As soon as the shuttle door opened, Archer felt the cold wind whip around him, stealing his breath away and bringing tears to his eyes. For some reason, he had not expected it to be so cold on this marshy planet. He turned around and closed the shuttlepod, affording Trip shelter against the elements while he worked, as Reed took out his scanner and tapped a few keys. Archer eyed the damp, grey, cold terrain apprehensively – his normal enthusiasm for exploration had waned slightly in the face of the adverse conditions. He reminded himself that not all planets could be balmy paradises, and decided to simply hope that there would be something of interest here that would make the journey worthwhile.
"I'm picking up the signal again, captain," Reed's voice interrupted his thoughts and Archer turned towards the tactical officer expectantly, "it's coming from this direction..."
"Lead on, Malcolm," Archer gestured for him to go first, "watch your footing, though – this terrain looks bad."
Truer words had never been spoken – the ground underfoot was rough, a mixture of sharp rock and soft mosses, which proved treacherous as the two men attempted to negotiate their way towards their elusive goal. They frequently slipped and stumbled, often plunging inadvertently into muddy, marshy patches, steadying each other as Reed attempted to guide them around the worst of the obstacles in their path.
"How far, Malcolm?" Archer asked, eventually, pausing to catch his breath.
They had been walking for about forty minutes and had left the shuttle far behind, though by Archer's reckoning they had not covered much distance given the hard going.
"Not far, sir," Reed assured him, wiping a muddy hand down his trouser leg before consulting the tricorder again, and gesturing a little to his left, "this way."
Archer nodded and followed accordingly. The ground seemed to be getting slightly harder, with fewer mud patches, for which he was grateful. The sparse trees were beginning to thicken, giving Archer the impression that they were leaving behind something resembling a shore line to enter into a forest. It was also getting darker as the trees cut out what little light penetrated the thick layer of cloud cover. Lighting continued to flash as the wind howled around them. Archer switched on his torch, its light a welcoming beam in the darkening grey world. Reed copied his example, torch in his left hand and tricorder in his right hand as he continued to follow the signal.
After a few more long minutes, they entered a small clearing in the dense trees, and both men paused for a moment to survey their surroundings in surprise. The ground had been paved in a smooth, white stone, like opalescent marble. Although vines and creepers had long since overgrown the paving, the stone beneath still shone white, a stark, bright contrast to the otherwise brown and grey landscape. Around the edges of the clearing, eleven tall stones stood erect, roughly conical in shape, tapering to points reaching up into the sky. The stones were all different heights, ranging from around four feet to over twenty feet in height. They were made of the same strange white stone, and to Archer, they looked like weird skeletal fingers reaching for the sky. A twelfth stone, obviously unable to withstand the elements as well as its comrades, had fallen to the ground and shattered into several pieces. In the centre of the perfect circle stood a dull, metallic column, overgrown with weeds and debris.
"This appears to be the source of the signal, captain," Reed gestured with his tricorder as he approached the column, "I can't see any sort of interface, but there appear to be carvings around the edges..."
Reed placed his torch on the ground and began to brush aside the creepers that had tangled themselves around the odd column. Archer, too, began to pull away the plant growth, revealing the alien symbols that were carved into the surface. He ran his fingers gently over the letters, feeling the rough stone surface that had pitted with age. The whole area felt somehow ancient, despite the primordial appearance of the rest of the planet. Archer was suddenly struck that this might be the last remnants of a technologically advanced species, and wondered at the age of the artefacts surrounding them.
"I'm taking a visual scan of the carvings," Reed muttered, using the scanner to take a video image recording, "perhaps we can transmit them to Hoshi when we get back to the shuttle... she might be able to translate it."
"I think we need to find a way to shut off the signal," Archer said, by way of agreement, "if it was a distress signal, it's pretty obvious whoever sent it has long since gone..."
Reed made a noise of agreement, as Archer wandered around the circle of standing stones, suppressing a small shiver of cold. An odd sensation was settling over him; the stones stood imposingly above him and he suddenly felt like he was a trespasser in a sacred tomb. As if to emphasise his point, something in the tree line caught his eye, and he crouched down to take a closer look.
"Malcolm – take a look at this..."
"Sir?"
Reed crossed over obediently, picking up his torch and joining Archer to peer into the undergrowth. Empty eye sockets stared back at them, hollow and unseeing. The skull was certainly alien but recognisably humanoid, with prominent nasal ridges, large, front-facing eye sockets and a slightly beak-like jaw, with no recognisable teeth.
"It looks almost bird-like," Reed commented, and Archer had to agree, "whatever it was, it's been here a very long time, captain."
"It doesn't look like there's anyone here to rescue," Archer sighed, straightening up again, as he pulled out his communicator, "Archer to Enterprise, come in please."
Expecting a prompt response, Archer frowned slightly when he was met only with static. He tapped the communicator to boost the signal and tried again; "Enterprise, this is captain Archer, please respond."
"Strange," Reed shook his head, holding up his scanner, "the electromagnetic disturbances seem to be increasing, and it's blocking our transmission..."
"Perhaps if I can raise Trip he can use the shuttlepod systems to..." Archer was suddenly cut off by a low but distinct humming noise.
Baffled, he glanced around, seeing Reed doing the same. It seemed that they both identified the source of the sound at the same time; the column at the centre of the stone circle. Archer felt a small but distinct vibration run through the stone beneath his feet and he glanced across at Reed, who was consulting his tricorder.
"What's happening?" Archer called; the humming noise was getting louder, as the vibrations increased.
"I don't know, sir!" Reed had to shout to be heard; the wind was picking up as well, howling around the clearing and whipping the trees into a frenzy, "I'm reading a massive build up of electromagnetic power from somewhere, but I can't identify what's generating it! Our scans may have triggered it – I suggest we leave, sir, quickly!"
A flash of lightning lit the clearing, and then another, and a third, all in quick succession. Blinded by the light, deafened by the noise and stunned by the wind, Archer reeled around and shouted; "We need to get back to the shuttle!"
As he spoke, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle and stand on end; the air suddenly felt thick and heavy, as if charged with static electricity.
"Captain! The stones! Look!" Reed cried out, his voice almost lost to the screaming wind.
Archer looked up. The stones were visibly vibrating, trembling, as if trying to shake themselves free of the very ground they were rooted into. The effort proved too much for the largest of the stones, which, with a loud crack that was barely audible over the wind, it broke in two. A large piece slipped from the top of the stone and toppled towards the ground. Reed had to fling himself aside as the stone shattered on the ground, debris skittering across the shaking ground. Archer ran to his tactical officer, helping him to stand.
"I'm fine, captain!" Reed assured him, "We need to get out of-!"
He was cut off by what could only be described as an explosion. The humming noise reached a crescendo, and the column in the centre of the stone circle simply cracked and splintered into thousands of pieces, releasing a wave of blue light and energy. Archer was aware only of a blinding light, followed by the impact of a shockwave that threw him backwards, and everything went white.
As the light faded, Archer slowly raised his head. The wind was still whistling through the trees and the air was icy cold, but it was no longer at the storm force it had been a few minutes ago. The strange column was gone, the debris scattered across the floor, the mysterious runes lost forever, save for the recordings Reed had taken for Hoshi... Reed...!
"Malcolm!" Archer exclaimed, glancing around.
His eyes fell on the tactical officer, lying face down on the ground. Archer hurried to his side, relieved to see the other man was moving, and still conscious, though apparently winded.
"Are you alright?" Archer asked, concerned, as he helped Reed to stand.
"I'm fine, sir," Reed replied, though a slight tremor in his voice belied his words, "what... what was that?"
"I don't know," Archer admitted, taking out his tricorder, "it could have been triggered by our scans of the column, a defence mechanism maybe... damn – my tricorder's fried! Try yours."
Reed obeyed, but shook his head; "It's dead, sir. If I had to guess I'd say we just experienced a massive surge of electromagnetic energy. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the result of a small radioactive discharge..."
"Which means we need to get back to the ship ASAP," Archer replied, grimly, "if we've been exposed to that much radiation... we need to get back to the shuttle. The emergency supplies on board will be treatment enough until we can get back to Enterprise..."
As he spoke, he took out his communicator to alert the ship to expect them, but let out a grunt of frustration when he realised the electromagnetic pulse had destroyed their communicators as well, which also meant their phasers would be inoperable.
"We'll just have to walk back to the shuttle," Archer sighed, putting the ineffective device back in his pocket, "can you remember the route without the tricorder?"
"Yes, sir," Reed nodded, confidently, "in this marshy ground it should be easy enough to follow our own tracks back along the route we came."
"In that case, let's go," Archer said, decisively, "I doubt the signal is transmitting any more but we won't learn anything else without our scanners and we need to go through decontamination procedures as soon as possible."
Reed nodded his agreement and, glancing down at the ground, he began to lead the way back to the shuttlepod. As they turned away, neither of the Starfleet officers observed the shimmering white smoke that began to rise from the fissure left behind by the destruction of the alien column.