Oblivion - Michael Jan Friedman [66]
The alternative would have been to stay with a narrow-aperture beam and try to carve a chunk out of the metal surface. But that would have been visible from Guinan’s cell for too long a period of time—and when they were finished, they would still have had a sizable section of bulkhead to push out.
Entire minutes passed while Tain’s beam ate at the barrier, turning it into vapor. But after a while, his shivering began to make his beam quiver as well.
“I could take over,” Picard suggested, though he was shivering by then as much as Tain was.
The Cardassian shot him a dirty look. Then he turned back to his work on the bulkhead.
Finally, the last of the metal surface sizzled away, giving them a window on Guinan’s cell. And from where Picard sat, he couldn’t see any guards.
“Get her,” Tain growled, his teeth clenched against the cold.
Picard extended himself through the opening, grateful that the edges made by the disruptor were smooth and not jagged, and more warm than hot. As his upper body emerged into the cell, he saw Guinan standing by the wall.
And no guards, even on the other side of the energy barrier. Their luck was holding.
But Picard didn’t think that state of affairs would go on for long. Steej’s people were bound to look in on the prisoner eventually. And when they did, they would see she was being spirited away behind their backs.
“Come on,” he said to Guinan, and held out his hand.
Taking it, she let the captain help her through the aperture. It was only after they were both inside the tube that she realized they weren’t alone.
Guinan turned to him, her expression that of someone who felt betrayed.
“It’s all right,” Picard told her. “They are on our side.” At least for now, he added silently, unable to elaborate in the presence of the Cardassians.
“Come on,” Tain rasped.
He didn’t look happy. But then, his upper lip had begun to frost over and he was trembling uncontrollably.
As the Cardassian and his men began to crawl away, Guinan fell in line with them. But before she could get very far, Picard grabbed her arm and thrust himself ahead of her.
He knew that he had to act quickly, before Tain—who was on all fours up ahead of him—could see what was happening. Otherwise, the captain would be sealing his death and, eventually, his friend’s as well.
Shooting forward, Picard shoved Tain into a protruding conduit as hard as he could. Then, before the Cardassian could recover, the captain leaped on him and snatched his disruptor out of his hand.
Tain cried out, alerting his underlings to what had happened. But by then, Picard was pulling back, weapon in hand.
As the Cardassians struggled to get a shot at him in the confines of the tube, the captain aimed his disruptor at a stretch of conduits that sat between him and Tain. Then he fired.
Instantly, the passageway filled with sparks and a white-hot cloud of gas, cutting the Cardassians off from Picard’s view. He took the opportunity to urge Guinan in the other direction.
“That way!” he told her. “And hurry!”
She moved as quickly as she could, with the captain right behind her. As he passed the hole in the wall of Guinan’s cell, he allowed himself a look inside.
There was still no sign that anyone had noticed her absence. That was good, Picard told himself, as he left the escape hole behind. They needed all the head start they could get.
Meanwhile, he could hear the Cardassians’ cries of outrage behind them. But they wouldn’t be able to follow—not with all that flesh-searing plasma in the way.
Eventually, they would see that they had no choice but to retrace their steps, even if they had lost the prize they came for. After all, it was preferable to getting caught.
But Tain had to be wondering what Picard had accomplished. By cutting himself off from the Cardassians, it must have seemed he had also cut himself off from his escape route.
Of course, that wasn’t quite true.
What Picard hadn’t told Tain was that the spine