Chapter 7: Change Of Clothing

He was cradling the head of the upset Vulcan in his arms when the Denobulan entered and he couldn't quite suppress an annoyed inhale when the ship's medical officer grinned like the cat that ate the canary. Loss of vision was hardly something to be cheerful about.

Ignoring their state of undress, the Denobulan scanned T'Pol's head and his impossibly wide grin got even more extreme.

"Congratulations, Commander," he said, flipping his scanner shut. "You have managed something exceedingly rare, you have given a Vulcan female an orgasm. Quite an extra-ordinary achievement given their anatomy."

"Sorry doc, I must be missing the funny part," he disagreed with an annoyed tone in his voice. "If that means T'Pol's going blind, I wouldn't exactly call it an achievement."

To his surprise the doctor took a seat and fixed them with an interested look.

"Commander, Subcommander, the loss of vision is only temporary. As you have obviously found out by now, the Vulcan female anatomy is not designed to make sexual contact as pleasurable as it is for females of other species. When a climax does happen, however, the effects are profound. What the Subcommander is experiencing is a simple neurological overload that will subside in a matter of a few hours."

"Talk about bein' short-shifted," Trip said and shook his head. He looked down at T'Pol who appeared somewhat calmer now. Although the doctor had seen both of them in the nude before, he covered her and himself with the duvet.

The doctor acknowledged the move with a grin.

"If you are uncomfortable with your condition, Subcommander, I can of course reverse the effects by medical means, but I can assure you there will be no lasting effect, no matter how often you repeat the experience. In fact, with experience the effects will be less severe."

"You mean..."

"Yes, Commander," the doctor continued, still sporting that impossibly wide grin. "You can compare it with human muscle tissue. If you overexert yourself, your muscles will ache, but regular exercise will enable them to become accustomed to the demand."

Trip couldn't help but grin when the doctor made his way back to sickbay. Now that was something he could get used to. How cool was that?

"I take it you will be available for 'training' by neurological system?" T'Pol remarked dryly and he laughed. She was definitely getting better at cracking jokes.

"Of course Subcommander," he declared, mimicking her stilt-speak. "After all it was I who brought this disagreeable condition upon you."

Instead of answering she snuggled up a little closer to him, waiting for her vision to return.

When Subcommander T'Pol opened her eyes, the chronometer showed 05:30. The fact that she could see it meant that Doctor Phlox's diagnosis had been correct and the loss of vision was indeed temporary, albeit quite lengthy. What it also meant was that she and Commander Tucker had obviously fallen asleep and spent the night in her quarters, a thought that she did not find to be entirely disagreeable, especially since he still maintained close contact.

Her head was resting in the crook of his shoulder and his arm was wrapped protectively around her, his hand cupping one of her buttocks. It appeared that Lieutenant Reed was not the only human, who harbored a fascination with her derrière. She made a mental note to consult Ensign Sato about that strange interest in a body part that served a vital if not particularly tasteful purpose.

She concentrated on his emotional state and through the close touch-telepathic contact she found nothing but contentment. He was sleeping contently, and she put her arm around his waist, determined to use the remaining ninety minutes of their rest to listen to his steady heartbeat. T'Pol had realized that the soft, regular sound had an almost meditative effect on her.

T'Pol's mind was still conflicted and confused after Ensign Sato had taught her the basics of how human females dealt with sexual arousal when no intimate partner was available.

There had been several noteworthy discoveries. The first, and perhaps most surprising one was, that she had become aroused by watching Ensign Sato demonstrate the procedure. She had never become excited by the thought or sight of a female body. As a working theory she attributed that discovery to the fact that Ensign Sato had received the highest average score of all females in the first experiment.

Having made an appropriate adaption to the technique to account for her Vulcan anatomy she had succeeded in resolving her arousal by inducing sexual climax, but it had been lacking the intensity of the climax caused by Commander Tucker's stimulation. Her vision had returned only ninety minutes after the event, much faster than after the experiment with the ship's chief engineer.

She had used the time to record her report. Due to ensign Sato's modification to her PADD's firmware, she could operate it without the need for vision. She had memorized the layout of the user interface and the communications officer had modified the software to emit different sounds when her searching fingertips were over a specific element of the interface - a most helpful addition to bridge the time necessary for her neural pathways to recover.

She had now two recordings of herself and Ensign Sato using the technique, but she suspected it would create some discomfort if she asked Commander Tucker to demonstrate the technique for recording purposes. She would need to allow him to consume two or three bottles of his favorite beverage and make sure she would expose herself sufficiently to facilitate the necessary arousal.

Ensign Sato had volunteered to 'put on a show' for the commander to arouse him during the procedure, but she had decided to decline. Another person in attendance would most likely just exacerbate the engineer's discomfort, and she was not sure if too much involvement of the young linguist in her experiments wouldn't have a detrimental effect to the burgeoning relationship between Lieutenant Reed and the ensign. So far the sight of her own unclothed body had been enough to arouse the Commander and as long as that was the case there was no need for more radical means.

Now that her vision had recovered, she could work through the contents of her inbox. The first three entries were confirmations of Doctor Phlox that he had conducted the weekly checkup of Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Sato. She had decided to limit the pool of potential candidates for her experiments and all three officers had agreed to undergo the weekly certification of their intimate health. The fourth one was the long-awaited answer from her mother. Surprisingly it was encrypted with her own private key that she had left with her mother before being assigned to Enterprise.