Caretaker - L. A. Graf [56]
Sensing a chance for reprieve, Neelix pointed a trembling finger at Janeway. "Their ship has technology that can make water out of thin air!" Which was better than trying to explain the transporter, so Janeway let him have that slight untruth.
Jabin shoved aside two of his people to stalk closer to the captive landing party. He looked like a stick, almost thin enough to snap, and smelled like rotten sweat and salty oil.
Janeway found herself hoping fervently that Kim and Torres hadn't been locked up with these people--she'd almost rather they were dead.
Without being told, Paris unhooked his canteen and tossed it to Jabin.
Jabin did no more than sniff it before letting the others tear it away.
Janeway never saw a drop of the water escape anyone's lips. They sucked straight from the mouth of the can, or from each other, scrabbling and shouting like dogs over a bone. Now Jabin met Janeway's eyes steadily and pointed at the canteen hanging from her own belt.
"You have more?" More than the few mouthfuls any of us happen to carry. Enough to start a full-scale riot, in fact, from the look of things. Tapping her comm badge, she hoped they had guessed rightly about how to present themselves to these Kazon. "Janeway to Voyager.
Energize."
The vats sparkled into existence back where the landing party had first set down, Startlingly, she could smell the cool freshness of water on the parched air, and the crowd surrounding them gave a cry of desperate hope. They broke apart into a stream of individuals, flowing around and away from Janeway's people with a readiness that lifted the tension from her heart. Splashes and glad ululations drew even more natives out of their huts, and Janeway watched them converge on their simple abundance for a moment before turning back to Jabin. "There's more where that came from, if you can help us."
He pulled his eyes away from the sight of so much water with obvious effort. Anger and fear mixed on his face in that peculiar combination Janeway had learned to recognize in men who fear for their status when confronted with a threat they suspect is their better. "How can we help someone so powerful they can create water out of thin air?"
Maybe Neelix's lie hadn't been so harmless after all. "This man--" She pointed to where Neelix now huddled fearfully close to Tuvok's elbow.
"--led us here suggesting we might find a people called the Ocampa. Do you know where they are?"
Jabin made a face, as though she'd asked him to chew his own feces.
"Ocampa?" Turning, he jerked his chin back toward the sorry hovels, where a small crowd of young and injured Kazon were making their slower way forward. "She is Ocampa." And Janeway's eyes caught on a single pale, ghostly figure standing at the back of the gathering.
The girl was fragile and small, and her sun-spun hair still floated in the dry air despite the dirt streaking it with brassy gold. Her eyes were large, her skin as smooth and fine as eggshell, but the angry welts of color on her face and arms weren't all from sunburn. Janeway felt a fist of anger push against her chest, and fought it down with effort. But she prayed all over again that Kim and Torres hadn't been found by these creatures who thought so little of savaging such a thing of innocent beauty.
As if to secure her poor opinion of his band, Jabin spat in the Ocampa's general direction and waved at her as though to banish her from his sight. "Why would you be interested in these worthless creatures? They only live nine years. And they make poor servants.
We caught this one when she wandered to the surface."
"The surface?" Janeway glanced away from the Ocampa girl--who, despite Jabin's dismissal, crept silently closer as the Kazon pack moved, her eyes playing across the landing party as though expecting them to transform into something more recognizable.
"You mean they live underground."
Jabin grunted and shook a fist at the white fire scarring the sky as the Array's pulses burned past. "The entity in space that