Star Trek_ Generations - J M. Dillard [16]
And when the lift doors opened onto level fifteen, he was again in exhilarating free fall, a combination of the sheerest terror and bliss. Terror, because he remembered the dreams of the night before and knew Spock would not be there to catch him; bliss, because he was once again doing what he had been born to domake a difference. There was no time for thought, for reflection, only for pure mindless action.
Jim ran down the trembling corridor with a speed he had thought himself no longer capable of, following the signs to section twenty-one alpha until at last he made it to the deflector room, with its massive generators towering behind a stand of consoles.
His heart was pounding, his breath coming in gasps, but none of it mattered; it was the first time in over a year he had truly felt alive. He found the bulkhead panel and pried it off, then began to work at rerouting the deflector circuitry.
He hadnt been at it more than a minute when the wall intercom whistled and Scotts voice filtered through, barely audible over the ships groaning. Bridge to Captain Kirk.
Kirk here, he shouted, not taking his gaze from his work. What needed to be done was simple; and if he didnt let Scott interrupt him, he would be done in seconds …
Captain, Scott cried, in the plaintive tone Kirk knew so wellwell enough to know that this time, things were seriously critical. Even had Scott not contacted him, he would have known from the feel of the Enterprises shakingeven this new Enterprise s shakingthat a major hull breach was imminent. I dont know how much longer I can hold her together!
In the background, he could hear Demoras voice:
Forty-five seconds to structural collapse!
Kirk took the critical seconds needed to make the final adjustment, then slammed the wall panel closed with a sense of triumph. Thats it! Go!
He heard Scott terminate the intercom link, and rose unsteadily to make his way out into the shuddering corridor. There was no sense in hurrying; they would either be safe now, or die. He had done all that he could do.
Before he had taken more than a dozen steps, the ships shaking eased dramatically. He grinned gently; so, his strange premonition of death had proven to be false. He was glad, of course, for himself and all those aboard the shipand yet he felt a faint, odd disappointment. It wouldnt have been such a terrible way to go. Would he ever again get another chance like this to make a difference?
He was in midstride when it came: an explosion so deafening, so teeth-chattering, that it seemed to have erupted from within his own head. He was lifted from the floor, slammed against bulkhead or deckhe could not discern which. In a dazzlingly brilliant millisecond, he saw everything around him dissolve into the violet white heat of the energy ribbon, felt his own body dissolving, merging with the pulse.
He was, as he had always known he would be, alone. There was no time for reflection or regret in the primal moment of dissolution, only a glimmer of gladness that McCoy and Spock were safe wherever they were, that they would continue without him.
And then there was silence, and the beginning of the ultimate, infinite free fall …
FOUR
Several seconds earlier, Montgomery Scott terminated the link to the deflector room and stared at the thrashing energy tendril on the main screenlike a great bolt of lightning gone berserk, it looked. The Enterprise was shuddering constantly now, pummeled to the sound of distant thunder like a storm-tossed sailing vessel in the midst of a violent sea. Scott held his breath as young Captain Harriman leaned forward to give an order to Sulus daughter.
Activate main deflector.
Along with the silent, prayerful crew, Scott watched as a brilliant beam of energy burst from the main deflector dish and erupted into a tiny nova off the starboard hull.
He was breathless, yes, but not as frightened as the young lieutenant beside him at the console. Scott had had a full life, and over the past year had found a measure of contentment in consultant work and family.
At least, he had thought himself