This is in honor of November being Drown Malcolm Month. Here is my contribution!
The title is a quote is by Alan Watts
Drowning research via Wikipedia
Starfleet is military adjacent, and Trip is a guy from Florida, so he swears
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"Enterprise, come in."
That was Hoshi, and Trip didn't need to see her – her tension was clear from her tone. Trip exhaled, his breath pluming before him. He could feel the cold coming through from the flooring beneath him – he had his body half under Hoshi's console, working to try to boost her signal through any means he could think of, to get their messages out despite this stupid storm – a storm that had forced them to crash-land on this planet.
Trip pulled another wire free, using a tool to strip its sheathing, then reattaching it in the hopes the more direct connection would help. The console had been so damaged in the crash that he was down to the old techniques his shop teacher had taught him for working on ancient electronics, hoping that something would work. He rubbed his hands together, trying to bring warmth back into them so he could keep going.
"Enterprise…"
Trip checked the time, and realized with a shock that he'd been working on the damn console for over an hour – over an hour during which Malcolm had been outside, trying to fix the environmental controls. In this weather, that was too long, especially without any cold-weather survival gear. If he didn't come back in soon, Trip was going to have to go out there and find him, and he wasn't looking forward to that.
"Trip, this isn't working."
"Just give me another minute, Hosh," he responded, reaching up for another wire. This had to work. They didn't have another option, so this had to work. Although the environmental systems were working, they weren't working well, and it had been getting steadily colder since they'd crashed. It was already cold inside the pod; if they didn't get in touch with Enterprise or get the heat back up to speed, they'd been in trouble within a few hours. "Can you try reaching Malcolm? See how he's doing out there?"
"Yeah, sure, hold on."
Trip could hear her switching the channel and trying to reach Malcolm.
"He's not responding," Hoshi said, her voice tight.
"Damn it," Trip muttered. He crept out from under the console and stood, stretching his shoulders. He looked at Hoshi, taking in the bruise on her face, the tear in the sleeve of her uniform, the stress apparent in her expression, knowing that he likely looked no better. "You okay?" he asked, tucking his hands up under his armpits for warmth.
"I'm all right," Hoshi said, her breath coming out in a cloud.
"I'm going to go out and see what's up," Trip said, moving toward the door. He stopped at the weapons locker before he left, grabbing a phase pistol, just in case.
He heard Hoshi say, "Be careful," behind him, and he nodded as he triggered the hatch. He couldn't help but cringe as a cutting wind flew in, bringing freezing rain with it. He didn't hesitate – he stepped out and quickly triggered the door shut behind him, trying to keep what warmth they had inside the shuttle.
Fuck, it was cold; and he was soaked by the time he'd taken a step. Trying to protect his eyes from the rain, he raised a hand over them, and looked toward where the environmental system was located, hoping to see Malcolm there, working; instead, he saw nothing but an open panel. "Malcolm!" he shouted, and then again, louder. The man had to be here somewhere, it wasn't like him to leave without telling them. That is, unless he'd gotten messed up by the weather, and had wandered off. "Damn it," Trip repeated. This mission was going from suck to suckier to suckiest rapidly. He triggered his comm. "Hoshi? Where did you say the nearest populated area was?"
Hoshi's voice came across the device, cracking with the storm's interference. "About five kilometers due east. Why?"
"Malcolm's not here. I'm going to do a circuit around the shuttle, then head toward the settlement, in case he –"
Hoshi interrupted. "Malcolm would never…" Her voice trailed off.
Trip sighed. "I know. Not normally. But if he got hypothermia, he might have."
Hoshi didn't say anything for a moment. "Be careful," she said softly. "I don't want to lose you, too."
Trip tapped the side of the shuttle in agreement, then started walking.
x-x
Please let me know what you think of this so far. Thanks!