Chapter 20
Back down on the planet night began to fall. The grey sky was fading to blackness and no stars could be seen at all. The landing party had been wandering for hours. The temperature was dramatically dropping from the previous sweltering heat.
"I recommend we camp for the night," said the Vulcan captain. Suddenly she heard a noise. Ensign Georga gasped in shock as a dark shape gilded past her.
"Captain...What...?"
Unable to defend themselves the Starfleet crew ran for safety.
"What the hell was that?" Retorted the doctor as he ran.
Saavik shook her head. "Unknown, but whatever it was has now passed.
"Actually I don't think I wanna know what it was after all."
"All equipment has failed. We can't even contact the ship," mumbled Georga.
"Everyone hold tight," commented Brown as her heavy muscular frame ran on beside the young ensign.
Finally everyone came to a halt. Georga sat down on a reasonably unsoiled fallen tree trunk.
"We'll take turns to rest," said Saavik. "You..." She pointed at Katherine Brown. "...Ensign Georga and Warren can set up camp. Myself and Lieutenant Joseph's and Doctor McMeres. We will take the first watch."
Everyone who was to rest managed to find a reasonably dry spot to lie down on. They doubted that they would get much sleep though.
Ensign Georga lay with her arms clutched around her tightly in an attempt to reserve warmth. She lay awake and fearful thoughts ran through her brain. She was young, to young to die. This was her first mission aboard a starship. What a hell of a way to end up on your first assignment, she thought. Marooned on a god's forsaken planet with only slime mould for company and ghostly inhabitancy or what ever that thing was. She tried to suppress a chill and it wasn't from the cold.
Saavik sat in eerie silence and gazed through the decaying wilderness. For a moment she felt herself drifting off to sleep. She told herself she must stay awake for the sake of her crew. Even through it had been a long day and they were all very hungry including herself she knew she must stay alert.
She thought about Spock. She still hadn't contacted him about the distressing message he had sent her from Vulcan those few years back. She had tried to reach him a few times, but she could never get hold of him. He seemed to always be far away.
Saavik heard that he had left Starfleet and had gone to Vulcan to pursue a career in diplomacy. She had wondered why he had so drastically altered his choice of career. She hadn't seen him in years. It had got harder and harder for her to pick up the courage to contact him until finally she found it impossible.
Since Saavik received the message from Spock that T'Sharl had been killed she had managed to take her mind away from her terrible grief concerning her daughter and Spock by totally absorbing her entire life into her career.
She had never told anyone about this and probably never would. Saavik had told herself that she could deal with her pain alone and that it would fade after time. As time passed however she had found it even harder to bear. The pain did not simply fade out of existence.
Her child was the only person she had in the entire galaxy and when she was told that she died a futile death Saavik simply denied the fact from herself until it simply got to the point of being unbearable.
In those events she had returned to her quarters and struggled against the wicked alien emotions, which taunted her for so long. Most of the time she succeeded, but when she did not all she could do was endure it. So many times she had wanted to leave the fleet and return to Vulcan and find Spock.
The information about T'Sharl had been brief in his communication. She guessed that he hadn't the fortitude to contact her personally and that had made the issue even harder for her to bear that Spock didn't want to speak to her personally.
Saavik came back to the present. They hadn't planned on staying here this long otherwise the doctor would have taken along with him a larger dose of medication and food.
Katherine Brown sat slumped against the remains of a tree. Frederick Josephs. Well, Saavik wasn't sure if he was even awake. Suddenly he moved and sighed. Evidently he was.
Three hours past. The others awoke. Georga however was already awake. The crew swapped watches. Saavik lay down on the dead grass. For some time she lay awake. Finally her mind began to relax and she fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
Someone screamed. It must have been Georga by the sheer look of terror on her face. Saavik sat bolt upright and brushed long curly brown hair off her face. Her eyes widened in actual shock as the deflated corps of Warren lay like an empty bag on the ground. McMeres carefully rolled the body over. On the neck were six huge gashes. He sighed as he examined the body.
"Whatever did this has wiped out the entire contents. Only part of his scull and brain remain," he said bluntly.
Georga turned away.
Saavik came to her side. Are you all right?" The girl said nothing and struggled to fight back tears. "Angelica?" Questioned the Vulcan.
"I saw it happen. That THING..." She pointed indicating where whatever it was had come from. "It grabbed him before he even had the chance to move out of the way." She began to sob. "I'm sorry sir."
"You must be strong," Saavik said. "Unfortunately this comes with the vocation." Brown approached them.
"Is she all right?" Saavik nodded.
"Yes." Georga wiped back the tears and straightened. "Yes I'm Okay," she mumbled.
"You say you saw it?"
"I did." She looked down at the muddy ground. Commander Brown touched her arm.
"It won't get any easier will it?" She questioned. Brown shook her head.
"No, but you will learn to deal with it as you gain more experience. Do you need any medical help?" She shook her head.
"No."
"Can you tell us where whatever it was came from?"
"And what in the name of heaven did it look like?" Said the doctor.
"I never even saw it properly," said Josephs. The tall black man approached them.
"It was huge and black. Suddenly he was just laying there."
"It came from that direction," Georga said pointing to the east. "It was huge, black, like a giant slug or leech. It grabbed Ant. He didn't even have time to cry out."
"We must take extra precautions. Stay close," ordered Saavik.
Slowly the black sky took on a dim grey colour. It couldn't be said that it brightened, but daylight slowly crept through the broken and mangled trees.
The last stone was placed. Antwan Warren was laid to rest. The sky suddenly electrified with lightening and thunder roared. Abnormal weather for this once quiet planet. Rain slowly began to fall like broken needles.
Doctor McMeres pulled his collar up tighter around his neck and shivered. The air was crisp and he could even see his own breath in the icy air. Everything was carpeted in ice.
The group left and continued cautiously and delicately down a path that was once laid with wood bark. It was amazing to think that this part of the planet had once been thriving wildlife parkland. Now there was nothing except for the debris of what once was alive.
Georga had lost the inkling of time. She judged they had been walking for hours. She sighed. The young woman still had the terrible image of Antwon Warren in her mind. She seriously doubted that they would get out of this alive. She was soaked, hungry, and longed for her bed.
Saavik stopped. "I hear something." The doctor stopped beside her.
"What?" He said carefully.
"It has gone now."
Whatever it was it was watching them.
"This way," Saavik said pointing in front of her.
"How do you know?" McMeres said frowning. In many ways he reminded her of a younger version of Doctor Leonard McCoy. Only except that this medic was from Ireland. Saavik assumed that McCoy's ancestors had originated from Ireland too.
"My people, you could say have developed a seventh sense."
"And what if you're wrong?" A droplet of water tickled down McMeres's forehead and along side his nose. He brushed it away with his sleeve.
"Logically, I can not give you a definite answer."
"You can't?"
"But the chances are equal that we may find at least a temporary safe place." The doctor laughed, but it was a tortured sound.
"There's no safe place here, Saavik. Look around you. We're stuck here. We can't contact the ship or it contacts us. Don't your realise we just as well be dead." He grabbed Saavik's arm in a desperate plea. "We're going to die. And it's your entire fault. If only you hadn't wanted to beam down here." Saavik stiffened. What had the doctor been hoping for, a reaction? She detached herself from his hand and stepped away.
"Doctor, calm yourself," she said in a dispassionate voice. Saavik could only assume that the environment was affecting him. Abruptly something struck her hard on the back of the head. Saavik fell heavily onto the ground. Blackness engulfed her.
Saavik awoke in pitch darkness. She fought back nausea from the offensive odour in the area. From what she could sense she was being held captive in a large space. It was freezing and wet. She pressed her hand against a slimy stone wall and guessed that she was in an underground cave of some sorts. Beside her she heard a moan.
Katharine Brown lay in a tangled heap. Slowly she sat up. Taking particular care not to hurry as her head was spinning. Brown's first reaction was Oh my god I'm blind, but soon she realised that she was being held in a dark prison of some sorts.
Gingerly she touched her head. Instinctively she pulled back when a pang of pain on her forehead argued against the pressure of her fingers. Brown shuddered. The air was barely breathable. Cautiously she reached out her arm as if judging the distance of the cell. For a second she was taken aback when she heard Saavik's calm voice.
"Are you uninjured?" She said.
"Are you?"
"I am relatively unscathed."
"I think I have a bump on the head. Something very hard hit me." For a moment she stopped. "Where are we? I can't see a bloody thing."
"I believe those life forms which Ensign Georga saw has brought us here. The question why? I am uncertain." Saavik moved her legs. Since she could not feel them earlier the Vulcan formerly had postulated that they were broken, but now circulation and sensation was coming back into the form of what humans had described as pins and needles. The term exactly matched the sensation. She guessed that she had been lying in the same position for a long time.
"God I feel stiff," murmured Brown as she struggled to move. "Good job we don't remember anything. I would imagine it was a pretty bumpy ride."
"I agree," Saavik said casually.
"Are we the only ones here?" Saavik called the other members of the away team, but no one answered.
"I do not know."
"It smells like rotting fish in here," McMeres said while squeezing his noise.
A little while later a soft moan could be heard and someone shouted "OW" very loudly and other groans emanated from their dungeon.
"I believe every one has been accounted for," said Saavik.
Ensign Angelica Georga sat up slowly. The chill had eaten into her spine and had caused her muscles to spasm. Carefully she rubbed her eyes. Her mouth felt like a bristled mat. She felt like death warmed up.
"Is anybody there?" She said in a quiet voice. Saavik abruptly answered her.
"Are you well?"
"Considering sir, but it feels as if I have broken every bone in my body. She wiped blood off her swollen lip. "Where are we?"
"We don't know," said Brown with a crisp British accent.
Georga suddenly felt very sick. "Those...those things brought us here didn't they?" She said in a trembling voice. No one said anything. The doctor's mumbling voice suddenly surfaced again.
"Any one hurt?" He sat up and braced his stiff back. "Fred?"
"No sir," came a frangible reply.
"Well, that's one person anyway," he said gruffly. "This place smells terrible." McMeres paused trying desperately not to vomit. "What have they got in here, dead bodies?" He reached out his hand to touch Brown who was sitting not far away. Instead he grabbed something else. Something grisly. McMeres pulled back. The doctor leapt with a start and came down next to Saavik. She moved.
"Doctor is you all right?"
Trembling with sickening shock he managed to speak. "There was a body sitting right there next to me," Saavik said nothing.
"I thought doctors are supposed to be used to things like that," said Georga.
"Not when you find something like that sitting next to you." He paused.
"Look for yourself."
"I don't think so."
"How long has it been?" Said Brown.
"Since we awoke, ten minutes fifteen seconds," Saavik said crisply.
"And we're just gonna sit here."
"Your are correct Doctor McMeres. I think the logical course of action would be to find if there is any weaknesses in this confinement." The doctor breathed deeply preparing to say something to her. She got to her feet and brushed sand and dirt off her uniform.
"Saavik," the doctor said getting up. "I'm sorry about what happened on the planet's surface before." He lowered his head. "What I mean to say is that I..."
"Your apology is accepted, come."
Everyone else stood up slowly with care. In the darkness they could vaguely make out a shape of a tunnel. Saavik turned on her heel and started walking.
"Are you sure it's safe in there?" Retorted the doctor.
"It is as safe as anywhere in this place," she said. This time McMeres couldn't be bothered to argue. When Saavik's mind was made up that was it.
Everyone cautiously followed her into the tunnel. It was even darker that the cave before. After some time there appeared to be a wavering insubstantial light. Whether her eyes were lying to her and her brain was showing her something she wanted to see Saavik did not know.
In the distance she caught sight of a pale red glow and shadowy figures dancing on the rocky walls. Here the walls themselves did not drip with decay, but sparkled with mineral deposits. Saavik decided there was light just up ahead.
Carefully the landing party made their way along the narrow stretch of corridor. The flickering light was candlelight. Saavik realised and it was casting eerie shadows along the length of the wall. As of yet she couldn't make out any direct figures, but the distant hum of humanoid voices could be heard.
She stopped at the end of the tunnel and peered around the corner. Her suspicions were correct. People were living here. Humanoids. About thirty of them. Men, woman, and children were huddled around a large campfire. Evidently there must be an opening of sorts to enable the smoke to escape from this cave.
Saavik and the others stepped through. She could clearly make out singing. Those people were far from terrified. They sat playing home made instruments and amusing their children.
The scene looked primitive compared to the highly advanced scenes of everyday life before the disaster. The men appeared to be drinking a hot alcoholic beverage of sorts. Perhaps that described the merriment.
Saavik indicated for her crew to follow her into the gathering. They stepped past a rather intoxicated, yet jolly red-faced man rolling from side to side in time with the music. In his hand he carried a carved wooden bowl filled to the brim with some of that brew.
He tossed it up in the air at Saavik. Apparently making a toast. The beverage however spilled out and dripped onto the floor. Saavik stepped over him. An eyebrow raised in startlement.
Someone was waving an enthusiastic arm at them to follow. The Krackatowa crew stepped through the crowd towards the man. Sitting next to him was a woman seemingly his wife who was nursing a small baby.
"Come sit da'n. Enjoy." He offered her a bowl of that rather strong smelling brew.
"No thank you," she said.
"Come on luv, a little won't hurt ya."
"I would rather not."
The doctor sat down and leaned over at the man. "I'll have a drop."
"Help ya self mate," he said in a sort of alien cockney London accent. The man peered closely at Saavik. "Perhaps you fancy..."
The woman sitting next to him pulled his arm. "You take now notice of im' la've. He's just pullin' ya leg. Ain't ya." She eyed him then grabbed hold of the shirt he was wearing and pulled. She then gave him a big sloppy kiss. The baby started wailing.
"My name's K'Rissel," she said as she gently bounced her baby on her knee. "This is my husband, Alet. Wot's your name lav?"
"Saavik," Saavik said crisply.
"What's a fine Vulcan lady like you do' in' in a god's forsaken dump like this?" Asked Alet.
"Your planet has been invaded by deadly beings which have virtually wiped out every living thing," she said. Saavik was amazed how these people could simply ignore what was going on with their world.
"Yes. I know. They've killed millions and millions of people."
"And you simply sit back and let them do the same to you." Genuine anger stirred in her voice.
"Wot can we do," said K'Rissel "We might as well enjoy our last moments." She paused. "Wot's the point sitin' back and letin' our lives slip past us?"
"Have you not tried reconciliation?" The woman laughed so loud that she collected quite a few stares from the people around her.
"Are you sane luv?" Her face suddenly dropped. "They're nothing more than animals. They won't listen." She shook her head sadly. "We're not that stupid. The very best scientists on the planet tried everyfing." She shrugged. "Of cause they're all dead now."
"Are you the only people remaining?"
"As far as we know. All our equipment, everyfing is gone now." She shook her head. "We have to make do wiv wot we got." She sighed deeply then quite roughly pulled a strand of wavy red hair out of her baby's mouth. "It's hard to believe our world was a every bit as advanced as your Federation." She shrugged. "Now..." She stopped in mid sentence and glanced a Saavik who was looking at the baby.
"Got any kids?" She asked after a while.
"I had one, but she died when she was twelve."
"Ahh, bless ya. I'm sorry." She glanced down at her child. "I lost one meself." Hatred twanged her highly accented voice.
"The aliens got mine." Tears came to her eyes and she wiped them away with a grubby hand. "She was six." K'Rissel paused for a moment. Saavik glanced at Brown.
"May I ask aw?" The woman said. Saavik was aghast at the woman's nosiness, but it didn't show in her voice.
"Yes. I was away. T'Sharl died when she fell of the ridge of a volcano while attending an archaeology trip with the Vulcan Science Academy."
"On Vulcan?" The woman sounded shocked. Saavik nodded and wondered why she was discussing it with a perfect stranger.
"I must ask you something very important," said Saavik deliberately changing the subject.
"I'm listnin'."
"Do you know why you and your people are being kept here?" The woman shrugged and repositioned her baby.
"Now an' again one of those slugs come down ere' takes one of us and we never see um again. Dunno. But it's funny cus' you would have fort they would have eaten us by now." Saavik nodded in agreement.
"Is there a way out?"
"Only up there," she said pointing to the gap in the high ceiling where the smoke from the fire came out. For a moment Saavik sat pondering it.
"Then how do you get food?"
"They give it to us. No idea why. Are you finking' won't I'm finking?"
"I believe so." Saavik glanced at the others. "Will you excuse me please."?
"Course."
Saavik slipped away without anyone really noticing. She crouched down beside Katherine Brown. "Katherine." She turned away from the conversation with an elderly man sitting opposite from her.
"Yes sir."
"Forgive the intrusion, but may I have a word." Brown smiled.
"Of course."
"In private." Brown nodded at the elderly gentleman and excused herself.
"I believe these people are being kept here for a reason other than sustenance on the immediate level. The creatures. This planet is nearly depleted of its natural resources."
"Like we said before." Then she realised. "The ship. They want the ship. If they could only gain access to it. They would force us to fly wherever they wanted. Take those people with them. Their breeding stock ready for the voyage."
"Yes, that woman over there, K'Rissel the woman with that child. She told me the she had another. She had been taken by one of the creatures. Commander we have to get out of here as quickly as possible."
