CHAPTER 11

Hoshi was covered in sweat within minutes of entering the forest. Keeping a steady pace, she angled away from where she had broken through the dense foliage. She tried not to leave too many traces of her passage but the need to get away quickly outweighed being slowed down by caution.

She had to keep her eyes down, watching where she was stepping, so she wouldn't slip on the leaves littering the ground or the occasional vine which twisted across the ground between the trees. After every ten steps or so she'd glance up, trying to find something to use as a landmark to keep her going in the same direction. The last thing she wanted was to go around in a circle and wind up back where she had started.

Under her feet she could feel the ground rising slightly, and hoped that would lead to some gullies or creek beds or something that she could use for more concealment.

As she tossed yet another apprehensive glance over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her, she lost her footing. She hit the ground hard and lay panting for a few moments, trying to catch her breath. The sweat was pouring off her, and she wiped her face with the back of her hand.

Looking up, she could see one small patch of sky high above through a break in the canopy of leaves. Instead of the usual blue-green shade of Lanari sky, however, it was an ominous brown. She didn't know much about Lanari weather, but it looked like a storm was brewing.

Her eye was caught by a movement under the fallen leaves a few meters away. Hoshi watched fearfully as the leaves quivered and a snake-like head the size of her hand emerged, followed by a long, slithering body. The head lifted up, and she could see four long fangs protruding from the creature's mouth and two slender antennae on its head vibrating as it sensed movement.

Holding her breath, her eyes wide with fear, she scooted backward as quietly as she could. She pushed herself to her feet and gave the creature a wide berth, tip-toeing a few steps before breaking into a run.

She hadn't given a thought to what kind of wildlife there might be in the forest. Normally she wasn't scared of animals, but she had no idea what kind of animals were on Lanari and whether they posed a threat to humanoid life.

In addition to getting away from F'linu, she needed to keep a wary eye out for other creatures. And she would have to find shelter if a storm came up, she thought as she caught another glimpse of the brown sky. The canopy ought to keep the rain out for a while, and hopefully she could find some place to hide before she got soaked.

A few more minutes of running and she noticed the ground was becoming more uneven, with little rises and dips, and there was more ground cover again. She slowed her pace, putting a hand to the stitch she was getting in her side. Scanning the landscape through the trees in front of her, she could make out some low hills not too far away.

With renewed determination, she set out again.

P'kora slowed the vehicle for a turn-off. They left the pavement for a dirt road with grass growing up between the tracks and thick foliage crowding both sides.

"It's not far now," he said, wincing a little as the vehicle bottomed out on a rough patch.

The road twisted around, skirting some pools of stagnant water. What with the curves in the road and the abundance of trees and other plants, it was impossible to see very far ahead.

Malcolm's anxiety hitched up a notch. He was getting closer to Hoshi but he was worried by what may have happened to her. His fear was fueled by the adrenaline beginning to course through his body in anticipation of a confrontation with her captors.

He was opening his mouth to ask P'kora how much farther they had to go when he was startled to see a cargo-hauling ground carrier careening around the curve toward them. P'kora slammed on the brakes, making the vehicle slew to the side before coming to a halt. "It's them!" the Lanari said.

The two Klingons immediately jumped out, disruptors at the ready. One well-placed shot from Kleth took down the driver of the other vehicle as he opened his door to get out. A shot from Slanea's disruptor hit the engine and it to burst into flames.

Malcolm, P'kora and Trip scrambled out as two more Lanaris jumped out of the now-blazing cargo hauler and tried to run for cover. With his rifle, P'kora managed to shoot one who was running for the undergrowth at the side of the road, and a shot from Malcolm's disruptor clipped the arm of the other, who fell to the ground.

When there was no return fire, Malcolm and the Klingons cautiously approached the destroyed conveyance while P'kora covered them with the rifle.

Trip had remained behind running a scanner aimed in the direction of the burning vehicle. "That's all of them," he called out. "There's no one else inside."

Malcolm turned to look at him at this piece of information, and Trip added regretfully, "I'm sorry, Malcolm. She's not with them."

Kleth grabbed the Lanari who had been shot by Malcolm and dragged him over. When Kleth released his hold, the man collapsed in a heap on the ground, clutching his injured arm.

"Talk!" Kleth demanded, snarling down at the man.

P'kora, who had checked the other two Lanari and found both of them unconscious, came over and poked the man with his rifle.

"Talk," he repeated, jerking his head toward Kleth, "or I'll leave you alone with him."

"What do you want to know?" the Lanari asked, casting a fearful glance at the Klingon.

"Where is the off-worlder you kidnapped?" P'kora asked.

The Lanari on the ground hesitated, and P'kora poked him with the rifle again.

"She got away," the man said, flinching away from the gun.

"She got away?" Malcolm repeated.

"Yes, she escaped. She ran off into the jungle just before we left."

Malcolm closed his eyes, relieved that Hoshi was alive but now worried about what could happen to her in this wilderness. As he opened his eyes, he saw a grim smile cross Kleth's face.

"She is a strong and cunning one," Kleth said approvingly.

"Yes, but now we have to find her!" hissed Slanea. She looked distastefully at their surroundings.

Eyes on his scanner, Trip spoke up. "I can pick up her bio-sign with this. Shouldn't be too hard to track her."

As he adjusted the controls, Malcolm came over to peer at the scanner's screen. The device emitted a high-pitched beep and a dot appeared on the screen.

"There she is," Trip said, only to have the device beep again.

"Uh-oh," the engineer said with a worried glance at Malcolm. "There's another bio-sign. Whoever it is is goin' in the same direction."

Malcolm strode quickly over to the Lanari and yanked him to his feet. "Who's following her?" he asked threateningly.

The man gulped before answering. "It's F'linu. He said she was too valuable to let get away."

"F'linu is the Lanari Liberation League's leader," P'kora put in.

"We've got to move now, before they get too far ahead of us," Malcolm said, and heard an answering growl from Kleth.

P'kora, with Slanea's assistance, hastily cuffed the three men. There was a guarded expression on the police supervisor's face as he finished securing the last of them.

"P'kora?" Malcolm asked.

"I'm going with you," he said, nodding as if he had reached a decision. "I should remain here until I can arrange to have these men transported, but I'm not."

Straightening up, he dusted off his hands on his pants. "I'll send a message to headquarters. Chances are, however, the transmission will be picked up by other members of the LLL and these three will be gone before any of my people get here."

"You can stay here and we can go on without you," Malcolm said.

"No," P'kora said, his voice firm. "I started out to help you, and that's what I'm going to do. Besides," he added with a grim smile, "you may need my help once we go into the forest."

P'kora sent the transmission using a comm panel on his vehicle's control console. Then, without a further word, he hefted his rifle and began striding down the road past the burning cargo hauler. Malcolm looked at Trip, who shrugged and clipped the scanner on his belt. Kleth and Slanea were already following P'kora, and Malcolm and Trip hurried to catch up.

A few minutes walking at a brisk pace brought them to the hideout. To all appearances it was abandoned, the front door standing open, the clearing quiet except for the humming sound of some unseen insects.

Trip pulled out his scanner again and aimed it in the direction of the building. "Nobody's home," he said, wiping sweat from his brow.

P'kora, meanwhile, had been looking at the foliage surrounding the clearing. "She went that way," he said, indicating a break in the dense shrubbery.

Trip aimed the scanner in that direction and nodded. "Still pickin' up two bio-signs. The second one's catchin' up to the first one."

P'kora paused and looked up. "The weather is about the change. We must hurry."

Malcolm had been aware the light was getting dimmer. As he looked up, he could see dark clouds racing across the sky and could feel a slight breeze across his sweaty face.

"Let's go," Malcolm said, plunging into the undergrowth after P'kora.

Behind him he could hear the others following, Klingon curses coming from Slanea as the shrubbery slapped at her. There was a loud outburst in Klingon from Kleth, after which Slanea remained silent.

Despite his focus on finding Hoshi, Malcolm couldn't help but wonder how those two would get along. So far, Kleth didn't seem to be "winning" much of anything as far as Slanea was concerned.

Once the bushes thinned out and they were under the massive trees, Trip moved up to the front of the group. Scanner in one hand, he pointed with the other. "That way," he said, and the group set off at a rapid pace.

Hoshi had to slow down. The terrain had changed in the last five minutes as she had jogged along, and she was coming to the hills she had glimpsed earlier. She ran up over a small hill and skidded to a halt.

She was on a high bank overlooking a small ravine, a steep drop directly in front of her. A large, fast-flowing stream was about ten meters below her. She looked around, trying to find a way down so that she could cross the stream. She set off parallel to the ravine, and in a few minutes came across a muddy path leading downward.

She caught sight of a paw print the size of her fist, long scores in the mud ahead of it where the creature's claws had dug in. She concluded that animals used this path to get to the water, and fervently hoped she wouldn't run into any of them, at least not the one with the claws.

The route was slippery, and she slid, flailing her arms, until she grabbed a vine hanging down from one of the trees and used it to stop herself from sliding all the way to the bottom. Releasing the vine once she regained her balance, she more carefully picked her way down the path.

There was a sandbank at the bottom, and she could see a trail of paw prints leading to the water's edge. Whatever the animal was, it had come here to drink, and Hoshi realized she'd have to do the same. Dehydration was probably a worse threat than whatever alien bacteria might be in the water, and she wearily dropped to her knees, eagerly scooping up water in her hands.

She tried not to drink too quickly, afraid she'd get cramps, and paused to splash some of the cool water on her face. With a rueful grin, she thought about how she had been worried that she hadn't been getting enough exercise. She was more than making up for that now. She just hoped all this had no bad effect on the baby.

With a pang, she thought of Malcolm. She had to get out of this and contact him somehow. Thinking about how much time had passed, she despaired as she realized he probably was unaware of her predicament.

Here by the stream there was an unobstructed view of the sky. She gazed up to find the clouds had gotten thicker and more ominous looking. As she sat back on her heels to consider which way to go next, her ears picked up a low whistling sound, and she noticed the leaves on the trees at the top of the steep banks were shivering under the breeze.

Down here by the stream, she was protected from the wind, but once she left the sandbar and went back up into the forest, she would be buffeted. Much as she wanted to, she couldn't stay in the sheltered cove. One glance behind her was enough to show this might not be the best place to hole up during a heavy rain. The underside of the bank looked as if it had been scoured clean, probably by a flash flood.

In any case, she had to keep moving as long as she could, putting distance between her and anyone who might be chasing her.

Heaving a sigh, she got to her feet. A fallen tree bridged the stream a little distance away. She might be able to climb across the stream on that.

As she got closer, she could see that the tree had fallen recently. There were wilted greenish-blue leaves on its limbs, and while the trunk wasn't too thick, it looked like it would hold her weight. She would have to climb at about a 45-degree angle from the water's edge where she was at to the base of the trunk on the high bank on the other side, where she could see the tree's roots sticking into the air.

Luckily there were branches she could grasp. She would have to pull herself up, climbing the trunk like a ladder to reach the other side.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled herself up onto the trunk by grabbing a convenient branch, and carefully began stepping along. She made sure each of her hands was grasping a branch before moving either of her feet.

She was about halfway across when one of her feet slipped, and she had a moment of panic as one of the branches she was holding onto broke under the strain of her body's weight. But the other branch she was clinging to held, and she pulled herself back up.

She looked down at the rushing water as she caught her breath. Not a good place to fall in, she noted, seeing several large boulders just under the surface.

She carefully began moving again, making sure she had both hands anchored securely before each step. There were no further mishaps, and she collapsed on the ground when she finally stepped off the trunk on the far side.

Waiting only long enough for her shaking to subside, she got to her feet and looked around. It was getting darker. It was like twilight under the canopy of trees, with shapes blurred and indistinct in the distance. Her hair was whipping around in the wind, and she tore off a length of a nearby vine, using it to tie her hair back out of her face.

She began walking uphill, trying to find an overhang or perhaps another fallen tree, anything under which she could huddle against the coming storm. The wind was increasing and she could almost smell the rain that was coming. The temperature was starting to drop, too, and the wind chilled her as it swept over her sweat-soaked skin and clothing.

It was hard to keep going. She was so tired. She hadn't eaten much in the last two days. Combined with the stress pregnancy was putting on her body, she felt totally drained. If she could just find someplace out of the wind where she could rest.

Her foot skidded out from under her as she slid on some damp leaves, and she stumbled, landing on one knee. Panting, she looked around nervously for any more of the snake-like creatures she had seen earlier.

What she did see made her stand up quickly. There was a blank spot behind some of the foliage against the hillside she had been skirting. Hurrying over, she pushed back the leaves and some hanging vines, and found a depression in the side of the hill. A large slab of rock protruded from the hill, and the open area underneath was about the size of her bedroom. Best of all, it was completely hidden by the shrubs and plants.

She had found a place she could stop and rest out of the wind and coming rain. With a sigh of relief, she stepped past the foliage, only to feel a hand clamp onto her shoulder from behind.

"Did you really think I would let you get away?" F'linu asked.