Pathways - Jeri Taylor [98]
She didn’t make eye contact with Chakotay. She was a little embarrassed at having revealed her once-powerful feelings for him. And she didn’t look at Tom Paris. They’d been through so much together, but she’d never told him that she’d once been infatuated with Chakotay. She hoped he’d understand.
Tuvok abruptly interjected, changing the subject entirely. “After assessing the situation, I believe the most successful option we have is to construct a tunnel.”
But this brought an immediate response from Coris, who was sitting next to Harry. She’d become a fixture among their group since he’d brought her back with him from the stream, but B’Elanna hadn’t heard her say much of anything, certainly not with such firm authority. All eyes swung to her.
She looked better than she did when Harry first found her. More rested, less like a frightened animal. Her startling eyes caught the light of the flames and seemed to be on fire themselves. “They have sensors which penetrate to a depth of ten kilometers, and below that is solid psilminite. If you try to dig, they’ll know it immediately.”
“How do you know?” asked Harry.
“I was nearby when the guards discovered a tunnel some others had constructed. The guards made a point of telling everyone within range how foolish it was to try to escape, because of all the sensors.”
B’Elanna, who was more than happy to turn the discussion to subjects other than her life and its tangled emotional web, began considering other possibilities. “Too bad we don’t have a transporter,” she said, half joking. “We could just beam ourselves out.”
Coris took her seriously. “But the sensor net is said to extend beyond the enclosure for another hundred meters. You’d still be detected.”
“As long as we’re wishing for transporters, let’s wish for one that would take us beyond sensor range.”
“What do you figure we’d need to make one, Harry?” This from B’Elanna, who was now seriously considering the idea.
“A lot more than we have, that’s for sure. A matter-energy converter, some phase transition coils . . . a power supply, control circuitry . . .”
“Anybody seen anything like that around the camp?” queried Chakotay, and the question brought somber chuckles. Not likely.
“But if we took apart our combadges, we’d have plenty of control circuitry,” mused B’Elanna, intrigued now by the challenge. “And who knows what there might be in this camp? We’ve only been looking for certain items. Maybe there’s a way to do this.”
Her enthusiasm was contagious, and the mood of the group lightened. Inspired, B’Elanna considered all the ramifications of this fragile plan. “We should move our shelters,” she noted. “We’re right in the middle of the camp now. If we’re able to build a transporter, it would be primitive. We’d have a shorter distance to beam ourselves if we were closer to one of the walls.”
Chakotay had started to agree when Coris interrupted once more. “No,” she said, “they’ll know what you’ve done. They watch for escape attempts. If you move for no reason at all they’ll be suspicious. They’ll inspect your shelters every day.”
Her words hung heavily in the chill night air. B’Elanna didn’t doubt them, and was sure no one else did, either. But Tuvok wasn’t about to see this plan shattered.
“Then we must concoct a compelling reason to move,” he announced calmly.
“A fight,” said Tom Paris immediately, and B’Elanna shot him a smile. Leave it to Tom to come up with that solution. But even Tuvok saw its logic.
“Continue, Mr. Paris,” he intoned.
“We stage an altercation. A big one, that turns into a brawl. There’s anger, and hostility. When the fight is over, most of us move one of the shelters to another location. Close to the wall. It’ll look like bad blood between us has caused the move.”
B’Elanna could see Chakotay