Far Away - Chapter Six

"And we are back online!"

The announcement let up a short cheer in the clubhouse after a few hours of hard work in which Chris ran around trying to restart all the programs. Chris' fingers flew across the keyboard as Sam asked, "What all have we got?"

"Well, we're still down on some of the gadgets, but the weapons, shuttles, and-" Chris hit the call signal, "The comms are all back!"

The signal went out and Chris' chest caught as Danny's comm responded. "Danny!" he cried out before the connection was even established. "Danny, are you there?!"

The screen came up, but there was no Danny, just blue.

Chris' heart plummeted. He wanted to hear Danny's voice, reassuring him that he was captured but okay, or that he was trying to escape, or something. But the screen just showed blue out of focus.

"No, no no no…" Chris slammed his fists on the console. The last few hours had been wasted. "He's not there…"

"Yes he is! Look!" Sam pointed at the screen. "The comm still shows it's attached to him!"

Chris' heart started again as he jerked forward to the controls and locked on the signal from the comm. It was distorted, but there. "I'm sending this location to our shuttles," was all he said before he jumped up and ran for the shuttle port and Sam and Cathy had to chase after him.

Chris landed in his seat as his hands grasped the controls, blasting off with a second to hesitate. His navigation system beamed Danny's position on their underground tunnel map, and Chris clung to that with die-hard determination. Thoughts flitted through his mind like frantic butterflies on speed: memories of Danny, and of the pain that still raged in Chris' heart that he hadn't been able to identify for the longest time. The half-formed fantasies he had of one day working up the courage to tell his best friend and the best possible outcomes from that… and the nightmares of the worst. It was a dream, a dream Chris didn't dare give birth to and instead nurtured in his mind. If he let it out, he would lose Danny, and that was the worst nightmare of all. So he was content to stay at Danny's side as a friend, no matter the pain of the undelivered dream.

But here he was, on the verge of losing Danny anyways. And this pain – losing Danny for good – hurt more than any of the nightmares.

"I'm not going to lose him!" Chris screamed out loud at the beeping icon of Danny's signal on the screen, his own almost on top of it.

"Chris?" Sam asked, alarmed.

Chris stalled, mouth stumbling for an excuse, when his shuttle supplied one. "I'm there!" he shouted, hitting the brakes and ejecting.

A strange sort of hive had been built inside a building – which could have been his own house for all Chris noticed or cared – and his blasted made short work of the door. Sam and Cathy were at his side in a moment, yelling at him for going ahead without them. Several worms protectively hovered in a circle facing inward, and were easily captured while distracted. Chris charged through, ignoring the writhing new baby worms on the floor still encased in blue jelly, then stopped short at the sight of Danny.

Chris could swear he had been punched in the gut. The giant worm Chris dimly remembered chasing before and causing the gaping wound across it's back, oozed blue jelly and little worms. One of it's tendrils, almost in a protective way, wrapped around Danny's waist, submerged in blue gel leaning against it's side. His wrist comm blinked from within the blue jelly. Danny didn't move, even when Chris screamed his name.

Chris plunged his hands into the cold jelly. Somewhere behind him Cathy and Sam were firing away. He couldn't hear them or the blasters, or even the screech of the worm as Chris ripped Danny free from it's hold and the jelly started to ice over and freeze. He could only hear the wild rambling in his head: don't be dead he can't be dead don't be dead he's not dead! don't be dead…

"Danny!" Chris gathered the still boy up in his arms. Even through his gloves he could feel Danny's skin, icy to the touch and tinted blue, crystallized gel stuck in his hair and eyelashes which didn't open. Danny's chest rose sharply, then he gagged up blue jelly.

"Danny?" Chris' voice trembled as he wiped the gel away. Danny's lips were almost purple, like he had eaten a popsicle recently. Chris rocked in a fit of panic. "Danny, please…"

"He's alive, Chris!" Sam's hand on his shoulder made him jerk and clutch Danny closer to him. She fired her blaster at somewhere behind him. "Remember, the jelly supports life- It was keeping him alive!"

Chris recalled the readings from the analyzer. "But it's not going to last long-We have to clear it out of him soon!" He clambered to his feet. "We have to get him back to the clubhouse! Now!"

Sam didn't hesitate as she yelled, "Cathy, fall back!"

"But-"Cathy faltered, looking at the almost defenseless motherworm.

"We'll take care of her later!" Sam snapped as she helped Chris stand up, who refused to let her take Danny from his arms. "She doesn't have her worker worms and she's not going anywhere!" She looked at Chris. "Come on, we have to get him to my shutt-"

"I'll take him," Chris retorted sharply. "I have the most room in my shuttle."

Sam looked ready to argue, but only had to take one look at Chris' face before she silently nodded. Chris jumped into his shuttle to settle into his chair, then pulled Danny into his lap. He grabbed the harness and strapped Danny down against his chest. Sam yelled something about getting back to the clubhouse and shut his cockpit for him.

Chris could feel the chill through his buster armor and gritted his teeth as he reached around Danny's still form to fumble for his dash. There had to be some kind of temperature control, he figured aliens had to get uncomfortable in the cold crush of space. It took a second for him to realize there wasn't, and he cursed before dropping the heat shield between him and the jet engine nestled behind him as low as he dared without burning them both to crisps.

Danny's cold forehead rested against Chris' neck. Chris risked another second to run his hand through Danny's hair, shutting his eyes tightly. "Danny…"

Then he hit the accelerator and took off like the rocket his shuttle was. The cockpit flooded with residual heat, and Chris blinked hard against the sweat that form and dripped into his eyes. The little shuttle shook as it strained against the force Chris pushed on it, so he didn't notice at first when Danny started to shake himself. Chris' breath caught in fear as Danny convulsed between the harness and his chest.

Chris wrapped an arm around Danny's waist, feeling the wracking tremors threatening to tear the cold body apart. After narrowly avoiding crashing into the tunnel walls several times Chris had to slow down because he refused to surrender his grip trying to steady Danny's body against his. He pressed his cheek against Danny's temple, offering the only comfort he could.

"Danny, don't die."

The whisper couldn't be heard over his shuttle's roar, but just saying the words made their awful truth come to light: Danny – the most precious person in the entire universe - could die, right here and now… and there wasn't a thing Chris could do.

His arm tightened around Danny's thrashing waist as his shuttled approached his docking station beneath the clubhouse. "Don't die." His shuttle powered down and stopped according to it's program, and Chris tightly shut his eyes to stop the threatening tears. "I love you Danny – please don't die!"

To Be Continued...

A/N: Poor Chris.

I've been trying to keep the chapters interesting (writing 'rule': cut out the parts people would skip) and on the short side because most people don't like lengthy chapters in online stuff... plus, I update more often that way. So... yeah. Feedback on this method or just the story in general? And future events you think might happen? :3