The Miles That Lay Ahead - Chapter 4

The Miles That Lay Ahead

by Gabi

Genre: Action/Adventure/Angst
Rating: PG-13 (one or two chapters will be rated R later on)

Disclaimer: I guess I own the aliens in this story, the friendly as well as the unfriendly ones, but unfortunately none of the Enterprise staff.

~~~~~~

Chapter 4

"Nice to have you on board," Malcolm said as he set course for the giant churning nebula.

"Didn't have much of a choice, did I?" Trip grumbled. "I'd really like to know whose stupid idea it was to send me on an away mission with these useless legs."

"Stupid?" The way how Malcolm straightened his shoulders gave Trip the answer to his question. He didn't know if he should be mad at Malcolm or grateful for trying to help him break his lethargic mood.

"It's stupid to be relyin’ on a man who can't walk, isn't it?" he asked. "If a conduit blows or somethin’ unforeseen happens, you're on your own, because I'm stuck here in this chair."

"You mustn't think like that, Trip. You're still the best man for this mission. And no conduits are going to blow. The shuttle is in excellent condition."

"Unlike half of its crew." Even Trip himself didn't know why he kept bringing up the fact that he felt useless, or what he wanted Malcolm to say. He needed to stop feeling sorry for himself and getting on other people's nerves. With this mission, the captain had given him the chance to prove himself. And Trip felt that it was time to do that, not only show the others, but also himself that he was indeed useful. When Malcolm piloted the shuttle into the outer fringes of the gas corona, he turned to the sensor controls. On the display, he saw the sparks flying and the colors changing where the shuttle disturbed the particle flux in the nebula.

"Be careful with the debris, it's all over the place," he said.

"I'd really like to know why it's here, anyway. Looks like the nebula has assimilated an asteroid field."

"Quite possible. Maybe it's the rock that formed these canals."

"Interesting theory." Malcolm dodged a huge asteroid, operating the shuttle's helm with skilled movements. "But if there's debris clogging the canals, we have a problem."

"T'Pol did choose the widest one, didn't she?"

"Of course she did. ETA to this canal is about one hour. What's on the sensors?"

"Notin' new yet." Trip looked at the fluorescing gas cloud. "The matter's solidifyin’."

"I noticed. It's like a swamp."

"Just watch out and don't fly us into a wall or somethin’."

"You'd be the first one to know." Malcolm concentrated on the controls. Maneuvering correctly was getting harder and harder. Charges were breaking all around them, and Malcolm got the feeling that he was flying through an impenetrable thunderstorm. Additionally, now and then he had to get out of the way of rocks and asteroids that were blocking their course. Malcolm was beginning to get a little worried. T'Pol had said that the canal was going to be wide enough for the shuttle to fit through, but they had no idea what the inside of these canals looked like. If there was debris in there as well, maneuvering might be difficult or impossible. He threw a short glance over his shoulder at Trip. His friend seemed a little less frustrated, now that he had something to concentrate on. It had been the right thing to do, asking the captain to send Trip on this mission. Malcolm looked back at the helm. It wasn't that easy to find T'Pol's canal. Colorful streaks were wavering before the pod's front window, and Malcolm wasn't quite sure if they would be able to fly through them. Besides, the electricity of the nebula was beginning to infiltrate the shuttlepod's systems. Again and again the relays sent sparks flying, but fortunately it didn't seem to affect the navigation controls yet.

Trip slid off his seat onto the floor, pulling himself up to the front on his elbows. Malcolm would have liked to help him, but piloting the pod demanded his full attention. The shuttle was jerking and shaking.

"You think we should turn around?" he asked Trip who was at the moment trying to push himself up into the co-pilot's seat, only succeeding in slipping and falling back onto the floor as the shuttle took a sudden leap forward. Swearing under his breath, he shook his head.

"No. I guess that once we're in that canal, it'll get less bumpy. Try to reach it before anythin’ essential is damaged." Eventually, Trip managed to pull himself into the chair. "I'll run a diagnosis, see if anything's broken already."

Malcolm nodded, briefly squeezing his eyes shut against the glaring bolts of light outside. Visibility conditions couldn't have been much worse, his range of vision ranged from little to nothing. The nebula was getting more impenetrable with every meter, and only the sensors were telling Malcolm where and how to set his course. The shuttle was cutting a deep trail through the colorful streaks of the nebula.

"Are we already inside the canal?" Trip asked.

"Uh-huh." Malcolm nodded. "Gases are solidifying all around us."

"It's not a whole lot different in here." Trip raised his eyes from the controls to look out the window. "I've never seen somethin' like that before."

"I wouldn't advise to fly Enterprise in here."

"No, the Cap'n can forget about that. The warp plasma would ignite the phosphor immediately."

"Phosphor?"

"Yeah, there's a whole lot of that stuff out there. It's quite dangerous as it is, not to mention the load of free ions flittin’ about out there. I wouldn't know how to alter the gases so we can pass through with Enterprise. Guess the Cap'n won't have any choice but to fly around it."

"Should we return to the ship?"

"Let's go on just a little bit further. Maybe the consistency of the gases will change some more. At least I want some data to bring home to T'Pol." Trip threw a glance at his controls and frowned. "You're speedin’, Mal. This is not San Francisco Highway."

"Quarter impulse."

Trip shook his head. "Twice that at least."

"That's impossible," Malcolm said. "The display was probably damaged by the short-circuiting before."

Trip's posture was tense as he checked the sensors. "Shut down the engine, Malcolm."

"What?"

"Just do it."

"Engine shut down," Malcolm said, then turned his head to look at Trip as the shuttle presumed his former course without noticeably losing any speed.

"Reverse propulsion," Trip ordered.

The engines roared as Malcolm tried to slow the pod down. He partly succeeded, but couldn't bring the vessel to a complete stop.

"We're being drawn towards something," he stated. "I'm going to try and turn around."

"There's enough space in here," Trip agreed. "Try a flip."

Malcolm fought to pull the shuttle's snout up, under his fingertips feeling the controls vibrate as the shuttle shook, but it stayed on its course.

"What is this?" Malcolm gave Trip a questioning look. It was spooky, the way the shuttlepod was being pulled forward while neither of them could do anything about it.

"You'd be the first I'd tell if I knew." Trip chewed on his bottom lip. "Try reversin’ propulsion again," he said then. "It seems, there's nothin’ else we can do at the moment. Maybe it'll give us some extra time. I'll call Enterprise, see if T'Pol's got an idea."

Archer seemed quite alarmed as he heard the news. "And you have no idea what it is that's pulling you forward?"

"Not yet. But I'm afraid we'll know soon enough." Again, Trip checked his sensors. "I can tell you where it is, but not what it is. Any ideas? T'Pol?"

There was a short pause before Archer spoke up again. "T'Pol still can't penetrate the interferences, we're not getting any clear readings. And what you sent us isn't enough for a precise analysis."

"I thought so." Trip sighed. "Alright, I'll keep you posted." Trip cut the connection, looking up at Malcolm. "Any use in keepin’ up reverse propulsion?"

"It's slowing us down a little, but we can't get away."

"Well, then there's nothin’ we can do anyway. Switch to maneuverin’ thrusters, that way we can at least dodge the asteroids. Let's see where this will take us."

-###-

The queasy feeling in Trip's stomach was getting more and more persistent. No matter what it was they were heading for, it couldn't be anything good. He was trying desperately to get any useful readings in the churning streaks of the nebula, but the sensor rays were being deflected. Slowly but steadily, the uncertainty was getting to him. They'd been in this canal for over an hour already, and they still didn't know where it was leading. For the umpteenth time Trip recalibrated the sensor settings... this time however, the controls responded, giving out useful readings. Frowning down at the screen in concentration, Trip tried to make sense of the data and numbers being displayed.

"Getting anything?" Malcolm asked.

"Yeah, but it's not very precise. Accordin’ to these readings, whatever is ahead might be... some kind of gravitational anomaly."

"A gravitational anomaly?" Malcolm gave him an incredulous look. "In a nebula?"

"Seems so." Trip palmed the control panel. "Tucker to Enterprise."

"Go ahead," came the immediate response. Trip knew that the captain was waiting impatiently for news, but he also knew that what he was about to say wasn't anything Archer would want to hear.

"A gravitational anomaly?" Archer echoed Malcolm's earlier question, surprise clear in his voice.

"Right, Cap'n. And there's no way for us to keep away from it. We've tried. Unless we come up with somethin’ real good real soon, there's no possibility of us not flyin’ into that thing."

For a moment there was silence. They all knew that gravitational anomalies were absolutely unpredictable. This one might decide to transfer the shuttle to a far part of the galaxy, where Enterprise would never be able to find it. "I'll send you all data I can gather until we reach the anomaly," Trip said. "And when we're through, I'll drop a subspace amplifier to transfer as many readings of our new position as possible. If you're still in range then, he thought but didn't say. He knew that the same thought had crossed Jon's mind. He cut the connection and turned back to his readings.

"Any idea where the anomaly might take us?" Malcolm asked.

"No, nothin’. It's impossible to say. The interference is messin' with the sensors."

"Well, I've always wanted to know what the other quadrants look like."

Trip grimaced. "Hope it won't be that bad. I don't really want to get stranded somewhere in the galaxy. I still have to pick the movie for the next movie night."

Malcolm laughed, but the sound carried no humor. What were the odds that they would get back to Enterprise save and sound? The anomaly would pull them in, chew them through and spit them out at some random place anywhere in the galaxy. And it was impossible to say where exactly they would end up, and if the place was going to be in this galaxy at all.

"Look on the bright side, Mal," Trip said, grinning to cover up his nervousness. "It's not a wormhole. That means we'll probably stay in our own time."

-###-

Silently, the two men concentrated on their tasks. Malcolm was grimly trying to keep the shuttle on course so it wouldn't collide with the chunks of solidified gas that were floating around everywhere in the canal. Evasive maneuvers he'd long given up to try. In the meantime Trip worked on the sensors, trying to get as much data as possible to Enterprise. The subspace amplifier was ready, and Trip had also prepped a probe that would transmit their position as soon as the anomaly let them go. He set both to an automatic launch as soon as the shuttle would exit the anomaly.

Trip threw a side glance at Malcolm. The tactical officer was concentrating on his controls, a stoic expression on his face. Like Trip he wouldn't let his nervousness show, but Trip knew that Malcolm's nerves were as raw as his ones and that the Armory Officer was desperately trying to keep his rising panic under control. They had no idea what was awaiting them, heading for completely unknown space. Maybe towards danger. They might end up light years away from Enterprise, maybe even someplace where Enterprise couldn't reach them at all. And there wouldn't be a possibility to contact the ship, since the probe had only a limited range of transmission. Jon would look for them, Trip knew as much, but he wouldn't know where to start. Enterprise couldn't fly into the nebula to get information about the anomaly, the readings had shown that much. The gases and components would play havoc with the engines, even if the warp engine was not online. Trip looked up from his controls when he noticed Malcolm gesturing at something ahead of them. In a distance, the anomaly had shown up, looking like a deep black gash in the galaxy, the edges fluorescing in every color of the rainbow.

"Looks like the entrance to hell," Malcolm said in a low voice, once again trying to get the shuttle to change the course. The canal they were flying along led directly towards the black cut. Trip felt the short hair on his neck stand on end. Would that be the end? The problem wasn't only what would be awaiting them on the other side. Trip had tried again and again to get some readings from inside the anomaly, but the scanners weren't giving him any satisfactory results. He could only hope that the different gravitational forces inside the anomaly wouldn't tear the small shuttle to pieces. They needed a good piece of luck only to survive the trip through. Then there was the question of what was on the other side. The shuttle didn't hold an unlimited store of supply. They wouldn't be able to survive very long in this small metal box. If the anomaly pulled them out of immediate range of Enterprise they'd need to find a planet where they would be able to survive for a longer period of time. There were a whole lot of Minshara class planets out there, with a suitable atmosphere and all, but it would be pure and dumb luck if there was one in range of the shuttle when they came out of the anomaly. Then there was the fact that his legs made him a completely useless member of this party when it came to survival on an M-class planet. The worry for his friend would keep Malcolm from saving himself, he would refuse to leave Trip behind no matter what. Trip swallowed. He couldn't let that happen. He had to find a way to make Malcolm look after himself, maybe even leave Trip behind if there was no other way.

But the time to worry about that would come soon enough. Right now they needed to see where this anomaly was going to take them.

-###-

The shuttle picked up speed as they were pulled deeper into the gravitational field of the singularity. One last time Trip contacted Enterprise to tell the Captain that in a few minutes' time they would enter the anomaly. He tried to make his voice sound steady and optimistic, even though he felt far from optimistic at the moment. He wouldn't say good-bye to Archer either, refusing to consider the possibility of them not returning. It was the uncertainty that was the worst thing about the whole business. He couldn't prepare himself for the danger ahead, since he didn't know of what nature that danger was. Watching Malcolm's stony features, he felt a small lurch as the shuttle was pulled into the anomaly.

"Let's rock an’ roll," he murmured dryly, hoping Malcolm wouldn't hear the slight quiver in his voice.

The consoles began to hiss slightly as the shuttle sped through the anomaly fast enough for the two passengers to lose track of what was going on. The helm wasn't responding, neither were the scanners. The shuttle was shaken so badly that Trip and Malcolm had to hold on with both hands. They were flying blind. Both knew that the other one was scared shitless, but neither of them said anything about it. Time was stretching like chewing gum, and with every second the nervousness of the two men increased. It was a spooky thing, flying through complete blackness where even the stars were missing.

"I've always hated roller coasters," Malcolm murmured under his breath. His words echoed back from the inner walls of the shuttle and let his voice sound strangely distorted. "Wonder if we've already reached the end of the galaxy."

"I've no idea," Trip replied in an equally subdued voice. "I've lost all sense of time. We might have been on our way for five or fifty minutes, makes no difference to me. The sensors are completely dead."

"Helm's offline as well. My only hope is that it'll work again when we’re through."

"If we get out at all. To me, it doesn't look like this thing has an end."

Malcolm knew exactly what Trip was talking about. He also had the impression of speeding down the road to hell, and who could say for sure if it wasn't hell awaiting them on the other side.

Suddenly the shuttle leaped forward, beginning to jerk. After a few tries Malcolm managed to get the computer online and the shuttle back under some sort of control. A fluorescing bolt of light blinded them for a second, then the pod calmed down again.

"Helm's back online," Malcolm reported curtly. A quick glance out the window showed him the same nebula as on the other side, only not as dense and lacking any canals.

"Sensor's are working as well," Trip answered. "We're out. Subspace amplifier and probe were launched as planned." He quickly operated his controls. "Try to get us out of this nebula, I'll try to find out where we are."

Reed set a course that would bring them out of the nebula, and let out a sigh of relief as the shuttle responded. He threw a tense look over his shoulder at Trip. The results of his scans would decide whether they lived or died. Suddenly, Trip raised his eyebrows.

"Interestin’ region of space," he said. "T'Pol would be quite interested, I can imagine."

"I don't really care about interesting, Trip," Malcolm answered with an edge in his voice. "Do you know where we are?"

"I do." Trip raised his head. "It's quite amazin’, but we've been..."

He didn't finish his sentence, when suddenly a hard blow sent the shuttle in a tumbling spiral.

"What the hell was that?"

The words weren't out of his mouth yet when a second blow followed. The shuttle shook and jerked, and behind them a conduit blew, sending sparks flying.

"We're in the middle of an asteroid field, Malcolm!" Trip shouted, checking his scanners.

"Damnit. Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Malcolm cursed under his breath. It wasn't Trip's fault, the commander could only scan one thing at a time. "Suddenly, the nebula broke, and he was able to see in reality what Trip had on the scanners. They were in the middle of a field of large chunks of rock and small boulders which were moving in asymmetrical patterns, smashing into each other and sending debris flying in all directions. Malcolm had the impression that every single rock was heading for the small pod, and all of them seemed to have enough destructive force to crush the shuttle completely. It would be impossible to get through this without taking serious damage. He only hoped that the shuttle would not simply break apart.

"Looks even worse than the time the Romulans chased us through that minefield."

"The mines were more or less stationary," Malcolm said through clenched teeth. "All Travis needed to do was to fly around them. Out there we have a thousand bombs all waiting for a chance to place a good hit."

"The good thing about it is that this time you're not outside, pinned to the hull." Trip grimaced. This was not the time to be telling jokes. The odds of getting out of this unharmed were almost zero. Malcolm was doing his best, but it wasn't enough. Even Travis wouldn't be able to maneuver the pod through this asteroid field and come out of it with no scratch on the shuttle's hull. Again and again the small shuttle was hit by huge chunks of rock, and Trip could easily imagine the damage these impacts were causing. He could only hope and pray that there wouldn't be a hull breach. There was another blow, and the console next to Trip exploded in a shower of sparks. He threw himself to one side and would have lost his balance if Malcolm hadn't quickly reached over to steady him.

"Take care of the helm." Trip had to shout to make himself heard over the beeping of the emergency klaxon. "We need to get out of here. There's a system with several planets nearby. Maybe we can land on one of them."

Malcolm forced the pod into a daring evasive maneuver in order to avoid crashing into a huge asteroid. "Any M-class planets?" he asked breathlessly.

"Three. The third, fourth and fifth one. The third one is closest. We should try and reach it somehow."

When Malcolm didn't answer, Trip briefly raised his eyes to look first at him, then out the window. Right in front of them two rocks loomed over the small shuttle, both of them at least a one hundred meters in diameter. The crack in the middle was narrow to say the least, but there was no other way through. Trip drew in a sharp breath. They didn't have a chance. The rocks would crush the shuttle as easily as they would crush a fly.

"Hold on." Malcolm's voice shook the tiniest bit as he fixated the two rocks with a hard expression in his eyes. "I'll get us through."

Trip tried to find something to hold on to, but it wasn't much use. The shuttle grazed one of the asteroids, and around them hell broke loose. Flames burst from the main console, but when Trip tried to grab the fire extinguisher, the next hit came and threw him out of his chair to the floor. The pod jerked and shook as he tried to get back into the seat.

"Stabilizers went offline," Malcolm called. "Stay where you are."

"No, I've got to..."

Trip was cut off in midsentence as a new blow threw him against the wall. His head made painful contact with a sharp edge, and the world went black.

-###-

When Trip didn't answer, Malcolm briefly turned to see what was going on. The sight of Trip lying on the floor, obviously unconscious, sent a burst of adrenaline through his system. Blood was welling from a deep cut on the engineer's forehead, but Malcolm knew that right now, he could do nothing about it. They needed to get out of this asteroid field. They had managed to get past the two rocks, but not without sustaining serious damage. Without the stabilizers, the shuttle was almost impossible to keep under control, and Malcolm had trouble simply staying in his chair. He'd been able to put out the fire on the helm, but it had done some damage before that. All around him wires sizzled and hissed, letting sparks fly. The helm's computer had gone offline, and Malcolm had to fly the shuttle manually. He needed all his strength to operate the control stick that seemed to react slower than ever. But at least it was still responding, and Malcolm found himself relieved at the fact that Starfleet equipped even their most sophisticated vessels with one of these old-fashioned levers. To tell the truth, he was quite amazed that the pod was still more or less in one piece after the blows it had sustained. He heard a hiss, and realized that they were losing atmosphere. There had to be at least one hole in the shuttle's hull. The good thing about it was that it didn't seemed to be big enough for the pressure to make the shuttle fly apart, but he didn't like losing precious oxygen all the same. But there was no time to do anything about it; all he could do was hope that there would be enough air left for them to reach that system alive.

The rocks were getting smaller, as they approached the fringes of the field. Malcolm was already about to let out a relieved sigh when suddenly the shuttle was hit again. The Lieutenant was thrown out of his seat and found himself on the floor. For a moment he had to fight the nausea that was trying to overwhelm him. The shuttle was tumbling and spinning, sending Trip, who was still unconscious, and himself flying through the small cabin that was the shuttle's interior. Equipment came spilling from the storage compartments, and Malcolm tried to protect Trip's body with his own. Conduits blew, screens and panels went in small sparking explosions and a smell of burned wire was hanging in the air. Clouds of gray smoke were rising from the consoles. Malcolm tried to protect his face and torso as pieces of equipment and broken interior hit him like small missiles. Looking up, he could make out dents in the inner hull paneling. It was only a matter of time now - and not much time - until the shuttle would simply fall apart.

At least the blows to the shuttle's hull had ceased. They seemed to have left the asteroid field, but the shuttle was still rolling uncontrollably. Withstanding the temptation of simply staying where he was Malcolm sat up and grabbed Trip's shoulder, shaking him slightly.

"Trip! Trip, are you alright?"

There was no response, and the blood was still flowing freely over the engineer's face. Malcolm sighed. At the moment, there was nothing he could do for Trip. He needed to bring the shuttle back onto some kind of course and land them on that planet. Then he would look after his friend. Until then, Trip would simply have to hold on. Steadying himself as far as possible, Malcolm got to his feet and made his way to the helm. Again and again he was thrown back as the shuttle jerked and tumbled its erratic course through deep space. The sensor console was hissing and sparking. Malcolm sat down on his chair, reached for the control stick, and immediately pulled his hand back with a yelp. It was hot. Malcolm pulled his sleeves over his hands and grabbed the lever with both hands. He needed to stabilize the shuttle, before the different forces that were playing tug-of-war with it would simply vaporize the small vessel. A few of the displays were still working. Due to a rare stroke of luck, one of them was navigation, showing him the course to the third planet that Trip had mentioned. It was difficult, flying manually and keeping an eye on navigation at the same time. All the same, Malcolm eventually managed to get the shuttle back under his control and reduce the tumbling to a slight shaking and an occasional jerk. It seemed like a miracle that the engines were still working, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Flying on impulse speed, the trip to the third planet's orbit wasn't a long one. Only a few minutes later Malcolm registered the gravity pulling the shuttle into the planet's gravitational field. He was about to let out a sigh of relief when another sudden explosion set fire to the helm controls. Sparks flew, and flames were flickering over the console. A power cascade was set loose and blew every single undamaged circuit that was left to pieces. A second later the engines died, leaving an unsettling silence. Malcolm didn't have time to put out the fire or take care of what was happening to the shuttle. Without the engines it was impossible to keep the pod on course and with the shuttle out of control, the pull of gravity was going to drag the shuttle into the atmosphere way too fast. The helm was still reacting, though reluctantly and sporadically, and it was getting hotter every second. The blazing heat was seeping through the cloth of his uniform, burning his hands. It hurt like hell, but Malcolm wouldn't let go. He knew he would lose the last bit of control he still had for good if he took his hands off the lever now. The angle in which the shuttle was entering the atmosphere was far too steep, and since all emergency safety mechanisms had given up the ghost they would simply burn up. Desperately, Malcolm tried to get the shuttle on a shallower course and at the same time fought to ignore the increasing pain in his hands, concentrating on his battle with the helm control which slowly but steadily followed the other of the shuttle's components into mechanical death. Heat from the blazing console blew in his face, sparks were flying through the air. The pod wouldn't hold together much longer now. And God only knew how long the helm would still respond. He needed to get this shuttlepod down on firm ground.

In the meantime, the heat wasn't only on the inside, but also outside. The shuttle's snout shone in a blazing reddish orange as it plowed through the layers of the foreign planet's atmosphere.

"Come on," Malcolm shouted, trying to keep the jerking pod steady. They were going way too fast, but there was no way of slowing down. Malcolm's muscles were tensed up like tight ropes, adrenaline coursing through his veins. He didn't notice how the heat increased even further, his brain having decided to shut out the pain. He watched his uniform, which should have protected his hands, smolder away and burn into his palms, but he didn't feel a thing. It didn't matter. He needed to get that pod down. He needed to take care of Trip.

Suddenly Malcolm could make out the planet below him. Desert. Desert stretching from one end of the horizon to the other. Didn't matter, at least there was enough space to land. But they were too fast, and he saw no possibility to slow them down even a little. The shuttle would dig into the sandy earth snout first. Malcolm looked down at his hands that held the control stick in a death grip that he feared he wouldn't be able to loosen. He tried to force the shuttle's front up, only partly succeeding. The ground sped towards them and the last thing Malcolm felt was a hard blow that pulled his hands from the lever and threw him out of his chair.

TBC

Continue to Chapter 5

Return to Chapter 3

Back to Fan Fiction Main Menu

Have a comment to make about this story? Do so in the Trip Fan Fiction forum at the HoTBBS!