What Lies Within Us - Chapter 5

What Lies Within Us

by Gabi

Disclaimers in Chapter 1

**********

Chapter 5

Before rounding the last corner, Malcolm took another deep breath and mobilized his last few bits of strength. Several times he'd stumbled under Trip's weight, but he'd never allowed himself to fall. Now he straightened himself once more and stepped into the hallway leading to the exit. The second Malcolm registered the two guards standing at the door, a red phaser beam whizzed past his right ear and hit its target. Trip altered his aim and fired again. The two aliens fell and crumpled to the floor.

"Nice shooting," Malcolm panted approvingly, carefully letting Trip slide down onto the floor. Come hell or high water, he simply needed a few moments' rest.

"We're almost there, Malcolm." Trip felt so damn helpless, but now they'd almost made it. "I don't think they can follow us past the force field."

"Because of the air?"

"Exactly. Good fresh air, Mal, and full of oxygen."

Malcolm nodded, touching the sensor padd. The door slid open, and, grabbing Trip by the wrists, Reed pulled him outside. To the two men, the wall of fog about a 50 meters away seemed like the gate to Eden. Panting and gasping for air, Malcolm dragged Trip meter after meter towards the barrier and eventually past it. As soon as they were safe, the tactical officer of the starship Enterprise fell to the ground beside his friend, not moving or making a sound.

-###-

"The guards are at the entrance?"

"Yes, he will not be able to get away on that escape route. Not without a weapon, and we had him disarmed."

"What if he comes back for the other one?"

"It is highly improbable. And if he does, he will not have an easy job getting him out of here."

For half an hour, the beings had been discussing how to proceed further, but they could not agree on which step to take next. An incident like this one had not been taken into consideration. A beeping sound signalized an incoming hail, and the tallest of the five beings answered it.

"The aliens got away," one of the guards at the entrance reported.

"Got away? How?"

"The one who escaped earlier came back to get the other one. They had their weapons, and the one we had captured shot us."

"That is not possible. He should be completely unable to move."

"The toxin might have different effects on this species than you thought it would. His companion was carrying him, but all the same he was very well able to move."

The being nodded and turned to the others. "This changes everything. Shall we pursue them?"

"It is no use. They are well past the barrier by now."

"But we cannot let them get away."

One of his colleagues nodded thoughtfully. "You said our technology is superior to theirs?"

"Very much so."

"Do they have anything they might be able to use against our tractor beam?"

"No, they do not."

"Is it operational?"

"We will have to readjust it. That will take about an hour."

"Then let us begin. It will take a while until the aliens will be back on their ship. We have to be ready until then. Jam their comm frequencies. They must not contact their ship. Then call Head Quarters and ask for reinforcement. As soon as our ship arrives, the military will take care of this whole business."

-###-

Trip propped himself up on his elbows. "Are you alright, Malcolm?"

"Fine," the Lieutenant gasped. "Just have to get my breath back."

"Hand me a communicator."

Malcolm nodded, searching his pockets until his fingers brushed over one of the two communicators. Still panting, he pulled it out and handed it to Trip.

"Tucker to Enterprise!"

"Archer here," came the immediate reply. "What's going on down there, Trip? We've been waiting for you to contact us."

"Sorry, Cap'n, we came across some unexpected resistance down here."

"Resistance?" Archer repeated in an alarmed tone of voice. "What are you talking about, Trip?"

Malcolm, who by now was breathing more or less normally again, took the communicator from Trip's hand. "This is Lieutenant Reed, Sir," he said. "I suggest that you beam Commander Tucker aboard immediately."

"Is he injured?" Archer's voice sounded worried.

"You could say so. Trip can explain when he's back on the ship. I'll follow with the shuttle as fast as possible."

Malcolm paused, waiting for a reply, but only a low humming came buzzing from the communicator's small speaker.

"Captain?"

Trip reached out and Malcolm handed him the device.

"Tucker to Enterprise. Cap'n, can you hear me?" Only static interference answered him, and Trip uttered an angry curse.

Malcolm threw a wary glance over his shoulder at the building behind them. "We need to get going," he said, awkwardly getting to his feet again.

Trip looked at him, then at the steep rockface towering in front of them, then back at Malcolm. The expression on his face was quite despondent.

-###-

"Malcolm, Trip, come in!" Archer threw Hoshi a nervous glance.

"The connection was cut, Sir."

"Hail them again."

"I can't get through. Something's blocking the connection from the other side."

"What do you mean, from the other side?" Archer got up, walking over to Hoshi's station.

She operated the controls, then shook her head. "All frequencies are blocked by interference. It seems to be coming from the cloaked area."

Archer stared at her, thinking. "What did Trip say?" he said slowly, trying to remember the Commander's exact words. "Something about resistance? Usually resistance is offered by some kind of life form, isn't it? T'Pol?"

"It is the logical assumption."

"Then could you please tell me how it can be that our team has with resistance on a completely uninhabited moon? Couldn't it be possible that some life developed in that odd region after all?"

"It is about 0,63 square kilometers in area, Captain. What could have developed there?"

Jonathan Archer took a deep breath, trying to calm down. T'Pol was right, of course. But still there was the fact that something or rather someone was jamming their comm frequencies. And Trip was hurt.

Noticing he was making his crew nervous, he stopped pacing and sat down in his chair, struggling to regain his composure. Nevertheless, the worry displayed clearly on his face. Trip had sounded just like always. But all the same something must have happened to him, or Malcolm wouldn't have urged them to use the transporter. The Lieutenant knew how much Trip hated being transported.

"Look for their bio signs," he told T'Pol.

"I cannot make out any," she said after a few seconds.

"No bio signs?" Quickly, Archer got up from his chair.

"Captain," T'Pol said, trying to sound reassuring. "When Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed contacted us, their bio signs were clear and distinct. I assume that whatever is jamming our communication frequencies is taking effect on other systems as well and thus keeping us from picking up the Lieutenant's and the Commander's bio signs."

Archer nodded. "Sounds reasonable. Can we send shuttlepod two down on a rescue mission?"

"Not as long as we are unclear about what happened," she answered. "The Commander and Lieutenant Reed did not seem to be in immediate danger. I suggest we try to get communications back online while we are waiting, so we can re-establish contact with the away team."

Waiting. How Jon hated that word. Waiting. Sitting around, doing nothing, while two members of his crew, his friends, were in danger. Every nerve of his body urged him to take the other pod and get down there to help them. But T'Pol was right. Of course she was. She was always right. It would do no good if he acted rashly.

"Hoshi, I don't care how you do it, but get that connection working. T'Pol, you have the bridge. Keep me posted. I'll be in my ready room, checking the data we've gathered so far."

-###-

"Tucker to Enterprise! Come on, you can't just leave us here. Enterprise, come in!"

"It's no use, Trip. Our new friends seem to be jamming communications. No surprise, either. They might not be able to leave their cloaking field, but they're certainly not giving up. Let's get going."

"And how?" Trip snapped at his friend, then took a deep breath. It wasn't Malcolm's fault he was feeling so damn helpless. "Sorry," he said quietly. "But how do you suggest I climb that rock, with these legs?"

"You still got pretty strong arms, don't you? When I'm at the top, I'll pull you up."

"Hercules Reed, eh?"

"Damnit Trip!" Malcolm gave his friend an exasperated look, then took a deep breath. "Trip," he repeated more calmly, "I know you're worried about your condition. But Phlox will have you back on your feet in no time. He's always managed, so far."

"And what if not?" Trip fought against the sudden burning sensation in his eyes. "Phlox isn't almighty, either. What if he can't do anything? Do you think Starfleet will have any use for a paralyzed Chief Engineer on their flag ship?"

Malcolm crouched down beside Trip, his stomach clenching up at these words. Up until now, he hadn't allowed himself to even think about possible consequences. Trip, however, seemed to have already moved past that point. Malcolm put a hand on his shoulder. "Trip. Come on, look at me." Malcolm could see the fear in the engineer's eyes, the panic that his condition might be permanent, and what effects it would have on his career, on his life.

"Listen, Trip," Malcolm said gently. "Now don't get yourself all worked up about this. Phlox will be able to get this fixed, I'm sure. But now let's take one step at a time. First we have to get you back to the shuttle."

"So you're saying, don't jump if you can't even walk?" Trip smiled sadly and grimaced.

Malcolm inwardly kicked himself for his poor choice of words, but all the same nodded emphatically. "Exactly. And now let's go and tackle that bloody cliff." He helped Trip put on his harness, then got ready himself.

"All right. I'm going to pull you up when I'm at the top. And I won't say no to a little help from your side."

Having regained his control, Trip nodded. At the moment, his only concern had to be getting back to Enterprise as quickly as possible. And he didn't want to be more of a burden to Malcolm than absolutely necessary. While Malcolm began his climb, Trip pushed himself closer to the rock and studied the numerous ledges on its surface. Basically, this shouldn't be a problem. He attached the rope to his harness, then looked up at Malcolm who was just disappearing over the cliff.

"Ready?" Reed called from above.

"Ready," Trip answered, trying to sound confident. He felt the rope give a jerk, then the movement slowed to a steady pull. Working his way along from one ledge to the other, Trip pulled himself upwards. Without Malcolm, he never would have made it, but like this, it wasn't taking half as much time as he'd thought it would. If only his legs wouldn't bang against the rock all the time. They were being scratched and scraped as they grazed over the rock and got caught on ledges. Trip took in a sharp breath as a pointy rock ripped his uniform and cut his shin. The many ledges did come in handy for climbing but were rather inconvenient for someone with paralyzed, dangling legs. Trip let out a groan as Malcolm pulled him over the ridge. The Lieutenant grabbed him under the shoulders and hauled him a few feet away from the edge.

"Well," Reed said, panting a little. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" He grinned at Trip, but the smile dissipated as his eyes fell on Trip's legs. The uniform was worn, ragged and bloody.

"Trip," he breathed, his eyes wide. Trip followed his gaze.

"That's alright," he said dismissively. "Jus' a few scratches."

"You can feel them?"

"Unfortunately. No, actually I'm glad I can feel everything, then it can't be that bad. I think." He looked up. "What now?"

Malcolm raised his head and scanned the horizon for their shuttle. Down in the depression they'd barely felt more than a breeze, but up here on the plateau the wind was again blowing full force. The scanner wasn't picking up anything, but Malcolm wasn't surprised at that. These aliens seemed to have completely taken over control. No, not completely. Malcolm straightened his shoulders. They weren't going to stop him. He would get Trip back to the shuttle, then the shuttle back to Enterprise. Squinting his eyes shut, he peered through the whirling dust and for a moment he could make out the shuttle's dark silhouette in the distance. Now the only thing left to do was getting Trip back to safety.

TBC

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Two folks have made comments

theyre making it :) :) :). u got 1 happy reader here.

Good luck 4 malcolm finding the shuttle n avoiding the tractor beam. Hope trip gets beter soon.

Write more :)

Great story. I can't wait for the rest. Thanks