Star Trek: Oblivion

24 || The Ruins

The away team was silent as they continued through the underground passage. They had been walking for nearly an hour when a strange blue glow began to emanate from the end of the tunnel. Kirk turned off his handheld light and instructed the others to do the same. They continued cautiously forward.

The hall ended abruptly, opening up into a massive underground chamber that stretched on for miles. The soggy, waterlogged floor faded into rocky soil.

Large jagged boulders and rough ground stretched on for several hundred meters before it lead to a massive underground city. Large, crumbling buildings stretched upwards into the shadows of the lofty roof.

"Well that's impressive," Kirk mumbled as he turned his attention away from the ruins.

There was a large, scraggly plant that sat in the entrance to the hallway, wide flayed leaves traced with veins of that same strange blue light.

Kirk reached out and touched one of the leaves. A small flicker of static electricity flashed from the leaf and the captain quickly yanked his hand away. "I would not recommend touching anything," He said, grimacing as he tried to regain feeling in his now numb hand.

Mayama walked over and scanned the plant. "They're bioluminescent," She said excitedly.

"Yeah, glowing plants," Kirk summarized.

The science officer shook her head. "No, they're not plants. They appear to be some sort of single celled colonial microorganism."

It looked like a glowing blue plant to him. "Well that's just...neat," He said, almost unconsciously using the word fascinating. It was probably what Spock would have said if he were there.

"You're awfully quiet," Bones commented, standing right next to him.

Kirk shrugged. "I'm good."

"So are we taking a quick break?" Bones asked, nodding in the direction of the crew. Science officer Mayama busied herself with studying the plants, Giotto and the red shirt were unofficially standing guard, and Chekov was leaning heavily against the wall, his eyes slowly drifting closed.

"Only for a minute," Captain Kirk replied. "The science officer here here needs to, uh...scan the plants. I think everyone else just needs to catch their breath. Kirk crossed his arms across his chest. "Then we need to get moving."

Bones looked at the dark city looming in the shadowy distance. "I highly doubt they're here."

"You're probably right. But as long as we're trapped in here waiting for the storm to stop, we might as well figure what this place is."

The doctor's lip curled in dissatisfaction. "I don't like it. Something ain't right about this whole place."

Captain Kirk could feel it too. The sight of the old buildings, the ancient symbols scrawled across the walls, the feeling of eyes boring into the back of his head, all of its sent shivers running down his back. Maybe it was just paranoia, but he kept thinking he saw the shadowy figures moving around them, darting about at the fringes of his vision. "Yeah, tell me about it."

"She said this place was pretty ancient," Bones commented, jerking his chin in the direction of the preoccupied science officer. "Hell, humans weren't even walking upright at that time and then there's this civilization building great big bio domes and technological crap like this."

Kirk watched the silent city in front of them. "I wonder what happened to them," Kirk pondered. His gaze froze on a large structure near the edge of the city. The remnants of large diamond shaped window frame was lit by the faint blue glow of the plant life. It was probably just the angle of the dim light, but for a slight second, Kirk thought he saw a dark shadow move across the empty frame.

"Jim?"

Kirk turned to his friend.

"What is it?" Bones asked.

"Thought I saw something."

Bones turned to the dark city. "Well if there's something out there, are you sure we want to be heading towards it? We could just head back and wait out the storm in the hall or something.

Kirk shook his head and let his arms drop to his side. "No. Spock said they found the shuttle, meaning whoever took Uhura must have come to this planet for a reason. We need to figure out why."

Bones set a hand on Kirk's shoulder, turning him around. "Just be careful we're not heading into a death trap," He told his friend. This time, his voice was dead serious.

Kirk tried to grin. "I'm always careful."

"Yeah, sure."

Kirk headed to his small crew. "We're moving out," He told them.

The science officer quickly set away her tricorder. Ensign Chekov, whose bleary eyes had been on the verge of drifting shut, shook his head and stepped away from the wall. Lieutenant Commander Giotto and the other red shirt crossed over to the captain.

Satisfied that his crew was all accounted for, Kirk turned and they headed off in the direction of the distant city.