Author's Note: Okay, this is the end. Originally I had planned the story going longer but I really didn't like how it was going. This is the ending I liked the best. Sorry about the long wait; the story seemed determined not to work no matter what I did. Many thanks to everyone who revd and reviewed.
TRADING SPACES
****************
Rock tumbled down from the ceiling, cutting off the light from outside, as another bolt of power burst from Gram Utla. Trip choked in the dust; as the light winked out he glimpsed a flashlight left by one of the idun'yll and leaped for it, leaving Malcolm hanging from Phlox's shoulder.
A pair of red eyes winked at him in the dark, preternaturally glowing like the proverbial wolf in the bush. "Death to the unbelievers," said Utla, standing over Trip. The man gave off just enough light to illuminate a small part of the cave. The Universal Translators in all three officers' uniforms crackled and sparked.
"Idufu'f," said Utla, looking towards where Malcolm and Phlox stood. "Ulit hdh raf'fis'eel que o ha leut hei." A soft whoosh of air rushed in to fill the empty space as he disappeared, leaving them alone in the darkness.
"Uyt due ja'pe petion," said Malcolm, a hint of bitterness in his voice. Trip struggled with the flashlight a moment and then clicked it on.
"What did he say?" asked Trip, shining it at the pale armoury officer.
Malcolm glanced at him in surprise. "Oh...English. I... forgot."
"Just how long were you in Tobin's body?" asked Trip, picking himself up painfully.
"How they count time? A year and three quarters." He spoke hesitantly, as if the words did not come easily to his lips. Trip, careful of his own injured shoulder, looped Malcolm's arm over his shoulder and helped Phlox get him to the wall, where all three sat down and leaned against it. A knot had begun to form in Trip's stomach as he assessed the situation to himself. Trapped, no communicators, no water, no food. Religious zealot with unlimited power at large outside. Electrocuted tactical officer who doesn't remember his own language. Great situation, here.
"What do you suggest we do?" asked Phlox quietly over the lieutenant's head, apparently having come to the same conclusions.
"How is he doing?" Trip replied, nodding at Malcolm, slumped in between them.
"I suspect there's internal damage from the electric current, as well as the outer burns where the machines were attached," said Phlox, softly. Malcolm made no sign of having heard them.
Great. Make that internally damaged and burned tactical officer.
"You don't happen to have a communicator?" asked Trip.
"No."
"Prophet. Tell Rafiziel I have sent you," said Malcolm suddenly.
"What?"
"That's what he said. The glowing one," said Malcolm, lifting his head and gazing blankly.
"Oh, lovely," said Trip, imitating the British accent, fully and inexplicably annoyed at the whole situation all of a sudden. He wanted to wring Utla's neck, and his hands flexed around the flashlight, imagining just what he would do to Utla if he could.
"Why don't you see if one of them has a communicator?" asked Malcolm, pointing at the unconscious bodies of the idun'yll technicians. Trip had completely forgotten them, but it didn't matter. Three of them had commicators, but all three simply got static, no matter how loudly Trip swore at them.
"Don't yell so loudly, Commander," said the doctor. "You may further unsettle the rock." Trip merely growled in response. He hurt all over, and the more he thought about their situation, the less it helped.
"Trip?" said Malcolm. "There's a tunnel outside, I think, if it's still there."
"Where?"
"Down that way. To the dormitories and the living quarters. It goes il'al'la..., er, all the way through."
Trip shone his flashlight in that direction. "Yeah, you're right. That's the tunnel where Hoshi and T'Pol found your book."
"My book?"
"We'll explain on the way, Lieutenant," Phlox told him, as they hoisted him over their shoulders once more and set off into the dark tunnel.
******************
"Any sign of Trip and Doctor Phlox yet?" asked Archer.
"No, sir," replied T'Pol, the slightest hint of exasperation in her voice. "I assure you, I will tell you when I do find something."
"Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" said Travis under his breath, glancing at Hoshi, who smirked. Archer sighed; he probably did sound like a petulant child. All the shuttlepods had returned except one, and it seemed to have disappeared completely.
The ship rocked sharply without warning. Archer fell out of his chair and
tumbled into the railing, gasping as the breath was knocked out of his lungs.
"What the hell was that?" he cried, scrambling to right himself.
"Shots were just fired from the other ship!" cried Lieutenant Kelly, Reed's stand-in.
"Didn't we disable them the FIRST time they fired at us?" asked Archer.
"I thought we did, sir," said Kelly. "But they're shooting, all the same... No, wait! It's coming from a person." He gazed at the scope and then back out at the front viewer, mouth open wide.
"A person?" Archer repeated.
"There's a man floating around outside their ship," replied the lieutenant, voice full of amazement. His eyes widened, and the ship jolted once more. "Return fire, sir?"
"Go right ahead," replied Archer, picking himself up from the floor yet again.
"Hmm," said Kelly.
"Hmm? What hmm?"
"Um... I think he's too small of a target, Captain," said Kelly, and scrabbled for a handhold as the floor tumbled beneath them. Something exploded in the wall behind Hoshi, and she gasped and ducked out of the way of the flying sparks.
"Phase cannons?"
Kelly, looking grim, punched a few buttons and then shook his head. "He just jumps out of the way," he replied.
"The hull plating is losing integrity on B and C deck," said T'Pol.
"Ooo..kay," said Archer. "Any suggestions?"
No one said a word.
******************
"Come on, Malcolm," said Trip, nearly dragging the smaller man over the rocks. "I can see light."
"I know," gasped Malcolm. "I can see it too." And in the light Trip could see how very pale his friend was and how hard he was struggling to keep on his feet. The doctor didn't seem to be too much better; his face was covered in blood and his nose looked rather swollen. Trip himself wanted nothing more than to sit down and sleep for a good couple of hours. Maybe a beer, too. And a painkiller. Definitely a painkiller.
The entrance to the tunnel was partially covered by a thorny bush, and Trip swore loud and long as he fought his way through it. "Bloody hell," gasped Malcolm as, following Trip, a branch struck him in the face. They stood on the mountainside, blinking in the daylight. Phlox tossed the flashlight aside and helped Malcolm sit down on the grass.
"Son of a bitch!" exclaimed Tucker suddenly, and both of them looked up at him, startled. "Look! There's the shuttlecraft. First stroke of luck all day!" Forgetting his exhaustion, he raced down the hill and found it still untouched. He fired up the engines and whooped, relieved to have finally gotten a break. Malcolm climbed in, half falling through the door as Phlox gave him a heave. He collapsed onto the bench and simply lay there, breathing raspily.
"Let's go, then," said Trip, and took it up through the atmosphere and around the planet where Enterprise was waiting.
"Look," said the doctor, sitting down behind Trip. "It's Utla. How is he doing that? Prolonged exposure to the cave's radiation must produce some fascinating effects. See if you can get closer."
"Doctor, I know it's all in the interest of science," said Trip, "but I don't
think that he'll be too happy to see us right now. He's attacking Enterprise."
He kept the shuttlepod at a good distance and hailed the ship.
"Trip, where the hell have you been?" was Archer's response. "Stay away from here! We've got a bit of a situation!"
Trip was about to respond that, yes, he could see that, when a third ship suddenly zoomed out of nowhere and began to fire on the glowing figure. The ship bore similar markings and design to the idun'yll ship floating dead behind Utla.
"What the hell?" said Trip.
Nets snaked out of the attacking ship and bound themselves around Utla. Jets of energy spurted from between the holes in the nets, but they seemed to be holding. A bright blue phaser blast streamed out of the new idun'yll ship and hit the netted Utla dead on.
"Explosion. Ha," said Malcolm weakly from behind them. "I missed those."
****************
"I must thank you again for your help, Captain Harul," said Archer. "I stil find it hard to believe that you came to our aid based on a millenia-old message."
"Ah, but Tobin Marat...and Malcolm Reed...was one of our most famous prophets. He accurately predicted the meteor strike which forced our evacuation four hundred years ago, to the very day," said Harul, grinning. "His time capsule has been the speculation of ages. Our historians were quite excited to open it yesterday. Once we read the message, that the Enterprise was real and a zealot disciple of the old god Rafiziel named Gram Utla was trying to destroy it, we came at once. The dates and times matched up, and there was specific evidence about the galaxy of this time that made it impossible to doubt."
"Well, thank you again," said Archer. "If there's anything we can do for you, please let us know."
"Several of our historians would like to interview your Mr. Reed, when he has recuperated. His firsthand knowledge of our ancient ," replied Captain Harul. "How is he, by the way?"
"Doing better. He's still in sickbay. I'll let you talk to him once he feels up to it," said Archer.
"That would be most agreeable. I hope to hear from you soon." The viewscreen clicked off, and Harul's face was replaced by the usual display of stars.
On a whim, Archer left the bridge, leaving Mayweather in command, and headed down to sickbay. On the other side of the long curtains, Malcolm was sitting up in bed, intently studying a pad, with Trip seated in a chair next to him. "I still can hardly believe it was real," said Malcolm. "And it's still difficult to believe that all this is real, too. It was such a different world, such a different-" He broke off as the captain came through the curtains. "Sir!"
"At ease, Malcolm," said Archer, smiling. "You're still off-duty."
"I feel fine, sir," protested the lieutenant.
"Don't let him tell you that, Captain," said Trip. "His definition of 'fine' seems to amount to 'still breathing.' He had trouble walking to the door."
"Well, I bet that made it easy for Doctor Phlox to catch him," said Archer.
"Glad to have you back, Malcolm, difficult patient and all."
"Er, yes, thank you, sir."
"So. Just what did you write in this journal of yours?" asked Archer.
Malcolm looked distinctly uncomfortable. "I thought, sir, that I was delusional, that all my memories of being human and being a member of Enterprise were merely hallucinations. Once I learned to write in their language, I described everything I could remember about the crew and the ship."
"Well, it certainly saved us out here today," said Archer. "Good thing Tobin knew about Utla's transformation. We couldn't get a weapons lock on him, and he nearly had us dead in the water."
"Tobin didn't know about Utla's transformation," said Trip.
"No," said Malcolm slowly. "He didn't. I was back before that happened. I remember seeing him standing in the cave, although everything is a little hazy."
"How did he know, then? You must be mistaken, Malcolm."
"No," repeated the lieutenant. "No, I don't think I was."
"Do you think...?" said Trip, looking up at the captain with wide eyes. "Could he really have had some kind of precognition?"
"Whatever it was," replied Archer, "he certainly saved our lives today, and for that I am grateful. There are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in our philosophy, after all." He grinned and patted Malcolm on the shoulder before leaving.
"Yes, I suppose so," said Malcolm, looking thoughtful. He lay back against the pillows.
"I'd better get back to work. Get some sleep," said Trip, smiling, and followed the captain out. Malcolm looked at the text of the journal again and shook his head.
"More things in heaven and earth..."
~Fin~