Gateways 07_ What Lay Beyond - Diane Carey [7]
As the barrier closed again, he took up a stance behind it, against one wall. He would jump the Petraw when it opened. Assuming that they hadn’t already marched Luz through here and over the edge. In that case, there was nothing he could do for her.
The barrier started to open, and by the time the Petraw stepped through, Kirk was clinging to the wall near the top curve of the tunnel. His hands and feet were buried in the soft polymer, giving him the perfect ambush position.
They didn’t see him. As the Petraw passed underneath, Kirk dropped down on the first one. His feet kicked out to catch the other Petraw in the face. They let go of Luz to fight back, but with a few well-aimed chops from Kirk, they were both lying unconscious on the floor. He wished he could learn how to do that Vulcan neck pinch. It would be easier on his hands.
Luz looked completely different now, with smoothed features that left her expressionless. Except for her thin-lipped mouth, which was perfectly round in horror. “You!”
Kirk grabbed her. “Come on! Run!” he shouted at her.
Jerking on her arm, he pulled her after him. After a few stiff steps, she finally got going. She must have been in a near-trance, unable to resist being taken to a plunge to certain death.
The second barrier was too slow in opening for Kirk’s comfort. But then they were through and running toward the factories. “Where to?” Kirk asked.
She looked at him blankly, her steps faltering.
Kirk stopped and gave her shoulders a commanding shake. “You better snap out of it and start helping me! The first thing they’ll do is announce that you’ve escaped. If you don’t want to take a dive into nowhere, you’ll have to find us a safe place to hide.”
“Yes!” she gasped out, clutching at his arm. “Yes, I think I know where we can go.”
Luz hurried down the tunnel, passing the doorways to the factories until she found the one she was looking for. Kirk ducked inside after her, wary of other Petraw. But Luz beckoned him to follow her behind a bulky ion generator before anyone noticed them.
It was very dark behind the generator, though the polymer coating on the wall continued to glow. Luz crouched down near an obstruction. Kirk shifted until he could see that it was the wall itself, stretched out and attached to a large round collar in the side of the generator. It was nearly a meter in diameter.
Touching it, Kirk discovered the wall material was taut, pulled to its maximum extension. It was amazing, the uses the Petraw found for polymer.
Luz glanced up, her eyes shining with a fierce intensity. But she didn’t speak.
“This isn’t going to be enough cover.” Kirk crouched down, too, but the junction wouldn’t hide them if anyone walked behind the generator.
“Everyone always underestimates me,” Luz retorted scornfully.
Placing both hands against the wall next to the junction, she pushed. An opening appeared in the wall, widening to about a meter in diameter. It was low to the ground, so Luz stuck her head and arms inside, and with a wiggling motion, disappeared inside.
Kirk scrambled closer. There was faint warm light glowing in the walls of the small tube. “Can’t you open it a bit wider?”
“Nothing satisfies you, does it?” Luz shot back over her shoulder. She started to crawl away.
Kirk shook his head, knowing he’d be a bit caustic, too, if his own people had just tried to throw him off a cliff. Bending his arms, he crawled inside after her.
The opening slowly began to close behind him. “What is this?” he called up to her. “Access tubes for maintenance and repair.” Her own voice was low.
“Be quiet, will you? There’s other Petraw in these tubes.”
Creeping through the tiny space, bumping his head and elbows with almost every movement, Kirk swore he would never again complain about the size of the Jefferies tubes on board the Enterprise. If he ever got back to the Enterprise.
At least the polymer offered padding for his knees, even if the tube was too small. But it also took extra effort to move since he sank into the stuff. It was like crawling