(Author: Hey, me again. I'm sorry I haven't been writing for a while; Life kinda attacked and ate me for a while there. [I got better.] So, here's the second chapter. At time of writing, I haven't gotten the third one down on paper, but now that I have an idea of what I'd like to do with this it shouldn't be long. So enjoy the next installment, and hopefully you'll hear from me again soon!)

CHAPTER II

"Doctor, have you seen our phasers?" Spock inquired towards where he last heard McCoy, still on his foliage-bed.

"Mr. Spock, that is hardly a logical question, since it's been pitch-black in this God-forsaken cave for," Doctor McCoy pantomimed checking a watch, even though Spock couldn't see it, "about twenty-four hours. Don't start!" He continued, before Spock could rattle off a more "accurate" length of time.

"I was merely asking if you knew where our phasers are, since they are no longer where I placed them." Needless to say, that got McCoy's attention.

"What do you mean, they're not where you placed them? If you didn't move them, who did?"

"Unable to determine. I have attempted to fix the tricorders for 1.27 hours, but have had little success. My plan was to disassemble the phasers and use the components as makeshift tools to further aid my attempt."

"Tear up the phasers?" The Doctor was astonished. "What would we use to defend ourselves?"

"Doctor, the phasers are permanently inoperable. The minerals in the ocean were deposited on the phaser emitters and have stripped the units of the dormant nadion particles that the beam is composed of. There are sufficient raw materials in the area to fashion crude weapons, like bows and arrows or axes."

"We might have been able to find a way to get the napalm particle-thingies back, charge the phasers up again! I'm a doctor, not a physicist—"

"That," Spock interrupted, "is obvious—"

"But we can't waste our best chance at defense just to learn more about the planet!" Spock, to McCoy's surprise, did not retort. "…Spock?"

"Doctor," he whispered, "please remain still. I believe I heard something moving farther back in the cave. Do not speak loudly or draw undue attention to yourself." He began explaining: "Although the shuttlecraft's sensors registered no animal life, it is possible that the damage the craft took-the damage that caused the navigation malfunction-may have affected the sensors. It is unlikely that the noise was a life form, and even unlikelier that it would be aggressive, however caution is the most logical alternative. Do you understand?"

Silence.

"I repeat, Doctor. Do you understand?"

Silence.

"If you are present, please respond." Spock could hear shuffling noises coming from the heart of the cavern. He stood from his post beside the heat-only fire and cautiously made his way toward the noise.

"…Doctor?"

Spock's body tensed an instant before the ambush sprung. He heard things jumping from the shadows, heard the whoosh of fibrous woven nets being thrown through the air, the soft scraping noise they made against his uniform as they were pulled taught. He struggled to free his arms from his sides, but barely had time to cry out "DOCT-!" before all was darkness and silence.

…

The Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise woke up with a splitting headache.

"Ugh… What was I drinking last night…?" McCoy mumbled. As he opened his eyes, however, the memories of his predicament came back to him with all the grandness and terror of an uncloaking Romulan war bird. "Oh my God…" He was lying on a stone slab, in a dimly lit room that appeared to be carved into the silty underground dirt of the planet. A curtain of long, draping foliage covered what he assumed was a door, but it was impossible to tell. The only sources of light were crude lanterns that appeared to be composed of primitive woven cloth wrapped around-what? Something glowing… "Maybe they trapped lightning bugs! Haha, lightning bugs, on this pathetic rock trying to pass as a planet. Riiight." he thought bitterly. "Maybe they've got some roasted marshmallows for sustenance! Oh, wait. Looks like they left me a bowl of gruel instead. How thoughtful." Indeed, on the floor was a medium-sized stone bowl filled with a grey, lumpy substance that, to the Doctor, appeared absolutely revolting. Beside it was what appeared to be a slab of conglomerate rock, but on closer examination it turned out to be a dense brick of tan-and-brown bread that looked like it hadn't been mixed well before it was poured into the pan. "Maybe it's the reject food, the stuff nobody else would eat. It would explain why they didn't even have a plate for the bread; it's not worth dirtying a dish."

As Bones rolled to the edge of the bed to reach the "food," his stomach rumbled mutiny. "I've got to get some food in me. I haven't eaten since my last lunch break on the ship, and I'm gonna need whatever energy this stuff can give me." he reasoned aloud. "Even if it kills me…"

He picked the bowl of 'gruel' and the brick of bread off of the floor and sat them in front of him. He sat up on the stone slab, crossed his legs, picked up the bread, and braced himself for the worst.

"Here goes…" His teeth sank into the thick bread, and his eyes widened in surprise. "This isn't bread, it's cake! Well, it's sweet enough to be cake…" As he chewed, he grew more and more impressed with whatever the heck the stuff was. "This isn't bad at all! The clumps of different stuff… I can't place the tastes, but they work well together. And is that… mint?" He swallowed, and his tummy rumbled happily.

"Why do I feel like I'm missing something…"

He ignored the feeling. "I'll say, that's a lot better than I expected. Better save the rest of this cake for later, just in case I need something to wash this mucky gruel-stuff down." He set the 'cake' down, and reached for the crude vessel of gloppy… stuff. "Er… I think I'll hold off on that. I'm feeling pretty bushed. Maybe a quick nap will help me leap headfirst into that culinary chasm." He set the foodstuffs back on the floor and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on the sheet of bedrock.

"Why am I so tired?" he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

"I wonder how Spock's doing…"

…