Unseen Peril

Unseen Peril

By Vanishingp2000

Email: vanishingp@supawoman.com

Rating: PG 13 – English –
Genre: Adventure/Drama/Friendship NO SLASH

Disclaimer: Enterprise is owned by Paramount. I offer them and the cast and crew my grateful thanks for bringing us such wonderful entertainment. This story was written entirely for fun, not profit and is not intended to infringe copyright in any way.

Archive: Yes but please let me know where.

A/N This story has been a long time in the writing; I began it well over a year ago and got blocked for quite some time. Some good friends encouraged me to complete it so here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Reviews are welcomed and appreciated, many thanks for reading.

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Chapter 1

Trip Tucker woke slowly, at first unaware of his surroundings. It was quiet, peaceful and he felt relaxed as he opened his eyes. Relaxed that is until he realised that he was submerged in a thick viscous liquid and was looking at the world through a green mist.

He started to panic, his heart pounding but try as he might he couldn’t move his limbs quickly enough to make any headway through the liquid. A small voice in the back of his mind began demanding his attention. Calm down, it said, calm down, you are breathing not drowning. The rational part of him tried to slow his racing heartbeat but it was an uphill struggle. How can I be breathing? I’m in liquid fer cryin’ out loud.

Gradually reason won out, he wasn’t drowning so he must be breathing the liquid, however improbable that was. Slowly he turned his head, his heart rate beginning to return to something approaching normal. The liquid was everywhere but he wasn’t floating, his arms wouldn’t move more than a few inches from their position above his head. Trip tried to focus his eyes but they felt strange, the eyelids almost held in place by the liquid. Eventually he realised that his arms were, in fact, imprisoned and tied to the glass like wall behind him. His legs too. The room was filled with light coming from somewhere above him, almost like sunlight filtering through trees and as he turned his head a little further he could just make out another form, imprisoned as he was. It was Reed.

Malcolm was unconscious. Just as well, Tucker thought inconsequentially. He felt for his friend knowing that for Malcolm their current circumstances would be like all of his worst nightmares combined. The Armoury officer’s aquaphobia was not well known but Trip had been made privy to his friend’s perceived weakness some months ago during one of their typically frank but increasingly friendly discussions.

How the hell did we end up like this? Trip wondered, craning his neck to see further into the ‘room.’ Objects did appear to be anchored to the floor, furniture perhaps, it was hard to be sure. The liquid seemed to be moving slowly making him feel slightly seasick as it blurred his vision. It was almost uniformly green in varying shades as the flickering overhead lights caught the waves but in the distance the colour turned emerald and Trip couldn’t make anything out at all.

Belatedly he realised that both of them had been stripped down to their Starfleet blues and both had tubes protruding from their chests. Forcing down the panic that threatened to rise within him again he tried to look clinically. There were two tubes for each of them but although they looked to contain something of a different colour than the green that surrounded him he couldn’t make it out. Everything was just too blurry. It’s what’s lettin’ me breathe, he supposed and wriggled a bit to see what it felt like. Aside from a monster headache there was no pain. Frowning Trip tried to think back but found large gaps in his memory. He knew who he was and where he was supposed to be but had no idea of what he had been doing before he woke up.

Experimentally he opened his mouth to try to speak but realised that it was full of liquid, no taste, he discovered now that he thought about it. Frustrated he leaned his head back against the wall trying to think. The situation was so far out of his experience that he had no idea what to do.

A strange humming sound began from off to his left, gradually becoming louder. Trip turned his head towards it and his eyes widened at the sight before him. A semi transparent form swam slowly in his direction. It was nebulous in shape and billowed like a cloud. It had no obvious features but somehow moved with purpose, menace.

Tucker shivered and felt the goosebumps rise on his arms and chest. Subconsciously he tried to force himself back against the wall to put as much distance as possible between himself and the life form. The being edged closer with no apparent haste and halted mere inches from his chest.

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TBC

Continue to Chapter 2

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