Archer struggled under the added weight of Ensign Newman to get to the door. Newman was the most severely injured and so they needed to get him so sickbay as quickly as possible. Behind him Trip was helping Malcolm who seemed to have a sprained or broken ankle to go with his bumps and burses. T'pol and Crewman Chang were holding up the rear and doing their best to guard everyone's backs.

When they reached the hall, though, another problem came to Archers attention.

Maggie Claims was gone.

"Great." She better not have wandered off. Granted this wasn't her time and all, but surly she could see the danger just by looking at the destruction around her.

"T'pol."

"Aye sir." She said moving her way toward the Captain.

"We seem to have lost Ms. Claimes, and I'm really not of a mind to go yelling our position out with wounded. Would you go find her?"

T'pol raised an eyebrow in as close as she came to irritation, and moved off to search for their reluctant guest.

When she returned from her search the three wounded were seated on the floor of the lift and Trip and Archer were keeping the door open for her.

"She no longer appears to be on this deck Captain. I found an access panel in the ceiling that was tampered with. She could be acting out of fear, evading the alien, or she could already be in its control."

"I don't like either of those options." The captains said, rubbing his forehead with his hand. "Alright, lets get these people to sickbay and find out as much about this thing as possible so we can track it."

T'pol nodded imperceptibly and entered the lift, the doors closing behind her.



"It had a beak, I know that much sir. Rather hawk-like in appearance." Reed was saying as the doctor treated the nasty bump on his head. "It was orange in color and I defiantly felt claws." He motioned uneasily to the lacerations on his back.

"Our sensors are still not able to track it sir, it may have the inane ability to evade such methods though." T'pol supplied to her Captain. Archer stood holding his head in one hand with the other resting on his hip. A sure sign of stress.

"Like a survival trait you mean, that could be possible." Reed conceded.

The doctor started to work on Malcolm's back.

"It seems to have three claws, I would say no opposable thumb, and rather long sharp edges." The Doctor gladly supplied.

"Well I certainly knew about the sharp." Malcolm commented under his breath.

"What seemed to provoke it?" the Captain asked, finally looking Malcolm in the eyes.

"I don't know sir. As soon as its particles re-adhered we were under attack. More then that I can't tell you, I was thrown in to the transporter controls and that's the last thing I remember before you showed up."

"A close proximity to the creature could explain our inability to locate Ms. Claimes with the sensors as well."

"Is there any way this thing is just acting out of fear?" the captain suggested.

Reed shrugged, grimacing as the movement pulled at his healing skin.

"With an unknown alien race, any motivation is a possibility." T'pol oh so helpfully supplied.

"Well we are going to have to find some way to track it, or to locate Ms. Claimes. Make that your top priority." T'pol nodded and left sickbay.

"As soon as the doc has you patched up Malcolm I want you to see what you can do to assist her."

"Understood sir."

Confidant only that he had done all he could here, the captain left sickbay.

Reed turned to the doctor as Archer left. "This is not good."

"No I would say not." The doctor said shaking his head as he saw to the last laceration on Malcolm's back.



Maggie awoke to being dragged through a shaft by her right foot. It was definably not the most comfortable position to be in. When she went over a raised divider and hit her head she had to second that emotion.

"Ow"

She wouldn't have even realized that she had said it out loud if it hadn't been just the thing to make the BUBT turn and notice her again.

Perfect.

It was standing over her beak to nose before she could blink. The beak was huge with three nostrils at the base from which it was breathing heavily, or sniffing. It had two multifaceted eyes set in the front of its head like a human. They were beautiful. A collection of blues and greens, contrasting with the oranges of its completion. Coloring from both ends of the spectrum. She could see a large orange fin off the back of its head, it had blue and green scales sporadically spread on its base.

Its feet and legs, which were braced on either side of her, looked like those of a raptor. Its large claws clicked when it walked, how it sneaked up on her she would never know.

It was looking her straight in the eyes, as much as she could tell considering its eyes were multifaceted, but it seemed to be looking straight in her eyes. She felt something scaly graze her cheek; it was the same orange thing that had been wrapped around her middle earlier, a tail. That was pleasant.

She tried to remember what she was supposed to do in this instance. Was she supposed to make eye contact and slow her breathing to show she wasn't afraid, or was she supposed to quicken her breathing and look down to show submission. God why had she not watched more animal planet.

It growled again deep in its throat. Different from a dog growl, more resonating, like it was traveling through the fin before it came out the nostrils. She heard slight clicking notices, like an undercurrent to the growl. They seemed almost rhythmic, like a song.

Woe, a song. A song like as in a language. She looked closer at the creature. It hadn't eaten her. It could have, easily. And there was at least one person still alive in the transporter room for them to have wounded. Which meant it wasn't just killing everything it saw.

She turned her head and looked at the hand resting on its knuckles beside her head, it was shaking.

It was scared.

Well then why the heck had it kidnapped her?

She felt herself shifting surreally from terror to indignation.

What was so special about her that would make her a good traveling companion on its flight for freedom? There had been three other people in close proximity.

It began to sniff her again with its beak, never taking its eyes from her face. Then it backed up and hunch down in front of her. Maggie sat up on her elbows to look at it. It just sat there as if waiting for her to figure something out. She hated when people did that. Like those people who delight in telling you a riddle and making you come up with the answer, like they have sworn an oath not to reveal it to anyone not smart enough to figure it out on their own.

"Great, just great, large, scary, and condescending." She said as she pushed herself to a seated position.

It actually cocked its head at her. If she hadn't been so terrified moments before she would have thought it the most adorable thing she had ever seen.

Then again why shouldn't she? It hadn't hurt her. It was just scared and confused, and god knows she knew that feeling. Hadn't she felt the exact same way just hours before? She would have given anything for some common ground with any one. Even an ameba for a companion would have been better then making a journey on her own.

And that's what it had done. That's all it had wanted, a companion who knew what it was going threw. Or maybe not even something that smart maybe something as simple as wanting to be near something that smelled familiar.

It had sniffed her way before it had taken her with it. She probably, to a sensitive nose, smelled out of place here. Just like it was out of place here. Common ground. That's all it had wanted.

She felt herself reaching out to it before she could stop. She touched its face lightly where its beak met flesh; it was cold, like cold- blooded. It leaned ever so slightly in to her touch. But still it kept its eyes on her. Her fingers came away with a slightly yellow liquid on them. It was bleeding.

She pulled off her thin coat and with all her might, tore loose one of the sleeves. She then scooted forward cautiously and looked for the wound. It was on the underside of its beak, a scratch like from the jagged edge of something. She gingerly placed the sleeve against the cut.

The creature pulled away and cocked its head at her slightly.

"Its ok," she said holding out her hands for its inspection. "I'm just gunna see if I can stop the bleeding, ok." She tried to sound soothing. She had learned long ago in talking to her dog, that it's not what you say, its how you say it.

She moved her hand forward again, this time it didn't back off. She lightly dabbed the wound, it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. She then took the sleeve and tied it around her arm. If familiar smells were what triggered kindness in this thing, what was more familiar then its own blood.

She looked back up at it and could have sworn she saw the corners of its beak where it met skin go up slightly.

Now she was just letting her imagination get away with her.