Unseen Peril - Chapter 3

Unseen Peril

By Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1

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Chapter 3

“Ow,” Tucker moaned, levering himself up from his position on the floor of the shuttle, one hand held to a gash on his forehead. He eased himself back against the rear bench and briefly closed his eyes. Opening them again he surveyed the wreckage around him. To his right Malcolm was stirring with his own moans. “You OK?” Trip asked his friend.

“Just about,” Reed muttered, pushing the pilot’s seat around so that he could sit in it. “You?”

Tucker nodded reaching into the seat locker for the medkit. He took out a sterile wipe and cleaned the cut on his forehead. It was bleeding freely but wasn’t deep and the blood soon began to clot. He looked over at Reed. The armoury officer was staring out of the viewscreen, his face transfixed.

“What’s up?” Trip asked.

“We’re floating.” Reed’s voice was quiet, controlled.

Trip moved over and leaned on the pilot’s console looking out at the wild scene before them. It was hard to believe that he hadn’t noticed before. The shuttle was being tossed vigorously around in the mountainous seas. It was a tribute to the builders that it was still in one piece.

Waves were breaking primarily from in front of the shuttle causing it to corkscrew and then rock back again with a decidedly unsettling motion. Trip swallowed hard and tried to concentrate. The view between the waves told them little as, for the most part, the craft was rising too low in the water for them to see beyond the wave crests. It was also dark and the gaseous mists remained so all they could do was to hope that they were not about to crash.

He turned and looked behind him. Anything that had been loose at the time of the crash was now rolling about the shuttle floor. Locker doors were hanging open adding to the chaos. There was, thankfully, no sign of any leaks but the lighting had dimmed to emergency lights only and the engines had died.

Trip tapped Reed on the shoulder, trying to distract him. “Come on Malcolm,” he said, “let’s see what we can do about gettin’ some power back around here.”

Malcolm shook himself a little and looked over at his friend slowly. “Sorry, what did you say?” he asked.

“I said, let’s get the power back on.” Tucker replied, forcing enthusiasm into his voice that he certainly didn’t feel. “Try the Comm,” he suggested, “see if anyone’s home.”

Reed obeyed mechanically but the movement helped to startle him back to normality and a little colour appeared again in his face as he turned from the viewscreen. “Reed to Enterprise,” he began, “come in please. We have an emergency. Reed to Enterprise.” After several more attempts he turned back to the engineer. “The comm. is open but we don’t appear to be getting through.”

Tucker scowled and chewed his lip thoughtfully. He was half buried beneath a console trying to fix a mass of burned out circuits. “Hand me that hyper spanner will ya?” he asked slowly, his mind elsewhere.

Reed handed him the instrument getting down on the floor with him. “How does it look?”

“Should be up and runnin’ again within half an hour, it’s not as bad as it looks.”

Before the words were out of his mouth the shuttle rocked violently throwing Reed on top of his legs. The lieutenant’s face turned white as the little craft hung upside down for an interminable time before struggling to right itself.

“Ah Malcolm,” mumbled Trip, his head still beneath the console, “It’s kinda uncomfortable down here.”

“Sorry,” Reed offered again picking himself up gingerly as the shuttle continued to roll. He pulled himself together and forced his eyes away from the viewscreen, focussing on the task to hand. “Are we still good to go?” he asked.

“Shuttle should be,” Trip muttered, half to himself, moving back out from under the console holding his right hand with his left. His face was pinched in pain and Reed winced sympathetically as he saw the state of his friend’s hand.

“What happened?” he asked already reaching for the medkit.

“Couldn’t keep ma hand away from the circuits when we rolled. Just got them reconnected too.”

Reed smiled at Trip’s priorities, the man was an engineer through and through. He sat back down next to his friend and looked closely at his hand. It was a nasty burn and would need protecting to prevent infection. Trip was breathing unsteadily and sweat was breaking out on his forehead. He’s going into shock, thought Malcolm, reaching for a hypo of analgesic. He administered the shot and was relieved to see Trip’s colour returning to normal as he began to treat the burn.

Tucker leaned back and closed his eyes, letting the painkiller take effect. It wasn’t the first burn he’d had and he didn’t suppose it’d be the last but it wasn’t an experience he relished. He opened his eyes again as Malcolm finished applying the sterile burn dressing. “Thanks.”

“No problem. How does it feel?”

“Not too bad thanks, pain’s easing off. We should get back to the repairs.” Trip eased himself back onto his knees and peered under the console. He looked down at his hand and then back at his friend. “I think you might have to finish off here,” he said pulling a face. “If you pull down the transceiver array I’ll have a look at that.”

“Sure.” Reed got unsteadily to his feet having to compensate for the shuttle’s unpredictable pitching. He reached above his head and pulled down the transceiver, which he handed to Trip before picking up the discarded hyper spanner and beginning to work on the console.

Tucker wedged the array awkwardly against his knees and looked closely at the board. “It’s no wonder you weren’t getting’ through,” he said after a moment, “the entire transceiver assembly is fried.”

“Can you fix it?” asked Reed absorbed in his task.

“Not entirely.”

“How not entirely would that be?”

“I can send an automated distress beacon and I can fix it so’s we can receive a signal but we won’t be able to talk to anyone.”

Reed shrugged. “Better than nothing I suppose. Can we still pick up the distress signal?”

Tucker frowned over at his friend. “Probably but what the hell good would that do? We’re not exactly in any shape to help ourselves in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“I’m still not convinced that it was a distress signal in the first place.”

“Where are you goin’ with this Malcolm?”

“If we were lured down here, knowing where that signal came from could be a good idea.”

“Sure, but if it’s genuine…?” Trip trailed off frowning at the board in his hand.

“Exactly.”

“Well right now I don’t see’s we’ve much option but to try and contact Enterprise and see if we can get some manoeuvrability or we won’t be going anywhere.”

“You do have a way of cutting to the heart of the matter,” said Reed dryly.

Tucker smiled slightly then lurched forward as the shuttle was once more thrown violently end over end. This time it didn’t right itself and continued spinning at breakneck speed. Trip managed to hold onto the chair strut for long enough to look out the viewscreen but then wished he hadn’t. All he could see was water rushing in a furious torrent over the surface. What light there had been had disappeared and from outside the little craft they could hear an eerie shrieking which grew ever louder as the shuttle plummeted further into the depths.

TBC

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