The fog was heavy. Several roots and large rocks littered the ground and made the slow and cautious trek unstable at first. However, the small party began to fan out and find their footing through the thick veil that blinded them. It was almost like being in a dream; though everything was tangible, it felt like with every step what had come into focus for a moment would soon vanish again. It was an eerie, magical feeling; it was strange to feel so claustrophobic in such a vast blanket.

The tricorder readings came in sporadically. The only one who was not keeping a constant eye on her scanner was Skylar. Instead, she had her phaser up at eyelevel, aimed out into oblivion. Her stance was low and alert; she was more than ready for anything to jump out at her. A snapped twig that sounded a few feet away sent her whirling around only to be caught by the hand of Spock as he swiftly and fluidly seized her phaser as she cunningly aimed it at his face.

"I could have killed you," she hissed angrily as Spock handed her back her weapon.

"By the standards of humans, you would have been delighted to an extent in these circumstances," Spock returned, walking beside her.

"These circumstances," she repeated with acid in her tone.

"I knew you would have disregarded your tricorder," he mentioned, looking at it as it hung against her hip in abandonment. "If you'd have been using it, you would have detected my presence."

"I did detect your presence."

"Only after I was within target range. And I still managed to apprehend your weapon."

"Dammit, Spock, you are so infuriating!" Skylar spat. "Besides, that daman tricorder is useless. I've managed to pick up some animals in the trees here and there. It hasn't given me anything of use. That's what the communicators are for, to report back and forth."

"I apologize for causing you distress, Lt.," he replied. "As intermittent as the readings may come, they are our only means of efficiently scouting without the source of the Enterprise. It is imperative that –"

"We find that system," Skylar finished sarcastically. She turned to him, stopping only a foot away from him. "I know. You computers all operate the same way."

Kirk's voice sounded from both of their communicators. "All landing party crewmen, report."

Spock looked down at her, seeming to ignore the command of the captain. "You of all people know that I am not a computer."

"I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings?" she questioned. "Oh yes, that's right. You're Vulcan. You don't have any feelings." As she turned to walk away, Spock caught her wrist firmly. Skylar was taken back by this forceful prevention of her dismissal. They stood like this for a moment. Skylar was unsure whether to spit at him or stay to query. She had never seen him like this before.

"What are you doing?" she whispered angrily at him.

Kirk's voice rang out again. "This is the captain. There is a ravine up ahead. Every halt and fall in."

Spock released her hand and took her face into both of his hands. He pulled her to his lips and kissed her. For a moment, Skylar allowed this. Then suddenly she opened her eyes and began to struggle against him until he let go of her.

"You are not allowed to kiss me," she barked at him. "Remember, you broke up with me!" Skylar turned and walked a few feet into the fog before letting out a scream. Instantly, Spock ran forward before hearing Skylar call out, "Spock – stop!" The Vulcan halted himself instantly as the toe of his boots came to the edge of a cliff … the ravine.

Spock crouched down and peered through the fog, the red of Skylar's shirt catching his eyes. He found her hands that were clasping onto a root that was sticking out from the side of the rocky earth a few feet below the edge of the cliff. "Skylar, I am going to attempt to reach down for you. Hang on."

"That's the idea," she called up.

Behind Spock, Kirk, Amelia, Sulu and Ensigns Chan and Harvey came running up just as Spock held out a hand to them to stop them in their tracks. "No!" he commanded. "I am unsure how unequal this cliff-side is. Remain there." He turned back to Skylar, whom he could now see as the fog around them seemed to lessen a bit.

Meanwhile, Kirk turned to the Ensigns and commanded them to head back to the ship and bring back with them rope. He called it in to Bones to have the rope ready for them. Kirk carefully walked up behind Spock, peering down over Spock's shoulder at the situation.

"I can't pull myself up," she called to them. "If I put too much pressure on the root, it may give and I personally don't intend to find out how far I'm going to fall."

"There is a significant chance water may be running at the bottom of the ravine," Spock offered.

"Did your tricorder readings tell you that?"

"No, it is –"

"I didn't think so!" Skylar snapped.

"Skylar," Jim called down to her, "Spock and I will try to pull you up. If that is unsuccessful, rope is on its way."

Both Jim and Spock laid belly-down on the ground over the cliff while Sulu held tight to Spock's ankles and Amelia held onto Jim's.

McCoy barked over Amelia's communicator, "Lt. Takashi – what the hell is going on over there?"

Amelia placed a knee on Jim's ankle – much to his displeasure by the groan he released – and answered on her communicator, "Skylar's over a cliff. Did you secure rope?"

"I just handed it off to Ensign Harvey."

"Good. I'll update. Takashi out."

Spock lowered himself as far down as he could go without tipping himself and Sulu over the cliff. His reach lengthened to about five inches above Skylar's hands. "Skylar, reach."

Skylar stared up at him, fear wrapping its hands firmly around her neck. The fingers on her right hand began to loosen and suddenly earth began to fall from above the root she clung to. Both Spock and Jim jumped as the earth under them began to crumble.

"Spock!" Jim yelled, grabbing the Vulcan's forearm and pulling him away from the edge of the cliff.

Rocks fell into the ravine, their clatters against the base of the cliff echoing up to them through the fog.

"Skylar!" Spock called, edging toward the cliff again on his hand and knees.

"I'm still here," her voice rang out.

"We are too heavy," Spock told her with a hint of defeat on his tone.

Suddenly, Harvey and Chan returned with rope, much to Jim's delight. He took it from them and called out to Skylar, "The rope is here, I'm tossing it over. The second you have it, grab it and we'll hoist you up."

Jim looked back as Spock positioned himself behind Sulu, Amelia taking the front. They all seized the rope tightly. Jim took the slack in front of Amelia and tossed it over the cliff. They heard Skylar let out a slight shriek as they assumed it hit her and the rope tightened on the end.

"I've got it!" she cried.

Jim opened his mouth to yell "pull!" when suddenly the rope was pulled from the other direction. All at once, Spock collided with Sulu who was halted right before Kirk. Jim Kirk's eyes widened as everything before him seemed to display itself in slow motion, much as it had when his ship had crashed onto the strange planet: he saw Amelia's body thrust forward under the sudden weight on her end of the rope. The action whipped Amelia around so that he caught sight of her horrorstricken face, her brown eyes wide in fear. They knew what was happening before his brain could comprehend the situation. Her slender fingers released themselves from around the rope moments too late as inertia wrapped itself around her tighter than a lover and propelled her body through the fog beyond his sight. Jim's arms did not even have time to react. His lungs gasped for air but in this moment he was caught breathless. It was only the sound of Spock and Sulu shouting the names of his lieutenants without any responses from beyond the fog into the ravine that he found himself pulling at the rope. However, as the exceedingly loose and light rope was fed faster and faster through his hands, reality of the extremity of his nightmare sank in when he reached the end of the rope – the end that came too soon, obviously cut as the frayed strands stuck out messily and without either of his lieutenants in tow.

:::::

Spock sat on a rock a few feet away from the small crowd of red shirts that had assembled, each with his own glow light and a phaser. Jim Kirk and Bones argued amongst the mess, Sulu following them around in a zombie-like state. His eyes were as full of fear as Amelia's. He continually ran a hand through his jet black hair as he glanced between Jim and Bones with each hostile interaction they made. Spock understood the conversation fully though he was not apart of it: Jim wanted to lead a team down into the ravine; Bones had stated over and over again how ludicrous the idea was now that the fog had become darker as night approached. Each side had valued points in each favor. However, Spock could not yet find himself ready to enter the debate. His hands clasped together before his chin, his elbows resting on his knees, Spock only saw Skylar's eyes – those fearful, dark eyes. They spoke to him louder than her voice ever could. A piece of him reminded him how ridiculous this thought was; it was neither productive nor of use to the predicament they were in. Yet his brain could not see anything beyond those eyes.

Spock was fond of a lot of things on Skylar's body. Her eyes were one of his favorite features. As closed off to the worlds around her as she tended to be, he could read her through her eyes exceptionally well. He read when she lied to him about not being angry with him; her eyes told him when she felt sad or was on alert. Her eyes were the gateway into her brain when they made love as to how she was receiving him. Spock was always particularly fond of this. He was fond of it when she was angry at him. He was fond of how easy her human eyes gave away her human attributes. What Spock wasn't fond of was the look of sheer terror burned into his mind at the current moment. His logical brain was having a hard coming up with a logical solution to anything. All he had were the facts: a broken ship, a cloaking system hidden behind its own devices and two lost crewmen. Anger rose in him like it had when he had lost his mother before his very eyes.

"Spock!" Jim yelled, storming toward him with Bones and Sulu trailing behind with equally thunderous steps.

The Vulcan did not move at the sound of his captain's dire tone, but he heard him completely.

"Spock, you're my first officer and advisor and I need your advice – now."

Spock looked up at him. He stood tall, looking between the three men before him. Bones' blue eyes were like the tips of a flame. They burned at him. Sulu appeared as though he were going to cry. "Captain, I am afraid I am going to have to disagree with you here."

The eyes of all three men grew wide at this response.

"You risk the lives of these men on a very meager chance that either Lt. Pike or Takashi have survived the fall. You have no information regarding the state of the ravine, and now that we have lost daylight, the chances of anyone returning from the search is considerably slim to none. Furthermore, it would serve our entire mission better to use our devices to locate the cloaking system so that it may be shut down and all of our instruments one percent usable to stabilize our ship in an orbit – thus allowing us to find Skylar and Amelia."

"But locating the device could take a long time," Sulu interjected. "They could … they could die before then!"

Spock eyed him. "There is a significant chance they are dead already."

"You pointy eared son of a bitch!" Bones growled, pushing Jim and Sulu aside to get right in Spock's face. "You could at least act like she meant something to you! The both of them!"

Jim rested a hand on Bones' shoulder, easing him back as Bones glared up at Spock. Spock's dark eyes were cold pools before the doctor.

"Bones," Jim said quietly. "Calm down. Spock gave me his opinion as ordered."

"Doctor," Spock said, taking a step towards him. "If it is any consolation to you, Skylar meant something to me."

Bones considered this for a moment, his cheeks still red. "Means something, Spock. Means. Have a little faith."

"You're a doctor. You know as well as I that if that cliff is anything substantial in height, faith will do nothing in preventing their fate."

Sulu's hands clenched into fists. "We can't just stand here and argue. I don't care about odds at this point – I want facts. Amelia meant something to me. I want to know the truth." He turned to Jim. "Captain, I am more than willing to climb into the ravine."

Jim nodded to Sulu in understand and stepped toward Spock. "Mr. Spock, I understand where you are coming from; the idea is completely dangerous."

"More than so, Captain."

"But I can't just sit here and wait either," Jim continued. "I want to send some men down to at least see if they are anywhere near the base. Then, once we have our answers, we will commence on determining the location of the device."

Spock nodded in understanding. "Then I also request to climb down. Perhaps there may be a variation in readings with a tricorder within the ravine."

Jim turned to Bones. "I need you with me, too, Bones. Just in case."

"I'll have a medical team waiting for us up top."

"Captain." Spock spoke suddenly, almost causing the others to jump at the sound of his voice. "There is a fact that we have overlooked in this conversation. We have not considered what happened with the rope that caused the fall."

Bones looked between them in question. "What happened?" he demanded heatedly.

Spock answered, "It was not Skylar's weight that seized the rope."

Jim was now focused off into the fog, his mind racing. "No, no of course not. She was already holding on to it when we were about to pull her up."

"Three grown males and one female should have lifted her easily," Bones stated incredulously.

"In any normal occurrence, that is correct," Spock replied. "However, something else was on the other end of the rope."

Jim said to Bones, "Something … pulled the rope from under Skylar. Something pulled it hard enough to jolt Amelia over."

Sulu concluded gravely, "The rope over the side of the cliff was cut to shorten it, so as maybe to ensure that we wouldn't be able to attempt to throw it down again."

Bones stood in bafflement. "Well, gentlemen, that certainly is a very valuable thing to leave out," he sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.

Spock leaned into Jim. "Jim, we do not know what is down there. We put everyone that climbs into the ravine in considerable risk of attack."

Jim looked up at the Vulcan with consideration of the fact. "I understand."

Jim returned to the red shirted crewmen as they were busy scanning the area to little avail. A few of them had located the other side of the ravine – about one kilometer away. Another had gotten a reading that the ravine itself was about the same length high; a moment later another ensign's tricorder estimated that the cliff stood eighty feet high.

"It is apparent our tricorder readings are inaccurate," Jim spoke to the congregation. "There are only two things we can be sure of: Lt. Takashi and Pike are down there somewhere and the climb itself will be dangerous. Mr. Spock, Dr. McCoy, Lt. Sulu and I are all going to climb down into the ravine. I will require two security personnel. The rest of you will remain up here awaiting my orders via communicator."

Jim turned to Spock. "Have you tried either communicator?" he asked suddenly.

Spock and Bones both pulled their communicators out and began to page both Skylar and Amelia. After a few attempts with no response, they shut the lids.

"There are either unable to respond, have had their communicators lost and or broken, or the device is blocking their frequencies," Spock explained.

"The good news just keeps on ringing," Bones stated sarcastically. "Come on, we're wasting time."

Ensigns Chan and Harvey volunteered and started with Jim, Spock, Sulu and Bones over the cliff, each with his own rope and five men on the end of each. They made their way down through the fog slowly, every one responding to one another to ensure that no one was lost along the way. Spock continually shouted out the length at which they climbed down – ten feet, twenty feet, thirty feet. Just as Spock was about to call out forty feet, he surprised himself by touching the ground. He released the rope and stepped onto sandy soil just as Sulu and Jim touched down next to him, Bones and the two ensigns following. The fog was even denser in the ravine. Both ensigns held up their glow light sticks, illuminating the fog around them. They held the phasers in their other hands. Jim, Sulu and Bones did the same while Spock eyed his tricorder.

"The readings on the tricorders from the crewmen on the cliff were significantly incorrect," he mentioned.

"Meaning we could be on a wild goose chase for a while," Bones offered grimly.

Jim stepped out into the fog, searching around. A small stream of water flowed before him. Various trees shaded the stream. Rocks of all sizes littered the area around them. There was no sign of the girls, however. Spock came up next to him, Bones on his other side.

"It is very likely they landed in a tree. That could be the saving grace, as you might call it, Doctor," Spock said.

"For once, tonight, I agree with you," Bones said, surveying the scene.

"I want to call out to them," Jim said, almost to himself. "But if there is something nearby, I don't want to attract it."

"We shouldn't go much further from here," Bones said. "We can't risk getting lost in this." He placed a hand on Jim's shoulder. "Jim, they aren't here. We're going to have to wait until this fog clears, or at least until daybreak."

Jim moved away from him. He motioned to the other ensigns to fan out as they began searching the stream bed and the trees around the edge of the water. Bones and Spock looked to each other and then followed. Bones pulled out his communicator and quietly attempted to call Amelia. Spock looked down at the tricorder in his hands and then released it. He let it fall to his hip where it sat for the next hour in abandonment.