Malcolm did not quite manage to open his eyes the first time he woke. All he could tell was that it was still dark and quiet, enough persuasion for him to go to sleep again with his hands tightly wrapped around his rifle. The second time he woke, it was from someone pushing him. It was not a light push either, but more like a light blow to the shoulder.

"Trip..!" He grumbled and opened his eyes, blinking. He massaged his shoulder and looked around, finding Trip by the fire, cooking something. He had obviously also managed to get water from somewhere as he was gulping I down from his filled water can.

"Beauty sleep's over." Trip commented in an evil voice. "How's your guts?"

"My guts were fine until you woke me." Said Malcolm. "Now I'm hungry." Actually, things were better. The tiredness from yesterday was almost gone.

"We have rations." Said Trip and looked down into the pot hanging over the fire. His face told Malcolm it was crewman's rations – the worst sort. Feeling the smell waft towards him he rose quickly, pulling the rifle back over his back. Alice was still sleeping close to the pod. Hayes was also asleep, but his small twitches had stopped. Had J'Sper done his work?

Malcolm looked around, finding him inside the escape pod, he did not have his cloak on, but instead he had managed to fetch himself a baseball-cap with the letters "NX-08" on it. He was wearing it. As he noticed Malcolm he rose from a pair of backpacks. They were small, but then there was not much food in the pod either.

"Sir." He said. "You should be able to wake Hayes today, but he will not be… himself for a few days."

"You actually managed to… do something… to him?"

"It was difficult, sir. I have never used my telepathy for something so trivial as to repair someone's neural pathways." Commented J'Sper, then he began packing the bags again. Malcolm just shrugged, he did not care what J'Sper had done before, what mattered what they were supposed to do now.

"I noticed small energy readings towards the west yesterday evening. I believe that is where we should go."

"I agree, if there is any hope of getting home – and stopping Hoshi – it's that way." Agreed J'Sper. Malcolm walked out again. Trip had moved away from the pot with rations and was now examining the tricorder. Taking no notice of him, Malcolm continued towards Hayes and squatted next to him.

"Major?" He tried. That seemed to do some good. "Hayes..?" Hayes took a deep breath and opened his eyes. For a moment he looked afraid, but it soon passed as he saw Malcolm. His face changed to express guilt.

"I… Hoshi she knows…" He began.

"I know." Said Malcolm. Trip had also overheard Hayes and closed in.

"Your damn booth sir." He said while managing to give Malcolm a slap on his arm. "You didn't have time to do anything more productive than that with your time onboard the Enterprise?"

"It works very good I understand." Malcolm said.

"Nothing compared to a Vulcan science officer!" Said Hayes. "By the Emperor my head hurts!"

"It's gonna hurt some more, Major." Said Trip. "Ration's ready!" Hayes face turned even sourer.

The day was cooler than the last one. Above their heads floated high thin clouds, strikingly white towards the light green and orange sky. The plateau did not have much forest, as the lowlands they had been through yesterday. The trees were more like big bushes. A chill, but not unpleasant wind blew across the plateau. Malcolm was leading their little group. From the early morning he had felt that his nose was itching from the grass on the plateau, but it was not as serious as it was back home. He remembered some dreadful springs when he was still a boy. He had been sick more than a few times!

J'Sper was pacing close behind him, taking readings with the tricording device. It was a device unlike any he had ever seen, just like the two phasers they had brought with them from the Defiant. The entire ship was… distant. Both in time and thought. With exceptions to the three things, they only had one rifle each and two phaser guns still from the Enterprise. And their scanners of course.

"The electric and magnetic distortions are getting stronger." Commented J'Sper automatically. Behind him, Trip and Alice were taking turns at helping Hayes. He walked by himself, but sometimes his balance did not seem to be in place. He was unusually pleased with the situation as well. And it was not just a good night's sleep… that Malcolm was sure of! They continued in the same pace for yet another few hours until they arrived to a small waterway.

"We take ten minutes." Said Malcolm and sat down next to the stream. The other joined his example. Trip scanned the water, arriving to the conclusion that it was of the same quality that he had found this morning, probably coming from the same spring. J'Sper was still looking into the tricorder.

"Where exactly are we going?" Asked Trip. "Because we don't seem to be moving at all…"

"This high altitude plateau is so big you do not notice that you travel, Commander Tucker." Said J'Sper. "But if I interpret these readings correctly, we should be approaching a massive power source. Perhaps it is the one that supplied energy for the weapons that attacked the fleet in orbit…" J'Sper stopped and looked towards the plateau. He was frozen like a statue. "Something moved over there."

Malcolm stood up, putting up his binoculars to his eyes. There was indeed earth flying up from something in the ground, as if something was rising from the ground. He watched it for a moment, not knowing what to do. They could not hide, nor run, so they could just watch.

"What in the name of…" Began Trip, also holding a binocular.

"Have we activated something?" Asked J'Sper. A second later a light brighter than the sun flashed before their eyes. It was soundless.