Chapter Six

A few hours later, with his scanner in pieces, Trip was pretty sure that they had done enough to get the device working. "That should do it," he said, connecting the last two wires together, which produced a fuzzy image to be displayed onscreen and the sound of an unintelligible voice. "If you'll turn on the UT, hopefully we'll be able to understand what he's saying and find out what happened."

T'Pol started pressing some buttons on her communicator. At first nothing seemed to happen, but after a few minutes bits of words began to make sense until a clear and concise male voice started talking …

We were unsuspecting at first, but too many people went missing during the first four nights for us not to suspect that something was wrong. We decided to search the back caverns after Carmella and Pinza disappeared.

We found them about half a mile away hidden deep within the cave structure enclosed within a woven cocoon. They were both still alive, barely. Both of them seemed to be enveloped by a swarm of green fluorescent insects, which seemed to thrive within the dark damp environment of these caverns, intent on drinking their very essence. Corvine attempted a rescue but he was enveloped within seconds. I'm sorry to say 1 ran for my life.

We bravely came to this new world to study its ecosystem for a new energy source. Little did we know that hidden deep within, was an army ready to fight back. It's ironic that the very quest for our survival, ultimately leads us to our destruction.

We've sent off a distress signal for an instant retrieval. We can only pray that a rescue will reach us in time. Until then the light is our only salvation…

Both Trip and T'Pol were silent as the message faded and the screen turned to black. The atmosphere was tense as the impact of how bleak their current situation looked, began to sink in.

"What … what do ya think he meant by 'hidden deep within was an army ready to fight back'" asked Trip, trying not to let the panic he was feeling right now, creep through.

"I think he was referring to the trees" she mused, remembering something they had seen earlier.

"Trees?" queried Trip, slightly confused by her line of reasoning.

"Do you remember the broken trunk we found earlier, not far from the settlement, which contained the greenish tinged ring?" she asked, walking over to her case to retrieve the core sample she had previously taken.

"Yeah…" replied Trip, still not following.

"I am beginning to suspect I may know what has caused it."

Trip waited while T'Pol took out a tiny microscopic device from her case and inserted the disc. She then began to take readings on her scanner.

After a few minutes, she looked up. "As I suspected, this ring has a tiny microscopic creature living inside it."

"You mean a parasite?" asked Trip, peering over to take a closer look. "But that doesn't make sense. From what I remember from high school biology, parasites usually attack a tree in a variety of ways but they always attack the living parts. The leaves, the roots, the new growth rings."

"They don't seem to be attacking the tree," answered T'Pol. "They seem to be feeding off it, hatching out of the porous wood."

"I don't see how they can be feeding," replied Trip. "A tree's inner ring's is essentially dead wood."

"Maybe the trees on this planet are different, Commander. As I stated earlier, it is unwise to compare this world with your own as there are significant differences."

"So, what are ya saying? That these tiny bugs are the same things as them … in there?" asked Trip, pointing in the opposite direction to where they previously saw the cocoon.

"I think the insects, which are present in the caverns previously lived within these trees, symbiotically," suggested T'Pol. "Once the colonists began encroaching upon their territory, they sought out another environment. These caverns offer a similar habitat. They are self contained, have an underground water source, they offer a dark and damp atmosphere, and with the colonists building a home here, they offered a fresh food source where they could propagate successfully."

"Great …just great…life sucking alien bugs," muttered Trip anxiously pacing up and down. "I landed on the set of a god damn Boris Karloff horror movie …"

"Have you not stated in the past that watching horror films was one of your favourite pastimes?" asked T'Pol, in a dry teasing fashion, hoping to lighten the atmosphere in an attempt to calm her distressed colleague.

"Watching is the appropriate word there, Sub Commander," replied Trip. "I never said anything about participating in one…"

Returning to the table, Trip hastily picked up the various pieces of the disassembled radio.

"Commander … what are you doing?"

"I'm getting this radio fixed so we can call Enterprise and get off this rock," answered Trip, hurriedly putting the pieces together.

"I thought you were unsure that using the power cell from our communicator would work?"

"Never underestimate the motivating power of not wanting to be a food source for a life sucking alien bug."

"Panicking will not help you in your endeavour," said T'Pol, resting her hand on his arm as he rushed to put the equipment back together.

"Who's panicking!!?"

She threw him a look, which stopped him in his tracks.

"Maybe you're right," he replied, taking a deep breath in the hope of calming himself down. "Why don't ya give me a hand? I think I'm gonna need it…"

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