66.

Leo Bridges finds himself in a position with which he can take advantage of the situation he has landed himself in, with Simon's physical appearance confining him to the medical facility along with Jeff's disappearance; Leo is now next in command of the piloting group, and this too sees him take charge of navigation. He would also take Simon's place on the command team. In may seem inappropriate to take advantage of the dismay of others but things are what they are.

Navigation, however, and for the moment, would be something which would have to wait and take a back seat for what the crew of The Pathfinder would find would put everything else on the to do list. For everything the ship has gone through already, it is about to come across something requiring immediate attention. That something requiring the immediate attention so happens to be a rogue planet.

A rogue planet is one which has broken orbit and is free to make its own way through space and this planet appears to be a world capable of sustaining life despite the fact that it does not belong to any kind of regular gravitational pull. The obvious thing to do upon coming across this large travelling world would be to take advantage of what this planet has to offer. It would be a stupid decision to attempt making this planet a home with not knowing where the planet would be going or what its future would hold. Such future could only bring danger.

Being in charge of the piloting crew now gives Leo some eagerness of his own, he could decide to fly a shuttle craft to the planet or delegate that privilege to someone else. With his new command position it was an easy choice to make. Leo would be the one to fly the shuttle and he couldn't wait until the time comes to take a shuttle out.

Leo invites Chef Rory and Doctor Sylvia to join him as well as a couple of engineers. With what happened the last time she visited a planet, Maria did not fancy making the trip especially with it being to a planet to which it has already been determined would not be considered a possible new home for humanity.

On the way down to the rogue world Rory sits next to Leo who of course is piloting the shuttle. Sylvia sits towards the rear of the shuttle, with the two engineers sitting in front of and in between her and the other two.

'So, you have a thing for the doctor lady?' asks Rory keeping his voice down.

'Hey, hey watch it will ya?' speaks Leo turning his head toward Rory and trying to see if Sylvia had heard what Rory had just asked.

'So do you?' continues Rory, smiling knowing that already has got his answer.

'None of your business, unless you are interested that is.'

'Nope, I am just curious that's all.'

'Curiosity never hurt anyone, well apart from the cat that is.'

Both men smile. The journey would be a short one and it would not take long for Leo to find a good spot to land the shuttle. If anything, it took slightly longer than it should have with Leo indulging a little with having himself an off-ship mission.

The darkened, wayward world brought with it strong winds. The mass of forestry provided some shelter and after a bit of searching, it would be discovered that this rogue planet has brought a wealth of wildlife along for the ride on its journey. The first of such wildlife the team came across was an animal with a strong resemblance to that of a wild boar, and in an attempt to catch this beast Rory and Leo would move forwards towards each other at the same time and clonk heads, something Sylvia would find very amusing indeed.

The team would be lucky enough to capture three such animals as well as gathering a wide range of fruit and vegetation which may or may not be indigenous to this planet or at least the region to which the team had come too, all of which would be deemed safe for consumption.

All is well and good, for a change. Things are going great, and the team are actually having fun and enjoying their somewhat surreal experience, being on a planet which was an is not Earth and one which has its own private journey but as in good keeping with Pathfinder tradition, something sooner or later would go awry.

Sylvia stands in a heavily wooded area not all that far from where the rest of the team had gathered. Checking out her surroundings she was sure she could hear a single word being spoken with an audible whisper close to her position. This whisper was too close to be any of the other members of the mission team saying anything.

There would be and was nothing frightening about this moment, even when Sylvia would hear this whisper speak just one word for a second time. Feeling quite calm, curiosity would get the better of Sylvia and this moment is one she wants to investigate a little further before heading back towards the shuttle.

She couldn't make out what that single word whisper had said, even with it having seemingly repeated itself. There had been nothing about it which could have helped her in her efforts to decide as to where exactly it could have possibly been coming from. Strangely enough it did seem to have been all around her rather than having been in one particular spot.

'Hey Sylvia, how are you getting on over there? We are going to take what we have gathered back to the shuttle, and we'll be heading back to the ship soon' Leo calls.

'Yeah, sure just give me a minute.'

Having been looking towards Leo, Sylvia would turn quickly upon hearing the whisper repeating its one word once more.

'Hey, did anyone else just hear that?' asks Sylvia loud enough to be heard by the others.

'Hear what?' asks Leo.

'Never mind, I will be over with you guys in a little bit.'

'No bothers, take your time.'

The whisper at this point still does not frighten Sylvia in any way, if anything, it intrigues her all the more. It would not take long however for that single whisper to develop into a multitude of whispers, whispers which would quickly surround her, whispers speaking more than one word and speaking in more than one voice. Still, what was happening brought no fear.

Having spun around quite quickly to see if she could catch even a glimpse of what could possibly be making the whispers, Sylvia began to feel quite dizzy. Moving around a fair bit and constantly changing direction would not aid her in any way. Pretty soon she loses her balance all together and this leads her to fall down or rather slide down a twenty-foot mud hill and she screams all the way down. Leo hears Sylvia's screams and makes his way off in her general direction as quickly as he could.

Leo climbs down a clearing to find Sylvia unconscious with a rather nasty looking laceration on her left arm. He attempts to stop the bleeding before picking her up and managing as best he can to get her out of the clearing in which she had slid down into then he continues not to waste any time for it would be onwards heading right back towards the shuttle.

'What happened?' asks Rory.

'I don't know, she must have lost her balance or something, but we should get her back to The Pathfinder.'

Rory makes sure that Sylvia is secured while Leo gets the shuttle ready for take-off.

***

Sylvia wakes in a place she does not recognize. She so happens to be lying on a bed with an older woman standing over her. This older lady places a small cold damp towel on Sylvia's forehead. Unlike with the whispering, this waking moment did startle Sylvia. It somehow felt natural ... comforting.

'There, there now young lady, there is nothing to be frightened of ... you are among friends here' speaks this older lady.

'Where am I?' asks Sylvia.

'That is not important right now, what is important though is that you get some rest, you took a nasty knock to your head and to your arm too, not to worry though, you'll be well looked after here.'

'My arm? I need to get back to the shuttle.'

'You aren't going anywhere just yet young lady, not until you improve accordingly. The shuttle you speak of can wait. It will not go anywhere without you; I assure you that.'

'I'm a doctor ... I can ...'

'Don't worry dear, we will look after you.'

The older lady has such a pleasant tone and look about her that it soon put Sylvia's mind at ease and this in turn distracts her somewhat from her everyday life aboard The Pathfinder. She can feel it, a strange sense of serenity, a strange sense of safety. Sylvia knows she is in good care, and she knows she had nothing to fear for the moment at least. What is this though? Some sort of trick? For now, it doesn't matter, and it isn't long before Sylvia is out cold once more.