Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Field Trip by John Peel

Author:John Peel
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Young Adult, Star Trek
ISBN: 0671882872
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 1995-08-01T06:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 7

The four of them set out for the shuttle. Jake led the way, his tricorder at the ready. It was showing the runabout ahead of them, with a steady light pulse registering the energy of the engines. If the color started to shift into red from the yellow it now registered, then they would have to run for their lives. At the moment, though, there was no sign of such a change.

The noises of the jungle echoed strangely about them as they traveled. There were plants everywhere. Not an inch of ground was left uncovered, and there were many plants growing on top of others, and even twisted about the branches of the trees. Once they heard another Screaming Mimi rushing through the bushes, howling away. Nog had brought along his sample bags and took the opportunity to store another two samples—one a very pretty orchidlike flower of delicate lilac and gold coloring; the other a tall plant with blue bell-like flowers. They passed close to one of the Tingle Tanglers, but thanks to their teacher’s earlier lesson they were able to avoid trouble. The dangling leathery balls swayed slowly in the breeze, ready to spring into action.

As they walked, T’Ara kept up her scanning for Cardassians. The four searchers were still a number of kilometers away, but getting slightly closer all the time. Jake guessed that they’d seen the rough direction that the runabout had come down in and were now trying to narrow it down. Obviously they didn’t have any tricorders or sensor capabilities, because the energy readings he was detecting from the runabout should have shown up for the Cardassians, too. It was very odd that they should be without such basic pieces of equipment, but Jake didn’t know what to make of it.

“It’s kind of pretty here, isn’t it?” Ashley commented. “If we weren’t stranded and being hunted, it would be a nice place for a field trip.”

“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “But we are stranded, and we are being hunted. I can’t wait to get out of here!” Then he frowned. “That’s odd.”

“What?” She peered over his shoulder at the tricorder screen he was studying.

The yellow indicator light on the panel was fading slowly to white. “That is,” he told her. “It looks as if the power level is dying down.”

“So what’s odd about it?” asked Ashley. “It’s probably just cooling down instead of blowing up. It means it’ll be safer for us to go into the ship, that’s all.”

“Yeah,” agreed Jake doubtfully. “But it just started to change, and it was steady before.”

“Maybe one of the plants got into the ship,” suggested Nog. “And drained the energy.” Seeing Ashley’s blank look, he added: “A power plant!” He chuckled at his own joke.

“It just seems odd,” Jake muttered. Again, though, he didn’t know what it meant. This planet was getting stranger by the minute, it seemed.

T’Ara gave him an encouraging smile, then remembered she was a Vulcan and not supposed to do that. “We shall be there in about ten minutes,” she told him, her face impassive again.

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