This Story, for whatever it is worth, is dedicated to the memory of my friend Sci-Fi cartoonist Ray X. Graham. Your Warped Factor made my life just a little more worth living.
This was intended as an entry for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. Unfortunatly that contest has been discontinued.
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Fall Forever
by Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff
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Prologue
There was a shimmering light in the dark of space, and a humanoid form came into existence just outside the atmosphere on the night side of an unnamed world. In the blackness about two-hundred meters away an explosion consumed what was left of a Starfleet shuttle. The surviver was lucky there was no sound in space, or the blast would have made him deaf as the shock wave pushed him closer to the planet.
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Part I
Dr. Julian Bashir took stock of his current situation, and found it very bleak. He had only his standard issue SEWG (Standard Extravehicular Work Garment) to keep him alive above an unnamed world, and no chance of rescue before the suits consumables were used up.
The planet below him was M class with fifty-eight percent water to land ratio, point nine, six Earth normal gravity and oxygen in slightly higher levels than Julian was use to. It would be easy to survive on the surface, but the shuttle's escape transporter didn't have the range to get him to the surface because of a sensor malfunction.
There were no ships in this sector. He would not be missed at his rendezvous point for nearly two days, and he had not been able to get a distress call off before the subspace antenna had been ripped to shreds.
He had already determined that his options were limited to death slowly in orbit, or death quickly while attempting atmospheric reentry in a pressure suit. It was one of those maneuvers that they talked about in survival courses at the academy, but no one had ever actually lived to tell the tale of doing it. At least not on any official record. There were even jokes about the Starfleet Survival Guide having the line, "Put your head between your knees and kiss your buttocks or equivalent anatomy goodbye." edited form the original procedure instructions.
Bashir recalculated his odds twice before settling on his course of action. Each time they came out the same. Death slowly from asphyxiation, death quickly by burning up on reentry, or death from extreme deceleration trauma on splashdown.
If he was going to try reentry now was the time to do it. Before his power cells and oxygen supply were drained. That was the only logical course of action. It was suicide, but it was sadly the choice with the greater chance of survival.
The procedure instructions began with how to create a subspace forcefield with the kelvinium tether cord, the multi-purpose laser welding tool, and the STAs (Subspace Transceiver Assemblies) in the forearms of his suit.
Contrary to procedure he began by pulled the tether cord from his left leg storage pocket. He uncoiled the cord and used the utility knife from the tool pouch to strip off the outer protective layer from the triple coil of elastic kelvinium fiber, then he used the knife to mark both ends of one of the three strands. Julian then wrapped it around his body before fusing it to the STAs. He was trying to avoid the possible explosive reaction of the coil coming into contact with the power cells before being properly fused to both STAs. After securing the utility knife back in the tool pouch he looped the tether over his right shoulder down across his back to his left hip and so forth until he had a double X running across his back and across his chest as well as a loop around his waist. Then he let the right end of the coil dangle in space away from him while he powered down the both control interface and opened the left one to the STA. He then unraveled the left end of the tether to three separate ends and used the laser-welder to fuse the marked one to the control circuit and two unmarked to the grounding circuit of the left arm STA and closed the forearm interface. Finally he opened the right arm interface to the STA and fused the free end to it in like manner as the left; then closed the right interface and made sure that the tether was properly adjusted around his body.
Bashir programed the SEWG computer to adjust the STAs to the proper phase modulation of .08 millicochranes, and adjusted their subspace field geometry from narrow band to inverse parabolic. Then it was a matter of rerouting the suits power cells except the one for the distress beacon to the STAs.
He used short releases from the suit's air scrubbers to maneuver himself so his back was to the planet; then into the shallowest entry corridor he could calculate to bring him to the body of water at the far part of the planets day side. He closed his eyes for a moment as the planets gravity took hold, and he began to fall...
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Part II
To say that Julian's life flashed before his eyes was of course cliché; never the less, it did. It was not one continues linear line of events, more a meandering jumble of all the things that had lead up to this one moment in his life. He saw Ezri's face curled in a mischievous smile, and felt the tears he had cried when Jadzia died.
The thermal effects began and he turned on the forcefield. Then pulled his body into a tighter ball.
He saw himself as a child, both before and after Adigieon Prime. He felt Palis's arms around him and thought of watching her dance. He remembered his first impression on arriving at Deep Space Nine. How much he'd wanted to be a hero then, and how unrealistic his expectations had been when compared to reality.
He was standing in his ninth grade literature class in the days just after learning the truth of his dirty little secret. Reading aloud a poem from an anonymous pre-Chocrane writer, and In the memory he found irony with the title.
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"FALL FOREVER... Falling harder... The pieces... All over... The Angels broken wing... Could not be glued..."
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The thermal effects ended and Bashir shut off the forcefield then reconfigured it to a structural integrity field. He maneuvered so that he was facing the ground and spread out his arms and legs to create a drag effect. It wouldn't slow him down enough to make much difference, but everything he could do to bring chances in his favor was his best hope.
He was on the day side of the planet now, and he looked at the ground below him. The large body of water that he was aiming for was a ways off yet, but looming closer. The lines of the poem came back to him as clearly as that day in class; so long ago.
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"So much plaster... Gone to powder... There on the floor... Lying helpless... Tragic Angel... Fly no more... Sadly Angel... Pity more..."
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He thought of Jake and their time on Ajilon Prime. His first real kiss, and the girl in biology class that told him he needed a rectalencephalectomy. How Captain Sisko had stood by him when his secret had come out. His mother holding him after a bad dream.
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"Praying Angel... Cannot help you... Nothing left... For me too do..."
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There was the memory of his time as a patient on Adigieon Prime. His brief time with Melora. Mending Kukalaka, and how he told the story to Ekoria. Leeta when she had first come up to him after she'd taken the job a Quark's. Miles and he drunkly singing Jerusalem.
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"Darling Angel... On the floor... The pretty Angel... Is no more..."
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His time in the Dominion Prison Camp. A mean boy that used to tease him in nursery school. How Miles use to hate calling him by his first name. The last time he'd been in the holosuite. The Siege of AR-558, where Nog lost his leg.
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"How I wish... It were not so... The Praying Angel... Had to go..."
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Julian drew himself into a ball again and tried to aim his rear end to the water as he prepared to activate the field again. It would all be over soon...
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"Falling harder... Fall Forever... Will I ever find... Never..."
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Impact...
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Part III
Bashir was not sure how long he had been unconscious, but his suits power had been depleted when he checked the interface. He then found himself staring up at a giant sea turtle who was trying to eat the large tangle of seaweed that he was dragging down with him.
It took a little doing, but Julian managed to free himself from the seaweed. Then he was faced with the trouble of finding land before his air ran out. When he had managed to orient himself so that he was certain which direction was up he saw the turtle swimming just above him, only now the creature was headed away from the seaweed. Hopefully the turtle was headed for land, or at least a reef. Even if the turtle was only headed up for air it might be helpful.
As he began to swim after the turtle Julian began to take stock of his physical condition. There were parts of him that ached and he was sure there was some bruising, but he didn't think anything was broken; at least not badly enough to hinder him. He was breathing just fine, but there was some pain in his chest and some in his abdomen. There was also the mater of his blacking out, but so long as he could stay awake and didn't start to get disoriented again, he should be just fine.
After what seemed like hours later, he broke the surface just behind the turtle and could see in the distance what looked like the tops of rocks as well as the signs of a reef. There had to be land of some kind near the reef, so that was the way to go. He then let himself sink below the waves again, knowing it would be easier to swim from below the surface.
In half an hour he found himself on a continental shelf at what couldn't be more than a quarter kilometer below the water. He was beginning to feel very tired, and there was a ringing in his ears, but he had to go on. He walked on the shelf, since that would take the least effort.
He came to the bottom of a drop off and had to work his way up. At the top of the drop off was the reef. He climbed the coral to the rocks and in the bright of midday he looked for land just above the water.
It was only one hundred meters away now. He climbed over the rocks and made his way across the coral to the tidal pools and the shore. It was the last five meters of swimming that was the hardest, and then he was on a sandy beach. He crawled up away from the surf. Then he pulled off his helmet, and flopped onto his back. Breathing in the salty air as his body screamed for rest.
He activated his distress beacon and closed his eyes...
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Part IV
Captain Kira Nerys beamed down with Dr. Simon Tarses to the beach and found Julian in the shade of what looked like a palm tree of some sort. He was trying very hard to use a rock to punch a hole in a giant nut and there was a pile of broken shells and husks near by. He'd stripped down to his undershirt and pants and had the rest of his uniform spread out across a log near the remains of a small campfire and a bit of a lean to.
On seeing Kira and Tarses he dropped the rock and nut, scooped up his uniform shirt and jacket and walked with just the slightest bit of unsteadiness down the beach to them.
"We called ahead, but you didn't answer." said Kira.
"I must not have heard you through the ringing in my ears." Julian replied. He squinted slightly in the glare of the sun, and tried to joke about the whole situation. "Captain I'd like to request armed escort to and from all medical conferences from here on."
"I think I'll just deny all future requests by you to attend them." Kira said back with a smile.
"That might just be for the best." said Bashir. He frowned as Simon ran a tricorder over him.
Tarses shook his head. "Would you mind lying down on the ground Dr."
"No." said Bashir as he let Simon and Kira help him to lay on the sand. "Why do you ask?"
"You have slight to moderate bruising to most of your body. Including several major organs. A number of micro fractures in some odd places and evidence of a concussion that's about three days old." Simon said as he pulled a hypospray from his med kit and pressed it to Julian's neck. "Deceleration Trauma," he continued, "not a life threatening case, but combined with exhaustion, dehydration and low blood sugar levels."
Bashir raised an eyebrow slightly, "That's better than I expected."
"What happened Julian?" Kira asked.
"Could we just save the report for later." Bashir begged.
Kira could hear the tiredness in Bashir's voice and shook her head, understanding. "If that's what you want Julian." She activated her combadge as she stood. "Three to beam up."
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Epilogue
And when the transporter had claimed the three strangers on the beach a turtle looked up to the sky from the reef and then sank back into the waters of the ocean on the unnamed world.
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Bibliography
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is the Creation of Rick Berman & Michael Piller based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. It and it's characters are the property of Paramount Motion Picture Studios.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is the Creation of Gene Roddenberry & Rick Berman based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry. It and it's characters are the property of Paramount Motion Picture Studios.
The instructions on "How to Survive Atmospheric Reentry in a Pressure Suit" can be found in Star Trek: The Starfleet Survival Guide by David Mack. Published by Pocket Books 2002.
The poem FALL FOREVER is the copyrighted property of Lyda Mae (RavenDove) Huff as posted on May 2005, and is used here with her permission.