Part Two

"Where exactly did you say everyone else was, Gideo?" Jonathan asked as he carefully followed the Lantal down the uneven path of the tunnel. For such a small, rotund being, Gideo was surprisingly nimble and light on his feet, easily keeping a few feet ahead of Jonathan who had be cautious so as not to lose his footing on the loose rocks that littered the floor.

"I told you, they are away," Gideo explained, momentarily turning back to look at him.

"Away where?" Jonathan pressed with a patient smile.

"Fixing things," Gideo said simply, as though this clarified it.

Instead it just made Jonathan frown.

"Fixing your technology?"

Gideo shook his head, "No, no. Fixing things......", he trailed off and shook his head again. "I will show you soon, then you will understand."

Jonathan felt the small pangs of concern resurface as he again remembered how little they really knew about this species. Whilst his gut instinct was still happy he was doing the right thing, his Starfleet training reasoned that it hadn't been such a good idea to spilt up from the others. It was this that made his hand check the presence of his phase pistol and communicator. His concerns were shelved once more however as they came out into a large cave.

Around the edges of the almost perfectly circular area were a number of metal posts about three feet high, all seeming to have been placed equal distances apart giving a geometric symmetry. The top of each one held a crystal, each about the size of his fist and none having the same colour. Correspondingly coloured lights were emanating from them, creating a silent fireworks display on the red stone walls. It was an incredibly beautiful sight.

Following the lights up, his sharp eyes found there was another set of crystals seated around the edges of a circular metal plate that was the centrepiece of the domed ceiling.

Looking back at Gideo, he saw the alien smiling in a fond knowingness.

"It is very beautiful, is it not?"

Jonathan nodded smiling also, "But somehow I don't think this is just a light show. What does it do?"

"Ah," said Gideo, holding his finger up in the same manner that Jonathan's high school science teacher had always done before he revealed something he considered amazing. The alien stepped over to the left of the room and surprisingly long and dextrous fingers worked their way across some indentations in the wall. A slight amount of pressure in the correct place brought a panel spinning into view. Gideo scrutinised Jonathan carefully, thought for a long moment and turned back to the panel, pressing various buttons.

"If it would please you, step onto the platform, Mr Captain" he instructed, waving airily at the centre of the room.

Jonathan darted a few looks behind him to see what Gideo was referring to and realised he must mean a circular plate that was directly below the one at the peak of the ceiling. The two were identical except this second one did not have any crystals but instead had holes, leading who knew where.

He walked up to it and had a good look, but turned back to Gideo again with a friendly manner which he hoped would show he was just being sensible, not rude or untrusting.

"No offence, Gideo, but I'm not going to step onto this thing unless you tell me what this machine does," he looked around the room with a small frown, "It is a machine, right?"

"Yes, yes," Gideo said, still distracted by whatever he was doing on the panel, "It is part of our technology." He paused momentarily, grinning in a proud manner, "The best part, I would say."

Jonathan's glance shot back to him, his attention caught.

"Your technology?" he asked, unable to hide the suspicion this time, "But I thought that Yano was going to show T'pol and Trip your technology."

Flustered at being clearly caught out, Gideo shook his head rapidly, "Not all technology is the same. Much is different about this. Only you must use this. It is most important that you do."

Jonathan gave his head a firm shake and pointed to the plate, "I don't mean to sound rude, but if it's so important that I use this thing then you'd better explain what it does otherwise I won't...."

He trailed off as he looked back up at Gideo to see the small alien look more than a little shifty. As he caught Jonathan's gaze, he froze, like a kid found with his hands in the proverbial cookie jar.

Their eyes locked and for a moment there was a standoff as each waited to see what the other was up to. Jonathan unfroze first but Gideo's reaction was more decisive. He fumbled slightly as he tried to keep one eye on the advancing captain and one on the control panel, but soon as he got his finger on the correct button Jonathan found himself sliding back and stopping sharply on the plate, as though it was giant magnetic and he was a pin.

"Get me the hell off here!" he immediately demanded, throwing politeness and diplomacy to the wind.

"Please, please," Gideo entreated, walking up to him with his fingers pressed together in a pleading gesture and his eyes full of remorse, "Do not be alarmed. It will not hurt you. I promise most sincerely you will not be harmed."

"I don't give a damn what you promise!" Jonathan growled, "Let me go!"

Gideo juddered, "Please, Mr Captain, please do not shout. It hurts my ears so, it does. We Lant'al have very sensitive hearing."

He stepped back to the control panel once more, rubbing at his ears as though they were still ringing.

Jonathan was still having a hard time seeing such a creature as a threat and he didn't want to hurt him, but he also didn't want to become a lab rat or whatever Gideo had planned for him. With this in mind he reached simultaneously for both his phase pistol and communicator only to discover that he was incapable of moving his limbs.

Twisting his head - the only part of his body that would still move - he saw the crystals around the edge of the room beginning to glow. Flicking his head back towards Gideo, he noted rather worryingly that the alien was back to concentrating on the panel as if he were inputting some very complex calculations.

"Gideo," he said in a last ditch effort to reason with him as the humming of energy around the room increased while the light show was going manically against the walls, "Whatever you're doing, you don't have to do it like this. If you just explained it first I'd be quite willing to-"

Gideo shook his head, interrupting, "We have spoken much about it. Humans are more open minded than most, and will believe what they do not understand, but will not believe until they see. This is right. All will be right and you will put it right."

Jonathan frowned, unable to make head nor tail of what Gideo was trying to tell him.

"Gideo, please....", he asked as the hairs on his body began to stand on end and his skin tingled.

"You must be quiet, Mr Captain," Gideo said, with a irritated shake of his head, "We are far away and the calculations are complex. Please interrupt my work no longer."

That held Jonathan's tongue momentarily. It didn't seem like Gideo had any intention of relenting and letting him out so maybe he should just keep quiet, let the little guy do his job and hope he came out of it in one piece.

But Jonathan Archer had never been a 'sit-back-and-let's-see-what-happens' kind of guy.

He opened his mouth to deliver what he guessed would be yet more pointless entreaties, but was silenced as the light show reached its crescendo. The energy peaked and Jonathan would have cringed from the force of it had he been able to move.

The hum turned into almost a high pitched scream as the lights tipped and converged on the crystals in the centre of the ceiling. These then also tipped, sending a cylinder of impenetrable light down to envelop him. Jonathan had no choice but to watch it come and hope it wasn't going to hurt.

It hit the floor with a silent crash and he felt as though he was suddenly going at an extreme velocity. Watching the light flow in front of him was almost like having your nose an inch from a raging waterfall, except his body seemed not to react to it. There was no longer any movement of his hair, he couldn't feel the wind on his skin or his stomach tightening with the pull of G force. But his mind was telling him he was going really far, really fast. The almost detached nature of it wasn't at all comforting.

What had Gideo done to him?

Without warning the waterfall of light stopped and faded rapidly away. Jonathan immediately squeezed his eyes shut as a new, even brighter light invaded them.

Mere moments later however he was aware of movement around him and he forced himself to open his eyes again, rubbing the soreness away.

The new light that had blinded him turned out to be the sun shining buoyantly in the sky as if it was totally unaware that anything strange had just happened. The people who walked past him, many with bags of shopping also seemed blissfully ignorant of his sudden arrival. Vehicles sped up and down a main street, a waiter at the cafe across the road tutted as he cleared up after some departing teenagers, a woman stood scrutinising shoes whilst a man, who was obviously her other half, kept checking his watch.

Jonathan knew the shoe store, he knew cafe and he knew the waiter that worked there. He knew this street because he'd walked down it nearly every day for most of his young life.

"We're not in Kansas anymore," he muttered incredulously to himself.

No, he was in San Francisco.

Somehow, he was back on Earth.