Chapter 4.
"Noooooo!" Archer screamed and kicked at the fence.
"Let me back in! I have to...I have to get him out!" He rattled the fence in desperation. Why had Trip done that? Didn't he know what they would do to him?
Trip was a great friend to do that, but Archer would have preferred it to be him in there. Maybe that's what Trip felt. Maybe he was standing here a few hours ago thinking he same things.
"Trip."
Trip managed to get in, but then he was caught. No, no Archer was not going to make the same mistake. He mustn't go in alone. It was a had decision to make, but he had to leave to get help.
"I'll get you out of there Trip, I promise." With that, he turned and left the base.
"Now, how does your ship move? What fuel does it use?"
"Fuel, I can tell you ingredients if you like but nothin about war...working out engines."
"Fetch the Captain back."
"Ha, he'd have left by now."
"Without his chief engineer?"
"No, without his chef? Yes. There are others on board who can cook."
"In that case we'll make YOU pay."
"For what?"
"I'm sure you're not telling us everything."
"Oh."
The officer waved his hand at one of the guards indicating him to come closer." "Take him to room 2345"
"Wow, you can count."
"Cover his eyes."
"We have no blindfolds sir." Argued the Guard.
The officer marched up to Trip. "Then do this!" He hit Trip out cold.
Trip woke to find he had most of his weight on his arms. He looked up. His hands wre tied to chains from the ceiling, but thankfully he could put his feet on the ground.
"Like a swing."
He looked down, his feet were chained to the floor.
"Or not."
"A, you're awake I see." Squeaked a voice from the corner.
"I'm Doctor Usual, and you are.."
"Trip..aaererr... Charles."
"Charles?"
"Yes." Only friends could call him Trip."Look, there's been some kind of mistake, I'm not supposed to be here."
"You seem like an intelligent alien to me. You have your own language, then again the Golar Bear seemed to have a language too."
"Wait, you do this a lot?"
"We wish to find out about your kind."
"That doesn't give you the right to tie us up!"
" I never said it did, however, you aren't very likely to allow us to carry these things out on you if we didn't."
"Carry what out?"
"We wish to see if you can adapt and …..handle things."
"What if I can't handle?"
"That would be quite unfortunate, but I suppose we could always find another."
"You thoughtless selfish maggot!"
"Yes I do get that quite a bit." He said typing something into a pad on the wall.
"What are you doing?"
"Setting the temperature, see you." And with that, he left the room.
"Wait, stop!" Called Trip, but the doctor was gone.
The room became much hotter. Trip could feel the sweat running down his face. He knew he didn't cope well in the heat, and started to panic.
The room was growing increasingly hot at an alarming rate.
"What is this an oven?" Muttered Trip. But it wasn't more than a whisper. He could feel the heat draining away his energy. He noticed a thermometer on the wall. It read 50 degrees already, and climbing. 53, 55, 58!
That was when Trip really started to panic. His breathing being quick and harsh. His heart raced trying to supply the energy needed to cool him down.
Trip felt his weight pull on his arms as his legs began to waver. He looked at the wall again. 70 degrees!
"Stop!" he croaked. His skin began to hurt. He was being burnt.
He was becoming very dizzy. He thought he was going to pass out. He tugged on the chains. But it had little effect, and wasted his energy.
The room began to spin around him, as he passed out.
Roskov was searching around the area where Archer had been taken for any clues. So far he'd found some tracks leading down the hill, but they became to faint at the bottom. He should probably get Commander Tucker to help him with this.
He had met with Hoshi about 10 minutes ago, and she agreed.
They were about to go and look for him, when , to their surprise, Archer came running up the hill towards them. He was sweating and clearly out of breath.
"Captain!"
"Trip!"
"No, it's Roscov sir, and Hoshi."
"No, Trip, he...he's..."
"Take a rest." Suggested Hoshi. "What about Trip?"
"He's been captured."
"What!"
"He did it for me"
"What do you mean?" Asked Hoshi, who wasn't completely filled in on everything yet.
"He, he make them take him in, instead of me."
"You were, kidnapped then." Said a disappointed Roskov. Although the Commander had told him it was a possibility, he had hoped for the best, and now Trip was help captive.
"So they're not friendly." Commented Hoshi, her old fears starting to rise again.
"We don't know that!" Comforted Archer. "They could just be confused."
"Yes, oh my gosh, Trip said that they hadn't had contact yet!"
"What!" Yelled Hoshi and Archer together.
"Oh and err….some good news sir, Trip made contact with some of the others, they seem nice enough, freaked out though."
Archer smiled, yet it was forced, he was busy trying to decide their next move. Go and save Trip as three, which could be dangerous, or alert Enterprise and bring the security team, which would be safer, but it could also take up valuable time. Who knows what they are doing to Trip. A hard choice. Trip was his best friend. They had known each other for over 9 years now. He couldn't postpone the rescue. Then again, they were better of with more people, and being caught wouldn't do Trip much good.
Archer stood up. "Get your things, we're going back to Enterprise, this needs a proper rescue!"
