He was not himself. Instead it was as if he followed another person's movement. He saw a forest that seemed to stretch for an eternity down a hillside, above them was the yellowish light of sunset. There were MACO soldiers around him. They were signing with their hands. Stop. Two, that way. One, with me. He now saw that he "possessed" a female body, the leading Sergeant no doubt. Seeing through her eyes he saw how she raised her rifle. In the scope he saw himself, then Trip from the behind. The Sergeant signalled attack to the others, then fired off her rifle. Without being able to stop her, he watched how Trip stooped forward. The view quickly changed to his own surprised face. Someone else managed to shoot him in his shoulder and he fell on the ground. With a decisive shot the Sergeant fired a round at him, ending his life.
Alice felt the smell of flowers even before she realized she was lying on the ground. Carefully she opened her eyes. Everything was green. As the wind blew up her back she flinched, it had been so long she had almost forgotten what it felt like. Her hands probed the surroundings. She was obviously lying on a moss of some sort. There were high trees around her.
For a moment she just lay still, feeling a relief over not being transformed into Commander Tucker's amoeba. The thought made her giggle slightly. She turned on her back, finding the yellow-green sky quite nice. It reminded her of a hot summer's day in Cape Town. She realized she had a sore forehead; she must have bumped into something as she fell. Rising she wiped some of the blood from her face. It hurt more now, as she stood up. Pulling off a sleeve from her blue form, she took up her knife and cut it into a bandana, which she knit tightly around her head. The pain subsided.
"So, the survival training comes in handy after all!" She murmured to herself. But where were the others? She looked around, but could not see anything but trees, grass and small insects that flew in the sunlight. She recovered her phase pistol from the ground. With it in one hand she retrieved her scanner, it showed a dozen lifesigns within her vicinity. To reduce them she only searched humanoid lifesigns. She picked up two. One was in her vicinity, the other, almost at the edge of the scanner's range. She trekked for the closer one.
As she was closing in on the first biosign, the sun had already risen a couple of degrees. It was obviously morning on Antikol Beta. Before her was a patch of high grass, going up to her knees. She carefully strode through it, having her phaser at the ready. The last thing she wished was to get eaten by a hungry animal! The grass in front of her was broken, showing something had passed here recently. Slowing her step she looked closely around herself and indeed, she found a patch of darkness within the brownish green grass.
She closed in slowly, eying her surroundings. There was nothing there. Her gaze went to the ground again. A hand became visible as she pushed away some of the grass. Alice kneeled and followed the arm up to the shoulder. Below the MACO patch was the nametag. M. REED. She sighed and closed in, bending away the grass so she could see more than just one part of the body at once.
The Commander was lying on his stomach, as a caricature of a running man. Alice quickly set her hand to his neck, giving up a big sigh of relief when she felt the warmth of the skin and a pulse. Then she scanned him. No major injuries, as far as she understood things. It was a relief to find her Commander; after all, he was the MACO… If there was trouble ahead, she would need someone to keep her back safe, for the moment at least. A thought of simply killing him entered her mind. Yet it made no sense now… Being on a foreign planet she needed all the help she could get!
Closing in, Alice pulled the limp body over, putting Reed on his back. She took out a flashlight that was attached to his belt, turning it on. Then she placed his head in her lap, checking the pupil response. It contracted as she opened the eye and shone with the light on it. That was good! It meant that there was no neurological damage either. The scarring on his face, above the brow, on the cheek and jaw was old as well, which meant she could not do anything more for him. All she could do now was to wait until he woke up. Her thoughts began to wander.
Death. Was he dead? Malcolm took a quick breath and opened his eyes. A face made him jolt and reach for his knife. A memory of Pace with his skulking silhouette came to mind. A hand softer than Pace's stopped Malcolm's attempts to reach his knife.
"If I wished to kill you, Commander, you would already be dead." Said Alice. Malcolm blinked a few times. It was indeed Alice. And she had a valid point. He relaxed slightly. His body felt like after a few hours in the agony booth.
"How long..?" He asked as he rose into a sitting position. His stomach did not agree to the action. Had Alice kept him in her lap? A faint smile rolled over his face but disappeared quickly.
"One hour or so, I found you fifteen minutes ago." Alice answered. She had a bandana around her forehead.
"The others?" Asked Malcolm.
"I have an additional lifesign ten minutes that way." Alice said and pointed into the woods.
"And you?" He gestured to her head.
"Oh, it's nothing sir, really. We were lucky not to materialize inside a tree!" Malcolm nodded, and then he sat quiet for a while. Regaining some strength he rose. "Are you sure?" Alice asked.
"We need to move. Whether I am fine or not does not matter." He muttered under his breath.
"Just don't die on me sir; you are the only one who keeps Commander Tucker in place." She said and rose. Malcolm nodded. That was as close to "I hope you will be fine" he would ever get. They paced off into the forest, Malcolm with his rifle ready and Alice with the scanner. He looked at the sky; it was not yet sunset… that gave them plenty of time to gather before the events of his "dream". A creeping unease about these dreams and visions had been spreading for the last few days inside of him. Why? How? For what purpose? If he could only know…
As they neared the next lifesign, they slowed their pace. Malcolm cautiously surveyed the surroundings, and then looked at Alice. She shook her head. Nothing. He continued forward, finding a pair of legs sticking out from behind a tree. The colour of the trousers was blue, making them Trip's.
"Tucker." He pointed. Alice nodded. They walked around the tree, finding Trip unconscious. Malcolm took another glance around, nothing. He crouched near the body and felt the pulse. It was there.
"Delta radiation decay increasing." Said Alice as she closed.
"No wonder." He responded. "Scan him." Alice let the scanner hover over Trip. Malcolm noticed burns on Trip's hands. Examining them closer he found them to be recent. A little memento from the engine room, most probably.
"With the exception of the delta radiation, he has a concussion. I am not a doctor but, that is what I believe."
"That is sufficient." Said Malcolm. "Any sign of Hayes?" Alice shook her head. Malcolm looked at Trip again. Then he sat down. He was so tired!
"We wait sir?" Asked Alice. He nodded.
As he opened his eyes again, the sun had risen almost to zenith. Feeling sluggish he drank some of his water. It was half empty. Head he been asleep? Looking at the clock he found it to be so, he had slept over two and a half hour! Embarrassed by his evident lack of self-control he massaged his forehead for a while.
Alice was sitting by a tree, fiddling with her scanner. As she saw he was awake her face broke up into a smile. Her white teeth were dazzling. She did not say anything, though. Malcolm turned his attention to Trip. He had been moving around. Pouring some water into his hand, Malcolm splashed it over Trips face.
"Time to wake up!" He said. "Real world hailing Commander Tucker!" That seemed to make Trip stir slightly. Malcolm took a breath and then shouted: "The engine is about to explode!" Trip sat up instantly. For a second he stared in front of himself but then began falling backwards. Malcolm caught him by the collar, levering him down slowly.
"You scared the living daylights out of me, Malcolm!" Trip winced and covered his eyes with his hand.
"How are you feeling?" Asked Alice. She sat down on the opposite side of Trip.
"A hell of a lot worse than I did before." Trip grumbled and rolled over to the side, pushing himself up from the ground.
"Drink." Said Malcolm, giving him the water. Trip accepted, this time without any complaints. That was rare and meant only one thing; he was in a really bad shape. Malcolm actually pitied him slightly, something he had never done before. But then he had never seen him in such a sorry state before..! Trip was pale and had dark rings under his eyes, adding to that he looked to have a slight fever.
"Which way is the escape pod?" Asked Malcolm. Alice pointed even further into the woods. "How far?"
"An hour or two." She responded.
"Where is Hayes?" Asked Trip, standing up on wobbling legs.
"Our scanners can't find him, but our best shot is that he's made a landing somewhere in that general direction… We seemed scattered along a diagonal line." Said Alice.
"That's odd." Commented Trip. Malcolm rose to his feet as well. The sluggishness he had felt was still left. He hoped it would disappear if they began moving.
"We need to go, there's food and supplies in the pod. Including painkillers." That seemed to get Trip's attention.
"What are we waiting for?" He said. "Let's go!" Malcolm turned to Alice.
"You first, then me and Trip." She nodded and walked away into the forest. Trip raised his rifle and followed, so did Malcolm. Soon they were gone in the midst of the lush forest.