What Lies Within Us - Chapter 4

What Lies Within Us

by Gabi

Disclaimers in Chapter 1

**********

Chapter 4

Malcolm crouched in the ventilation shaft, trying to calm down and bring his thoughts back into order again. Who were these aliens and what were they doing here? Malcolm called himself a fool for showing so little presence of mind. Instead of blindly relying on the scanners he should have taken into consideration that whoever build this kind of thing would certainly not leave it unguarded, no matter if there had been any life signs or not.

Malcolm was still feeling dizzy, the thin air making him rather unsteady on his feet. His heart was thumping so hard as if it were going to explode any minute. He had no idea what he was supposed to do now. He'd lost his phaser and during his frantic flight he'd completely lost track of where he'd been going. And he was almost beside himself with worry about Trip.

"Now pull yourself together, Malcolm," he muttered. "You're Enterprise's Security Chief, you're trained to handle this kind of situation!"

The soft tone of his own voice had something strangely comforting to it. Forcing himself to take long even breaths Malcolm felt the dizziness slowly subside. He had to find Trip. Trying not to think about what these people might be doing to his friend that very moment, Malcolm forced himself to concentrate on the matters at hand. He had to find Trip, but where the hell start looking for him in that gigantic building? His scanner wouldn't be of much use here. The aliens hadn't only cloaked their own bio signs but every sign in this building, and so he wouldn't be able to pick up Trip's life signs either.

Suddenly a long agonized scream pierced the silence, making him startle. Trip! What were they doing to him? Malcolm knew he couldn't sit here any longer, he had to do something. When the screaming stopped, the Lieutenant scrambled back to his feet. Was this a sign that they'd stopped tormenting Trip? Or did it mean that they had just killed him? Malcolm felt a shiver run down his spine. Ironically, though, Trip's scream had shown him the way. Now he knew which direction he had to take to go looking for his friend.

-###-

Even though Malcolm felt the urge to hurry as fast as he could, he kept to his usual watchfulness, prowling along the corridors, carefully peeking around corners and listening closely for any sudden noises, desperately hoping that he was going in the right direction after all. He almost caught himself wishing Trip would scream again so he would be able to find the way, and at the same time felt dread rise within him at the thought of that awful hope coming true.

Malcolm recoiled when a door opened only a few meters away from him and five of the aliens stepped out onto the corridor. Gesticulating and waving their hands, obviously engaged in a heated discussion, they disappeared into a nearby hallway. Malcolm took a deep breath, immensely relieved that they hadn't noticed him standing there. Taking a careful glance over his shoulder he approached the room the aliens had just left, hoping that he'd find Trip in there. And if the door was locked? Malcolm had trouble finding the rough patch, frantically feeling the surface of the door while he kept throwing glances over his shoulder. The aliens could come back any minute. Finally his fingers found the sensor panel. It was a little farther up than the one on the door outside and Malcolm had to stand on his toes to be able to reach it. Letting out a deep sigh he watched the door slide aside.

"Trip," he whispered. "Trip, are you in here?"

Malcolm stopped in his tracks when he spotted his friend sitting in a corner of the room. He didn't seem to be hurt, but was only sitting there, staring blankly into nothingness. Malcolm let out the breath he'd been holding, relief washing over him. He'd been expecting worse. Malcolm saw some of their equipment sitting nearby on a high table, Trip's scanner which he'd lost during the fight, the translator, the communicator and even the two phase pistols, lying around unprotected. Standing on his toes, Malcolm grabbed for the equipment and stowed it away in his pockets, then glanced over at Trip. Why hadn't he tried to escape? Grabbed the phasers and shot his way out? Why was he sitting in that corner, as if none of this really concerned him?

Malcolm went over to Trip, taking him by the shoulder. "Trip! What's wrong?"

Trip startled, as if he'd only just become aware of his presence. "Malcolm. What're you doin' here?"

"Silly question, getting you out of here, of course. Come on, get up, we need to get away from here."

"Go without me, Malcolm, I can't walk."

"What did they do to you?" Malcolm was beginning to feel worried. Taking Trip by the arm he tried to pull him to his feet. "I'll help you. I'm sure we'll manage. You can hold on to me."

"You don't understand, Malcolm. They injected somethin' into my back. My legs. I can feel them, but I can't move them. They're paralyzed."

"Paralyzed?" Malcolm was shocked to the very core. Bastards, he thought angrily. How was he supposed to get his friend out of here if Trip couldn't walk? Trip was taller and heavier than he was, he'd have a job getting him out of here like this. Malcolm racked his mind, trying to think of what to do next.

"Go, Mal," Trip insisted. "Get outta here before they come back."

"Not without you."

"That's an order, Lieutenant."

"You can order whatever you want, Commander," Malcolm hissed through gritted teeth. "And feel free to reprimand me because of insubordination back on Enterprise, but I'm not going to leave you behind."

"Malcolm!"

"Be quiet, I'm trying to think of a way to do this." Malcolm pulled Trip's scanner and phaser from his pocket. "I'll carry you," he decided.

"You can't. The thin air..."

"I'll carry you on my back."

"Malcolm! This won't work. The logical thing to do is leavin' me behind."

"I'm not T'Pol, so don't get all logical on me. Besides, you're the optimistic guy, remember?"

Malcolm handed Trip the phaser and scanner, then stopped in his tracks.

"Are you in pain?" he asked, mentally kicking himself for not thinking of that before.

"Not anymore. It burned like hell at first, leavin' me totally numb. But then the pain was gone and some of the feelin' returned. I still can't move my legs, though."

"Well, at least it won't hurt that way." Spreading Trip's legs, Malcolm squatted down between them, facing away from Trip.

"Hold on to my shoulders," he directed. "If I hook my hands under your thighs, I should be able to lift you. You take the phaser and scanner, tell me which way to go and shoot everything that moves."

"That's crazy, Malcolm," Trip protested behind his back. Malcolm took hold of Trip's legs.

"Will you stop wasting our time and do what I say? I want you to take hold of my shoulders."

Sighing, Trip put his arms around Malcolm's shoulders and held on as tightly as he could. Despite his protests he wanted to get away from this place as soon as possible, but he was afraid to get Malcolm captured as well. The Lieutenant seemed to have made up his mind, though. Breathing heavily, he got back to his feet, straightening up with Trip on his back. For a moment he felt like he wouldn't be able to take one single step carrying that weight, but somehow he managed. Slowly they made their way to the door.

"The panel is quite high up," Malcolm told Trip. "You'll have to try and reach it."

Briefly Trip closed his eyes. The Lieutenant was asking for the impossible. Trip's legs were dangling limply from Malcolm's hands and Trip knew he'd lose his balance immediately if he was to let go of Reed's shoulder. They couldn't afford any further delays, though. Sooner or later the aliens were bound to come back. Carefully Trip wrapped his left arm tighter around Malcolm's neck and reached out with the other hand. Never letting go of the phaser Trip felt the bulkhead's surface with the back of his hand, searching for the rough panel that would open the door. He had to stretch to able to reach it and a moment later he lost his balance just like he'd thought he would, slumping forward as the door slid open. He fell hard against Malcolm's shoulder and Malcolm took a quick step forward to regain his balance, letting go of Trip's legs as he held on to the wall for support. Trip's weight forced him to his knees immediately and Malcolm gasped for air.

"I told ya," Trip hissed. "It's not gonna work."

"Be quiet, or they'll hear you! And do stop moaning and groaning all the time, it's driving me crazy." Malcolm groped for Trip's legs, pulling himself back to his feet using the wall as support. "Tell me where to go."

Trip looked over Malcolm's shoulder at the scanner's display. "Go left at that corner, then straight ahead at the next forking. Then turn left at the next corridor."

"Understood."

Malcolm was becoming increasingly worried about Trip's condition, but he pushed these thoughts away, trying to focus his attention only on raising his feet and setting them back onto the floor. Even so, he had to stop ever so often to get back his breath. An increasing sense of foreboding made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was just too quiet around here. Was it possible that the aliens wouldn't notice their escape?

"Trip?"

"You need to turn right at the next corner."

"What do you think? These aliens... they were not trained fighters, were they? They didn't even have any weapons."

"What're you gettin' at?"

"Seems that they were rather surprised at our sudden appearance. What would you do in their place?"

"Wouldn't it be better to save your breath rather then playin' Twenty Questions?"

"What I mean to say is, don't you think they've mobilized all available forces when they first noticed our presence?"

"You mean there are only these nine people here in the building?"

"Exactly. Five of them disappeared into that room earlier. Assuming they're still in there, then there are four left. And these four were busy looking for me."

"And they're gonna find us any moment now."

"To stop prisoners from escaping, where would you place guards?"

Suddenly Trip knew what Malcolm was getting at. "At the entrance." He involuntarily tightened his grip on the phaser.

"Never mind whether it'll be one or nine of them, but I'm sure they'll be waiting for us."

"Hopefully it'll be less than nine. Malcolm, if the worst comes to the worst..."

"Forget it, Commander."

Trip fell silent at the grim determination in Malcolm's voice. He knew that his weight was pulling Malcolm down, and with every step he took the Lieutenant seemed to be panting harder as he staggered down the hallways with the heavy burden on his back. There was nothing Trip could do to make it easier for him. He gritted his teeth as he felt Malcolm's fingers dig painfully into his thighs. Sheer will-power was the only thing that kept the tactical officer still going, that and the concern for his injured friend.

"Turn right, and then right again. There's the entrance," Trip whispered.

"Are you ready?"

Glancing down at his phaser, Trip nodded. "Yeah."

_______________________________________________________

TBC

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