• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

It was getting late. Chekov hadn’t yet fully adjusted to the thirty-three-hour day here, and even though the sun hadn’t even set, his body was telling him that it was night. Not even the discovery of an alien elevator shaft was enough to keep him from yawning.

Ensign Seven Deers had been inspecting the elevator for the past few minutes, while the captain had talked to Spock on his communicator. Seven Deers hardly said a word, but she looked confident.

The captain shut his communicator and walked over to the hole in the floor, his arms crossed as he peered down it. “What do you think, Ensign?”

Seven Deers looked up. A strand of her long, brown hair had escaped its clasp and hung over her face. She casually tucked it behind her ear. “Well, sir,” she began, “I’m certain that it’s an elevator, that much I can say. As for how it works, I think this is the control lever.” She pointed at the object in question.

The captain nodded. “Do it.” He joined her to get a better view.

When Seven Deers pulled the lever down, a rumble started, the sound of metal banging against metal, and the platform moved, slowly but surely, down into the shaft. After a few seconds, she pushed the lever back up, and the platform ascended again.

“Excellent, Ensign,” the captain said. “Let’s see what’s down there.” He glanced back at Chekov. “Material strength satisfactory, Ensign Chekov?”

He’d been caught off guard but recovered quickly. “Aye, sir.”

“Just what I wanted to hear.” Kirk moved closer to the elevator and gripped one of its vertical bars. “We’ll need to split up into two groups, however. There’s no need to push our luck. Ensign Chekov, can we tell what’s down there? Does the tricorder have an idea?”

“Scans are better here, but still not optimal, sir. All I can tell you is that the space below is potentially as large as this city.” He fiddled with the tricorder settings, trying to penetrate the interference. “There seem to be many rows of almost identical items, and—” Chekov fell silent, unable to believe what the tricorder was telling him.

“Ensign?”

He looked up at his commanding officer. “Captain, the items are highly sophisticated devices, and they’re still active!”

The faces of the others displayed surprise to varying degrees. Commander Giotto was pulling a face that showed how unhappy he was about this development. Crewman Tra was mimicking his superior. Seven Deers’s and Rawlins’s faces were mirrors of Chekov’s, full of stunned disbelief. And the captain… well, the captain was smiling, evidence of his satisfaction.

Understandable reactions. Finding this much working technology after all this time of neglect was unexpected. Too bad Commander Scott wasn’t here—Chekov knew the chief engineer would be having a field day. All Chekov needed to do now was find Yüksel, and he’d redeem himself.

Right now, both Kirk and Giotto were looking at him, likely expecting him to elaborate, but anything further would be guesswork, and he didn’t want to resort to that. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you anything more specific, Captain.”

“Well, it appears we have no other choice,” Kirk said. “Commander, any reservations?”

With his tightened jaw and his grim face, Giotto looked even older than his salt-and-pepper hair made him out to be. “As a matter of fact, yes, sir. Since the ensign’s unable to provide better information, we’ve no idea what to expect. I must point out the obvious danger involved. And then we don’t even know that what’s down there has anything to do with Yüksel.”

Kirk nodded. “Thank you. I understand your concerns. However—” He paused for a moment, leaving Chekov to silently hope. “—we’re going down there. Chekov and I will go first. If everything is fine, Commander Giotto, you’ll bring the rest of the landing party with you.”

“Are you sure you don’t want security backup, Captain?” asked Giotto.

“I have one, Commander.” Chekov thought he could detect a slight charge to the captain’s voice. “Mister Chekov.”

Giotto just nodded. Chekov wanted to know why it was so hard to please this man, considering that he’d even managed to impress