~We're focusing on Spock and Uhura in this chapter, I hope it's not moving too fast. Please let me know if you think it might be. I don't want to get too caught up in the minutiae, I tend to do that...so, I'm hoping to zero in on the meat.
~Thanks to those who have reviewed. And please accept my apologies for the typos in the last chapter...I'll do better, promise!
The walk to the small village they saw from the air took a little over 3 hours and the sun wasn't quite straight up when they arrived. They got a good look at what the planet had to offer on the way. Lots of vegetation, small animal life, although Spock was sure there were undoubtedly larger animals at the higher elevations. And he was also sure they would come out at night.
"Which is why we will be staying in this village or near to it." He told Nyota.
"Yes, sir." She was so glad for her daily 10 mile run and workout before class. The only reason it took as long as it did to reach the town was that they were covering unfamiliar territory.
The first cottage they came upon was empty. Spock knocked and called out to no avail. And so it went on for the next four houses they came upon. At the end of the dirt road was what appeared to be a large storage type of building, a barn perhaps, Spock thought. They walked around it and came across several empty corrals and pens as well as an overgrown greenhouse.
"It appears as if this village is deserted." He almost spoke to himself before turning to Nyota. "We shall enter the nearest dwelling."
"I'd hate to trespass." A small frown on her brow.
"As do I, but we must ascertain if there are any inhabitants." He walked to the house that seemed the largest, although all five seemed relatively the same size. Opening the door he called out. Again, no one answered. Nyota looked around and walked to one of the three doors that came off of the main room. She looked back at Spock, who nodded, before she opened the door.
"Hello?" Nyota's face scrunched up as she detected an old, mildewed scent. "Well, this place smells really old and…" Her voice caught in her throat as she fought a scream. "Commander?"
Spock heard the change in her voice and pulled her behind him as he looked into the room. There was a desiccated body lying on a pad in the center of the room that appeared to be more of a study as opposed to a bedroom.
"Cadet, wait in the other room for me." He told her. When she didn't move, he raised his voice. "That was an order, Cadet!"
"Yes, sir." Nyota backed out of the room and sat on a small couch that was covered with a dusty sheet, sneezing once as she dislodged the dust.
Spock looked behind him to make sure Cadet Uhura had followed his order before proceeding to the body. It was almost mummified. But in its hands was a PADD and next to the body a hand written note that was almost as dry as the body. He leaned over and read the text. 'Take the PADD and watch the recording'. Spock held his breath as he reached for said PADD, fighting the revulsion of pulling the thing from the corpse's hands. He slid it out from under the palms and carried into the main room where Uhura was waiting.
"Oh my god, did you take that from that dead body?" She croaked.
"Indeed, as there was not a live body." He looked over at her shocked face. "The deceased left a note to view this. I am assuming it will tell us where the people are."
Nyota bit her lip and nodded. "Sorry, sir."
"There is no need for an apology, cadet. If you would care to view this with me I would suggest you move closer." He turned the PADD over and reattached the small battery wire. "It would appear our host was aware the battery would die if attached for too long a period. I am however confused. This PADD is no more than five years old."
"I guess if you turn it on we'll find out why?" Nyota commented.
"Yes." Spock turned it on.
'Hello. My name is…was Dr. Hank Saunders. I'm not really sure where to begin with this, so I will just begin at the beginning.'
"Best place to start." Nyota whispered. Spock sent her a cold glare.
"Cadet."
"Sorry." She shrugged.
'We were the last wave of scientists and engineers on our way to the Benecia Colony. Our contingent was comprised of three doctors, two geneticists, a horticulturist and two structural engineers that didn't make it on the first two conveyance transports which held the majority of our colonists. Our compliment was completed by our ship's two pilots, navigator and engineer.' Dr. Saunders stopped as a fit of coughing overtook him. 'Sorry, old age is something that creeps up on us all.'
'So, we weren't too far out when we noticed a loss of power on our aft thrusters, Kent, our pilot spotted the recently discovered M-class planet, Alpha Onias-7…'
Nyota reached out and pushed the pause button. "That's the planet we were supposed to land on. It was only discovered, what? Like five years ago? Recently discovered? He's old, Commander, this place has been here for a long time, I don't understand…"
Spock turned to Nyota and sighed. "Perhaps if we continue with the recording he will explain this incongruity." He reached over Nyota and resumed the transmission. Nyota bit her lower lip and moved in closer to her instructor. Spock raised a brow, but allowed this as he was aware of her discomfort.
'...Alpha Onias-7 and made a detour to land so we could make any repairs necessary. It appears we missed the anomaly right off our bow and we were pulled into it. Our ship was immediately caught in the gravitation pull of this planet and we lost all power. Ken safely landed, but we didn't have time to launch our distress buoy. We lost all communication with the outside. The year was 2553 and I have been on this planet, for all intents and purposes, almost 250 years.'
Nyota jumped up from her seat and looked down at Spock, who had stopped the recording. "He's crazy! That's only 3 years ago not 200! What the hell?" Her breath was coming out in short gasps and she ran for the door, Spock close on her heels.
"Cadet!" Spock called after her. "Nyota!" She turned to face him, tears running down her face.
"We are so screwed. I'm sorry, Commander, but…" She shook her head as Spock came to stand in front of her. He took her shoulders in his hands and gave her a gentle shake.
"Cadet Uhura, we do not know the whole story. We must first gather all the facts and then determine how this pertains to us." He spoke softly, calmly to his charge.
"So, you think maybe he's mistaken somehow?" She grasped at straws. Spock shook his head.
"I do know that the transport for the Benecia Colony was lost three years ago. And they were in this sector of space. We need to hear what else Dr. Saunders has to say regarding any time differential before we can move forward. Do you agree, Nyota?"
She took a deep breath and nodded. "Okay." She allowed him to lead her back into the small house.
'As far as our team and I were concerned, time was passing at a…normal rate. We attempted to send out distress pods, but because of the solar radiation in the stratosphere, they never made it out. After we had been here for what we considered approximately 2 years, another ship crashed. It was a Vulcan shuttle on their way to meet their science vessel, T'Vran.'
The man took a deep breath before continuing. Nyota stopped the transmission again.
"Do you remember the loss of this shuttle?" She quietly asked.
"I do. We shall not stop the recording until it is completed." He leaned forward and resumed the recording and Nyota pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her chin on her knees.
'We found the shuttle and brought the two Vulcans aboard to our outpost. They were injured, but not badly and were up and about within a week. It was at this time we compared notes and made a very disturbing discovery.'
'Whereas we believed we had been on this planet for two years, the date the Vulcan shuttle had taken off was only one week after we had crashed. It seems the shuttle was looking for any remains of our ship as a favor to the Federation on their way to rendezvous with the T'Vran.' He shrugged. 'Now we were all stuck.'
'If you are seeing this, then you have seen our atmosphere. We are in a constant ionic flux brought on by the Aurora Borealis that constitutes our skies. The Vulcans, Savar and Tevin, theorized that the high electro magnetic fields and the flux between the positive and negative ionic displacement within the ionosphere had caused this planet and its surrounding space to be in a time continuum all it's own. They theorized that a negative ionic pulse could possible pull it out of flux for a short time, but we didn't have the equipment or tools to do it.' He shrugged his narrow shoulders.
'Now, onto why we have lived so long. I was the youngest at the time of our crash, thus it only seems logical I'm the last to go. I was 42 when we set down here and we were all in pretty good physical condition. But once we settled we found our health became excellent. Even preexisting conditions vanished. We tested the air, plants, micro-organisms, the whole gamut. The atmosphere is filled with a type of super antioxidant that we had never seen before. It made us healthy, but it also worked on us at a genetic level. Our longevity gene, or I suppose you could refer to it as our aging gene, it appeared to be reset and retarded to a certain extent. No, obviously we don't live forever, but we live as long as some of our Vulcan brethren.'
'Us Terrans, we did survive well over 200 years. This change didn't affect our Vulcan friends' biology, but I'm sure Savar and Tevin would've, should've lived their normal life span. However, when their time hit…well, Savar being the youngest was able to meditate through it, but Tevin...' Dr. Saunders shook his head with a very sad expression. 'He went into the mountains. We followed him two weeks later and buried him. Savar survived his second time, but his third, well we buried him next to Tevin. I still mourn them to this day.'
'Does this planet have life extending attributes because of the accelerated time factor? Would it have this characteristic anyway? We discussed this subject ad nauseam, but never came to a consensus. We agreed to disagree. But I for one appreciated the time I was given to study and research this fascinating planet.'
'You will have much to digest. But don't despair, life here is good. We actually christened this place Eden. The only thing we were missing was Eve.' He chuckled. 'As to the time differential, basically, one day on Eden is approximately 3 months, give or take a couple of weeks on the outside. But don't fall into thinking your time is cut short, it isn't. You now live in a different rate time, is all. I along with my compatriots have complied copious amounts of information and it's all cataloged. Plants, animals, bodies of water, food sources, you'll see. You'll need to charge the batteries with the solar units in the large building, our main meeting hall, we named it Lodge House. All of our electricity comes from solar units we developed to utilize the aurora. They should've stood the test of time but you may need to do a bit of maintenance depending on the time that's past. There may be some food stores that survived in Lodge House, but there is such abundance here, you will have no problems surviving' He smiled and took a deep breath. 'Life is life, and one can be lived here with joy. It all depends on you.'
'I have one request of you. Obviously, I'm dead and probably desiccated. But I would still appreciate it if you could rest my bones with my friends. We have a cemetery out beyond the back paddock. If you could bury me there, I would be most pleased.'
Spock looked over at his student. Nyota Uhura was the most capable and logical of all the students he had ever taught. If this had to happen, he considered himself fortunate it was she that was his charge. However, she was human and as such he was preparing himself for an emotional onslaught.
"Cadet?" He knelt in front of her. "Nytoa, please, tell me what you are feeling."
She pursed her lips and shook her head. "I don't know. My life, the one I thought I was going to have, it's gone." Her voice was a mere whisper.
"It is not, Nyota." Although it was inappropriate, he decided using her given name was warranted. "You must remember, the Intrepid saw us disappear into the space disruption. This is something Dr. Saunders group did not have. They will be looking for us. It may take a long while, from our stand point, but we will be rescued. I have no doubts." He took her hand in his. "Do you believe me, Nyota?"
She gave him a shaky smile. "Well, I have to. Vulcans don't lie."
"Indeed. We do not." He stood. "I suggest we find the cemetery and bury Dr. Saunders. After which, we shall decide what sort of path to embark upon. We will need to return to the shuttle and retrieve all the supplies on board."
"Okay." She looked over at the door that led to the now deceased Dr. Saunders. "It's so sad. They lived for such a long time but they never were rescued."
"It appears that they enjoyed their life, if the doctor is to be believed." Spock responded.
"I suppose. One can make a heaven of hell or a hell of heaven." Nyota shook her head and gave Spock a wry smile. "Well, lead on, Commander."
Nyota gave herself a mental shake. This is where they were, no amount of fear or tears would take them back to their star ship. She was a member of Star Fleet, even if she was only a student, and as such she was aware of the dangers the life held. She would buck up and she would be an asset. Besides, she was with Spock. If this had to happen she should thank all the gods in the all the universes that she was with the most capable being from Star Fleet.
A Farscape episode inspired this idea, but the plot will certainly be different. Please let me know what you think…