When the Bough Breaks...

Posted on Sat Jun 5th, 2010 @ 1:50pm by Commodore Samantha York

727 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Transitions
Location: Holodeck 3
Timeline: Current

ON

It had been a while since Samantha York had gone rock climbing. She didn't count her trip down the cliff on Tiberius IV. That wasn't technically rock climbing. So, when she found herself with a few free hours and an empty holodeck, she changed into a pair of faded blue jeans and a soft green tank top and made her way to the holodeck.

She'd selected one of her favorite destinations: Bryce Canyon, Utah, Earth. It was a program she'd set up years ago. Although she hadn't had an opportunity to use it while on the Orion.

Her ropes and carabiners were set out and she quickly harnessed up and began her ascent. She climbed a few feet up the side of the red cliff and hammered a piton into the rock. Once she'd tested it for strength, she tied her rope to it and tested it again before she climbed a few more feet and started the process all over. Climb a few feet, hammer in a piton, attach the rope, check to be sure it was secure, climb again.

Sam was 50 meters up when she paused to look at the view. She chose a canyon setting with thick foliage beneath her and a deep blue sky above the canyon.

After a couple minutes she continued. She carefully chose her hand and foot holds as she climbed another 3 meters, then hammered in another piton. The pattern continued, slowly and methodically, until she reached the top. She carefully climbed over the lip and flopped onto the ground, breathing hard. It had been far too long and her muscles were very vocal about that. She kept in good shape, but rock climbing used muscles she didn't normally work on.

When she caught her breath, she sat up to look over the cliff tops. There was nothing like the view from the top. Bright red and orange rocks, deep blue sky and green foliage always made her smile. There was something about the beauty of nature... Sam shook her head. She wasn't going to wax poetic. Not this time.

Before long it was time to head back down. Instead of using her rope and climbing, Sam decided to rappel. It was her favorite part of climbing.

"Computer, a rope long enough to reach the bottom." A rope appeared at her feet. Sam attached the rope to a large tree that was far enough from the cliff to be safe and close enough to be useful and hooked it through her harness. She carefully tested the rope, then threw the rest of it over the cliff side.

The rope hit the ground with a thud and Sam began to rappel down, using her feet to bounce off the cliff face as she rapidly descended. She was 20 meters from the bottom when she heard a sound that made her heart skip a beat. The sound of her rope breaking. She didn't have time to slow her descent or grab onto a scrub oak growing out of the cliff. "Computer, freeze program." Nothing happened. All she could do was relax to minimize the fall and hope the safety protocols were working.

She heard a crack and felt a sharp pain in her leg, then it went numb.

For a few moments she couldn't breathe. Her whole body ached. "Drat," she whispered. This wasn't supposed to happen with the safety protocols in place. She did a quick check to see if anything else was seriously injured. Good, it seemed it was just her leg. She tried to move it gently, but it caused another shooting pain that almost made her pass out. Okay. That wasn't such a good idea. She needed help getting out of the holodeck.

"Computer, emergency transport to sickbay. Authorization delta, gamma 2."

The computer beeped, but nothing happened. Double drat. She wanted to call Damon. She knew he'd come to her rescue. But it was the middle of the day and he would no doubt be busy with his Marines. And she didn't want to cause him any more problems than she already had. He didn't like her going into caves, she didn't want him worrying bout holodecks as well.

So, she settled for the next best thing. "York to Bowen, I think I broke my leg.

(To be continued...)

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer
USS Calypso

 

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