Pathways - Jeri Taylor [139]
“This looks good, Neelix,” she said as she inspected it. “These chips look like integrated photonic circuits . . . and there are transtators . . . optical couplers . . . and coherent microwave emitters. It’s a treasure!”
Neelix beamed his pride, then reached under his coat, behind his back, and with some difficulty pulled out a large disk made of composite alloy coils that were embedded in a cocoon of circuitry. B’Elanna grabbed this as well.
“Phase-transition coils—and sarium kelleride power cells. This is wonderful!”
“I got them from the matter-displacement drills. The miners use them to destabilize and displace cores of matter beneath the surface.” Neelix looked at the smiles on the faces of his colleagues and basked in the joyfulness he saw there.
Even Tuvok seemed impressed. “Nicely done, Mr. Neelix,” he said, and Neelix was sure he even heard some note of appreciation there. “Vorik, take the news to Commander Chakotay at once.”
Vorik nodded and departed with several containers under the pretense of going for water. B’Elanna continued to inspect the contraband Neelix had provided, and her enthusiasm was palpable. “I can work with these things,” she said eagerly. “This tomographic scanner produces three-dimensional maps of the planet’s interior. If I can combine its capabilities with the phase-transition coils, I think I can fashion a transporter. A crude one, but it should work.”
Tuvok, as usual, wanted more information. “Explain your theory, Lieutenant.”
“First, I think I can use the tuning circuits from our combadges to modulate and control the transporter beam. The scanner could be modified to read our molecular structure— and the phase-transition coils would be used to convert our molecules into energy. Then the coils would have to be fieldreversed to turn that energy back into matter.”
Tuvok nodded gravely. “Are there any contraindications?”
B’Elanna hesitated. She was so excited about the prospects that she hated to diminish them. But there was no getting around it. “There’s one big drawback. There’s no way to construct a pattern buffer. In a starship transporter, the buffer stores the pattern of the person for a few microseconds while the computer makes sure all the other system components are functioning properly. It’s a valuable safety measure.” She looked around at the solemn eyes of her comrades. “Without it, transporting is risky. It’s like being on the high wire without a safety net.”
That statement hung heavily in the air until Neelix chimed in. “Staying here in Hellhole has perils, too. I’d rather take my chances with B’Elanna’s transporter.” From their reactions, the others clearly shared this opinion, and B’Elanna smiled at the vote of confidence and sat down to begin fiddling with the stolen components.
Neelix then shared his dinner ration with the others, because, as he told them, “I’ve had my fill of food. On the work detail there’s plenty to eat. Today my pockets were full of contraband, but tomorrow I’ll bring more food.”
This prospect, added to the now very real possibility of creating a transporter, made the small group almost heady with excitement. They became a little silly, laughing and joking like small children, then sank into a contented silence.
Neelix waited for a moment, then spoke quietly. “If no one objects . . . I’d like to add my story to those that’ve been told.”
“I’d like that, Neelix,” said Tom sincerely.
“There are things about myself I’ve never told anyone. Not even Kes. I’ve never wanted people to know.” He hesitated, looking pensively at Tom. “I told you last night you gave me courage. I don’t think I could have done this without your example.”
Tom gave him a brotherly pat on the shoulder. “I feel a lot better for it,” he said encouragingly.
Neelix was quiet for a moment. “I don’t know how to start,” he admitted.