Dark Matters_ Cloak and Dagger (Book 1) - Christie Golden [58]
"Captain," said Ensign Campbell as Janeway entered the transporter room, "We've been having some erratic readings. I must tell you that I'm not at
all certain about the transporter's ability to get you there and back safely."
"Perhaps we should take a shuttlecraft," suggested Chakotay.
Janeway considered it, then shook her head, stepping forward to check the transporter console for herself. "We're still within safety margins, though just barely. The shuttlecraft's as unknown as the transporter at this point. The dark matter is expanding at an exponential rate, and I don't want to waste time by taking the shuttlecraft Find an open area near where the Shepherd activity was reported, Ensign. And keep us as far away from the shifting plates as you can. Let's take as few risks as possible."
Ensign Campbell looked unsure of herself and very young as she replied, "Aye, Captain."
Janeway patted her hand and gave her a smile. "I have every confidence in you, Lyssa."
She glanced around at her away team, making sure everyone had phasers at the ready. Everything that had once lived on the ghost planet might be dead now, but the appearance of a lone life-form and their own sensor readings indicated that the atmosphere was indeed, as Kim had reported, adequate. They might be the only ones breathing down there, but at least they'd be able to do so. For a while, at any rate.
"Brace yourselves," she told them. They knew what she meant
And yet, and yet, nothing could prepare her or her crew for the utter bleakness and horror of the sight that met their eyes once they materialized on the
ghost planet, in what had clearly been a large, open market square of some kind. Large paving stones had broken into jumbled shards from the activity, and here and there Janeway saw the enormous stone shapes of toppled statuary. None of the small buildings had survived intact, and even now, she imagined she could feel the unhappy planet rumbling beneath her feet, waiting to vent its rage at its impossible abduction with violent eruptions. The air was thin, but breathable. Barely. Kim had been right. They couldn't tarry here long.
She looked down with compassion at the bodies that were strewn everywhere. The heavyset, pale-purple-skinned humanoids who had moments ago been healthy, active beings lay where they had fallen. The deaths had obviously occurred instantaneously, literally from one step to the next. There was no sign of fear on the lumpy faces or in the postures of the corpses. Even those who were pinned beneath debris and rubble didn't appear to* have struggled to escape.
For that brief mercy, the mercy of not realizing what was happening, Janeway was grateful. She was not unfamiliar with the horrors of war and, even in this day and age, natural disaster. But that did not mean she had grown used to them. She hoped she never would. Slowly, respectfully, she knelt and pressed her fingers to the throat of one of the beings.
"The flesh is still warm," she said, sorrow tingeing her voice.
The Doctor had his tricorder out "It appears that
they suffered immediate total system failure. Everything just stopped."
"They literally fell dead in their tracks," said Paris softly. Out of the corner of her eye, Janeway saw him suppress a shudder and turn away a little too quickly.
"What killed them?" she asked the Doctor, rising.
"I wouldn't be able to say without a full autopsy. But there are no elevated levels of adrenaline. They didn't suffer at all, Captain."
She nodded her acknowledgment, took a deep breath, and stood up straighter. "Alive one second, dead the next... But there's no time to worry about the dead. I'm more interested hi finding that single life-form we detected on board-and finding