Post 350: Hikearumba! Part Two

Stardate 70803.0900
Title: Hikearumba! Part Two
Author: Ensign Simon Biggs
Scene: Embassy Courtyard Plaza Cafe'/ Forest on Trill
Time: The morning after Part One
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Simon had finished his eggs and was just eating his last slice of toast when Lt. Blane appeared, backpack slung casually over his shoulder.

"You ready, Simon?"

"Didn't you want some breakfast too, Lieutenant?"

"I ate an hour ago," Blane said with a wave. "Then I went for a jog."

*He went for a jog, before a planned ten mile hike with possible rock climbing as well?* Simon thought. *Clearly Blane's physical condition is something akin to that of the old Earth comic book hero, Superman.*

"I'm almost finished," Simon replied as he wolfed down his last bit of toast and sip of tea.

"I'll just be outside." Blane walked out of the café and into the embassy's courtyard garden. Simon found him a few minutes later, sitting on a deck chair, admiring the view of the pond nearby.

"Shall we go then?"

~Some time later~

Biggs and Blane were moving through the forest at a good clip, following the hiking trails which led to the mountainous Tanaran Ice Cliffs. The foliage was very dense until they came up to a large river. Blane looked over at Simon and whistled.

"Dang," Simon said, as he began looking around the forest floor around him. He returned with a fallen tree branch in his hand. With his knife, he cut the leaves off of it and lowered it into the river to measure. He looked upward, thinking, then back down at the water. "Right, this river is going about 40 knots," He informed Blane. "I can't see the bottom to determine its depth, but I wouldn't attempt to swim it."

Blane had also been looking around and called over to Simon from a ways away.

"I found something, over here!" Simon looked up in Blaine's direction and saw a rope bridge. It was old, and looked somewhat rickety, but Blane took several striding steps forward and stopped in the middle.

"C'mon, Biggs. We've got a long way to go yet."

Simon hesitated, but followed. Eventually. Something about this struck Blane as amusing, and he laughed as he walked, that is until the plank under his feet made a horrifying cracking sound.

There was a split second when he and Simon looked at each other, and then Blane disappeared, along with two or three of the planks.

Simon quickly moved forward, trying to see where Blane had gone, because he didn't hear him land in the water. He discovered that he had grabbed onto the rope beneath the plank and was still hanging on to the bridge.

Simon tried pulling him up, but another plank of the dried and rotted wood cracked under his weight and he fell into the river with a mighty splash.

Blane managed to pick himself back up onto the bridge and made it to the other side. Simon found that the river wasn't that deep after all, and managed to fight his way across.

"You all right?" Blane said, concerned, as he met up with Simon at last.

"Very wet, but that’s what I get for falling into a river!"

Blane offered Simon a hand up out of the water, and then waited as Simon disappeared back into the forest to swap out his wet clothing for the dry set that he had packed in his waterproof backpack, "just in case."

"So, you enjoying our hike so far?" Blane asked as Simon hoisted his pack over his shoulder once more.

"Oh yeah. It's been a real splash!"

The pair continued hiking, mostly in silence as they took in the beauty of the scenery around them. Eventually they found that the trail was getting very steep, and they came to an enormous ravine. This one had a rope bridge as well, but it was expansive, stretching on for at least three miles from one side of the ravine to the other.

"Oh. My. God." Simon remarked, as Blane looked at him with a grin.

"Here's where the real fun begins," TC announced, and without hesitation he stepped onto the bridge and began to cross.

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Ensign Simon Biggs
Security Officer
USS independence NCC-90791