Apex

A/N: Beta'd by Kathy Rose

"Careful, Commander," Lt. Malcom Reed cautioned as T'Pol climbed over a smooth boulder. It was only one of the many obstacles that made their journey a tiring business. He himself had almost lost his footing earlier on the dusty gravel that covered most of this hillside. Their guide was several steps ahead, moving surprisingly agile for a man his age and who was built like Humpty Dumpty. Brotun was a man of science. He also praised his wife's cooking skills any chance he had. He currently was in the midst of a monologue about one of her dishes, and the steep climb seemed neither to dampen his enthusiasm nor make him short-winded.

To Malcolm's left, far below, the ocean crashed against the side of the cliff. The palisade rose up sharply out of the water, rising some 150 feet to where small bushes, rocks and a lone tree stood watch. They were walking right along the edge of a plateau, and there were no safeguards or man-made steps on this steep path, only the spectacular view of the sea. It was something to behold, though Malcolm rather wished for a different vista. But he was doing his duty, and nothing could take him away from that.

Brotun's treatise on Bejuun sausages seemed to have finally ended, and Malcolm looked up to see Brotun waving them farther. Malcolm quickened his stride, catching up with T'Pol.

The away team had met in the town hall for a meeting with the council. Here they were introduced to the history and culture of the Nolan people, a small community of spacefarers who had wandered across the galaxy for several generations before they had decided to settle on this moon. That had been fourteen season cycles ago, and T'Pol had calculated that one cycle was about six earth years.

After Captain Archer had introduced each one of the away team, Kaya, an elderly woman who had been a child when the Nolan had landed on their new world, had immediately suggested that T'Pol might be interested in the Wind Catcher. She explained that on arrival, they had found remnants of an older civilization. Most of it had been in bad condition, and was of no use to the Nolan, but the stone tower that stood high over the village seemed untouched by the forces of nature. Inside, said Kaya, was an intricate design of stones and metal that seemed to denote time and the seasons. There were also inscriptions that they had not been able to decipher. She hoped that perhaps a Vulcan might recognize the markings, for there were some similarities to that language in its written form, and would be able to help them with the translation.

Captain Archer gave his approval, and was quite interested in seeing this Wind Catcher for himself, but he sent Malcolm along, since he and Trip would be looking at the energy system the Nolan had build out of their ships. Not all of the space ships had been dismantled, and the Enterprise crew had been impressed by their sleek design.

Malcolm reached a desolate landing where T'Pol had stopped to look at the gray-blue horizon. Wave caps formed horizontal ridges that grew in size as they slowly moved toward them. He followed a wave until it rolled out of sight. The roar of the water as it crashed against the rocks far below was mesmerizing. Malcolm wondered if Vulcans also could have a feeling of awe, or if T'Pol was simply calculating how deep the sea bottom was, based on the height and speed of the waves.

Brotun was hopping back toward them, impatient in his enthusiasm to show them the tower that was now into view. He had almost reached their side when the ground started to move.

-=-=-=-=-=-

T'Pol had been studying the sea, impressed by the view and the mass of moving water. She heard the rumble even before everything began to tremble. Her first instinct was to hunker down, finding support near one of the ancient boulders. She heard a terrified cry, and she raised her head to see their guide staggering, his heavy body moving as if intoxicated. His face was a mask of surprise, and his eyes bulged as he realized how close he was to the precipice. Unable to change his momentum, tottering on the brink, he shrieked again, the sound almost primal, and it shook T'Pol as much as the trembling underneath her feet. Before she could move toward him, Reed had already pushed past her, stretching his arms toward the Nolan scientist.

Forcing her mind to focus and assess the situation, she realized in an instant that both men would perish if she remained where she was. The ground shook savagely, and fragments of rock skidded past her. She started moving toward the two men.

Ahead of her, Reed dove to the ground, trying to snatch the elderly man's legs as he started to plummet. His hands only touched cold air. She heard Reed let out a curse that suddenly turned into a gasp as his body started to roll toward the same fate.

T'Pol let herself fall less than gracefully to the ground, creating as much friction with the rock surface as possible as she took hold of Reed's arms. As he started over the edge, feet first, she could feel him slipping from her grasp. She barely had time to re-establish her hold on his wrists before he completely fell from view.

There was only loose gravel supporting her, and she slid four inches closer to the edge, before her knee hit a crack in the stone. The lieutenant gave a grunt when her fingernails drove deeper into his skin. She clasped his wrists in a vice-like grip. She knew she was strong enough to pull him up. If she could just regain her footing… The jagged edge of the cliff was cutting through the fabric of her uniform, and her arms were burning, demanding relief.

Finally, the ground stopped shaking, and for a moment they were both silent, their precarious situation sinking in.

"Lieutenant, can you find a foothold?" she asked through clenched teeth. She could only see the top of his head as he tried to look around. He shifted his weight slightly, and she closed her eyes. She could feel even the smallest movement as Reed tracked the almost vertical wall with his feet. He tried to push himself off against the surface, but it had been smoothed down by centuries of wind erosion. She could feel it all through his arms, muscles taut, as if their linked arms were a steel cable from the Golden Gate Bridge, reverberating with every truck that passed.

He kept at it for several seconds, and T' Pol could feel a trickle of blood as her knee pressed deeper into the stone. She opened her eyes just in time to see him glance up with a fearful look in his.

"There's nothing here."

His breathing sounded ragged in the Vulcan's sensitive ears. A thin sheen of sweat had appeared on his brow, but his hands were icy cold. T' Pol tried to suppress a shiver.

"My own position is too unstable. I need to find a secure hold."

The wind had picked up again, and the smell of brine and decay, mixed with the roar of the ocean waves beating on the cliff below, were like a hungry le-matya, ready to devour if she made one wrong move.

She turned her head, slowly, searching for anything that she could hook her leg behind: a tree root, a heavy boulder… There was a small bush to her right, but she doubted it would hold both of them.

She barely heard the beep of her communicator over the rushing of the wind. It could be the captain, or maybe Enterprise asking for their status. Sensors must have registered the heavy quakes in this area. If she could just reach for her communicator…

If she were able to contact Enterprise, the transporter could beam them back to the ship, but her communicator was still in her pocket, unfairly close but out of reach. And no one on Enterprise knew that they were in grave danger. Long-range sensors would not discern if two communicators were on the path, or dangling a meter off it.

Her racing thoughts were interrupted by Reed's exclamation.

"Commander, if one of us could free a hand, we might be able to contact Enterprise, and use the transporter!"

Both had come to the same conclusion, and she made up her mind. "Agreed. I will let go of your left hand, so that you can retrieve your communicator. Try to refrain from any major movements."

Their communicators gave another series of beeps, urging her into action.

"Ready, Lieutenant?" She breathed out, feeling the adrenaline through every part of her body. Her voice had sounded emotional, but this was not the time for breathing techniques and meditation. Their eyes met.

"Ready." Even those two syllables were thick with his British accent, and she could feel his distress tingling her skin. She knew this fear did not come so much from the abyss he was hanging over right now, as he had no control over that situation. As T'Pol had observed the man over the years, it was one thing that Reed had no tolerance for. But the look in his gray eyes had changed. They showed calm, as if he had accepted his fate. And that frightened her even more. T'Pol did not want those eyes to haunt her. She took another breath, and then let go.

The sudden shift of weight had a greater impact than T'Pol had calculated. In the millisecond that it took her to move her free hand to clasp Reed's other arm, she felt her body being dragged over the gravel. It was just a fraction, but her knee could not hold on to the shallow crack that had held them up all this time. Her whole body was now sliding over the ledge, and suddenly she had a wide view of the Nolan coastline, giving her a sense of vertigo.

"Let go!" Reed shouted in desperation. Enforcing his cry, he loosened his grip on her wrist.

She could no longer hold on to his arm. She clawed with her other hand for him, the cuff of his uniform, anything, as he fell away.

"No." Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

Her forward motion stopped just in time. Her temples were throbbing, and the wind was howling around her ears, forcing tears in her eyes. She saw Reed hit the water, and then he was out of sight.

Her breath froze in her throat as she frantically scrambled away from the edge of the cliff. Her hand was shaking as she opened the communicator. "T'Pol to Enterprise!"

As you might have guessed, this is my (late!) Drown Malcolm Month story :)