Author's Note

All reviews are much appreciated. Thanks a lot to everyone who is taking the time to review the story. I have written the story in my native language and translated it, so if you find oddly chosen words when reading the text, don't hold it against me. I'm not a native speaker but did my best. :)

Disclaimer: Paramount owns all aspects of Star Trek Voyager, I make no claim of ownership.

The crash

Max's paws drummed across the forest floor, his ears perked up. He loved it when we went hiking, as did I. The air today was mild, just as it should be on a summer evening. The heat that had pressed down on the land over the day had given way to a pleasant breeze. I took a deep breath.

The trail made a sharp bend to the left and then climbed steeply, right along the edge of the precipice, with a perfect view of the valley. Below, the creek meandered its way, the destination of our little excursion. Like every summer weekend, we would take advantage of the time and go swimming. This was a spot tourists didn't know about, and it was only a good hour's walk from our village. A distance Max and I were happy to accept in order to have our peace and quiet.

I stopped and put my hands on my hips, panting. Despite everything, the climb was damn exhausting every time. I was not allowed to linger long, because when my dog noticed that I was no longer following him, he turned and looked at me reproachfully.

"Yeah, yeah. It's okay. I'm coming," I muttered, nearly tripping over a tree root. Max pushed me relentlessly onward until we reached the point where the descent began. He was looking forward to the cool water as much as I was. In serpentines we worked our way down. Maybe the bath in the river was so good only because the way was so strenuous? I slipped down a bit and was barely able to hold on to a branch. Stones rolled down the slope.

Exhausting and steep. But it was worth it.

At the bottom, the sound of gurgling water drowned out almost everything else. I hurriedly took off my shoes and jeans shorts, also my tank top landed on a stone. I already had the bikini underneath. Briefly Max and I looked at each other, then we jumped into the water at the same time.

With a yelp, I let myself glide with the current for a bit until I reached a natural pool where the water had less force. I held onto one of the rocks and lay on my back, my gaze fixed on the sky. God, I loved summer and especially evenings like this. They were peaceful. Calm. And belonged only to Max and me.

The moon had already risen: It was faintly visible against the blue sky. But next to it... there was something else.

I squinted my eyes. It was bright, almost like a star. But that couldn't be, there was too much daylight for that. An airplane, perhaps?

In the seconds I had been thinking, the object had gotten bigger. Much bigger. Max barked and I let go of the stone. With a lunging motion, I turned in the water, climbed onto the next stone, and put my head back.

Yep, no question about it. The thing was a small airplane and it was crashing. Spinning out of the sky like a rock.

Headed straight for me.

My heart leapt, but I couldn't move, just stare at the object hurtling toward me like a bullet. Max started barking like crazy, finally snapping me out of my stupor. As fast as I could, I stumbled over the slippery rocks, out of the river. My feet slid over the algae-covered ground, almost making me fall.

"Shit," I muttered, but managed to get out of the water before I could be buried under debris. As soon as I reached the shore and the shelter of the trees, I jerked my head back up and looked for the object. It had come much closer once again, and now I could see it better.

Calmed down, I breathed a sigh of relief. Even if it had seemed so at first, it would not hit us. It was probably crashing a few hundred meters away.

Still... I couldn't take my eyes off of it. Involuntarily I had to think of the people on board. Would they survive this? I knew that there was an airfield for smaller airplanes nearby. But I didn't see any engine on the machine. On the contrary... The closer the thing came, the clearer it became to me that it could not be a conventional airplane. It looked more like... I squinted my eyes a little tighter. Like a space capsule. Could it be? Or was I just imagining it?

"Sht, Max." I looked sternly at my dog, who was still barking at the object. "It's not going to hurt us. Only the trees..." And the people on board, I thought. If it was manned at all. Maybe the military had let the thing crash in a controlled way? Even if that was highly negligent so close to a village.

Over the roar of the river, I now heard a sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. Was it trying to slow down? I made a face, but continued to follow the crash closely.

No. The thing wasn't a space capsule either. I had never seen one up close, but they didn't look like that. I was sure of that. But what was it then? Was I witnessing an intelligence operation? Or were they testing a new military aircraft? As much as I racked my brain, I couldn't come up with a meaningful answer.

Now it was maybe one kilometer above the ground.

Half a kilometer.

It had reached the tops of the trees a good three hundred meters away and crashed into the ground with force. I ducked, expecting something like a shock wave, but nothing happened.

No fire.

No explosion.

Just a cloud of dust.

Max and I waited, a good ten minutes. But nothing happened. No helicopters circling over the crash site. No men in uniforms moving among the trees. Nothing. We were the only ones here. I suddenly became uncomfortably aware of that.

If anyone was aboard this object and had survived the crash, he was almost certainly injured. Perhaps he would not be able to free himself without help. Maybe he was fighting for his life right now. How likely was it that the capsule had been unmanned? Could I justify to myself not at least checking? The words 'neglected rescue' spun in my head as I stood rigidly in my bikini on the bank of the river, staring in the direction the object had fallen from the sky.

No. I couldn't just go home and pretend nothing had happened.

So I rushed off - to the pile where I had left my clothes. Hastily, I pulled on my pants, top, and shoes, then sprinted up the narrow path we had taken earlier, Max behind me. From the looks of it, the thing hadn't landed in the valley, but somewhere north of where I was.

Once at the top, I ignored the pain in my side and kept running. There was no mistaking the dust cloud. As long as I could, I followed the forest path, but eventually I had to hit the bushes. Vines scratched my legs, branches hit my face. Why didn't I have my cell phone with me?

And then I saw it.

The thing had torn a crater in the forest floor on impact, but amazingly was still intact. Only at the side the material was gaping apart and allowed me a limited view inside. How could that be? When I thought of pictures of airplane crashes from an altitude of only ten kilometers, there had been nothing left of the machines but small scraps. And it had looked as if the object had fallen from much higher up.

So close to the thing I could also confirm my suspicion: It was definitely not an airplane. Nor was it a space capsule. It looked like an aerodynamically shaped frog. With longish shaped engines.

I shook my head. What a stupid comparison, but I had never seen anything like it. That was the only thing I could come up with.

Watchfully, I glanced over my shoulder. But even now, Max and I were still completely alone. Still... I hesitated to approach the flying object. An uneasy feeling had spread in my chest. The strange thing frightened me. Maybe there was no one inside? Then it would be better if I disappeared from here before the men in the black suits came after all and took me away.

At just that moment, I saw a hand reach out from inside through the gap, which was just big enough that I would be able to squeeze through with a lot of effort.

So much for that.

There was a pilot. And he was hurt, judging by the way I looked at that bloodied hand. I bit my lip, then gave myself a jerk and climbed down step by step into the crater. I couldn't possibly leave him there alone. Almost half an hour had passed since the crash, so if no one had been here yet, no one would be coming anytime soon. Max and I were first responders. And I would not run away from that responsibility.

When we reached the machine, I stopped. The hand was now hanging lifelessly out of the gap. I had to get to the person inside. Now.

Slowly, I approached the object until I was standing right in front of it. Max behind me. He was very still, just as tense as I felt. I tried to make out something inside, but it was pitch black. The front part of the plane had apparently drilled into the ground during the crash.

Fortunately, it had remained relatively level in the process, so the tail was only about a foot off the ground.

I got down on my knees and reached out, squeezing the hand. "Hello?"

No response.

"Can you hear me?", I tried again, but my second attempt was also unsuccessful. What was I supposed to do now? Even though I actually knew, everything inside me resisted. I didn't want to go in there. But it had to be done.

Gently, I pushed the person's arm inside, then took a deep breath and squeezed through the gap. Immediately, the smell of gas hit my nose. This was not good. Not at all.

My eyes were slow to adjust to the darkness, but already I could make out the silhouette that lay at my feet. Only little light came in through the gap and no more than a few panels were illuminated. Whether they served for control or something else, I could not tell. And it didn't matter now.

Slowly, I crouched down next to the person, found their face, and held my hand under their nose. I felt the breath, faint, but it was there. Still... in here I would not be able to help. I couldn't see anything and I couldn't check for injuries, nor was there enough room here for the recovery position. I had to get the person outside.

As if on cue, one of the panels made a hissing sound. Startled, I took a step back and bumped into another one. Lights flickered on, a click like that of a lighter, then smoke started coming out of the front of the machine.

Crap. Crap. Crap.

There was no door anywhere here. How was I going to get the person out under these circumstances? I had to cough, the smoke took my breath away. Again I went to my knees, shaking the person more vigorously now. "Wake up!"

Nothing.

"Please!" I sounded more desperate than I had hoped.

A groan. Thank God. "I know you're hurt, but we have to get out of here. Can you get up?", I asked, the smoke rasping in my throat.

No answer. So be it. I grabbed the upper body and tried to get it up, but failed miserably. The person was taller than me, probably a man.

The smoke became denser and with it, all at once, life came to the person. They began to cough, turned on their side and looked at me. Or so I thought. The face was in shadows. Still, I repeated myself as clearly as I could, "We have to get out of here. Can you stand?"

Clearing of the throat, then a raspy voice. "Yes."

A load fell from my heart. I quickly grabbed the person's arm and wrapped it around my neck. Together we managed to get them to their feet and squeezed out into the open.

"Over there," I said, pointing my chin toward the crater rim. Who knew how long the machine would stay intact?

But we only made it a good ten meters. Then the legs of the man I had rescued buckled and he sank to the ground. We weren't far enough away yet to be safe in case of an explosion.

Fine, then.

With the last of my strength, I grabbed under his arms and dragged the body across the floor. Max pranced beside me. Only when we had reached a safe distance from the flying object in the shade of the trees did I allow myself a break. Briefly, I sucked air into my lungs with my hands braced on my thighs before turning back to the man.

There was a gaping wound on his arm that was still oozing blood. He had his eyes closed. Blood was also leaking from under his hairline, running down his forehead.

With a shake of my head, I bent down closer to him. That was the moment it occurred to me that he was either wearing some damn crisis-proof makeup...

I swallowed. Reached out my fingers and touched the stranger's forehead.

Or wasn't human.