as he could tell, things had pretty much gone back to normal since the incident down at the planet four days ago. Well, almost normal, he quickly corrected himself, a sardonic smile touching his lips briefly. Absently rubbing the spot on his wrist, he pondered the unsettling experience he’d just had. The physical reminder of the insect bite may be gone, it’d subsided by the following night, but the after-effects of the sting were apparently still there.

Ever since that damn insect had bitten him, he’d been experiencing some unusual … visions, for the lack of a better term. When he’d met Hoshi two nights ago, an image of an unmistakably feminine undergarment had burst into his mind. Rendered speechless by it, he’d stood there staring at her until she’d asked him what was wrong. Freaked out by the whole incident, he’d tried to justify what had just happened, telling himself that there had to be some sort of logical explanation to it. Maybe he’d hit his head a lot harder than he thought. Or perhaps it was just a delayed effect of the concussion he had to be suffering from.

Wiser from experience, he knew now that he’d read her mind when they’d met that night, although not so much in her actual words but in images. Ever since that first encounter, however, there had been random pictures from the people around him, each at odd times. He’d even inadvertently responded to one, forgetting that the question had not come verbally.

“What did you just say, Commander?” Ensign Almack asked slowly, giving his superior officer a strange look.

“What? Oh … that you should ask Hayes to Movie Night next Tuesday,” Trip repeated with a distracted nod, his attention still on the schematics in front of him.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but how did you know that I was just thinking about whether I should or not?”

He’d frozen for a second there, realising too late what he’d just said. When the image had popped into his mind, he’d replied to it without thinking. It took some really fast talking, but he finally convinced the man that the comment he’d made was purely coincidental. A close call, and not something that he’d like to repeat any time soon.

Another of those images had come from Malcolm, when the Armoury Officer had stopped by to enquire about his health last night. Until now, the reason why the Lieutenant was thinking of a winged monkey with a briefcase clutched in one brown paw eluded him. Trip frowned slightly at the memory of that strange image. One day, I’m gonna have to have a long, serious talk with that man…

After his first experience, it’d taken him almost a day to get past his initial fright and surprise. Though still spooked by what was happening, he’d calmed down somewhat once he had accepted the fact that he was somehow receiving other people’s thoughts. Acceptance, however, didn’t help make things any less bizarre.

Looking back on the last couple of days, Trip gave an inward sigh, remembering the countless number of times that he’d stood outside Archer’s door, his hand hovering unsteadily above the door chime. Each time, he’d walked away without pressing the button. He’d even made it as far as the doors of Sickbay a couple of times but had turned away at the last second as well. Come to think of it, the only time he’d had some degree of peace was the whole of this morning, when he was down on the planet’s surface with T’Pol, Malcolm and the rest of the Science team.

“And then she yelled…”

Travis’s voice broke into his thoughts and Trip looked up, smiling as he caught part of the anecdote. The young helmsman was regaling Hoshi with an amusing story of his days in the Academy. He listened for a while before staring back down at his food, his smile fading. The latest development had him equally fascinated and worried.

Unless he was sorely mistaken, that was Travis’s voice in his head just now. He wasn’t completely certain but he suspected that he might have just progressed from images to actual words. The only problem so far in this was that the slight headache that seemed to accompany each of these flashes was suddenly not so slight anymore. In fact, this current one was downright excruciating.

Rubbing his aching temple with one hand, the engineer silently considered his options. In the end, he decided to not say anything to anyone for the moment. For one, he wasn’t looking forward to being cooped up in Sickbay once again while the Doc searched for a cure. That could take days, weeks even. There was also the slight problem of explaining something he himself had a problem understanding to someone else. He could just imagine the conversation…

Hey, Doc. I was wonderin’ if you had anything for strange pictures that I’ve been havin’ recently? … What? … No! Not those kind of pictures! … No, I can’t control when I get them. They just kinda appear every now and then. … What kind? … Well, they range from sexy lingerie to flying monkeys in business suits. … Oh, did I forget t’mention that lately, I’ve been gettin’ voices as well. … What are they sayin’? … I think one was ’bout Chef’s pecan pie. … Wait a minute, whatcha doin’? … What? No, I’m tellin’ ya, I don’t need any psychological tests or evaluations…!

Trip grimaced into his plate. That was definitely a dialogue he wasn’t looking forward to having with anyone, let alone someone with the authority to recommend committal into a psychiatric institution. Besides, he argued silently with himself, all of it might go away by itself soon enough. If there was one thing that he was certain about all this, it would be that being restricted to bed rest while Phlox looked for the right answers was something he didn’t have the time for. Not with the amount of work that he had on his hands right now.

Closing his eyes, Trip took a deep breath. His head was pounding considerably by now, and he hardly tasted the pie as he quickly finished up the dessert. Gulping down the rest of his drink, he made the appropriate excuses and hurried out without a backward glance.

Still seated at the table, Hoshi and Travis watched him go, their half-finished meal momentarily forgotten. As soon as the Chief Engineer was out of sight, Hoshi turned worriedly to her eating companion, ”Something’s very wrong, Travis. He was really preoccupied for a moment there. And did you see how pale his face was? That was almost exactly what happened two nights ago. Do you think he’s all right?”

Mayweather considered her question and then shrugged lightly, “I don’t know, Hoshi. But the Commander’s been through a lot worse before. He’ll be all right.”

There was a short pause as Hoshi mulled over her friend’s assurances. After a while, she whispered, “I sure hope so…”

Conversation trailed off as the ensigns returned silently to their meal, each lost in their own thoughts. When he’d finished his, Travis looked up to find Hoshi still playing with the remnants of her food. Hoping to cheer her up, he asked with a grin, “Hey, I think we have some time left for dessert. Wanna split a slice of pie?”


TBC

***********


A/N2: Thanks for reviewing the first chapter!
Hoshis sis: Soon, promise!
Ocean: Hope you enjoyed this as well. :)


Continue to Chapter 3


Return to Chapter 1

Back to Fan Fiction Main Menu

Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!


Two folks have made comments

This is intriguing and I like your style. Please update soon. Thanks VP.

I really like your style as well - do update soon! Poor Trip - how disconcerting to have the thoughts of others suddenly in his head. I loved the internal dialog he had with Phlox about his symptoms.