Pathways - Jeri Taylor [169]
But before the young Vulcan could start out, Neelix looked up to see a surprising sight: Chakotay and the others of his group straggling along the pathway carrying their meager belongings, and looking as though they’d been in a brawl. They were bruised and bleeding, uniforms ripped and dirty. But in spite of that, they seemed cheerful.
“You look like you just did ten rounds with a wildcat, Commander,” said Tom, “or maybe with a Borg.” This was the first the others had seen of Chakotay’s newly erupted implant.
“Not far from it. We were attacked by some behemoths who thought they were tougher than they were and wanted our rations. We fought them off—but we figured we could use the fracas as an excuse to get out of there and back with you.”
“Well done,” said Tuvok approvingly. “This will greatly simplify our plans.”
They fell to and quickly erected the second shelter as the Rai’ watched somewhat warily. Neelix realized they may perceive the added group as a threat and he sauntered over to Tassot Bnay, who had provided the work pass for him.
“No need to worry, my friend. These are our fellows and they’re as peaceful and likable as we are. They’ll cause you no trouble.”
“They’ve been fighting.”
“Yes, they certainly have. They were set upon, it seems, and had to defend themselves. That’s why they left the spot they’d settled in.”
Bnay looked for a while longer at the newly arrived group and then seemed to accept Neelix’s explanation. He turned away without another word and began talking softly with the other Rai’. Neelix returned to his friends to find them all gathered in one shelter.
A sense of expectation electrified the air. Harry was kneeling beside B’Elanna, fiddling and tinkering with two strange-looking contraptions, a cobbled arrangement of the components B’Elanna had been working with. Harry’s face shone with anticipation and with the relief of finally being able to serve a function.
“I think we’re ready to give it a try,” said B’Elanna. “I won’t make any promises . . . these can only be described as primitive.”
“That’s why we’re only going to try it on the psilminite ore now. We’ll set it to dematerialize a spot below ten kilometers. That’s how far down the Subu sensor net goes.” Harry had a split lip and a welt on his temple, but he was obviously elated. Neelix began to feel a lift in his spirits as well.
“Do you have the coordinates set, Harry?” asked B’Elanna.
“Ready to go.”
“All right. Let’s do it.” B’Elanna took a breath and a charged silence fell on the group. She manipulated a part of the device and then waited, anxious.
“I think we’ve got the annular confinement beam established,” said Harry. “Let’s dematerialize the ore, then transport it as powder.”
Another tense moment passed . . . and then a fine shower of white dust materialized in the air and sifted down to the ground.
“It worked!” yelped Harry, and the others erupted into a spontaneous shout of joy, only to be silenced by Tuvok.
“We must not call attention to ourselves in that way,” he cautioned, and the group was silent once more.
“Here’s the plan,” said B’Elanna. “I built two of these, because we’ll need them to get us out of here. One transporter alone doesn’t have the power to dematerialize something as complex as a biological organism and transport them as far as we need to.”
“So we’ll have to leapfrog our way out,” chimed in Harry. “We’re going to hollow out a chamber, fifteen kilometers down and right under the wall that surrounds this place. I’ll beam into it with the second transporter, and then B’Elanna will beam someone else to me and I’ll put them on the surface, in the woods outside the sensor net.”
“Then we keep it up until everyone’s out.”
“And after that?” asked Neelix, amazed as always at the ingenuity of these people.
“Then Commander Chakotay will lead us,” said Seven. “We must trust that the captain has implanted our escape route in him.”
“It’s going to take a while to carve out the chamber.