Harry examined the rock slide minutely. He wiped blood out of his eyes impatiently, and brushed his hair back again, wincing s it pulled the newly developing scab off the cut over his eye. Again.

If he had a phaser, this would be easy. Unfortunately, it looked as though this rock slide was the only thing holding half the mountain up. He was pretty sure Tom wouldn't like it if he dropped that boulder on them. Assuming Tom was still alive.

Tom was still alive. He had to be. Harry thought about trying to dig just a little hole through the wall, but decided reluctantly that it would be too dangerous.

They couldn't be too far beneath the surface. He didn't see light shining through from anywhere, but it wasn't completely dark, either. He directed his wrist light toward the ceiling again, but still saw nothing. The light must me coming in from farther up somewhere. And hopefully air.

Harry sighed, and, leaving his light on this time, tried once again to climb the slippery wall opposite the slide. Dust and pebbled showered the floor below him and made footing treacherous as he scrambled upwards as high as he could go.

He braced himself with one foot on each wall, leaving his hands free. Sheer rock continued upward to his right. No handholds; it looked artificial. Probably reinforced from the other side, too, which would explain why it was still standing. Damnit. Not that he should be complaining, since it was probably he only thing that had kept him alive. Him and Tom. And maybe Michaels and-- but don't worry about that. Worry about getting yourself out of here. If you can do that, you can probably get Tom out of here, too. Assuming he's not dead. Then worry about the others. Tom first.

Stop that. Stop thinking about Tom. It's distracting. This is not a good time to be distracted.

To his left the rock slide continued as far upward as he could see. He could try climbing it, but there was that damned boulder perched precariously on the edge. If he dislodged it, it might roll down to cause more damage. Bring the whole system down on top of him. He probably would have done it anyway, except that he couldn't be sure it wouldn't roll over to Tom's side of the wall when it fell.

He let a frustrated growl escape him, then throttled the feeling and slithered back toward the ground. Such as it was.

Harry kicked a spot free of debris and sat down. He leaned his head on his hand without thinking, the jerked away and heaved a huge sigh as the cut on his forehead started bleeding again.

He hated situations like this. There was nothing he could do but WAIT, and hope nothing happened to the rest of the away team that he could have prevented if he could just have gotten out of this damned hole in the ground. He wasn't even injured!

He took a deep breath, trying to employ some of the meditation techniques he'd learned from Tuvok. If he ever got out of here, maybe he could help the rescue team from Voyager. They'd have seen the caverns collapse and beamed down immediately. It had to have been several hours, at least. Or maybe not. It was hard to tell.

Harry reached out a hand, touching the rock wall between himself and Tom. He hoped desperately that Tom was all right. That everyone was okay, though he was ashamed to admit this was because of how it would affect Tom, rather than concern for their welfare. Not that he wasn't concerned, just that it was distant, compared to what he felt for Tom. He wouldn't allow that to affect his judgement, of course. But still. There it was.

He took another deep breath, and prayed to whatever gods that might be listening to just let Tom be okay. That was really all he wanted. end