Archer and Trip sat in a tense silence as Trip piloted the second shuttlepod towards the planet's surface. Archer raised his eyebrows in surprise as he surveyed the mountainous valleys of lush vegetation.
"I thought T'Pol said this planet wasn't showing any life signs?" Trip queried, as a winged creature flew past the shuttle, clearly startled by their appearance.
"She said her scans couldn't penetrate the atmosphere," Archer corrected him; "it seems there's some kind of dampening field around the planet scrambling our sensors and blocking communications."
"Sounds familiar," Trip muttered, "damn it, the instruments are going a bit crazy here. I can't get a fix on Malcolm's shuttle... the last reading I got wasn't positive, it looked like it was about to do a nose dive into the side of a mountain..."
"Wait, Trip – what's that?" Archer pointed at the view port; Trip followed his line of sight.
Sure enough, there, in the distance, a wisp of smoke rose steadily in the otherwise still air. Trip altered course towards it, and soon enough, they saw the trail of devastation through the rainforest.
"That can only have been caused by a shuttle," Trip commented, as he scanned the path for a suitable landing space, "it looks like the pilot tried to pull it out of the nose dive at the last minute, otherwise we'd just be looking at a large crater right now."
"Which means Malcolm could have survived the impact," Archer finished for him, "set us down wherever you can Trip, the closer the better."
"It's gonna be tight," Trip warned him, but nonetheless began to descend.
The shuttle dropped down slowly, and then began to land between two badly damaged trees, scraping the hull slightly on one of the trunks. It touched down safely, and the hatch opened slowly, allowing Archer and Trip to peer outside. The tropical heat hit them like a solid wall; the air was thick, humid and heavy with the scent of exotic foliage. Animals chirped and chattered, hidden from view by the tropical growth.
"Wow," Trip gazed about in wonder, "what a place..."
"Agreed," Archer could not help but compare the humid temperatures and the bright colours to the previous planet they had visited; their time spent on that marshy, cold, desolate landscape seemed a lifetime ago, "come on – the other 'pod's over there..."
They each grabbed an emergency supply pack and stepped down the ramp. Archer led the way towards where the other shuttle was a crumpled mess of metal embedded in the roots of a huge tree. The humid air quickly soaked into their uniforms as the heat made them sweat uncomfortably, even over the short distance. The tree before them had partially fallen, tangling the shuttle in its torn-up roots, but it was still accessible.
"Doesn't look like there's anything left worth salvaging," Trip commented, eyeing the torn-off remains of one of the engines, "do you think anyone could survive a landing like this?"
"There's one way to find out," Archer replied, already keying in the code to open the hatch.
Instead of the controlled lowering Archer had expected, the hatch simply dropped open, slamming into the ground with a dull thump – Archer would have been crushed if Trip had not reacted in time and yanked him out of the way.
"Thanks," Archer said, breathlessly, "appreciate it."
"Don't mention it," Trip replied, as he stepped up onto the ramp, "Malcolm? Are you in here?"
"Commander...?" the British accented voice was weak, but unmistakeably familiar.
"Jon! Over here!"
Archer scrambled into the shuttle, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the dim interior. All of the systems were offline, and the only light came from a small fire that was burning in what remained of the navigational console. Trip was on his knees beside the console, and as he crossed the small space, Archer realised that Reed was lying on the floor, pinned down by a metal beam that had trapped his right leg and side beneath the console.
"Malcolm! Thank God! Are you alright?"
"I've been... better..." the lieutenant croaked, in a vain attempt at levity, "sir, it's good to see you..."
"Let's see if we can get this thing off you..."
Archer glanced around, and eventually found a twisted length of support beam long enough to use as a lever. Trip positioned himself ready to pull Reed free as soon as the weight was lifted.
"Ready?" Arched asked, as Trip nodded in assent, "Three... two... one!"
On that command, Archer put all of his strength into a single upwards shove on his improvised lever. With a creak of protest the beam lifted, and Trip wrenched Reed out from underneath the hefty weight.
"Clear!" Trip called, and Archer dropped the lever in relief, allowing the metal to crash down harmlessly onto the deck plates. Two quick strides took him to Reed's side, crouching opposite to Trip.
"How bad is it, Malcolm?" Archer asked, trying to keep his tone light.
"Just a bit battered, sir," came the slightly evasive reply, "I'll be fine... where is it? Where is Tai'chu'un?"
"Tai-what?" Trip asked, surprised.
"Tai'chu'un," Reed repeated, "That was its name. The creature. Tai'chu'un."
"We don't know," Archer responded, resting a comforting hand on Reed's shoulder, "can you walk? We need to get you out of here."
"Yes, I... I think so..."
"Come on then," Trip reached out a hand, helping the other man to his feet, and supporting him when he wavered slightly, "lean on me. It's not far to the other shuttle."
Archer waited for Trip's nod that they were ready to go, and he stepped down the ramp, into the tropical humidity. He took a few steps forward, and then frowned.
"Trip," he said, his voice filled with trepidation, "where's the shuttle?"
"What do you mean, 'where's the shuttle'?" Trip echoed, disbelieving, "It's right... over... there..."
The engineer trailed off. The second shuttle, their only means of escape, was nowhere to be seen.