Savant burst through the tent flap and the rest of the men followed, carrying the Captain. He was covered with blood and appeared to be half dead.

"What happened?" Wendy asked, springing into action. She grabbed the first aid kit and began dressing Edwards's wounds, and discovered a few cuts that would need stitching. Riggs, the blanket wrapped haphazardly around his bare shoulders, came to stand beside Savant.

"Where are the twins?" he asked when he noticed they had not come in.

"The cannibals got them," Savant said, and he saw a tear welling up in her eye. Savant never cried, and Riggs was shocked at the idea that she might do so now. Then her words sank in.

"Cannibals? What cannibals?" he demanded.

"About fifty people who live in the jungle. They must have been left behind, forced to fend for themselves," she explained.

"There was nothing we could do. They were everywhere, and they were--roasting Nathan alive. The Captain saw us and ran for his life. They threw a spear and it hit him in the back. You'd better try to dress that wound as soon as possible, Wendy."

Wendy nodded. Ensign James stepped forward to help roll Captain Edwards onto his stomach. His entire back was covered with blood. She cut off his shirt to get to the wound, and when she saw it she wasn't sure she would be able to stop the bleeding.

"I'll need some help, here," she said as calmly as she could. The Captain sobbed, knowing it was bad because she was too calm.

"Don't let me die," he whispered. "I don't want to die."

"I'm not going to let you die, sir, " Wendy assured him. "I'll get this wound dressed even if it kills me. Riggs, would you please get me the injection of narnocaine? And Banks, I'll need you to radio the shuttle and let Ensign Niamura know what has happened here. We'll have to cut the mission short."

"No!" Edwards insisted. "Leave me here if you must, but continue on. It's vital that we acquire an oxygen generation unit from this vessel or we will never reach Omega 17."

"What?!" gasped the other six people in unison.

OGU! Oxygen Generation Unit. Why hadn't Wendy recognized that before? The Captain had even mentioned it while they were in the Command Center.

"I had hoped to acquire the unit without alarming the rest of you," he explained through clenched teeth, forcing out each word with a sheer effort of will. "Our ship was hit by an asteroid, and our unit sustained some damage. That's why I was looking for vessels in this quadrant in the first place. You've got to--repair the Reliant."

"But what about those cannibals?" Post protested. "They know we're here. They'll be looking for our camp. How can we possibly get past them? Do you expect us to survive if we go traipsing around in this jungle?"

"As soon as the Captain is patched up, we'll have to break camp," Lieutenant Riggs said. "We don't have many choices here. Banks, get ahold of Niamura and tell him to come in and get the Captain at these coordinates. Wendy, my love, I hate to rush you, but it looks like you'd better hurry up and sew."

"I'm sewing as fast as I can," she told him as she carefully made another stitch.

"Hey Riggs, I can't seem to raise Niamura," Sergeant Banks said worriedly. "What are we going to do if they managed to get inside the shuttle?"

"I doubt they'd be able to do that. Why don't you try again?" Riggs said, pulling his fingers through his hair. Getting inside the shuttle wouldn't be hard even for a three year old, and everybody knew it.

"I've hailed him about twenty times already, sir, and there's still no response." Banks flipped the communicator back and forth between his hands.

"We couldn't reach him earlier, either, sir," Private Post mentioned.

"Well, there's no time for Dan to send another shuttle. We're just going to have to ride this one out," said Riggs. "Savant, call Dan up and tell him what's happening, and everybody else start packing. It's time to move out."

"But what are we going to do about him, sir?" Post demanded to know.

"Well, we can't just leave him here," said Wendy as she finished the last stitch. "Those cannibals would get him for sure."

"Wendy, look at him," Savant said. "He's not yelling because he's not even conscious. How can we possibly bring him with us? He might get us all killed."

"Either he's coming or I'm staying here with him," Wendy insisted. "It wouldn't be right to just leave him. How could we ever live with ourselves knowing we'd condemned him to be eaten by a pack of wild men?"

"We probably won't live with ourselves either way," said Post. "What difference does it make?"

"Oh, nice," Segal snapped. "This is just what I signed up for."

"I'll help him," said Riggs quickly. He wasn't about to leave Wendy behind.

"I'll help, too," offered Ensign James, and Riggs patted him on the back.

"Good man," he said. "Now people, we'll need to pack up the gear. Let's hustle."

The men packed the tent away as quickly as they could while Wendy and Savant finished dressing the Captain's minor wounds. Wendy paused to stretch a kink out of her neck. The tension in the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife, she thought.

"The Captain is awake now," Wendy told Riggs when he had finished wrapping the last tent into a tight bundle and helping Ensign Segal strap it on. Riggs glanced at a bloody smudge on Wendy's face, and wiped it off with the tip of his finger, smiling at her.

"Well, Captain, it looks like you'll be coming with us after all," Riggs told him.

"Don't be foolish, Lieutenant," Edwards fussed. "I can't possibly make it in this condition. I'll only slow the rest of you down, and speed is essential if you want to put some distance between you and those marauding forest freaks. You have to leave me here." "There's just one small problem with that, sir. Your nurse won't let us. If it will make you happy, we'll try one last time to raise the shuttle," Riggs said without much hope of succeeding. "But if Niamura doesn't answer this time, you're just going to have to stand up and take it like a man. No one else is allowed to die on this mission. Is that clear, sir?"

"Yes, sir, Lieutenant, sir," Edwards smiled grimly. "Remind me to put you in for a promotion if we ever get out of this thing alive. You're too bossy for your current rank."

"I'll do that, Captain," Riggs assured him. "Let's move it out, people!"

"Sir, there's still no contact with Ensign Niamura," Private Post reported. "I hailed him about fifty times. Either he's deaf or he's dead."

"Sounds like your cue," Riggs said to Edwards.

Edwards's face became rigid with determination, and he pushed Riggs away from him and did his best to stand up and walk on his own. He swayed and hobbled mightily, but he managed to stay on his feet. Riggs let him walk that way, but he made sure to stay close by in case the Captain fell over.

They made their way into the dense foliage. Strange animal sounds surrounded them, some which they could almost place, and others which seemed completely alien in nature. They kept their eyes open, ready for anything--and expecting it at any time.

The jungle was so dense in places that Savant had to use her pistol to laser a path for them. Each time she did so, she became more nervous. Nothing like leaving an obvious trail for the cannibals to follow.

"Riggs, if those cannibals look like they're about to take me, I want you to shoot me. I'm not going to end up frying alive the way Nathan did," she said.

"You can count on it," he assured her.

"Count me in, too," said Ensign James. "You're lucky you weren't there to see it."

"Look, there's some kind of lake up ahead," said Post. "Maybe we can stop and rest here for a while."

"I don't know..." Riggs began.

"Hey, look! It's some kind of building! It must be a shelter," Wendy shouted. "Maybe we can sleep in there for a while. It feels like we've been walking for over a day."

"That's probably because we have," Savant told her.

Riggs sighed. "All right, but not for long. We have no idea where those cannibals are, and this might be some kind of trap."

"Well, if it is a trap, at least we'll die rested," said Post, suppressing a yawn.

After gathering some water from the lake, they went inside the small metal dwelling and locked the door.