What Lies Within Us- Chapter 10

What Lies Within Us

by Gabi

Disclaimers in Chapter 1

A/N: Thanks a lot for all your feedback. It's great to know that you like my story.

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Chapter 10

Hanging in the aliens' grip, Trip wondered how he'd managed to get himself into such a fix again. It looked like this was the bridge of the alien ship, and if circumstances had been different, Trip would have been very interested in the details of his surroundings. At the moment, however, he was feeling quite small and helpless. Only the aliens' long slender hands, holding him in a firm grip, kept him from collapsing in an undignified heap on the floor, and the way his legs were dragging over the deck made him feel even worse.

What lifted his mood, however, was the image of Enterprise on the large screen in front of him, growing steadily smaller as she moved away. It filled Trip with triumph that they'd managed to pull free from that tractor beam, but at the same time the sight triggered a feeling of abandonment and overwhelming despair within him. Enterprise was able to get away, but he was stuck here, in the hands of those strange beings he practically knew nothing about. He didn't even know what their species called themselves.

"Well, there she goes," Trip said nastily. "Tough luck, huh?" He knew they didn't understand a word of what he was saying, but it still felt good, speaking what was on his mind.

One of the humanoids who was quite tall even for one of their species stepped up in front of him. Trip didn't bother raising his eyes. Looking up would have meant craning his neck to see the alien's face, and Trip wasn't particularly motivated to do so. The alien said something; it wasn't very loud, but the frequency of the sound hurt Trip's ears.

"Sorry, but I have no idea if that was a friendly "welcome" or my death sentence."

The aliens started talking among each other, and Trip wished desperately he would have been able to cover his ears. Finally they ended their conversation, dragging him away. Trip felt his heart thumping. The thin air made his chest close up and he got the distinct impression that it was even colder here on the ship than it had been in that dome of fog down on the surface. His loose pants and t-shirt were definitely not suited to keep the cold away, leaving him shivering in the cool air.

When he saw where they were taking him, Trip's heart sank. It wasn't hard to tell that this was some kind of laboratory. Without any visible sign of effort the aliens lifted him onto a cold metal table and began to tie him down. Broad straps came around his wrists, around his chest and waist, even around his legs.

"You're not quite up-to-date, guys," Trip said testily. "Those legs are long past movin', and thanks to you people it's probably gonna stay that way."

After a short conversation with another humanoid the two aliens who had brought him left the room. The remaining humanoid stepped up beside the table, letting his eyes wander over Trip's body.

"See somethin' green?" Trip grimaced. He knew he was wasting his breath wise-cracking at them, but he couldn't help it. After all, he could get away with anything since his language seemed to be as much of a mystery to these aliens as theirs to him. Trip felt a shiver run through his body when the alien stroked his cheek with those long fingers, but he couldn't tell whether it was from the touch or from the cold.

The humanoid's strange, expressionless facet-like eyes rested on him for another moment. Then the alien raised his head, calling for an assistant who came back carrying some kind of black cloth in his hand. He reached for Trip's head and all of a sudden the engineer realized that they were going to blindfold him. Plain terror took hold of him at the thought of not being able to see, of being left blind and helpless in that terrible place, and Trip resorted to the only resistance he was still able to offer, frantically throwing his head from one side to the other, escaping their long fingers again and again. Finally, though, one of them managed to grab his head, holding it in an iron grip.

"No, please don't," Trip pleaded as the cloth was being placed over his eyes, leaving him in complete darkness. He felt them tighten the knot at the side of his head, then strapping his head down onto the metal table. Panic rose within the young man. He wanted to thrash out, kick at his captors or at least raise his head to see what they were going to do. But he wasn't able to do any of these things. He was utterly immobilized, at the mercy of those strangers who had captured him. The darkness frightened him. Straining his ears, he listened for any sounds that would tell him what was going on, but the only thing he heard was the shrill noise of the aliens talking. His heart was thumping in his chest and his lungs screamed for oxygen. Desperately, Trip fought to get his ragged breathing back under control, trying to calm down.

"What're you gonna do?" he asked hoarsely, even though he knew he was not going to get an answer to his question.

The table began to move. Trip clenched his hands to fists, the only movement he was still able to make. Waves of panic washed over him. It was driving him crazy, not being able to see what they were up to, and he bit his lip to keep himself from screaming. He felt himself being pushed into something, hearing some kind of door slide shut behind him with a low hissing noise. Something began to whirr, sounding like some sort of electric knife. Were they going to cut him open? Trip's whole body tensed up as he waited for the unbearable pain to set his nerves on fire. It didn't come, though. Trip lay there, rigid with fear, but nothing happened. There was still that whirring sound, but no knife made contact with his skin and after several minutes had passed, Trip started to relax a little. Maybe he was inside some kind of scanner.

All of a sudden a sharp light blazed up, so bright it even penetrated the black cloth of the blindfold. Trip moaned in pain when a glaring beam of light seared through his head, seeming to cut right through his brain. The light and the pain it caused lasted only for a few seconds, though, and Trip realized they might have blindfolded him simply to protect his eyes. He felt the beam slowly wandering over his body, but it didn't cause him any more pain.

The scanning seemed to take forever. The cold emitting from the metal table started to creep into his arms and legs, causing goosebumps to ripple over his body. The thin air made him feel dizzy and lightheaded, and for a few disoriented seconds the world seemed to have turned upside-down. It was like falling into a deep and horrible dark abyss, and Trip felt panic close up his throat. Fighting to bring his thoughts back into order again, he told himself that he couldn't possibly be falling. He was strapped to this table, and the table wasn't moving at all.

After what seemed like hours, they finally took Trip out of the scanner again. Trembling, he listened to their voices as they talked among each other. By now he'd gotten so cold it felt like he would never feel warm again. Suddenly he felt a hand touch his head and jumped. What were they going to do to him now? Were they going to torture him? Or inject him with some more of that serum that had paralyzed his legs?

Untying the knot at the side of his head, the hand removed the blindfold. Trip blinked, relieved to be able to see again. His head was still being held down by the strap, though. Trip's breath caught in his throat when he saw a long instrument in the alien's other hand. A scalpel. And it looked awfully sharp. Trip started to struggle, clenching and unclenching his fists in a desperate try to make the straps give way, but of course they wouldn't. Eyes wide with fear, he stared at the scalpel as it approached his chest. He swallowed dryly.

The scalpel made contact with his skin, and Trip held his breath. But he didn't feel any pain. The sharp instrument cut off his t-shirt, then did the same with his pants. The alien managed to remove Trip's entire clothing without loosening one of the straps. His assistant meanwhile busied himself taking off the engineer's shoes and socks. Then they began to examine him.

Trip tried to think of something else as he felt the aliens' cold hands and instruments all over his body. The examination wasn't painful, but Trip found it to be extremely distasteful. The taller being who seemed to be some kind of doctor, unwrapped the bandage around Trip's hand and regarded the deep cut thoughtfully. From the corner of his eyes the engineer saw him taking some sort of cylinder down from a high shelf. Trip bit down hard on his lip when the alien started applying a slimy substance on the back of his hand. It burned like hell, but Trip forced himself not to make a sound. After a few seconds the burning sensation relented, and Trip took a deep breath, licking his cracked lips. His throat felt dry and parched. The doctor studied his face for a moment, then went over to a table, coming back with a cup in his hand. Undoing the strap around Trip's forehead, the alien lifted the engineer's head and held the cup to his lips.

"You think I can drink that?" But Trip didn't have any other choice, the fluid was already being poured into his mouth. It tasted sweet and actually quite good. Trip drank greedily, taking big swallows. When the cup was empty, the alien let go of his head again, reaching out for the strap.

"No, please don't," Trip begged. The humanoid looked at him. "I won't try a thing," Trip promised, resting his head back on the metal table to prove his words. The alien put the strap aside.

"Thanks," Trip groaned. "And how about the rest?"

But they wouldn't free him of the straps, of course not. Even so, Trip was glad he was able to move his head again. Carefully, he turned his head from one side to the other to make the tense muscles in the back of his neck relax. Gingerly raising his head, he saw that the cut in the back of his hand had disappeared. Then, however, he rested his head back on the examination table, closing his eyes. He wasn't so sure he actually wanted to see what they were doing to him. He was nothing but a guinea pig to them, and all he could do was lie there and endure their examination. When he felt something touch his neck, he opened his eyes again.

"Hope you're not plannin' to inject me with the cure serum," Trip muttered. He felt a sting of pain on his neck, then saw the doctor carrying a phial full of blood over to a counter.

"Be my guest."

The sound of his own voice made Trip feel a little more confident. So far the aliens hadn't really hurt him, but he didn't know what was yet to come. The cold was a monster unto itself. By now his whole body was shaking uncontrollably, and if he hadn't been immobilized by the straps, the aliens probably wouldn't have been able to continue with their examination.

Finally they left him alone. Trip didn't know how many hours had passed in the meantime. He'd lost all sense of time. His body felt like one big chunk of ice, and he still felt the touch of the aliens' hands and instruments on his skin.

Trip watched as the aliens slowly filed out of the room. When he'd reached the door, the doctor turned around and regarded Trip for a moment. Then he went over to a cupboard, getting out a blanket and spreading it carefully over the shivering human.

"Thank you," Trip whispered.

The humanoid looked at him and Trip thought he saw something like regret on the stranger's features.

-###-

Captain Jonathan Archer was pacing the ready room, taking long angry strides.

"I need options," he snapped. "We have to get Trip out of there, as soon as possible."

His officers exchanged glances. Of course they, too, weren't willing to leave Trip with these people any longer if it could be helped, but they lacked the possibilities to start a rescue attempt. Enterprise was currently hiding behind one of the moons orbiting the outermost planet of the system, hoping the moon's gas corona would protect them from being detected by the aliens' sensors.

"The repairs aren't fully completed yet," Reed reported. "And even with all our weapons online we're no match for that species' technology. They'd blast us to pieces the second we started approaching their ship."

"Can't we kind of sneak up on them with one of the shuttlepods?"

"Negative, Captain. They would detect us immediately." So far T'Pol had rejected every suggestion that had been made, but hadn't come up with any idea of her own either.

Malcolm had fallen silent again, and as Archer watched the tactical officer's expression change ever so slightly, he felt a small surge of hope rise within him.

Finally Malcolm came out with his idea. "The Suliban cell ship," he said. "The cloaking device should still be functioning. We could approach their docking hatch without them noticing."

"But you cannot cloak yourself," T'Pol said. "Even if you manage to dock on the alien vessel, they will detect you immediately when you enter their ship."

"We'll just need a little luck."

"Our actions should not depend on "luck", Lieutenant." T'Pol's voice sounded icy.

"Can we scan for Trip's bio sign?" Jon asked.

"Not yet, but Ensign Sato is working on it."

"Maybe we can distract them somehow."

"How?"

"I don't know. But we need to think of something soon."

-###-

"Did you finish your examination?"

"Yes, Captain," the doctor answered. "It is quite an interesting species. In a way, their physiology is similar to ours, but there are several distinctive differences."

"Is that the reason why the nerve poison our scientists injected him with did not show the expected effects?"

"Affirmative. It did not paralyze his whole body but only the legs. And so far nothing has changed about that."

The Captain stared at the large screen showing an image of the moon hanging below their vessel. "They analyzed our database. I am sure by now they have found the compounds for the cure. Why haven't they helped him yet? Are they not giving him the serum on purpose?"

"No. I found out that our cure would be fatal to his organism."

"So there is no possibility of reversing the paralysis?"

"No, Sir."

"That was never our intention."

"What are we going to do with him now? Do you think his companions will return?"

"Maybe they want to negotiate," another humanoid suggested, stepping up beside the two others.

"We cannot communicate with them."

"That is indeed a problem."

"Are they still within scanning range?" The Captain threw a glance at the crewman sitting at the helm.

"Positive," he confirmed. "They are hiding behind one of the outermost planet's moons. Or believe they are hiding."

"Inform me if they change their position. If they try to escape we need to pursue them. We must still get out technology back. But let us take one step after another. I am curious." The Captain turned back to the doctor. "So it is not possible to inject that outworlder with the cure? What will happen to him now? Are there any other consequences?"

The doctor paused a moment before answering: "He will die."

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TBC

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Four of you have made comments

Another good chapter!! Please keep updating! Poor Trip, the indignity of it all!!!
And no cure...

now w8 a min,

"Inform me if they change their position. If they try to escape we need to pursue them. We must still get out technology back. But let us take one step after another. I am curious." The Captain turned back to the doctor. "So it is not possible to inject that outworlder with the cure? What will happen to him now? Are there any other consequences?"

The doctor paused a moment before answering: "He will die."

Is this a damned if u do damned if u dont situation?

Gr8 chapter, poor trip least he got a blanket.

Cant w8 4 more.

Ps: He's still paralised!!! how can u ppl b so cruel to poor Trip?
U keep hurting him and making life worse all of u writers are. :( I'm upset now. Bring back Trip's legs!!!

PSS: thank u!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!! if that is not a cliffhanger chapter i don't know what is!

good job.

*falls of cliff* told u cliff hangers were deadly!!!