Time to Work - Paleontology 101
Posted on Wed Apr 1, 2020 @ 10:56pm by Lieutenant Nicole Anderson & Commander Cullen Walker & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr. & Lieutenant JG Aergad Halvor & Lieutenant JG Camille Lévesque PhD & Lieutenant JG Ardal King & Senior Chief Petty Officer Samantha Summers & Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant JG Markus Davenport
5,373 words; about a 27 minute read
Mission:
Nibiru
Location: Earth 2
========
Alpha Team:
Doctor P'k'ala stepped out of the mobile ward and looked around their base camp. Security was on patrol, engineers were still going over gear and one lone woman was setting up what appeared to be an old-style telescope. With Nurse Mirina left to put away the supplies, he walked over and examined the device. "Is this for after nightfall?" he said.
"Yes it will be, Doctor." Walkman responded. "The ability to study new stars from a new planet is exciting, Sir."
"I know the feeling," the Andorian, his antennae twitched with anticipation. "I feel the same way when I'm curing a patient."
Bry nodded. "Yes, I guess curing a patient would be a good feeling for a doctor. I never get to cure anything, just look at the stars and wonder."
"You make it possible for us to travel the stars," the doctor said. "You give us the road map. That is a worthy goal as well."
Bryanna smiled. "Thank you doctor. I like to contribute in any small way that I can."
Doctor P'k'ala nodded and smiled and returned to the hospital tent. He'd gone through some of the samples Epsilon team had brought back when he heard the familiar sound of a transporter beam. He turned to see a large mass appearing on one of the biobed stations.
Arriving in the hospital tent, King growled the end of the word, "--gard."
Doctor P'k'ala ran over and called for Nurse Mirina, who came into the tent and immediately pulled out a tricorder. "Concussion, broken ribs, shattered tibia, dislocated shoulder."
"Cortical stabilizers," Doctor P'k'ala said, coming around to the shoulder. As Mirina placed the device on King's forehead, Doctor P'k'ala grabbed a hypospray, administering fifty ceecees of ambizine, enough to keep a tarkalian mammoth down.
Between the painkillers and the cortical stabilizers, he could barely move.
"Restrain his other arm and shoulder," P'k'ala said.
Mirina put the bed's restraint arm over King's good arm and a side board up along his shoulder.
Doctor P'k'ala grabbed King's bad shoulder and maneuvered it into position, then shoved hard, popping it back into place and eliciting a pained grunt before King went back under.
As a species, Al'hmatti were unique, and King roared at him and fell deeper into unconsciousness, it was a species trait involuntarily reaction. Similar to dogs barking or whining in their sleep.
"Begin repairing his ribs while I deal with the concussion," P'k'ala said.
"Yes, Doctor," Mirina said, grabbing the bone knitter.
King was mumbling, but unconscious. Very few species mumbled with the cortical stabilizer, "Have to go back." He was quiet for a few minutes. "Endangered tribal dependant structure." Usually only telepathic species mumbled like this. He wasn't ever diagnosed as Telepathic or truly Psychically inclined. All of his senses just worked together very, very well.
Gamma Team:
Nicole was breathing steady as she walked through the foliage, her supply pack on her back. Daniel was next to her, whistling to himself, a second security ensign and Zack were behind them, and up ahead, Camille and Penny were chatting animatedly about what they were finding. She smiled to herself, both from the pleasant view, and from the excitement in Camille's voice. She wasn't sure what the joy was in tracking this monstrosity, but if it made Camille happy, she'd follow till they found it.
Of course, tracking was easier without stopping to investigate every form of rodentia they passed, but the holocamera was being put to good use, and they would wind up with enough botanical samples to keep the science department busy for months. "So, out of morbid curiosity," she said to the assembled group, "does anyone actually know how to find a dinosaur?"
Zack, carrying a phaser rifle, spoke up, "Follow the tracks and the droppings...and if you hear a loud roar, you found one, ma'am."
Camille smirked and shot him a look, but then smiled. “That’s not a bad approach, actually. Tune your tricorders to scan for high concentrations of uric acid."
Zack changed the settings on his scanner. "Now scanning for high concentrations of uric acid."
Camille looked over to Penny and began to explain, perhaps unnecessarily, as she tuned her tricorder. "It’s the primary nitrogenous waste of both birds and reptiles, and therefore probably also dinosaurs. We don’t actually know what dinosaurs do. They might excrete in solid or liquid form, but it’s probably still uric acid.”
Nicole did the same, but as they suddenly came out of the trees, she had an idea which way they'd be going. "I think we found something," she said.
The path of destruction was massive. Trees had been felled, underbrush crushed and the angle at which everything had been crushed indicated which way the beast had moved. Nicole scanned that direction and her tricorder lit up. "I suppose we turn here," she said.
"Picking up uric acid increase about forty-seven meters ahead," Penny said, scanning with her own tricorder. She shouldered her pack again and stepped into the clear path. "Hopefully we'll hear the thing coming before we see it," she said.
"Unless we smell it first," Zack looked at Penny. "Penny...you're exposed...stay on the side."
Penny turned and blushed, checking the seams on her uniform. "Where?"
"He meant tactically speaking," Nicole sighed.
"Oh," Penny said, blushing harder and keeping pace still with Camille. "I'm fine where I am, Lieutenant," she said to Logan. "You may want to watch your six, though, since you're exposed back there as well."
With all the tactical talk being exchanged, Camille just focused on her tricorder readings. She almost didn't notice that she'd stepped on something, if not for the sound it made. She stopped in her tracks, and crouched down to take a look.
With a gloved hand, she lifted a fragment of what she'd stepped on. A very large shard of white eggshell.
Nicole heard the crunch and saw her bend over. "Cami?" she said, slowly. "What'd you find?"
“Oh, nothing serious,” Camille answered. “Just...I think we’re in the middle of a T. rex nest.”
"Oh, bloody wonderful, that is," Nicole drawled. "Logan, Faraday, establish a perimeter," Nicole said. She came up and scanned the shell quickly. "Look at that," she said. "It's ridged on the inside."
"Yes, Ma'am," Daniel said, holding his rifle up and patrolling the right side of the path, checking through the trees.
Zack looped around one side while Daniel went the other way. His scanner still showed no sign of life near by.
“These eggs have been trampled otherwise haven’t been worn or disturbed much,” Camille observed. “I think it likely the nest was only abandoned within the last few days. It may still even be a place regularly visited by the parents.
"If we're close to a nest, we're getting into extremely dangerous territory," Nicole said. She looked around at the path of destruction and the curve it took ahead of them, then at the treeline. "Penny, I need a vantage point."
"Got it," Penny said, stepping back, kneeling down and lacing her fingers together, cupping her hands.
Nicole took several steps back, then ran forward, leaping forward, landing in Penny's cupped hands and squatting down. As she pushed off, Penny stood and lifted up hard, and Nicole flew high towards the upper branches. She grabbed on and swung her legs up, hooking onto another branch and pulling up higher, quickly disappearing into the canopy.
Zack shouted up. "Be careful up there!"
"She's already out of earshot," Penny said. "We should keep to the treeline so the dino doesn't see us and move slowly. If it attacks, we need to be able to scatter and run."
“Running is better than fighting,” Camille said. “We try to blend in but we run if we must. Shoot it as a last resort. Even a stun could prove deadly to it. And it’s only defending its territory. We’re the invaders.”
"Sorry to disagree, but if a large, angry and hungry dinosaur comes after me...I'm putting it down." Zack responded.
"Sorry to disagree with your disagreement," Penny said, sounding irritated as they crept along the tree line, "but phasers didn't work on it last time. It's skeletal structure is too dense and appeared to cover most of it's body. You'd have to find a soft spot and hope for the best."
"Both of you, be quiet," Nicole said, suddenly dropping to the ground silently near them. "We're near a clearing. No animals in sight but it was definitely used. There's excrement and such all over. Plenty of chances for a sample. May not be tagging anything, however." She wrinkled her nose. "And honestly, the sooner we get away from this place, the better. Being downwind is not fun."
Camille quieted down and followed Nicole's lead as they slowly walked toward the clearing.
They'd only gotten another few meters when they felt it. The ground shook, and it shook hard. What had been tense and tranquil suddenly turned into an earthquake as the previously napping monstrosity stood up in the trees, shook itself off and roared a challenge to the new smells upwind of it.
"Head generally southwest, away from the clearing!" Nicole shouted over the sound. "There are some caves in the hillside a kilometer away, past the river! Head there and hide!" Gentlemen, see if you can deter it with a shot to the head, then run for it!"
She shoved Camille into the tree line as they scattered.
"Crisse! Crisse!" Camille swore once she'd gathered herself and began running. She didn't want to abandon the others, but there was no choice in the matter. So she ran, and trusted that Nicole and Penny and Zack and all the others got away safely too.
Faraday, Kincaid and Logan were left with phasers. The security men fanned out quickly, shooting at the creature's head, trying to distract it without blinding it. Daniel knew the Captain had given orders not to harm the wildlife, but if it was kill or be killed, he wasn't about to be killed.
Logan aimed and started firing at it's head. The phaser might be like a mosquito biting an elephant, but he was hoping for a lucky shot.
All the blasts did was to make it more angry. He was trying to steer the beast away from the others.
The T-rex roared and tried to shake away the blinding light. As the beam hit its nostril, it roared in pain and turned towards the source, charging forward.
Logan aimed again, firing right at it's forehead, then turned and ran at full speed.
The T-rex roared again and lowered it's head, preparing to catch its prey. Logan was running as fast as he could, but giant legs could cover greater distance in shorter time. The jaws lowered, the tongue reached out and Logan was inches from its teeth.
Logan was suddenly hit with the force of a freight train as a blonde and blue battering ram slammed home into him, knocking him to the side.
The jaws closed and a high-pitched scream was cut off as a pair of black boots, Starfleet issue, disappeared behind the jaws, and the dinosaur retreated into the trees with its prize.
At the sound, Nicole's sensitive ears perked up. "Penny!" she shouted. When no response came, she looked at Camille. "Stay here," she said and took off like a bullet from a gun through the trees, towards the source of the sound.
“Penny!” Camille screamed as she watched the dinosaur flee with her friend. She nodded to Nicole, knowing she would do what she could.
As Nicole cleared the trees she found Logan face down in the grass several meters away. She ran towards him and checked his vitals as he coughed and rolled over.
"I'm fine," Zack responded, breathing hard. "it just the wind out of me." He looked around. "It grabbed Penny! We have to find her!" He got up and scrambled to find his rifle.
She looked towards the new path carved in the trees and took off, her nostrils flaring. She could hear the t-rex roar in the distance and angled towards it. She wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she wasn't about to let Penny go down the gullet of some giant lizard.
She charged after the lizard, following the path of destruction, but as she rounded a corner in the trees, she realized she'd never catch up. She stopped and growled, walking along the path, trying to figure out what to do.
Her nostrils flared and she turned towards the scent. It smelled like the t-rex, but it was strong, as if the thing were nearby. She followed it into the trees, keeping with the breeze blowing and finally stopped. A low groan suddenly sounded above her and she looked up, seeing Penny doubled over a thick branch a few meters up.
"Bloody hell," she said as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned to see the rest of the team catching up, Kincaid helping Logan and Daniel shielding Camille, who had picked up Nicole's discarded pack. "I need a boost up," she said.
Kincaid helped Logan sit down by a tree and he and Faraday locked arms and let Nicole climb up and into the branches. She swung up quickly, her gymnastics training kicking in as she flipped and swung up each branch. Finally, she reached Penny and looked her over. The girl's hair was sopping wet with saliva and she looked pale, but she was breathing, however raggedly. Nicole grabbed her tricorder from her belt and scanned Penny quickly, then returned the device and grabbed her friend, pulling her over her shoulder and trying not to retch from the saliva now coating them both.
She quickly descended, dropping between branches and landing hard on the ground. She let out a bark of pain and breathed deeply until the pain passed and her ankle healed up, then got to her feet and looked around. "How close are we to a river?" she said.
"About ten meters due east," Faraday said, pointing through the trees.
"Let's get her moved," Nicole said. She grabbed Penny's shoulders as Faraday grabbed her legs and Kincaid helped Logan to his feet. They carried Penny through the trees and down to the river. Nicole started to pull her uniform jacket off, then looked at the others and cleared her throat. "Gentlemen, some privacy? Get in contact with the ship and get a beamup. We'll be right behind once I have her stabilized."
"Aye." Logan responded and walked off a few feet away, and tapped his commbadge. "Logan to Victory. Prepare to beam up landing party. and have medical standing by. Out." Logan wanted to return to the others to see how Penny was, after all...she was a friend, or at least thought she was. He took up position as guard, made sure he rifle was working, and set the power level to maximum, cause, by God, he'll vaporize anything that shows up now. But the transporter caught him and he was beamed back to the ship.
"Camille, with me," she said, all business.
The science officer nodded, adjusted her glasses, and followed, kit in hand.
Nicole fussed around until the men were gone and listened for their footsteps to recede into the distance. When she was convinced they were alone, she nodded to Camille. "Get a sample of the saliva from her hair," she said, looking down at Penny's body.
Camille nodded and got to work. There was plenty of saliva to collect indeed.
She stripped the shreds of uniform and scanned her thoroughly, checking for damage. Other than cosmetic issues that would heal themselves, she seemed miraculously intact, prompting a huge sigh of relief from Nicole. She paused at Penny's right side, seeing her hand clenched. She gritted her teeth and slowly pried back the girl's fingers to reveal a sample tube containing deep red blood.
"I'll be damned," she said, holding it up, looking at Camille.
"Mon Dieu," Camille exclaimed, her smile growing. Inspired, she helped Nicole examine Penny and also the shredded uniform. Her smile turned into a grin as she pulled something thirty centimeters long, curved, sharp, and serrated out of the uniform shreds. "Sacrament! Nicole! Look!"
"What, what is it?" Nicole said, panicked, looking up.
"I have a Tyrannousaurus rex tooth!" Camille exclaimed. "It must have broken off when it hit something particularly hard on Penny. Her hip, maybe."
"Given the alloys under her skin, could be anywhere," Nicole said, shaking her head at Camille's excitement, but smiling nonetheless.
When they had their samples packed away, they put Penny in the river, washing the dinosaur spit off of her and finally giving their tortured nasal passages some relief.
They put her back down on the ground and Nicole pressed on Penny's sternum in a few special spots. A seam appeared in Penny's stomach and a small panel opened. Nicole scanned again and pressed a few buttons. A few lights came to life and Penny inhaled deeply. Nicole closed the panel and Penny's stomach was once again smooth and flawless.
"Penny?" Nicole said, tapping the girl's cheek. "C'mon, sweetie, wake up for us."
Penny frowned and tried to roll over. "Paanch minat, krpaya maan," she groaned.
"I don't speak Hindi, but I think that's a good sign," Nicole said, glancing at Camille, who smiled knowing her friend was awake.
Penny blinked and yawned, then opened her eyes and looked around, sitting up quickly. "Where...how am I here?" She looked down. "And I'm naked again...." She blinked and tilted her head then blinked again and looked around. "Oh, hi," she said, smiling at Nicole and Camille. "Internal diagnostics are within tolerance. She moved her arm and winced. "But I might need Commander Torres to take a look."
"Oh, thank Providence," Nicole said, sitting back, shaking a bit with relief.
Penny patted Nicole's shoulder. "Thanks for worrying." She looked down at her now empty hand. "Oh no, did I drop the blood sample?"
"No, we have it," Nicole said.
"Oh good. I was afraid I'd drop it while I was tagging that thing."
"You tagged it?" Nicole said in shock. "How in blazes did you hit soft tissue?"
"I was in its mouth," Penny said, her tone emphasizing the obvious point.
"How far to the back of the throat did you get?" Camille asked.
"That's what she said," Penny said, then giggled uncontrollably. When she got control of herself, she cleared her throat and pressed on. "When it bit through my pants into my leg I grabbed onto its tongue and held on for dear life. Had to turn off my auditory sensors to avoid an overload. Ick and its breath..." she shivered. "So one hand held on to a muscle cluster and the other got to work. If you want more samples though, you can go get them yourself."
"I think that's enough heroics for one day," Nicole said, hugging Penny tightly. "I was terrified we'd lost you."
"Me, too," Camille added, adding herself to the hug. "You owe me so many stories though about your adventures with the dinosaur."
"We didn't go on an adventure so much as I got taken for a ride," Penny giggled.
"Well, time to be a patient. Lie back. Cami, could you get her bottom half?" Seeing Camille nod her assent and move into position, Nicole pulled off her uniform jacket and draped it over Penny's torso, then hit her combadge.
"Anderson to Victory."
"Kincaid here," the security officer said.
"I trust that means your trio got to back to the ship safely?" Nicole said, motioning for Penny to shut her eyes.
"Yes, Ma'am," Kincaid said. "Lieutenant Logan is in Sickbay in recovery and Lieutenant Faraday is on the bridge."
"Good. Three of us need a beam-up directly to the surgical bay."
"Aye, Ma'am," Kincaid said and the channel closed. A moment later, the three of them appeared in the empty room. Nicole quickly sealed the doors and snapped her fingers at Penny. "Scrub room, go."
"On it," Penny said. She darted through the doors and hopped into the sonic shower, freshening up for "surgery" and throwing on a gown.
Nicole waited till the doors shut, then grabbed Camille and held her tight, shaking hard. "I was so scared I'd lose one of you," she said.
"It's okay, shhh," Camille said, stroking Nicole's hair. "We're fine." She smiled weakly. "Next time, we know to scan for eggshells. And I did get a sample of one!" Her smile begin wide, two rows of white teeth shining brightly.
Nicole smiled as well and counted to five in her head, her private moment of vulnerability, then put her bravery mask back on and stepped back, nodding. "All right, next step--"
With a soft chirrup, the Doctor’s comm badge came to life. The Captain’s voice, tight with controlled urgency said only, “Kennit to Anderson. I need you here. Now. Just you!”
"On my way," Nicole said, closing the channel as Penny came out wearing a surgical gown and hopped back onto the surgical bed, closing her eyes.
Nicole unsealed the doors and stepped out. "Need a cart in here!" she said. A moment later a nurse came in and they moved Penny onto the gurney. "Get her to recovery until I return," Nicole said.
The nurse nodded and took off. Nicole sighed and gave Camille a quick kiss. "I'll be back," she promised. She held Camille's hand as long as she could as she stepped away, then turned and ran for the transporter room.
Alone in the surgical suite, Camille said a quiet "Au revoir". She gathered everything the team had collected into one case. She waved to Penny as she passed her on the way to recovery, nodded to Zack and the rest of the team, and then returned to her lab with all of their samples.
By the time Penny was wheeled in to recovery, the others had left and Zack apparently was asleep. She was eased onto a bed and laid back, sighing. She didn't have any clue as to what she'd just done or why and she needed time to analyze. She also wanted to just go to her quarters and be alone.
She silently slipped out of her bed and crept over to Zack's, adjusting his pillow so his head fell back a bit. As he started to snore, she slipped back into her own bed and rang for a nurse.
A moment later, a smiling woman entered. "What can I get you?" the nurse said, coming up to Penny's bed.
"Could I just go back to my quarters? Nicole patched me up fine and...it's a bit loud in here," she said, trying to look apologetic.
The nurse looked at the biobed's readings and made the judgement call. "You should keep off duty for twenty-four hours, but yes, I think you're fine to rest in your own bed."
"Thank you," Penny said, easing herself out of bed with a wince and going to the replicator for more clothes.
As the nurse fixed Zack's pillow, Penny quickly changed and left Sickbay, heading home.
Delta Team:
King was working the perimeter. Currently, he was up a tree. He managed to get DNA from bees and a sample of honeycomb. He also had a piece of honey comb in his mouth as he climbed down. After he finished his honey comb, he said, "I would suggest no one get stung. The bees have the same toxicity level as a Portuguese Manowar on Earth. The stings are not a good sensation." He was fine, mostly. He made his way back to the group. Doctor Sta'n scanned him, then injected him with an antihistamine and anti inflammatory, just to cover the bases. He had about five strings that he could tell.
"It is fascinating how evolution has taken such a different turn," Sta'n said, raising an eyebrow. "I would be most curious to know what makes bee stings merely a deterrent on Earth, but led to them being lethal here."
King looked at Sta'n, "Paleontologists suspected insects had to be more resilient in Dinosaur days on Earth. Increased toxicity could be part of that."
"All I know is, I don't like bees at home and I certainly like them less now," Maggie said, then looked at King. "And honestly, I just patched you up. Please stop deliberately getting yourself injured."
King answered Maggie, "I was an SRT Operator during the Dominion War. In a clean environment, my species heals really well. I would rather me get hurt than any of you." He had already left Starfleet once and came back again. He was trying to protect them.
"I feel I must concur with Ensign Cromwell," Doctor Sta'n said. "It is not logical to unduly subject yourself to harm, even if you are gifted with accelerated recovery. The preferable course of action would be to avoid injury in order to avoid the possibility of encountering something you are unable to heal from."
King looked at him, "I didn't say I wanted to get hurt." He smelled the air and listened, "There is a river to the east." He stopped and smelled again. "Well that is disturbing." He kept sniffing.
Doctor Sta'n raised an eyebrow. "Would you care to elaborate, Lieutenant?"
King walked towards the river, the others following cautiously behind. After a few minutes they came upon a gathering of actual bears. They were all catching salmon, showing off cubs and were teaching the cubs how to fish, an action they only did twice a year. "Is this what it is like for humans to look at certain primates?"
Sta'n looked at Maggie, an eyebrow raised.
"Not....exactly, no," she said, somewhat offended, glancing at Eric for support.
Eric just shrugged with a grin; "Not really." he answered as well; not a able to provide any real support at the moment.
King looked at them and then his team. He was going to apologize, but he noticed something. "They are scared. Look at them surround the Cubs. My kind do this when there is a large predator in the area." The ground shook.
"Oh no," Maggie said, going pale. She looked around quickly. "We need to find somewhere to hide."
The look in King's eyes as the large reptile went towards the bears in the river. He watched it bite the strongest boar in half. For a brief moment he looked like he was going to hyperventilate. He pulled his gear bag off of his back. He started going through it. He found a transport enhancer. He opened up the control module and made some adjustments, "King to Victory. You should have a new Signal on your read out. Confirm." He had turned an enhancer into a beacon.
Davenport looked over at Ensign Canne who checked her boards. "Yes," she said, "we're reading a signal beacon has been activated at your location."
King waited on confirmation, "Summers, Alexander. If we can transport it, we do that. If not plan B is to scare it off. Either way, I will need cover fire." He had three plans in his head. He could do this.
Summers looked over at Alexander, all the while bringing up her phaser to fire if and when...she looked over at Alexander. "Ready?" She asked him.
Eric checked his phaser; making sure that it would be ready to fire. He looked back to Summer and nodded. “Ready.” he replied.
Maggie and the doctor both immediately took a few steps back, getting behind the line of fire, and out of harm's way.
King took a breath, as soon as Victory confirmed the beacon, "Miss Maggie, Dr Sta'n, try and get the Cubs and the sows up the river. Summers and Alexander, cover them and provide me with cover fire. On my signal." He strapped the beacon to his back. He took off running on all fours. He got between the bears and the dinosaur and roared at it. The T-Rex saw him and charged at him roaring. King ran right at it and then slid between its legs. He clawed the Achilles tendons on both of the dinosaur's legs. He came up and climbed up the leg with his claws and stabbed the beacon into the thigh. "Victory, you got a loc...oh shit...."
The TRex got his head around and almost bit him. He climbed up the animal and dug his claws into the back. The t-rex was bucking and and jumping. The beacon fell out of the thigh. King lasted more than 8 seconds before getting thrown off.
King roared at the group if bears, and they started moving up river. That was the cue for the doctor and nurse to help the bears and cubs move up river. He was the alpha now.
Maggie ran after Doctor Sta'n, completely baffled how they were supposed to succeed, but the bears were already moving and some general "get on with ya now" and gesticulations seemed to be encouragement enough as they all started to move along.
The Trex came to bite him again. He rolled out of the way. He got to the beacon. The Trex roared again and King threw the beacon into the mouth. "King to Victory beam this thing 10 meters into the ocean." He watched it start to beam and return. Shitty signal lock. King groaned.
"What are we trying to beam? The energy drain converting that much mass is triggering an alarm!" Ensign Canne said.
The thing came to bite King again and King slashed with his claws for the thing's eyes. He saw a piece of uniform in the Trex's teeth as he jammed his claws into the reptile's jugular. The Trex started slinging him around. King was using the claws on his feet to keep him away from the teeth. He knocked out another one of the teeth before being slung into a tree. The Trex, feeling a second injury, finally limped away. King was hurt and barely conscious.
Doctor Sta'n and Nurse Cromwell raced back towards the others and looked up, seeing King hanging limp in a tree. "Victory," Doctor Sta'n said, "please lock on to Lieutenant King's signal and beam him back to our base camp."
Barely functioning, he heard that, "Disre-."
"Yes, Doctor, locking onto the biobed coordinates," Canne said. A moment later, King shimmered and vanished.
"We should return to camp," Doctor Sta'n said to the others.
Summers nodded. "Roger that."
Eric let out a breath he had not known he was holding. "Roger that."
Zack laid on one of the med beds, rested and recovering. His wound were mostly scraps and a couple of bruised ribs. Once Bry had learned of what happened, she arrived in sickbay and went to Zack's bed.
"When they told me what happened, I was afraid I had lost you." Bry held his hand and kissed him on the mouth.
"I thought I was going to die. That dinosaur had me dead to rights..if it wasn't for Penny...I'd be dead."
Bry brushed his hair away from his face. "Then thank goodness for Penny." Responded Bry,
Zack looked at her. "Let's get married."
Bry looked at him with a stunned look on her face."
"I just dodged death, maybe at the cost of a fellow crew member. I want to change my life. My life, our life, has been one of selfish, foolish pleasure. It's time we grew up and committed to each other," said Zack.
Bry looked at him. "You're serious?"
Zack nodded. "Yes."
Bry smiled at him. "Then I accept." She leaned over and kissed him.
A nurse walked by. Zack asked her over.
"How is Lieutenant Naroot? Can I see her? I have to thank her for saving my life."
"She's recovering in her quarters," the nurse said. "She should be fine in a day or so. She was very lucky, as were you."
RSS Feed