Unseen Peril - Chapter 9

Unseen Peril

by Vanishingp2000

For disclaimer see Chapter 1.

~~~~~

Chapter 9

“The warp engine is being initialised Captain,” T’Pol reclaimed Archer’s attention immediately.

“How long ……………….” He began but stopped himself as one glance out of the viewport revealed that they were already breaking orbit under impulse. An animated chatter began around him as the crew reacted to the change; Reed was frowning concentratedly, keeping his anger in check with a struggle but other, less disciplined crew members were gesturing wildly.

“Quiet,” he ordered. “We need to review our situation,” he continued calmly, his composure reassuring. “I want you all to discuss strategies with your departments and report back to me in five minutes.”

Archer turned to his senior officers, a question in his eyes.

T’Pol spoke first. “We still do not have life support in any other area of the ship but I am now picking up life form readings in both engineering and on the bridge. Commander Tucker is the only living being in the transporter room now, however, his readings are failing. She looked around the small group, fully aware of the impact of her words and saw the matching expressions of worry deepen in their faces, to be quickly replaced with looks of resolve. She expected no less.

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

Trip moaned and tried to raise his head from where it was lying. He was uncomfortably wet and shivered involuntarily. At the second attempt he succeeded in raising himself to lean on his arms and looked around fearfully, breathing a sigh of relief to find himself alone. He became aware of a pain in his chest and realised that breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. Clinging to the transporter console for support he hauled himself to his feet and was about to activate the comm. when the hovering memories surfaced fully and he pulled his hand away quickly.

Shaking his head to clear it he shuffled as quickly as he could towards the door. He had to get back to the Mess Hall to warn the others, before it was too late.

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

“Commander Tucker is moving Sir,” T’Pol announced, “he appears to be heading in this direction although his movements are unsteady.”

Hope flickered in Jon’s eyes to be quickly replaced with a more professional demeanour. “Keep tracking him,” he ordered, taking a pace or two towards the door.

Reed joined him. “We can’t be certain that Trip is going to help us Sir,” he said diplomatically.

Archer looked at him quickly as Reed continued. “How was he able to leave this room? By rights he should be dead.”

Jon closed his eyes briefly, he knew that Reed was just being prudent but Trip had seemed himself, unwell perhaps but still himself, right up until he had charged out of the Mess Hall. He looked up again quickly at a thud against the door. T’Pol moved over and activated the door release, her scanner still in her hand. Tucker fell into the room as the door opened, breathing laboriously. He was shivering despite the heat.

The captain helped T’Pol to pull him into the room then Jon eased him to lean more comfortably against the wall as she closed the door. Phlox bustled over with his scanner as Trip’s head rolled from side to side, his breathing easing slowly as he was once more able to take oxygen into his lungs.

“We, we have to stop them Capt’n,” he ground out, chest heaving. “They want to take the ship, once they’re sure they don’t need us,” he paused again for breath. “Once they’re sure, they’ll switch off all life support.” He leaned his head back against the wall again, breathing rapidly.

Phlox placed a hand on Tucker’s chest. “Breathe deeply Mr Tucker,” he said gently, “you don’t want to hyperventilate.”

Trip nodded and closed his eyes and gradually his breathing slowed and the dizziness in his head subsided. He looked up into the concerned faces of his friends and smiled slightly.

“What happened Trip?” Archer asked quietly, “who do we have to stop?”

“I don’t know who they are Capt’n,” Tucker began, “but I do remember everything that happened on the planet. There’s not much time,” he repeated and began explaining as quickly as possible all that had happened following the shuttle’s descent into the whirlpool. He took in the incredulous faces around him before saying with more emphasis. “We were all underwater; they had us wired up so that we were breathing the liquid.”

Reed’s face paled and he closed his eyes briefly as his friend continued talking.

“I can only imagine that that was how I was able to walk about in a vacuum.” Trip looked speculatively over at Phlox who was nodding over his medical scanner.

“Indeed Commander,” he replied. “Now that I can examine you again it is apparent that your cells have acquired the ability to become supersaturated with oxygen which would enable you to survive without it for short periods.” He shook his head wonderingly. “What I don’t understand is how I could have missed it before.”

“I’m pretty certain I was being controlled Doc,” Tucker continued. “When I tried to remember my thoughts were blocked. These are liquid entities remember. From what I can tell they were able to enter when I drank and leave through the sweat glands. Isn’t it possible that they were,” he shrugged, “altering the cells somehow so that you couldn’t get an accurate reading?”

“I daresay that supposition will do for now,” Phlox agreed, recognising that there were more important matters to consider.

“What is their intention Commander?” T’Pol asked into the pause.

“Near as I can tell they want off the planet,” Tucker began. “But you have to remember I haven’t exactly talked to these guys, these are just impressions I’m left with.”

“You said they intend to kill us when they have what they need?”

Trip nodded over at his friend. “Yes Capt’n, but again that’s only an impression. When I have been aware of them I’ve felt nothing but a calculated malevolence.” He put his hands down by his sides and began levering himself to his feet. “How long before my cells are fully loaded again Doc?” he asked flippantly to cover his sense of dread at the task before him.

“What are you intending to do with your ‘loaded cells’ Commander?” Phlox asked in turn, recognising the emotions that crossed the younger man’s expressive face.

Trip smiled back at him. “I think it’s about time we turned the tables a little in our favour, don’t you?” he replied looking over at Reed.

“We?” Malcolm asked.

“Tucker raised his eyebrows. “I’m willin’ to bet you have supersaturated cells too Malcolm,” he said.

Reed narrowed his eyes at the engineer but turned to the doctor nonetheless.

“Indeed you do Lieutenant,” the Denobulan confirmed after a moment or two. “I suppose you had liquid entities blocking your scans too.”

“Don’t feel too bad Doctor,” Archer said, “at least we now know what we are up against.” He turned towards his chief engineer. “Whatever you do will have to be done quickly, before the entities disable life support throughout the ship. Do you have any idea of anything that will incapacitate these beings?”

Tucker frowned and sucked his teeth thoughtfully. “The whole ship is pretty damp right now, and they come from a totally liquid environment. I reckon they were able to survive within us because we are pretty much all water. Come to think of it I have been pretty thirsty lately too.”

“So we need to lower the humidity?”

“Probably raise the temperature too. Trouble is to find some way to do it without their noticing until it’s too late.” He frowned again, deep in thought. “I wonder,” he said a few moments later. “If we could find a way to lure them into the catwalk?”

“How would that help?” asked Reed.

“It’s relatively simple to disable sensors to the catwalk from several places in the ship, doesn’t have to be the bridge or engineering,” he continued enthusiastically. “We could prepare the catwalk for them and then lure them in. From there we could transport them back to the planet they came from.”

“If you can get communications back up perhaps I can distract them while you work,” Archer suggested, his eyes gleaming.

Tucker nodded. “I can do that from the Captain’s mess,” he said, “unless they’ve actually locked it down in engineering. Can’t see why they’d do that though.”

“It will give us a chance to see how well we can cope without air,” Reed added sceptically.
“How long will we be able to go without coming back here Doctor? He asked pointedly.

“That, I’m afraid is very hard to determine Mr Reed. The Commander was away from here for nearly an hour but his ability to survive without oxygen may have been aided by the presence of the entities within his system.”

“Well I reckon that gives us at least a half hour each time,” Tucker put in, “and we can always pick up an oxygen tank while we’re out there. They can’t have had time to mess with all of them. In any event, we don’t have a hell of a lot of choice.”

“True enough,” Reed agreed, smiling slightly.

“How far can you go with disabling the sensors from the Captain’s Mess?” Archer asked, reluctantly admitting to himself that he would have to watch from the sidelines once again.

“I can do most of it,” Trip said slowly, his eyes glazing over slightly as he imagined the problem in his mind. “I can get everything prepared at least, then we’ll have to go to the control room for the final connections.”

“At present there are no entities in there,” T’Pol added, consulting her scanner.

“Fine,” Trip nodded his thanks. “You ready Malcolm?” he asked. “We can get to the Mess from here so we’ll be back before we have to leave for the control room.”

Reed nodded and picked up a scanner, checking his phase pistol on the way. He exchanged a glance with Trip, took a deep breath and headed out of the room.

They stepped into the Captain’s Mess and waited, standing by the door. Nothing, breathing felt different but they weren’t struggling for oxygen. After a few moments Trip shrugged. “That’s it then,” he said. “Looks like we were right.”

He moved to the computer terminal and began to access the communications system.

“Anything I can do?” Reed asked, his colour returning as their suppositions proved correct.

“Sure, you can start with the secondary sensor relays, they run along behind that panel.” Tucker indicated a panel concealed in the wall behind the dining table. “Be sure to stay away from any primary connections though, we don’t want to alert our friends.”

Reed nodded and moved to do as he’d been asked. They worked in near silence for almost twenty minutes, by which time Tucker had joined Reed at the access panel and they had virtually completed the initial alterations.

“That’s about all we can do from here,” Trip said finally, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Looks as though our time is almost up too,” he admitted.

“I’m definitely having difficulty breathing now,” Malcolm agreed. “We ready to go?”

The engineer picked up his tools and stood, slightly unsteadily before making for the door. “Not going to give us too long is it?” he said, breath coming in heaving gasps now.

Reed didn’t bother to answer, just keyed in the door lock and stepped thankfully back into the Mess Hall.

They were met by the smiling face of Phlox, scanner in hand. The rest of the senior staff stood off to one side until Phlox had finished.

“How are they Doctor?” Archer asked.

“Fine,” the Denobulan replied succinctly. “They will need to remain here for at least half an hour however before they will be able to continue.”

Trip sat down looking frustrated but there was no getting around it, they needed to absorb more oxygen into their cells if they were to be able to work in the airless environs of the rest of the ship. He began mapping out in his mind the quickest way to complete the sensor alterations and then to convert the catwalk. So much depended on where the entities were planning on going. If it was to be a quick trip there may not be enough time to put their plan into action.

His thoughts were interrupted by the captain who joined him at the table. “Did you have time to complete the initial alterations?” he asked.

Tucker nodded. “Uhuh, we don’t have to go back in. The communications are enabled, as long as someone has a communicator on them?” He looked enquiringly at his friend.

“No problem,” Jon replied, holding up the small device.

“Now we need to get to the control room to complete the sensor alterations, that should take about ten minutes. Adjusting the environment in the catwalk isn’t difficult but the main problem there is access.”

“You were only in the Mess for twenty minutes,” Jon pointed out. “What about the oxygen cylinders in Storage Bay 2?”

“We could pick them up on the way to the control room Sir,” Reed suggested, joining them at the table.

“Mmm, let’s just hope no-one has tampered with them,” Trip said under his breath but loudly enough for his friends to hear. “Every time we leave this room we run the risk of the entities finding us so I’d prefer to keep the movin’ about to a minimum.”

“Agreed,” Archer concurred. “While you were busy we were thinking about how to ‘persuade’ the entities to enter the catwalk. It’s important that they don’t realise we know that you and Malcolm can move about the ship or you’ll lose the element of surprise.” He paused, “how long to lower humidity and raise the temperature enough in engineering?”

“I’ll need to disable the warp engine or the catwalk would far too hot to be attractive to them, but we need a system overload to raise the temperature enough. Problem is doing it without causing serious damage. I think I’ll have to bypass the impulse safeties so that the engines run beyond capacity. That should give us the heat without irreparable damage.”

Archer’s eyes had widened at the engineer’s description. “Sounds like it,” he finally replied dryly. “How long?” he repeated.

Trip frowned. “That’s the rub, best part of thirty minutes. We really need those oxygen cylinders.”

“If they are damaged you make good and sure to allow enough time to get back here before going to engineering,” Archer ordered.

“Aye Sir,” Tucker replied absentmindedly, his mind on the task ahead.

“I am reading a planet on sensors Captain.” T’Pol had arrived at their table unnoticed but all three heads looked up at her announcement. A planet meant that they were running out of time.

“How long to get there?” Archer asked the question on all of their lips.

“At present speed approximately forty five minutes Captain.”

Tucker closed his eyes briefly then got to his feet looking over at Reed. They were out of options, it was time to go.

TBC

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