The Keeper
By: Dorothy (dotty) Lee
Chapter Three
Archer and Malcolm finished their drink and left the tavern heading up toward the library. Archer wanted to see if T'pol and Hoshi had found out anything about a Restoration Ceremony and or anyone called the Keeper.
"Hey, there's Hoshi and T'pol ." Malcolm announced pointing up the street. Looking, Archer could see them heading in their direction.
"We were just on our way to see you guys." Malcolm said, smiling when they came within earshot.
"Captain we found a.." Hoshi started, her voice etched with excitement. T'pol cut her off with a slight touch of her hand on Hoshi's arm.
"Perhaps we should discuss this in a more private setting." T'pol said her voice low and serious.
Cocking his head slightly Archer frowned as he and the others followed T'pol to an alleyway between two buildings. They moved down the passage far enough to be out of earshot of any passersby and gathered into a small circle.
"Okay, What's going on?" Archer said, looking at T'pol.
"I believe we may have discovered the evidence of a previous first contact." T'pol answered him, glancing up and down the alley as if she thought someone was going to jump out at them at any moment.
"What?" Malcolm exclaimed, before Archer had a chance. He glanced over at Hoshi who was shaking her head in excited confirmation. "Who? Where?"
Archer waited until Malcolm had gotten over his outburst. Then he spoke, his question directed at T'pol. "Where did you find this information?" He asked simply, his voice remaining calm, despite the fact that his heart was pounding with excitement as well over the shocking information he'd just been informed of.
"In the library." T'pol replied. "In one of the historical documents."
"Show me!" Archer said heading back up the passageway toward the main thoroughfare, before she could protest. At that moment his communicator beeped. Stopping, he held his hand in a silent command for the others to hold up. Digging the commlink out of his outfit, he opened a channel. " Captain Archer here."
"Captain!" Travis Mayweathers voice came back, sounding very distressed. "Something terrible has happened to Commander Tucker! We lost contact and.."
"Whoa! Slow down Ensign. Start at the beginning." Archer ordered, his heart racing, even as he attempted to keep his voice steady. What had Travis said? Something terrible had happened to Trip? He could hear the Ensign sigh before he began to speak again.
"Okay." Travis began again, still sounding like he was out of breath. "I received a call from Commander Tucker about ten minutes ago. He asked me to check the ships sensors for anything unusual on the planet's surface. I told him that we'd picked up a burst of energy, but only for a second. Then, he said there was something there, with him at the landing site. From the sound of it I thought he was talking about some kind of animal or something. A few minutes later I heard the Commander cry out and his communicator went dead seconds later!"
"Did you beam him to the ship? Is he injured?" Archer asked, getting a little more agitated.
"We tried to beam him to the ship Sir..but all we managed to get was his communicator on the second try. As for Commander Tucker..there's no sign of him anywhere. He's gone."
Archer felt his heart skip a beat at Travis' last two words.
Malcolm, seeing the distress on Archers face leaned forward and spoke into the communicator.
"Ensign recheck the sensors. There has to be something on the scanner!"
They waited a moment. Then, Travis came back. "We did another sweep of the area Sir. There's nothing there but the shuttlepod."
"Okay Travis. Keep those sensors on that area. Let me know if anything so much as sneezes down there!" Archer said, getting his voice back. "We're heading back there right now!"
"Aye, aye Sir! Enterprise out!"
Putting his communicator away, Archer leaned back against the wall, exhaling deeply. Have to get a grip on this! He thought, aware that the others were watching him closely. Trips a big boy. He can take care of himself..... If he's not lying somewhere injured or dying! The little voice inside of his head screamed. Taking a deep breath he let it out and stood up straight. "Let's go!" He said a somber look on his face as he headed out of the alley.
Tucker woke up with a start scrambling halfway to his feet before a wave of dizziness and nausea brought him back to his hands and knees. His head hanging between his arms Trip squeezed his eyes tightly together shaking his head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs. That was a mistake, he realized quickly as pain exploded inside his head nearly knocking him unconscious again as he collapsed to the floor. Holding his head, Tucker rolled over onto his back and lay there breathing hard. As the pounding in his head began to subside, Tucker opened his eyes slowly. From his perspective on the floor, he could make out a ceiling filled with stalactites. Slowly he rolled over on his side biting back another round of dizziness. Looking directly in front of him, he saw that he was in some type of cell. Feeling a little less dizzy, he raised up and slowly got to his feet again. The room spun a little causing him to stagger. Stumbling like a drunkard he made his way over to the nearest wall and grabbed hold of it for support.
Now that he was on his feet he could see the entire room that he was in. There were three walls, roughly cut out of the soft cave rock. A lavoratory and sink jutted out of one the walls, and a small cot. Across the front was a large opening surrounded by a metallic frame. Streaming across the front from frame to frame in an endless loop bright blue laser beams blocked his path to freedom. Walking a little more steadily now, he moved over in front of the force field. Biting his lower lip, he studied the beams for a minute.
" What the hell." He said matter-a-factly, shrugging his head slightly to one side as he made a decision and reached out with his unbandaged hand.
As soon as his fingers made contact with the beams he was rewarded with a terrific jolt of energy that threw him back against the rear wall. Sliding down the wall grunting as his behind slammed into the unyielding rock floor, he gasped painfully, swearing under his breath.
"Well, that was a real intelligent thing to do, Mr. Tucker!" He muttered sarcastically to himself, checking his left hand for burns. "Maybe you could throw a little water on yourself first next time!"
"I would advise against it. There's enough energy in this force field to explode a man's heart and boil his blood!"
Tucker looked up in surprise at the sound of a human voice. Standing on the other side of the field was a tall muscular human male, probably in his late forties or so. He wore an outfit straight out of the history books on Ancient Rome. He wore a gold embroidered tunic over which hung an embroidered purple toga, which if Trip recalled signified Royalty. Emperors only wore such garments.
Getting to his feet, Trip brushed the dust off of his uniform as he stepped forward. "Who the hell, are you?"
"All in due time Commander Tucker. All in due time." The man answered, gesturing toward the young female humanoid that had moved up to his side.
Tucker looked at the girl. She was just like the people they'd saw on the viewscreen on Enterprise. Dark tanned skin covered her lithe fully matured body. She had on the sheerest of gowns colored in an iridescent blue. Her eyes were a deep violet. Draped over her head and down over her shoulders was more of the irriedesent material. Swallowing hard, Trip felt his face flush red as he stared entranced by her innocent beauty.
"Striking isn't she!" The man said, smiling as Tucker tore his gaze from the girl to stare at him in disgust. "Of course she's only fifteen years of age." He added grinning wickedly at the effect his information had on the chief engineer
Tucker shot a glance back at the young girl, a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. He mentally rebuked himself for looking at her in the matter that he had the first time. Breathing hard he looked back at the man. "Okay. So, now I know you're a sick basted. That don't answer my first question though. What was that thing that attacked me? How did I get here?"
Going over to the wall on the left side of the forcefield. The man pushed a button and the field disappeared. Turning back to Tucker, he gestured with his right hand. "Come join us for dinner and I will explain everything. And just in case you're thinking of jumping me. My tall green friend is watching us at this very moment. He won't hesitate to kill you if any harm comes to me."
Sighing, Tucker stared at the man and his companion as they headed down the narrow passage outside of his cell. Well you wanted excitement Charlie old boy. Looks like you got your wish! He thought following them.
The passage came out into a large cavern. The entire area was lit with an artificial light source emanating from the ceiling. Looking around he was amazed by the lavous furnishings that filled the room. Large fountains were scattered throughout the cavern, water flowing serenely down into crystal clear pools. Giant brightly colored pillows stacked against each other were situated about the area, for people to sit on he supposed. At the center of the room stood a wide platform with a gold colored throne in its center. This guy sure has delusions of grandeur! He thought, glancing sideways at the man.
To the right of the throne a long table stood already set for dinner. The man gestured to Trip to take a chair. He chose one at the far end of the table. The man went to the head of the table and sat down. The girl sat at his feet. From seemly out of nowhere the green skinned alien appeared again, standing beside the man. Tucker immeadiately shoved his chair back away from the table and stood up in a defensive posture.
"Don't be afraid Charles. The Grennii won't hurt you...unless I command it. Please sit back down." The man said, standing himself.
His heart pounding still, Trip slowly lowered himself back into his seat. His mind was racing at ninety miles a minute. What was that thing? How did this man know his name? What about the Captain and the others. Had they been captured as well? How the hell did this guy get from earth to a planet over one hundred light years away?
"I see you have many questions Charles. I will try to answer them all." The man said. Looking at the guy, he frowned. I didn't say anything out loud, did I! He thought. Then it hit him!
"You..You're a telepath!" Trip exclaimed, realization dawning on him. Now he understood how the guy seemed to know as much about him as he did. The basterd had been reading his mind all along. Another thought suddenly entered his mind causing him to get to his feet again, looking first at the Grennii, then at his Captor.
The man laughed out loud gesturing with his hands at the look of desperation mixed with fear on Trip's face. "Don't go doing anything foolish now, Commander! I have no intention of using the information in your mind to take over the Enterprise! I'm perfectly content with my own little kingdom here! Sit down and enjoy your meal, I wouldn't want to have to let Naddon punish you for trying to escape! Besides, there are so many tunnels and passages throughout these caves, you would only succeed in getting yourself hopelessly lost."
Trip stayed his ground, his left hand gripping the back of the chair tightly. "Not til you tell me who you really are! There's no way you're human! Humans don't have the ability to read minds!"
The man turned his hands over palms facing up as he shrugged. "As you wish." He said sitting down. "My name is David Richards, and yes, I am from Earth, despite your misgivings. About two hundred years, I was just a simple ranch owner in New Mexico outside a small town call Jol, located near the border of Texas. "
Trip swallowed hard, as he listened to Richards tell his tale. The strain on him, both physically and mentally from the events of the past thirty-six hours had began to take its toil on him. He found it hard to think straight. What would Jonathon do in his place? He'd sit down and get all the information he could out of this guy that's what! He thought, sighing, as he moved back around and took his seat. Richards continued, nodding his approval.
"I kept to myself raising a small herd of cattle and spending my free time studying the stars. You see I was an amateur astronomer and had been fascinated by the night sky since I was just a little tyke growing up on my daddy's farm. I had always believed there was more out there in the heavens than just a bunch of stars and planets. But nothing had prepared me for the events about to unfold on my ranch that very night."
Richards paused to take a drink from his glass of wine gesturing for Tucker to join him. Reluctantly Trip picked up his own glass and took a sip. It tasted like real red wine, but had a more bitter taste to it.
"The date was November 16, 1951. I had just come in from the field and decided to continue my investigation of a cluster of stars in the Eastern Hemisphere. As I peered through my telescope I saw a glowing object move across the star field. Looking up from my scope I watched the object as it streaked toward me. At first I thought it was a meteor and became a little apprehensive. After all it was fairly large and heading straight for my ranch! I slowly walked out into the yard not able to take my eyes on the ball of fire that surely spelled my doom. But as the object flew over my house kicking up dust and sounding like a tornado in the middle of a thunderstorm, I realized that it was some kind of airplane..no..not and airplane, but a spacecraft!" Richards paused again biting into what looked like a turkey leg to Trip. Looking down at his own plate, Tucker resisted the urge to eat his own meal. His stomach was flip-flopping so much it probably wouldn't stay down anyways. Instead he took another drink of his wine, swallowing down most of the contents of the glass. The Grennii moved down to his end of the table and refilled the glass from a bottle sitting on a small cart to his left. Trip gave the green-skinned creature a nervous nod of thanks when it was finished. It returned to its place beside Richards as he went on with his story.
"The spacecraft crashed in the middle of my field taking out about half my heard in the process. After the dust storm it had kicked up cleared, I got in my pick-up and headed out to see the damage."
Trip couldn't believe what he was hearing. He remembered the accounts in the history books about the Roswell incident in 1947. But, he didn't recollect anything about a spacecraft crashing in New Mexico in "51. Leaning forward, to rest his elbows on the table he listened with growing interest,
"When I arrived at the crash site I found a creature laying about three yards away from the burning wreckage."
"Let me guess. Your green buddy here." Tucker cut in, glancing at the Grennii.
"Yes. It was Naddon. He had been thrown from his spacecraft and was still alive. Knowing that the military was already on their way to the site since they had most likely picked the spaceship up on their radar, I quickly dragged the unconscious alien back to my pick-up and loaded him into the back. By the time the military got there I had Naddon hid in my cellar. They questioned me about the crash of course, but I simply played dumb and told them that I figured it was a meteor. In the end they cleaned up the evidence of the crash site and left me alone with my new found friend. "
Richards paused to pass the girl at his feet a piece of bread. That ticked Tucker off really bad and resisting the urge to strangle his host, he picked up his plate of food instead and offered it to the girl. She looked up at Richards like a puppy dog begging for its bone. He nodded his head at her. She scrambled to her feet and grabbed the plate from Trip grinning like a kid on Christmas morning. Returning to her place on the floor she proceeded to eat its contents greedily. Richards nodded at Tucker smiling as if to say, see I'm not a monster after all. Tucker returned his look with a glare of disgust.
Sitting up even straighter in his seat, Richards sighed deeply and continued to talk.
"When Naddon first attempted to communicate with me, I suffered the same agonizing pain that you experienced earlier. But as time went on, he was able to use a sort of mind melding technique, which enabled me to converse with him pain free."
"Mind meld? You mean like what the Vulcan's.." Tucker started to ask. The instant he said the word Vulcan's the Grennii let out an ear-piercing scream that ripped through his mind as well as his ears. He grabbed his head as pain coursed through it like liquid fire.
Richards quickly said something to the Grennii in a language Trip didn't understand and the pain subsided almost as quickly as it had appeared. Breathing hard, Trip blinked his eyes to clear his blurred vision as he looked up at Richards. The Grennii had disappeared.
"I'm sorry I didn't warn you about mentioning the Vulcans in Naddon's presence. I'm afraid there is no love lost between the two species." Richards said, gesturing to him. "Drink your wine Commander it will help ease the pain."
Tucker looked at the glass of red liquid but didn't pick it up. "So you're saying that the Vulcan's know about these guys?" It was sure nice of them to leave out information about brain frying aliens in their reports on known species! He thought sourly, deciding he needed that drink after all.
"Oh, I'm afraid there's a great deal of information that your friends the Vulcans have kept from you." Richards told him as he downed the entire glass of wine.
"Who said they were my friends?" Trip replied, relaxing somewhat as the wine took effect, a little quicker than it should have.
Smiling, a strange look in his eyes, Richards continued with the story. "Naddon's people came for him a month an a half later and I asked him to take me with him. His people agreed, grateful that I had not turned him over to our scientists for experimentation, or to the military. I went with them and stayed on their planet, which, by the way, is several thousand light-years from here, for several months. When I became ill with cancer soon after arriving there, they gave me a gift far greater than I could ever imagined having. Although I could not explain to you the specifics of what they did to me, I can tell you that it was a genetic restructuring of my DNA so that I was cured. And, it had another side effect. I will live one hundred times longer than any earthling could ever have dreamed of living. "
Tucker blinked, leaning forward slightly, as his vision blurred again. "So..how did..you get here..on thisss planet?" He said his speech slurring. He shook his head slightly feeling dizzy. I knew I shouldn't drank that second glass...he thought trying to focus on what Richards' was saying.
"The Grennii gave this planet to me as a token of my loyalty to them." Richards said getting up and moving down toward Tuckers end of the table. "And these people have worshipped me as their Keeper for almost two hundred years. I heal their sick and injured using Grennii technology, and they give me their first-born females to enjoy."
"You're a..sickk..man.." Tucker mumbled trying to stand. The room was spinning wildly now and his legs seemed to be turning to jelly.
"Don't worry Charles..soon you'll learn to appreciate me, since you'll be spending the rest of your life here. But, I'm afraid the drug I had Naddon put into your drink is about to take you into dreamland, so I will bid you farewell for now."
A mixture of fear and betrayal in his eyes, Trip lunged at his tormentor but only managed to collapse in a heap on the floor. "You..son..of...a.." He gasped as the room faded out of existence, and he was thrown into unconsciousness once again.
Richards chuckled softly as he stared at his sleeping prisoner. "Oh, so you knew my mother, did you?"