Again, two chapters today. Go read Ch. 11 first before you read this one, please.

CHAPTER 12

"The second bio-sign has caught up to the first one," Trip called over the rising wind.

"Are we still on the right track?" Malcolm shouted.

Trip nodded his head as he kept moving, one arm raised to shield his eyes from the wind as he peered at the readout on the scanner.

Trip and Malcolm were in the lead, followed by P'kora. The Klingons brought up the rear. They had made good time at first. The ground was fairly level where they'd entered the forest, and the trees were far enough apart that they didn't have to search for a path through them.

But as the storm approached, the diffuse light under the trees became even dimmer, and they were forced to slow down to watch their footing. Their pace fell off even more when they came to a series of small inclines and increased undergrowth. Then the wind had picked up, almost as if it was trying to hold them back, and they had to lean into it to make any headway.

"We need to find shelter soon!" P'kora yelled from behind Malcolm.

"We've got to find Hoshi!" he called back over his shoulder.

"If she's smart, she'll find some shelter and sit this out," P'kora replied, catching up to Malcolm and grabbing his arm. "If F'linu is with her, that will be his first priority. He's a Lanari -- he knows what these storms are like."

Turning to face the police supervisor, Malcolm said angrily, "If he's with her, all the more reason to keep going!"

"You don't understand. These storms can be dangerous."

The two men stared at each other, Malcolm's determination clear in the set of his features, and P'kora gave in, releasing his hold on Malcolm's arm.

"All right. We can keep going for a short time yet," P'kora said. "But if we don't find her soon, the storm will make us stop in any case."

Malcolm spun around to catch up with Trip, who had kept trudging doggedly along, following the information on the scanner. P'kora shook his head and followed.

Hoshi pulled free from F'linu's hold on her shoulder, whirled around to face him,and backed away until she came up against the far wall of the cave. Watching him standing in the opening, his unblinking eyes glittering in the semi-darkness as he looked at her, she was reminded of the snake thing she had seen earlier, and she shivered.

While she was panting from exertion and fear, he looked as if he had just finished a stroll in the park. He was carrying a rifle in one hand, and there was a canteen slung on his belt.

"You're thirsty, aren't you?" he said in his soft, smooth voice as her gaze came to rest on the canteen.

She was unable to keep from running her tongue over her dry lips as he unhooked the canteen from his belt. She watched as he unstoppered the canteen and raised it to his lips and took a long drink.

Lowering the water container, he looked at her for a moment, then held it out to her. She hesitantly took a few steps toward him, her arm outstretched for the canteen. At the last moment, just as her fingers brushed it, she shoved at him as hard as she could, trying to knock him to the side.

F'linu stumbled one step, and she lunged past him for the opening. Pushing aside the hanging foliage, she broke into a run as soon as she was clear of the entangling growth, only to stop after a few steps at the scene before her.

In the few moments they had been under the shelter of the overhang, the wind had increased tremendously. Although the tall tree trunks seemed unbowed, their limbs were twisted by the force of the wind, and debris was being hurled through the air. She closed her eyes reflexively at a blinding flash of light, and cringed when thunder boomed almost immediately, making her ears ring.

Strong hands clasped her unprotesting arms and dragged her back into the sheltered area.

"You little fool!" F'linu shouted at her. "Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out in this? You can be killed out there right now. If the lightning doesn't kill you, a falling tree limb will."

Hoshi broke away from him to stumble back against the far wall where she slid down to the ground, drawing her knees up and putting her head on them. F'linu was right -- she couldn't go out there in this.

She was aware of him watching her, but she ignored him. After several long minutes, she heard a new sound, and lifted her head to hear better. What started out as a patter of raindrops was rapidly becoming a downpour, and the sound was so loud that she could barely make out F'linu's next words.

"We're going to have to stay here until this is over," he said loudly to be heard over the monsoon-like deluge.

Moving away from the opening, he paused to look at some roots protruding into their shelter's walls and ceiling. He pulled a knife from a sheath at his belt and cut away some of the roots, tossing them in a pile near the opening. Then he ducked outside into the storm for a few seconds, returning with a large piece of decaying tree trunk and some branches. Scooping up some dry leaves that were in the shelter, he placed them on the pile as well.

Arranging the cut roots around the piece of tree trunk off to the side of the cave entrance, F'linu said, "This is going to smoke at first. The wood is wet, but only on the outside."

Reaching into one of his pockets, he pulled out a small device. A small flame appeared when he depressed a button, and he used it to set the dry leaves aflame. Soon a small fire was burning steadily, smoke rising and drifting toward the opening.

Hoshi shivered and inched closer to the blaze. The air was getting cooler, and her lightweight clothing, which had been soaked with her perspiration, wasn't keeping her very warm.

F'linu, she noticed, sat down between her and the opening, effectively trapping her in the cave.

Looking back at the fire, she sighed. She had managed to get away from him once. She seriously doubted she could do it again, especially if he was going to keep a close watch on her.

Closing her eyes, she let her thoughts drift to Malcolm. She'd been gone for two days, but it seemed like forever. She visualized his face and found some comfort in recalling their conversation at dinner when she had told him about the baby.

"What are you thinking about?" F'linu asked from across the fire.

She looked sharply at him. "None of your business," she said.

"You were smiling."

"It had nothing to do with you," she said. "Why can't you just let me go? I'm of no use to you."

"On the contrary," he said, raking his eyes over her. "I can think of several uses for you."

There was an edge to his voice which made her shudder, and once again she was reminded of a snake staring at its prey.

Two humans, two Klingons and a Lanari gazed down at the rushing water below them.

"They're on the other side," Trip hollered over the noise of the wind.

"Of course they are," Malcolm muttered to himself. It was too much to expect that finding Hoshi would get any easier than it had been.

The journey was getting more difficult by the moment. As if the wind wasn't enough, now it was beginning to rain, large drops splattering on them through the opening in the tree canopy at the stream.

They couldn't wade across. The water was too swift. But if Hoshi and F'linu had made it across, there had to be a way for them to cross as well.

From the top of the high bank where they were standing, there was a good view of the ravine in both directions, and Malcolm was peering across the stream at the higher cliff-like bank on the opposite side when Slanea growled.

"Look!" she said, pointing to the sandbar below them.

"At what?" Malcolm said. "I don't see anything."

"There are tracks near the water's edge," she said.

Squinting, Malcolm could just make out footprints leading to the water's edge. P'kora came to stand next to him and peered down.

"That has to be from one of them," the Lanari said. "It rains often enough that any old tracks would have been washed away."

Kleth had moved away from the group in the direction the tracks followed the stream. After walking a few meters he called back, "I see a tree down across the water. We can use that to make our way across."

Kleth found the path down to the stream, and the group hurried down it with much slipping and sliding. When they reached the huge trunk spanning the water, P'kora slung his rifle over his shoulder.

"Let me go first," he said, and hopped up onto the tree trunk.

The Lanari nimbly climbed up the trunk without incident until he reached the top where the roots protruded from the ravine's edge. As he jumped off on the far side, a gust of wind caught him, making him stumble when he hit the ground. Regaining his footing, P'kora turned to wave to the others.

Malcolm was next. Grasping the branches, he made his way up safely, although not as quickly as P'kora. Having seen the Lanari stumble at the top, Malcolm was ready when the ascent took him into the full brunt of the wind above the ravine, and he stepped down onto the ground with no difficulty.

The rain was coming down harder when it was Trip's turn to cross. The engineer clipped the scanner to his belt to free both his hands to climb the tilting trunk, and Kleth gave him a boost to hurry him along.

Malcolm waited impatiently. This was taking too long. The storm's full force would be upon them soon, and they had to find Hoshi before then.

P'kora, scouting around, had found the spot where Hoshi had gone into the forest on this side, and the temptation to go on ahead was great. At the very least, Malcolm would wait until Trip made it over with the scanner which they needed to track Hoshi and F'linu. Slanea and Kleth could catch up after they made it across the stream.

Wiping the rain from his face, Malcolm turned to watch Trip's progess. The engineer slipped about a third of the way up, but he managed to hang on and pull himself back up. He was moving forward again when Malcolm heard a thunderous noise over the sound of the rain.

Glancing in puzzlement at P'kora, he saw the Lanari looking worriedly upstream.

Suddenly P'kora yelled, "Hurry!"

Malcolm followed his gaze and saw a wall of water rushing down the ravine. Turning back, he saw that Trip was only about halfway across the now wildly rushing stream. Trip had stopped at P'kora's cry and looked upstream, too, but now he was scrambling as fast as he could.

Malcolm knew Trip wouldn't make it across in time.

"Hold on to something!" he yelled at Trip, thinking the engineer might be able to ride out the onslaught of water.

Trip didn't hear him, or if he did, chose to ignore Malcolm's directive, and kept moving up the trunk. Malcolm caught his breath as the man slipped twice, but both times hung on and pulled himself back up.

There was no way Malcolm could climb back down the trunk to help Trip. He would most likely slip himself and wind up hurtling into Trip, throwing them both into the water.

On the opposite side of the stream, Kleth and Slanea were clambering up to higher ground to escape the rampaging water. They should be out of the way of the flood by the time it reached this point, Malcolm thought.

Trip was another story, however. The trunk had apparently become more slippery from the rain, and for every step Trip took, he slid half a meter or so backward. Any forward movement he made was due primarily to his grip on the tree's branches. He was pulling himself up toward the high bank, his legs all but useless as he tried unsuccessfully to gain purchase on the slick, scaly bark.

Malcolm looked at the rapidly closing wall of water and gauged that Trip would be above its height. It ought to pass a meter or so below where he was.

"Hang on!" he yelled again just before the front edge of the wall of water slammed into the trunk below where Trip was clinging.

Trip was going to make it, Malcolm thought in relief, and switched his attention across the ravine to pick out Kleth and Slanea standing safely atop the bank on the other side.

A loud cracking sound made him yank his gaze back, only to see the trunk shudder violently. Debris in the rushing flood must have hit the trunk under the surface, and had caused Trip's precarious perch to shift position.

Trip began trying to climb higher as the groaning trunk cracked in half. Malcolm and P'kora had to jump back as the end of the tree with the roots swung around, twisting and falling over the ravine's edge, taking Trip down into the water with it.

"Trip!" Malcolm cried out uselessly, the words torn from his mouth by the wind. He set off at a run along the lip of the ravine, trying to catch sight of Trip who was being swept away in the tumult below.

P'kora was right behind him, and Malcolm caught glimpses of Kleth and Slanea running along the opposite bank. His pace was hampered by the downpour and the unstable footing, and he stumbled, only to stop himself by falling against a tree.

He saw the engineer's head bob up from under the surface as the water carried him along. Luckily Trip had managed to stay on the trunk until the crest had passed; otherwise, Malcolm realized, he might have been sucked under immediately and drowned. As it was, the water was moving so swiftly that Trip would rapidly be carried out of sight down the stream.

Then Trip slammed into a boulder in the middle of the rushing stream, and Malcolm could hear his scream of pain above all the other noise. Trip's progress downstream was halted, his head and shoulders above the water, the force of the current holding him in place against the boulder.

As Malcolm searched for a way down the ravine, his anxiety about Hoshi was superseded by his worry about how badly Trip was hurt and how they were going to get him out of there.