Disclaimer: see chapter one
a/n: Okay, I really didn't mean for the last chapter to be such a puzzle to everyone. I though everyone would get what had happened right away! Hmm. I have no idea if this is a good or a bad thing.
But I must say thanks for all the great reviews!!! (E.K.: I can't promise anything!)
And off we go...
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Malcolm stepped out of the shuttle, on to that bland looking gray beach. T'Pol exited just behind him. Both had weapons drawn. Malcolm's eyes darted over the landscape. T'Pol watched him carefully; the doctor had requested that she be as attentive as possible to him, in regards to his heath, while they searched.
The Lieutenant shivered as the thin mist fell, though it had more to do with the unnerving silence then actually being cold. He doubted that he would ever be able to enjoy the peaceful solitude of silence again. Quiet had become anything but peaceful to him.
T'Pol moved towards the second shuttle pod that had brought the previous search party to the surface. It appeared abandoned. With a nervous glance over his shoulder at the green trees, Malcolm followed her. The Sub-Commander began to walk around the craft as she turned on her scanner.
"T'Pol, I really don't think..." he began.
But the way in which one of her eyebrows shot up, higher then he thought would be physically possible, even for a Vulcan, silenced him. Her eyes flickered across the display as she read. Not looking up from the device in her hand, she told him in a low tone, "Lieutenant I'm reading a life sign..."
Before she could finish her sentence, something heavy pressed down on Malcolm's shoulder with, what seemed to him, unaccountable speed. With a short, sharp inhale, he whirled around and his fist connected with something solid.
An Enterprise ensign fell back hard on to the beach cursing softly; he held a hand to his bleeding nose. T'Pol moved immediately to the man's side and instructed him to remove his hand so that she could see the damage. It took Malcolm a bit longer to recover; he just stared down at the ensign sitting in the sand.
"It is not broken," she informed the man. Malcolm just stared down at them, in a dazed manner.
"Are you sure?" the ensign grimaced, gingerly touching the purpling feature.
"Quite."
"I-I, sorry," Malcolm stumbled over the words, glancing about nervously, as though waiting for something to jump out at him.
"Where are the others?" T'Pol asked the ensign, pulling him to his feet.
"Just off in those trees, we kept searching for the Captain and the Commander after we lost contact with Enterprise."
"Lost contact?"
"Yeah, our communicators are being blocked some how."
T'Pol looked at him with a relentlessly scrutinizing stare. "You're sure?"
"Well, yes," he said.
Malcolm tried in vain to squash the panic rising within him. "It's here," he said softly.
"Lieutenant?" the ensign puzzled.
T'Pol, with a brief look in Malcolm's direction, continued. "Tell us exactly what happened when the Captain vanished," she instructed.
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Archer walked along the uneven landscape; the rain made the pale brown hillside slippery with mud.
He had tried to contact the away team, but had found the signal was scrambled. He experienced similar results with Enterprise.
So he continued to walk, talking to the voice occasionally, and rarely getting a response.
The size of the rocks which were strewn out over the land appeared to becoming larger as he walked on.
Presently, he stumbled as the toe of his boot caught a chunk of stone sticking up out of the ground, half buried. He paused, noticing something odd about this rock. He knelt beside it, brushing away some of the mud around it.
His eyes narrowed, this stone had been carved, and polished on one side. This stone had once been part of a structure. He stood up, eyes sweeping the entire rocky field, half obscured by low hanging clouds that chilled everything with their fine mists. He was not standing on some random hillside. He was walking among the ancient ruins of some long abandoned city.
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"Right here. We were all standing here when he disappeared." The ensign brought them to the place in the densely wooded area. All the other members of the away team had been accounted for and were continuing the search nearby. T'Pol looked up in to the thick tree branches.
"Did you see anything?" she asked.
Malcolm shook his head. "No, the question should be did you hear anything? Trip and I never saw...much of these beings. But we did hear them."
The ensign looked disconcerted by this. "Funny you should mention that. And what 'beings'?"
Malcolm looked at him closely. "You did hear something, didn't you?"
"Well, I thought I heard something..."
"Ensign..." T'Pol said, with an inflection in her calm tone which told him he had better tell her everything he knew on the topic.
"I-I thought I heard a noise, from up there." He gestured to the tree branches above their heads.
"What kind of noise?" Malcolm asked, not entirely capable of keeping all trepidation out of his voice as he poised the hesitant question.
"Sort of a soft hiss. I don't know. The Captain saw me looking up into the tree and came over to see what was up. He musta seen something, because he drew his weapon, we all did the same. It seemed like we waited a full minute before someone noticed that the Captain was gone."
"Gone?" T'Pol asked.
"Vanished." The man nodded.
"It can transport people. It has access to the city's main computer and no doubt to all the technologies this planet use to have."
"'It'?" The ensign asked.
"There is a life form present on this planet." T'Pol told him plainly.
"There is nothing on our scans."
"Our scans are wrong, and it doesn't matter, we have to find Trip and the Captain. Gather your men, and we'll head for the city," Malcolm said, trying to guess at the most direct route to the city. The ensign left, calling for the others.
T'Pol moved next to him. "Are you sure you know the way to go from here?"
Malcolm nodded, "Yes, well enough. We got a pretty good view of the bay where we crashed from atop that mountain."
T'Pol's gaze did not waver.
"I'll get us there, you'll see," he said forcing confidence in to his words.
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"...Just a bit farther..."
Archer looked ahead through the fog, shivering in the damp, "Where am I going?" he called out, his voice echoing against the hillside. He was not sure what to hope for when he reached his destination. If what he found there was what he thought he might... He shook his head; it was pointless to worry until he could do something.
"...there, just ahead..." the voice slid over the words.
He continued to march, gravel crunching under his boots. "You've been promising that for the last couple of hours. Are you sure this time?" he retorted.
"...go in..." the voice whispered.
"Where? Go in wh..." His question faded away as a crumbling structure came into view. "And T'Pol said there were no buildings on this planet..."
Not that it was much more then a few moldering stones and a left over foundation. None of the walls appeared to be left intact.
"...forward..." the voice directed.
He stepped over the flat remains of a wall's foundation. He continued to walk. Surely this building had been something when it had been standing.
Then, in the center of the remains, he saw a solid wall. Approaching it, he found it was the four walls of an inner room still very much intact.
"...Yes...enter..."
Archer raised a steady hand to touch to the flat surface of what appeared to be the entrance, but it sprang open just before he touched it. A cool blast of air hit his face. He went in. The interior was dim, lit by a few lights hanging from the ceiling and control consoles. He was baffled by the still operational technology before him. How was it possible if this civilization had been gone for as long as the building had been? He walked cautiously forward. The walls had once been white, but were now dingy and dull. Plant roots were beginning to worm their way through the concrete looking material.
"...Help him..." the voice repeated.
"Who?" Archer asked trying to see through the dimness. He looked at panels on the wall that had been carelessly torn off at some point, it looked recent. He felt his foot slip in something wet on the floor, forcing him to grab the wall to keep from falling. He squinted at the substance in the dark. There was a trail of it. He rounded the corner of a terminal.
"Trip!" he gasped.
Trip lay on the floor, Jon could see blood everywhere.
"Trip," he said again, grasping his friend's cold, cold hand.
"...just a bit longer..." the voice hissed.
"What have you done to him?!" he yelled, feeling sudden relief to find Trip wasn't dead...yet.
"...Nothing that wasn't necessary. Help him. He must live a little longer, or all will be lost."
"What?" he asked, not understanding. He looked back down at the pale face of his Chief Engineer. He squinted in the darkness, something wasn't right...something...
"Trip?" he ventured. The Commander made no answer, but his eyes continued their rapid weird movements under his eyelids.
"I won't need him for much longer," the voice whispered.
Jon could see something was terribly wrong here, as he looked closely down at his friend. And it was much more than the fact Trip was inches from death.
"Archer to Enterprise."
No answer came.
"Enterprise respond!" He said desperately, but knew they could not hear him.
The voice hissed.
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TBC...
a/n: Let me know what you think! Reviews of all sorts are most welcome!
I will apologize again about the time it's taking me to post. Blame it on ridiculous
deadlines set by unreasonably professors!
And a huge thanks to my beta!!!