Reed's Armory -- A Malcolm Reed Fanfiction Archive ..

Title: Spiral

Author: Taryn Eve

Author's e-mail: [email protected]

Fandom: Enterprise

Rating: R

Category: Gen

Characters: Reed, T'Pol, Archer

Warnings: Violence, assault, adult themes

Summary: On a Vulcan colony world, Reed delves into the mind of a killer--and may not escape from it.

Comments: Thanks to downinnewyork for beta reading and beyond.

Archived to Reed's Armory on 10/15/2003.

A spiral of stars hung in the night sky. It reminded the kneeling woman that she was far from her homeworld. The desert here also spoke of its alien nature, for the plants smelled differently than those at home and the animals made unfamiliar noises. A crying bird descended upon its prey in a frenzied circling that echoed the display in the sky.

The woman pulled her jacket closer and looked at her companion. "Why are we here?"

In answer, the cloaked figure knelt next to her and silently pointed to the bird as it tore apart the rodent in its grasp. She tried to ignore the shrieks of the animal as it died. Her companion looked up at her, his face a still mask except for his hard, assessing eyes. They seemed to say that she did not belong here.

A bolt of irrational panic assaulted her. Nothing survives alone in the desert, she told herself. One lives or one...

Dies.

In the dim starlight, she divined his intent to kill her. Confused by her fear, she rose to her feet and started to run. The wind felt cold on her face and it told her that she was out of her element.

A scientist would never behave this way, she thought. Although she was new to this world, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it or her situation.

After a few more steps, she stopped trembling and looked behind her. There was nothing but the desert, the night, and the spiral hanging above her. She chided herself for the illogic of her actions and slowly made her way back toward her companion.

As she approached the man, she could see that he was awaiting her return. His arms hung loosely at his side and she saw him for what she'd first taken him to be on her arrival here: a simple man who would spend his days as he always had, alone.

"I apologize," the woman said. "I find that my inability to meditate on this world has been a distraction. Perhaps you can guide me." Her breath sounded uneven and ragged in the night.

The eternal dance of the stars and a chorus of howls mocked her as the sudden ferocity of the man's smile drove her to her knees for the last time.

***

Malcolm Reed believed in two things at this point in his life. First, he believed in his crewmates. Thanks to various encounters on the wild frontiers of space, he had learned to trust in them.

The second thing he believed in was himself.

As he entered Captain Archer's ready room, he nodded at T'Pol, who was standing to the left of the desk. Archer's troubled eyes regarded him briefly and dropped to the padd in his hands.

Reed pulled himself to attention and stood still, waiting for one of them to speak. He knew it was a matter of importance because of the comm transmission Archer had received from Earth a short time ago. The two senior officers had left the bridge to him and had retreated in order to take the call privately. Hoshi revealed to him that the call had originated from the Vulcan compound in San Francisco. What it implied, he couldn't tell. He suspected a personal matter for T'Pol until his own summons to the ready room.

Archer looked up at him once again and offered him the padd. Without looking at it, Reed stared into his superior's eyes, trying to get a feel for the situation. The other man, normally so open, was attempting to hide his emotions behind a mask.

Why? Reed wondered. He glanced down at the padd and soon found a reason for the captain's distress.

"Gatana Prime," he said softly, struggling to remember what he'd heard about the place. It was a colony world, mostly Vulcan, with some humans and other races. If he remembered correctly, it had been founded almost a fifty years ago and the first humans, a dozen researchers from various universities on Earth, had arrived in the last two decades.

"Two women have been killed in the last six weeks," Archer said, his voice raw.

"Captain?" Reed asked, concerned.

The other man folded his empty hands and looked away.

T'Pol turned slightly and looked at Reed. "One of the women was a childhood friend of the Captain's."

"Alicia King," Archer said, pushing himself up. "She used to babysit me when I was a kid. Then she got her biology degree and left Earth. I didn't realize she had migrated to Gatana until Soval said her name a little while ago."

"I'm sorry, sir," Reed said softly.

Archer gestured at the padd with a sigh. "The other woman was a Vulcan food engineer who died six days ago. The authorities found her body in the desert in the same place where Alicia was found."

Reed scanned the report. Both women were found twenty kilometers from the settlement; their partially clothed bodies were torn apart as if by large animals. The report ended with an analysis by the colony leader, Sokaren. "The animal tracks and the nature of the injuries suggest that the victims encountered a pack of the large nuvarea, a feline animal native to this world."

"Where are the autopsies?" Reed asked abruptly.

Archer shook his head. "They aren't in the report that the human colonists sent to the Vulcan High Command and Soval. Sokaren, the colony leader, should have notified the Vulcan compound on Earth since Alicia was still technically a resident of San Francisco, but he didn't. When pressed, he claimed that the matter was closed."

"The human colonists were agitated by the death of Ms. King," T'Pol said. "They forwarded a study she conducted on the nuvarea ten years ago and it indicates that the animal is not inclined to attack unless provoked. The second death, so close to the first, seemed suspicious to them so they notified Soval directly, along with a complaint that Sokaren's investigations were very cursory."

Reed read through the report once again, noting the missing details. No autopsies, no times of death, nothing to indicate any other causes of the injuries.

Looking up, he stared at Captain Archer. "So when do we arrive at Gatana Prime? I'd like to get started on the investigation right away."

Archer gave him a melancholy smile. "I have every faith in your abilities, Malcolm." Shifting his gaze, he regarded T'Pol with a brusque nod. "And yours, Sub-commander."

"I am leading the investigation at the ambassador's request," T'Pol said to Reed, who nodded. "We will take Doctor Phlox with us to study the situation. No doubt we will be able to discover all the facts in a short amount of time. The colony does not have a history of crime and the humans are eager to speak with us. I expect Sokaren will cooperate with us fully once we arrive."

Reed crossed his arms and stared at her thoughtfully.

"Yes?" she asked after a long moment.

Reed shook his head. "I was just wondering if Vulcans commit murder?"

T'Pol's eyes turned steely for a moment, then her gaze dropped down to the padd in his hand. "I do not operate on 'gut instinct', Mr. Reed," she said evenly. "We do not know if this is going to become a murder investigation."

Their eyes locked. He felt pinioned by that intense stare. It irrationally felt as though a falcon gripped him within its claws.

Reed forced himself to breathe. "You didn't answer the question," he said softly.

Wrenching her gaze away, she walked out of the room with short, swift steps.

Archer sighed. "Be careful, Malcolm. I'm going to hazard a guess that there's more going on here than we know. Vulcans and humans on Earth have a touchy relationship. I can't imagine anything being different on Gatana."

Reed slowly nodded his head. "Yes, sir."

The look in T'Pol's eyes haunted him.

***

Reed heard her firmly placed footsteps behind him as he sat, engaged in his pre-flight checks. Did Vulcans commit murder? he wondered once again.

"Sub-commander," he said evenly, without turning around in his seat.

"Lieutenant."

The acknowledgement was as dry and formal as she had always been with him. There was no sign of the tension that had crackled between them in the ready room earlier. He heard her take one of the seats behind him. Unless she had a question about the mission for him, he knew the shuttlepod would remain silent until the arrival of Captain Archer and Doctor Phlox. Reed knew that he tended to say more than he should when rattled, but he kept his words close to himself when he was with his superior officers. Especially this one.

He had acknowledged his attraction to her once upon a time, but had set aside the juvenile fantasies of making her smile for the stiff reality of their working relationship. In that light, the unexpected heat of her reaction to his question about Vulcans and murder surprised him greatly. He'd finally gotten an emotional response from her, but he had no idea why.

Reed turned and looked at her. She looked up from her padd and stared at him flatly. He swallowed his discomfort. "Sub-commander, I apologize if I offended you in any way."

T'Pol bowed her head. "You meant no offense, Lieutenant. As you are aware, my people deliberately stepped away from violence in the relatively recent past. I found your immediate assumption of murder...unsettling."

Reed turned back to his console, shaking his head. "You have to keep an open mind, Sub-commander. The Vulcan colonists of Gatana Prime have been isolated for a long time. Anything might happen in the absence of logic, including murder."

"Why do you assume that the so-called murderer is Vulcan and not human? There are fifty-four humans on the planet."

His memory flashed the post-mortem pictures at him and he clenched his hands to keep from shivering. "Their faces. They weren't conscious when they were killed. I hope that the autopsy reports, if they exist, will show some sort of bruising on their shoulders."

"A few humans have been known to be able to perform the nerve pinch, Mr. Reed." T'Pol's voice was as detached as ever.

He turned and stared into her eyes. "Will you teach me, then?"

A glimmer, perhaps of amusement, showed in her eyes for the briefest moment. "I can think of no better student, Lieutenant."

Smiling, Reed turned back to the console. Phlox arrived, closely followed by the captain. They stowed their gear and settled into the available seats. Reed finished his preparations and launched the shuttlepod after receiving clearance from the bridge.

A brown world edged in green spun below them. Gatana looked like a world God had neglected to finish.

"What inspired the Vulcans to colonize this world, T'Pol?" Archer asked, his voice subdued. "Did it remind them of home?"

"Some of the elements are similar to Vulcan," T'Pol said. "It was deemed necessary to try to adapt Gatana to an environment that would be suitable for a larger population of Vulcans. Our numbers are growing on the homeworld, however slowly."

"You're terraforming the place," Reed said suddenly. "Or would the term be different for Vulcans?"

Archer sighed. "Whatever the word is, it didn't work out for my friend Alicia. I spoke to Sokaren a few minutes ago. He'll lead us to her grave."

"Forgive me for intruding on your feelings, Captain," Phlox said gently, "but when may I have access to the medical records of your friend and the other deceased woman?"

Archer cleared his throat. "Sokaren said he'd brief us after we pay our respects to Alicia, but apparently, the shuffling has already begun. Sokaren blamed his secretary for misplacing his work. We might not get to take a look at the medical records."

"You, too, suspect something," T'Pol said in sedate dispassion.

Reed held his breath. Sometimes the way Archer perceived a situation controlled its outcome.

"Maybe I've been reading too many bad novels late at night," Archer said slowly. "I just have a feeling that Sokaren is hiding something."

Reed spotted the landing site and shrugged. "You never know, Captain. His reactions might be off because he's repressing his dismay with the colonists for contacting Ambassador Soval behind his back. It can't be easy to deal with a human starship showing up on his doorstep, either."

"You are playing the devil's advocate, Lieutenant," T'Pol stated.

Reed laughed in spite of himself as he brought the shuttlepod down for an even landing. "Yes, I am. I usually get accused of being too suspicious, so I thought I'd try the opposite approach while it's still available."

"Are you suggesting that you will keep an open mind, Mr. Reed?"

Archer stood up and opened the hatch. A shadow crossed the doorway. A lean, tall Vulcan whose dark hair was streaked with gray looked up at the captain in a dismissive manner, then at T'Pol. The newcomer's unblinking gaze studied the Vulcan woman as if she were a specimen he'd never seen before.

"No," Reed said quietly. "My mind isn't open at all."

***

The stately Vulcan man continued to stare at T'Pol. Reed watched her nod at the other man with a sense of unease. She'd said earlier that she didn't operate on gut instinct. However, there was something dead in that man's eyes, something broken that was distinctly non-Vulcan. Reed wondered if T'Pol even had the ability to see it.

"Sokaren," Archer said, breaking the silence. "I'm Captain Archer. Let me introduce my officers. This is Sub-commander T'Pol, my science officer."

T'Pol bowed her head once again. Sokaren nodded in reply. The Vulcan man turned to face Archer. Reed noticed that Sokaren's fists were clenched.

Archer turned and indicated the Denobulan. "This is Doctor Phlox, my chief medical officer, and Lieutenant Reed, my armory officer."

"Welcome to Gatana Prime," Sokaren said in a hoarse voice. "We do not have many visitors."

"I'm sorry we have to come under such difficult circumstances," Archer said, waving at the hatch. "Shall we?"

Sokaren's gaze focused on T'Pol for a long moment. "I will lead you to the cemetery."

Reed bit his lip as the older Vulcan followed Archer outside. After catching Phlox's attention, he discreetly pointed at Sokaren. "When you get the chance, could you scan him, please?"

Phlox turned to face him while T'Pol paused in the doorway.

"More of your suspicions, Lieutenant?" she asked, in a voice dry as the dust swirling at their ankles.

Reed shrugged. "I earn my keep by my using my suspicions and my caution." A heartbeat passed. "Do be careful, Sub-commander."

"I would say the same to you, Lieutenant," she said, stepping into the sunlight.

He moved to follow Phlox and the sub-commander. The dust floated all across the landscape, as if rising up to bury them. They hadn't landed on a planet; instead, they'd come to a subsection of hell, with the dust whirling like flames around them. A group of shadows chased each other at the edge of the cemetery and an unearthly howl split the air.

"Welcome to the devil's playground," Reed muttered under his breath.

Sokaren turned and gave him a sharp look. Unclenching his fists, he studied the dirt clinging to his long brown robe. "The humans say we have two seasons here. Dead is the first, and buried is the second. I myself would prefer 'dead'."

Archer and Phlox smiled in amusement, while T'Pol merely blinked.

Reed couldn't stop staring at Sokaren. He could sense the Vulcan man's fear. After a moment, he realized that his hands were shaking, so he closed his fists and put them behind his back. Sokaren stared back at him as if mesmerized.

The captain finally broke the spell. "I'd like to see Alicia now, please."

Sokaren closed his eyes. "Of course, Captain Archer. Come this way."

After he led them past a grove of black, leafless trees, the older man paused at the end of a group of rocks. Then Sokaren knelt down in front of one of them. Reed saw markings in Vulcan on most of the stones, but the one before them bore the name of Alicia King.

"She was respected in our colony," Sokaren said as he wiped dust from the rock. He rose to his feet and bowed his head. "Many of us came to the funeral to say farewell."

Archer's shoulders shook. "God. I can't believe she's gone."

Tears fell down his face and for a moment, Reed envied him. Not because he'd lost a friend, but because Archer could give himself the freedom to mourn with all his heart.

"She took me to the planetarium once," Archer said, his voice sounding harsh because of the choking dust. "She pointed up and said, 'We're going to make it there someday, kid.'"

Reed moved up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, hoping it comforted the man. "She was right, Captain."

Archer laughed suddenly, in that dizzying array of emotions he could display. "Yes, she was." He removed one of the pips from his uniform and put it on the gravestone. "Goodbye, Alicia."

Archer and Reed saluted the grave.

Out of the corner of his eye, Reed could see T'Pol's thoughtful look and Sokaren's avid interest in her. Reed hoped T'Pol wouldn't have to experience the seasons on Gatana the way Alicia had. Dead and buried.

***

Sokaren pulled the hood of his robe over his head and studied the grave as the others walked ahead of them, away from the cemetery.

"An animal did this," the Vulcan said in a low voice.

Reed wished he could see the other man's eyes. Past experience taught him that a human who didn't tell the truth either believed his own lies or showed bits of doubt in the windows of his soul. He doubted very much that there were very many Vulcan liars.

There was no doubt that Sokaren was on the brink of old age. He walked unsteadily, his hands shook and he had a gravity about him that indicated that he was far older than Reed or Archer.

Could some sort of dementia be at work? Reed wondered. He didn't know much about Vulcan physiology. He hoped Doctor Phlox could work on the scan as quickly as possible.

He considered whether he was going too far, in assuming that the colony leader had murdered two women. Images from the report flashed in his mind. Their faces had been still, composed, almost as if caught in sleep. But their nude torsos had been savaged.

No doubt the feline animals he'd seen at the edge of the cemetery had indeed been involved somehow-the marks were claw-like. But the faces indicated that the women had died before their bodies were desecrated. And Sokaren had not given Soval the autopsy reports.

Reed looked up and frowned at the figure of T'Pol paused with Archer in front of the nearest dome-shaped building. Her utter serenity suddenly made him want to scream. She wouldn't see the danger here because it was illogical. To her mindset, Vulcans did not commit murder so there was no rational reason to suspect Sokaren.

Or did Vulcans commit murder? his mind asked, traveling in circles around the image of T'Pol's face when he had originally asked the question.

Sokaren cleared his throat. "You should have a care for your crewmates' safety, Lieutenant Reed. This is a dangerous world."

Reed stopped in the middle of the path with the dirt still swirling at his feet. Sokaren stopped as well and stared into his eyes. They were blue, Reed realized abruptly. The Vulcan man had eyes as blue as his own.

"Why did you come to this world, if it's so dangerous?" Reed asked, crossing his arms.

Sokaren looked away and lifted a hand toward the building. "My mate was the colony architect. A year after the colony's completion, I became the leader here."

Reed tilted his head. "You have a wife? Is she inside?"

Perhaps she'd give her husband an alibi, he thought ruefully.

Sokaren bowed his head. "My mate is dead. Come, your crewmates are waiting."

Reed exhaled and with reluctant steps followed the older man toward the sand-colored building. T'Pol opened the door. Sokaren walked inside, followed by Archer and Phlox. The doctor peppered the colony leader with questions about the building's construction.

"Did you discover anything?" T'Pol asked in a quiet voice as she fell into step with Reed inside the building.

"This may sound mad to you, but I know he's the one," Reed said looking around for signs of other listeners. "He told me an animal did it and also that his mate is dead."

T'Pol raised her eyebrow in a manner that told him completely what she thought of his judgment.

He shook his head as they continued down the curved hallways. "Give me some time. I'll find some hard evidence."

T'Pol did not answer, but serenity crept back over her face.

"How do you bear it?" he asked, rubbing his face.

"Mister Reed?" she asked, her aplomb fully intact.

He smiled as he wiped his dirty hands. "We humans often act on impulse and instinct. If you didn't have the degree of control that you have, I imagine we'd drive you quite out of your skull."

T'Pol folded her hands behind her back. "I meditate each evening. Perhaps you were not aware of the fact that we must refocus ourselves constantly in order to control our emotions."

Reed sighed as they came to an open doorway. "You are capable of committing murder, then, if you lose control."

The woman beside him stopped dead. "Do not seek to manipulate logic against me, Mister Reed. You cannot win your argument by putting words into my mouth."

Reed shook his head. "I think you're missing the point. I'm not trying to equate your personal emotions to anything specifically. I just want to know if one man, one Vulcan man, is capable of committing murder."

"Yes, he is."

Startled, Reed turned to look into the open doorway. A short, hooded figure stood in the dimly lit room and beckoned him inside.

T'Pol inclined her head. "I will tell the captain that you stopped to freshen up." She swiftly moved to follow the group ahead of them.

Reed entered the dark room and stared at the woman waiting for him. Long red hair peeked out from under the hood, and she nervously licked her pink lips.

"My name is Carina Smith. I saw what happened the night T'Penna died." Tears welled up in her eyes, and she started pacing. "Oh, thank God someone who will believe me is finally here. You don't know what it's like, being a stranger in this colony. I only arrived six months ago and everything's gone wrong ever since."

"I'm Lieutenant Reed," he said. "Please tell me everything you can."

A rustling in the corridor made him turn around. Sokaren bowed his head. "Miss Smith. I will take our guest to the conference room. Could you find the autopsy reports, please?"

Gulping, the woman bobbed her head and hastily pushed past Reed to leave the room.

Reed stared into Sokaren's eyes. A flash of fire appeared for a moment then quenched itself.

"You are here as my guest, Lieutenant," the older man said. "I will not let anything happen to you."

Reed blinked. Was that a threat?

Screaming, Carina barged back into the room, almost throwing herself into Reed's arms.

"Oh my God," she said, sobbing. "It's happened again."

"What is it?" Reed asked, pulling himself away.

Carina looked at Sokaren accusingly. "Lawson just called in. He found another body."

Sokaren's face turned ashen.

"Where?" Reed asked her, feeling a sense of urgency. "Where is it?"

Carina lifted her chin defiantly. "Lawson said he was at Nevaran Canyon. Sokaren, why don't you show our guest where that is, since you know the place so well?"

An annoyed look crossed the Vulcan man's face for a moment before he nodded. "Very well. Come, Lieutenant."

Reed started following the rigid man down the winding, twisted corridors. He'd heard that a criminal always returns to the scene of his crime. Looking up and down the twisted corridor for his absent crewmates, Reed wondered if he'd have the chance to follow Sokaren again, away from the death-stained desert.

***

Sokaren's hands trembled above the controls of the sleek, golden ground car. Reed hesitated for a moment before entering the vehicle on the other side.

"Wait!" The figure of Sub-commander T'Pol crossed the distance from the building in long, swift strides. "Captain Archer ordered me to accompany you," she said, as Reed made room for her on the seat.

He noted that she wasn't even breathing rapidly. Sometimes he envied Vulcans for their hardier physiology.

"The site is twenty point four kilometers from this location," Sokaren said, glancing at Reed.

T'Pol pulled the door shut and they took off. Reed studied the landscape, making notes in his head of the placement of the buildings and the vegetation in case he had to travel this way on his own.

"Where are the Captain and Doctor Phlox?" he asked, still scanning the terrain as it flew past.

"They are taking another ground car," T'Pol said. "The human woman, Carina Smith, volunteered to drive them. I chose to accompany you."

Reed silently nodded to thank her for her quick actions in catching up with them at the last minute. He hadn't really thought through what could happen to him if left alone with a suspected killer. Frowning, he looked at Sokaren. The lined face nodded back at him.

"What's your gut instinct on this latest death, Sokaren?" Reed asked suddenly.

The older man's mouth turned down in a grimace. "I prefer not to speculate."

"The nuvarea is entering its mating cycle this time of year, according to the research I found in the Vulcan database before we left Enterprise," T'Pol said.

Sokaren's fingers tightened on the ground car's control panel. "Yes."

They rode in silence past spiky vegetation that reminded Reed of the cactus plants outside the spa in Mexico he had visited once. The buildings had dropped behind them and they were approaching the edge of a rust-colored canyon. Rust...or blood.

Reed chided himself for turning melodramatic. He needed to be able to see all the evidence, not just the bits and pieces he wanted to see. Perhaps T'Pol's presence at the crime scene would give the investigation more objectivity. Then again, she might not want to see things if they contradicted her Vulcan logic. For all he knew, she still didn't believe in time travel, despite Captain Archer's assertions. What if Sokaren's situation involved some sort of Vulcan taboo that no one would be willing to discuss with an outsider like him?

A realization hit him. The victims so far had been female. T'Pol had obliquely referred to the nuvarea's mating season beginning. Could she have been hinting at something regarding the Vulcan mating cycle?

Sokaren halted the ground car meters inside the entrance to the canyon. Another ground car was parked about twenty meters down the dirt road. A dark-haired human man in a cowboy hat turned and looked at them as they emerged from the ground car. He was holding something long in his hand. Startled, Reed recognized the weapon as an antique shotgun.

The man flicked a nervous look at Sokaren. "It's happened again."

Sokaren closed his eyes wearily. "Who?"

"Bennarise," said the man in a grim voice. A contemptuous look passed over his face. "The whore."

Both Reed and T'Pol raised their eyebrows.

Shaking himself, Sokaren opened his eyes and nodded at the man. "This is Evan Lawson, the head of our new colony militia. Lawson, this is Sub-commander T'Pol and Lieutenant Reed from Enterprise."

Lawson sighed. "Come on. You might as well take a look."

He led them to the shadow of his own vehicle. Reed silently swore. The vehicle and the man had probably obliterated some of the crime scene.

The body lay facedown. The stench of blood filled the air, almost overwhelming Reed. He stared at the blue skin, puzzled.

"An Andorian woman?" T'Pol asked, kneeling beside the corpse.

Sokaren's face turned mask-like. "Yes. Bennarise was the colony's physician."

Reed winced. The only person who had handled the physical evidence and autopsies in the other cases was now dead. Had she been killed for precisely that reason?

Lawson shifted his shotgun to his other hand. "There are some nuvarea tracks near here. Seems like a whole pack is out."

A screech rang out, echoing off the canyon walls. It raised the hair on the back of Reed's neck.

"My God," he said, taking out his phase pistol. "That sounded close."

Sokaren removed a scanner from his robe and began searching the area. "Five. I will attempt to frighten them away."

He left. Reed considered the wisdom of letting his prime suspect walk off alone.

Shifting his weight, Lawson shook his head, as if reading Reed's thoughts. "If it's all the same to you folks, I'd rather you took a look at this-" he waved at the bloody barebacked corpse helplessly. "She slept around, but no one deserves to die like this."

T'Pol took out her own scanner and began scanning the body. "Our physician is following with our captain. No doubt Doctor Phlox will be able to determine the cause and time of death."

A chorus of screams rang out, closer than the first had been.

Kneeling beside her, Reed stared at the dead woman. A small bruise marred the right shoulder. T'Pol stared at him with a stricken look in her eyes.

Vulcan did commit murder, then, Reed thought grimly.

***

The unmistakable metallic sound of a shotgun being chambered jerked Reed away from the corpse. Drawing his phase pistol, he stared at Lawson, his heart pounding. T'Pol drew her own weapon and moved a few steps away from Reed. The man silently pointed the shotgun down the road.

Jonathan Archer, dusty and sweating, came to a halt a few meters away from the ground car Sokaren had driven. Doctor Phlox labored far behind him and a flying bird circled far above them.

"It's all right," Reed said to Lawson. "This is Captain Archer."

The broad-shouldered colonist lowered his weapon with a sheepish expression. "Sorry, Captain. I've been a little on edge since the first death. My name is Evan Lawson. I'm the leader of the colony militia here."

Archer extended his hand and the two men shook. "We had car trouble on the way here. What's the situation?"

Lawson shifted uncomfortably then hitched a thumb at the front of his ground car.

"A woman named Bennarise is dead," T'Pol said, meeting Archer's questioning gaze. "She was the colony physician."

Moving around the vehicle, Archer walked over to the dead woman. A grimace contorted his face. "What killed her?"

Reed pointed to the bruise on the woman's shoulder.

The captain sighed. "Damn it."

Lawson pursed his lips. "Hell. We suspected a Vulcan was involved, from the nervous way Sokaren was acting, but we didn't know for sure. Sokaren was all ready to throw Bennarise out of the colony for whoring around, until a few weeks ago. She had a way of manipulating things to her advantage. They must have been helping each other."

"Mr. Lawson, the same charges could be leveled at you."

Glaring, the militia leader turned to T'Pol.

"What do you mean?" Reed asked, startled. He'd been so intent on convicting Sokaren of the crimes that he hadn't considered a human suspect.

T'Pol raised a hand to indicated Lawson's shotgun. "The reports that were sent to Enterprise indicated that you discovered the other two corpses. You may have had the chance to commit the murders, entice the nuvarea to attack the corpses, and then make the 'discoveries'."

Lawson's face turned beet red. "Ma'am, I have killed exactly two people in my life. The first was an Orion raider, my first year on the job here. The second was a man who was so drunk he tried to kill his wife. I'm may be a stupid human, but I have a sense of honor. I would never kill a woman like that." He leaned over T'Pol, glaring into her face. "Never."

Inserting himself between the two, Reed shook his head. "It was just a theory, Mr. Lawson. We have to consider everything during the investigation."

Snorting, Lawson checked the shotgun. "Yeah, you do. That's why we asked Soval to step in. It was pretty clear that Sokaren didn't want to expose any of his precious Vulcans to scrutiny." He pulled his gaze away from his weapon and began scanning the perimeter of the canyon. "Now that he's the prime suspect, everything changes."

"I still don't know much about him," Archer said.

"He said his wife is dead," Reed said, taking his scanner from his belt. "Those nuvarea have gotten awfully quiet all of a sudden."

Phlox wearily stepped up to the group and straightened himself. "Where is the deceased?"

T'Pol guided him to corpse. Phlox made a regretful noise as he took out a pair of gloves and knelt at the Andorian woman's side.

Reed lowered his scanner and frowned. "They're gone."

"Who?" Archer asked, puzzled.

Reed shook his head. "Sokaren and the nuvarea. They aren't in the canyon anymore." He took out his phase pistol.

A piercing scream cut the air. Startled, Reed lifted his scanner once again. A human biosign centered itself on the screen-then blanked out.

"Sokaren's secretary," Archer said. "Carina! I shouldn't have left her alone."

Reed silently cursed himself. Stupid human, he thought. I let the killer walk away from here.

***

The wind died down. Reed pulled his hand through his hair, then glanced at the dust in his palm. It was red as dried blood. Shivering, he pulled his borrowed jacket tighter and looked at his scanner.

Nothing, he thought. Of course.

He returned to the two ground cars, shaking his head at Captain Archer. "There's no sign of Sokaren, sir," he said, coming to a halt a short distance away from where Archer knelt with Carina Smith.

The woman gazed up at him with a blank look on her bruised face. Reed walked closer and dropped down next to Carina and her shaking hand cradled Reed's cheek.

"You're going to be all right," Reed said, feeling like a liar.

Carina's fingers drifted to her own face, covering the bruises. "I'm dead already. You just need to bury me."

"Captain," T'Pol said, stepping out of Lawson's ground car. "I communicated with the colony headquarters, but they cannot locate Sokaren."

Carina shivered and tried to scoot away from T'Pol. She bumped into Archer.

The captain instinctively wrapped his arm around the small woman. "Doctor, can we move her yet?"

Lowering his scanner, Phlox frowned. "Yes. Her injuries are similar to a concussion, though I'm not familiar with the cause of the bruises on her face."

"Sokaren may have attempted a mind meld," T'Pol said abruptly.

Reed looked at her in surprise. Mind meld?

Archer gave the group a weary look as he rose to his feet. "T'Pol, take Phlox and Carina back to the colony's medical facility. Lawson, Reed, and I will remain here to find Sokaren."

T'Pol nodded, then reached for Carina's arm to help her rise.

Carina shrieked as loudly as the nuvarea had earlier.

After taking a few steps back, T'Pol shot a questioning glance at Archer.

The captain held out his hand to the sobbing Carina. "It's okay. We aren't going to hurt you."

"They hate us," Carina said through her tears. "They hate us and pretend they don't."

Archer shook his head. "You can't give one man's prejudices to his whole race. You don't even know T'Pol."

"She's a good person," Reed said in a soft voice. He met T'Pol's eyes, but she looked away.

"Perhaps you can accompany us, Captain," Phlox said.

"I can't drive a Vulcan vehicle," Archer said wryly. "I can barely read the instrument panel. Lawson?"

The large man pulled his eyes away from his search. "I'll drop them off and bring more people in for the search," he said slowly, wiping his hand on his denim pants. "Most of my militia is off making repairs to the main observatory, a few hundred kilometers from here, or we'd have more help."

"What about the Vulcan authorities?" Reed asked, once again checking the settings on his phase pistol.

Lawson sighed. "The only Vulcan authority here is Sokaren. This is a boring research colony, Lieutenant. Why would we need security officers like you? We threw together the militia about a month ago. There hasn't any need for us earlier. I think Sokaren's argument back in the day was that it would be illogical to expand the resources on security when the colony had a greater need for construction materials from the homeworld."

Archer and Reed exchanged heavy looks.

"You're implying that Sokaren has had a free hand all this time he's been colony leader," Archer said. "Could there have been more murders?"

Lawson sighed. "Who knows? Ready, Doctor?"

They settled Carina into Sokaren's ground car. The woman turned and looked back at Reed with a frown.

He knelt at her side in the open doorway. "What is it, Carina? Do you want to tell me something?"

Suddenly, she sneered. "You're as much of an animal as the rest of them. He's going to kill you, too." Pushing him over, she slammed the door shut.

T'Pol leaned over and helped Reed to his feet. He caught a glimpse of surprise on her face before she assumed her mask of indifference.

"What was that all about?" Archer asked from the other side of T'Pol.

Looking at them, Lawson sighed. "I wish I'd never come to this godforsaken dust bowl." He uttered a short sigh, then thrust the shotgun at Archer. "I think you should hang onto this. Have you ever fired one before?"

Archer gave him a bemused look.

Reed swallowed the dust in his mouth. "I have." Inserting his phase pistol to his holster, he took the smooth wooden and metal weapon from Lawson's hands.

"The men and women in my family have always had one of these," Lawson said softly. "We humans have to keep our traditions, no matter where we go."

The weight of the shotgun filled Reed with foreboding. Lawson had killed two people with it. He didn't want the weapon to claim a third victim.

The ground car sped off a moment later, spinning a trail of dust after it. Archer looked at T'Pol and Reed and shook his head. A moment later, the captain took out his communicator. "Archer to Enterprise."

"Go ahead, Captain," answered Hoshi Sato's clear voice.

A nuvarea howl whipped the air, then another, and then a third.

"We're going hunting," the captain said grimly. "Archer out."

***

The dying sun caught the slender woman's figure as she stood, still as a pillar of salt.

Reed pulled his eyes away from T'Pol and began pacing. The corpse of the doctor named Bennarise lay facedown a short distance away. In some ways, the two women couldn't be more different. One was Vulcan, the other Andorian. According to rumor, Bennarise had enjoyed the favors of more than one man in the colony. T'Pol was aloof, the lone Vulcan on Enterprise. She didn't interact with Reed outside of necessity.

The nature of Sokaren's attacks on the women of the colony still remained unclear. It seemed that victims had not been sexually assaulted, despite the nudity of the torsos. Since all three of the victims were of different species, Reed was hard put to think of the crimes as racially motivated.

"I find playing detective with a lack of evidence very annoying," he finally said aloud. "How can I connect the killer to the crimes?"

T'Pol turned to look at him. He couldn't see her face clearly against the shadows cast by the canyon.

"Perhaps Sokaren will provide us with answers when he is captured." Her voice sounded husky.

Something about all the dust seemed to be clogging them all up, Reed thought.

"Ashes to ashes," he said with a sigh. "What did you mean by the term 'mind meld' earlier? You suggested that Sokaren may have tried to mind meld with Carina when he attacked her?"

T'Pol moved away, her hand straying to her phase pistol. "You are aware that some Vulcans are telepathic."

Shrugging, Reed nodded.

She began pacing, perhaps unconsciously mimicking his earlier movements about the area. "Some of us have the ability to touch the minds of other beings." Falling silent, her gaze traced the lines of the shotgun in Reed's arms. "The mind meld can be used as a weapon."

Exhaling sharply, Reed laughed bitterly. "You don't say, Sub-commander?" All this time, during the hours they had been searching for Sokaren, Reed's mind had been fixed on the contradictory idea that Vulcans did not commit murder, yet three people were dead and one woman had been seriously injured.

Why? That was the big mystery to Reed. What would drive a respected colony leader to murder the people in his charge? He mulled over the options. Fear, lust, hate. They seemed outside the normal scope of Vulcan constraints. And yet...what if things weren't normal?

Taking out his comm unit, he hailed the ship.

"Go ahead," Hoshi Sato answered.

"Ensign, this is Lieutenant Reed," he said, as T'Pol sent him a questioning glance. "I need to find out when Sokaren's wife died. He's the colony administrator and she was an architect. I don't know her name."

"T'Sarran," T'Pol said, folding her arms. "Her name was T'Sarran."

"I'll get on it, sir," Sato said.

"Good. Let me know. Reed out." Closing the comm unit, he walked closer to the sub-commander. The smoky smell of the Andorian woman's blood soaked the air. "Did you know Sokaren's wife?" Reed asked quietly.

T'Pol met his gaze. Her eyes revealed nothing. "She attended my betrothal ceremony when I was a child. I have not had contact with her since then. It seemed irrelevant to our investigation, so I didn't discuss her."

Turning on his heel, Reed looked around in an effort to refocus himself. "No offense, Sub-commander, but working on this mission has been comparable to trying to work a jigsaw puzzle with half the pieces missing."

For a moment, she didn't answer, but then she walked away from the corpse and stood next to him. "As a human, there are many things you do not understand about Vulcan culture. My people have attempted to walk away from our violent, emotional past." Her gaze turned to the body behind them. "We do not always succeed."

Reed's comm unit chirped. He opened it. "Reed."

"T'Sarran died fourteen years ago, Lieutenant."

Reed stared at his comm unit. Fourteen years ago? "Thank you, Ensign," he said slowly. A thought struck him. "Have you heard from Captain Archer? He's been out of contact for almost an hour now."

"No, sir. He notified me that he had tracked the nuvarea pack to the edge of a cave, but he hasn't contacted me in forty-five minutes."

"Ensign," T'Pol said, "please try to locate the captain. I'd like to go to his assistance, if necessary."

"Just a minute, Sub-commander," Sato said, sounding pensive.

Reed frowned. The plan to split up had seemed sound. Reed and T'Pol had lost Sokaren in the canyon's twists and turns. Rather than risk getting lost themselves, they had returned to the crime scene. Something about the ancient canyon defied their equipment's tracking abilities.

"Sirs!" Sato's voice crackled with tension. "Captain Archer's not responding to hails."

"Send the comm unit's coordinates to my scanner, Ensign," T'Pol said, taking the instrument from her holster.

Reed's stomach tightened.

From far away, a nuvarea howl split the air.

"No!" The word echoed from a long distance.

"Captain!"

Reed started running. A moment later T'Pol passed him. She had the advantage of her superior physiology and she soon burst far ahead of him. He wanted to chastise her for running into the unknown without backup. Soon she was a mere dot.

A nuvarea howled behind him and then another echoed it. Jerking to a stop, he looked around, slowly reaching for his scanner. Two gleaming sets of yellow eyes glared at him from the side of the path. Reed looked around. A tumbling rock fell and hit the canyon floor. Looking up, he saw that twilight had given way to the night's first set of stars.

He saw a spiral in the sky.

"Now, Mister Reed," said Sokaren, from the top of the canyon cliff above him. "Are you ready to be hunted?"

Reed began to run.

***

Reed threw the scanner at the nuvarea at his heels. The huge feline growled as the hard instrument hit its shoulder, but it didn't back off. Its companion loped behind them, taking its time. Looking at its shaggy mane over his shoulder, Reed decided he didn't like being the mouse for these overgrown cats.

They were herding him off the trail. For the first few minutes he ran toward the captain and T'Pol. Both nuvarea followed him, growling if he tried to pull out his phase pistol or raise the shotgun still in his hands. He could probably get off one shot, but he knew that the second nuvarea would tear his throat out before he could fire the second shot. He'd never felt this helpless while so fully armed before.

Stopping, he looked up at the top of the canyon. Sokaren still waited for him against a backdrop of stars. The huge lion-like animals sat down and stared at him. Reluctantly, he set down the shotgun and phase pistol on the sandy trail.

Fiddling with the communicator on his belt, he managed to open it. His fingers stumbled over its buttons, while he silently prayed that Hoshi would be able to discern that he was in trouble. The bigger nuvarea got up and took a step closer with an intelligent yet menacing look in its eyes. Cursing, Reed dropped the communicator.

Lashing its tail, the smaller nuvarea sprinted ahead off the trail. Reed took the hint and started following. The hot breath of the larger cat hit the skin of his arm, making him shudder. A few minutes later, they came to a rocky staircase in the cliff that wasn't visible from the main trail. The animals looked at Reed expectantly and he stared back at them. The larger one tossed its head.

With a sigh, Reed wiped his hands and began the climb, wondering if he'd make it back down again. The stairs were narrow, as if a humanoid species had constructed them. He couldn't remember from the reports he'd read if the planet had been inhabited in the era before the Vulcans arrived to colonize it.

As he stopped to take a breath, he shivered and looked around. Night had rapidly descended upon the canyon. Light from the colony shimmered kilometers away. However, T'Pol and Captain Archer were lost to the darkness.

A growl from below prodded him onward. A large, falcon-like bird tore the air near him, forcing him to look up. The spiral galaxy beckoned at him.

"Come, Mister Reed." Sokaren's voice sounded more weary than menacing.

Reed ascended to the top of the cliff and stared into the eyes of the man he'd been chasing in his head for the entire endless day. The old man's blue eyes turned watery and Sokaren looked away.

Landing, the falcon took a few short hops toward Sokaren and looked up at him. The Vulcan knelt and the two stared at each other for a few moments. Crying, the bird scooted across the ground and launched itself into the air.

"The animals-they're telepathic?" Reed asked, incredulous.

Sokaren inclined his head. "My people call them lower forms of life," he said, his voice wavering. "Yet they are more honest creatures than we."

Folding his arms, Reed shook his head. "I don't understand."

Sokaren gave him a dark look. "I think you do, Mister Reed. You're the only person to see me as I am."

"Who are you, then?" Reed asked, carefully stepping away from the edge of the stairs. Rapidly, he studied the platform. There was nothing but a few rocks and the sky below them. He had no chance of running to safety from this spot.

Sokaren held out his hand. "I will show you."

Advancing on Reed, he held out his long arms. Reed ducked out of his reach. Kneeling, he tried to get hold of the taller man's torso. Sokaren slid out of his grip as easily as an eel. The old man's hands darted out and he caught Reed's wrists and squeezed.

"God!" Reed gasped. Sokaren's strength shocked him.

Dragging him to the wall of the cliff, Sokaren pinned him against the rock. Reed kicked out, but if it hurt Sokaren, the Vulcan didn't show it. Forcing Reed to his knees, Sokaren shoved both of Reed's wrists together. After a moment, the old man smiled and carefully began undoing the front of Reed's uniform.

"What the hell are you doing?" Reed asked through gritted teeth. "I thought we were going to talk."

Sokaren's blue eyes glittered. "No."

Grasping Reed's undershirt, he twisted it in his hands and began ripping.

***

Sokaren's hot fingers splayed against Reed's stomach, then drifted up to his chest.

"Ah, the heart is here in humans," the tall Vulcan said, his eyelids drooping. "In some ways you are so different from us."

Reed glared at him. "Let me go."

"No," Sokaren said, his voice harsh. "I've waited too long. Tonight it ends."

Sokaren grasped Reed's chin, then carefully placed his fingers on the side of Reed's face. The Vulcan man pushed into Reed's mind like a spider trapping a fly in its web.

"No," Reed said out loud. "No." He couldn't break free from Sokaren's grasp on his face and wrists.

Pinned like a butterfly, Sokaren whispered in his mind.

And Reed could see it. A carefree monarch butterfly, a refugee from the mind of the biologist Sokaren had killed. Alicia King, who once had tutored Jonny Archer. Reed caught a glimpse of the boy the captain had been before Sokaren's mind clamped down on the memory.

Other thoughts crossed over. Bennarise sneered at him in the moments before her death. She said he wouldn't get away with it-and Sokaren agreed with her.

He had agreed with her. "You wanted to be caught," Reed said. He couldn't tell if he was speaking aloud.

"Illogical of me, I know," Sokaren said, in a dry voice that caught some of Reed's own English inflections.

T'Penna, his first victim during this cycle, stared at Reed through Sokaren's memory of her. A petite Vulcan woman, she made the long journey to this world several months ago. She came to Sokaren to request that he take her as his mate. As the only available member of his family he was obliged to meet her request.

Instead, he lured her into the desert. Her simple desire for a mate and to meet the needs of their people reignited a death cycle for Sokaren.

It started years ago. His wife T'Sarran never desired him. Like all Vulcan marriages, their match had been arranged when they were children. Sokaren had been an astronomer as a younger man, but he followed his mate to Gatana Prime when her duty brought her here to build the colony. They never had children, despite the mating drive that drove husband and wife together every seven years.

Reed shook his head at the images overwhelming his mind. The invasion repelled him.

Sokaren cracked him open, forcing the information into his head. Reed watched the construction of the observatory, away from the colony. Some years ago, Sokaren started studying the spiral galaxy visible in the night sky.

Five nuvarea edged around the observatory. They were curious creatures, normally very shy. His people tended to disdain animals, but their obvious intelligence drew him in.

The pack mind had snapped shut around him as soon as he grew near enough to touch the smallest of the telepathic animals. Their thoughts became amplified through his stronger mind. They brought him back to the emotions and hungers that raged within him, bursting past all the restraints that the Vulcan mind had kept around itself. A lifetime of training fell away in a matter of hours. It felt like being set free to Sokaren.

When the next pon farr came upon him two months later, he buried his lust in his wife, then freed himself from his culture by smothering her as she slept. Sated, the nuvarea pack receded from his mind and withdrew to go hunting farther afield.

The human woman Alicia King stirred up the pack's memory of Sokaren when she trailed them in the wilderness. Eventually, the pack reconnected with Sokaren and they discovered that the overpowering lust Sokaren felt hadn't died with T'Sarran.

Each day of his life thereafter Sokaren walked with a mask on. Weary of it, he returned to his observatory to meditate and think about his desires. He needed a partner who understood how to handle these wild emotions the animals forced upon him. A human would be best suited for the role.

Reed gasped. "No. God damn you, no."

"I fought against myself," Sokaren whispered in his mind. "I destroyed the telescope. I wanted to remain Vulcan, yet I realized that like you humans, we are ruled by our animal desires. I will bring you into the pack, Reed. You will be one of us and we will hunt underneath the spiral of stars."

Reed threw all his strength into pushing against the other man. Sokaren didn't budge.

"I could see the suspicion in your eyes," the older man said against his ear. "You knew I could do these things. That I could break the traditions of my people and that what the Vulcans do to bury their emotions is unnatural to our inherent natures. Vulcans are meant to be hunters, we are meant to quench our desires, and we can take what is ours from the night."

"What about Surak's way?" Reed asked, wildly grasping at straws. "Non-violence and emotional control and all that?"

Sokaren pulled back for a moment and stared into Reed's eyes. "I do not wish to live as a liar any longer, Reed. I love and hate my emotional freedom. I have fallen from a spiral of stars and my only hope of finding my center is a guide like you, Reed. I am an animal with an animal's needs and I need a keeper."

"No," Reed said, shaking. "You're a man. You've done some terrible things, but you can still stop yourself. You're a Vulcan, Sokaren. Remember who you are."

Sokaren plunged deeper into his mind. Reed's knees buckled as the smell of blood overwhelmed him, memories from the killing of the women. He let his pack brothers feast on the dead afterwards.

"T'Pol!" Reed screamed. "Captain!"

"There is no one here to save you, Malcolm Reed," Sokaren said softly. "Unleash your emotions and let us in. Stop struggling."

Reed went limp. Now he could feel the pack mind circling him. He repressed the need to howl. Sokaren began to unravel him. Memory after memory fluttered out of him, butterflies lost to be pinned in the other man's mind. Madeline's eighteenth birthday party. Winning the marksmanship badge. Trip and the endless mission in that asteroid belt.

"T'Pol," Sokaren said thoughtfully. "She intrigues you. I have seen the way you desire T'Pol. You are as much of an animal as I am. You could take her as yours if you join us."

"Get out of my mind," Reed said, spitting the words.

The crackle of a shotgun being loaded filled the air.

"Release him," T'Pol said.

Sokaren turned to look at her. Reed stared at her imploringly as she stepped forward, raising the shotgun.

"The woman," Sokaren said with contempt. "He is already mine."

Reed closed his eyes and stopped struggling. He and Sokaren were like a hand in a glove with the nuvarea pack tight around their wrists. "Yes," he said softly, opening his mind further to the other man.

Sokaren's joy flooded him. "We are one."

Reed tilted his head. "Yes," he whispered. "Yes. One pack, one mind."

The nuvarea howled their approval in Reed's mind.

Behind Sokaren, T'Pol stared into his eyes, the shotgun still aimed at Sokaren's back.

Reed nodded, expecting her to pull the trigger and desperately trying to hide the idea from his new pack mates.

T'Pol raised her hand and nerve pinched Sokaren on the shoulder. The old man fell heavily against Reed.

The nuvarea pack howled for a moment before choking themselves into silence. Reed gently laid Sokaren on the ground. After a moment, he walked over to the edge and peered down.

"Malcolm?" Jonathan Archer stood at the bottom of the canyon, phase pistol in hand. Evan Lawson, the militia man, waved at him from farther away.

"No," Reed said, utterly bereft. "Not Malcolm."

He stumbled. Reed panicked at the empty air. T'Pol grabbed his arm and yanked him back. She kept her grip on his arm, as he looked around, dazed.

"God," he said, staring at the unblinking stars. "I want to go home."

Not knowing if he meant Earth or Vulcan, Reed choked on the rising dust.

***

Reed pulled the blanket over his head. It was something he used to do as a boy when he wanted to block out the noise of the neighbors fighting or when his mother's screeching parrots overwhelmed him. He tried to conjure up his mother's face, but for some reason she looked strangely Vulcan.

Clenching the pillow, he hated himself for passively standing by while Lawson took the old man into custody. Sokaren had sent him a pleading look, from the window of the ground car. The nuvarea were nowhere to be seen, but he could still hear Sokaren's falcon screeching in his mind. In Sickbay, Archer had gently explained that Sokaren would get all the help he needed, while Phlox would do everything he could to help Reed.

First, Reed had to be willing to help himself.

"Mister Reed."

Perhaps if he ignored T'Pol, she'd go away like Trip, Travis, and Hoshi had yesterday.

The smell of smoke slid under the blankets. Pulling the blanket aside, he turned and stared at T'Pol, sitting cross-legged in front of a candle on the deck.

"I'm confined to my quarters," he said, rubbing his unshaven face. "Captain Archer and Doctor Phlox won't clear me for duty until I get my head back. It seems that all of Phlox's medications and lab wonders can't do a thing for me."

"I know," T'Pol said, not looking away from the candle's flame. "I thought to offer my assistance in that matter."

"Meditation won't help," Reed said, settling back down on the pillow. "I tried."

The spiral of stars danced in his head. Closing his eyes, he could see Sokaren's metaphor for the unbridled emotions the old man felt. Seeing the stars in their freedom, Reed understood how chained the other man felt within the contraints of his people.

"Get up, Mister Reed." T'Pol's tone turned steely.

"Am I making you angry?" he asked, making his voice harsh and mocking. "Do forgive me, Sub-commander."

"There is nothing to forgive," she said. "Sokaren is being treated for his illness. You need help as well. His mental invasion is having repercussions you cannot anticipate."

"Yes," Reed said, tracing a circular pattern on the pillow. "I've realized I'm just a spineless git who doesn't have the courage to ask if you'd smile for me."

Feeling reckless, he looked over at her. In that instant, he could see something in her eyes. He now knew from his borrowed memories how fierce Vulcan emotions were and how much self-control it took to keep them in check.

"Well, now I know firsthand that Vulcans do commit murder," he said softly. "Do they smile, T'Pol?"

She blinked before returning her gaze to the candle. "The thought has occurred to me that our skills complement one another. You often seek out the logic of a situation before taking action. It is a commendable trait."

He sat up. "High praise indeed, Sub-commander." Dropping to the deck, he crawled over to the other side of the candle and buried his face in his hands. "I don't know who I am, anymore," Reed said, looking at his shaking hands. "How do I get this madman and his desires out of my head? Who the hell am I?"

T'Pol remained motionless for a long time. Finally, she looked up from the half-gone candle. "I will tell you about Malcolm Reed," she said. "He is the armory officer of the Enterprise. And he is--"

She fell silent.

"What?" Reed asked, wary of her reply.

T'Pol looked up. "You are my friend."

Reed laughed. "Someday I'll believe that story."

Leaning over, T'Pol blew out the candle. Reed shakily held out his hand and she grasped it.

"Someday I shall believe it also, Mister Reed."

 

~the end~

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