­Chapter 2

The forest was thick, but not unmanageable. The girl's bare feet slapped the spongy ground as she ran; it seemed as if her awareness expanded each time her skin connected with the forest floor.

"I'm on another planet," she whispered breathlessly to herself, twisting through the underbrush. The notion bubbled up into her brain like it was frozen and she had just bitten on it. "I don't even know how I know. It's not like I remember anything to compare it to." She looked back over her shoulder at the three men running behind her, and grinned. "Aw man, am I gonna have some fun—"

From somewhere behind them, a deep growl demanded their attention.

"WHOOP! Ah-hah-hah!" She leapt over a fallen log, her arms flailing. "I'm being chased by giant cats! Yeeeeeehaw!"

"Keep your voice down, will you?" snarled McCoy, running close behind. "We've got enough trouble without you screaming at the top of your lungs!"

"Oh, come on, Doctor!" Plumed creatures scattered as the girl tripped her way giddily through the underbrush. "It's not like they can't hear us anyway. And besides—" She thrashed gleefully at a sudden stand of thick grass. "—we're hardly in any danger!"

"Oh?" Kirk said. He did not sound convinced. "And why's that?"

"Because…" She plunged forward, until all vegetation ceased. She stood with her hands on her hips, smiling with approval at the scene before them. "You three always get away in the end."

The captain's jaw set. They were standing, a bit foolishly, at the edge of a steep canyon. "You call this getting away?"

"Er…not at this very moment, perhaps, but—"

"Captain," Spock said dourly, fiddling with the tricorder that hung at his side, "Our pursuers are fast approaching."

"Right!" The girl clapped her hands, and the canyon resounded with echoes. "We could use a flying platform right now."

"A flying what?"

"You know—like something an ancient civilization might have left behind, that is only waiting for some noise to wake it up, and set it working again…"

"You're mad. You're completely out of your mind." McCoy leaned on a convenient rock and panted miserably. "Jim, what are we—"

"OY!" The girl heaved a rock into the chasm. It clattered against the sheer walls beautifully. "I'm in need of some assistance, here!" Her scream seemed to resonate all around them "Send me a PLATFORM!"

"Jim, I really think—"

"Bones…Listen!"

They all listened. Deep within the dusty red rock of the canyon, a deep rumbling had started to grow.

The men looked at each other in astonishment.

"Spock…what is that?"

"It appears…" He twisted the knobs of the tricorder with incredulity. "Captain, it appears to be a large, flat object approaching us from the bottom of this canyon…mechanical in nature."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said McCoy, peering over the edge.

With a mighty WHOOSH the promised platform flew into view, spinning round to come to a tenuous halt before them.

"Do you believe it now, Bones?"

"Fascinating."

"How in the name of all that's holy did you know that was going to be there?"

"Um," said the girl, trying to approach the wavering platform. "I had a hunch, I suppose." Finally grabbing a corner of the machine, she pulled it down until the platform hung in the air at an angle to the ground, making a sort of ramp. "Come on," she beckoned, clambering onto the rusted contraption. "Those silly cats'll be here soon."

"I can't believe we're actually trusting this lunatic," McCoy mumbled. "But I don't suppose we have any alternative, do we?"

"Not unless you wish to face our pursuers," Spock said. He looked towards the captain.

Kirk nodded resignedly, and marched towards the platform. "All right, men," he said, climbing on as the others followed. "Let's take our chances with this thing."

The very moment that everyone had hauled themselves onto the floating metal machine, out onto the canyon's edge crashed the super-vicious giant sentient cats. They growled petulantly as the platform began to rise, and clawed the air in frustration.

"Neener neener," said the girl quietly as they floated further and further out of reach. "No triumvirate for you."

McCoy gasped as the platform's raspy hum faltered, and their transportation dipped momentarily in the sun-laden atmosphere. "If we make it through this alive," he said through clenched teeth, "I promise I won't ever complain about the transporters."

Kirk laughed, and looked over the edge to the rocky chasm below. He seemed to be enjoying himself. "Careful, Bones," he said. "I'll hold you to that."

The small group sailed swiftly, if precariously, through the air. The whir of machinery ground and clinked beneath the sheet of metal on which they sat; Spock was immersed in examining every detail of the contraption he could without falling off.

The girl sat with her face to the wind, singing softly to herself. "You don't know what-ah we can find—why dontcha come with me, little girl, on a magic carpet ride!"

"So," Kirk said, leaning on one arm and looking up at her. "Are you sure you don't have a name?"

"I'm sure that I do," she replied without looking down. "But I'll be buggered if I know what it is."

"Well, do you at least know what you are?" McCoy asked. "For someone who thinks she doesn't come from this world, you sure seem to know a lot about it."

She pressed her lips together, and tilted her head to one side. "I do seem to, don't I?" she said. For a moment she peered distractedly into the distance, the warm wind knotting up her hair. She ran a hand through it, and got her fingers stuck. "That's incidental, I think," she said finally, tugging at her hair. "My awareness seems to be…um…fairly selective."

"Excuse me." Spock had risen from his examination of their ancient transport, and was peering about them with what looked suspiciously like consternation. "We do not seem to be nearing the other side of the canyon. In fact, we are traveling fairly consistently in the very center of the chasm." He turned to look at the girl. "Since you led us to this machine, and caused it to function, perhaps you can tell us how to steer—or, if this is impossible, perhaps you know where we are being taken?"

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"Sure," said the girl, not sounding sure at all. She looked around her, and took a deep breath. The clarity she'd felt when standing at the edge of the canyon was absolutely gone. Once again, everything seemed unfamiliar. She turned to Spock sheepishly, and bit her lip.

"Oh no," McCoy said. "Please tell me you know where this thing is going."

"F-frankly," she said, faltering as the platform wobbled again, "I have not the faintest idea."