Caretaker - L. A. Graf [70]
"Understood."
She'd have to ask him later what that was all about. "We're a few minutes behind you. Janeway out."
But the last thing she heard before reaching up to tap off her comm badge was Paris's shout of breathless relief. "I see them!"
* Paris hadn't expected them to look so awful. Tumorous growths peppered their arms and necks, and Kim's normally golden skin had faded to the color of dried paper. Paris touched the back of his hand to the young ensign's face, and forced a wan smile when Kim's eyes fluttered open to find him in the darkness.
"It took you long enough..." Kim whispered hoarsely.
Paris flicked an embarrassed glance at the glowering female who crouched on the stairs above Kim. "How could I let down the only friend I've got?" Much as he squirmed at having Kes and Neelix nearby to overhear, he somehow resented this woman's jealous attention even more. Noting her fiery eyes and heavy brow ridge, he recognized the strong influence of a Klingon heritage in her features, and realized that she must be Chakotay's missing Maquis crew member.
"Friend?" Unaware of Paris's silent exchange with the darkly hostile woman, Kim struggled to sit up, and grabbed at Paris's arm for support as he swayed. "What makes you think I'm your friend?"
Because I'm here, aren't I? He directed the thought at Kim's skeptical companion as much as at the ensign. Clapping his comm badge, he reported, "Paris to Janeway. We found them, Captain."
"Good work." She sounded closer, but Paris thought that might be his imagination. "Don't wait for us. Get them to safety."
It was always easy to obey commands that asked you to do what you already wanted to. Stooping to fit Kim's arm around his shoulders, Paris straightened carefully and nodded Neelix and Kes to help Kim's friend as they passed her. "Come on," he grunted, ignoring the pain of half-crouching to accommodate Kim's smaller height. "We've gotta get out of here."
Kim nodded and clenched his teeth and fists as he struggled to climb the stairs alongside Paris. "Hey, Maquis..." He grinned down at the woman as they stepped beyond her, and Paris thought he detected a certain wary affection in Kim's dark eyes. "My side's here. Now you're in big trouble."
She grunted--an almost-smile--and Paris wondered if she knew she was pretty, or if she even cared.
"This way." Kes trotted up the stairs on Paris's heels, leaving Neelix with the Maquis so she could point out a side passage before they'd climbed too far beyond it. "I know where we can get through the barrier."
Paris pressed back against the shaft wall to let Kes squeeze past. She ducked around him like a wraith, then disappeared from sight into the mouth of a tunnel both taller and wider than the narrow shaft they now climbed. Paris realized that she carried the only flashlight--taken from Kim's Maquis, no doubt--when the light flicked down to nearly nothing upon her departure. Hefting Kim more securely across his shoulder, he followed her into the rough side corridor.
The barrier filled the end of the passage like a spider's web spun from light. Paris squinted against the brightness of its coruscating play, and wished there were something he could do to muffle his hearing. It had been a long time since such a tooth-splitting whine had assaulted him at such a volume. He eased Kim to the ground near a spot in the web that had unraveled away from the floor, leaving a disconcerting rend in the barrier that looked more like a black hole than an escape route.
"Whatever you do," Kes warned him, going down to her own knees beside the breach, "don't touch it! We've been told it'll burn your skin off."
Judging from the security barriers he had seen in New Zealand--which didn't crackle with a tenth the energy this one did--Paris could well believe it.
"You crawled through a hole that small?" Neelix stumbled in with the Maquis woman clinging to his arm. Paris couldn't tell what bothered the little alien more--the