"Wait, Kathryn," Chakotay held his hand out as they exited the cell and looked both ways down the corridors. The hallway was much like the holding cell with grey walls and sparse lighting.
"There doesn't seem to be anyone here!" Kathryn whispered.
"What does the map tell us?"
Kathryn looked at the tricorder map and then down the hall, "we go this way. The map indicates that there should be an exit at the end of the hall," she pointed to her right.
Chakotay took her hand in his own and continued along the corridors, looking as he went for any sort of monitoring devices or video cameras. There were none. Strange.
"Is that the exit that the map told us to take?"
Kathryn looked up, "I think so. I hope there isn't an alarm on it."
Chakotay looked wearily, "might as well find out."
To his surprise, the door opened easily. No alarms went off. "This can't be a prison. There aren't any guards, no alarms, no-" suddenly a loud klaxon sounded over the building's comm.
Crap!
"Run, Kathryn!"
Luckily the grounds outside the building were as desolate as the interior; the shabby steel 'prison' was surrounded by brush and tall trees making the escape easier. The two ran as quickly as they could. Chakotay had a death grip on Kathryn's hand as they ran into the trees.
"I think… we," Kathryn hunched over as she caught her breath, "can stop now".
"Really, I thought you were in better shape, Kathryn!" Chakotay smiled as he let her catch her breath.
"What are you saying, Commander?"
"Nothing, Nothing!" he paused, "just that when we get back to the ship maybe you should come to the holodeck and build your endurance rather than going to see that holographic boyfriend of yours."
"Watch it."
"Sorry." I'm not sorry, he snarkily added to himself.
"What?" Kathryn sneered.
"I didn't say anything."
"Yes you did." She stood with her hands on her hips, I could have sworn your just said something! She rubbed her neck and was sorely reminded of the metal implant, "Never mind. Let's just get as far away from here as possible. I don't even want to think of what they meant by calibrating our psi wave patterns."
The air on the planet was arid and hot. The sun pelted the surface unrelentingly and the trees did little good to shade the couple. The kept as close to the shaded areas as possible, but soon the terrain changed and their surroundings became increasingly desert-like.
What I wouldn't give for a tall glass of water right about now! Chakotay thought as beads of sweat started ambling down his brow and chest.
"Oh me too!" Kathryn said aloud in agreement.
"You too, what?"
"A tall glass of cold water. That does sound nice."
"I didn't say that. I didn't say anything."
She stopped dead in her tracks, moving to remove her uniform jacket to reveal her grey tank top underneath, "Yes. You did. I just heard you say 'what I wouldn't give for a tall glass of water right about now'".
Chakotay started to mirror her actions by unzipping his own jacket, but then stopped, "Kathryn. I only thought that."
Realisation set in, and Kathryn's hand shot up to her neck to fondle the implant, "oh my God, Chakotay. It's the devices."
"What do you mean?" He shouldn't be thick, but he had absolutely no idea how they could hear each other's thoughts through the device.
"The psi patterns. I think the devices were calibrated before we left and maybe this is the result of that!"
"Do you think they know where we are?" He started to look around.
"No," she looked around as well. "I don't think that we're being followed. And I think we're too far away for them to read whatever the implants are transmitting. We've been walking for close to three hours. If they were following us they would have found us by now. Maybe this is just a malfunction."
"It's funny. I've been able to hear bits and pieces of thoughts that weren't my own. I thought I was imagining it."
She smirked, "Me too. But, now I can hear whole sentences."
"The link is probably getting stronger."
"Well, we better keep moving. According to the tricorder," she looked down at the device, "the rendezvous point is 16km from here."
"We're not going to make that today. The sun is already beginning to set and we'll never make it in the dark."
"You're right. We'll keep going but we'll look for a place to stop for the night."
Kathryn turned around and kept walking. Unconsciously, you know what I'd really like right now? A big plate of byriani, a tall glass of iced coffee, and a slice of cheesecake to finish it off. I have't had cheesecake in so long. Well, that's because I never have enough replicator rations…
"Kathryn would you please stop thinking about food?"
"I can't help it. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday."
"Well try and help it! I'm trying to focus on finding us a place to rest for the evening and keeping us safe and all you can think about is your grandmother's byriani and cheesecake!"
Her face turned beet red, "you know" she retorted, "maybe we should put a little distance between us. Maybe then the link won't be so strong. If we keep at this we're going to kill each other before we can get out of here."
"Agreed," he grumbled.
He trudged on ahead of her. Yes. Distance. We need distance. I don't want Kathryn hearing my thoughts. Most of them are inappropriate and involve her! That would be awkward…
Suddenly he doubled over in pain. His stomach hurt and he felt the urge to vomit.
"Chakotay!" Kathryn called out behind him.
He moved back to her, "I just felt-"
"The most horrible nausea" she finished.
"Me too."
"But when you moved back to me it got better."
"It must be the implants."
The looked at each other, "I guess we're stuck with each other" she said almost mournfully.
"I suppose," he grumbled, looking at the ground.
The got back up and continued walking. Luckily the planet's sun was setting and the air was cooling down, "but we need to set some ground rules," she stated plainly.
Of course, it's always about the ground rules and protocol with you isn't it Kathryn!
"Hey!"
"Sorry."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I think you know what it means!" he was starting to get angry. This wasn't a good idea. But what was he going to do? They were stuck.
He pulled himself together, "I'm sorry. Yes rules: no thinking about food."
"What should we think about?"
"Let's play a game."
"A game?"
"The one Harry and B'Elanna play when they're bored."
"Which one is that?"
"Trivia."
"Chakotay I don't think that'll work when we can read each other's minds".
"Oh. You're right. Well then let's just try not to think."
"Fine."
The two walked in silence for another hour. The sun had all but set and a light sunset graced the sky.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Mmm. It's been a while since we've seen a proper sunset."
"I still can't believe that we've been in the Delta Quadrant for 6 and a half years now."
Up ahead the two saw a clearing. Chakotay pointed, "Let's stop here."