***

2147

aunque es falso el aire, siento que respiro

Trip: I'm sick of sittin' here in this canned, scrubbed gas. I need some fresh air.

-- Titan Base to Archer --

Archer: Go ahead.

Titan Base: Malfunction detected in Lt. Tucker's EVA pack. Unbalanced gas mix. Can you check on him?

Archer: I'm almost to him. He's showing signs already.

Titan Base: Confirmed. The doctor is standing by.

Archer: Trip? Talk to me.

Trip: I'm already having trouble breathing and you want me to talk about that? What are you trying to do, kill me?

Archer: Do it for me, Trip. You have plenty of air.

Trip: The hell with you. I can't breathe.

He popped one connector on the helmet and a small light flashed.

Titan Base: His mix has almost no oxygen. Something must have frozen up.

Trip: Just one more latch...

He was hyperventilating.

...siento que respiro

Trip: Ah, now I can breathe!

Archer: Keep your helmet on, Trip!!

Archer grabbed both of Trip's hands and pulled them down violently, away from the helmet locks. Trip swung forward and their visors crashed together. Face to face, Archer was even more unnerved by what he saw - it didn't look like Trip, but like someone possessed. He was still humming under his breath, but he was also angry.
Trip: What the hell are you doin'? Let me go! I need some air!

Archer: Use my air.

Trip: Don't want your air - there's a nice gentle breeze comin' inland tonight. Fresh air. Get me out of this suit.

Archer: Come into the ship for a minute.

Trip: Will you let go of me?

Archer: I don't want to.

Trip: Don't you tease me, Commander. You haven't once kissed me on this mission.

Archer winced. With the crisis now officially noted, all the records would be played and replayed.

...siento que respiro

Archer: Trip! Come with me. There's good air inside the ship.

Trip: Why is that?

Archer: What? Why is what?

He pulled firmly on Trip's arms, moving him toward a nearby airlock.

Trip: Why won't you tell the rest of 'em what you told me? Oh, sure, you're willing to share your air. 'Let's go into the airlock, Trip. Let's go to bed, Trip.' But when it comes to admitting it to the world, it's 'Keep your helmet on, Lieutenant Tucker.'

Trip's right hand had escaped and went, of its own accord, back to the helmet latch.

Archer reached frantically to stop him, pulling his hand away, but Trip fought him. Archer pulled Trip's hand toward his faceplate, and motioned a kiss onto Trip's glove. Trip stopped fighting him. He was enchanted.

Trip: You do care!

Archer: I should have done that more often.

Trip: We still have two weeks.

Archer pulled him into the airlock, and it whooshed shut behind them.

... siento que respiro

When the pressure was safely stabilized, Archer twisted off Trip's helmet and let him breathe the highly oxygenated air until his hyperventilation eased. He held him up the whole time. As soon as he seemed to have recovered, Archer kissed him hard, silencing the humming once and for all. Trip responded eagerly, before he fainted.

(...)

Doctor: It's a form of nitrogen narcosis, like divers get. People have all sorts of bizarre hallucinatory reactions. Don't worry about the things he said.

Archer: Thanks.

Archer didn't leave sickbay all night. That impressed the doctor more than the embrace he thought he'd seen or the odd conversation on the transcripts. A captain who demonstrated such care and concern would inspire a crew.

***

2154

Reed: Fancy a little target practice?

Trip: No, thanks, Malcolm. No guns in your hands tonight.

Reed: What then?

Trip: I need to tell you some things.

Trip's stomach was buzzing with nerves - ready to tell their story and be damned.

Reed: About Vulcan neuropressure? Heh?

Trip: Gawd no!

Reed: Well, what then?

...

Trip: Your path is clear if you want to pursue her.

Reed: You're anything but clear. What's this about?

Trip: The Cap'n and I,... we've been good friends for a long time. We were really close before the mission started.

Reed: I always got the impression you were fast friends, even now. Did something change?

Trip: We made a commitment to each other, years ago. It was about a year after the Omega training mission, at my folks' place down in Tuckers Corner. To, uh, well,... to stay together forever.

...

Trip: Mal?

Reed: That's a bit of a surprise.

Trip: There wasn't anything to make public - we haven't really been closely..., well, we haven't been working on anything together except this mission.

Reed: That's good to hear. You're taking a hell of a risk, both of you.

Trip: We thought everyone knew, back at Starfleet.

Reed: Well apparently your little secret never got around to me.

Trip: I need your support Malcolm.

Reed: And you didn't tell me one word of this before?

Trip: I'm tellin' ya now. What's the difference?

Reed: It took a near-death experience in a shuttlepod to make me appreciate you and when we finally talked, you couldn't tell me something this important?

Trip: I only told Travis last week.

Reed: Travis?!

Trip: Malcolm, you're gettin' upset over nothin'.

Reed: You're right, I should be happy that you told me at all.

Trip: Mal? C'mon. You're my best friend on the ship.

(...)

***

2154

Trip and Tegl entered one of the cave entrances, overgrown but still visible. The walls had a curious shape, not formed by man, not natural either.

Trip: It looks like a..., well,...like it was something and then it got...erased.

They had gone several hundred meters in, through a larger cavern and off one of the branches. With Trip's words, the memories suddenly clicked into place.

Tegl: We need to leave.

***

2147

Archer: I can't bear to sit next to you like this. You are never, ever to do anything that will force me to sit next to you like this. Do you understand that, Mr. Tucker?

He squeezed Trip's unresponsive hand once more and then placed it slowly on Trip's chest. He paced for another hour.

(( I'm going to have to explain this to Forrest. He needs to know before the inquiry plays those records. Damn it, I almost lost him. I can't lose him. ))

(...)

Trip stirred.

Archer: Trip?

Trip: Hey, Cap'n.

Archer: How do you feel?

Trip: My head's killing me.

Archer: Your air intermix valve malfunctioned. Why weren't you watching your gauges?

Trip: Now my head hurts even more. Sir.

Archer: I don't want to lose you. I want what you want. Every breath. That's what you said.

Trip: Sir?

Archer sighed and circled around the bed, thinking.

Trip: You're makin' me dizzy.

Archer: Do you want to make this permanent?

Trip: I thought we were.

Archer: Right. We are.

His voice cracked and his face flushed. He couldn't believe his own phenomenal luck at finding this Charles Tucker III. No one else compared. He wasn't himself anymore; he was taking chances left and right and he loved it.

...

Archer: Now tell me why you didn't keep an eye on your oxygen level. You're a diver.

Trip: This headache's gettin' stronger, for some reason.

Archer paused.

Archer: Get some sleep, Lieutenant. I need to go talk to Forrest about why you said I haven't kissed you enough on this mission.

This sank in at just about the time the door closed behind him.

***

2154

Archer: Have you found anything?
T'Pol: There is a layer of yllitrium beneath the soil, about a meter down.

Archer: That doesn't interfere with the transporter.

T'Pol: Normally it wouldn't. But it's geologically recent. The field it's producing is still strong.

Archer: Recent? Doesn't it usually come from impact ejecta? There were no recent geological events detected.
T'Pol: Nevertheless, it is there.

(...)

Archer: Surely Soval told you.

T'Pol: Captain?

Archer: I can just imagine him, enjoying every detail of it.

T'Pol: If you mean your relationship with Commander Tucker, no, he did not discuss it. Human behavior is only mildly interesting to Vulcans, and seldom warrants comment.

Archer, although he'd suspected she knew, was taken aback at T'Pol's casual dismissal of the relationship that was taking up every thought and every moment.

Archer: Then you know.

T'Pol: I assumed you were focusing on the mission and putting your relationship on a lower level of priority.

Archer: I don't think of it like that.

T'Pol: It's a logical decision. The relationship can resume when more pressing matters do not require precedence.

Archer: I...we... want to resume it now.

***

2154

The hair on Trip's neck rose up. Tegl was making the eeriest noise, deep in his chest.

(( A growl? ))

Trip: What are you doin'?

Tegl: Something is wrong. There's something here in the tunnel.

Trip: There's nothing here - I can see both ways for almost 200 feet and unless it's invisible...

Tegl: It's too late - you need to get Archer here, now.

Trip: He's working on the collections.

Trip pulled out his communicator.

Trip: Tucker to Lt. Reed.

Tegl: Get Archer in here!

The tone of voice was unmistakably one of a terrified child, and that, more than the growling, scared Trip.

***

2154

Archer approached from the chamber end of the corridor, while Tegl stood protectively on the other side of Trip, staring at the empty tunnel stretching off into darkness past the range of their lamps. The tunnel seemed to telescope in on itself as he watched, shrinking the distance between himself and the point where the light failed. His voice died, and Trip spun around as the growling sound became a shaky exhalation. He could see nothing down the corridor.

Archer: What is it, Trip?

Tegl: It's coming.

Trip: He senses something. I'd trust him on this one. His nose is better'n ours.

Tegl: Defend yourselves.

Archer: The caves are deserted.

Trip: Cap'n, he's acting real strange, even for him. He's afraid.

Tegl: You're both here! Defend yourselves!

(( The forest wasn't empty. It was in there. It was moving closer and he didn't see it.

If only Kous had been allowed to come on the mission. If they had been together, they could have defended themselves better. Now they were both dead. ))

Tegl was shaking now, even Archer could see that, yet the corridor remained empty. Scans showed nothing, neither matter nor energy. Tegl saw it. It was racing toward them, the emptiness of the tunnel itself rushing up, closer every second.

Trip: Cap'n?

Archer looked at Trip, whose face was pale and tight. His pistol was drawn.
Archer: Trip? What is it? What are you seeing?

Trip: Get your phase pistol out, Cap'n!

Archer: I'm still getting no visual and nothing on the scan...

He stopped, realizing that he was getting nothing at all on his scanner - the scan was unchanging, and...empty.