Chapter 5

At an all-out run it took them just minutes to reach the wooded hilly area, but when they arrived, they were completely soaked. "Not good," Beverly gasped as Picard wiped the rain out of his own eyes.

"I haven't been in a storm like this since I was a boy," he said, blinking as water continued to stream down his face.

"You were a boy once?" Beverly remarked with a deadpan expression. In combination with her drenched face and hair, he could not help but find it amusing.

He smiled. "As odd as that may seem…yes. Now let's try and find some kind of shelter." But as they looked around them, there was none. "I think if we climb higher we'll reach the caves," Picard shouted, pointing upward. The thunder and lightning spurred them on, and they began to climb up a steep slope side by side, which only grew steeper until they realized they were nearly vertical. At some point Picard took the med kit from her and slung it over his back. Repeatedly they grasped a root ahead of them and then tried to propel themselves upward with their legs. It was extremely slippery and had it not been for the pouring rain they would have been completely covered in mud.

"You know," Beverly said trying to distract her mind from the fact that they were now much higher up than she found comfortable. "It used to rain on Caldos literally for days. I would grow so used to it that it was almost shock to see the sun."

"Oh? The summers seemed almost endlessly sunny at my home growing up. But the sun was my father's livelihood. We relied on it. In fact I can't think of anything worse than the days and days of rain you describe."

Just then they heard a roaring sound above them, and were horrified to see a rush of mud and water rushing toward them. "Oh no," Picard said, and linked his arm around Beverly's waist, gripping the root he'd been holding as tightly as possible.

"Shit!" Beverly cried out. They ducked their heads as the small mudslide descended upon them. Mercifully it was over so quickly and they did not lose their grips and were able to hang on.

His teeth now chattering, Picard closed his eyes and rested his head against the cold clay of the hillside. "That was close," he breathed. He could feel the rapid rise and fall of Beverly breathing as he carefully pulled his arm from around her waist.

Beverly spit out a mouthful of moss and looked at him. "Still can't think of anything worse than a little rain?"

Getting her point, Picard said nothing, but looked up ahead. "Look, we're almost there," he said. "Not much further and then we can find Riker."

"Right," was all she said.

Several minutes later they reached the top of the cliff and collapsed on the wet earth. After a moment's rest Picard pushed himself up, and reached out to help Beverly only to find that she had sprung to her feet before he had. She had her tricorder out and was looking for life signs. "It's faint, but at least here I've got something that could be Riker and his team," she said. She smiled at him through a face full of mud and said, "We're almost there."

Encouraged by her enthusiasm, he smiled back and looked up into the thick treetops, as the rain had become less heavy. "The storm's passing." He looked around them and then pointed. "Look! It's a cave entrance." Adjacent to the cave entrance was a beautiful waterfall flowing all the way down to the ground below them. He glanced back at Crusher to find that her bright demeanor had left her. He frowned and was prompted for some reason to place his hand on her shoulder. "Doctor, what's wrong?" Almost immediately, he removed his hand self-consciously, but she hadn't seemed to notice.

She pointed in the same direction he had been looking and glared at him like he was crazy. "I can't get over to that. Look how tiny that ledge is!" She swallowed and peered down over the cliff only to be welcomed by a wave of vertigo. "Ugh," she said, stepping backward.

She's afraid of heights, he noted with some surprise, finding it odd that she was afraid of anything at all. He followed her gaze and noted that yes, in order to get to the mouth of the cave they would have to traverse a very narrow ledge. In the pouring rain, while covered in mud. He thought it best not to suggest that it could be worse, lest he be proven wrong once again.

He smiled trying to be as encouraging as possible. As long as we stay tightly to the rock wall, we'll be fine," he reassured her. She forced a quick smile. "It's not far," he said. "Ready?"

Picard stepped out carefully onto the ledge and flattened himself against the wall, hoping to avoid another mudslide. His soggy uniform made a sucking sound against the rock and his boots were sodden with mud and water. He took a shuffling step to the left and then waved to Beverly. "It's alright, come on. It's very stable, don't worry."

Taking a deep breath she copied his movements, and refused to look down between her feet. She could hear the rush of the waterfall growing louder which meant they were reaching their destination. Instead of being encouraged, however, she felt a stab of fear and her legs wobbled. She stopped and shut her eyes tightly.

Picard looked at her with concern. "Come now, Doctor…all of that dancing you used to do has developed much better balance than I will ever have." She finally opened her eyes and looked at him and he could see the fear slowly ebbing. "You see?" he urged her gently. "I know this is nothing to you. We're almost there." She smiled at him and to his surprise, she reached out to grab his hand tightly.

If his heart had been fine before, it was now rapidly beating, but he didn't pull his hand away. Continuing their shuffling motion in silence they finally reached the other side. They jumped down into the cave entrance, seeing that it was flat, and were glad to get into some shelter finally. The ceiling of the cave was high enough that they didn't even need to duck.

Beverly sat down cross-legged on the damp floor. "Let's rest here for a minute, alright?"

He nodded and crouched down beside her looking out into the waterfall. It was so beautiful he admitted to himself, and yet all he could feel was uneasiness.

Elsewhere...

"Sir, if we are able to get out of this cave system, we can contact the Enterprise and beam out from there," Yar said.

"You heard the Captain," Riker said, trying to wrap Doctor Francis' ankle with a bandage from a small field med kit. "He told us to stay in one place. But you're right, Lieutenant. If we can get the doctor out of here and then meet the Captain at the cave entrance all will be well." He put his hand on Francis' shoulder. The man was pale and in shock, and had struck his head along with breaking his ankle when he'd tripped and fallen down into this larger cavern.

The last thing he wanted was for Captain Picard or Doctor Crusher to break their necks coming down here too. "Doctor can you walk with our help?" he asked the shivering man.

"Uh…uh I think so," the doctor said and slowly sat up. He felt the back of his head. "What the hell happened?"

Yar stood over him. "You fell," she said flatly.

Riker raise an eyebrow and looked up at his Security Chief. It was hard to miss the disapproving tone. How anyone could have tripped while doing something so simple as walking was probably beyond the limits of her tolerance. Riker stood up and looked at her. "Let's look for a way out, Lieutenant," he said calmly.

She nodded, and was immediately checking the perimeter for openings. Suddenly there was a scraping sound, and Riker nearly jumped out of his skin. "What was that?" he whispered.

Yar had already pulled her phaser. "It's coming from over there," she indicated. "Someone's been watching us!"

"Easy, Lieutenant," he warned her. "Remember what the Captain said about avoiding the locals." But it was too late. Riker could see a pair of glinting eyes and then a shuffling as someone or something moved away quickly into the darkness.