Chapter 6:

Taking T'Pol's worries and advices into consideration, the Captain had decided not to take a shuttle down to the planet. It was to expect that whoever lived on this planet would want to examine the small ship, and that wasn't a thing they could allow to happen. They needed to be careful.

Carefullness however seemed to be a thing, especially Malcolm was caring about. Jonathan was thankful for that, for having the young armory officer with him. He knew he was as emotional as Jon was, but he was able to keep them locked behind his professionalism. He was closely scanning his surrounding, looking for the last hint of any danger to the away team.

The doctor on the other hand seemed pretty curious about the surrounding, although Jonathan couldn't actually understand where it came from. There wasn't much of any interest to see, just wide seas of sand as far as the eye was reaching. Jon had no idea if there were any deserts on Denobula – maybe the doctor had never seen anything like this before.

"It's quiet an interesting place."

Phlox anounced all of a sudden, giving a warm smile to the Captain and an unfocused handsign to the surrounding.

"Pardon me?"

"It looks absolutely lifethreatening at a first view, but when you look closer – you will encounter lots of life – lots of living creatures in this deserted world..."

Jonathan simply nodded, without really listening to the doctor. He had more pressing thoughts and wishes that were troubling his mind. He had no scientific interest in this planet. The one thing he wanted to know, the one thing he was here for was to detect the source of the ominious bio-sign and find out who it belonged to.

They had beamed down on the planet about half a mile from the bio-signs source away. They hadn't dared to get any closer – they had no idea what they had to expect, but on the other hand they couldn't land further away. The planet's surface was too hot, too life-feindlich to walk around on it for much longer than about an hour.

The temperature was at almost 40 degrees celsius and it was still early morning – it was obviously summertime on this world and the temperature would rise to more than 60 degrees maximum. That was not a surrounding to stay in... They needed to hurry.

The biosign was getting closer with every step they were taking, as they could see by constantly reading the signs on their tricorders. Jonathan hadn't asked him, but he knew Phlox was concerned, he could see it on his face.

"Whoever this bio-sign belongs to – the person is not well, Captain."

Jonathan gave a surprised gaze and a quick nod to Phlox. He hadn't been aware of the fact that his own concern had been that visible on his face. Phlox had a very good eye for every "patient's" feelings – obviously... Still the doctors' words didn't make him feel any more comfortable.

They climbed up a sand dune, behind which a black rocky surface came into view. There – underneath a cliff of stone in the shadow – hidding from the burning sun stood a small – brig-build house. It was tiny, shabby and without any signs of life from their point of. But as the biosign definitely came from in there, there had to be inhabitants to this home.

They carefully climbed down the dune, getting into the rocky valley and approaching the small house. Jonathan could literally see Malcolm's uneasiness grow with every second that they came closer to the house. They were about to make contact with it's inhabitants and they couldn't in any way predict what would happen then.

All of a sudden and without any warning, a shoot rang through the air. It definitely had been fired from the house, but it had hurt nobody. A young and definitely Talian woman had appeared in the doorframe of the house, aiming her rifle at them and angrily yelling in her own tongue. The translator picked up her words and Jonathan hurried to answer her question.

"Who the hell are you guys and what the hell do you want!"

"We came here for help and assistance. We are searching for someone, a man, a human and we have reason to believe he's here at this place."

"I have not even the slightest idea what you're talking about! Now get away from here!"

She was still pointing her gun at them and the look on her face was the one of grim determination. She wasn't willing to trust them, she wasn't even willing to listen to them and she would definitely shoot at them if they couldn't make her believe in their words. It was a rough place to live at and she probably hadn't even an idea of the concept of friendship and helpfullness. Still they needed to convince her. Jonathan was determined to not leave this place before he wouldn't get an answer to the question that was swirling around his mind since T'Pol had encountered the human biosign.

"Please, we really don't mean you no harm. We simply want to help you. The man you're trying to protect may be one of our crewmen and it's our responsibility to take care of him. We know that he's injured and we want to offer you our medical services. We can help you!"

Silence emerged between the four of them and the woman stared at them suspiciously. She still wouldn't lower her gun, but Jonathan somehow had the impression that he had reached her, that he had found a basis to negotiate with her.

"I want you to stay here! I'm going to talk to my companion you believe to be your crewman and we'll see what he says about all this. We'll see if he knows you!"

She went backwards to the house without turning around and still kept the rifle aimed at them until she reached the entrance door of the building. And then she disappeared inside.

As soon as she was out of sight of the strangers she let down her guard and put down the gun. She could hear him in the backroom of the small house and concern immediataly rose in her. She could hear him cough and she knew he was in pain. Maybe the group of outlanders was actually able to help them...

She went to the backdoor room and her concern grew even more when she entered it. Her sound hadn't tricked her – he didn't just sound sick, he also looked that way, in an awful way actually. He was pale, his eyes glassy and barely opened and she could see the sweat forming on his forehead. He was in a fever. She knew she was losing him to a disease unknown to her and she couldn't do anything against it. Not by herself, but maybe she had found a way right now.

"Who were you talking to?"

She managed not to wince when he addressed her, but she actually hadn't expected him to detect her presence after all. She had expected him to be highly delirious. Him not being that way was a good sign, but still the sound of his raspy, low, far away sounding voice was nothing that was giving much hope to her.

"There are some outlanders outside, who wish to negotiate..."

"What about?"

"You,..."

"Me? How come?"

„They say that they know you, that they came to take you back… They say they know who you are."

"Do you believe them?"

"I don't know, but they have a doctor with them. They asked me for permission to have a look at you, to treat your illness..."

"You think this is wise? I mean we don't know who they are, we have no idea about their intentions. You told me that the stranded outlanders on this planet are send here for punishment – they are prisoners, thieves and murderers mostly – as an exile, as a prison. What if this isn't enough for them any more? What if they came here to finish me off?"

"I may tell them to leave, but I won't lie to you – they are far better armed and equipped than we are... If they want to claim you, I can't stop them from doing it."

"I don't want you to get into any danger... Alright then, let them get inside."