Chapter 4 - Death By Water

Mei-Wan bolted awake and saw Jack standing over her.

"Wake up, Mei!" he said with as much force as he could in the lowered voice he was using.

"What is it?"

"Some large animal just beyond the trees."

She stood, noticing everyone else was awake with weapons at the ready.

"Here," Jack said, handing her one of the guns they'd taken from their captors.

The jungle exploded. Deep rooted trees sailed past them, smashing into others still planted firmly in the ground. At the center of this madness, a thirty foot tall creature with a roughly reptilian look to it let out a roar that echoed in every direction. But it did not stand still. The beast plowed forward, crushing everything in its path.

Forcing herself past the shock of the thing, Mei-Wan ran into the jungle as did the rest of their party. A vague memory surfaced in her mind of an Academy course that dealt with this type of situation, but all she could remember was how she and her fellow classmates had descended into chuckles when their instructor had told them, "You're in a dense forest and suddenly an animal the size of a small building comes after your away team."

Mei-Wan wasn't laughing now.

The pounding of the creature's feet on the ground urged Mei-Wan forward.

Its following me, she thought. She had to change direction, but the twisted growth of jungle vines only allowed for one course.

The hulking mass of muscles chasing her hurled out another ear-splitting roar.

Her mind tried to imagine what words might fit that call.

Great, Mei. You're about to be the damn thing's midnight snack and all you can do is analyze the noises it makes?

The only analysis that mattered told her she didn't have much time left. The sounds were getting nearer.

She could barely see the path ahead in the dark gloom of the jungle, though she doubted having the sun overhead would have helped much. All it would have done was confirm the hopelessness of the situation.

Then do something, damn it! her mind screamed.

Without thinking, Mei-Wan turned and tore into a wall of leaves and vines. It brought her pace to a near crawl, but after a minute she smiled when she realized the creature was hindered far more.

The new cries it made weren't too difficult to decipher. They were the sound of rage. The beast knew its chance for a meal was getting away and it wanted the universe to take notice.

Mei-Wan pushed forward through the mass of vines covered with small barbs. They caught on her hair and her clothes, but she didn't let her frustration turn into panic. The more difficult her passage, the happier she became. She heard the creature's howling becoming more distant.

She nearly fell into an open space beyond the vines. It wasn't more than ten feet across. To her right, a path beckoned.

Mei-Wan figured it was time for an easier course anyway.

She wanted to call out to the others, but feared it would only draw the large animal to her.

Mei-Wan looked ahead, but thought it odd she could see as much as she did. There was more light in this place. Far more than before.

She looked up. Hanging in the sky was a reddish moon that appeared twice as large as the one she had gazed at in wonder during her childhood. It had far more color than Earth's moon, but not near as many craters. It was somehow comforting to have this bright companion above, watching over her. But then she thought maybe it was the adrenaline rush that was the true source of how good she felt.

She held her breath.

These howls didn't come from a single direction. There was more than one of those creatures. She hadn't been singled out after all. They were being hunted by a pack of animals, nature's most lethal creation.

The underbrush rustled a short distance away. Mei-Wan pulled close to a large tree. A moment later, a lone figure walked toward her. It was Beraan, the other Halorian.

"Did you hear that?" he asked.

She nodded. "We need to be as quiet as possible," she murmured. "But we should keep moving."

Beraan followed her lead further along the narrow path.

Several minutes later they came upon a large clearing.

"We need to find Thunupa and the others," Beraan urged.

Mei-Wan raised her hand to silence him. The next moment, the roar of one of the creatures sounded nearby.

"Run!" she told him.

Again, Mei-Wan heard the thunderous footfalls of the creature behind her. They had to find another dense section of jungle. She scanned the area the best she could as they ran, but the foliage wasn't nearly as thick here. They'd have to figure out a way to double back if they were to...

She turned her gaze forward, but Beraan wasn't there. He'd been only twenty feet ahead of her and...

Her next steps found no ground.

Mei-Wan fell.

She landed hard on a steep incline and slid down its mud covered surface. She fell into open air again, then into a wide tunnel that twisted and turned. The only thing she could figure was it had to be an old volcanic vent. Mei-Wan  hoped the end of this journey didn't end up in a sea of molten rock.

Instead she found just the opposite as she splashed into a pool of ice cold water. She kicked and paddled herself back toward the surface, wishing she had had the foresight to take a larger breath beforehand.

Seconds later, she found air again. It was dark, but not completely. A strange, green luminescence filled the more than hundred foot wide chamber. She looked around and saw Beraan's head just above water as he did his best to hide behind a large outcropping of rock. His eyes were wide, looking at something behind her.

Then she heard it. The heavy breaths blasted down upon her with the stench of rotting meat. She swiveled about.

Mei-Wan gazed upward. The creature stood, towering some twenty feet above her, its large green eyes looking down. Its mouth opened revealing rows upon rows of narrow sword-like teeth. Any one of them could have killed her, but it had hundreds.

Her first thought was to sink into the water, but she knew that wouldn't do any good. Mei-Wan decided instead to stare the beast in the eye. She'd run away too much of her life. If this was to be her last moment, she was going to face it head on.

Much to her surprise, as the creature's mouth continued to open, she wasn't afraid. Even as its head leaned down to allow it to finally satisfy its gnawing hunger, Mei-Wan felt calm.

She took a deep breath to ready herself for the end.

Then she exhaled. It wasn't her last breath after all.

The creature closed its mouth and leaned closer to her, but it was the beast's nostrils that sought her out.

Air rushed past her as the large animal breathed in. Its head tilted slightly to the side as if trying to see her from a different angle would end whatever confusion had stopped it from devouring her.

It stood to its full height and crawled up the slick walls of the chamber. A minute later, it was gone.

Beraan swam over to her. "You are blessed of the Goddess!" he nearly shouted.

Mei-Wan finally let a smile cross her face. "At this point I won't debate you." She didn't like the wide eyed expression Beraan wore. It made her begin to question his sanity.

"All praise to the Goddess and her holy will!" he bellowed.

"Hey!" she chided him. "Let's not tempt fate by attracting the attention of another animal that might like to eat us."

"Nothing can happen to us! We are under divine protection!" He hesitated. "Do you not believe what you have seen with your own eyes?"

"Yes, but I'm sure there's a logical explanation for what happened," she said. "Perhaps my body chemistry isn't compatible with the creature's metabolism. With luck that'll keep everyone else alive too."

Beraan shook his head. "You are blessed. Give praise to the Goddess for watching over us."

"We need to get out of here." Mei-Wan swam to the side of the chamber and attempted to crawl up the wall, but found it was too slippery. "Great."

"Do not worry. The Goddess will provide a way."

Mei-Wan didn't let him see her roll her eyes at that comment. She knew better than to trust supernatural forces. But at that moment, the only way out of this cavern appeared to be some sort of miracle.

***

"Mei-Wan!"

She stirred awake almost losing her grip on the outcropping of rock she'd been holding onto.

How many hours had it been? She must have fallen asleep at some point.

"Mei-Wan!"

It was faint, but she finally realized who's voice it was.

Jack called out again, "Mei-Wan!"

She wondered at first if she were dreaming, but the numbness in her extremities, and the biting cold assaulting the rest of her body told her this was indeed reality.

That she hadn't dreamed at all since falling unconscious surprised her. But she was glad not to have gone through the dream of the old woman again. Usually her dreams didn't frighten her, but that one did.

She forced the fog of fatigue from her mind and called out, "Jack, we're down here!"

Silence.

But only for a moment.

"Are you okay?"

Her ex-husband's voice reverberated in a way that told her this abyss was farther underground than she'd thought.

She glanced over at the shivering Beraan.

"The Goddess be praised," her companion muttered past the tremors torturing his body. "I knew they'd find us."

"We're okay for now," she called to Jack. "But we wont be for much longer."

That was true not only for Beraan, but herself as well. Despite her gladness of having a reprieve from the heat and humidity of the jungle, the temperature of the water they'd spent the night slumbering in was doing damage.

"Hang on and we'll figure a way to get you out."

She knew Jack well enough to know he'd find a way, but waiting wasn't something she did well.

Thirty minutes later, a set of vines fell from the tunnel above. Shortly thereafter, Jack descended, holding a quickly made torch of wood. Because of his deteriorating condition, Beraan was taken up first.

Waiting for Jack to return, Mei-Wan realized for the first time how truly quiet this underground cavern was. Occasionally, she'd notice a stirring in the water, but it was no louder than a whisper of some thought long forgotten.

She felt safe here. The fact she'd nearly died in this water filled chamber the night before didn't negate that feeling. For some reason she couldn't understand, it only enhanced it.

Her musing was interrupted by Jack scaling down the wall again. Seconds later, she was in his arms, ascending to the surface.

"Thanks for coming for me, Jack."

His smile spoke volumes to her. Despite all they'd been through, and the way she'd reacted to his and Melissa's relationship, he still cared about her.

And she knew she cared about him.

But it was no longer a possessive thing. She'd never really been able to exterminate that rather ugly parasite which had attached itself to her love for Jack. Now she could see how it had been there long before Melissa had entered the equation.

She only wished...

No. She wasn't going to beat herself up in some vain attempt to make up for how she'd treated him. It was finally time to let go of the emotional baggage labeled "Jack McCall" she'd insisted on carrying for far too long.

Mei-Wan needed to move into the future--- her future.

Once on the surface, Thunupa helped her up from the hole she and Beraan had fallen into hours earlier.

"I'm pleased to see you're okay."

"What about Beraan?" Mei-Wan asked.

Thunupa's happy countenance faltered. "Our world is warm like this jungle. The cold has injured him, perhaps fatally."

Mei-Wan glanced at Beraan as Melissa tended his condition with what little help she could offer in this place.

"He is convinced our Goddess looks upon you with considerable favor."

Mei-Wan dismissed that with a quick shake of her head. "If that were the case, I wouldn't be on this world in the first place."

He looked at her with a slight tilt to his head. "Perhaps there are truths you need to learn which can only be found here."

Mei-Wan wasn't about to let a set of coincidences be formed into a chain of religious certainty in her mind. She had indeed learned things here, but if some divine being was involved, Mei-Wan wasn't impressed with his or her choice of a classroom.

***

By midday, shafts of sunlight pierced the jungle canopy above, lighting their path through the plant life surrounding them. Their pace was slower than the day before due to Beraan's ever worsening condition. However, his physical ailment did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm which erupted every time Mei-Wan was near.

She was about to tell the injured Halorian what he could do with his proselytizing when Thunupa came to her rescue.

"I don't believe the Goddess would approve of how you're harassing Lieutenant Lau, Beraan."

"But I was only..."

"You can 'only' to yourself for the next hour."

"Yes, sir," Beraan said, his joy evaporating as he lagged back to give Mei-Wan space.

"Thank you," she said to Thunupa. "I didn't want to hurt his feelings."

"While such behavior is common among my people, and I daresay for any who possess strongly held beliefs, I do not wish you to be angry."

"Ordinarily, I'd find such conversation interesting, but I think I've had enough interesting things occur to me on this world."

They walked with each other some distance in silence.

Mei-Wan found it hard not to let her mind drift to thoughts of this Halorian. She'd occasionally steal a glance his direction.

She did find him intensely attractive.

On her next glance, she caught him staring at her with a wide smile.

"What?" she asked.

"I wonder if I might inquire about something."

She brightened at that. "Sure."

"Tell me about your beliefs."

"Our people hold many beliefs. Some have faith in various gods, while..."

"No, not those of your people. Your beliefs."

"Oh." She hadn't expected this to be a personal investigation. "I'm not sure I can really explain it in so many words."

"For a woman as intelligent and beautiful as yourself, I'm sure they will come to you."

She couldn't help grinning. Not only was he handsome, but he knew how to be charming as well.

"I guess it can be summed up by saying I believe what I can observe, what I can test, and what I can lay my hands on in some fashion," Mei-Wan said. "Of course, I don't take that to an absurd extreme. Despite not being able to prove my own existence in any empirical way, I do firmly believe I exist and that what my senses tell me is a reasonable approximation of reality."

Thunupa's expression told Mei-Wan he was more than a little troubled by what she'd just told him.

"Surely you believe in something greater than yourself, something which gives meaning to your life."

"There's far too much pain and suffering in this universe for me to believe someone willed all of this to be as it is. I'd hate to think our destinies are charted by such an evil mind."

"I can see how you might come to that conclusion," he said with a nod. "I believe that is why the Goddess has come to us--- to free us from the suffering which surrounds us at every turn."

"No offense, but wouldn't it have been easier to have created the universe without the suffering in the first place?"

He smiled. "How else could we learn if wrong choices did not bring pain to remember them by?"

"I've never had any trouble remembering the wrong choices I've made," Mei-Wan said wistfully. She glanced at Jack and Melissa, but pushed away the thoughts which simmered to the surface of her mind. The anger was gone, replaced by a sadness she wasn't sure she could bear, at least not now in this place.

"The greatest suffering comes when we are separated from those we love," Thunupa said, bringing Mei-Wan's attention back to their conversation. "In my experience the fault for that often lies within us."

With that at least she could agree.

***

Within an hour, their group made it to the edge of a clearing. Due to Jack's tracking skills, which Mei-Wan decided must have improved considerably while he'd been in the nineteenth century, and Thunupa's keen sense of direction, this was the clearing they'd been hoping to find.

Being exposed to the full brightness of Vologda's sun for the first time in two days, it took Mei-Wan's eyes nearly a minute to adjust.

The ship they'd been brought in on sat silently on the landing pad in the center of the open field. Only two Fashod guards stood watch.

Their escape was within reach.

"Something is wrong."

Everyone turned to Thunupa.

"Like what?" Falco blurted out. "You looking forward to a bigger fight?"

"Listen," Thunupa said.

Everyone remained silent.

Mei-Wan strained through the cacophony of animal calls to find what their Halorian friend was so concerned about.

"I don't hear anything unusual," Jack finally replied.

"It is the lack of certain animals which troubles me." Thunupa peered across the clearing ahead from their vantage spot behind a set of tall fern-like trees. "None of the larger animals are present."

"Since we haven't been here long, we have no idea if that's normal or not," Melissa offered.

"Beraan and I were brought here by means of this same landing site. I remember the larger animals were indeed here when we arrived."

Jack took his own quick survey of the area. "You're suggesting this is some sort of trap?"

"Yes."

Falco let out a loud and long sigh. "First you say we gotta go into the jungle, and now you say we can't leave it." He turned to Jack. "For all we know those guards have been taking pot shots into the jungle to break the boredom. I say we jump them and get the hell off this planet."

"We should wait a day," Thunapa said.

"Your man isn't gonna make it another day!" Falco said, pointing to the ailing Beraan. "We can take that ship, jump to warp in the atmosphere and it'll take them days to catch up. By that time, we'll have called in some starships to do some ass-kicking."

"Assuming there are any starships near enough to do any ass-kicking," Melissa added.

"Oh come on! We're right on the verge of escaping this hellhole and now everyone decides it's time to be cautious?!"

Jack turned to Mei-Wan. "You haven't said much."

She gave Thunupa a quick glance before answering, "I trust Thunupa's judgment. I think we should wait."

Falco grumbled something, but Mei-Wan decided it was better not to let herself be drawn into the snake pit of his attitude problems.

Jack looked at Melissa.

"For all we know, there could be a dozen more guards on their way," Melissa said to his unasked question. "We're here. I say we go for the ship."

"Damn straight," Falco murmured.

Mei-Wan could see in Jack's eyes he'd made up his mind. All that remained was a tactful explanation to Thunupa as to why he wasn't going to follow his advice.

But the Halorian beat him to it.

"You must follow your instincts, Jack McCall. Just as I must follow mine."

Jack gave a short nod. "We'll circle around, take out the guards and board the ship."

"About damn time," Falco said, moving forward.

"We'll come back for you if we can," Jack said.

"We will have returned to the jungle by then," Thunupa said. "We must find another path off this world. Take care my friend."

Jack and Melissa followed Falco toward the ship.

Mei-Wan stepped up to Thunupa. "I enjoyed our talks. I hope we get a chance to continue them some day."

"Mei-Wan, we can survive in this jungle... you can survive. Don't let your fear drive you toward certain death."

"I can't abandon them. They're my shipmates... my friends."

Thunupa smiled. "Our paths may take us in opposite directions this day, but I pray we will meet again. May the Goddess watch over and protect you."

"Good luck to you both."

Thunupa watched her leave for nearly a minute. Then he and Beraan disappeared back into the jungle.

***

They quickly dispatched the guards and boarded the ship, sealing its main hatch behind them.

Jack led the way into the vessel's control room. "Falco, that first panel appears to be the helm, you take that." He pointed to the first of two stations to the left. "That looks like engineering control..."

"I've got it," Melissa said, already moving.

"Mei, if you could take sensors, I'll man navigation."

It took each of them only a few minutes to get the general sense of their stations. However, not without a bit of commentary.

"Who designed this thing?" Falco asked. "I've seen more complicated controls on a kid's toy."

"Be glad it's this simplistic or we'd spend the next two days figuring out how to pilot this ship," Melissa told him.

Falco smiled and touched the panel. "Not with me at the controls."

The vessel shuddered as the roar of engines coming to life filled the small room.

"Heading?" Falco asked Jack.

"Whatever course takes the least amount of time for us to leave Fashod territory."

Falco went to work.

"You do know the maps we have come from the Kel-j'na," Mei-Wan said with a grin. "The Fashod may have different ideas about where their territory ends."

"Hopefully we find a couple of Federation starships to challenge those ideas," Jack said.

***

They'd been traveling at high warp for more than an hour when Mei-Wan broke the jovial attitude the four of them had shared.

"I'm picking up a ship on long range scans."

"Starfleet already?" Melissa asked.

"I don't think so," Mei-Wan replied as the others crowded around her station. "This thing is larger than even an Oceana class starship."

A deep frown conquered Jack's face. "Evasive, Mr. Falco."

But before Paul Falco could even make it back to his seat the room went dark. A moment later, the soft whine of the ship's warp drive faded.

"Melissa?" Jack asked.

"I disabled every remote command override this thing has."

"Then how about finding a way to return power to the engines."

The tapping of her fingers upon the engineering panel was the only sound any of them heard.

"I don't think that helped us much," Mei-Wan said.

"I'm open to suggestions," Melissa shot back.

"I'm gonna find my weapon," Falco told them.

"Probably not our best option, considering how many guards are likely to be aboard that ship" Jack said. He found his chair and fell into it.

"I think we've discovered that trap Thunupa warned us about," Mei-Wan murmured.

"That's right," Falco said. "Rub it in."

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