Pantheon - Michael Jan Friedman [108]
They were out of the slipstream, back in normal space. And though it wasn’t clear yet exactly where in normal space, it felt pretty good to be there.
Simenon was standing in the front of the group. As Geordi watched, he turned his serpentine head and looked back at him. And winked. As if to say we did it!
Though nobody saw it—not even Simenon—La Forge winked back.
When Asmund regained her senses there was a nauseating, dull ache in the vicinity of one of her temples. She touched the area gingerly, winced at the pain even that light contact provoked, and inspected her fingertips. Blood—and not a little of it.
But her guards had come through even worse. The bearded man was out cold, one of his legs twisted in such a way that it had to have been broken. And the one called John, while conscious, was gripping his side and grimacing in anguish. For the moment, he seemed to have forgotten about his phaser; it was lying on the deck a couple of feet from where he lay propped against the bulkhead.
She saw all this in darkness, aided only by the strobe of a naked, fizzling circuit—though she couldn’t at first pinpoint its location. Then it dawned on her. It was the one just to the side of her cell—the one that controlled the energy field.
Rising from the floor, she approached the place where the barrier should have been. Carefully, ever so carefully, she reached out.
And watched her hand pass over the threshold, unscathed. No flash of light, no energy charge to make her regret her trespass. No barrier.
No barrier.
Then she looked down and saw that John was watching her. That he had realized the barrier was down as well.
Without a word, he launched himself in the direction of his phaser. Ignoring the pounding in her head, Asmund dived for the weapon too. Unfortunately for her, he got to it first, managed to raise it and fire.
Twisting in mid-air, Asmund somehow eluded the narrow beam of red light. And before the blond man could take aim again, she grabbed hold of his wrist with both hands.
Knowing what she knew about pressure points, it wasn’t difficult to make him scream out and drop the phaser. But all her faculties focused on the task, she never saw the blow from his free hand. It hit her in the back of the neck, stunning her, intensifying the spike of pain in her temple.
Still, she found the strength to lash out backhanded—to hit her adversary across the face hard enough to knock him out. As he slumped beside her, she laid claim to the weapon and got to her feet.
The other guard was still unconscious, his breathing shallow but regular. She passed up the temptation to look for his phaser as well, deciding a second one would be of only marginal value—and she had no time to waste. At any moment, they might realize she was free and send a security team after her.
Phaser in hand, she took off down the corridor.
Like everyone else on the bridge, Wesley was still shaking his head over the success of Professor Simenon’s idea. The ensign grinned as he watched the Gnalish regale Picard with the third retelling of his stone-skimming exploits in the holodeck. With Riker and Troi having departed to oversee repair and relocation efforts, and Morgen gone along with them, the captain and Simenon had the command center all to themselves.
Suddenly, the professor pointed to Wesley, and the others turned his way as well. The ensign felt himself blush as Picard smiled appreciatively and nodded; he could just imagine what Simenon was telling him. Wonderful boy you’ve got there. Couldn’t have done it without him. So how is it he never skimmed stones before? Who’s responsible for his education anyway?
Swiveling away before his blush became permanent, Wesley returned his attention to his board. Much to his surprise, the astrogation function had been returned to it; that section of the display was outlined again in green light.
Touching the appropriate keys, he called up their position. Instantly, the coordinates appeared on the screen.
He froze as he realized the significance of what he saw. No, he told himself. Please say this