An Image Of The Past (Tess)

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess listened and regarded the thing in Fabiano's hand with wide eyes, her gaze taking turns between looking at Fabiano and back to the tricirder. She understood what he explained which was exciting too.

"What temperature do I have?" she asked, leaning forward to try and catch a glimpse of the part of the tricirder that showed information. "I don't have an upset tummy, I already had an upset tummy, I know how that feels, I feel good now!", she chattered away. "And this knows I'm good or not?", she wanted to know. When Fabiano retrieved the probe and pointed it towards her with a question of permission Tess nodded eagerly. "Yes, scan me with the tri-... tricorder!"

When she then suddenly heard the loud and concerned voice of her brother Tess faltered a little startled and looked over at Rahul, a bit of fear and insecurity showing on her face. She was surrounded by people she trusted but that Rahul sounded so angry and worried scared her, fearing she might not see the danger she might be in.

Benjin crawled on hands and feet over the floor eyes on the baby rattle that lay on the floor. Once he reached it he grabbed it and let himself fall on his bum to sit. Making a happy noise he shook the rattle, did that for a while before muffling his own happy and chirpy noises by taking the end of the rattle into his mouth as he directed his big blue baby eyes on his daddy on the sofa, as if to check if his dad was watching what great things he did.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess' questions and chatted statement made Fabiano smile.  The child was adorable.  "Yes this will tell me if you are well or not.  You asked about your temperature.. yes? Well, Ba'ku are very similiar to humans.. which is what I am.  Our normal body temperature is about 37 degrees Celcius.  So let's see if you are the same." he answered her and was about to begin scanning her when Rahul's outburst interrupted.  Benjin, startled at the exclamation, began to cry.

Fabiano looked over his shoulder towards the still clearly upset teen.

"I'm just checking her vitals.  It's not doing anything to her."  Fabiano defended his use of the machine.  The boy however didn't look like he believed him.

"Rahul.. Do not interrupt!" Ishto's tone was stern as he leaned over to retrieve the unhappy infant.  Rahul turned to his father incredulous at his father's words.

Fabiano turned back towards Tess and slowly moved the probe over her body core.

He smiled a bit in relief at the results before turning the machine around so that she could see her results displayed.  He pointed to the temperature reading. "37.0 on the dot... and these over here would tell me if there is any toxins in your body.  But look, it reads as 0%.  You are healthy."

Rahul stormed back to his room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Rahul's room - Year 2376]

'His father was a hypocrite!' Rahul fumed.  He had been taught the Ba'ku history - of how the colonists had made a choice to forgo modern technology.  Now here his father was was exposing Tess to exactly that!  Rahul blamed the officer.  It was his influence corrupting everything.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess followed the conversation, everyone seemed to become more or less angry. She just sat and waited while her father chastised Rahul for interrupting. Benjin cried but soon calmed down somewhat once he was in his father's arms.

Tess' excitement returned the second Fabiano moved the probe over her body core. The little girl looked at the probe, then at the tricorder, up to Fabiano and back on the probe. The whirring noises of the tricorder were strange to Tess' ears. She sat there with bated breath, not sure if she should anticipate to feel anything from the probe - somehow that thing must be connected to her, she reasoned, how else would it retreive data from her?

When the scan seemingly was done and Fabiano turned the tricorder to her Tess leaned forward eagerly to check the readings. Of course it was all gibberish to her. She didn't even know how to read Federation Standard. Or speak it. When Fabiano helped her out by pointing at the temperature reading, Tess' eyes sparkled with excitement. "Yay, I won! I got 37 on the dot!" She listened as Fabiano explained about the poison reading and Tess was so curious to learn what the other things on the display meant. Before she could ask about it she saw Rahul - still angry - storming out of the room again and disappearing in his room.

A small frown showed on little Tess' forehead why her brother was so so angry. But the excitement about having this thing here in use was too big. Tess slid off the sofa her father had been telling her to sit on, too giddy to remain seated. She leaned over to take another look at the tricorder display. "Can we scan Pa?", she asked in excitement. "And Benjin too?! What else can this thing do? Is there a picture of a rose in it? And from your Earth??"

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

"Yay, I won! I got 37 on the dot!"

Such an innocent and youthful comment from Tess had Fabiano laughing.  "Yes, you won." he agreed playing along even as Rahul stomped away.  The officer turned his attention to the departing teenager, watching until Rahul stormed down the hall to disappear into his room.

Fabiano didn't envy Ishto having to deal with such a wide spread of children, especially Rahul.  The one that should have been the easiest seemed to the Starfleet officer to be the one that acted out the most.

Fabiano looked back as Tess slid off the sofa and approached him.  He smiled at her as she looked at the screen in excitement and curiosity.  At her question about scanning her father and Benjin, Fabiano hesitated.  He was more than willing.  It would actually be helpful but he didn't want to assume Ishto's tolerance for such.   "I'm not sure that would be welcome, Tess..." he began.

But his words were interrupted by Ishto.

"I think this once, it would be okay. Do I need to set Benjin down or can it differentiate between our two readings?"

The Starfleet officer looked to his Ba'ku host in surprise a moment before answering.   "Um, it is sophisticated enough to differentiate.. the display will show the two readings side by side."

He glanced to Tess then back to Ishto, "With your permission, Tess could help me run the scan?"

Fabiano didn't know if he was pushing his luck asking such, but the little girl was so keen and he'd volunteered with student classes on a few starbases and he knew for a fact that children at this age craved involved learning experiences.

Ishto glanced to his daughter who was all but quivering in excitement and with a sigh nodded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Rahul's room - Year 2376]

Rather than listen to his fool of a father - welcoming such an influence into their midst! - Rahul opened his window and climbed out.  If his opinions weren't welcome at home, he'd find others of a more like mind.   He knew of one or two council members who had argued against allowing the Federation to place a scientist in their midst.  Maybe they would listen.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess beamed excitedly when her father agreed with Fabiano running a scan of Ishto and Benjin too. The Starfleet man then asked if Tess could help her with that the little girl nodded eagerly. "Yes, please, pa!" Her pleading wouldn't have been necessary, Ishto agreed.

Tess squealed with joy and then turned to Fabiano and the tricorder, waiting to be told what she should do. She had seen she needed the little thing and move that about her father's and brother's body.

Once Fabiano would hand the probe to Tess she would take it carefully, half excited and half in awe of the thing she was using right now. She glanced between the probe in her hand and Ishto's chest as she carefully held it to his chest. She caught the whirring noise of the tricorder once more and still found it sounded funny.
Glancing back at Fabiano she was curious to see if there were already some readings on shown on the tircorder and turned away without waiting if the device had picked up enough information yet.

"What is the temperature?", she asked curiously, glancing about the display.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Fabiano ushered Tess to his side and held out the probe for her to see.  "This is the sensor probe.  It records the bio-readings like temperature and oxygen-level in the blood stream."  The probe measured a lot more things than that but to keep it simple Fabiano was turning off most of the features so that Tess could easily see the readings.

"Hold the probe so that the sensor end points towards your patient. Hold it about 30 cm away and move it slowly over their core.  In humanoids like you and I that's where all our vital organs are."

Fabiano handed over the device, then nodded for her to point the probe towards Ishato and Benjin. Watching as she moved the probe, the science officer smiled at her excitement.  He was so used to the noise that the medical tricorder made that he no longer registered it.  He did however hear the light 'ting' that announced the readings were on the display.

Fabiano glanced at the screen a moment then turned the display towards Tess at her question. "You can see the temperature readings right here for you father, and here for Benjin. Your father's temperature is 36.9 degrees Celcius and Benjin's is .. oh 37.8 - he has a slight fever... which is not uncommon when babies are cutting their teeth.  Giving him something cool to gnaw on and plenty of water to drink should help with the fever, unless you have some local medicine to help fight fever?"

Fabiano directed his last comment to Ishato.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Year 2376]

Rahul made his way through the torch-lit village towards the home of Sojef, since the man was the more popular of the Village 'elders'.  He rap at the wooden door was soon answered by a pleasant smile, yet slightly puzzled expression.

"Rahul... what an unexpected surprise.  Come in... What can I do for you?"

Rahul stepped inside and laid out his problem to the centuries old leader. 

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess listened as Fabiano explained the small thing that he called a probe and handed it to her. She was grinning excitedly the whole time as she tried to move the probe as best as she could over Ishto's and Benjin's bodies. When Fabiano showed the tricorder to her she braced both her arms on Fabiano's thigh as she looked curiously at the readings the tricorder showed after her picking them up with the probe.

At his comment about Benjin having a slight fever because his was cutting his teeth, Tess giggled. "He gnaws on everything all the time!", she shared her observations and then Fabiano asked if there was local medicine to help fight fever. While they waited for Ishto to reply Tess turned her attention back on the tricorder. Since she still held the probe in hand she straightened up and started to point the sensor end of the probe towards Fabiano, curious for his readings. While she did that, she glanced over at the tricorder's display to catch when the reading would change and show Fabiano's. Recognizing the 'ting' from before she turned back to lean on Fabiano's thigh again to look at the display. "36.7", she read from it. "You have 36.7 temperature", she informed the human officially, beaming. "Can I have this and check Rahul's temperature too?", she asked excitedly as she pointed at the tricorder and then, with the sensor probe sill in her hand, already started to run toward's the corridor that led to her older brother's room.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess' fascination was evident as she listened excitedly to what Fabiano told her and afterwards she gazed at the readings curiously.  The science officer couldn't help but wonder if all children were this adorable or if it was something unique to Tess.  He had always imagined children to be loud and bothersome.  And yes while Tess was very animated and lively, Fabiano found himself endeared to the child, looking forward to the next curious question.

Fabiano smiled when Tess giggled and commented about Benjin always gnawing on everything.  That did seem to be true the past day or so while he'd been guesting in their home.  However, it was Ishto who answered his question.  "There is a herbal medicine that I can have Rahul fetch from the apothecary later if Benjin's fever worsens.  That's very interesting device, but I believe it lacks the physical and emotional bond that simple checking temperature by hand does."

Ishto placed the inner part of his wrist to Benjin's forehead and smiled.  "Benjin will be fine."

Fabiano had to accept the infant's fathers word on this.  He was just a guest in the man's house. "If you are certain.." he remarked and turned to put the device away and noticed that Tess was directing the sensor probe towards him.  So he cleared the datalog and set the unit to scan once more.

Her excited announcement of his temperature as "36.7" earned a smile.  "Why yes I do Doctor Tess.  Thank you for checking me over." Fabiano attempted to play along  but her interest moved on as she asked to take the unit to check Rahul's temperature.   Fabiano didn't think the teenager would appreciate it that and hesitated trying to figure out how to tell her 'no' gently, but she was already hurrying down the hallway towards Rahul's room.

"Tess!  I don't think Rahul wants to be bothered..."  he called after her, but brought the unit in case the teenager caved in the face his younger sisters adorableness.

But when Tess opened the door without knocking or waiting for permission, Fabiano expected an explosion of outrage.. but there was only silence... the room was empty.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - home of Sojef - Year 2376]

"How can I get him to leave?" Rahul summed up his frustration with the Starfleet officer to Sojef.

The elderly leader who appeared in age to be only in his 30's seemed to take his time in considering what Rahul told him...  "And you say your father was present and seemingly at ease with what the Federation officer was doing?"

"Yes.  He even yelled at me to not interrupt!" Rahul's anger rose again at remembering that.  His father rarely ever raised his voice - certainly not since their mother had died.

Sojef sighed and looked to Rahul with what Rahul could only describe as sympathy.  "I'm sorry, Rahul.  There is nothing I can do.  As I'm sure you have been taught as a culture we abandoned our use of higher technology to be more in harmony with nature and the world around us.  But our laws do not state that such advanced technology is not permitted.  Your father has the right to allow or deny the officer to use his technology in his own home.  Though I am disturbed to hear that the man has any with him whatsoever.  We were told only the barest of tech would remain with the man... for emergencies."

The older man turned to Rahul trying to look and sound fatherly, "I suggest you return home and in the morning talk to your father about your concerns. Ishto is a reasonable man." but that only made Rahul more upset.

"Of course you would side with him!  I thought you'd be different and put our culture first rather than let an interloper destroy what we have here.  He's worse than the Son'a!"

With that bold statement, Rahul stood up and stormed out.  Rather than head home, Rahul headed up along the trail that he and his sister had just walked down.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Benjin was humming while he sat on his father's lap, watching what was happening in front of him. There was a lot of motion and excited voices that caught the infant's attention. When had been pointing the probe at them Benjin had been trying to grab for it with his little hands.

In the meantime Tess had 'checked Fabiano over' and when he thanked her, calling her Doctor Tess the little girl giggled amused and felt somewhat proud and like a real doctor. Hence her eagerness to go check more persons over, obviously she was doing a good job.

She ran towards Rahul's room, hearing Fabiano calling after her that her brother might not want to be bothered, but Tess ignored that. Bursting into the room with excitement she already started talking before she even had opened the door fully. "Rahul! I'm a doctor now, I need to check you over too!"

She stopped in the middle of the room but found it empty. "Where did he hide?", she wondered out loud, turning around to see if she would be able to spot him in one of the corners. But no. He was gone.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Fabiano, who had followed a few steps behind Tess with the medical tricorder, also glanced around the teens room but he already knew what he would find.  Rahul had 'run away'.

Fabiano recalled from his own youth, having threatened to do such to his parents after a particularly bad argument.   He hadn't actually left, but he'd packed his belongings and  was found breaking into his 'piggy' bank.  He'd only been 8 at the time...not much older than Tess was.  His plan then had been to live with his best friend at the time.  The Science officer wondered who Rahul's best friend was.

"Ishto.. " Fabiano called out back down the hall to the man he could see still seated on the sofa with the toddler, playing some manner of peek-a-boo game.  "Who is Rahul's closest friend?"

There was a moment's hesitation, as Ishto looked up from his entertainment of Benjin. "That would be Jo'tah.  Why?" the man asked concern edging his voice.

"He seems to have left his room via his window." Fabiano answered.  "Likely to a friend's place."

Ishto seemed to think on this for a bit before standing up with Benjin in his arms. "I will leave him to his disobedience for now.  Tomorrow he should be calm enough to reason with." the father commented before looking to his youngest as the infant yawned while gnawing on his tiny fist.

"Come on, Tess.  It is time to put Benjin to bed...  would you like to help read him a bedtime story?" and with that Ishto made his way to the nursery to deal with his youngest.

Fabiano however couldn't stop worrying over Rahul.  He tried to hide his concern from Tess as he retrieved the tricorder's sensor probe.   "Maybe you can scan Rahul another time. Go on... help your father... " then quietly to himself he added.  "I'll go see if I can check on Rahul."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - outside Village - Year 2376]

The trail was difficult to see now that the sun had set.  There was only a faint tell tale glow in the sky from the rings that encircled the planet almost directly above their village.  Part of him hesitated at the shadows that seemed to darken the moment he entered the woods at the base of the mountain trail.  That part of him wanted to go back home to the security that his father could provide... but then he remembered that Ishto had chosen a stranger over him!  And that need to put distance between them returned.

With an angry frown, Rahul stepped onto the path and moved up it.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess followed the adult's conversation, picking up that her brother ran away. She also picked up the slight hint of concern in his father's voice. The little girl turned to him. "Pa? Why did he run away?", she asked as Benjin yawned widely, gnawing at his tiny fist. Tess chuckled. She was right, he really gnawed at everything.

When her father suggested the children should go to bed and asked if she wanted to help read him a story - normally Tess loved this part - she glanced back hesitantly to Fabiano, the tricorder probe still clutched in her hand. It had been so much fun using the tech stuff!

Fabiano seemed to catch her sad face for he tried to comfort her with the prospect of scanning Rahul another time. Tess was reluctant at first but then gave in. "Alright", she pouted and handed the probe back to Lt. Moreno. "Good night! Thank you for letting me play with your stuff!" She moved to him and hugged his legs before finally joining her father.

Tess helped her father read her favourite story to her baby brother - a story about a butterfly that traveled around and told them about its adventures. After that Ishto brought her to bed before the little girl fell asleep, dreaming of the exciting things she experieced today.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Fabiano accepted back the tricorder probe and smile at Tess' polite thank you.   "You are quite welcome.  Thank you, for being careful with it.  Good night, Tess."

The science officer then looked over to the infant in his father's arms and gave the little boy a wave.  "Good night, Benjin."

While the Ba'ku family went about their night time routine of book reading, Fabiano returned to his room... at first intending to put away the medical tricorder.  But he couldn't stop worrying about Rahul.   It bothered him that he was the cause of the disruption in the family.

Maybe he should try speaking to the teen and see if he can help resolve the conflict?

With that in mind, Fabiano headed out with the tricorder in hand.  He had the scan of the three family members... with a bit of filtering he could set the tricorder to look for those same familial markers.  That should lead him to the house of Rahul's friend.

However, rather than one hit on the tricorder, he got two.  And neither were in the village.  That couldn't be right!?  Fabiano reset the tricorder and tried again ... to the same results.

Looking along the line of direction and estimated distance it seemed as if one of the two was heading up the path that Tess had led them up earlier this evening.   While the other hit was already up the mountianside.  Puzzled, yet determined to get to the bottom of this oddity, Fabiano decided to check it out.   He returned to the house, gathered up a flashlight and left the still occupied Ishto a note, before headed towards the start of the mountain path.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - outside Village - Year 2376]

His pace up the path was much slower this time around.  With each step the darkness around seemed to deepen as he moved deeper into the woods.   The trees, he knew, would eventually thin out, the higher up the mountain he got.  But for now their limbs and leaves blocked out what light he had been able to get from the rings.  Still he kept going.  He'd walked this path so many times with his Mom and Dad before Tess was born so he knew it well. Or he thought he did.

Without light, about halfway up the path Rahul stepped into a small depression, his foot expecting solid ground where there was none dropped and his ankle rolled, straining ligaments and he gave out a sharp cry of pain as he stumbled forward, throwing out his hands to catch himself  "Ackk!!"

[Tess tLhoell]

Tess Skuyanhjin (7 years old)
[Ba'ku - Village - Skuyanhjin home - Year 2376]

Tess followed his father to her younger brother's room that was located right next to his father's bedroom. While Ishto prepared the baby boy for bed Tess chose the book she wanted her father to read to him. It was her favourite book and she knew it by heart by now. It was about a little butterfly that traveled the Ba'ku world, meeting all sorts of interesting people and animals, but returned to the village in the end.

After her father had put Benjin in his bed and tucked him in he sat down in a comfy armchair and Tess climbed on his lap, leaning against his chest as he wrapped his arms about her to hold the book. He began to read and Tess joined in once in a while, when they came to a secene she particularly liked.

Benjin soon fell asleep and Tess too became tired. When her father decided they had done enough reading for the night he went to tuck Tess into bed too. Soon the little girl fell asleep too, hoping to dream of all the exciting things she had experienced today.

[Rayek trLhoell]

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - outside Village - Year 2376]

The pain was excruciating! He had never had anything be so painful in all his 16 yrs.  His ankle throbbed and Rahul knew he wouldn't be able to put any weight on it.  He attempted to crawl a few feet but that seemed just as jarringly painful.  He stopped and rested at the base of a tree.  Fighting back the tears of pain and frustration and fear, Rahul tried to look at his situation calmly to find a solution, but he was much too negative. He was stranded halfway up the mountain and no one even knew he was gone much less where he had gone.  The soonest someone might start looking for him was tomorrow morning and there was little reason for them to think he'd gone up the mountain. He could be up here for days!  Panic began to set in.

Feeling overwhelmed, Rahul tried calling out for help over and over.  But it was useless he realized, as his voice grew hoarse.  He was much too far to be heard by anyone at the village.  His breath was misting in the air.  It was getting cold up on the mountainside.  He huddled trying to keep warm.

Then unexpectedly he heard footsteps approaching from up the mountainside. Hope flared.  "Hello? Is someone there?  I'm hurt and need help.  Please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fabiano Moreno
[Ba'ku - Village - Year 2376]

Fabiano's pace was slow, even with the flashlight and tricorder. The path was very uneven and he needed to watch his step. Besides which, the Science officer's attention was drawn to the tricorder in his hands every few seconds.   He couldn't be for sure but it looked as if the reading on the mountain was coming down, while the one that had been climbing up stopped.  Was Rahul meeting some young woman for a tryst?

Normally that shouldn't concern Fabiano, but the readings he'd set for were familial markers on his Dad's side.  If that was Rahul's love interest...then the teen was making out with a half-sibling or cousin.  Fabiano wasn't sure if there were any social rules being broken, but the fact that the two were doing so miles outside the village hinted to the Lieutenant that two knew that what they were doing was inappropriate.

Fabiano continued on, hoping to meet up with the pair to discuss the dangers of inbreeding. As it was there was already a certain level of intermingling in the Ba'ku gene pool.   It wasn't as prevalent in the village as it could be given the longevity of the Ba'ku species but it was inevitable eventually.

One third of the way up.  Fabiano tracked his progress and checked on Rahul and the other. They had nearly met up, Fabiano looked to be about 20 minutes behind.

[Tess tLhoell]

Tamonar Skuyanhjin (74 years old)
[Ba'ku - outside Village - Year 2376]

Tamonar stopped in his tracks when he heard the painful scream of someone further down the hill. Turning his head he peered down the narrow path, but the darkness made it difficult for him to make out a person. His eyes weren't as good any more. While the Son'a had been desperate to stop aging, even going so far as to conduct bizarre and painful facial skin stretching and experimenting with biological engineering which had made the majority of them infertile, he felt the ailments his age entailed very clearly.

He had been on Ahdar Ru'afo's ship and been a part of the malicious plot to resettle the Ba'ku and gain advantage of the metaphasic radiation of the Ba'ku planet's rings, but that would have left the planet inhabitable. After the plan failed, Tamonar didn't know where to go so he decided to stay on Ba'ku. However, he was too ashamed to let his father and mother catch sight of him. He was determined to do take the first step eventually, but for now, he was not ready for that yet. So he decided to hide in the mountain forests.

Gasping, the rustling of leafs on the ground and painful grunts caught his further attention. He took a few steps toward the grey figure that was sitting under a tree now. The sound of a cracking twig beneath his foot made him falter, but the person had heard him.

Rahul Skuyanhjin (16 years old)
[Ba'ku - outside Village - Year 2378]

The pain was excruciating! He had never had anything be so painful in all his 16 yrs.  His ankle throbbed and Rahul knew he wouldn't be able to put any weight on it.  He attempted to crawl a few feet but that seemed just as jarringly painful.  He stopped and rested at the base of a tree.  Fighting back the tears of pain and frustration and fear, Rahul tried to look at his situation calmly to find a solution, but he was much too negative. He was stranded halfway up the mountain and no one even knew he was gone much less where he had gone.  The soonest someone might start looking for him was tomorrow morning and there was little reason for them to think he'd gone up the mountain. He could be up here for days!  Panic began to set in.

Feeling overwhelmed, Rahul tried calling out for help over and over.  But it was useless he realized, as his voice grew hoarse.  He was much too far to be heard by anyone at the village.  His breath was misting in the air.  It was getting cold up on the mountainside.  He huddled trying to keep warm.

Then unexpectedly he heard footsteps approaching from up the mountainside. Hope flared.  "Hello? Is someone there?  I'm hurt and need help.  Please."

The voice was young, maybe a teenager. What the hell was a kid doing here at night? He would have preferred to leave but he couldn't leave the boy now. Not when he was hurt.
Cautiosly, Tamonar stepped closer ... and closer, the weak light of the planet's rings illuminating his disfigured face.

"What happened?"