Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [42]
They searched the walls, the ceilings, the floorseverything, for a sign, no matter how tiny, of something besides the strange building material. And came up empty.
"I'm stumped," Harry admitted. "There just doesn't seem to be any reason for all these passageways. Can you imagine how long it must have taken to build them?"
"Whoever did had a lot of patience. Maybe that's something you could use a little more of."
He looked sidelong at her and grinned. Kes was softspoken and unassuming, but underneath her dainty exterior was a will of iron and an insight into others that was extraordinary. Of course, she had unique mental abili- ties-even she wasn't quite sure what they entailedbut even so, she had a way of getting right to the point of things.
"Noted. But the unbelievable amount of time they spent on this layout only supports my argument: it was extremely important to them. Something's here, something they wanted protected above all else."
"A leader's body? Treasure? A map?"
"Any of the above. Or none of them."
"Whatever it is, I can't imagine that it could be of much use to us. Maybe we should think about getting back to the others."
Kim had already begun thinking the same thing, but he didn't want to admit it. "I'm not curious because we might find something useful. I'm curious because it's so mysterious. All those skeletons, and now this underground maze-I just want answers."
Suddenly he heard her emit a little gasp, and he stopped immediately, shining his wrist beacon toward her. In the glare of the light, her eyes looked like those of a cat's in the moonlight, wide and wary. "What is it?"
"I don't know. Something..."
Harry studied her carefully. She was partially telepathic. Was she sensing something there in the soundless, lightless corridors? Slowly, she turned in place, eyes closed now, as though trying to locate the source of some vague, faint melody. Her mouth was slightly parted, and he could hear the delicate sound of her breathing. Then she shuddered slightly. He waited, not wanting to interrupt whatever it was she was experiencing.
Finally, she turned back to him, eyes open once more. "I seemed to hear something... something far away... and then it faded."
"What did it sound like?"
"It's hard to describe. Maybe-like water, dripping onto wood."
"Could you tell where it was coming from?"
She shook her head. Clearly the moment had passed. "Didn't you hear it at all?"
"Nope. Not a thing."
She took a breath, then looked at him a bit sheepishly. "It's gone. I can't get it back."
"Then let's keep walking."
They proceeded down the corridor, scanning carefully, until they reached a bend that forced them to turn right.
When they did, they saw three armed Kazon warriors straight ahead of them.
The first strike of the Kazon ship arrived with only seconds of warning, snapped by Tom Paris from the conn position. "Kazon weapons powering, Captain."
A scant heartbeat later Voyager was rocked with the unmistakable thooop of percussive plasma flares.
"They're trawling," said Chakotay softly. "Just sending out flares and hoping they hit something."
Even so, it was unnerving. Janeway hated the feeling of powerlessness, just sitting, waiting, hoping, depending on luck that the plasma flares wouldn't hit them, or if they did, that the damage would be minimal. She preferred to be on the move, active, taking charge and doing things her way. But sometimes that wasn't an option. She'd learned that over the years, the way she'd learned most of the lessons of her life: painfully. So she hunkered down in her chair, trying to quiet her mind, listening to the muffled explosions of the Kazon flares, and trying not to think about those she'd left behind.
CHAPTER 10
CHEB PACKER PUT HIS HAND ON HER ARM TO HELP GUIDE HER through the darkness, and Kathryn felt a thrill ripple through her, ending in her fingertips, which tingled intensely. She