Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [4]
With the hood up, Kirk felt much better. His black pants could vaguely be seen through the near-opaque polymer. But in the darkness, no one would notice.
Finally feeling free to roam, Kirk slipped out of the garment factory and began briskly walking down the center of the tunnel. He didn’t have to sneak up to every doorway, and could take more time to examine the unusual machinery. It had the same hodgepodge construction as Tasm’s ship, as if different materials and technology had been jumbled together to form one functioning unit.
No one paid any attention to him, even when several Petraw passed close by. They kept their eyes cast down as they walked, and their movements seemed somewhat slow to Kirk.
He grew bolder, ranging through the corridors. His general direction was up, figuring that would be the way to get out of the complex. Yet the tunnels went on and on, making him pause as he tried to remember his route. No sense getting lost in the maze. It appeared to be laid out in concentric rings, with short, steeply sloping tunnels up to the next level.
Though it had long underground corridors like the Kalandan station, everything else was different. The Kalandan passageways were large and kept sparkling clean like the space station it was. This place was cramped, dark, and dirty, like an underground mine. The Petraw, especially the smaller ones, were bowed down with work. With their melted faces, he couldn’t tell any of them apart.
Kirk didn’t want to feel sorry for Tasm, but for some reason he did.
It took hours before Kirk found what he was looking for a docking bay for spaceships. Keeping his elation in check, he passed a few of the larger vessels the size of Tasm’s ship. They filled the underground bunkers from one end to the other. Then he came across several hangars for the smaller shuttlecraft-type ships, the kind that a single man could operate.
Kirk was grinning in relief. That hadn’t been too difficult. Now all he needed to do was get hold of the interstellar transporter and steal a ship to return to the Enterprise. It took a while to explore the extensive hangars to find the right ship. Most were being worked on round the clock by the silent waxwork Petraw.
At this point, he didn’t hesitate to go right up to them. They were so intent on their jobs that as long as he appeared to be doing a task of his own no one paid attention to him. They coordinated with each other with a minimum of clipped words, almost a technocode.
The one time Kirk was asked a question, he made sure his hood hung over his face before grunting and shaking his head. The worker accepted his ignorance and asked someone else.
Finally Kirk found a small ship that appeared fully operational. He slid into the pilot’s seat and examined the controls. The panel was activated, but it was like nothing he had ever seen. Spiky symbols scrolled down one side, with triangles and diamond patterns on the other side.
“Uh-oh,” Kirk muttered. “Maybe not so simple…”
His other problem was how to get the ship out of the hangar. There were large recessed doors in the ceiling of each bunker, but he couldn’t see a control panel that operated them.
I might need a native guide, he thought. Not that Luz or Tasm seemed predisposed to help him.
Working at the panel, Kirk managed to call up the navigational chart. The pattern of a galactic star map was clear in any language. He felt a rising hope that he would manage in spite of any obstacle
Then he realized what he was seeing. Amid the multitude of stars, there was one that coincided with a red stationary indicator. It was near the center of the galaxy, in the spiral arm at the base of the Beta Quadrant.
Kirk froze. In the center of the galaxy… if that red indicator meant what he thought it meant, then he was there! At least forty thousand light-years away from Federation territory…
Dazed, he tried to do the math. At top warp speed of 9.9 and no ship could go that fast for very long it would take him over twenty years to get back to the Enterprise.
Chapter 2
It was a shock, no doubt about