Getting to Know You
Chapter Five : You Were on My Mind
Uhura
Tuesday, 1345
She was a little apprehensive. Surely Commander Spock would not harbor a grudge, it wasn't logical. After all, the purpose of the assessments was to place the students properly and it should be at least possible for a student to complete that last portion of the assessment. Even though it had never happened before. Still...
She wished there had been another class meeting between then and now. Something to help her gauge his possible reaction. Oh well, she would just go on being herself and that would have to be good enough. She took a deep breath, calming herself. She was so stoked about being a private student - and to the head of combat training, himself, no less! It was such an honor. She would work very hard, train very hard, to show how grateful she was for the special attention.
She was about to leave the dorm room when the message chime sounded. "Message for Cadet Uhura."
"Play message."
The face of her advisor appeared on the screen. "Cadet Uhura, you have been assigned to Away Team Simulation 36. Please report to the Simulation Lab Transport Deck at 0800 Friday morning. Wear your coveralls, but bring no equipment with you. All training materials will be provided. Good luck." The message ended.
Her first real simulation! She'd been in plenty of in-lab simulations already, but this one would be live! The team of cadets would be transported somewhere on Earth with an assignment to perform and 48 hours to complete it. There was no way for her to know where they would go or what their assignment would be, or even who her other team members would be, until Friday morning, so there was no way she could prepare, other than to continue her normal studies. But this was so exciting!
Literally bouncing, she exited her dorm and headed for the Linguistics building.
Spock
Tuesday, 1345
He sat at his desk, grading papers. The unending papers. This had to be the absolutely worst part of teaching. Perhaps next year he would accept the department's offer of an aide. Help with these abysmal papers would actually offset the discomfort of having to share his office space.
Absently, he noted the time. Cadet Uhura would be here in 15 minutes for conversational practice. That was certainly more enjoyable than grading papers. Now that was a highly illogical thought. Both were components of his teaching position, not activities pursued for 'enjoyment'. His mind drifted back to the previous afternoon and his surprise at the cadet's physical abilities. She had obviously spent many hours in training. Another aspect of her competency and preparation for her chosen career path. If he had her training in hand, he might even offer to teach her suus mahna... But he did not, so there was no point in pursuing that line of thought. He had no idea why he was disappointed that he would not be the one to oversee her training. Disappointment was highly illogical.
He continued with the tedium of grading papers until he heard the cadet's footsteps in the hall. He was somehow sure those those particular footsteps belonged to that specific cadet. Swiftly and efficiently, he stacked the papers he had been working on into a compact pile on the side of his desk and reached into his desk drawer for the item he intended to discuss during this afternoon's conversational practice.
Uhura
Tuesday, 1400
She swept into the Commander's office still feeling high with anticipation for the coming assessment. Crossing quickly to the chair in front of the desk, she seated herself. Commander Spock sat still on the opposite side of the desk, elbows resting on the desk, hands steepled before him, head cocked slightly to one side. His eyes rose from the object on the desk before him and locked onto hers. Something about that direct gaze was very disconcerting. It made her slightly nervous. She licked her lips and dropped her eyes, focusing on the small carved object he had placed on the desk. It was quite unusual, apparently carved from some hard substance, possibly a stone of some sort. She tilted her head to change the way the light reflected from the curved surfaces. She reached out and then hesitated.
"You may touch it, Cadet. It is not breakable."
The words were in that barely pronounceable language she was trying desperately to learn. So this was part of their practice session, then. With one finger, she tentatively stroked the surface. It was curiously warm. With deliberate care she formed the words. "It feels warm."
"What else?"
"Slick. I can feel..." She searched her memory for the correct word. "...ridges. It appears to have been carved. What is it?"
"What does it appear to be?"
A guessing game? How was she supposed to reply to that? She slowly turned the object about with gentle pressure of her finger. Was that a face? With great care, she picked the object up and turned it over. There on the bottom were what appeared to be words in some alphabet she had never seen before. "I think this could be a name. Is this the equivalent of a holo?"
"Please detail how you formed this opinion. The ability to derive information from cultural objects is an important adjunct to your language studies."
She wished there was at least some inflection in his voice to give her a hint at what he was thinking. Trying to be logical and still converse in this difficult language was taxing, to say the least. She carefully considered what she needed to say and continued with the conversation. It was quite surprising when she heard the class-change bells ringing and realized that they had been conversing for two hours. "Oh, my, I didn't realize how late it was getting! I hope I haven't kept you from your work."
"On the contrary, Cadet, this is my work." There was a slight emphasis there, she had definitely heard it. She wasn't entirely sure she wanted to be considered work.
"Well, I need to get to the library. I have to get all of next week's homework finished before Friday morning. I need to get it all done before I leave." She arose from her chair, preparing to go.
"Are you going somewhere, Cadet?" Was there interest in that level voice? Hard to say.
"I just got my assignment to an Away Team Simulation for this Friday, right before I came here. I'm so excited!" Her voice bubbled with it.
"I am sure you will do well, Cadet. You seem to be extremely well prepared in all facets of your education."
Wow, that was definitely a compliment. "Thanks so much, Commander. See you in class Monday." With that she was out the door and off.
****
Friday, 0800
She stood at attention on one of the disks on the transporter deck, the other three members of her team on other disks, their equipment pod on the fifth. Lieutenant Jones stood before them, giving them last minute instructions.
"You will be transported to a selected location. Once there, you are to erect your shelter and set up the provided equipment. Your mission is to map the surrounding territory in a 5 km circle, with your shelter as the center point. You will assess all plant and animal life in the mapped area, noting the environment in which each is found. You will pack up all samples and equipment and be ready to be beamed back in exactly 48 hours. Is this clear, Cadets?"
A chorus of affirmations rang out.
"Remember that the communicators that you have been provided have a very limited range and are tuned only to one another. They are for use for this type of assignment only and cannot be used to communicate with headquarters. In an emergency, your Communications Officer has a special communicator. It is to be used ONLY in an emergency. Is this clear?"
Again, affirmations rang out in the small space.
"Very well, then, good luck, Cadets. Energize."
For the very first time the cadets felt the tingling of the transporter moving them through space. The small transporter deck was almost instantly replaced with a surface of red sand and blast-furnace heat that was several inches lower than expected. They all stumbled at the rough landing. She looked around. Where the hell where they? This was certainly not what she had expected. Overhead the sun blazed down, white hot. The only thing she could see in any direction was red sand, towering dunes. The others were equally disconcerted, staring around in shock. In dismay, she recognized the only place they could possibly be - ar Rub' al-Khali - the Empty Quarter - the most inhospitable place on the entire planet. They needed to get that shelter up NOW!
"Hey, don't just stand there looking around! We need to get that shelter assembled NOW or we're all going to be burnt to a crisp." With controlled swiftness, she turned to the equipment pod, pressed the opening catch and started pulling equipment out. The others reacted to her lead quickly, joining her in assembling the shelter and connecting the power supply.
"Get all that equipment inside. We can unpack it there after we get the environmental controls working." One of the cadets, a small blonde girl, was already dangerously red. Thank goodness, Leonard McCoy was the assigned medic on this team. He would take care of her as soon as they were all inside.
Quickly the equipment was carried into the shelter and set against the walls. The cadet engineer, who was the nominal team lead, connected the environmental control panel to the power supply and quickly set it for maximum cooling. A small flow of cool air began to circulate through the shelter. The cadets heaved a sigh of relief. Leonard McCoy turned to the sunburned cadet and began to read her bio-signs. Nyota sat on floor and began to consider what they should do. Why on Earth had they been sent here?
StarFleet Academy Transportation Center
Friday, 0815
As the swirling aftereffects of transportation were fading from the transporter deck, there was a loud CRACK and smoke and flames poured out of the console. A horrified transporter operator immediately grabbed the wall-mounted fire extinguisher and began spraying the console. An equally horrified Lieutenant smacked the communications controls and yelled "Emergency in transporter deck 4! Emergency! Fire!" From several areas of the surrounding building, teams hurried towards the scene.
With efficiency, they quickly got the fire out and stood looking about in astonishment. The controls were completely fused. What had happened to the cadets?
Lieutenant Jones stumbled to the communications console and requested verification that the cadets had arrived at the pre-determined point. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Everyone looked about stunned. Where had they gone? Or were they truly GONE?
They needed a computer expert fast. And Lieutenant Jones knew just who to call.
Spock
Friday, 0845
He sat at the desk in his office, once again grading those unending papers. When the message chime rang out, it was a welcome diversion. "Spock here."
"Commander Spock, sir, we need your help." The face on the screen was extremely agitated. Behind him was a scene of confusion, smoke hazy in the air. He seemed to be in the transportation center. "There's been some kind of accident, sir, and a fire, and .... "
"Please, Lieutenant, more precision and less agitation. Present the facts in a logical manner."
"Sir, it's very hard to be logical when four cadets are lost and the transporter that sent them off is fused." The lieutenant struggled for composure.
Shocked, Spock stared at the scene before him. Friday. 0800. Cadets. Uhura. Transporter malfunction. "Fused?"
"Yes, sir. They were just disappearing, and there was a.., an ,,, explosion, I guess. Fire, anyway. We got it out, but the console is just ... Melted. And the cadets did not arrive at the preset destination. We already checked that. We don't know where they are and we don't know how to find them without being able to access the transporter memory to get the coordinates." The young Lieutenant wound down and stood there in misery.
She was ... Lost. Shock. Terror. Most illogical. He must do his utmost to find and rescue these cadets. StarFleet needed all its cadets. "I will need your top technician team there immediately to assist me. In addition, I will need the following equipment from the computer lab." As he rapidly listed equipment, he began to pull other items from various drawers about his office. "I will be there in 5.6 minutes."
Uhura
Friday, 1600
Ar Rub' al-Khali
"No, we CAN'T go outside yet. You have to wait until the sun goes down. Then it gets cool enough that we can go out and perform our mapping assignment. And DO NOT drink any more water! We barely have enough to last. Suck on one of those nutrient tablets."
"Those thing taste terrible!" Cadet Timkins, the engineering specialist, was being difficult again. "Why did they send us to this place, anyway! I thought these first simulations were supposed to be relatively easy, for pete's sake."
"Well, at least YOU aren't sunburned!" Cadet Ellery blazed back. Tempers were running high, increased by the heat, the close quarters, and the unexpected situation.
"Everybody just shut up! You're supposed to be resting! We have to work most of the night to get our assignment finished. Remember you get a GRADE on this!" she turned her back to the others and tried to calm down. This was NOT the way she had anticipated that this experience would play out.
*****
When the sun finally set, they left the shelter, carefully sealed with the controls still set to maximum cooling, and began to map out the area. Sliding on the dunes, their equipment was soon full of sand. When she realized that the limited communicators that they were using to keep in touch were no longer functioning correctly, she immediately contacted the others and ordered them back to the shelter. There was some panic as the others realized that they could easily become lost in the endless dunes, but in a short time they were all reunited at the shelter. With a growing sense of unease, she wondered how they were supposed to complete the assignment with non-functional equipment.
Spock
Friday, 2000
StarFleet Academy Transportation Center
He lay on his back, his head and shoulders under the fused console, gently teasing melted plastics away from the electronic components. When a last string parted until his probe, the unit finally fell into his hand. Cradling it carefully, he slid out from under the mass of melted plastics and metal. Now to try to read it.
Swiftly crossing the room to the equipment brought from the computer labs, he mounted the retrieved unit and began running diagnostics. The technicians assisting him made power connections to displays, brushed loose particles of plastic carefully off the unit before him, slid more insulating pads around it, and waited for something to happen. Exactly nothing happened. With great difficulty, he suppressed an exasperated sigh. Nothing was going to be easy tonight. He began to test each of the connectors. At least one would need to be replaced with great care.
****
He held out his hand without looking, requesting yet another micro-component. Someone placed the necessary item in his hand and with excruciating exactitude he replaced the malfunctioning unit with the new one. Straightening slightly, once again he applied power to the salvaged unit. This time it worked. Finally. Now began the difficult chore of extracting data from the damaged core. And more time passed without any idea of where those missing cadets might be and what dangers they might be facing. He must concentrate and work carefully, logically, methodically, unemotionally. He must.
Uhura
Saturday, 0200
Ar Rub' al-Khali
It was exasperating, trying to keep the entire group together and focused. But they had almost finished. Now they were heading back towards the shelter, following the scuffed footprints they had left in the sand. Footprints that seemed to be filling in. She looked about alarmed. The stars were disappearing behind them. With fear, she realized that there was a breeze.
"Hey, a breeze! Nice." They didn't realize the danger!
"RUN! Back to the shelter - now, fast!" She urged them on.
"Why? Hey, it's just beginning to get nice and you want us to run? Can't we just walk back?" McCoy groused beside her.
"Sandstorm coming! That's what the breeze is! RUN!" She finally got across to them. They all pelted rapidly back towards the now visible shelter, desperate to make it back before the wall of advancing sand hit them. Shaking hands unsealed the entrance and they all piled inside, resealing the opening as the wind picked up rapidly. They sat in a huddled mass in the center of the shelter, hearing the sand hit the walls around them.
"What the heck is that? It sounds like stampede out there!"
"Shamal. Biggest sandstorm you ever heard of. Can strip the meat off a carcass in nothing flat." Surprisingly that was Leonard McCoy. "They actually use those winds to strip skeletons for medical students. We definitely do not want to be outside in that. This trip is over, kiddos. Uhura, it's time for that working communicator."
Acknowledging that he was right, she pulled the one fully working communicator out and attempted to hail StarFleet. Unfortunately, it did not work. In disbelief, she turned in over and watched the sand falling on the floor. With stricken eyes, she looked at the other cadets. They would just have to wait to be retrieved. Hopefully, the shelter walls would hold up.
Spock
Saturday, 0500
StarFleet Academy Transportation Center
After a few final adjustments, once more he applied power to the salvaged unit. This time, he achieved core memory access. With a deep sigh of relief, he extracted the last set of coordinates from the unit. That could not possibly be right, they would not have sent students there. He punched the coordinates into the replacement console beside him for confirmation. In disbelief, he lifted his eyes to the stunned technicians surrounding him.
"Sir, we didn't send them there! We DIDN'T."
"I'm sure that was not your intent, however, that is where they went. Not a very hospitable area."
He turned to the cadet advisor standing nearby. "We need surveys of area immediately. A team will need to be assembled to retrieve them. We will need medical personnel and transport as soon as it can be assembled."
"Already assembled and waiting, Commander. We just needed to know where to go." Punching buttons on the control unit in his hands, he projected images onto the wall screen. "Here's the weather at that set of coordinates."
All eyes watched in dismay and apprehension as the screen filled with blowing sand. "Oh, my God! A sandstorm!" burst from the lips of someone in the room.
With heavy heart, he straightened completely. "We shall have to wait until it is over. Shuttles cannot fly in that, and the transporter will not work, either."
*****
While they waited, watching the storm blow on, he assembled equipment. He buckled the belt about his waist, adding a tricorder and communicator to it. He was ready. The transporter was repaired and had been checked out while he was working on the fused equipment. He keyed in the coordinates. With his eye on the screen, he waited for the storm to abate.
After an eternity, the winds began to die down. Swiftly, he set the auto controls. Before anyone realized what he meant to do, he crossed the room, stepped onto the transporter pad, and beamed out.
Materializing before the shelter, he was extremely relieved to see that it had retained its structural integrity. He reached for the seam and unsealed the opening, ducking inside quickly. Four cadets lay on the floor, unmoving. NO! After the hours he had spent retrieving the necessary data, he could not have arrived too late! Swiftly he knelt beside her and touched her face. Warmth. Breath. Life. Extreme relief.
Big brown eyes opened in confusion. "Commander Spock? What are you doing here?"