On the Enterprise Scotty was doing a balancing act, telling Command the barest bones of what they needed to know without revealing too much of what was actually happening. He was a master of obfuscation, but even his skills were being tested. The temporary Captain instructed the transporter chief to keep a constant lock on Spock's biosigns. Unfortunately he was moving around too much to make a guess whether he had found the Captain or not. It was no use trying to get the Captain's biosigns as there were too many humans walking around.
"He'd better find him quickly. I don't think I can hold Command off our backs for much longer," Scotty said at some moment to no one in particular.
"We can't leave them," McCoy
"Once we leave, they are stranded on that planet. There is no technology that will enable them to build a something flyable," Sulu added after he had exchanged a look with Chekov.
"You are right. All of you. But at some point I will have to explain to them what is happening here!" Scotty sounded desperate. And he didn't have to explain who he meant when he had said "them".
"Do you think one of them is hurt?" Scotty asked the doctor.
"I don't think Spock is. I'm not worried about him that much. At first sight he looks like one of the indigenous people there. Jim probably is, considering his luck with away missions," McCoy answered thoughtfully.
"Well. We have two or three more days before we have to say Starfleet Command something. Until then, try to make contact at least with one of them," Scotty decided and went off to engineering where he felt more comfortable than in command on the bridge.
