Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [14]
Tasm tapped into the communicator. “I’m ordering Anx back. We’ll try a long-range test this time. Keep the magnetomotive on full standby.”
Her underling acknowledged, pride in his voice. They should be proud of themselves, Kirk thought. They now possessed a weapon of unbelievable strength.
Kirk was determined to make this work for him. The gateway offered him the chance to cross those troublesome forty thousand light-years in an instant. But he couldn’t allow the Petraw to keep the gateway. The responsibility would be his if they used the gateway to harm others.
Tasm went to the base of the magnetomotive, disappearing from view. Kirk carefully withdrew to the back of the scaffolding, where he could no longer see the guard.
Luz seemed goaded to dreams of glory. “How are we going to get everyone out of here?” she whispered.
“We’ll have to create a diversion.” Kirk reached into the top of his boot to retrieve his broken communicator. The sarium krellide power cell was too small to cause much damage if he made it overload. But there must be something he could do in a neighboring chamber that would draw Tasm out. It would have to last long enough for the gateway to read his mind and cut through the light-years between him and home
Luz tried to snatch the communicator from his hand. “What are you doing?”
Kirk managed to hang on to it, but the broken cover flew off the hinge, arching down and falling sixty meters. Both of them drew back as far as they could before it hit bottom, uselessly trying to hide in the shadows.
“Now who’s the idiot?” Kirk shot at Luz.
“You were going to sabotage the gateway”
“You’ve just proven my point.”
Gritting his teeth, Kirk hoped the cover wouldn’t make too much noise on the rock floor. But it bounced erratically, hitting corners and edges, before spinning slowly into a stop. The movement caught the defender’s attention. He instantly alerted the other Petraw in the room with a loud shout.
Kirk wanted to push Luz off the scaffolding. Only someone who thought they were smarter than everyone else could do something so lame-brained.
He tried a strategic retreat as the defender went to inspect what had fallen. He made it to the next scaffolding tower while Luz was still inching over the catwalk, but it didn’t take long for the defender to light up the entire tower and detect them both. Kirk couldn’t see any way to escape with Petraw climbing up the scaffolding on either side of him. With visions of the chasm dancing before his eyes, he slowly climbed down to the floor.
Luz was dragged from the scaffolding as well, and in the shrieking melee she caused trying to break free, Kirk made a dash for the arch. All he could think about was the misty terrace next to the commandant’s office at Starfleet Academy, overlooking the glorious arch of the antiquated Golden Gate Bridge. He could almost taste the salty ocean air, he wanted it so badly.
But Tasm stepped between him and the archway, stopping him short by pointing his own phaser at him. One look in her eyes and he could see Tasm even through her dissolved face. “Don’t move, Kirk, or I’ll put you away for good.”
Chapter 4
Kirk froze. “You’d use my own phaser on me, Tasm?”
She was as coldhearted as Kirk always believed. “Yes.”
Kirk kept his hands out. “It’s set to kill.”
“I know.”
She didn’t flinch, and he didn’t doubt she would fire if he made a threatening move. He did nod toward the distinctive blue cylinder that was mounted on a large computer unit. It was sitting next to the magnetomotive. “The gateway doesn’t belong to you.”
“Now it does. I earned it.”
Kirk couldn’t see anything left of the woman he had kissed in the Kalandan station. Her unformed features were softened and flattened like the other Petraw. Except for her eyes, fierce with Tasm determination.
The big Petraw defenders weren’t taking any chances this time. With each of his arms held by a defender, Kirk was marched out of the experimental station. He cast one longing look back