Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov appeared in four beams of light, all wearing environmental suits with the helmets down. Tall blades of dewy grass reached towards the sky all around them, making it difficult to see anything.

"I thought the planet was a desert. But this looks like a bloomin' jungle." Scotty parted one of the blades with his hand, the other clutching a tool kit.

Chekov scanned the grass with his tricorder. "Maybe it's an oasis." He picked up a handful of wet dirt. "Seems well watered."

Sulu took out his comm. "Sulu to the captain, come in. What's your location?" Static came over the speaker. "Come in. Do you read me?" He flipped it shut and shook his head at the others, whose faces fell. "Nothing. I don't understand it. Their last known location wasn't far from here."

"They probably got lost. It wouldna be hard to do." Scotty walked ahead through the grass. "Stay close by me. If we split up in here, we'll spend all our time searching for each other." They followed afterwards, pushing grass out of the way.

Uhura slid more easily between the blades, catching up to Scotty. As she stood just behind him, she saw he was heading straight for a large metal structure sticking up out of the ground. "Mr. Scott, look out."

Scotty stopped just as his nose pressed against the side of the white cylinder. He chuckled. "Oops. That was cutting it close." He put his hand on the cylinder. "Wonder what this does?" As if it heard him, water began spraying from the top of the cylinder, raining down on them. It pelted the team with water for several seconds, before shutting off.

Sulu lifted a boot out of the now muddy ground. "How do you like that? Your oasis waters itself, Chekov," he smiled. Chekov smiled back.

"We must be in somebody's garden," Uhura whispered aloud, touching another blade of grass. "But if this is grass...imagine how big the people who live here are."

Scotty shivered. "Imagine? I'm just hoping they dinna get the bright idea to come out and mow the lawn." He pulled apart a clump of weeds and pointed towards some purple tiles. "Let's get to some dry ground. Maybe we can see better from over there." They followed him over to a patio area, climbing up the tiles one at a time. Their boots left little muddy footprints on the tiles.

From the patio, they could see that the yard was quite large. A yellow stone fence with curved clear glass attached to the top surrounded it. Several exotic alien flowers grew on the sides; two trees with tiny blue leaves that seemed to float in midair flanked the flower beds. A third, twisty, knotted tree with a hole in the middle stood at the far end of the yard. On its strongest branch, a haphazardly constructed shack sat. A long knotted rope hung from the door, and a red cloth hung out the window, flapping around in the light breeze. For just a second, a glimmer of light twinkled as the curtain parted.

Uhura pointed at the window. "There! Did you see that?"

Scotty shaded his eyes with one hand as the sun beat down on their heads. "See what?"

The light twinkled again. "That. In the treehouse window."

Chekov squinted his eyes. "I don't see anything. Just the sunlight. Phew." He fanned his face with one hand.

Sulu and Scotty kept watching. Another twinkle, this one longer. "I see it." Sulu peered between the fingers of his hand, splayed on his face. "There's definitely something up there, all right. Could be the ship."

"But ve're all the way over here. It'll take an hour just to get to the tvisty tree." Chekov stood on the edge of the patio, his hands on his hips. They followed his gaze and took in the long distance away. He turned and paced away, stopping when he found a flat brown triangular biscuit speckled with yellow and darker brown. He broke a piece off of it and put it in his mouth, chewing. "Not bad. Ve better fortify ourselves."

A dark shadow loomed over his body, and he turned back to them, holding out a handful of the biscuit. "Do you vant some?"

All the others wore frightened looks as they backed away. "Don't look up, laddie; just come over here verra slowly..." Scotty whispered, holding his hands palm up in front of himself.

"Vhat?" Chekov asked, looking over his head. A large orange reptilian creature with ridges all down its back and a mouthful of sharp teeth hissed at him. "Gah!" He jumped back, dropping the small piece of biscuit. He lifted the main piece and hid behind it like a shield, shaking. "Is this...yours? Ha, ha, ha..." The others watched, worried. He closed his eyes, wincing as the creature lowered its head towards him...and licked his face with the slurp of a wet forked tongue.

He opened one eye, and the creature seemed to smile at him before licking him again, eyes closed. "Hee hee...hey, stop that," he giggled. "You're just a beeg softy, aren't you?" The lizard cocked its head to the side and let out a squeak.

The three others collectively let out the breath they'd been holding. Slowly, they approached Chekov and the lizard. Uhura reached out a tentative hand to touch its scaly skin and was rewarded with a similar lick. "I think he's a pet," she laughed as she noticed a braided leather collar around his neck. "You scared us," she scolded mockingly. It lowered its head in shame for a second. "All's forgiven," she continued and it smiled again, nuzzling her with its nose.

Sulu was the next recipient of a lick. "Hey, I don't need a bath," he joked, looking down at his muddy suit even as he spoke. "On second thought..." He noticed that Scotty still stood back a little and beckoned him with a wave of his hand. "It's okay, sir, he won't bite."

"I dinna know..." Scotty gingerly stepped forward over the chunk of biscuit that Chekov had dropped. "Hello, reptile...please don't- Ach!" he shouted, stumbling backwards as the lizard snapped at him. He watched in fright as it lowered its head toward him...snapping up the biscuit piece.

"Oh, so that's what you wanted." Scotty wiped his brow. "For a moment, I thought ye fancied a wee bite of Scottish shortbread... heh, heh." He reached out slowly to pat the lizard's face. It licked his hand and looked past him longingly at the rest of the biscuit. Scotty followed his gaze, noticing a bundle of twigs tied up with a long piece of string. "Hmmm...I think I might know a way we could get to that tree in a hurry..."