Part 1
Personal log, stardate 3026.4: The Enterprise is orbiting a planet in the Omicron Delta region. The crew is exhausted, so the captain has authorized landing parties for anyone who wants or needs shore leave. Right now that probably includes just about everyone. After all, we’ve been on the go for the last three months or so.
He’s authorized shore leave for any and all personnel. But he’s added a rather strange condition. We need to closely monitor our thoughts and imaginations while we’re down on the planet so they don’t run away with us. I have no idea what that’s supposed to mean.
I’m still trying to get over the transfer of my best friend Leiani to Star Fleet Command. She took a rather prestigious promotion nine months ago. I’m still a little bitter she left me.
I’ve been feeling sorry for myself lately. I’ve tried to make sure my work hasn’t suffered for it. But I wasn’t really planning on taking any shore leave, although God knows I probably need it just as much as the next person.
My section chief has told me in no uncertain terms that I’d better make sure I’m among one of the last of the landing parties before we leave orbit. Otherwise, she plans on hauling my ass down to see Dr. McCoy. From there, she plans on making sure he personally escorts me down to the planet himself, even if that means strapping me down to a grav-bed and leaving me on the surface so I can just look up at the sky during my stay.
Candice can be quite persuasive. So I told her I would be beaming down. I’d rather not be humiliated by her or Dr. McCoy. And I don’t want to be transferred off the ship for insubordination…
—–
Yeoman Donna Dangling scurried into transporter room three just in time to catch the very last landing party. Transporter chief Kyle gave her a dirty look as she came in. He appeared to be annoyed at her tardiness.
“Glad you could join us, yeoman,” he said curtly. She figured she’d earned a black mark. Hopefully Candice would not put it on her record.
She blushed as she took in the 6 crewmembers waiting patiently for her on the platform. Chief petty officer Baker stood there scowling at her in his red uniform. He was no doubt responsible for the landing party.
Standing behind him in their blue and gold uniforms were two young couples. No doubt they were going down to spend some quality alone-time together. But she was pleasantly surprised when she saw who the sixth person was.
The young woman was wearing a familiar red Starfleet dress that stopped well short of her knees. She stood next to the chief petty officer. A smile crossed her face upon seeing who was about to join them.
Donna felt a wave of relief wash through her. Yeoman Janice Rand was the only other person she’d really developed any kind of a friendship with over the last few months. That was mostly because of her own shy, sensitive nature and the way she’d withdrawn into herself after the transfer of her best friend and lover.
Rand had noticed how sad she’d become when Leiani had beamed off the ship. So she’d taken it upon herself to befriend the young yeoman. Janice had worked slowly and patiently with her, but her efforts had been rewarded in helping Donna emerge out of her shell.
Over the months their friendship had blossomed. Perhaps it was because the two were so close to each other in age. Donna didn’t feel as close to her as she had to Leiani. Still, it was a welcome relationship… although for the time being she’d wisely chosen not to share certain of her “interests” to the young woman.
Donna was all but certain Janice would not be nearly as accepting of them as Leiani had been. Besides, almost everyone knew yeoman Rand had a major crush on the captain. That was always more than enough to keep the pretty young thing distracted during her off hours.
Whatever the reason, Donna had simply deemed it unwise to go into any details of her “gasping fetish” with her new-found friend out of fear of damaging their friendship.
“Donna!” the yeoman piped up cheerfully upon seeing her hurry into the transporter room. Then she motioned her over.
“You just made it, girl! Glad you’re tagging along with us on this one.”
“Good to see you too, Janice,” Donna replied with a smile as she walked toward the platform.
She decided not to tell the yeoman that her presence on this particular landing party was not altogether voluntary due to the persuasiveness of her section chief. Donna simply figured it was best not to spoil any plans her friend might have made by mentioning how she was being forced to beam down.
“I thought you would’ve beamed down by now,” Donna told her. She felt much better having someone she knew and was comfortable with beaming down with them.
“Paperwork,” Rand sighed as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. “I was given permission to set the last of it aside so I could make this final group. And I just made it!”
She motioned for her friend to come stand next to her. “C’mere, girl,” she said eagerly, struggling to contain her enthusiasm. “I hear you don’t wanna miss this one.”
“Oh? Why’s that?” Donna asked, careful to stand next to Janice while keeping her distance from a clearly annoyed chief petty officer.
“Didn’t you get the memo?” Janice told her conspiratorially. “We’re supposed to be careful what we think about down on the planet, remember? We have to watch so our imagination doesn’t run too wild.”
“Didn’t pay much attention to it I guess,” Donna admitted, looking at the floor of the transporter chamber with embarrassment as she caught sight of Baker giving her a lingering look of irritation.
“Well I sure did!” the yeoman half-whispered excitedly. “I went to see Dr. McCoy about it because I heard he’d beamed down with the original landing party. He told me plenty… well, enough for me to decide what I’m planning anyway!” Donna thought she saw the yeoman blush a little as the young woman lowered her head.
“I kinda got something special all planned out,” Janice finished in a hushed whisper. “…that is, if it all works out and everything.” Then she looked at Donna curiously. “So what about you? Got anything special in mind?”
There was no point telling her friend she was there under duress. Besides, it sounded like yeoman Rand had exciting plans. She didn’t want to interfere in anything she’d set up.
“Not really,” Donna replied, trying not to sound too unenthusiastic. “I think I’m just gonna wing it on this one.”
She risked a quick glance at the two couples on the platform with her. She could tell by their expressions they had something romantic in mind. She gave them a smile which was nicely returned.
She figured the chief petty officer probably had something in mind as well. Part of his responsibility included making sure they all got rounded up when it was time to beam back up. As for her? Donna had absolutely no clue what she was going to do once they reached the planet.
She noticed that no one seemed to be taking any provisions down with them. As she recalled there was not supposed to be any kind of problem with things like that down on the planet. Once again, it was something about that “imagination thing” she’d heard so much about.
All anyone seemed to have with them were their standard issue communicators. Baker naturally had a phaser attached to his belt. She was the only one with a tricorder.
As she checked it one last time, yeoman Rand scowled at her. Then she shook her head good-naturedly. “It’s always something with you, isn’t it?” she whispered. “You shoulda left that thing back in your room. This is not the time to be studying something.”
“You never know,” Donna whispered back. Janice just rolled her eyes at her. Then the yeoman shook her head before breaking down and giving Donna a nice, warm smile.
“I think we’re ready to beam down now, Mr. Kyle,” Donna heard Baker state to the transporter chief. She caught him glancing in her direction one last time. She looked down at her boots and fidgeted, hoping she hadn’t made the landing party too late for beam-down.
“You’re gonna love this!” Janice whispered to her, grabbing her arm and giving it an encouraging squeeze. “I just know you are!” Donna smiled back at her, trying to appear more excited than she felt.
“Have a good time, folks,” she heard Kyle tell them. Now the transporter chief was all smiles as he began activating the controls.
“Energize,” Baker responded authoritatively. A moment later seven crewmembers of the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 shimmered out of existence off the platform…
They all materialized in a small, grassy clearing surrounded by a line of trees. The chief petty officer got their attention for some last minute instructions. He told them there were other landing parties on the planet. So he’d requested a location such that the likelihood of running into a fellow crewmember from another landing party should be fairly remote.
He also reminded them that on this planet their thoughts had the habit of becoming reality. So everyone had to pay close attention to the types of fantasies they harbored over the next several hours.
He instructed them all to meet back here at the clearing in six hours before wishing them all a good time. Unfortunately they were part of the very last landing party. That meant they had less time to spend on the planet.
Donna had known that ahead of time. In fact, she had deliberately planned to catch this last landing party. That way she would be able to limit her time on the surface, as she had no idea what she was going to do with herself.
The two couples and the chief petty officer turned and headed off in different directions. She saw Janice looking at her closely. It made her a bit uncomfortable.
Janice was pretty good at reading her. She found herself awkwardly looking around the clearing. For a moment she felt totally lost, unsure of what to do next.
Yeoman Rand deliberately cleared her throat to get her attention. When she turned back toward her, she saw Janice eyeing her suspiciously. “You don’t have anything in mind at all… do you, Donna!”
Donna gulped as she blushed. The young yeoman had seen right through her. How was she supposed to answer her?
At that moment she saw it in her friend’s eyes. Janice was mentally changing her plans right in front of her. She saw a flash of disappointment in the yeoman’s features and it made her swallow uncomfortably.
A moment later Janice was back to her cheerful self as though content to make the best of it. “Tell you what, Donna,” the young woman said with a smile. “Why don’t we do something together, ok? Let’s you and I go for a walk, all right? It’ll be fun!”
She reached out to take the yeoman’s arm. “Uh – NO!” Donna blurted out, almost startling her with her response as she pulled away. “I know you’ve got plans and, uh… well…”
“I can change my plans if I want to.”
Donna quickly waved her off as she fumbled for her tricorder. “No-no-no! I, uh… I was gonna go, uh…”
She checked her readings. Then she pointed forcefully. “That way! That looks interesting!”
“You’re making that up!” Janice challenged, hands on her hips.
“No, REALLY!” Donna blurted out, trying to sound convincing. “I got plans, Janice… REALLY I do! I, uh… I gotta go now and I, uh…”
“I don’t believe you.”
“No-no-no! You just go right on, Janice!” Donna said it firmly, trying to push her off in another direction.
“You’ve got something special planned and everything and, uh… and I’m not going to get in the way of that. Besides, uh… this looks REALLY interesting and, uh…”
Damn! She could see her friend wasn’t buying it at all…
“Now Donna…” Janice started to say, preparing to scold her friend.
“You go and have a good time, Janice. I’ll be all right.”
“Donna??”
“Sorry – can’t stay and talk now.”
She made it a point of studying her tricorder. Then she settled on a direction. Anywhere other than where she was standing would work just fine.
“Donna, you can’t fool me…”
“I gotta go now, Janice. But thanks for asking. You’re a dear!”
“DONNA?!”
“See you in six hours, Janice!”
Donna set out for the trees at one end of the clearing. She made it a point not to look back in the hopes she’d been convincing enough. She prayed Janice would not follow after her as she wanted her to enjoy the plans she had made.
Janice Rand shook her head as she watched her friend pass through a set of trees. Then she disappeared down some sort of embankment. She couldn’t help chuckling to herself.
“She’ll be just fine,” she said quietly with a knowing smile, “…once she figures out how this place works. If this planet is anything like what I’ve been told, she’s going to have a great time.”
The yeoman turned and headed off in the opposite direction. She had a fantasy of her own she wanted to explore. And for the next six hours or so, she was hoping to turn it into something of a reality…
—
Yeoman Donna Dangling walked for a good ten minutes until she was sure her well-meaning friend hadn’t followed her. Then she stopped, pulled out her tricorder and did a 360 degree scan again. What caught her attention was the indication of some sort of watering hole about a kilometer or two down the trail she’d been following.
There was no indication of life anywhere around that little body of water. But it appeared to be deep enough. She found herself considering the possibility of going for a nice, refreshing swim in the nude. At least that way she would have something to report back to Candice, especially on the off-chance she might be grilled about her time down on the planet.
She tucked the tricorder back into its pouch. Then she started off again. The walk would do her good; her boots were more than capable of handling the terrain. Perhaps she might find a way to enjoy herself after all…
—
The path led her through a continuous set of trees that ran along the base of a set of cliffs. The path wandered drunkenly, yet steadily, in the direction of the watering hole. Soon she was looking forward to taking a swim in the buff. The temperature was such that a refreshing dip was sounding more and more promising.
Donna was nearing the watering hole when the path led her briefly uphill. She emerged through the edge of some trees into what appeared to be a small arena-like clearing with a dirt floor. To her right was a layer of brush and shrubs that lay in something of a semi-circle between her and the water that awaited down the hill. But it was what lay to her left that really held her gaze.
A big tree stood a few meters in front of the cliff wall, almost as though it was the center of attention. Branches came out from everywhere. What Donna instantly noticed was the way the two lower ones came out toward her in a wide V-shape. They were over three meters off the ground, just perfect for…
Donna covered her mouth in surprise. She stared in shock as a chill went down her spine despite the warmth of the air around her. A moment later she felt her crotch moisten as her hands began to tremble.
Gawd! The damn thing was perfect for a hanging…
“I need a swim!” Donna said aloud, desperately trying to break the hypnotic trance the tree seemed to be having on her. A moment later she found a small path that led through the brush down to the watering hole…
2008; 2021 (written for Donna May 9 ’08; ed. Oct 18 ’21 by riwa)