Unseen Peril - Chapter 8

Unseen Peril

by Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1.

~~~~~

Chapter 8

“Stop him,” Archer yelled as Trip approached the door but the engineer had timed his move well and only one crewman stood in his way. Tucker brushed him aside with barely a break in stride before keying the door lock and striding outside.

His exit was greeted by stunned silence as the implications set in. T’Pol was the first to recover, still looking at her scanner. “I do not believe Mr Tucker is quite himself,” she began. “I am tracking his movements through the ship. He is heading for the transporter room.”

Archer’s worry gave way to incredulity, not only had Trip left the crew but he was apparently walking in a vacuum. “I take it the life support is still malfunctioning?” he questioned, more as a matter of form than anything else, they had, after all, all struggled to reach the Mess Hall only a few minutes earlier.

“The readings certainly suggest it Captain,” T’Pol agreed but didn’t appear surprised when Archer went to the door to test the theory.

He returned almost immediately, slightly short of breath, having confirmed his suspicions.

“Then how..?” Reed asked aloud the question in everyone’s minds. “Doctor?” he looked at Phlox questioningly.

The Denobulan shook his head. “I can only surmise that it had something to do with what happened on the planet but I have been unable to take any detailed scans of Mr Tucker as you know.”

Archer frowned. “How much longer for the EV suits?” he asked, a touch of irritation tingeing his voice.

“I’ll go and find out Sir,” Reed replied immediately and headed to the far side of the room to assist the crewmen with repairs.

*****

Trip moved steadily through the corridors looking neither right nor left. He knew where he was going though some part of his mind was surprised that he was going there. Something didn’t feel right but he was damned if he knew what it was. Unconcerned he reached the turbolift and keyed in the deck for the transporter room.

Reaching the transporter he input a set of co-ordinates before operating the console. The familiar hum filled the room before dying away, leaving an amorphous mist floating over the transporter pad. The mist hovered for a moment or two before moving to linger above Tucker’s head.

Passively he reset the co-ordinates and activated the transporter.

*****

Reed took another sip of the water before resuming work on the EV suit in his hand. Something was distracting him, concentration was difficult and, for a moment, he couldn’t place the problem. Gradually his mind cleared and he realised what it was. His mind was clear, he no longer felt as though his head was full of cotton wool.

Quickly he got to his feet and went over to where Archer was studying the scans with T’Pol. The captain was frowning over the readings in front of him; it didn’t look like good news. He looked up as Reed approached. “Malcolm?”

“Sir,” Reed began. “I’ve remembered what happened on the planet.”

Archer turned quickly and gestured for the Lieutenant to continue.

“Pretty much as soon as we entered the atmosphere we were in trouble. The gaseous eddies caught us and I wasn’t able to control the shuttle. We ended up crashing into the sea.” Malcolm shuddered involuntarily before catching himself and continuing. “Trip managed to get power up again but communications were no go, at least as far as transmitting was concerned,” he paused. “We did pick up the distress call again, just before we were dragged into a whirlpool. I imagine that was how we ended up under the water but I must have hit my head before then,” he finished slowly, dredging his memory for anything further that may be of help.

Archer frowned thoughtfully. “So Trip probably saw things that you didn’t, he didn’t look to have had a concussion, though he did keep getting headaches.” Jon looked over at Phlox.

“Although I was unable to scan the Commander properly I can certainly tell you that he suffered no sign of head trauma Captain. The cause of his headaches was a mystery.”

“He got them whenever he tried to remember what had happened,” Archer mused.

“And when I tried to scan him Captain,” Phlox reminded them.

“So, is it too big a leap to suppose that someone doesn’t want him to remember? That something happened to him, or indeed both of you,” the captain indicated Reed standing beside him.

“Unless he experienced a catastrophic trauma,” Phlox interposed, “such events can cause memory loss. The patient is too traumatised to want to remember.”

T’Pol spoke for the first time. “There is also the question of the shuttle wreckage. Clearly it had been exposed to water at great depth and the wreckage was incomplete. It is not reasonable to suppose that the shuttle sank to the bottom and that Mr Tucker single-handedly manhandled it, himself and Mr Reed back to the surface.”

She was met by silence as everyone digested her words fully aware that, whatever had happened to Tucker, they were powerless to help him at present, until the EV suits were repaired no one could even leave the Mess.

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

Tucker bent to his task. The transporter room had become clammy and humid. It was no longer possible to see the transporter pad clearly through the mist that hovered thickly in the small room. Trip’s hair clung damply to his head but his eyes were glazed, focussed completely on setting and resetting the controls after each transport.

Gradually, nebulous shapes began to form before him, seeming to pulse towards him as the vapour coalesced together. The forms grew taller as the transports continued and bore down upon the engineer with cold intent.

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

“Captain.”

Archer looked over at T’Pol, his eyebrows raised in silent question.

“I am picking up several life form readings in the vicinity of the transporter room,” she continued.

“Trip?” Jon asked quickly.

“His is one of them,” T’Pol was quick to reassure him, “however; the other readings are completely unfamiliar to me.”

Archer paced angrily, trying to ease his sense of helplessness. There had to be something productive that they could do. Trip was out there, alone, alive for now though God knew how. He looked over to where the crewmen were working on the EV suits, noting their consternation even before Crewman Inglis detached himself from the group to head towards them.

Jon met Inglis partway and knew immediately that the news was not good.

“I’m sorry Captain,” he began. “As fast as we replace the seals on the suits the corrosion begins again. I’m not sure how but the decay seems to be embedded into the fabric of the suit.

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

Tucker looked up as the final transport completed and he shut down the console. His face registered shock, disbelief and horror in short order before he screwed up his eyes against the agony in his head. He slid, slowly, to the floor, body convulsing. By the time the room was free of the nebulous forms he lay still in an ever increasing pool of green liquid.

TBC

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