The A'Ea Straits

"The A'Ea Straits?" T'Pol's eyebrows rose on her forehead. She reflexively took a step towards her science station, stopped herself. The revelation might be highly interesting from a scientific point of view, but she was the acting captain of Enterprise and it was only interesting as a possible reason for the disappearance of a shuttle with three crewmembers aboard. She recentered herself, squaring her shoulders, "Could you provide more information?"

Once Reed and Travis had painstakingly reviewed the terrain the shuttle flew over and found no sign of anomalies, Enterprise had hailed the A'Er'Orl back. T'Pol had finished recalibrating the UT with Specialist Gordon's help and any statement from the Eylordenes would be translated with 99.1% accuracy. The remaining zero point nine percent deviation inaccuracy was unacceptable from a number of perspectives in a managed, controlled environment. Departing from the planned mission to serve as the Federation representative for the induction of a new culture on the outer edge of the galaxy admittedly did not meet the requirements of a managed, controlled environment, and, therefore, the inaccuracy was something that had to be dealt with. T'Pol repressed a small sigh as she waited for the Eylordene to reply.

The alien on the screen shimmered in a wave of confusion, or possibly embarrassment. "The A'Ea Straits!" she repeated, as if the name itself was all the information that one would require. "Everyone knows about them," she added blinking in confusion, "We did not know the shuttle course would take it directly over the A'Ea Straits..."

Travis half-swiveled to T'Pol with a befuddled look. The Eylordenes didn't ask to review the route ahead of time. Nor did they mention any potential danger.

"It may be that everyone on A'Er'Orl knows about these Straits," T'Pol said with apparent calm, "but we are not familiar with all aspects of your planet." Reed glanced at her. Her delivery had grow emotionless and mechanical, her face had become stone-like and she was talking a tad slower than usual. Whoever knew Vulcans would know that was not a good sign. He looked around reflexivey for potential shelter. If he were the Eylordenes, he'd be providing a smidgen more information. Like a lot.

The alien on the screen blinked again and turned to talk to someone offscreen. She turned back to the screen, "The A'Ea Straits," she started resolutely, and then stopped, as if unsure of how to broach the subject, "We did not know the shuttle course would take it directly over -"

"You already mentioned that," T'Pol interrupted. Reed looked up at her, then at the alien. The Eylordene should really pick up on the fact that she was on dangerous footing.

She must have. "The A'Ea Straits is where the Ia'O live!" the Eylordene blurted out, looking flustered.

T'Pol glanced at Specialist Gordon who confirmed with a nod that this was an accurate translation. She looked at Reed who returned a nonplussed look. To Reed, it sounded like she was saying AyeHayHo - he quickly looked around. Everyone seemed as unsure about the word as he was. So it wasn't a translation issue. Or his hearing.

"The Eya'O?" T'Pol repeated.

Shadows of brown were streaking across the alien's robe. "The Ia'O," she corrected. She stopped, her robe undulating again, "The A'Ea Straits are where the Ia'O live." She sounded as if she was explaining rudimentary concepts to children. Her robe was speckled with small streaks of color. "They're a ... lifeform... endemic to a A'Er'Orl...," she added in a softer tone. The waves of color on her robe fell into an orderly pattern.

Her answer was accompanied by silence on the bridge. T'Pol took a step towards the screen, impassive as ever, though there was no mistaking the subtle undertone of aggressivity in the motion. "Please enlighten us about the I-A-O," she said, careful to pronounce the name as clearly as possible.

The alien once again turned to talk to someone offscreen. The screen went dark. There was a momentary pause and it lit up again with what looked like an electronic image. Reed nodded to himself. The alien had just tied them directly into their database. Good move.

Except he wasn't sure what he was looking at. It looked like funnels of water or perhaps fingers reaching to the sky. More fingers than would fit one hand. The computerized voice of the computer was commenting on the images, translated by the UT as best it could.

xxx

The Ia'O

Reed stared in open-mouthed shock. He didn't see what he thought he did, did he? There was no way... But the UT was saying the same thing as the image... No, it couldn't be... He didn't actually see that... that... thing!... swallow the shuttlecraft whole?!

Okay, it wasn't the shuttlecraft, just an image of some Eylordene flying vessel going too low over the A'Ea Straits, but still... What happened after... He couldn't help shudder at the thought. It couldn't be. Had he just watched a proxy of Hoshi swallowed whole by some monstruous life form on some alien planet? A water planet on top of it?! It couldnt be, it just couldnt be at all... could it?

He looked over at T'Pol in mute horror. Perhaps it was an hallucination, a trick from the aliens to control them... T'Pol would know. If there was one thing a Vulcan'd be able to counter, it was a trick of the mind. She'd be able to get them out of it. Hopefully.

But the captain seemed to be under the same spell, riven to the floor, staring emotionlessly at the screen with the stillness of a statue.

T'Pol's mind was processing a mass of information and possibilities. As presumed, something happened to the shuttle after they breached the planet's atmosphere. An event which took place so so quickly that trouble did not register on the bond. An event which was entirely predictable, had the Eylordenes deigned inform Enterprise of natural hazards in their biosphere. The Ia'O seemed to be the single answer to all pending questions. How convenient. Was there something else at play? Could it be that the Eylordenes' omission was deliberate, meant to prevent the shuttle from reaching the center of government? And if so, why? And why did nothing register in the bond? Enough time had elapsed that the absence of contact was in itself bothersome. Even if Trip's psi abilities were low, the images shown indicated he was in trouble. A possibility was that the planet's water acted like a natural dampening barrier and prevented the propagation of psi waves. That could also be a reason for the planet's toxicity to Vulcans, even though no comparative studies could ethically be designed to confirm the fact. Another possibility was that the Ia'Os themselves absorved the psi waves. Which included a degree of psionic abilities. Yet another possibiliy was that the images had been fabricated.

Too much data was missing to draw a single conclusion. She raised an eyebrow at the alien. "Are you intimating that our landing party was consumed by one of the Ia'O's?" she asked.

"The Ia'O's swallow the shuttle whole." White flecks flowed across the alien's robe as she replied.

T'Pol's eyebrow rose further. That did not really answer her question. "And if that happened, the landing party should be considered lost?" she went on.

The alien shimmered before replying, "The Ia'O's cannot digest the shuttle itself. They will eventually expel it."

The other eyebrow joined the first. It was becoming obvious the Eylordene was avoiding answering. "And what about the people inside?" T'Pol pressed on. It was unsettling to just sit there while one's mate was being slowly and successfully digested.

The Eylordene's robe was a cacophony of undulations, "... It depends what they do... and how long the Ia'O' takes to expel..."

"But if they do not exit the vessel and the Ia'O' expels them promptly, the crew inside can be saved?" T'Pol kept the pressure on.

The white flecks on the alien's robe disappeared, "... The A'Ea Straits are thousands of miles wide...," she finished lamely.

T'Pol was nonplussed by the answer. What did the alien mean to imply? A movement from Ensign Mayweather drew her attention. He was signaling, trying to impart a piece of information, urgent, from his countenance. When he got her attention, he whispered "ability to fly" so softly she was the only one who could have heard it.

She looked back at the alien on the screen, "That fact is of importance because the shuttle may no longer have the ability to fly?"

The alien nodded, her robe smoothing itself out, "The digestive process... the pressure will warp the guidance system. The Ia'O will also digest the softer parts, only the hard metal shell remains."

T'Pol nodded in understanding. "So unless rescue teams happen to be in close proximity of where the shuttle is digested, the shuttle will eventually sink...?"

"Yes," the alien's robe was in a state of repose.

T'Pol looked over at Reed. He nodded in return, knowing exactly what she had in mind. The shuttle was engineered for long weeks in space, its crew had plenty of resources. T'Pol herself had made sure there was a strict protocol around emergency supplies refill after the incident with Shuttle One. So long as Trip didn't open the door... He wouldn't, they all were too experienced for that. Now all Enterprise had to do was set up the search parties, a search web, figure out how to closely monitor the entire Straits. Kid's play, actually.

"Very well," T'Pol turned back to the alien, ready to bring an end to the conversation. "We will proceed with extensive research of the A'Ea Straits and identify the location of our shuttle."

The Eylordene took a breath that sounded like the clapping of a wave against a rock, "I am afraid we do not have the time."

xxx