AN: Thanks for the reviews! eats cookies So, here's another chapter, had fun writing this. Enjoy! Reviews very welcome!
"No, no! Move your foot!"
"Ah'm not the one squashing me!"
"If you don't move your foot, being squashed is the last thing you need to worry about!"
"Just...push off against me!"
"No! Bloody -HMPF-!"
"Are you okay, Mal?"
"No! I'm not freaking okay! I think you broke my nose."
"....sorry?"
A sigh, then: ".....On three."
"One-"
"Two-"
"Three!"
There were 2 identical thuds as both men pushed against the wall and tried to lean against each other. After they managed to get upright in the ropes, they had been trying to get into this position for the last 20 minutes. But now, finally, they seemed to have succeeded. There was a moment of silence, before one of the two spoke up.
"Well, about time." Malcolm said, frowning. He had half expected that Trip would be too late again, and he would have squished the engineer against the other wall.
"We're not there yet." Came the reply. "We still have to walk up." They had decided they still wanted to take a look through that window, and that was exactly what they were trying to do now.
"Right." Malcolm answered. He felt that Trip gripped the ropes a little tighter, too. He did the first step, and felt the balance change. Trip compensated by doing one step up himself. The balance restored itself. Another step followed and after a few seconds they were actually walking up the wall.
"Only one more meter." The Lieutenant said, he gritted his teeth as he pushed against Trip again to take the next step. It was a bit harder than he expected. The engineer acknowledged the message and followed suit.
When after a few more seconds, Malcolm didn't move again, Trip figured they must have reached the window.
"What do ya see?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"A lot of stuff. I think there's computers in there. A bunch of blankets, a display showing some kind of schematics and...-" A pause, before; "..Oh."
Malcolm stopped talking when he registered that the 'bunch of blankets' was actually one of the aliens, because it woke up when the door opened. Behind the door stood another alien. He stared directly at Malcolm, disbelief and confusion was written on it's face.
"Oh?" Trip repeated, not seeing what Malcolm saw. "Oh as in ;Oh, that's interesting. Or as in ;Oh...we're screwed?"
---
Second in command - Dack'o Sandi Manamua, or for everybody outside this building; just Dack, walked briskly through the corridors. A small smile played around his lips. The 'mission' was going well. He was satisfied with the abilities of their alien 'visitor'. The young linguist had found the code in no more than 5 minutes.
Of course he had known she was good, their little friend Ambol had told them. Still, Dack didn't trust him at all. The green squeaking little alien was being more than only annoying. Though he had said that he wouldn't try to 'read their minds' as Dack's friend, Sald had so easily put it. Dack still thought Ambol was hiding something.
When he had found out that the linguist had been lying, he hadn't been angry. He had been expecting it, though the woman couldn't possible have known about Ambol's unique...ability.
Dack wasn't a cruel man. Well not particularly cruel. He told himself. But he had to ensure that the woman would cooperate. Threatening like he did back in that room wasn't something he did everyday, but he hadn't been playing along. There would be consequences.
He reached the door of the small observation room. They could monitor the other two aliens from there. He thought hanging them upside down in a room would prove a challenge for them. He was curious to find out how they would cope with the situation. He liked to think about it as another test of some sort. Maybe they had already woken, maybe not. Maybe they had already tried to figure out what was going on, or maybe they were just hanging there, unable to do anything.
He opened the door and stepped in. The first thing he noticed was the officer on duty, Ten'o woke up with a start. Before Dack could snap at him for falling asleep, however, he saw with a shock the smallest of the aliens staring directly at him through the glass. With his hands free, no less. Dack stared for a moment or two, unable to say something. He had expected an attempt to get free of some sort, but whatever he had been expecting, it wasn't this.
The black haired man stared back at him, looking more alert than surprised to see them. He said something to his companion. Who, Dack now could see, was still on the other side of the rope. Dack recovered from the surprise and grinned.
Interesting. He thought and took a step towards the computers.
Ten'o had now also noticed the starfleet officers. He blinked, trying to decide what was scarier. That the aliens were more capable than they thought, or his superior officer grinning like that.
"How long did it take them to unlock their hands and get in this position?" Dack asked, staring at the officer on duty. He was much too intrigued by their alien friends to be angry at Ten'o. Sadly, Ten'o didn't seem to notice. The young man stuttered his answer.
"I..I don't know." He whispered.
"Because you were asleep." Dack said and glared at him for a second. "Just rewind the recordings, you idiot."
"Yes sir!" The young man said, and whirled around to do just that.
---
"Now what's he doin'?" Trip asked, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. Malcolm frowned while he saw the scene unfolding in front of him.
"He's...grinning." The Brit answered, feeling more than a little uncomfortable with the grin.
"Grinnin'?" Came the reply, and a groan followed. "We're doomed."
"Now they're talking..." Malcolm continued, ignoring his friend's prediction. The situation was beginning to be weirder by the minute. The two aliens were now ignoring them, totally absorbed in watching something on one of the displays. "They're looking at one of the computers."
"What? What are they watching?" Trip asked. Malcolm sighed. "I can't see." He answered.
"Let me take a look." Trip answered. Malcolm's eyes widened. "No! Wait! This is not-"
He stopped abruptly when a hard tug on his ropes told him what he had wanted to prevent.
"Oh shit!"
Trip had tried to turn around and had succeeded in losing his grip on the wall and fell down. Because they were still connected, Malcolm was hauled backwards. His first reflex was to try and stop himself from falling, and his hand shot out to the other side of the wall. He succeeded in stopping himself, but was now horizontally positioned across the room, his face towards the ceiling. Then Trip's weight pulled him down when the engineer was stopped because Malcolm had stopped moving. The Brit gritted his teeth as he tried to hold on with the extra weight now pulling on him.
"Hold on! Don't let go, Mal!" Trip yelled at the armory officer. They had fallen before, and it wasn't an experience either of them wanted to repeat.
"I'm trying!" Came the reply. For a moment he seemed to be succeeding, but then he was ever so slowly dragged down the wall. He hands were pulled down across the granular wall painfully, and for a moment he cursed the one who had designed it.
"Ah'm moving down, that's now a good sign, Mal!" Trip said, holding onto the ropes and looking down at the ground.
"I am aware, thank you!" Malcolm answered dryly, trying to change his position and gaining some grip on the walls.
--
"That's remarkable!" Dack said as he watched the video images were Trip had just succeeded in opening their handcuffs. Then both aliens flinched slightly when they saw the Starfleet officers being pulled in different directions. Soon enough it only resulted in another admirable nod from the second in command when on the screen Malcolm stopped them from smashing against the floor or ceiling.
"Well, well. I think we need to have a chat with our visitors." He stated and looked up with a grin. The grin vanished however, when he looked through the window.
"Where have they gone?" He asked, puzzled when he no longer saw the Starfleet officers outside the window. Had he continued to watch the images that were now on the screen, he would have seen the situation Trip and Malcolm had gotten themselves into, just below the view of the window.