Chapter Two
Archer and Malcolm walked down the middle of the dirt street gazing at the various shops and taverns that made up the center of the town. Archer had contacted the shuttle just moments ago, letting Trip know what they had discovered. After complaining that he was going stir crazy, Archer had suggested to the engineer that he catch up on some shut-eye. After all, the comm would wake him up if they called him, and everything was going smooth, so there was no reason for him to keep his eyes glued to the sensors. Tucker had reluctantly agreed to take him up on his suggestion, and had signed off.
They had been in town for a couple of hours now and had crossed paths with Hoshi and T'pol only once. The two women had found the local library and were in seventh heaven when they left them. The two men had decided to check out some of the shops. The wooden planked walkways were filled with humanoids busily going about their daily lives. Surprisingly, the foursome had been able to blend in more easily than Archer had thought they would. Most of the populace paid no attention to them. Malcolm had suggested that maybe it was do to the fact that there were over three thousand 'people' in this town.
"Think about it. Do you know everybody in your hometown?" He asked Archer as they stepped up onto the walkway and entered a small tavern.
"No, I guess not." Archer replied, cocking his head to one side.
Inside the tavern, a rather large jovial character greeted them. "Welcome!" He said gesturing toward a table. "Please come. Sit."
Obliging the gentleman, Both men sat down at the round table nearest the door. A lantern sat in the middle, its fumes giving off a slight pungent odor as a flame burned within. Looking around at the long bar at the rear of the room, Archer whispered to Malcolm. "It looks like something out of an old western movie, don't you think?"
"Yeah. Strange isn't it?" Malcolm agreed glancing up as the man returned to their table with a Picher and two glasses. Pouring the amber looking liquid into the first glass, the man studied them with marked interest.
"I haven't seen you two gentlemen in here before. My name is Daeltiri. I am the owner of this fine establishment." He said, finishing with the second glass.
Malcolm looked at Archer. They had to be careful how much information they gave about the person they were supposed to be. He certainly didn't want to make a mistake, so he waited for the Captain to do the talking.
"This is our first time. We have been frequenting the tavern on the far side of town. Since we were up this way we thought we would drop by." Archer replied smiling at the man. "My name is Callian and this is my associate, Demitri." He added, gesturing at Malcolm who nodded a greeting at the man.
"I assume you have traveled from your side of town to attend the Restoration Ceremony."
"Yes. Of course." Archer answered the man giving a quizzical glance at Malcolm.
"Then may the blessings of the 'Keeper' fall upon you. Your refreshments are of no charge to you today. Enjoy." The man said, his face breaking into a huge grin.
Malcolm leaned over to Archer when the man had moved away. "What do you suppose he meant by Restoration Ceremony?"
Shrugging his shoulders Archer whispered back. "I don't know. But, if we stick around awhile, I'm sure we'll find out."
Several hours later in the library where she and T'pol had been since talking to the Captain, Hoshi suddenly gasped aloud as she looked at a historical document in front of her. "Look at this!" She exclaimed Pointing at a drawing in one of the books.
T'pol looked away from the book she had been studying and gazed at the picture with a frown. So far most of the information they had gathered from their reading had been general stuff. Origin, cultural accomplishments of the people and some of their more famous peers. For one thing, the people were called, "Quellians". Their timeline read that they had come into existence around five thousand years ago. But one thing that struck her as curious was the Quellians absence of religion until about two hundred years ago. Now as she looked at the drawing Hoshi showed her things were falling into place very quickly.
"We must show this to the Captain immeatiatly!" She told the younger women getting up from her seat.
"You don't think this is really what it appears to be do you?" Hoshi asked her eyes wide as she looked up at the Vulcan.
"I am not certain. But, if it is we need to proceed with caution." T'pol answered moving swiftly toward the exit.
Hoshi looked at the drawing one more time. On the page a round spacecraft was descending upon the town and below it a figure stood with his arms outstretched. But it was the face that bothered her the most. It was the face of a man...a human man. Under the illustration the caption read. "The great day of dissension; when the Keeper first appeared to the Fathers."
Charlie Tucker was dreaming. He was lying in a field under a big old oak tree, his head resting in the lap of a beautiful young woman. Spread out under them was a brightly colored quilt. The woman was running her fingers gently through his hair as he lay there with his eyes shut. A warm breeze flowed across his face, and he sighed contently. "Mmmm...Don't ya wish we could just stay here forever Natalie?" He murmured softly.
"I don't think that will be possible Charlie. You know those engines have to be in good working order or the Captain will have your butt...." The woman replied.
Jerking awake Trip grabbed hold of the arms of the pilot's seat where he'd dozed off. Sitting up he rubbed a hand across his face, chuckling slightly as he remembered his dream. "Can't even have any peace in my dreams!" He muttered softly, getting up and going over to a compartment against the bulkhead. Getting out a thermos of coffee, He poured himself a cup and went back up to the front. Sitting down heavily he checked the sensors. Satisfied everything was okay; he leaned back and took a drink of his coffee. Looking at the chronometer on the console he realized he'd actually slept for a couple of hours. Sighing deeply he got up and walked back through the shuttle and stepped out into the bright sunlight. Squinting his eyes, he looked toward the direction of the town, wishing he'd gone with the rest of the landing party. It had to be a little more exciting where they were, than it was here.
Stooping down he sat his coffee on the threshold of the shuttle door and unhooked the strap holding his tricorder. Activating the device he began to walk slowly toward a clump of trees at the base of the mountain that rose up behind the shuttle. Sensors showed very little life forms. Most of the life readings consisted of insects. He'd moved about fifteen meters from the shuttle when suddenly, a huge energy surge flashed across the screen, making him stop dead in his tracks. He looked up and around in surprise, and aprenhension. "What the hell?" He murmured looking back at the scanner. The sensors were back to normal now. Showing the same things they had moments ago. It was as if lightning had struck and in an instant was gone again.
Heading back in the direction of the shuttle he pulled out his communicator and opened a channel to the enterprise. "Commander Tucker to Enterprise!"
"Enterprise here, what's up Commander?" Ensign Mayweathers voice answered.
"Did you just pick up a surge of energy on your sensors?" Tucker asked him, keeping one eye on his tricorder.
"Yeah, as a matter a fact we did Sir. It was just for a split second and I figured it was just a glitch in the sensor array or something. " Mayweather came back. His answer only intensified the bad feeling that Tucker was getting as he picked up his pace.
"Well unless my tricorder has a glitch in it too, something or someone just kicked on a huge power source!" Tucker remarked, as he cleared the trees and headed for the shuttle.
"But, there's nothing on the sensors now!" Mayweather came back.
"That's what botherin me!" Trip replied a grim look on his face. "I'm gonna contact the Capt'n and let him...."
His mouth dropping open in surprise, Tucker almost dropped the communicator. Climbing out of the shuttlecraft in front of him was a tall spindly alien with arms hanging down past its (Knees?). Huge glossy saucer-shaped eyes and a tiny slit of a mouth accented its large egg-shaped head. Tucker immeadiately thought of the old pictures he'd seen of extraterrestrials in books about UFO's back on earth. This thing fit the description perfectly! It's skin was a pale green and from what he could tell it wasn't wearing any clothes.
"Commander?" His communicator squawked, as Travis' concerned voice came through. "Trip? Are you there?"
Raising his communicator slowly to his lips, Tucker whispered into the commlink, his eyes still glued to the alien. "Travis? Are you picking up anything unusual on your sensors now?"
"No. What's going on down there? Are you okay?" Travis answered.
"Are you sure you don't see anything on those sensors Ensign?" Tucker asked again, frowning. The creature still hadn't moved since stepping out of the shuttle.
"There's nothing Commander."
"Well..I'm here to tell ya that something is standing about four meters away from me and it don't look too friendly." Tucker informed him, taking a step back as the creature suddenly moved forward two steps.
"You want us to transport you to the ship? I can have a lock on you in less than a minute" Travis told him.
Tucker was looking at the tricorder still in his hand. It didn't register the alien being at all. It was as if there was nothing there. Must have some kind of dampening field around it. He thought. Or I'm hallucinating.
"Commander?"
Lowering the tricorder he started to answer Travis when out of the corner of his eye he saw the alien raise his left arm. Dropping the communicator he instinctively went for his phase pistol, looking at the alien as it moved to intercept him.
"YOU ARE NOT OF THIS PLANET! I WILL TAKE YOU TO THE KEEPER NOW!"
The force of the voice that suddenly ripped through his skull caused the engineer to stagger back. Dropping both the tricorder and his weapon, Tucker grabbed his head, as the pain inside became intolerable. Gasping in pure agony he cried out as he fell to his knees, his eyes watering as the world spun around him. He forced his head upward to look at the alien, confusion and fear on his face, then, unable to tolerate the pain any longer; he pitched forward, unconscious before his face hit the ground.
The alien stepped over him and picked up the communicator.
"Commander?! Come in! Trip?" Travis was yelling through the commlink. The alien cocked its head to one side as if it was listening to the speaker. Travis's voice could be heard in the background ordering someone to transport the Commander to the ship immeadiately. The alien throwed the communicator aside and hurriedly picked up the limp form of Trip Tucker. Then it disappeared, taking the Commander with it.
On the ship Travis looked over at the Ensign stationed at tactical. "Did you get him?"
The Ensign looked up a puzzled look on his face. "No Sir. He's..not there anymore!"
Getting up Travis walked forward to the helm control and punched a button. "What do you mean he's not there?" He said as he studied the sensors himself.
"I mean. One minute I had a lock on him, and the next minute he disappeared form the targeting scanners."
Travis stared at the sensor readout in unbelief. It wasn't picking up Tuckers biosigns anywhere. It was as if he'd disappeared off the face of the planet.
Looking up at the view screen, he spoke his voice cracking slightly. "Open a channel to the Captain."
"Aye, Sir." The communications officer answered.
Swallowing hard, Travis wondered what he was going to say to the Captain. Commander Tucker had seen something or someone, before he disappeared. And the inhuman cry of pain he'd heard from the engineer had sent chills down his spine. Whatever had happened to Trip had been without warning or he was sure the Commander would have had time to fight back. Whether that meant he was dead, or just missing, Travis wasn't sure. But, one thing was for certain. The Captain and the rest of the landing party could be in grave danger!