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Geordi nodded and headed off at a run toward the nearest black-hole-drive system. She watched him for an instant, realizing that, more than likely, she had just issued their death warrant.

“Commander!” Vale said. “We need to keep each other covered.”

“I’ll help the Bynars, you stay with Geordi.”

Vale looked relieved and headed off at a run, phaser in hand, after her shipmate.

The Bynars turned slightly as she approached.

“They have—”

“—attacked—”

“—the da Vinci . It has—”

“—retreated—”

“—safely.”

“Shields are up and weapons charged, huh?” Gomez said. “Well, shut them down. I don’t care how you do it, but I want that core and all those bugs’ access to the ship’s systems shut off.”

Both nodded and turned back to the computer, their high-speed computer talk almost painful to listen to.

She turned to Dr. Lense. “Anything getting out of the core yet?”

“Not that I can tell,” she said. “But they are growing at a fantastic rate. I’d say we have no more than twenty minutes before they can leave those food sources.”

“And after that?” Gomez asked.

“We don’t want to be inside this ship after that,” Dr. Lense said.

Gomez nodded and glanced at her chronometer, so she knew exactly how long was left.

Three minutes of eternity later, Geordi and Lieutenant Vale came running back into view from around one part of a huge engine. As they approached, Geordi said, “Fifteen minutes.”

Gomez nodded and again glanced at her chronometer. They were over one hundred decks inside this ship, with fifteen minutes to escape. Their chances were not looking good.

“We have cut—”

“—power to core—”

“—area. But we must—”

“—remain to monitor. You—”

“—go.”

Geordi did a quick scan. “The Beast ’s shields are down, and weapons have shut down as well. Ship is dormant again, for the moment.”

“I’m not leaving anyone down here,” Gomez said. Losing someone was just not an option as far as she was concerned.

“We have no—”

“—intention of staying.”

“Just need—”

“—five minutes.”

Gomez nodded as they turned back to the panel and continued to work, talking to the ship’s computer at high speed again. “Geordi, you and Vale stay with them and make sure they get out. Dr. Lense and I will get to the second team and get them out.”

“The lift is safe for the moment,” Geordi said. “Use it.”

“Planning to,” Gomez said. “Make sure you give yourself enough time to get to a beam-out level.”

“We will,” Geordi said.

At a run, she and the doctor headed for the lift. She hated splitting the team, but in this situation, with the second team to think about as well, she had no choice.

She just hoped this choice of no choice didn’t come back to haunt her.

CHAPTER

13

Duffy glanced around the plush, massive secondary control room at his team as panel after panel went dead in front of them. “All right, people,” he shouted. “Now what’s happening?”

Stevens glanced up at him. “Whoever was controlling the ship from the core area has been cut off. The Beast ’s systems are now dormant again.”

“But for how long?” Bart asked.

“That is a critical question,” Pattie said.

“More than likely,” Stevens said, “not long.” He studied the information that was coming over his still-active panel for the moment, then smiled. “Someone in engineering is making sure nothing gets out of the core and retakes control.”

“The Bynars?” Bart asked.

“From the speed, I would say so,” Stevens said.

“So, what the heck is in that core?” Duffy asked.

“Trust me,” Gomez said from the door, “it’s not something any of us ever want to meet.”

Duffy felt his heart soar. He hadn’t let himself think about the chance of Gomez getting stuck down there. Hearing her voice and seeing her was wonderful.

He smiled at her, and she half-smiled back, but her eyes were almost dead with worry. Something was terribly wrong. Even worse than they had thought. Dr. Lense was with her, but Duffy couldn’t see any of the rest of Gomez’s team. They must be the ones still below, holding whatever was in the core at bay.

“We have just about ten minutes before we need to be off this monster,