~ by Laurie Howard
“Spock, this way!” Captain Kirk yelled behind him as they ran through a deep thicket of bushes, trying to outrun the men who were chasing them. Sweat was running down Kirk’s face and he was ducking branches as he ran, with Spock close on his heels.
A few moments later the captain abruptly stopped, bending over from his waist. “Spock,” he huffed, trying to draw in deep breaths. “I have to catch my breath. The air is too thin… you go on, I’ll catch up.”
“Captain, I can wait,” Spock said, but Kirk shook his head.
“No, get going, I just need another minute.”
Spock hesitated, but then did as the captain instructed. The undergrowth was getting thicker. This place reminded him of one of the jungles which they had trained in at the academy. He paused for a moment, listening carefully, satisfied when he heard what he hoped was the captain catching up. Setting off again, he sped up his pace, and after a few minutes more broke through an opening in the trees. Too late, he saw the deep gorge looming up ahead of him. He tried to stop, but his momentum carried him off the ledge. Spinning his body around, he grabbed for the side of the canyon, but the ground gave way beneath his fingers. At the last minute, in desperation, he managed to grab hold of a small rock with his right hand. It stopped his fall and he scrabbled at the soil with his left hand, trying to find another purchase. Nothing. He tried to get a foothold instead, but the gravel and dirt kept breaking away.
“Captain!” he called out as he scrambled to hang onto the rock. He could hear Kirk calling for him.
“Captain, I’m down here, be careful!” Some more of the cliff face crumbled and a small avalanche of dirt rained down on him.
When Kirk came out of the thicket, he glanced around but didn’t see his first officer. “Spock!” he called.
Spitting dirt out of his mouth, Spock answered, “Jim, down here!”
Kirk crawled to the edge of the gorge, soldier style, and peered over. “Oh my gosh, Spock, hang on.” He got as close to the edge as he could and reached down. “Grab on.”
Spock reached up, and after two failed attempts, they were finally able to connect hands.
“I’ve got you, Spock, just hang tight.” The captain rolled onto his side and tried to pull Spock up with one hand. Spock used his feet to push up from below, and Kirk finally was able to grab him with both hands without falling over the side. Kirk sat back and pulled with all of his strength. Spock grabbed the edge of the cliff with his other hand and threw himself the rest of the way up, landing half on top of his captain in the process.
“Ugh. Spock, are you alright?” the captain managed to say.
Spock rolled off him and tried to catch his breath and calm his racing heart. He looked over at Kirk. “I believe I am sufficiently recovered.”
The captain was trying to catch his breath too. “Next time, be a little more careful where you run.”
“I intend to, sir.”
Kirk rolled over and brushed off the dirt. “We have to get out of here.”
The two looked around for another path. They definitely couldn’t go back the way they came.
Kirk crawled to the edge of the cliff and looked down. “We certainly can’t go that way.” Below them was a 200-foot drop down to a fast-moving river. Boulders and deep rock formations lined both of its sides. Kirk crawled back and looked around. There was a wall of rocks that led up and to the right.
Spock checked his sensor. “Captain, they are gaining fast.”
They both stood, and Kirk gestured to the rock face. “That seems to be our only way out.”
Spock studied the wall, trying to see if they could possibly climb it with their bare hands.
“Spock, give me your shirt,” Kirk said, pulling his own off.
“Sir?” Spock raised an eyebrow at the strange request.
“Give me your shirt, hurry.”
He removed his blue tunic and handed it over. The captain motioned for him to follow.
“You’re stronger than me, Spock. Roll these up and throw them over the side of the gorge so they can at least see them. Get them as far down it as you can.”
Spock gingerly walked near the edge and peered over to get a more unobstructed view. He threw the balled-up shirts as hard as he could, and they both watched as they floated down, landing on a small patch of boulders. It looked as natural as it could.
“Good job, now come on, let’s get up to that flat shelf up there.”
The two were used to climbing, but they usually had equipment. Hearing the approaching voices of the people who were after them, Spock gave the captain a boost and followed close behind him. They climbed as fast as they could, pulling themselves up onto a narrow shelf and leaning their bodies flat against the wall. Thirty feet below them, seven men carrying small hand weapons emerged from the same brush that they had. Unlike Spock, they saw the gorge well before they reached it.
Kirk put his finger to his lips, and both he and Spock froze. The men looked around, and one of them edged forward to look over the side of the cliff. He made a gesture to the others and they laughed. After a few moments, they left through the brush in the direction from which they had come.
Kirk looked at Spock. “Let’s wait another minute,” he whispered.
Spock nodded, and they both tried to get comfortable on the thin ledge, at least as comfortable as they could, without stirring up any rocks to give themselves away.
When they had beamed down, an ion storm was washing through the area and communication with the ship had been impossible. After meeting with the head of the city that they were investigating, a group of men had decided that they had more to gain in capturing the captain and Spock, with the intent to use them as leverage to secure weapons from the Enterprise. In the ensuing fight, the captain and Spock managed to escape and run from the building, jumping into the back of a passing city vehicle.
The planet’s inhabitants were advanced to a pre-nuclear era, but they were struggling to maintain amicable governments. Kirk and Spock had unknowingly arrived at a period in time when none of the governments were getting along.
Time passed, and finally Kirk looked up. “Well, Spock, it’s another fine predicament I’ve gotten us into,” he said softly.
“Yes, captain, these ‘predicaments’ as you call them, do seem to follow you around.”
Kirk sighed. “Up or down, Spock?”
Spock looked above their heads. “I believe that up is our best chance of avoiding those men.”
Kirk nodded. “Spock, if I ever tell you it’s better to meet new aliens in person before we do a better cultural check, hit me, will you?”
“Captain, as per the regulations, that would be a court-martial offense.”
Kirk grinned. “Okay, let’s go up.”
With some assistance from his first officer, the two made it to the top of the cliff. Once there, they were greeted with a better view of the area, but pathways were nonexistent. Kirk was breathing heavily now, and sweat had soaked through his black undershirt.
“I sure hope we can reach Scotty on the ship now,” he said, flipping open his communicator and hailing the ship.
“Mr. Scott here, Captain. Are you two all right?”
“For now, Scotty. Can you beam us up?”
“Hold your position, Captain,” he answered. “Energizing, sir.”
Kirk and Spock reappeared on the Enterprise. Captain Kirk took several deep breaths while Dr. McCoy looked on disapprovingly.
“I told you to let me give you a tri-ox shot before you left, Jim, but no, you’re the doctor,” McCoy said. “And what happened to both of your shirts?” McCoy took in their sorry appearances. Dust covered their black undershirts, and their pants were scuffed and torn in places. “There’s more to this story than what I want to know,” he mumbled. “Come on, you two, off to Sickbay.”
“Bones, it’ll have to wait,” Kirk replied. “I have to take care of a few things. I’m too busy right now.”
“Aren’t we all?! Regulations state that after any landing party returns, all crewmen must report to Sickbay for a checkup. You’ve already been decontaminated, now get going.” McCoy insisted.
The captain and Spock followed the doctor to the lift.
“Are you going to tell me what happened down there?” McCoy asked as they rode.
Kirk glanced over at Spock who, in turn, raised one eyebrow. “Not much, Bones.”
“Hogwash!” was the doctor’s only response.
They followed the doctor into Sickbay, each sitting down on the edge of a bio-bed.
McCoy examined Spock’s torn and bloodied hands. “What on earth? Did you slide down a rockface?”
Kirk shrugged his shoulders and McCoy sighed.
“All right, you two. Privacy screen on. I want both of you to strip down to your shorts so I can take a proper look.”
Knowing it was useless to argue with the doctor, the two obeyed his orders. McCoy cleaned the dirt and stones from their hands and knees. Curse words that the captain hadn’t heard in a long time flowed fast and furious from McCoy’s mouth. The doctor scanned them and remedied any sore muscles and abrasions that he found.
“You two are going to be the death of me,” he grumbled.
“Bones, it was just a misunderstanding down there. We got to see a portion of the city that most people don’t get to see…” Kirk said with a sly look to his first officer, “…and we can be assured that we don’t have to return there in the future.”
“I knew I should have gone down with you!” Bones said.
“It was not necessary for you to be present, Doctor,” Spock replied. “The Caltrains had no desire to communicate. In fact, your presence may have furthered their annoyance with us.”
“Is that so, you green-blooded…”
“Okay, Bones, that’s enough,” Kirk said with a smile. “Are we free to go now?”
“Yes, go right ahead… but don’t come crying back to me later with a headache or a stomachache. I’m off duty!”
The two jumped up from their beds and finished dressing.
“Bones, can you grab us a clean uniform shirt?” Kirk asked.
“Why, sure, Captain. I would be glad to be your butler.” He rolled his eyes.
As they pulled on their new tunics and walked away, they could hear Dr. McCoy muttering, “No rest for the wicked,” under his breath.
“That’s right, Bones, but please do try to rest tonight,” Kirk responded.
An unknown object hit the closing Sickbay door, and Kirk grinned mischievously.
For more fantastic articles from our latest magazine issue ‘Space’, please click on the below link:
F&F Fall 2019: Space