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CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Trying to ignore the deafening bleep of a smoke alarm above her, Kathryn quickly opened a smoking oven and pulled out a burning ceramic dish. Inside the dish was a nut-roast she had spent a long time preparing, but her pride and joy was now nothing but a smoking black lump.

"Damn," she said, putting the dish down on a marble-top and fanning the smoke away from her face, "double damn."

Just a quick glance at the roast told her there was no way it could be saved, and poking it with a sharp knife, only to hit rock-hardness, confirmed her suspicion. The nut-roast was ruined. If only she'd paid more attention to the time...if only she always paid more attention to the time when she was cooking...then maybe she would have less culinary disasters to her credit. But standing around waiting for something to cook was just too tedious. It had been far more interesting to set the table.

The smoke alarm rang on and on and on, finally driving Kathryn crazy, so she opened a small window, hoping fresh air would silence the screeching. As she did so, icy air blew in, chilling her to the bone, and she noticed that a wind was picking up. Flakes of ice were swirling madly through a black sky and leaves on the evergreens were shaking. It certainly looked like a rough night was on the way, and she was glad Chakotay was due to arrive any moment.

When at last the alarm stopped, Kathryn closed the window and returned to her cooking. The vegetables were boiling nicely, but she couldn't feed Chakotay just vegetables. She was going to have to make something else, something with protein, and that something with protein had to be something quick. But what? She had no idea. Preparing meals in a world without replicators was a complete nightmare. The only thing she could do was consult one of the many cookbooks that were lying on a shelf nearby and hope they contained a quick-fix recipe suitable for vegetarians.

Suddenly, her cabin phone rang and Kathryn left the kitchen to answer it. She expected to hear her father speak through the earpiece, but the voice she heard was Chakotay's.

"Hi," he said, "it's me again."

Concern welled in Kathryn's heart. Why was Chakotay phoning? He was supposed to be arriving any moment.

"Chakotay," she said, her concern audible. "Where are you? You're supposed to be arriving."

"I took a wrong turn," he explained. "But by the time I realized, I'd already driven thirty miles. It's put me off course and with the weather getting worse, I'm going be at least another hour. I thought I'd better let you know."

"Would you like me to come and meet you? If you tell me where you are exactly, I'll drive out to you. Then you can follow me."

"There's no need. I'm back on track now."

"Are you sure? It's so easy to get lost around here. I've done it myself."

"I'm sure. There's no point both of us braving this weather. It's almost -40. I'll be there before you know it."

"If you're sure," Kathryn said. "But take your time. Get yourself a cabin or something if the weather gets worse. It's already pretty rough. We can meet up tomorrow."

"I'm ok. I should reach you before the storm sets in. Besides, I doubt there's anywhere to stay in these parts."

"Just becareful. There's really nothing worth rushing here for. I've already burnt dinner."

Chakotay laughed softly. "Let me guess, nut-roast?"

"Yes," she replied "With pumpkin and lentil."

"Adventurous."

"Disastrous."

They laughed softly. Then Chakotay spoke.

"Don't worry about dinner. I'll whip something up when I get there."

"No way. You've had a long journey. I have things under control." She paused. "Are you sure you're on the right road now?"

"I'm sure. I'd have called earlier but the battery on my phone is flat and I had to wait until I passed a call-box. I tried to charge it in the car but I think the battery's dead."

Kathryn's concern increased now. "I'm not happy with you traveling without a phone. I really do think you should stop somewhere. There's got to be some hotel along the way. Don't worry about the price. I'll pay. Even if they have no vacancies, they'll have a lounge or something where you can take shelter. If it's only open to residents, offer to pay room-rate just to hang out in the lounge."

"If the weather gets a lot worse I will," Chakotay replied, "but I'm ok for the moment."

Beeps suddenly sounded, telling him he was running out of credit.

"I'm running out of time," he said. "I'll see you soon."

"Take care," Kathryn replied. "And remember to..."

But before she could finish her sentence, the connection terminated.

Regretfully, Kathryn put the phone back on the hook and for a moment felt sick with a haunting sense of foreboding. Many years ago she had lost two people she loved on an icy planet, and that accident was forefront in her mind now. She could see her father and Justin trapped inside a broken ship, could see that ship sink beneath a frozen lake while she stood helplessly by in a blizzard. Nothing could take away the agonizing horror of that moment, not even the knowledge she now possessed that her father and Justin had been rescued by aliens and revived. If Chakotay was to die on an icy road in a blizzard, she didn't know how she would bear it.

But he wouldn't die. Hardly anyone died on this world, that is what Jacob had said. Nothing was going to happen to Chakotay. In an hour's time, he would drive up outside and all would be well. If he was going to die of anything, it would be of starvation. Clinging to that thought, Kathryn returned to the kitchen to attend to dinner.

Whirling sheets of snow blinded Chakotay as he tried to drive down an icy road that wound through a forest to Kathryn's cabin. By his estimation he was now only about ten minutes away and he couldn't wait to reach his destination. Before long, this road would vanish beneath a shroud of snow and driving was becoming increasingly difficult. Even with lights at maximum illumination he could only see a few feet ahead. Everything else was lost in the mist of a blizzard.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, two animal eyes gleamed through the white haze and Chakotay swerved just in time to avoid hitting the creature. But as he swerved, the wheels on his car locked on to the ice, trapping him in a savage skid. Chakotay tried to regain control of the car, but it seemed to have a mind of its own and slid across the road, spinning wildly towards a veil of trees that grew on a slanting bank.

With sweating hands and a pounding heart, Chakotay desperately tried to stop the car sliding off the road, but before he knew it, the car was ploughing into a tree. There was a terrible crunching of metal, and then the car was rolling...

END OF CHAPTER TWENTY ONE