"Truth Scores" by A. Rhea King Rating: PG Disclaimer: Don't own them, CBS/Paramount does. Genre: Humor Description: They're ewoks? Diaper 1 and Malcolm 0, the finer points of Animal Crackers is discussed, Travis and Archer find themselves on the business end of a cranky feline, and Trip shows Eartik a thing or two about gravity. Hold Fast (5) Malcolm, Trip, Likos and Ensign Novakovich raced down the beach toward the towering black cliffs ahead. “HURRY UP!” Archer yelled across their communicators. The four reached the cliff face and waded out into the water toward the cave entrance that was half submerged. The four dove under the rising tide and swam into the cave beyond. They surfaced on a sharply sloping cave floor. The ceiling of the cave was riddled with holes made by centuries of erosion and diffused sunlight lit up the cave. A twelve-foot cliff rose at the back of the cave and the cave continued back for another two kilometers before ending. Near the cliff face, Archer was holding Navta up in a sitting position. Her left leg was pinned between a large boulder and half buried rock. Navta was half submerged in ocean water that was creeping higher with each incoming wave. The four ran to the boulder and tried to push it off, but it turned out to be heavier than it looked. “Ideas. Fast!” Trip ordered. “I’m scared,” Navta whimpered. “Shhh. Shhh,” Archer whispered, kissing her forehead. “It’ll be okay. We’ll get you out of here before the tide comes in.” Navta closed her eyes, pulling him to her. “We need some levers,” Malcolm said. “We don’t have anything here.” “We could go back to the forest and get a couple good sized branches.” Trip looked down at Archer. “Sir?” “Go!” “You three go. I’ll figure out the best places to set them,” Trip ordered. Malcolm, Likos and Novakovich ran back to the opening. Trip crouched down, scooping out the best place to set the log levers. “K’pan,” Navta whispered. “It’s getting higher K’pan. It’s coming up fast!” “Shhh,” Archer whispered, holding her head to his chest. “It’s going to be okay. Shhh.” By the time the three returned the water was up to Navta’s chest. “This is going to be hard. This water’s going to—” Likos started. Trip roughly grabbed his arm, whispering, “Shut. Up.” Likos said nothing more. The four quickly set to work at moving the boulder. “It’s coming in faster, K’pan,” Navta whimpered. “I know. If it gets over your head, I’ll give you air. You know how to do that?” Archer brushed back wet hair from her face. Navta shook her head. “I’ll get a breath of air and then put my mouth to yours and blow it in. You have to let out the breath your holding before I do though, okay?” Navta nodded. “Good girl.” Archer smiled, gently patting her cheek. Archer looked at the four men, his stomach growing tighter with every rising wave coming in. Navta pulled on his uniform when the water came up to her chin, looking up at him with scared eyes. “It’s going to be okay. We’ll get you out, Navta.” Navta drew a shaky gasp, starting to cry. “No, sweetheart, don’t cry,” Archer told her. “You have to stay calm. Stay calm, half-pint.” Navta closed her eyes, putting her head back when another wave threatened to cover her mouth. Archer pulled close to her, but the water was starting to make it difficult to stay anchored beside her. Archer looked at the four, watching the four men working fervently to get the boulder off. Archer moved toward them to help. Navta’s grip tightened on his uniform. He looked back and immediately knelt back beside her when he saw her face was under water. “Hurry,” Archer told them, “God hurry!” Archer drew in a deep breath and leaned toward Navta. She let go of her breath and inhaled the breath he gave her. Archer surfaced, waited for half a minute and then gave her another breath. As the water rose it became harder for him to hold onto her and took longer to get the breath to her. Archer leaned down to give her a breath but Navta didn’t take it. Archer shook her arm and she didn’t respond. He surfaced. “GET IT OFF!” Archer screamed at his men. “SHE’S DROWNED!” Archer moved toward them and helped Trip and Likos. With the five of them the boulder moved. Trip grabbed Navta before an outgoing wave pulled her body with it. “We have to get out of here,” Archer said, grabbing Navta’s arm. “We can’t, sir. We have to go up.” Trip pointed up the cliff. “Trip—” “Cap’n, with the current in this water, none of us can get back through that opening. We’ll all end up drowning if we try. Our only chance is to get to the top of this cliff and wait for the tide to go back out.” Archer looked down the slope at the entrance that had disappeared under water. He turned to tell Trip to go and found him already climbing the cliff face with the other three men following close behind. Archer started climbing behind them. Trip had already started up the cliff face with Navta slung over his shoulder. Archer and the three crewmen followed him. Trip pulled himself over the top and laid Navta down on the rock and began CPR. Archer knelt down on her other side to assist. For seconds of eternity Navta didn’t breathe or respond. All at once she started coughing and gasping for air. Archer rolled her on her side and she cried out. “Her leg’s broken,” Trip said before Archer spoke. Archer looked down at her leg. Her pants leg was soaked with blood and the white of her bone had torn through the fabric. Archer gently lifted her into his arms and walked further back in the cave, away from the rising water. He found a patch of sand and laid her down on it. “Don’t leave me K’pan,” Navta whimpered, clinging to him. “Shhh. It’s okay. Shhh.” Archer stroked her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.” Archer sat down, cradling her in his arms. “What happened?” Trip asked. “We were collecting shells and she waded out to pick up a conch shell and her foot slipped between the rock and boulder. I was trying to help her pull it free when the boulder shifted and trapped her leg between the two. The weight must have broken it.” “Well, broken legs mend, Navta,” Malcolm said, “mine did.” Archer looked at him. He, Novakovich and Likos were standing behind Trip, the three wringing their clothes out as best they could with them still on. “You’ve broken your leg?” Trip asked. “Yes. It was the last time I trusted anyone to pack my parachute too.” Trip laughed. “Hard lesson to learn, huh?” “Painful was more like it.” “Thank you, men,” Archer said. Novakovich looked at Archer and smiled. “Yeah, well, we’d be lost without Navta to keep us up to date. Not to mention it’s the only way we get to see Porthos.” They all laughed. “There’s some wood back there.” Malcolm motioned to the back of the cave. “I’ll get a fire going. T’Pol told us when we left that if we get trapped in here it will be six hours before the tide goes out.” “I have to do something about this leg,” Likos said, crouching down beside Navta. “Okay?” Navta nodded. Archer let out his breath, meeting Navta’s eyes when she looked up at him. He smiled, tapping her nose. She smiled back. Navta laid her head against his chest. Back to Chapter 4 Continue to Chapter 6

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