Chapter One
Escape
He woke to a clicking sound. At first, he thought it was a clock, and he wondered what time it was. He opened his eyes, but all he saw was darkness. He could almost see a faint light to his right, and he tried to turn his head to see what it was, but he could not move. He tried a few more times, then gave up, accepting that he could not look around. As he conceded himself to the situation, taking deep breaths to keep himself from panicking, he began to feel the metal beneath him and the straps holding him in place.
"Oh," he whispered. He'd tried to say it aloud, but his throat was dry and unused. He licked his lips, staring up at the darkness and wondering if there was any water around. Once the thought had crossed his mind, he realized how silly it was. Strapped to a table in a dark room, and all he could think of was having a drink? He laughed in spite of himself. It was a quiet, throaty laugh, and it was brief, but he felt a little safer knowing he could find the humor in such a situation.
Once this passed, however, the seriousness of his predicament fell heavily upon his mind. He closed his eyes again, listening hard, only to find that the clicking sound was gone. There wasn't even an echo or the faint tick in the distance to indicate that it had ever even existed, and he could only assume the source had disappeared sometime between his realization of where he was and the brief moment of misplaced amusement; and he concluded that the clicking must be attached to some sort of creature. It came either from a device or the creature itself, he could not guess which.
He tested his restraints once again, but they were too strong for him to break, and he gave up quickly. He took a few more deep breaths, deciding to try and get some sleep. There wasn't much else he could do.
The next time he woke, the clicking was louder and more frequent. All right, he thought, his eyes still closed. It's not a clock. He opened his eyes, but promptly closed them again as bright light filled his vision.
"He awakes," a voice to his left hissed as he watched colors explode behind his eyes from the blinding light. "Prepare the questions," the voice continued, and he realized some of the clicking was coming from the same place as the voice.
Definitely the creatures, then, he thought, waiting for what came next.
"Your companions have abandoned you," a new voice said, this one coming from somewhere by his feet. "So you will answer us."
"Kyle, John Thomas," he began before they could. "Lieutenant, Junior Grade, United Federation of Planets. SE102-433." Something jabbed him in the side and he bit down on his tongue to keep from crying out, he would not give him the pleasure of his pain.
"You will answer," the first voice said. "You will tell us of your Federation. You have no other choice. You are alone."
"Kyle, John Thomas," he said again. "Lieutenant, Junior Grade, United Federation of Planets. SE102-433." As he spoke, reciting his name, rank, and serial number over and over as he had been trained, despite his captors' prods and questions, the events of the away mission on Tenair IV came flooding back to him.
It was bright on the surface and Kyle had to squint to see as the Captain broke them up into teams of two to explore the rocky rises surrounding them to see what else they'd find. Kyle didn't think there'd be much more than rocky desert, but he didn't say anything, he just headed off with Scotty to the east, their tridcorders recording as they went.
"So, Johnny," Scotty said as they picked their way across a rather precarious stretch of rock. "How long's it been since you last went on an away mission?"
"Not long enough," Kyle replied. He knelt to examine an oddly dark patch of earth, but, finding nothing interesting, stood soon after and turned to find that Scotty was grinning at him.
"You like hiding behind those transporter controls, don't you?" the chief engineer asked.
Kyle rolled his eyes, but a light laugh slipped from his lips. "Sure," he said. "Sure I do." He shook his head and took a few steps forward. "It's safer there," he said. The minute the words were out of his mouth, something grabbed him around the ankle and he fell hard onto his stomach as whatever had him pulled him back. He scrambled against the dirt, reaching out as Scotty raced towards him, phaser at the ready and communicator open.
The next thing Kyle could remember was waking up the first time.
"Answer, Terran!" the voice to his left said, and something sharp raked across his ribs and drew him from his thoughts. He grunted, grinding his teeth against the pain.
"Tell us of your Federation," the voice at his feet said, and Kyle was pretty sure he could hear it pacing. "Tell us of its plans for this world."
"Why do we ask?" a new voice, this one on Kyle's right, piped up, a soft wine in the hissing of its speech. "We know what they plan, we know of their wish for domination."
"Kyle, John Thomas," Kyle said through gritted teeth, knowing there was no way to correct the creatures misconceptions. He knew they'd never believe him. "Lieutenant, Junior Grade. SE102-433."
"You will answer!" the voice to the left shouted, and something sharp jabbed into Kyle's side. He grunted, trying to shift away from the pain, squeezing his eyes shut and gritting his teeth.
"Enough!" the voice near his feet declared. "Put him in a cell and prepare the machine. He will talk."
Kyle didn't like the sound of that, but he figured being put in a cell would be better than being prodded with pointy objects. At least, until that mysterious machine was ready; but he wasn't planning on sticking around long enough to find out exactly what it was, anyway.
Kyle felt a jolt and it was dark again.
The next time he woke, he could see. He was in a small cell, lying on a slab of wood that must have been the bed, with heavy metal bars between him and the hallway. He swallowed down the panic threatening to rise in him, focusing on his Star Fleet training and what to do in a hostage situation. He forced himself to sit up, pleased to find that he was no longer restrained, despite the pain that shot through him. He was stiff and sore from whatever had been done to him, but he was mobile. And being mobile was a necessity if he was going to get out of there, and he was going to get out of there.
He stood, stretching out his arms and legs, loosening his muscles, then smoothed out his torn up uniform, straitening it out and giving himself some form of dignity. Having done this, he crossed the cell and peered out through the bars. The hallway beyond held no other cells and only one door at the far end. He turned his attention to the door of his cell, looking down at the lock. It looked solid and, after giving the bars a quick shake, he turned back to his cell.
It was small with just that wood slab in it. The walls were roughly carved stone, and Kyle ran a hand over the wall beside him, feeling the sharp rise and fall of the rock beneath his fingers. He sighed and dropped his hand. The room was painfully straight forward, with no place to hide a secret passageway and no way to make a lock pick. He was going to have to wait for someone to open the door.
He shook his head and sat back down on the bed, watching the door and waiting, thinking through different ways to get the advantage when the time came, depending on how many of his captors came and for what purpose. As he waited, his mind began to drift to the reason he was here. He couldn't blame the Captain for leaving him behind, and he was sure they had done everything they could to try and find him, but knowing the Enterprise wasn't up there waiting for him made Kyle feel the loneliest he had been since he was assigned to the ship. He had friends there, a life, and he had Scotty, and knowing that they were going on without him almost made him want to give up.
Almost.
The clicking started up again, drawing him from his thoughts, and a soft thump of footsteps accompanied it. Kyle watched as a creature came into view. It was a good foot taller than Kyle, its body was mostly humanoid, though its hands and what little else Kyle could see of its body were covered in a rough, black skin that looked vaguely like the exoskeleton of an insect. It peered at Kyle with its strange, bulging white eyes, and the clicking was coming from pincers in its mouth that tapped together. In its black hands, it was carrying a tray of food.
At least they want me alive, Kyle thought wryly. He held himself completely still as the creature opened the door and set the tray just inside the door.
"Could you bring it closer?" Kyle asked before the creature had even straightened up. "I can't move very well." The creature tilted its head to the side, surveying Kyle for a moment, then lifted the tray again and walked to the bed, setting the tray down beside the prisoner; it then fell to the ground as Kyle lashed out at its legs. He quickly snatched up the keys and rushed to the door, pulling it shut and locking the hissing creature inside before running down the hall to the door he'd seen earlier. He grabbed the handle and tried to turn it, but found it locked, and he quickly scrambled with the keys, trying them one at a time until he finally heard the click of the lock turning.
He pulled the door open and looked out into another long hallway, this one with doors up and down each side as well as a door at the very end. He stayed in the doorway for a minute, debating whether to try each door or just make a break for the one at the end. He decided to make a run for it and sprinted off, the door he'd just come out of slamming shut behind him. It looked like he had a clear run, and he was just starting to relax when the door he was heading for began to open. He skidded to a halt, his boots scraping against the dirt floor, and grabbed at the handle of the nearest door. He expected it to be locked, and was surprised when it swung quickly inward on squeaky hinges. He ducked into the dark room beyond and shut the door as quietly as he could, holding his breath and listening for the clicks and footfalls of a passing creature.
As he waited, his eyes adjusted to the darkness, and he surveyed the room before him. There was a metal table in the center with straps hanging down from the sides, and Kyle figured it must have been the room he first woke up in. He glanced at the edge of the room, there was a table pressed against the wall with long, heavy wooden sticks lined up along it along with some sharp, metal instruments.
Torture chamber, Kyle thought, then froze. He heard shuffling footsteps on the other side of the door and quickly shifted so that if the door opened he would be hidden behind it. A few seconds later, the door swung open. Kyle took a deep breath, holding it in as the room filled with light and the footsteps stopped.
"I know you're in there, Terran," a voice said. Kyle slammed his shoulder into the door and it collided with the creature on the other side. He swung the door back open and jumped over the writhing body into the hall, then sprinted towards the door he hoped was the exit. He slammed into the door at full speed and automatically started trying keys even as he heard the footsteps of the creature coming after him.
He was just about to give up, figuring the creature was too close for it to matter now, when the lock clicked and the door opened. He was faced with another hall running perpendicular to the door and a set of stairs right across from him. He chose the stairs, taking them two at a time until he came to nothing, just a ceiling. He ran his hands over the stone and pushed with all his strength; and as the creature began mounting the stairs after him, the stone shifted. He pushed harder until he had opened the door entirely and then crawled out onto the dirt and rock of the planet's surface, two moons and clusters of stars shedding a faint, silvery light.
Kyle scrambled to his feet and turned, pulling the stone up and dropping it back into place just as the pursuing creature's head appeared in the hole. There was a grunt and a thud and Kyle was satisfied that he wouldn't be pursued for awhile.
He looked around. It wasn't the place he'd been grabbed, but he was pretty sure the stone door was the same darker brown as the patch he'd investigated before, and he made a mental note to steer clear of any other dark spots on the landscape. Wit this in mind, he set off to look for a place to camp out, he had a feeling he was going to be there for awhile.