Chapter Seven
A sudden idea jolted Harry from his sleep without any warning. His eyes flew open, and he looked around with a confused look on his face as he tried to figure out where he was. It took him a few moments to realize that he and Chakotay were asleep in the cave. A plasma storm after dinner had forced them here for safety, and they'd decided that it was far safer than outside with the sudden onset of storms at random intervals. Harry ran his fingers through his hair and reoriented himself as he collected his thoughts. The idea that had woken him up started to slip away like a wisp of smoke from the smoldering embers from the fire a few feet away from him. Mentally, he grasped at it, willing it to come back before it was gone forever. He knew it must have been a good idea if it forced him from his sleep. The more he forced the idea to stay with him, however, the more it seemed to escape him, as if it didn't want to be brought into fruition, which only frustrated him even more.
Right as Harry was about to give up and go back to sleep in the hopes that that would bring the idea back, the idea came rushing back to him with full force as if it had never tried to escape him in the first place. Once it was in his mind, he thankfully knew it wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. It was all so simple, he had no idea why it had taken him this long to think of it in the first place. As operations officer, he actually felt ashamed that he hadn't thought of it earlier. The interference from the cave prevented them from using the transporter on the shuttle to rescue Tom and Seven. With the newfound hole, however, the signal from the transporter would be able to get to the pair, as long as they were standing right underneath the hole. While it wouldn't get them in contact with Voyager, at least then the away team would all be together, and they could turn their attention back to finding whoever sent out the distress call. It was a fairly straightforward plan that they would be able to try out almost immediately after meeting Tom and Seven in the morning. Harry couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier. They had been so focused on finding another way into the cave that they had overlooked the simplest of solutions.
Eager to get started on his new and exciting idea, Harry scrambled to his feet. In his haste to get out of the cave, he nearly tripped over Chakotay, who was fast asleep a few feet away from him. Undisturbed by Harry's excitement, the First Officer snored softly as he continued to sleep. Harry had no idea when Chakotay had fallen asleep. When he'd woken up a few hours earlier, he'd seen him sitting vigil next to the debris from the cave-in, almost willing the rocks to disappear. Unfortunately, the rocks were still there, separating them from the rest of their team. Sometime between then and now, he had obviously dozed off, which Harry was actually thankful for. If they were going to rescue Tom and Seven, then both of them would need to be well rested and at their peak physical and mental game, which wouldn't happen if Chakotay was only running on an hour or two of sleep.
As Harry burst outside of the cave, the first rays of morning started to trickle over the horizon, bathing the environment in an early morning haze that chased away the cool air swirling around him. Part of him wondered if he should have pulled on the outer tunic and grey under shirt of his uniform, which was still crumpled up in the cave where he had used it as a pillow, but then he remembered how hot it was yesterday, and he knew he wouldn't need it for very long. In the distance he could just barely make out the outline of the shuttle. From where he stood, it looked exactly the same, which was a good sign. The hatch was still blasted off, just like yesterday, mocking him. Even when they got Tom and Seven out of the cave and to safety, they wouldn't even be able to get out of here. They would have to wait for Voyager to realize that they weren't at the rendezvous point and double back for them, which could add a few extra days to their mission at the very least. None of that deterred Harry from trying to get the pair out from the cave though. At least then, they'd all be together to figure out what to do next.
When Harry entered the shuttle, he immediately got the overwhelming sense that something was wrong. He automatically grabbed his phaser and did a quick sweep of the small craft to ensure that nobody else was in the vessel. The lack of light in some parts of the shuttle made him wary, but he found that nobody was there, which was a huge relief for him. With some hesitation, he returned his phaser to its holster and immediately went to the transporter panel to put the early stages of his plan into action. As soon as he saw the panel, however, his heart sank. Since he and Chakotay had last been in the shuttle, someone had tried to remove the panel from the wall. This resulted in the panel to crack as the person who had tried to do this was completely inexperienced in the inner workings of this shuttle. When Harry tapped the panel, it beeped pathetically and flashed for a few moments before turning off. Swearing under his breath, he tried again. This time, the panel didn't even react. It was dead.
"Damn it!" Harry exclaimed as he brought his fist down against the panel, causing it to crack even more. As soon as he did that, he instantly regretted it. Just like that, he'd ruined any chance he had of attempting to fix the panel.
Visions of Seven swirled through Chakotay's mind as he slept, causing him to smile. They weren't doing anything in particular, just sitting in his quarters, talking. They were both smiling and enjoying their time together. He reached out to stroke her cheek. Her eyes closed, and she leaned into his touch before leaning forward to kiss him. When he realized what she was doing, he leaned towards her as well.
"Commander." Confusion flashed across his face as he sat back before he even had a chance to kiss her. That wasn't Seven's voice, yet it was her lips moving as he continued to dream. "Commander, we have a problem." It was Harry. In an instant, Seven melted away, and Chakotay woke up sprawled out on the floor of the cave. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but exhaustion finally won out at some point during the night
"What is it?" he snapped angrily as he ran his hand over his face in an attempt to wake himself up. Try as he might, he couldn't chase away the dream he just experienced and how it made him feel. When they got back to Voyager, he would be able to make that dream a reality.
"Someone broke into the shuttle again." That was all the prompting Chakotay needed to push himself to a sitting position. After sleeping on the cold, hard ground all night, his joints immediately popped and protested at the sudden movement.
"What?" Since he was still waking up, he wasn't sure he had heard Harry correctly. There was no way anyone could have broken into the shuttle, there was nothing left for them to steal.
"I got an idea to get Seven and Tom out of the cave, and I went to the shuttle to try it out. The transporter panel has been destroyed. It looks like they tried to remove the panel to get to what's underneath," Harry explained excitedly. Now that news had properly sunk in, Chakotay scrambled to his feet.
"Did you find any trace of the intruder?" he asked as he stalked out of the cave and made a beeline for the shuttle. The sun overhead was rising much faster now. It would be day in less than an hour. Already, it was warm. It was guaranteed to be another torturously hot day.
Sure enough, when Chakotay got into the shuttle, he saw that the transporter control panel had been severely damaged. While he hadn't doubted Harry and his story, he needed to see for himself. It didn't make any sense to steal the transporter technology, it was a difficult system to manage and mesh with other interfaces that weren't Starfleet. He had to assume that whoever did this didn't know what they were trying to steal, and they just started digging around in search of something to take. Unfortunately, that resulted in extreme damage to the system. Chakotay knew B'Elanna would be able to fix it when they got back to Voyager, but, for now, it was as completely useless as the rest of the shuttle.
"Has anything else been tampered with?" he asked as he ran his fingers over the splintered glass.
"I didn't check," Harry admitted with a shameful shake of his head. "I'm sorry, Commander. I came right back to tell you."
"Check the rest of the systems, particularly the comm system. If that's damaged, we're dead in the water."
"Well it doesn't do us much good now. There's too much interference in the atmosphere."
"Regardless, it's our only connection to Voyager. Check all the systems and gel packs."
"Aye, Sir." Rather than leave Harry to check on the status of the shuttle on his own, Chakotay helped sweep the shuttle with his tricorder. Just like before, there was absolutely no trace of whoever broke into the shuttle. Just like who summoned them here and where those strangers were, it was a complete mystery.
Try as she might, Seven couldn't sleep, not that she really needed to sleep in the first place, but with the disappearance of her mobile regenerator, she needed to find a way to conserve her energy. The inability to sleep came from the piercing pain in her temple that continued to get worse, chasing away any hopes of sleep. After laying awake for several hours, she finally got up and grabbed something to eat. As soon as she reached to grab a piece of fruit out of the nearby canteen, she froze. No matter how hard she tried to order her hand to work, it simply hovered over the small piece of fruit pathetically. Her fingers twitched stiffly, but they refused to follow the most simple of commands, such as grabbing a piece of fruit. Her eyes narrowed with frustration as she glared angrily at her hand and willed it to move. Never before had she had to focus so much to move. The extreme effort caused the pain in her temple to intensify as if if both phenomenons were closely related. She groaned loudly but quickly stopped when she remembered that Tom was asleep only a few feet away from her. Slowly, her fingers began to curl around the small piece of fruit, eventually grasping it loosely in her hand. It was the best she was going to get, and she knew it. Her situation was getting more perilous. She needed to regenerate.
By the time Tom woke up several hours later, Seven had started a small fire, gathered water and eaten her share of fruit for the morning. This didn't necessarily surprise him, as he felt that he had gotten a late start and knew that she didn't need as much sleep as he did. Knowing he had to get up and get the day started, he pushed himself to a seated position and rake his fingers through his hair.
"What time is it?" he groaned sleepily as he stretched his arms over his head. Slowly, the tight muscles in his back and shoulders began to release with the help of the movement.
"Approximately 0730 hours," Seven responded. "If we are going to meet Commander Chakotay and Ensign Kim on time, we will need to leave in 15 minutes."
"Okay, I can be ready." Tom scrambled to his feet and snatched some fruit out of the canteen. Seven tossed a small piece of wood on the fire and watched as it began to singe and burn until finally turning to ash. The fire calmed her and helped her forget about the struggle she had had just a few hours earlier doing the most mundane tasks.
With the help of Seven's extreme need for promptness, she and Tom arrived at the hole exactly when they were expected to. The bright sun created a small patch of light on the dank cave floor.
"They are late," Seven stated bluntly. She sounded annoyed at the fact that Chakotay and Harry weren't on time like they were. She knew that not everyone was as driven to be on time like she was, but this was important.
"I wouldn't be worried," Tom assured carelessly. She should have figured he wouldn't be worried, as he was always so laid back about everything. "Give them a few minutes. Not everyone is as obsessed as being on time as you."
"Being late is inefficient." He rolled his eyes. He knew she was going to say that.
"And yet, everyone does it. It's part of being human." Seven pursed her lips in disapproval. She never understood Tom's nonchalant attitude towards things. She knew he was never late to his post or to sickbay, as far she knew at least, she knew he was late to other personal duties, such as dates with B'Elanna. She'd heard B'Elanna complain in engineering several times. If anything, he should be taking this time to learn from her how to be more prompt.
"Tom! Seven!" Harry's eager brought Seven back to reality. She snapped back to her present situation and took a step towards the streaming sunlight. Instantly, she regretted it as the bright light caused the pain in her temple to intensify, something she hadn't thought possible until now. She did her best to ignore the pain and put on a strong face.
"Hey Harry," Tom called with a cheerful smile breaking out across his face. "How's it going?"
"Well, I thought we found a way to get you guys out of there, but things have gotten a little more complicated," Harry responded.
"I hardly see how things can get more complicated," Seven stated bluntly. The sharp pain in her temple inadvertently gave her voice an edge that usually wasn't there. All three men, Chakotay included, were too wrapped up in discussing what happened to the shuttle to notice it though.
"Someone broke into the shuttle again," Chakotay explained. Tom and Seven exchanged fleeting glances. The fact that this was the third time in under forty-eight hours didn't bode well for their future here on this planet. Clearly someone here was intent on stealing technology and supplies from them.
"When?" Seven asked.
"Sometime during the night," Harry replied. "There was a plasma storm, so we took cover in the cave. When I went back to the shuttle this morning, someone had tried to break off the transporter panel. The system's completely useless now."
"I hardly think the transporter system would have been able to get us back to Voyager," Seven pointed out. "There is too much atmospheric interference."
"No, but we could have at least tried to get you guys out of the cave," Chakotay pointed out.
"No offense, Commander, but I have a feeling that we're safer down here than you are out there." Chakotay sighed. He didn't want to, but he knew Tom was right. At least whoever was out here couldn't get to them in the cave.
"I think you're right," he admitted. "But it's our current situation, and we're going to make the best of it. Right now, my main focus is what supplies you need for the day so you can try to get out of there."
"Umm, a regenerator, a nice, comfy bed, my PADD," Tom teased.
"Very funny," Harry commented dryly. "How about some fruit?"
"That would be sufficient," Seven replied.
"Good, because that's all we got." Chakotay drew up the canteen to fill it with the fruit they had collected on their way here. Tom grabbed the fruit and shoved it in his pockets so they could eat while they walked.
"Do you guys need anything else?" Chakotay inquired.
"No, we're fine," Tom replied. "We're going to keep exploring the cave to see if we can find another way out of here. The cave branches off into more caves, which then branches off into more caves. It's a whole complicated network down here."
"Make sure you guys don't get lost."
"I have an eidetic memory. We will not get lost," Seven assured. Up above, Harry cracked a small smile. He imagined that Tom must find that frustrating. Usually he was the one who knew where they were going and called all the shots when it came to navigation. Now, he was following Seven's directions, but it was probably for the best. If the caves really were a vast network that branched off in all different directions, it would be wise for him to follow Seven's lead.
"Well, be careful regardless. We'll continue to explore the surface for an entrance. The same plan as yesterday still applies. We'll meet back here at 1800 hours to exchange supplies. If you guys find a way out of the cave, meet at the campsite."
"Aye, Commander." Seven nodded diligently. For some reason, she felt optimistic about today. They had managed to cover a lot of ground yesterday. With any luck, they would cover as much ground today and find a way out of here.
Tom was grateful that Seven had an eidetic memory, because he had absolutely no idea where they were going. At first, he'd tried to keep track of all the turns they'd made, and he thought he was doing a pretty good job, but after hours of winding their way through the labyrinth of caves, he couldn't tell where they were anymore. Between the twists and turns throughout the caves and the darkness that surrounded them, Tom was utterly lost and confused. For all he knew, Seven was leading him in circles as some sort of cruel prank. His eyes flitted across his surroundings in search of any features that would help him determine where they were. Everything looked the same, or at least as far as he could tell. His eyes had finally adjusted to the darkness, but he was still limited it what he could see. Because of that, he was grateful to have Seven by his side to guide him. Her confident stride told him that she knew exactly where they were going and where they had already been. Whenever they passed by a cave that branched off from the one they were walking in, he glanced down it out of curiosity. All of them lead to a dark oblivion. In the back of his mind, he wondered if that was the cave that would lead them out of here or if it was somewhere they had already explored. He didn't bring it up though, because as soon as he did, there would simply be another cave that could just as easily be the one to get them out of here. There was a lot of guess work involved with their current situation.
Out of the blue, Seven stopped abruptly, causing Tom, who was still wrapped up in his own thoughts, to nearly run over her as he continued to walk. With an undignified grunt, he stumbled backwards and quickly regained his balance.
"Sorry," he muttered even though technically it was Seven who should be apologizing to him for stopping without any warning.
"We should stop here for lunch," she announced.
"Thank God. My feet are killing me." Tom immediately threw himself to the ground and pulled off his shoes before pulling the fruit out of his pocket and tossing them to the ground in front of him. Seven sat down across from him and grabbed a piece.
"We have walked approximately 10 kilometers."
"I believe it," Tom muttered as he attempted to massage his feet. He couldn't figure out why 10 kilometers had left him so exhausted. He figured that it might come from the fact that he'd spent all night sleeping on the cold, hard ground and the fact that he usually spent his days sitting on the con on the bridge. These days, the most exercise he got was pacing his small quarters while trying to lull Miral off to sleep. It was hardly the same as walking 10 kilometers before stopping for a break.
As he rested, Tom ate a handful of the fruit. Already, he was getting tired of eating it, and it had only been a few days. Deep down inside, he knew that he should get used to it, because they still had several days until Voyager realized they were in trouble and came looking for them. Without most of the rations on the shuttle, this was all they had to eat. While the fruit was definitely edible and didn't taste terrible (like leola root), he did wonder if it had the nutritional requirements they needed to survive, especially considering the fact that they were walking long distances every single day. The rations that had been on the shuttle were designed to meet all their dietary needs, but they couldn't be sure about the fruit. Even so, beggars can't be choosers; this was all the food they had right now, so it would simply have to do. The only positive was that the fruit didn't taste half bad. To him, it tasted like a cross between a strawberry and a kiwi, although it had the consistency of a banana. It was a strange phenomenon to experience eating such an unusual blend of textures and flavors, but he ignored it and continued to eat.
Unlike Tom, Seven found that she wasn't hungry. If she simply sat there and waited for him to finish after being the one to suggest that they stop to rest, however, she knew it would arouse suspicion. To prevent that from happening, she nibbled on one of the fruit to make it appear that she was eating something. For some reason, the light fruit and quite delicious fruit in her opinion felt heavy in her stomach, almost like she was eating rocks. Logically, she knew she had to eat to keep up her energy, which was why she forced herself to continue eating. If they were going to walk the same distance this afternoon, then she knew she had to keep up her strength, especially if she needed to regenerate as well. As much as it made her feel worse rather than better, she finished the fruit and grabbed another one out of the canteen.
After resting for a while, Seven and Tom knew they had to get going and continue to explore the expansive caves around them. While they didn't have to worry about losing any sunlight, they did have to make it back to Harry and Chakotay on time so they could make their own camp while they had light. Tom reluctantly put his shoes back on and got to his feet. His feet immediately screamed in protest from being confined in the uncomfortable shoes and having to support his weight once again, but he ignored them the best he could. When he got back to Voyager, B'Elanna definitely wouldn't be able to complain about him being lazy anymore. He'd probably walked more in the past twenty-four hours than she had in the past month. He wouldn't bring that up though. He knew her well enough that she would get mad and point out that he had left her alone to take care of Miral for nearly an entire week, even if it was Captain's orders to do so.
Several hours after eating and on their way back to the rendezvous point, Seven turned the corner in a cave, prompting Tom to follow after her dutifully. They continued to walk until the cave branched off into three separate caves. Each one of them looked identical to the others. She knew one of them lead back in the direction of the hole where Chakotay and Harry would be waiting for them, but she couldn't remember which one. Her heart pounded anxiously in her chest. It was a strange phenomenon, something she'd never experienced before. Logically, heart palpitations were incredibly dangerous and warranted a visit to sickbay. She also knew that they were a sign of high stress. Stress wasn't something the Borg experienced on a regular basis, but as she was also human, she was prone to stress occasionally. Normally, she handled stress by facing whatever was distressing her head on, but that was made more difficult by the fact that Tom was standing right behind her. She needed to make a quick decision. Her hands trembled slightly as her eyes shot from one cave to the other, mentally forcing herself to remember which cave lead them back to their destination. Just like Tom, she found that they all looked the same, but she couldn't dare admit that to him.
Tom stood uncomfortably behind Seven. Almost immediately, he sensed that something was very wrong with her. Up until now, she had been confident in her movements as she lead the way back to the rendezvous point. Now, even though she didn't openly admit anything to him, he could tell that she had her doubts about where to go next. Her shoulder slumped slightly, and she looked from cave to cave to cave in desperation.
"Seven, is everything alright?" he asked as gently as possible. She immediately squared her shoulders. He didn't tell her that he knew what was wrong, as he figured it would probably only make her feel even worse than she already did.
"Why wouldn't they be?" she demanded harshly. Between the burning sensation in her temple and her inability to figure out what cave they needed to go down, she wasn't in the mood to be pestered. She needed to concentrate and make the right decision, as one wrong turn would leave them wandering aimlessly through the caves without any supplies. If that happened, neither of them would be able to last very long.
"You just seemed...confused."
"I don't get confused. I am Borg." Her mind whirled as she not only tried to figure out which tunnel lead them to the hole but also as she attempted to think of a logical explanation for her strange behavior. "It sounded like you were getting tired, and I wanted to give you a chance to catch you breath." Tom wasn't buying it. While his feet were still hurting, he wasn't feeling tired at all.
"Okay…" He didn't sound at all convinced. "So I'm fully rested and ready to get going."
"Seeing as we have walked for approximately 23 kilometers, I doubt that you are fully rested." He rolled his eyes.
"It's a saying, Seven. It means I'm ready to get going." Seven continued to scan the caves. Suddenly, it all came rushing back to her.
"This way." With her previous confidence, she lead Tom down the cave on the far left. He followed her lead and kept his mouth shut about what had just happened, although he knew that something was wrong.
The situation left Seven feeling extremely shaken. Never before had she encountered such a problem, as her memory was flawless. It only took her a few seconds to commit something to memory, and now she was left mentally scrambling for what felt like the most basic of information, such as how to get back to Chakotay and Harry. While that information may not seem basic to most people, to her, it shouldn't have been a problem at all. Of course, she knew what was causing this stressful problem to happen. Her cortical implant told her that her nanoprobes were running on approximately seventy-five percent efficiency. When she realized this, it was no wonder she was having problems moving and with her memory. It was only a matter of time before she became highly inefficient. With any luck, they would be out of this cave before then and back on Voyager.
Relief washed over Seven when she saw the distinct puddle of light spilling across the ground and the comforting baritone of Chakotay's voice seeping down from above. While she had been confident in her choice of caves, there had still been a flicker of doubt that plagued her as they walked. She had still feared that she made the wrong choice and gotten them hopelessly lost. Seven's little mishap earlier had caused her and Tom to be late to the rendezvous point, which only caused her to feel even more on edge, if that was even possible. Tardiness was highly inefficient and drove her crazy, a feeling that was made worse by the fact that it was her fault they were late and the pain in the side of her head.
Up on the surface, Chakotay was starting to get worried. By his estimation, Seven and Tom were fifteen minutes late. While it didn't necessarily surprise him that Tom was late, it wasn't like Seven at all. He paced nervously alongside the hole and tried to think of some sort of explanation for their tardiness. Unfortunately, all the explanations he could think of, including them being lost or hurt, only made him feel more stressed out about the entire situation.
"Where are they?" he demanded to himself.
"Maybe they found a way out," Harry suggested hopefully. He knew that that probably wasn't true, but he needed to say something to help Chakotay feel better. "We should head back to the camp just to make sure."
"I hope so," the First Officer admitted. On the other hand, he couldn't bring himself to leave quite yet. "We'll give them five more minutes and then head back to the camp." The thought of leaving without knowing for sure if they were out of the cave made him feel uneasy. If they didn't show up to camp, then that meant they were stuck in the cave overnight without any supplies; they would be cold and without any food until the next morning. On the other hand, they could be on their way to the camp right now. It was a difficult position to be in. Until he knew for sure that Seven and Tom were out of the cave, Chakotay found that he couldn't bring himself to leave.
Author's Note: I apologize for such a short chapter. Despite that, please make sure to leave a nice little review =)