"Small Wonder, Part Two"

Fire suppressant systems come on in the transporter room. Chavez shakes her head, stunned. She stands up and the other officer follows her, coughing and waving smoke out of the way with their arms. They look around the room, but there's no sign of the four senior staff members.

Uhura turns in her seat to face Sulu, who is in the captain's chair in Kirk's stead. "Captain, I'm getting multiple reports of an explosion!"

"Where?"

"Still trying to determine…." Her face falls. She whispers, "The transporter room."

Sulu's brow furrows. "Mr. Hunt?"

A tall man standing behind a transparent screen nods. "Indications of a massive power outage in the surrounding area….and fire suppression has been activated."

Sulu presses a button next to the chair. "Sulu to transporter room….what's going on down there?"

"Chavez here, sir. From what we can tell, there was a massive spike in energy just after we initiated beam-out." Her hair, face and uniform are stained with fire retardant and ash. She turns to look at the other officer, who is similarly messy.

He is studying a computer screen. "The blast occurred microseconds after they beamed away. There's no indication that they didn't make it planetside."

Sulu frowns. "But no indication that they did, either." He shares a worried look with Uhura, Chekov and others on the bridge.

"No, sir."

"No response on their communicators." Uhura adds. She's biting her lip.

"Zahra to the bridge."

Uhura straightens up in her chair. "Go ahead."

"We've swept the location of the unknown signals and still haven't found any indications of a humanoid civilization, above or below the ground. Signal's stopped coming, too." She is leaning on a large boulder. The rest of the security squad surround her. "Tell the captain he needn't bother coming down here after all….."

Falling stars are raining down from the sky. "…unless he wants to see a light show."

The bridge is silent. Zahra's voice issues from the comm. "Requesting permission to beam aboard again."

Sulu stands up, pacing, his features tight. He swallows. "I'm afraid we're having….issues with the transporters right now. We'll send a shuttle for you. Just sit tight. Sulu out." He switches off the comm.

"Issues, sir?" Chekov asks. Uhura is gripping her console tightly.

" There'll be plenty of time to explain later. Right now, our focus should be on finding our missing crew members." He strides to the viewscreen, looking out at the planet which is surrounded by fragments of debris in a loose ring formation. One of the pieces is significantly larger than the others.

"Where are you guys?"

Kirk is lying on his left side on the ground. He blinks rapidly. Spock offers him a hand up. "Where are we?" he asks as he takes Spock's outstretched hand, stands and looks around. They are standing in a large dark corridor.

"I am not certain, but I believe we are still on the Enterprise." Spock looks down the corridor.

"The Enterprise?" Kirk follows his gaze. "What happened to the lights?"

"Mr. Scott has gone ahead to investigate the power failure now. As for Doctor McCoy…." Spock lets his words trail off as he waves his hand back down the hall the other way.

Only McCoy's head, arms, and shoulders are visible; the rest of him is hidden by shadow. He is covering his eyes with both hands. "Tell me the truth, Jim…..am I or am I not integrated into the wall?!"

Kirk smiles. "Relax, Bones, you're fine, I'm fine, everybody's fine…..for some reason the transporter just decided to beam us here."

McCoy uncovers one eye, looks down, then uncovers the other one. "Phew!" He wipes his brow. "Where is here? Darned if all these hallways don't look alike…"

"Scotty'll know. He's just up ahead. C'mon." Kirk jogs up the hall, the others following. "Hey Scotty, what's with the lights-" They round the corner and find Scotty standing still, staring at a wall, arms hanging down at his sides.

"You're not gonnae like this, sir…..not one bit. And I cannae say Dr. McCoy will be tickled, either." He turns to face Kirk, an odd look on his face. "You see that large door?" He points towards the wall. The door is nearly as tall as the ceiling. "That's no door at all, sir…..it's an access hatch."

"Say what?!" McCoy's mouth hangs open.

Kirk puzzles this over. "So either the ship just got a whole lot bigger…."

"….Or we have been reduced to a fraction of our normal size." Spock finishes. "Given that we were being transported prior to this moment, it would seem to be the more likely scenario of the two."

McCoy shakes his head and paces back and forth. "I don't believe this. I don't believe this…."

"Believe it or not, it is our situation." Spock turns to Scotty. "Have you tried to contact the bridge with our location and status?"

"Aye, but my comm's shorted out, an' I expect yours'll be too. Whatever caused this must've fried the circuitry." Scotty holds out the useless device to show Kirk and Spock. "What do you want to do now, sir?"

"First things first; let's get the heck out of this dark hole." Kirk presses against the door. "Ugh….I think this'll take all of us." The other three push on the hatch, straining and grunting. Finally the hatch opens, sending all four of them tumbling out in a heap. They sit down on the floor, catching their breath.

McCoy looks at the others. "Something tells me that was the easy part."

Sulu stands in the transporter room, behind the protective screen with Chavez and the other transporter officer. An engineering crew member is kneeling on the floor, removing a panel from the transporter pad and passing it to another. Keenser is overseeing the work.

"I've got good news and bad news, sir…." Chavez's mouth is drawn in a firm line but her eyes show a bit of hope. The other officer looks down. "The good news is, we've managed to narrow down their location to somewhere on Deck 9. Best we can do….their patterns bounced around inside the ship. As for the bad news…." She pauses. "We don't know their current status. Since they're not answering their communicators…."

"It doesn't look good. Thanks Isabelle, David," Sulu nods and they return the nod. He strides out of the room and flips open his comm. "Security."

"Hendorff here. Hey, what's the latest on - "

"Listen….I want you to put together a search party and sweep Deck 9."

"Can do…" Hendorff is holding his communicator in one hand and beckoning 2 other security officers towards him with the other. "Deck 9?...Sir, shouldn't we be trying to locate the away te-" Recognition dawns. "You're saying they're-"

"Exactly."

"On our way."

"Isn't she a grand lady? Mind you, I thought she was something special before….but already I'm seeing her in a whole new light." Scotty is standing in the middle of the massive, empty hallway, arms raised upward, while the others walk next to him.

Kirk looks at Scotty. "You can wax poetic about the ship later, Mr. Scott. Priority one; get to the bridge. Somebody's still in trouble out there and we need to find them."

"I thought priority one was de-shrinkifying us." McCoy folds his arms across his chest. "We're no good to anybody like this. Imagine trying to operate a computer – it'd be like playing hopscotch!" He places his hands over his stomach. "I knew I shouldn't have had that chili pepper omelette for breakfast. Where's the bathroom?"

"The nearest facility is approximately 150 feet from our location. At your present stature, that would be a distance equivalent to 5.7 miles." Spock says, eyes gazing upward while thinking.

"Well, that oughta do wonders for my digestion," McCoy says, making a face.

A shadow looms over them and they look up. A large man in a red shirt hurries past them, tricorder in hand. He pockets it and flips open his comm. "Section 7 clear. No sign of them."

Hendorff's voice comes over the comm. "Section 8, clear."

Spock turns to Kirk. "Captain, I think they're looking for us."

McCoy runs after the security officer, past a doorway, waving his arms. "Hey! Stop! Down here! Lieuten- oof!" Kirk tackles him to the ground with a thud. Another security officer walks out of the door, stepping where McCoy had been only moments earlier. "Ow….I'm a doctor, not a halfback!"

"You were almost a flapjack. Watch where you're going next time, Bones." Kirk gets up and helps McCoy stand. The group watches the security officers turn a corner at the end of the hall. "It's no use. We'll never catch up to them now." Kirk covers his face with his hand. "We can't do a darn thing."

"I am confident that the crew can effectively handle our disappearance and the distress call without us." Spock places his hand on Kirk's shoulder.

"Aye, they're a good bunch, sir. Could nae wish for better. They'll figure it out….eventually," Scotty affirms.

"Yeah, you're right….I just hate feeling so powerless, that's all."

"Join the club," McCoy says, brushing his environmental suit off.

"We couldn't find them anywhere, sir. Looked in every room, scanned every hallway….it's like they vanished into thin air. We're expanding the search to Decks 8 and 10, just to be safe."

"Thank you, Mr. Hendorff. Shuttle back yet?" Sulu asks. He's sitting in the observation lounge.

"Just got here 2 minutes ago," Zahra replies curtly before Hendorff can speak. "Thanks for keeping us in the loop, by the way."

"Didn't want to worry you. My prerogative." He turns off his communicator and walks out, heading into a turbolift. "Bridge." He closes his eyes, then opens them again. "No…scratch that...deck 9."

Chekov is watching the viewscreen, a troubled expression on his face. Other bridge crew go about their tasks as usual, but more slowly. He looks down at the computer screen when he hears a soft sniffle. He sees Uhura trying not to cry while monitoring her station.

Chekov walks over to her. "Lieutenant?" She looks up at him. "Zhey'll find zem. I know eet." He places a hand on her hand and squeezes it.

She wipes away a stray tear. "I- you're right….it's the waiting….and not knowing…when it's someone you love…" She pauses. "I had to tell Carol a-about the s-s-situation. She-she took it w-well. But there's nothing we can do, and we both know it – security's been and gone with nothing to show for it."

Chekov thinks briefly. "I zhink if Spock were here, he'd tell you not to worry. To keep doing your job." She considers this whle he continues. "Maybe if we vork together we can find vhere the signal came from."

Uhura nods. "Of course he would." He walks back to his seat. "Pavel?...Thank you."

"Anytime." Chekov offers a brotherly smile.

"Ergh! As soon as we get back to normal, I'm – ugh- putting you all on a strict diet!" McCoy strains beneath the weight of the other three.

Spock looks down at McCoy from his perch on the doctor's shoulders. "I cannot speak for the captain and Mr. Scott, but I can assure you that my bulk is composed of muscle, not fatty tissue. Perhaps some weight training would be in order, Doctor."

Kirk is standing on Spock's shoulders, holding up Scotty. He smiles down at McCoy. "Hear that, Bones? Spock –ugh- just called you a 98 pound weakling. Heh, heh."

"Oh, yeah? Well, he called you fat, too."

Kirk looks up at Scotty, who is fiddling with some wiring in an open panel. "Ow-quit fidgeting, Scotty! You doing a jig up there?"

"I will be if I can get this blasted door open! As I recall, it was your idea to make a human pyramid in the first place. I can only do so much with few tools and tiny hands. "

"Hey, if this works, we can – ugh- access the computer and call for help. Keep your shirt on."

Sulu exits the turbolift and walks down the hallway. He takes out his tricorder, but then thinks better of it and puts it back. "Gotta think outside the box for this one. Tech couldn't find them….what am I missing?" He looks in all directions before rounding a corner.

"Did you hear that?" Kirk turns his head.

"Yeah, it's my spine snapping like a wishbone," McCoy grunts.

"It sounded like footsteps. Coming this way." Spock looks in the same direction. Sulu appears in the corridor, intently gazing around.

"Sulu!" Kirk yells "Over here!"

"He will not be able to hear you-"

Kirk waves his arms in the air. "Hey! Hey, SULU! Look dow-whoa!" He flaps his arms, trying to regain his balance, but it's no use. He tumbles, knocking Spock and McCoy to the ground beneath him in a pile.

"Yipes!" Scotty scrambles in midair for a second before grabbing the wires and holding on for dear life, legs kicking back and forth. "Help!"

Kirk stands up slowly and stiffly. "Sulu! Sulu!"

Sulu stops, listening. "Captain?...Where are you?"

"LOOK….DOWN!"

Sulu drops to his hands and knees, a puzzled look on his face. He moves his head close to the ground, staring incredulously at the small Captain Kirk. "Captain? Is that you?"

"It is all of us. Present and accounted for." Spock gets up to stand beside Kirk.

"Yeah, all in one piece. Relatively speaking." McCoy presses his hands against the small of his back, grimacing.

Kirk smirks at Sulu. "Surprised?"

Sulu smiles back. "Relieved."

"Hey, I hate to interrupt this little family reunion, but will somebody please git me doon?" All eyes shoot upward to a still pathetically dangling Scotty, who's watching them with an expression that's part fear, part annoyance.

Sulu tries but fails to stifle an amused look. "Right away, Mr. Scott." He reaches up his flat open hand towards the wiring. Scotty lets go and drops into his hand. He lowers the hand and everyone climbs into it.

Sulu takes out his comm. "Sulu to Bridge…..I've found them. Alive."

A gasp on the other end. "Are they all right?"

He looks down at the four officers in his hand. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Yes, this chapter is longer than part one. Part one has less dialogue but more visuals/bigger pictures (in your head, of course.)