Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [5]
But Kirk wasn’t completely convinced until he checked two other navigational arrays on different spacecrafts. Each one showed the location indicator positioned over the same star near the galactic core.
Well, that certainly changed things. Much as Kirk liked space travel, he didn’t intend to spend the better part of his life dashing through unknown space trying to get home. Who in their right mind would do something like that?
His only hope was the dimensional transporter. If he could get hold of the cylindrical unit, hook it up to a self-diagnostic subprocessor, then somehow build an archway out of solid neutronium…
Even Spock would consider that an impossible task. Kirk had no idea how neutronium could be made or shaped since it was supposed to be impervious to heat and pressure.
He was almost delirious after so much searching, then hours of examining spaceships. He hid out for a while in the fresher of one of the ships as he tried to consider his dilemma, but he didn’t want to be discovered or, even worse, be on board if the ship took off to points unknown.
Cautiously, he emerged in time to see at least a dozen Petraw heading toward the door of the hangar. Kirk tagged along behind. He kept thinking of the millions of stars between him and the Enterprise. Was his crew looking for him now?
But the silent workers commanded his attention. Kirk wondered what sort of terrible hardships must have befallen these people to make them so downtrodden and subdued. He kept his own head down, too, to cast a shadow over his well-defined features.
But when they emerged onto a ledge, he forgot himself and looked up in frank amazement. They were at the bottom of another crack, a miniature version of the crevice outside. These parallel walls were much closer together. The inner wall was lined with hexagonal cells, just like the one he had been sealed into by the Petraw. These cells were open; a honeycomb of thousands of cells stacked at least a hundred rows high.
The edges of each cell glowed, making a latticework up one side of the narrow crack. The other wall loomed close in the darkness.
The lattice was crawling with Petraw, climbing up or down, easily gripping the open sides and stepping on the staggered rows. But it was completely, eerily silent.
The Petraw from the hangar started climbing, so Kirk did too. His gloves and booties were skid-resistant, helping him keep a grip on the edges of the cells.
Inside most of the cells were Petraw, lying down. They were on their backs, their heads concealed in the darkness at the other end. Their encased feet stuck toward him.
Kirk climbed very high where more of the cells were empty. He didn’t want to take someone else’s spot, though he wasn’t sure how anyone could find a certain cell among these identical units.
Crawling inside, he sat on the edge and looked down. He was about seventy-five meters high, but it seemed higher because of the nearby opposite wall and the many levels between him and the floor.
Kirk stretched out, lying down with his head at the inner end to hide his face in the shadows. He was still trying to think of a way out of this mess when he passed out.
Kirk was dreaming. It was a nightmare replay of the events leading up to their leap through the gateway. But this time it was different, as if he were watching it outside of himself, seeing details he hadn’t noticed before: Luz’s snarling mouth as she fought, the flare of the protective shield over the crevice, and the arrival of the defenders on the platform….
That drove Kirk nearly to wakefulness, making him roll over. But he let sleep pull him back in.
Then he was dreaming about Tasm. She was being praised by the matriarchs. But he could only see a waxy-looking Petraw dressed in baggy coveralls. Then something in the way she moved and inclined her head as she acknowledged their praise made Kirk realize it was Tasm!
His eyes opened wide as he was jolted out of