Disclaimer: see Part 1
Shifting Ground – Part 4
Archer threw his book down in frustration, having just read the same paragraph four times. He had tried everything to keep his mind off Trip, but nothing was working. And in the process he had become a near total recluse. He knew he should be helping T'Pol and Malcolm with their research – he owed it to Trip – but every time he was around any of the crew all he saw was the pity in their eyes and the whispering that they thought he didn't notice. The whispering that said that something more than a missing best friend was going on here.
Archer had known it was a mistake to get so openly worked up about Trip's disappearance. The incident in the transporter room had been witnessed only by T'Pol, Reed and Mayweather, but there had been several other crewmen present during his conversation with Regent Amshal, and it seemed that word had spread throughout the ship that the Captain was far more than devastated at the loss of his Chief Engineer.
Consequently, Archer had kept away from his crew as much as possible, even though he knew that that in itself wasn't helping matters. He either holed himself up in his quarters or, when he did have to go to the Bridge, spent most of his time hidden in his ready room, going over the reports sent to him by T'Pol and Hoshi, trying to make ideas they had rejected workable.
Just as he was about to get up and retrieve his book from the floor, the comm beeped.
"T'Pol to Archer."
"Yes?" he replied tiredly.
"Please report to the Bridge, Captain. There has been a development."
Archer felt hope spring to life within him once again. "On my way," he said, already halfway out the door.
Archer strode on to the Bridge, immediately joining T'Pol, Malcolm and Hoshi at the briefing table. "What is this development? Have you found a way to cut through the electromagnetic field?" he demanded.
"No, Captain, we have not," replied T'Pol in her customary logical way.
Seeing that Archer was about to get angry for being called to the Bridge for no apparent reason, Reed leapt in. "Captain, we have not found a way through the field because we don't have to anymore," he said. "It no longer exists."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" asked Archer.
Reed nodded. "Yes, the planet's surface is now stable, and we are now able to use our sensors to full effect," he confirmed.
"Transporters as well?"
Reed nodded again.
"Then we should have everything we need to find Commander Tucker," said Archer. "Start scanning the planet for life-signs immediately."
"We have already done so," said T'Pol suddenly, but the tone of her voice, such as it was, did not sound encouraging.
"And?" asked Archer, with a sinking feeling.
"We have indeed found human life-signs on the planet," said the Vulcan, making Archer's heart leap. But it dropped again violently when she continued. "However, the life-signs are very weak, and therefore we cannot use them to get a transporter lock on the person we presume to be Commander Tucker."
"We've also tried contacting him, Captain, but we can't reach him," put in Hoshi. "His communicator seems to be working, but he's just not answering it."
"Lieutenant Reed, T'Pol, come with me," snapped Archer. "We're taking a shuttle down to the surface and getting him back."
The journey down to the planet seemed interminable, but eventually Archer found himself standing on the exact spot where he had been beamed out from three days before.
T'Pol immediately got her scanner out, turning slowly around in order to locate the source of the life-signs. "They originate in this direction," she announced after a couple of minutes, before setting off at a purposeful walk. Archer smiled slightly. Without knowing it, T'Pol had just demonstrated, in a very Vulcan-like way, that she too was extremely concerned about Trip. He set off after her, trying not to think about the destruction all around him, and what it might imply.
Five minutes later they stopped in front of a low-rise building on one side of a small square. "Commander Tucker is inside," indicated T'Pol.
Archer was puzzled. The building looked relatively intact. If Trip was inside it, why were his life-signs so weak? Then, as he moved slightly to his right, Archer could see that the whole of one side of the building had collapsed inwards, and his feeling of puzzlement quickly turned into one of dread. Ignoring T'Pol's warnings, he hurried towards the pile of rubble created by the collapse, closely followed by Malcolm. "Trip!" he yelled, hoping to elicit even a faint answer. But his voice died in his throat as he spotted, partially covered by fallen masonry, a still figure wearing a Starfleet uniform. "Oh my God," he breathed. Hurriedly, he started pulling the debris off the prone figure.
And then T'Pol was there, running her scanner over Trip's body. "He is very weak, and his life-signs are fluctuating wildly," she pronounced. "He has a broken ankle and there are signs of internal bleeding and head trauma," she continued. "He needs to return to Enterprise immediately."
"But getting him back to the shuttle will take far too long, and we may well cause him further damage," groaned Archer.
"There may be another way, Captain," said T'Pol. "It appears that part of the reason we couldn't lock on to the Commander was due to the magnetic properties of the rocks on top of him. Now we have removed them, we should be able to transport him directly back to the ship."
Archer immediately got his communicator out. "Archer to Doctor Phlox."
"Phlox here."
"Doctor, we've found Commander Tucker on the planet. He's alive but severely injured. I'm beaming back to Enterprise with him now. Prepare to receive us. Archer out."