Hoshi looked back to Dustin at the call of her name and tried to stop but her forward momentum kept her going and she fell right into some sort of deep mud. It came up to her chin and she had trouble moving. It wasn't water or just mud. It was more like quicksand. Dustin rushed up to her.
"Hoshi, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine but I'm just up to my neck in this stuff."
"It looks like quicksand." Dustin said as he tapped his foot around trying to figure out where the edge was.
Hoshi was in arms reach. So that was a good thing. Hoshi pulled her arms free and reached out to Dustin, who grabbed a hold of them. He pulled as hard as he could and it was a good thing that Hoshi was light minus the gunk that was weighing her down but she was still light enough to be pulled out. Slowly but surely Hoshi was pulled out of the quicksand but Dustin lost his footing and slipped. He didn't slip into the quicksand but he fell to the ground nonetheless and Hoshi ended up on top of him.
"Funny meeting you here." Dustin said.
Hoshi hesitated a moment before getting up.
"Thanks, Commander."
"No problem."
Dustin knew there was no need to thank him but it was cliché to say there was no need to thank him anyway.
Hoshi took off her jacket and blue turtleneck undershirt revealing a grey tank top. She pulled her communicator from her jacket and placed it on her left shoulder strap.
"Well this feels a bit better." Hoshi said.
Dustin would be the last man in the universe to argue. "Let's try to get our shelter built before the storm comes. Judging by these tricorder readings, it's just around the corner."
The two officers gathered what they could and started to build their makeshift shelter around their transmitter. They still didn't have enough to complete the shelter so they continued to gather supplies. The two walked around looking for more things to gather. Dustin stood in place while Hoshi wandered to the top of the hill.
Shortly after leaving her comrade's sight, she saw some things that would work for her and Zofchak. She ran up to them but she never reached them.
Dustin was picking up a few things and then heard a loud scream.
"HOSHI?"
He ran to the top of the hill and didn't see where Hoshi had gone. He tapped his communicator.
"Zofchak to Sato."
No response.
"Hoshi, please respond."
The next thing Hoshi knew she was crashing down a hole and slammed into the bottom of it. The first thing she heard was a loud snapping sound.
"Shit." She called out, not bothering to hide her anger. Numerous pulses of pain throbbed up through her leg, indicating that it was broken. Given the epicenter of each little pulse, Hoshi estimated she had cracked an area just above her ankle. Not that it mattered; it would've been equally unpleasant anyplace else.
She heard Dustin's voice come through her communicator. She reached over and tapped it.
"Sato here."
"Where are you?"
"I fell down some hole."
Before she could tell him where she was, he apparently found her.
"Are you okay, Commander?" He asked.
"For the most part minus my broken leg."
Hoshi winced as another jolt of pain surged up her leg. It felt as if she was being torn apart. But eventually it passed.
"How bad?"
Hoshi slowly attempted to wiggle her toes. They move, barely, and each attempt elicited only more pain. "Bad."
"It's a lava tube."
"A lava tube?"
"Don't worry. I believe it's inactive."
"I don't know about you, but I never get worried when I'm sitting in the bottom of a lava tube."
"I said it was probably inactive." Dustin said. She saw him peer down a bit deeper into the tube. "You're always falling into something, aren't you."
"I'll get the med kit."
"No, because I saw it fall out of the emergency kit before we beamed out."
"I'll find you something to get you out of there. Don't go anywhere." He said before leaving.
Dustin slowly brought himself up to his feet and stared down into the lave tube one last time. It was fairly deep and probably steeper than it looked. Indeed, it would be best to find a vine or something equivalent to help Hoshi out of it.
He looked around for something but nothing was on the ground that was long enough. He turned his attention skyward, looking for a sturdy vine wrapped around or near one of the large pine trees. He then noticed that the clouds had become darker and far more ominous. He checked his tricorder once again and once he saw the results, he felt his pulse suddenly quicken. To his fear, this storm that was approaching meant business.
One the surface, it was a simple afternoon thunderstorm caused when the warm air near the ground rises into the atmosphere, condensing and turning into clouds, that eventually give way to rain and thunderstorms, should there be enough humidity lurking about.
They had made a note about the humidity when they first arrived. The humidity was still high and it was high enough to create a massive thunderstorm. He then realized that if he didn't get Hoshi out of that lava tube the rain would accumulate in the tube and she'd drown.