Three's a Crowd
The descent was so rapid that Chekov thought he would faint. When it had started a short scream had escaped his lips. But as they disappeared into the dark unknown, he didn't have the energy to strain his lungs just a second longer despite the strong urge to give in to his panic. He felt like paralysed.
Chekov had experienced a similar feeling once before when he had been stuck on a malfunctioning turbo-lift on the Federation space-dock in Earth's orbit. Shaking, he leaned towards the metallic wall of the cavity and gave in to the dizziness that clouded his mind.
When the descent had started, McCoy had had the presence of mind to get hold of Spock. The moment the CMO had felt movement under his feet he grabbed the thin shoulders of the Vulcan and pulled him inside the cavity.
The cube descended bellow the planet's surface at a great speed. McCoy was reminded of the incredible fast turbo-lifts aboard the Enterprise. This movement felt smooth buteven faster. A distant but fairly loud mechanical sound accompanied it. The darkness just behind Spock's back outside the cavity added to McCoy's sense of disorientation. He lifted his head to see the square of light above become smaller and smaller until it was completely gone and total darkness engulfed them. It was then that the descent suddenly stopped as abruptly as it had begun and their bones were rattled by the sudden halt. Chekov slumped towards Bones and he knew instantly that the young Russian had fainted.
"Chekov!" McCoy padded his cheeks with some force and after a few moments the Ensign came to.
"I'm OK, Doctor. I tink" Chekov answered with a shaky voice. McCoy put his arm around the young man's shoulders to steady him.
"I gather you haven't sustained any injuries either, Doctor?"
"I'm fine, Spock. And you?"
The soft beep of a tricoder being switched on was the only sound detectable apart from their breathing.
The dim light of Spock's tricoder lit up his face just enough to give the Vulcan a ghostly appearance in the total darkness. He was studying the readings.
"Thank you, Doctor, I'm also in good health. It appears we have descended into an open space bellow the surface of this planetoid. I don't want to distract you with my estimates of the dimensions of this precinct but it roughly equals the size of your Terran moon."
Spock's tone was a calm as usual; only the speed of his words hinted at his amazement.
If there had been more light, Spock would have seen two wide-open mouths.
When McCoy finally found his voice again, he didn't make an effort to hide the concern in his tone.
"Good God, what the hell is this, Spock? And more importantly, how we're gonna get back up? Our rucksack's are up there! Without them we won't last long."
"Doctor, I don't need to tell you how long humans can survive without nutrition or water."
Spock could have elaborated about Vulcan superiority when it came to survival, but he refrained from referring to it at this point.
"But I agree that the loss of our instruments and supplies is unfortunate. May I enquire as to what equipment each of you is carrying?"
"Only my tricoder and phaser, Mr. Spock. Both are functional" Chekov still sounded shaken, but at least his voice was back to its normal volume again.
"Emergency medi-kit, tricoder, bio-scanner and phaser. All intact as far as I can see" McCoy was controlling his equipment with the help of Chekov's tricoder light.
"I carry a tricoder, phaser and the long-distance communicator. Apart from the latter, my equipment is fully functional" Spock completed their assessment.
Only now, after the initial excitement, McCoy noticed how cold it was down here. The complete darkness that surrounded them wasn't only scary it was also icy. He felt Chekov starting to tremble.
McCoy crossed his arms tightly around his torso. He already regretted not having their rucksacks at hand. He knew it had been a good idea to pack those emergency blankets. But of what use were they now? His bio-scanner indicated a temperature of 5 degrees bellow Celsius. Due to the confined space they hadn't noticed straight away how cold their new environment was. He also noted that while his and Chekov's body temperatures were still normal, Spock's metabolism was already working at a higher rate than usual. The First Officer's body was adapting quicker to its new environment as it was more sensitive, but also because the cold was more harmful to Vulcans than it was to humans. That's were the superiority ends McCoy thought grimly. He sincerely hoped they wouldn't have to spend too much time in this dark, freezing hell.
"My readings indicate approximately 1500 cubes like ours in this space beneath the surface. Fascinating" The Vulcan didn't seem faced by the harsh circumstances they were finding themselves confronted with.
"Un-be-li-va-ble" Chekov pronounced each syllable; if it was due to the cold, the young man's amazement or both, McCoy wasn't too sure.
Baffled by Spock's findings, the CMO raised an eyebrow and nodded, but realised Spock couldn't see him.
"Spock, that's great, but...
McCoy pondered how he should phrase what he needed to say without immediately provoking the Vulcan's stubborn defence mechanisms.
"I hate to point out what's obvious. It's very cold in here" McCoy ended his sentence.
"It's freeeezing, Doctor. I feel like I'm in Siberia" Chekov blurted out as he continued with breathing warm air onto his clutched hands.
The darkness prevented McCoy to give Spock a stern look so instead he turned his head towards the Vulcan and raised his voice.
"Even our Russian here is feeling it. At that temperature it won't be long until your body will shut down into survival mode."
"3.34 hours to be exact at the present temperature. However, my body will not 'shut down', Doctor. Instead, I would start a deep mediation that is stabilising my temperature and body functions. I'm not going to burden you with the Vulcan terminology but in the colloquial sense you could call this kind of meditation a 'hibernation trance' " Spock explained with a calm and even voice.
"I don't care how you describe that Vulcan hocus-pocus of yours, you will fall into a coma, Spock!"
Despite the cold, Bones felt the blood boil in his temples. The Vulcan's unwillingness to accept his own vulnerability was one of his most annoying traits. Unfortunately Spock shared this attitude with Jim Kirk who also believed to be indestructible. It was no wonder that Bones was irritated most of the time, those two were constantly giving him reasons to worry about their health. He was their CMO and friend, that was his job. But he still felt that despite Jim and Spock's claims of the exact opposite, they didn't seem to be concerned about his well-being at all, the well-being of his nerves to be exact.
A small sigh escaped Spock's lips "In human medical terms your description would be accurate Doctor, but compared with Vulcan physiology-"
"Mr. Spock, Doctor!" Chekov cried out as suddenly the cube started to move again. It didn't move as fast as before but instead it was moving horizontally towards the right. The movement was accompanied by a fairly loud, mechanical sound from far below, like the humming of a gigantic machine. It was similar to the sound that had accompanied their descent. Spock noted privately that if the sound corresponded to the mechanism that operated the cube's movement, it wasn't loud at all if put into context of the colossal size and mass of the construct.
"Fascinating" Spock's eyes were fixed on his tricoder display.
"What is it, Spock?"
"We're turning towards the cube to our right that is also turning towards the cube on its right with a few dozen cubes in this row undergoing a simultaneous movement. They are all moving towards a larger construct opposite, apparently to connect with it."
In the dim light of their tricoder displays, Spock could see the puzzled looks on McCoy and Chekov's faces.
"This whole, gigantic mechanism bares similarity to a clockwork that was used in your ancient Terran clocks, Gentlemen" Spock offered to help his companions to understand the process.
Chekov nodded but the word clockwork somehow made him feel uncomfortable.
Suddenly, McCoy felt extremely agitated. Since they had arrived on this strange world he hadn't felt that scared. Bones had listened intently to Spock's analyses and as he pictured the Vulcan's descriptions in his mind he had come to an unsettling conclusion.
"A clockwork needs a cogwheel, Spock" the CMO animatedly padded the wall behind him "Don't tell me, this construct opposite we're moving towards to is the wheel and we're going to encounter the cog?"
"I'm afraid this seems to be an appropriate allegory. We are moving towards a gigantic round construct. This cavity appears to be the spatial link to lock with this object." Spock admitted with a barley suppressed sigh.
"We have to get out of here!" Chekov cried out. He was annoyed as soon as he had said it. How could he allow himself to be so scared? He had to maintain composure. He was a Starfleet Officer on a rescue mission. Mr. Scott and his men relied on him to remain calm. Chekov took a deep breath and tried his best to breath evenly. McCoy's reassuring grip of his shoulder was helping as well.
"Spock, how long?" McCoy was surprised how calm and collected he managed to sound. There had to be a way out of this mess. Panic wouldn't get them anywhere.
"Approximately 7 minutes. I'm afraid I can't give an exact time as I haven't calculated the exact mass of the cubes and the round construct yet."
Spock's tricoder was flickering and only now did McCoy notice that his own instruments had switched themselves off into standby mode.
"I have detected a colossal energy source approximately 1000 meters bellow us which seems to interfere with our instrument readings and functionality." The Vulcan switched his tricoder off and on. A small, relieved sigh escaped him as the steady, dim light of the instrument once again lighted his face.
"Ok, any suggestion how we get out of here before becoming mash?"
"Yes, Doctor" Spock replied and Chekov released and audible sigh of relief "My environmental scan indicates that in approximately 5 minutes we will pass a large, solid plateau. The passing will last about 60 seconds. The plateau will be approximately 2 meters away from the threshold of this cavity."
"You mean, we should jump onto the plateau?" McCoy hated the idea, but not as much as being pressed to a pulp inside a colossal clockwork.
"Affirmative. I also suggest, as the space in here is too confined to take a sufficient run up for the jump, that I will assist both of you by pushing you towards the plateau."
Confronted with deafening silence Spock felt the need to add "Vulcan's are significantly stronger than Humans."
"And what about you, Spock? Who will give you a push?" McCoy tried hard to control his anger at Spock's implied self-sacrifice but he knew he was failing at it.
"As I just said Doctor, I'm much stronger than you and the Ensign are. Therefore, I will be able to jump much further without a run up. It is therefore logical, that I go last."
McCoy grunted. If they had the time, he would give Spock his piece of mind regarding how sick he was of his Vulcan arrogance. But they hadn't.
"I suggest you will go first, Doctor, then Mr. Chekov. You might be able to catch his hands and pull him onto the plateau in case the Ensign doesn't succeed to cover the distance completely."
Chekov thought that Mr. Spock had a great talent for describing uncomfortable circumstances rather practically.
"What is bellow ze plateau, Mr. Spock? I mean, how far would we fall?" Chekov asked quietly.
A short pause from Spock indicated his answer wouldn't be pleasant.
"It's approximately 255.2 meters to the surface bellow us, Ensign."
"Oh" was all Chekov could say to that. He tried to remember how he had done at school in ancient Olympic athletic disciplines. They had practised long-jump but he couldn't remember if he had been any good at it. What did it matter anyway? He had to be good at it now!
"You're giving us a lot of approximates, Spock. Should we worry about that?" McCoy asked. The question was nagging at his mind ever since Spock had informed them that their instruments were being interfered by an unknown energy source. It wasn't promising that his question was followed by another relatively long pause before Spock replied.
"I'm afraid it would take more than the time we have left to calculate the exact distances with the current interference our instruments suffer and due to the time it takes the tricoder to precisely measure all surrounding areas and objects. Approximates will have to suffice. It also means, that you have to jump as far as you can, Doctor."
"Figures" McCoy mumbled. He suddenly felt a weird feeling in his stomach. The thought of jumping towards a plateau he couldn't see, across an abyss he couldn't see, wasn't exactly pleasant. But it was their only chance.
"Doctor, I suggest you hand me your equipment. You as well, Ensign. I'm better prepared to jump with baggage" Spock said calmly and held out his hands towards them.
McCoy couldn't even smile at the fact that he had just caught Spock making an illogical suggestion.
"Spock... I don't like sayin' this, but in case...in case you shouldn't make it, neither will our instruments then."
If there would have been light, Bones would have seen Spock's raised eyebrow.
"Of course." Spock replied quietly and withdrew his hands.
What followed were a few, quiet moments where the frightening darkness and the horrible cold were tormenting their alert senses. Then Spock raised his voice, sounding calm and confident.
"60 seconds until we start passing the plateau. I suggest you get ready to jump, Doctor."
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