It felt a bit uncomfortable lying on the cold ground so I kept squirming inside my sleeping bag to try and get back to sleep. I sighed, opening my bag and getting out. I removed the towel that I wrapped around my hair last night, putting it in my bag.
"Good morning." I greeted, my voice was still a bit raspy. The smell of fresh air in the morning made me feel like home, the ground was almost dry which means it stopped raining hours ago. "Good morning, lieutenant." Commander Spock replied, he was just staring at the tall fields of grass, waiting for the sun to completely rise. "I didn't think you'd actually answer." I said, finger combing my hair, "Have you decided you'll be nice to me today?" I jokingly asked. He tilted his head a bit to me, "Your hair is down today." He commented, completely ignoring my last two statements, "Oh. You notice stuffs like that?" I sarcastically asked, "I thought you never even look at me." He didn't say anything, he was just back to staring nowhere.
"It's beautiful." He said, almost muttering. "I know, it's just like how the sun rises on Earth. I don't usually wake up this early but after being out in space for 2 months, you kinda miss sunrises even if you never experience them because you wake up at noon." I prattled, smiling at the blissful view. "No, I was talking about your hair." I felt my heart skip a bit and I felt nervous. I didn't want to give an embarrassing reaction so I just took it as a joke, "Did I just receive a compliment from the Commander?" I laughed, "Your hair doesn't look too bad, too, I guess.
"You want to go for a walk?" I asked, rocking forward. "That will not be a good idea, we are in an unknown planet, Lieutenant." He said, making me groan. "You're always too worried. Come on, we'll be safe." I said. I took his hand and it felt weird for a second but I continued dragging him anyway.
"Now, we just need to keep walking straight so we'll remember our way back." I said, still dragging him along. "Lieutenant, I do not think we are benefiting from this." He said again, I turned to him, "I'm having fun, that's a benefit." I shrugged. "I am not." He answered.
I let go of his hand and crossed my arms against my chest. "Fine then, go. I'll walk by myself." I said. I stomped away from him and continued looking for fun things to discover in here. I heard him following me still so I looked back with my arms still crossed, "Having a company can increase the probability of surviving." He said, his hands clasped behind him. I smiled and gave him a hug, "Thank goodness. I thought you were actually going to go. I didn't want to be alone out here." He was stunned for a second but he placed his hand on my back anyway.
"Now, come on." I excitedly invited. We continued walking silently, the sun was already up, it must be 0900 in Earth time. "Ah!" I shrieked when I suddenly slipped on a grass making me tumble my way down the grassy hill. "Lany!" I heard Commander Spock called. Lany? Since when did he call me by my nickname?
I stopped rolling when I reached the bottom, hitting my head on a tree. "Ouch." I groaned, getting up. I rubbed the back of my head, "Great, now how am I going to go up?" I whispered to myself. "Are you okay?" I heard Commander Spock ask. I looked up the hill and nodded, "I'm fine. I'll try to go up. You can go back to the tent." I said. I dusted myself off and looked around me. It was a forest. And it was eerie. I shivered but I tried to shrug it off.
There were a few cuts on my arm but it should be fine. Looks like I'm getting scolded today. I looked up and notice that the commander was gone. I felt a bit sad that he did go back to the tent and left me here. I looked around a bit for a hard stick so I can use it to help me go up. "There's nothing here, goddammit." I cursed, kicking the grass. "And I don't even have my phaser or my comm with me!" I groaned.
I sat down and leaned my head on my knee. "I'm such a bother. This is embarrassing when they find me here." I told myself. My cuts were stinging a bit but I just ignored it. Not long after, I heard someone walking closer. I hid behind a tree and waited for whoever it was. I felt relieved to see commander Spock.
I slowly walked my way to him and apologized, "I'm sorry." His eyebrows looked extra scrunched together but his face softened a bit pulling me into a hug. Hug. Yes, of course. It's normal, right? I mean, I hug Bones all the time, I hug Jim all the time, I hug Uhura all the time. This is normal. I stood there frozen and waited for him to say anything. "I told you to listen." He said, pulling away.
See? This is what I meant when I keep complaining how he's got mood swings and stuff. One day he's moody as fuck and the next he's sweet and soft like right now. HE'S PLAYING ME, ISN'T HE? I DIDN'T KNOW VULCANS WERE PLAYERS!
He grabbed my arm and I flinched a bit because he was holding right where there was a cut. He just dragged me until we found a path up the hill. I just stayed quiet the whole time and I let him drag me back to the tent. I could tell he was mad but he wasn't saying anything, normally, he would scold me, telling me how I'm stupid but in a way I wouldn't even understand like: "Lany, you are a few beers short of a six pack." I started to hear the others' voices which means we were getting closer. He abruptly stopped walking, making me hit his back. He looked at me before removing leaves from my hair.
He removed his grip from my arm and continued walking with his hands clasped behind him. I just followed. "Spock, Lany, where have you been?" The three asked, all of them worried. "I uh — we — we looked around." I said. Commander Spock didn't say anything, he just walked in to the tent. "He looks pissed, did something happen?" Bones asked.
"Why do you have cuts? What happened?" Kirk asked, and all of a sudden I felt even more embarrassed. "I tumbled down a hill, I'm sorry." I said. "Why are you sorry, are you okay?" Kirk asked, pulling me in to a hug. I hugged him back. Uhura smiled sadly at me. "I'm fine, I'm sorry if I made everyone worry. I feel bad."
"I'll fix your cuts before we find the leader, sit over there." Bones sighed. "Is he mad?" Uhura asked, "Commander Spock?" I asked, she nodded. "I don't know, he didn't really say anything. But I should've listened to him when he said not to go anywhere." I said, pulling my legs closer to my chest. "You'll be fine. He's just like that normally, don't overthink it." Uhura said, giving me a reassuring hug.
***
We were able to find the house which looked more like a temple of the civilization's tribe leader. All eyes were weirdly looking at us probably wondering why we were weirdly dressed. We walked in and were greeted by their guards. "Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S Enterprise, we wish to meet your leader." Jim said, the guards didn't say anything, they just escorted us to a huge door.
We got in and a man was sitting at the end of a long table. "We are from the U.S.S Enterprise from Earth, we would like to talk to the leader." Kirk said. "Have a seat." The man said. Kirk sat close to the man and I settled next to him and Bones, next to me. Uhura and commander Spock at the opposite. It's giving me an unsettling feeling again, seeing them. It's Kepler all over again.
"Hey, are you okay?" Bones asked, making me jump a bit. "Y-yeah, I was just rehearsing questions in my head." I said, he looked unconvinced but he nodded anyway. Kirk was already exchanging phrases with the leader so I turned to Bones, "What did they talk about? I was too focused at my own questions I never got to listen." I whispered, "He said it was almost 72 years ago when men exactly like us — you know, wearing this types of uniforms and all, came here. Turns out, the Captain was a freak. He left his crew in this planet." He said. "72 years ago? Who could it be..." I wondered trying to recall possible people from the history of the Starfleet.
"We are countable in this planet, not more than 200." He says, "That's what makes this civilization close to each and everyone. The traditions, the cultures we've managed to make over the last years, every person embodies them."
"Sir —"
"Excuse —"
I was cut off when I heard Commander Spock speak at the same time as me. I didn't look at him and continued to speak anyway, "Have you tried to look for other species in this planet rather than just roam around this same continent?" I felt eyes on me but I ignored it.
"We used to voyage but not all species seek good relationship with others," He started, I was taking notes of what he was saying but I stopped to look at him confused, "What do you mean?"
"Exactly 70 years ago my father and his men went out to the horizon, only my father and two of the many men he came with was able to return. He said they were attacked,"
"Did they see what the attackers looked like?" I asked, I know it was rude to interrupt but he was talking so slow so I guessed it was okay to insert a question. "Monsters. Nothing like how humans looked like. They were big with heads and claws. We sworn never to leave this place."
"Sir, we are trying to explore the rest of the planet —"
"Do not. It is not safe."
Without mentioning the exploring-the-rest-of-the-continents, we had a long talk about their developments, he was the eldest in the tribe and the only one left who experienced that event from 70 years ago. We were able to get our questions answered. We asked permission to roam around the continent to look for different animals/species and also to understand their culture as it was my favourite thing to do: learning other people's differences.
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I accidentally published chapter 17 lmao 😂 Anywayyy, thanks for readinggg