Stranded - Chapter 2

STRANDED

By Vanishingp2000

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com

Rating PG 13 – English –Adventure/Drama/Friendship

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

*****

Chapter 2.

The going was tortuously slow, for every two steps they moved forward they slipped back at least one but gradually they made it to a ledge part way up the rocky outcrop farthest from the water. Trip lowered Archer to the ground and paused to catch his breath. Visibility was virtually nil, they could see perhaps two metres in any direction through the driving rain. Archer leant his head back against the rock and closed his eyes holding himself stiffly against the pain. Tucker watched him, concerned. They had got to find shelter soon.

“Hang on Capt’n,” he said. “I’ll scout ahead and find us a place to wait out the storm.” Archer barely nodded as Trip hoisted himself further up the rocky slope. It was easier without half carrying Jon but irritatingly he became much more aware of his own leg now that he didn’t have to think of his friend. It had stiffened alarmingly and every step sent a griping pain all the way up his side. Shutting his mind to the throbbing he tried to use his other limbs as much as possible to haul himself up the slope. Fifteen minutes later he had almost reached the summit. He could now barely see two feet in front of him so he was feeling his way warily for fear of falling. Suddenly his hand slipped out in front of him and it was all he could do to keep his balance. Taking a moment to steady his breathing Trip felt cautiously forward, nothing. He inched himself towards the gap, scarcely daring to hope that the opening might be big enough to give them some shelter.

Finally something’s gone right. Trip thought as the opening proved to be a small cave. It wasn’t strictly dry but it was out of the weather and could, at a stretch, be called just damp at the rear. Now all he had to do was find his way back to the captain and then back up here. Piece of cake, he hoped!

***********************************

Not impossible, but definitely NOT a piece of cake, Trip reflected as he thankfully eased himself down onto the rocky floor of the small cave nearly two hours later. The rain had continued unrelentingly throughout the time he and Jon had struggled up to the small opening but just as they finally made it, it looked as though it was at last subsiding.

Archer had collapsed in the corner, his face contorted in pain. Tucker grimaced, wishing there was more he could do for his friend. He had just given him another shot of analgesic but the captain was shivering with the cold now that he had stopped moving and that was only adding to his discomfort. Trip moved and sat down next to his friend being careful not to jog him. He’d just have five minutes rest and then try again to contact the ship.

He woke slowly, dimly aware that something had changed. Jon was still beside him slumped against the wall and barely conscious. What had woken him, what was it that had changed?

Trip sat up rubbing at his arms to try and get some warmth back into his limbs, he checked the captain’s breathing which was pained but regular and then moved towards the entrance to the cave. It was much darker but everything was still and quiet. That was it, the quiet. The storm had stopped. He peered out and looked over a vast expanse of mud strewn landscape. Twin moons were just coming into view over the horizon but their light barely cast a shadow over the desolate landscape. Struggling to his feet Trip gasped in pain as the nerve endings in his leg woke up from the cold. He had definitely had enough of this place. Moving outside the cold hit him instantly as the temperature dropped by several degrees from inside the cave. As quickly as he could he pulled out his communicator and tried to raise Enterprise.

“Tucker to Enterprise, Tucker to Enterprise,” he repeated.

He took another step forwards and nearly fell flat on his face as his leg slipped out from beneath him. The ground was frozen solid. How long had he been asleep? Surely not that long?

“Trip,” Archer’s voice from behind him broke him out of his reverie and he turned and made his way back inside as quickly as the conditions would allow. Archer was attempting to sit up from where he had slumped against the wall and Trip hurried over to help him.

“Hey Capt’n, how’re you doin’?”

Archer smiled weakly. “Fine,” he grimaced, “You?”

“Sure, I’d be better if I could get in touch with Enterprise though. Any idea what time it is?” As he spoke Trip was checking the splint around the captain’s leg, he was freezing to the touch. They needed to get some heat.

“Can’t say, I doubt they’re in range yet though.”

Trip thought a moment before asking “You got your communicator on you? I can turn one into a beacon by reversing the signal but I don’t want to cannibalise our only one.”

“Good idea,” Jon replied before reaching for the sleeve pocket on his jumpsuit. “We got anything to eat?” he asked. “Might help us to keep a bit warmer.”

Trip passed the backpack over in exchange for the communicator and began to take it apart before the light became too poor to be of any use. It was a relatively simple matter to reverse the signal but he had it in mind that they may have to leave it as a marker and try and find another way out of the cave. Clearly they couldn’t stay where they were unless they wanted to freeze to death and leaving the way they had come was also out of the question. As soon as he had finished he put the device back together and wedged it into a crack at the cave entrance then he went over to the captain and took the proffered protein bar.

“Think you could move if you had to?” he asked.

“If I had to,” Jon replied positively as Trip had known he would.

“It’s an ice sheet out there, the mud has frozen solid, there’s nothing to use to make a fire and if we don’t move we are gonna freeze.” Trip looked sympathetically over at his friend. He sure as hell didn’t feel like traipsing around in this, it would be much worse for the captain. “I’m gonna have a look around back there,” he indicated the dark recesses of the cave, “see if there’s any way out that way.”

“Be careful.” Trip thought he could detect a slight note of fear in his friend’s voice and shivered as the realisation that Jon needed him, hit him again. He took the flashlight out of the backpack. Good thing these bags come prepacked, he thought, sure didn’t have time to pack it m’self.

Carefully the engineer crossed to the back of the cave scanning the walls for signs of fissures. The walls were cold to the touch but not yet freezing. Prob’ly only a matter of time the way its going out there, he decided. The cave extended further than he had at first thought, winding its way around a corner that hadn’t been visible until he looked with the flashlight. Strangely the ground was quite even and when Tucker looked closely he could see marks on the walls that didn’t look entirely natural.

“Capt’n?” he called. “I’m not too sure what to make of this.”

“What have you got?”

“Doesn’t look natural.” Tucker made his way back to his friend. “Not like we have a lot of choice,” he said. “Should make it easier to move though. Maybe I did see lights after all,” he reflected.

“Could be,” Jon agreed, “but you’re right, we don’t have a lot of choice. Help me up here,” he requested putting his arm out to his friend.

Trip moved over and carefully planted his feet to give Jon some leverage before reaching out and taking the captain’s arm. “Easy does it Capt’n,” he urged, wrapping the captain’s arm over his shoulder and putting his own arm around the other’s waist before stooping to pick up the supplies and slinging them over his other shoulder. They made their way slowly towards the back of the cave with Trip holding the flashlight out in front of them in his free hand.
*************************************

“Still no response Sub Commander,” Hoshi Sato spoke from her station on the bridge.
“Keep trying Ensign, we should be coming into range soon.” The calm voice of Enterprise’s second in command was reassuringly firm as usual. “Anything on long range scans Ensign?” she enquired of Travis Mayweather.

“No Sir,” he replied not yet showing any sign of worry though it sure would be good to have the Captain and Chief Engineer back on board, it just wasn’t the same without them.
************************************
The passage was cold but nowhere near freezing Trip reflected as they struggled to their feet again after yet another stop. The going underfoot was difficult in that they were constantly descending and the captain, for all he hadn’t complained, just couldn’t go far without catching his breath against the agony from his leg.

Despite their problems Trip was convinced by now that they were moving through some sort of constructed passage, there was evidence of natural features having been cut away, not to mention the floor was far more even than any cave he’d ever been in. But who the hell would have built this and why? The thought tumbled over and over as he struggled to support Jon upright and keep from crying out as the captain’s splint brushed from time to time against his own wounds.

Eventually they came to a fork in the passage, the air was distinctly warmer and, on a hunch, Trip shut off the flashlight. “Well what d’y’know?” he wondered aloud. Whereas before it had been pitch black without the light now there was an even glow from the walls, enough to see where they were going at any rate.

“Wonder if anyone’s home?” Jon leant carefully back against the wall with Trip’s help leaving the engineer to go and look down each of the forks. “How far underground do you reckon we are? he queried, “might be worth trying the ship, we don’t know what minerals the rocks contain, may get through.”

“Sure,” Tucker offered reaching for his communicator, which he passed back to the captain before reaching into another pocket for his scanner. “Hmm,” he pulled a face. “Still showing nothing, can’t seem to get a reading at all, not even us. Something must be masking the signal. Try the ship.”

Looking at his friend reflectively Archer opened the communicator. “Archer to Enterprise,” he began.

“Hang on Capt’n, it isn’t working, there’s no signal tone.”

Archer closed the communicator and tried again – no tone, clearly something was blanketing all signals. Wordlessly he handed the instrument back to Trip who quickly checked it over before shaking his head. “Nothin’ wrong with it,” he muttered zipping it back into his sleeve pocket before going over towards the lights in the walls. “Still feels like rock,” he said, “no heat from the lights but it’s definitely warmer down here.”

“Can you see anything down the forks?” Jon was getting impatient, he hated to be inactive, to feel anything less than in total control. Trip knew him too well to be offended however and moved off a short way down the fork to the right. “More of the same here Capt’n,” he shouted, “but it’s heading uphill again, I’ll try the other way.”

He glanced over at the captain as he crossed the junction. Jon was leaning back against the wall with his eyes closed, he was bearing up but Trip wasn’t sure how much longer he could be expected to keep going without a proper break. Will power alone could only take you just so far. He was aware that he had lost all sense of time since coming underground, with their instruments not working and no natural light time was deceptive.

Turning back to the left fork he could see that the path continued to descend though it no longer zigzagged but seemed to stretch into the distance farther than he could see. He took a step forwards and as he passed them the lights in the wall seemed to brighten. Puzzled he stepped forwards again watching the walls so that he failed to see the red light that suddenly pulsed brightly in front of him down the path. When it pulsed the second time he caught it in his peripheral vision but not in time to stop it engulfing him in a fiery red glow that held him immobilized for countless moments as thousands of red hot needles showered him in agony.

TBC

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