Jim woke up almost forgetting that he had taken refuge in a cave, but he could see that it was now daylight outside again. He was not sure whether it was the same day or the next day. He could still smell that fragrance that seemed to be present all over this planet. It was starting to give him a headache. He stood up and then realized that Renegade was gone. He looked all around the cavern and then went to the entrance. "Renegade!" he called. He heard a familiar whinny and was incredibly relieved. The giant horse came running around the side of the hill that contained the cave. Jim noticed that there were several large boulders lying around outside which had not been there when they entered this cave. He petted Renegade. "For a moment, I thought you had left me."

Renegade nudged Jim with his nose. "Alright, I'm sorry," Jim said. He was glad the sun was shining. "Let's get ready to go."

Soon, they were on their way again. Jim did not think that had been a normal thunderstorm they had endured but the sky was clear now. He sneezed as he thought that fragrance was getting stronger. He wondered if it had something to do with those tall trees. He had first noticed it when he was in the forest where the village was. He had even noticed some fragrance associated with Qharri when she was close to him.

Jim rode all day, even slept on Renegade's back. He did not know how far they had gone by the time he woke up but they were no longer in the desert. They were now in another of the scraggly forests. He sat up still feeling groggy, but the sun was going down. "You ready for a rest?" Jim asked. Renegade shook his head and just kept on walking. "Well, I'm going to just sleep right here and you can walk all you want." Jim fished his blanket out of the bag he carried it in and just lay down. The horse's back was so big, he could lie just about anyway he wanted. When he sat on the horse, he had to sit close to the front where he was narrower. He hoped he could get off this planet so he could tell Alex about this animal. He sighed as he thought of never seeing Alex again. No. Someone would have to show up at this planet…eventually. What did Carol think? She had to be looking for him even if no one else was. Jim drifted to sleep with the sway of Renegade's movements, and thinking of Carol.

When Jim woke up again, it was daylight but he could tell it was morning because of the position of the sun. He could hardly believe he had slept all night while Renegade walked…or did he lie down sometime during the night? Jim felt like he was losing time out of the day or that more time was passing than he knew. The horse, however, was walking now, whether he had walked all night or not. Jim sat up but he was not feeling well. "Renegade, stop," he said.

Renegade stopped and knelt so Jim could get down. As he got down, he almost fell. He felt like he was still moving. He supposed that might be from sleeping while swaying on that horse's back. He leaned against a tree for a few moments until he did not feel like he was swaying on his feet. He looked ahead of them, but he did not see the other side of the forest, so he supposed they were getting close to their destination, but he did not see any tall trees right now. However, that ever-present fragrance was even stronger now.

When he felt better, Jim decided he would just walk a while rather than ride. He could not figure out why he felt so miserable. He wanted off this planet and felt like he was trapped. He had tried not to think of that too much but it was starting to weigh on his mind. He did not know how much time was passing because he did not know how long he had slept, but it seemed much longer than a night. Now that he was walking, he realized he felt groggy.

Jim walked most of the morning, but then he climbed back onto Renegade's back and simply slept. He felt as though he had nothing else to do. He was awakened by something later, and he thought he had heard a sound. He sat up keeping the blanket around him because it was cold. As he looked up, he realized they were in a forest of trees taller than the ones he had seen before, and these trees had humongous leaves that looked like they could cover up at least two people. Then he definitely heard a sound…it sounded like the cry of a hawk. Renegade was still walking steadily so Jim did not think anything was upsetting him. He heard the cry again and looked up among the trees. Then he saw a female bird creature flying among the trees, and she was looking down at him. Jim did not think this female looked old by any stretch of the imagination. She cried at him with her hawk-like cry again.

Jim was not sure what to do, but he felt like running. He supposed he could not escape if she decided to attack him. That was what he had been told. Just as he thought that, the woman swooped down and landed on the horse with him. She grabbed Jim and shoved him onto his back. He tried to get away but she held him by the shoulders with her hands…or talons, and held his legs with her feet which were also like talons. "Let me go!" Jim demanded.

"You will be my mate!" the woman declared.

"No I won't!"

"I have found you, therefore, you are mine!"

"No!"

Jim struggled but he could not get away from her, but suddenly, Renegade bowed his back and let out a loud whinny. This action caused her to lose some of her grip and Jim dived off the horse. He hit the ground so hard, it knocked the breath out of him. Renegade stood over him as the woman was still clawing at his back, but he kicked his mighty hind legs and threw her at least ten feet. Jim was watching from between the horse's front legs. He watched the woman get up but she was clearly injured. One of her wings was drooping and one of her legs seemed to be hurt as well. Renegade looked between his front legs at Jim.

"I'm alright," Jim said. "But she's not. We can't just leave her like that."

The horse could not answer that, of course, but he simply stood there. Jim crawled from under the horse and stood up. He was not sure whether he should try to help her or not but he did not like the idea of leaving an injured being alone. She looked at him as he took two steps that way, and she screamed at him with that hawk call again. Jim stopped. "You're hurt," he said.

"I will claw you to pieces!" she replied. "You will be my mate!"

Jim backed up. "No, I won't. I don't want to leave you like that but…"

"If you come near me, you will be my mate!"

"Fine. Good luck."

Jim turned back to Renegade who helped him get back on his back and they were off again. He watched the trees above them but he did not see any other bird people. However, they soon came to what he recognized as a village in the trees. It was much higher than the one he had been to before. He assumed this was the village that Garath had talked about. He felt eerie as they moved on into the village.

"Hello!" Jim called.

Suddenly, there were four bird people who swooped down in front of them. Renegade was rather startled and would have reared up but Jim spoke to him. "Take it easy," he said.

The four bird people were two males and two females. Jim could tell they were older than the others he had seen just by their appearance. "It is a human!" one of the women said. "Just another one of their hunted."

One of the males stepped forward. "Why do you come here?" he asked.

"Garath sent me here," Jim said.

"Garath? Why did he send you here?"

Jim considered that. "Well, he thought you might know what was happening that caused the feettal to migrate," he said.

They all stared at him a moment. "It is all a game," the other male said.

"Be quiet, Zish," the other replied. He looked at Jim. "I am Ricek."

"Why should I be quiet? He doesn't know."

"Zish, we cannot change it."

"We could if we stopped going along with it."

"Wait," Jim interrupted. "What are you guys talking about?"

"We cannot say," Ricek said. "But you cannot stay here."

Jim was not sure what to say now. "Could you refill my provisions?" he asked.

Ricek was silent a moment. "Very well, but you must leave."

"Can you tell me what that big storm was?"

"It is caused by the females."

"What?"

"You are not from this planet. How did you get here?"

"I was brought here and stranded."

"Like all the others."

"What others?"

"Other humans who have been brought here. You are here to replace one who wanted to escape. He was only released a short time so that he could bring you here to replace him."

Jim was flabbergasted. "Replace him as what?" he asked.

"The females particularly like human mates. Once they have you, you cannot escape without being released. We do not want you here in this village. You are being hunted. It is the competition. You were sent here only for that reason to create a hunt."

Jim remembered the female who had attacked him on his way there. "But the other humans seem to like being here," he said.

"They have no choice. They either accept it or live their life in torture."

"You mean they're prisoners?"

"Of course. The longer you stay here, the less resistance you will have, and you will finally lose your own self-will. How long have you been here?"

"I'm not sure."

"You are already being affected. Already losing time. You have no idea how much time has passed?"

Jim swallowed hard. "What's causing it?"

"The atmosphere of this planet. It's only a matter of time before they take you."

"How do I get off this planet?"

"You can't. There is no escape unless you have your own ship."

Jim frowned. "You won't help me?" he asked.

"We can't help you," Ricek said. "If we tried to hide you, they would destroy our village to find you, and probably kill some of us. The females are overwhelmingly driven during this time."

"Ricek, when are we going to take a stand?" Zish asked. "We could hide him. He does not want to be part of this world."

"He will become part of it anyway. He will get used to it."

Jim remembered Zawek telling him that he would "get used to it", and that he had gotten used to it. Perhaps because he did not have a choice? He was brought there to replace someone else. The one who had brought him there had driven him until he got to the village. He knew now that that was why he had not seen anyone nor even the feettal. His head swam as he tried to figure it all out. He was still sitting on Renegade's back and he had no desire to get down here. He leaned over to Renegade's ear. "Let's go, Boy," he said.

Renegade began walking. Jim could not figure out why he had been given the horse if Garath intended for him to be hunted. According to the ones he had just talked to, Garath had lied to him about everything. Was everything he said a lie? He had no idea because he knew nothing of this planet, but he thought he was learning more than he wanted to know. Did Zawek want off this planet? Did he really enjoy living there or was he just 'used to it'? Jim shivered thinking about that. He would not get used to it.

The Enterprise dropped out of warp at Pacifica. Doctor McCoy was waiting along with Cax and Andrea Farnsworth, and they were beamed to the ship. Cax looked around in awe as he stepped down from the transporter pad. "Doctor McCoy, Andrea, welcome aboard," Spock said.

"This is Cax," Bones replied. "Cax, this is Captain Spock."

"Nice to meet you," Cax said.

"Follow me, Lady and Gentlemen," Spock said and turned.

They followed Spock to the conference room where Ajah, Helek, Solan, Carol, and Uhura were waiting. Carol was so glad to see Doctor McCoy that she hugged him. "We'll find him," Bones assured her.

"I came to help you with Alex," Andrea said. "I assume he's onboard."

Carol hugged her too. "Yes, he is. Thank you."

They all sat down at the conference table and began discussing what they knew. "I guess no one has seen that Lieutenant Stow or that woman either," Bones said.

"Not that has been reported," Spock replied.

"Question is: why would he take Jim to this planet?"

"I've asked some others about that planet while we waited for you," Cax said. "It's not very well-known, but I did find this one guy who had a run-in with the beings there. Those bird people create situations to fool the outsider into trusting them. It's all a game to them. That guy almost got caught there but he was warned by some other human who had already been imprisoned there. He sneaked away before they could really trap him. Your friend's liable to be really messed up by the time you find him if he's there, especially if those females catch him. All the time, they make one feel like it is something or someone else hunting them when all the time, it's the ones he has learned to trust."

"You always say 'he'," Carol pointed out. "No female humans have been trapped there?"

"Not that I know of. See, the males there don't do the hunting and mating choices. It's the females."

"This all sounds bizarre."

"It is bizarre, but it's what they do. There should be some warning about that planet."

"Perhaps there will be," Spock said. "We can create a beacon to warn those who would stop there."

"That would be very noble and a good idea."

"Do you know the coordinates for this planet?"

"I downloaded it from my ship's navigation system," Cax said as he took out a pad from a bag he had been carrying.

Spock looked at the coordinates. "This planet is only two days from Pacifica," he said.

"I realize that now, but I tell you, when I got off that planet, I was so out of it, I didn't know how long it had taken me to get here. I never wanted to hear of that planet again."

"You came to Pacifica?"

"Yeah, but that was at a time when Doctor McCoy there wasn't here."

"How long were you on that planet?"

"I've never been sure. That's what it does to you. You lose time."

"Jim's been there for more than four days," Bones said. "Do you think he could elude them this long?"

"I don't see how."

Carol stood up and went to the door. "Can we please just stop talking about this and go and find him?" she asked and went out the door.

Spock stood up from the table. "We are about to get on our way," he said.

Bones left the conference room and went after Carol who was staying in guest quarters. He rang the door chime. "Go away," Carol said.

"Hey, it's me," Bones replied. "I just want to talk to you."

"I don't want to talk!"

"Come on, Carol."

"Enter!"

The door opened and Bones went in. Carol sat on her bed facing the other way. "I know you're upset," Bones said.

Carol did not say a word, and Bones walked slowly over to the bed. She was trying to hide the fact that she was crying but he knew. "You know, it's okay to cry," he said.

"Is that what you came to tell me?" Carol asked.

"Not really, but I just want to try to make you feel better."

"Nothing is going to make me feel better until I see that my husband is alright."

"You know how resourceful and clever Jim is."

"Doctor, everyone has their limits. You heard what he said about this planet."

"Yeah, I did, but if anyone can survive, it's Jim."

"Yes, if anyone can."

Jim and Renegade were deliberately trying to stay under the trees. The huge leaves were a shelter from anything that might be flying over searching for him…unless they came down among the trees like the first one did. He thought about what he had been told and wondered if Garath had lied to him about the feettal, even about how he got there. He felt tired and sleepy but he was trying to stay awake. He did not want another rude awakening like before. He hoped maybe those bird people did not hunt at night.

Jim was soon so sleepy that he was dozing while he sat on the horse. He had no idea where they were going now, but the jungle seemed to be getting thicker and darker all the time. They were soon traveling through an area where there were vines and plants with huge leaves, and he could see where some of the trees had dropped their big leaves. Jim wondered what it would be like to be standing under one of those trees when a leaf fell. He was curious about what the leaves felt like. "Renegade, stop."

The horse stopped, and let Jim get down. He walked over to one of the leaves and found that it was very thick and seemed heavy. "This thing is amazing," he said. He looked up through the trees wondering what caused them to drop leaves, but he supposed they were like any other trees. The leaf he was investigating was starting to decay but it was very green.

Jim climbed back onto Renegade's back and they started moving again. Jim sighed as he wondered how long he would have to roam the jungle on this planet. He only had one meal left of his provisions, but there was a stream running through this part of the jungle so he could get water from there. He was starting to feel confused about which way they were traveling because everything in the jungle looked the same. As it got darker, he even had a hard time seeing where the sun was.

Suddenly, a being jumped out in front of them, and he had a spear. "Wait!" Jim yelled. "We're not here to hurt you!"

"Turn around and leave!" the other replied. "You are leading them here!"

"What?"

"Get out! They will find me!"

"I sure wish someone would tell me what's going on on this planet."

"Leave, or I will turn you over to them! You are being hunted."

"So I've been told, but I want off this planet!"

"You can't get off this planet! Many have come here, wanted to leave, but found that they were trapped. Now, they are part of one tribe or another."

"What about the hostile tribes that attack the Garre?"

The being just stared at Jim a moment. "The Garre are the evil ones," he said. "If you escaped from them, you are fortunate, but they are hunting you. It is only a matter of time. You can't escape."

"Where is this planet located? I've never heard of it."

"I don't know. I've never been off this planet. We do not know of the rest of the galaxy."

Jim frowned. How would his crew ever find him here? It was a little-known planet maybe in the corner of the galaxy that no one had been to. "What about the feettal? Do they live here?"

The being lowered his spear. "My name is Ayeq."

"Jim Kirk."

"Where do you come from?"

"Earth."

"Is it far away?"

"I don't know. I don't know where I am."

"Come with me while we have time," Ayeq said.

Jim got down and followed him, and Renegade followed as well. They walked through the jungle until they came to what looked like a huge tangle of vines, but to Jim's surprise, Ayeq pulled some of them back, revealing a cave entrance. "Inside," he said.

"What about Renegade?" Jim asked. "If they see him out here, they'll know I'm here."

"He may come in."

Jim got through the opening, and then Renegade had to practically crawl through. However, once inside, the cavern was large. It was lit by firelight. Jim sneezed as he could still smell that flowery fragrance.

Ayeq led them over to his fire where he had chairs that he had hewn from wood. Jim sat down in one of the chairs, but he was tired of sitting. "You are the first to make it this far," Ayeq said. "How did you escape the storm?"

"I hid in a cave," Jim replied. "Why wouldn't anyone hide in a cave?"

"Most do not make it to the caves."

"What do you mean most?" Jim asked. "I am thoroughly confused about this situation."

"You would be even odder if you were not confused. Most human males who come here end up being a mate and thinking they're enjoying it."

"You mean…they're not really?"

"Didn't you meet any of the humans?"

"One."

"He's so content with his life, he doesn't care about leaving, right?"

"Something like that."

"It's the fragrance and the females. Once they capture you, you lose your resistance."

"Why do you live out here? Garath says they enjoy the mating season."

Ayeq laughed. "Garath lies about most things. He has no choice in the matter. That is why he is using you for a scapegoat. The humans are preferred by the females."

"Why?"

"Wingless males."

Jim thought this was getting worse all the time. "Why does this keep happening?"

"It's been happening for centuries. It is the nature of things here."

Jim had to admit this was not the first aggressive species he had ever met. The Klingons fought on their wedding night, and Vulcans had an irresistible urge to mate. He supposed this species was no different. However, the Klingons and Vulcans usually kept it among their own species. "Why do they want wingless males?" he asked.

"So they can't escape like I did," Ayeq answered. "I just got tired of the whole mating season, although sometimes I go back, only if I want to be held captive for a whole week."

"A whole week?"

"Yeah."

Jim shook his head. He wondered what he would have thought of this a few years ago. "Well, what happens after that?" he asked.

"The females nest. They lay one egg and it takes it about three months to hatch, and then they wait for the next mating season."

"And how long is it till that? What happens to the hatchlings?"

"They stay in the paradise jungle until they're ready to mate themselves. Then the males move to the villages, and the females learn. Garath made you think Qharri was his wife, right?"

Jim frowned as he remembered how she had flirted with him. "Yeah."

"She was checking you out. They must have been expecting you. Someone must have traded you for their freedom."

"So I've heard. I don't know how I got here."

"They gave him a tranquilizer to kidnap you. It's made from the tree leaves. The fragrance you smell makes you sleepy, no?"

"I think so. I've lost time. I don't even know how long I've been here."

"If you are here much longer, you will suffer when you leave."

"What do you mean?"

"To us, the fragrance is simply a fragrance. To humans it is intoxicating. It is why you feel strange."

"How can you tell I feel strange?"

"You think you are acting normal but you are not."

Jim folded his arms. "You stay here all the time?" he asked.

"I do during the mating season unless I choose to be taken as a mate. I am not the only one. Things on this planet are not like Garath told you. The hunt is part of the game to the females. The winged males can tease them by fleeing, but they will be caught eventually."

"So it's not pleasant or pleasurable?"

"Of course it is. I do not understand how they did not manipulate you. You did not choose to be caught?"

"No. I told them I have a mate."

Ayeq considered that. "Interesting. You must truly love her. Do you only have one mate where you come from?"

"Yes."

"I do not know anything of the humans except what I hear of the ones here. The only contact we have with the outside galaxy is when someone comes here."

Jim rubbed his face. "You should sleep," Ayeq said. "You're safe here. They cannot fly into the deep jungle." Ayeq stood up. "If I am not here when you awaken, do not be alarmed. I will return. Make yourself at home."

Jim nodded. He got his blankets and lay down. Renegade was close by. "What do they do with ships that people come here in?" Jim asked.

"They are destroyed," Ayeq said. "I've never even seen one. Garath keeps it that way."

"He thinks some of you will want to leave the planet." Jim did not even hear the reply from Ayeq…