The Puzzle {Star Trek Enterprise Fan Fiction}

Piece 5 - Veil

The darkness was palpable, thick like melted licorice. Travis heard a thud and got the sickening feeling that it was a body hitting the floor. But whose? "T'Bek!" he yelled, "Aranda!"

"No need to shout in my ear." It was Keleth, practically talking directly into Travis's right ear.

"Oh, sorry. I, I didn't, of course I didn't see you."

"Travis!" T'Bek's voice was faint, like she was on the other side of whatever large room they were in.

"Hang on, we're thinking of something!" Travis yelled back, careful to point himself a bit away from Keleth's general direction.

"Mr. Keleth, is that still your hand on my arm?" It was Aranda.

"Yes. Here, you should take my hand. Take Travis's hand with your other one. We do not want you to get lost, little warrior."

"Do you know the name of the Xindi man?" asked Travis, "We should call everyone's name, see who's still with us."

"No idea," said Keleth, "The old man will have to come when someone else is called. Yekaterina!" he yelled.

"Yes, I am here, we are here." She sounded remote but not as remote as T'Bek.

"I am with her!" It was the Xindi male, "We will start to walk towards you!"

"Wait a second!" called Travis, "The acoustics in here are bad. You might have trouble figuring out where we are. Wait for us." Then, more quietly, he said, "Keleth, we should go to them. If either of them get hurt, no one'll be able to help them."

"As the Vulcan woman would say, that is a logical idea." agreed Keleth, "But I will just say you are thinking above your rank. They are, I think, to the right."

"Yes, to the right and then ahead maybe twenty meters," said Travis.

"Mr. Travis?" asked Aranda, "I have to go, you know."

"Now?" asked Travis.

"Yes."

"Can you hold it, or do you want me to take you?"

"I, I want a lady to take me."

"Okay. We're going to go to where Yekaterina is. And then she'll take you. Can you wait that long?"

"I think so."

"Good," said Travis, "And if you need to stop, just tell us." He then said to Keleth, "What about the others?"

"Nistik! 42753! Solana!" bellowed Keleth, "One of them must be gone," he said to Travis as they walked with Aranda, "Everyone else is accounted for. If the theory holds – the one that says only one is plucked from each species – then it is not Solana. So it may be the slave girl."

"Travis! I have Solana!" It was T'Bek, sounding a little closer, but it was hard to tell with no points of reference.

"Two unaccounted for," said Travis. He about leaped out of his skin when he felt a bony hand on his face, and then realized it was Yekaterina.

She groped around and felt his hair, "Ah, you must be Travis." she said, "Short curly hair, very pleasant style." Her hand lingered on his face for a moment.

He took her hand in his free one, "Yes, it's me. It's good we found you. I think we lost both Nistik and 42753 in that last room. Can you take Aranda to, I don't know, the middle of the room somewhere so she can, uh, do her business?"

"Yes, of course. Come with me, child." Yekaterina must have found Aranda's hand and the two of them must have been walking away, because Travis could hear their feet hitting the floor as they walked.

"We should keep talking so that they can find us again," said Keleth.

"It isn't promising," said the Xindi male, "We should go to where T'Bek is. I heard something hit the floor earlier, I do hope Solana is still with us."

"Yes. Do you think either of the Orions are here?" asked Keleth.

"If they are, we haven't heard from them. I hope we aren't sharing this room with a corpse. Aranda, she shouldn't see that," said Travis.

The sound of footsteps came nearer, "All better," said Yekaterina, groping and finding Travis's arm again. There was a small grunting sound as Keleth apparently picked up Aranda. They proceeded to where they had heard T'Bek's voice coming from.

Travis felt Yekaterina's grip tighten slightly as they walked. On occasion, one or the other of them would call out T'Bek's name and she would answer. In that way, they slowly made their way toward her. Travis had a sinking feeling. This exercise, this test, this puzzle, whatever it was, was no longer a semi-pleasant diversion. It was beginning to look extremely dangerous. He wanted nothing more than to click his heels together and be back in his quarters.

He almost tripped on something on the floor, "Oh!" It was T'Bek.

"Oh, sorry." he said, kneeling down and letting go of Yekaterina and the Xindi's hands for a moment. He felt along, trying to get his bearings.

"Travis, really, this is hardly the time." scolded T'Bek.

"Oh, sorry again," he said. He hadn't meant to fondle her backside, "Is Solana there with you?"

"Yes, I am here." Solana was a little weak and her voice broke a little, "I have lost some blood but it has stopped for the time being. It will start up again if I cannot cover the wound somehow."

There was a ripping sound. Travis felt a tapping on his shoulder, "Here, this might help." Yekaterina pressed a torn length of cloth, probably from the hem of her nightgown, into Travis's hands.

Travis remembered how to do a field dressing, just barely, although he had never before prepared one in pitch blackness. He tied the cloth around Solana's shoulder as best as he could, "I don't know how well that'll hold."

Solana replied, "It would be best if I did not move too much and risk really opening it up again. But we have to move from here and try to leave this room. If someone could help me, please." Her voice trailed off.

"I will help you." It was T'Bek.

Travis straightened back up. He heard Keleth put Aranda down and felt her take his hand. He put his other hand on T'Bek's shoulder. She was carrying Solana. He wasn't sure of how everyone else was placed, but Keleth seemed to be at the end, and they all seemed to be in physical contact. The contact was comforting, "I will lead." Keleth said, "We will go straight until we encounter a wall. There must be a wall. It is not normal for the outside of any planet to be this dark, so we must conclude that we are inside and there is a door or doors somewhere around the perimeter."

"You're thinking above your rank," said Travis as they inched along.

Keleth laughed, "Human, I am not embracing logic." he joked, "I am just taking it out for a night's entertainment. Ah, what's this?"

"What's what?" asked the Xindi.

"I have located a wall or at least an obstruction." Keleth must have been trying to find a panel, because following came sounds of his hand slapping the wall.

Finally, something gave, and the room changed.