Unseen Peril - Chapter 4

Unseen Peril

by Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1

Chapter 4

Commander, that distress signal,” Reed began.

“Huh,” Trip interrupted frowning across at the lieutenant in the dim emergency lights. The shuttle was being tossed about like flotsam amid a wailing loud enough to wake the dead and Malcolm was worried about a distress signal.

“We’re on top of it,” Reed stated.

“On top of what?” Tucker gasped, hanging on to the chair strut with his good hand while everything that wasn’t tied down was flung through the air.

“On top of the distress signal that brought us down here. These are the co-ordinates, I’m getting a clear signal,” insisted Reed who was clinging to the console where the emergency signal had been given priority.

“What the hell good does that do us?” Trip shouted, “I think we’ve found out what happened but………” he broke off abruptly as the shuttle emitted an ominous creaking as it was pulled ever deeper beneath the waves. The motion had evened out into a purposeful downward spiral from which they were powerless to escape. They were caught in a whirlpool of black, punctuated here and there by radiant lights and accompanied always by the banshee wail.

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

“Captain, I’ve lost the shuttle’s signal.” Hoshi’s voice was controlled but Archer could hear the undercurrent of worry.

“How far have they got?”

“We tracked them as far as the thermosphere and then they just disappeared from sensors.”

“I am attempting to boost the signal now Captain,” T’Pol spoke in her usual quiet manner.

“Travis, take us into a lower orbit,” Archer ordered, “as close as you can and still be safe.”

“Aye Sir,” Mayweather responded working his controls with the ease born of much practice.

“I don’t suppose there’s any change in the distress call?” Archer wondered aloud.

“No Sir,” Hoshi shook her head, “I still can’t pick it up. Just the initial message.”

“And nothing from the away team?”

Hoshi shook her head again, her eyes never leaving her instruments. “Their signal was steady and then….. it just disappeared,” she repeated trying to focus her readings even more tightly, determined to trace the shuttle as quickly as possible.

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

“Look out.”

Trip threw himself to the side of the shuttle at Reed’s shout. The craft was being flung mercilessly end over end and it was all but impossible to keep in place. The shuttle was in near darkness, save for panels exploding, showering them with electrical sparks.

The noise was deafening, movement sickening and coherent thought a thing of the past. Trip caught glimpses of Malcolm clinging grimly with one hand to the equipment panel whilst fending off flying debris with the other. He supposed that he presented a similar sight.

Suddenly, nerve jarringly all movement and noise stopped as the shuttle reached the end of its journey. The crash left them in complete darkness and totally disoriented for a moment.

Gradually Trip regained his senses and became aware of a noise from off to his left. He couldn’t place it at first in the dark and he turned his head to listen.

“Malcolm?” he whispered, his voice carrying unnervingly after the recent cacophony. No answer. Worried now Trip began crawling towards where he had last seen his friend. He became aware of a change in the light, it was still all but dark but the shuttle was being vaguely lit by a luminescent glow. Tucker’s head shot round in the direction of the subtle sound he had heard earlier and there it was, a greenish fluorescent liquid was trickling down from a ruptured seam in the shuttle’s ceiling plating. Even as he watched the flow increased with the enormous pressure of the water outside the craft forcing the crack ever wider.

Biting down on his rising panic Tucker used the increasing light to his advantage and soon found Malcolm lying amid the wreckage. Blood flowed from a gash on his forehead.

“Malcolm.” Trip reached him quickly and felt for a pulse, it was slow and steady and he breathed a sigh of relief before lifting his friend clear of the debris which had fallen about him. Malcolm showed no sign of waking and Tucker’s hand reached for the medkit, slowing as his attention was suddenly reclaimed. He watched horrified as the fluorescent liquid began gushing through the ceiling as the shuttle’s shielding failed completely.

He grabbed Malcolm under the arms and hauled them both upright retreating into the far corner as the liquid rapidly rose to meet their knees. The fluorescent glow increased causing a stinging sensation in his eyes even as he wondered what kind of liquid it was that was pulsing about them; it was too thick to be water.

Trip looked frantically about, holding Malcolm’s head above the rising tide. His eyes lit on the crack which was almost wide enough to get through but even as he watched, he knew, there was nowhere to go. The shuttle had plummeted hundreds of metres beneath the waves, they were trapped and the liquid was roiling now within inches of the shuttle’s ceiling. Trip held their heads above the flow for a few moments more before the little craft filled completely with the viscous green fluid. Just as he slipped down into the liquid he thought he saw a pulsing white light advancing on them then all thought was gone as he slipped away.

TBC

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