One Bell: [Written/Accidental Video] No Gallows Can Touch Me

[noprevaricating]

[Written in a shaky hand]

I don't know if anyone is really out there. I seem to be caught up in a tree. In my defence, the tree looks worse than I do. I think I am winning. However, it is very cold and windy up here, and I can't seem to make it down on my own. I've heard about safe falling, but the only guideline we have about falling in the

Comments

[voice]

[beaglenapper]

Oh they just love that, don't they. Dropping a man into a tree.

A Naval man, you say? How long you think you can cling on for, lad?

Re: [voice]

[noprevaricating]

Until my arms f-freeze off, sir. It's good to h-hear your voice, Mr...?

[beaglenapper]

Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, USS Enterprise, Serial Number SE 19754 T. Don't ask me the bloody stardate, because I lost track of that months ago.

Now, what's that fall lookin' like? Is there a sizable drift beneath the tree?

[noprevaricating]

[Pause, then the decision to ignore all the stuff he didn't understand in favor of getting out of this situation]

Thank you, Mr. Scott. It's about a twenty-foot d-drop, sir, by my reckoning. I c-can't tell how deep the snow is from up here.

[beaglenapper]

[Hang on while he does some quick calculations. Physics: it's not just for Starfleet anymore.] Right. Don't risk it, man. Is anyone coming for you?

[noprevaricating]

I c-can't be sure. The man I sp...spoke with must be a damned...[slight grunt as if he's trying to pull himself back up]...sadist. I'll have to shake his hand later.

[beaglenapper]

Look--I'm over at House 7. [There's the sound of someone rummaging for bagpipes.] I'm closing my journal up for the time being; but in a moment, I'll be on the porch playing the pipes. Keep an ear out, eh?

[And Scotty closes his journal. He'll open it again in a moment to find out if you can hear him from where you are, Archie; and, if so, if you can gauge what direction they were coming from.

Most Scottish Rescue Ever.]

[noprevaricating]

[After a moment, Archie hears bagpipes. They're not far. A few bars into the song, he starts laughing for no reason.]

[beaglenapper]

[What's so funny about Scots Wha Hae played in near-hurricane conditions? After going through a number of bars, Scott puts down the pipes and, swollen with Scottish pride and concern, picks up his journal again.]

Ya hear it, lad?

[noprevaricating]

[Archie can't stop laughing. He may sound just a little mad.]

I hear ye tae the northeast, loud an' clear. [He then switches from the affected antique brogue to his normal, high-class English accent.] One Scotsman to another, eh? My granny plays better.

[beaglenapper]

[Oh, no you don't, son.]

Well is yer gran fixin' to get you out of that situation with a ladder, laddie?

[Bloody English.]

[noprevaricating]

[More laughter. Mostly ironic. Archie is pretty sure this really is Purgatory and he's about to kick Dante in the teeth.]

No, no, don't mind me, Mr. Scott. [Giggle] Trust me, you're the best friend I have in the world right now. I feel warmer already!

[voice-->Action]

[beaglenapper]

[This guy is nuts. But, then again, Scotty understands what being exposed to the icy, snowy wilderness can do to a man.]

...Right. I'll be setting out to find you now. Listen for the pipes, eh? Give a shout if you hear me close by.

[He closes the journal and heads to the southwest through the snow, playing a rousing march as he goes.]

Action

[noprevaricating]

[It doesn't take long. Scotty has probably been traveling for all of five minutes before Archie, who was beginning to drowse off, hears the crunch of a footstep in the snow that is, amazingly, not drowned out by the sound of the pipes.]

Mr. Scott? [The words are a little slurred.]

Action

[beaglenapper]

[At the sound of his name, Scotty glances up; he switches from the march to a few bars of this before slinging the pipes back over his shoulder and appraising the situation.]

Well. You're in a state; think you can catch a rope, Mr...Don't even know yer name, lad.

Re: Action

[noprevaricating]

Kennedy. F-fourth l-lieutenant. And I'd better be able to, I suppose.