Chapter 11

Thorpe took point as he led the search party into the forest, his phase pistol drawn and his eyes alert. Colonel Kostopoulos was close behind him, followed by a chain of six MACOs separated evenly by two Starfleet medics.

They made their way towards the indistinct cluster of humanoid biosigns. Although, once deep inside the dense woodland, their scanners were useless outside of a few meters. They proceeded based on memory.

It already seemed like they had been walking for hours, without any sign of the original survey party, and the only thing different about the strange landscape was that the trees were getting closer together. It created the unnerving impression that they were being surrounded.

Thorpe was beginning to think about turning back and getting signal beacons from their shuttlepod, to help mark the path, when a sight before him stopped him short. He reflexively raised his hand, in a fist, silently alerting the others to halt as well, staring in surprise at what he observed.

Commodore North was standing just ahead of them, smiling. "Well done, Captain," he said. "All your hard work has paid off."

"Sir?" Thorpe said, bewildered. He was about to question the Commodore as to why he was out here, apparently alone, but it didn't feel like so much of a concern all of a sudden.

"You're finally getting your own command, Thorpe," said North. "Come this way and I'll escort you to your ship. It'll be all yours…"

"Yes, sir…" said Thorpe, stepping forward as if sleepwalking.

A hand on his shoulder broke him out his trance. "Captain?" It was Kostopoulos, behind him. "Do you see something?"

Thorpe whipped around to face her, and the absurdity of the sight he had just witnessed hit him like a slap. He turned back to see that "North" was now gone. How could he have believed such a ridiculous scenario?

There was no point in keeping it quiet; anything could be a clue to the survey team's disappearance. "I… I thought I saw the Commodore, just ahead," he said.

Kostopoulos pulled out her scanner. "I'm not detecting any humanoid lifesigns nearby."

"I don't think it was real," said Thorpe. "But, at the time, it seemed so plausible. Maybe-"

"Hey!" A shout interrupted him. They all turned as one to its source, weapons ready.

Commander McQueen stood in a clearing some distance away, waving at them. "Over here!" she shouted.

"You see her, right?" Thorpe asked Kostopoulos.

"Yes," the Colonel replied.

"Good." Thorpe led them towards the clearing.

McQueen was accompanied by MACO Major Kimura and botanist Lieutenant Hafeez. Thorpe had familiarised himself with the members of the expedition before embarking on the search. Hafeez was kneeling by some trees covered in violet, eye-like plants, but all were happy to see the search party.

"I knew there was someone there," said McQueen. "Can't tell ya how glad we are to see you all, Captain. And I mean really see you."

"Sitrep, Major?" Kostopoulos said to Kimura, remaining alert.

"We became separated from the other members of the survey team, sir," Kimura said. "Something's been messing with our perceptions. Making us see and hear things that aren't there, lose track of time, keeping us lost in the woods."

Thorpe nodded. "Yeah, I got a taste of it just there."

Kimura jerked his head towards the other two officers. "The Commander and the Lieutenant have a theory about that."

"Grass," said McQueen, grinning, as if this explained everything.

Thorpe and Kostopoulos looked at each other, confused and slightly concerned.

"Grass, Commander?" Thorpe asked.

"Freshly-cut grass smells so good, right?" she said.

Thorpe frowned. "You been eating some of the more… exotic plantlife, Jess?"

"Sir…" Hafeez stood and joined them. "What Commander McQueen is trying to say is that freshly-cut grass smells alluring because it's trying to attract predators. In the wild, the only thing that cuts grass is small, herbivorous animals, like rabbits or insects. Grass doesn't like being eaten, so it releases an intoxicating aroma that draws large, carnivorous animals to it, who will then eat or chase off the grass-eating creatures. Like a defence mechanism. Even Humans are still attracted to it, somewhere in our primitive brains."

McQueen nodded, pointing at Hafeez.

Thorpe looked between the two of them. "Okay…"

Hafeez continued, gesturing to the violet plants on the trees, with vines hanging down from them. "These plants here…"

"Weepers," McQueen said proudly.

"The weepers," said Hafeez. "They're secreting a substance into the air similar to the chemical released by freshly-cut grass, only it's much more powerful."

Thorpe's eyes narrowed, and he thought he now discerned the point. "You mean they're making us see things to attract us closer so that we'll chase off animals that are eating them?"

"Exactly, sir," said Hafeez.

"There's a species of insect that rapidly devours the plantlife here," said McQueen. "There's another animal - rogs, I call 'em - who eat the insects. The weepers must lure in the rogs to eat the bugs, keeping themselves safe. No matter which way we went, we were led to more weepers."

"That was a really good name after all, Commander," said Kimura. "They're almost literally crying for help."

Thorpe was still somewhat puzzled. "But I saw Commodore North offering me my own ship." He blushed slightly at the exposure of his psyche. "How could plants know about something like that?"

"They don't know what they're showing us," said McQueen. "I can't be sure without further study, but their secretions probably just access the parts of the brain related to hopes, dreams, desires."

"It likely took them a while to adapt to our more complex brain chemistry," said Hafeez. "Even so, the hallucinations appear to focus mainly on more base desires, such as food or… other things." She looked knowingly at Kimura, who averted his gaze.

"A side effect seems to be loss of sense of time and direction, likely to disorientate those under the influence," McQueen added. "Judgement is also compromised, hence why the hallucinations are so believable."

"And," Kimura chimed in, "when Lieutenant Sylor and I were near the edge of the forest, we saw a tiger blocking the way, then chasing us back deeper into the woods. Seems the weepers don't want us escaping either."

"Great," drolled Thorpe. "Now that we know all this, how do we get out of here?"

McQueen winced. "I think that's going to be extremely difficult, sir."