Labyrinth

Chapter II

Jonathan Archer had been dictating his Captain's Log whilst on the Bridge on the way to a planet that the long-range sensors had picked up. It was on the Vulcan database as "Thriamar", and a small note mentioning 'tests' or 'games' of an Olympic style that were held every Earth year. Everyone had seemed rather excited at the prospect of seeing Olympic events as held by an unknown species, so Archer had immediately ordered the ship to make way there to request an invitation to see the games. Even T'Pol had seemed interested at the thought of expanding the data stub.

Now though, he was standing who-knew-where in the pitch black and he was at a loss to know how it had happened. What he did know was that it- whatever it was- had happened literally in the blink of an eye. He had no memory of a transition.

He took a careful step forward and immediately stubbed his toe on something large and made of stone- "Son of a-!" he said as he bent to hold the end of his booted foot. "Ah!" He said, feeling it ache as he shook his foot, trying to dispel the pain which was lessening even as he did so. He leant forwards, his arms outstretched and felt the stone, following it up and finding it was only about knee height. He felt his way over the edge of it and down the other side- it was only a few inches thick. His fingers suddenly came into contact with what felt like cold water. He leant his whole body forwards, leaning on the small stone wall and sniffed the water, which had no smell. He crawled around, feeling his way using the stone wall- it was a circle with the water inside it.

"A well then," Archer said to himself as he set to exploring the rest of the place. It was a small room- also circular, with the well right in the centre. No doors or windows either, though he thought that there was sand in various parts of the room.

"What the hell?" He said to himself, unknowingly echoing Malcolm.

As far as he could gather, there was no way into this place, which meant there was no obvious way out.

He wondered about his crew- what would they be thinking with the extremely sudden disappearance of their Captain? Or- his eyes widened- what if they had suddenly disappeared as well? He prayed that they were all alright until he found them- or they found him.

With the thought that some or all of his crew could be in the same predicament as he now was, he took the only logical course of action he could think of, and he climbed into the well, diving down into the deep.