Mosaic - Jeri Taylor [55]
Harry and Kes descended deeper and deeper, down the stone stairs, endless circular steps taking them to a depth Harry was finding it hard to imagine. The lower they went, the colder it became, until he could see his breath in the light of his wrist beacon. He had begun to doubt the wisdom of their exploration after a few minutes, but Kes led the way and seemed energized, drawn downward as though summoned by an unheard voice. "Kes, I think we're getting a little far from the others. Maybe we should turn back." Harry's voice was hollow in the stairwell, and the condensation from his breath billowed into the darkness.
Kes turned to him and what he saw made him stop in his tracks. She was transfixed. Her eyes shone with intensity and her brow furrowed slightly, as though she were concentrating on something with every ounce of her tiny frame. It made Harry uneasy to see Kes like this, for he realized she was in contact with something that was hidden to him. "Don't you hear it?" she breathed, those frenzied eyes holding him fast, as though with a physical grasp. He couldn't look away. "Hear what?"
"Clicking. Chittering."
Harry felt a chill envelop him. He heard nothing, only his own breath, which sounded ragged in the cold air.
"It's so odd. I've never heard anything like it. It c't.be far from here."
And she started down the stairs again. Harry hesitated, then hit his commbadge. "Kim to Tuvok."
"Tuvok here."
"Sir, Kes and I have found a stairwell; we're following it to see where it leads. But maybe we're going too far afield."
"Continue your exploration, Ensign. It would be prudent to ascertain if there is another exit from this location."
"Aye, sir." Kim started down the stairs again. He saw Kes far below him, hurrying downward, pulled by whatever possessed her. Shivering, Harry stepped up his pace to catch up with her.
"It's very near. I feel as though I can reach out and touch it."
"Touch what?"
"I don't know."
Harry didn't particularly like the thought of reaching out and touching whatever it was Kes heard. This whole adventure had taken on an entirely different aspect, one that seemed even more immediately dire than the threat of the Kazon. Those enemies seemed far away now, and ineffectual; the clicking Kes heard had taken on a far more portentous aspect. And then they were, at last, at the bottom of this interminable staircase, in the midst of a small chamber that had no apparent outlet. Harry started instinctively searching for a symbol that might lead them to a portal, but Kes had no need. Without hesitation, she moved to their right and back under the stairs; against a section of the stone wall she laid her hand.
And the wall disappeared.
The effect was not unlike that of a transporter, Harry noted. Not magic, he reminded himself, nothing supernatural-just technology. He understood technology, he could cope with that. He moved after Kes into the space that had opened before them, determined to counter Kes' mesmerized state with the rational approach of a scientific investigator. The chamber in which they now found themselves had one unique factor: it was illuminated, although Harry couldn't find just what that source was. But the room glowed-there was really no other word for it-with an incandescent glimmer that seemed to be green one moment, blue the next. He looked for a fixture, a sconce, anything that might account for this ghostly luminescence. There was nothing, and he decided there must be photogenic particles in the air. A rational explanation. Kes was turning slowly in the room, senses heightened, listening, reaching out with her mind. After a moment, she turned to him, a puzzled expression on her face. "I can't explain this, Harry. But-something is coming to life."
Uneasy, he turned back to the entrance through which they had entered the room. There was no sign of it; only a blank wall faced them