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“No, it does not,” she agreed. “Come on. We must try to stay ahead of them and find new shelter.”

Quickly they gathered their gear and moved to the mouth of the cave, then carefully began maneuvering their way down the rocky slope of the hillside toward the valley floor about fifty feet below. As he struggled to maintain his balance during the descent, David admired the lithe motion of Saavik as she appeared to navigate the terrain with little difficulty, even while continually observing the readings on her tricorder. The device began to beep its various warnings more rapidly as it tracked the motions of their adversaries.

“I have at least two readings off to the west,” Saavik said, pointing to her left. “These two are sweeping the area but continue to approach our location. I also have a third, off to the northeast, somewhere beyond that ridge.” She pointed right, toward the eastern edge of the raised plateau situated before them, the base of which was just a few hundred meters distant.

Behind her, David tried to focus on the tricorder’s display as it bounced chaotically in her hand. “That’s not good,” David observed. “This means we have only one route of escape. Once we reach the base of this hill, we’re essentially hemmed into the gorge between it and the ridge up ahead. Our only hope is to outrun them to the east, until the path opens into the clearing about a kilometer away.”

“Then we must increase our pace,” Saavik said, and did so. David struggled to match her speed, and despite a few tense moments when he feared losing his footing and tumbling headlong down the slope, they eventually finished scaling down the hillside and began a brisk run toward the eastern end of the gorge.

Minutes quickly passed in tense silence. Before them, the path briefly widened into a small clearing. The wind, increasing in intensity, swirled and howled throughout the open space. Above them, the sky was rapidly darkening, the sun blotted out by innumerable rising clouds of volcanic smoke and ash.

Saavik suddenly stopped, frowning down at the tricorder display. “Damn.”

“What is it?” David asked, stepping up to look over her shoulder.

As outlined on the screen, the Klingon who was on his own had evidently rounded the adjacent ridge and entered the valley at the east end, and was now just a few hundred meters directly ahead. Saavik turned around and began scanning behind them, in the opposite direction. Two more life-sign readings flashed alarmingly. “It would appear that we are trapped,” she said.

David immediately began glancing around at the high rock walls to either side of them, desperately looking for a place with a manageable slope or with easily accessible purchases that might allow them to climb out of the chasm, but even if both of them were skilled at rock climbing, there simply wasn’t enough time to do so with any hope of a timely escape. “There’s no easy way out of here,” he conceded.

No response.

To his own surprise, David found himself in the unfamiliar position of envying the Starfleet officers who participated in planetary away missions on a regular basis. Surely they would have received training on how to deal with hostile situations such as this. They wouldn’t be standing here like fools, wondering what their next move should be.

Not to mention they’d have those shiny Starfleet-issue phasers.

So be it. He’d think his way out of this like a scientist. He knew the problem; now what were the possible solutions? “Okay, so that lone Klingon to the east will be entering this clearing in a few minutes. We have two options. One is to give ourselves up and hope for the best.”

“I would not recommend that option,” Saavik replied. “Our welfare will be of little concern to them.”

“I agree. The other option is to hide.” He swiveled his head about, considering where they might find sufficient camouflage, and settled upon a thicket of dense brush at the base of the southern wall of the gorge. “Come on,” he said, motioning her to follow.

“We cannot expect a member of the search party to simply