Star Trek_ Generations - J M. Dillard [78]
Kirk said nothing, but wore a slight, cryptic smile as the two of them moved down the hillside toward Soran and the launcher.
And then, as Picard glanced over at him, the smile transformed into a frown: Picard quickly followed Kirks gaze, and saw what had provoked the change.
The plateau that had borne the sleek black rocket and its launcher now stood empty.
Some distance away, dangling from the side of the rockface, Soran smiled in evil triumph, and lowered a small black device in his hand. Yet his gloating expression soon turned to one of panic as the rope suddenly gave way with an audible snap.
Still clinging to it as it undulated serpent-like above him, the scientist slid downward, accompanied by a cascade of pebbles and soil and rising clouds of red dust. Yet Sorans luckand the ropeheld fast once more, as the end of the rope tangled then caught on the overhead trestle.
Soran came to a stop so abrupt the control fell from his hand and tumbled downward, coming at last to a clattering stop on a metal bridge spanning two steep hillsides.
We need that control padd, Picard said, to himself as much as to Kirk; before the words left his mouth, he was running at full speed toward the bridge, with the vague realization that Kirk was beside him, matching stride for stride.
Yet as he ran, an ominous sense of danger came over Picard, the same one he had felt when first hed tried to leave Kirk alone to fight Soran. Instinct drew his eyes back toward the rockface, and the dangling rope that had saved Soran from death.
Now the rope hung, empty.
Captain, look! Picard shouted, coming to an abrupt halt, and lifted an arm to point to the rope. He scowled, scanned the red rock for their foes slender, dark form, and found nothing. Wheres Soran?
Beside him, Kirk stopped, kicking up a small cloud of dust, and gazed up at the deserted, dangling rope. Just as suddenly, he surged forward, toward the bridge … and the control padd.
Picard hung back, held by a sense of foreboding and responsibility to keep watch over the man he had dragged from paradise. He raised his face and squinted once more in a strong Veridian sunlight at the unrevealing hills.
A swift, bright blaze of light dazzled him, leaving its blinding yellow imprint upon his retina; he turned, blinking as the afterimage faded, to see Soran behind them with the disruptor.
Another brilliant blast: This one struck the bridge dead centera hands breadth from where Kirk now stoodfilling the air with the stench of scorched metal. The scaffolding groaned, then shuddered as it erupted in flames, limned by black smoke; Picard ran toward it as the other captain stumbled, then grabbed the railing as the bridge gave a deep sigh and broke in two.
Amazingly, Kirk clung fast to the edge that hung nearest Picard; beyond him, a streak of roiling energy undulated in the sky. Beneath him, a deep ravine waited ominously.
Picard moved to the edge and knelt, reaching out a hand toward the captain. Kirk was gasping, his face crimson, gleaming with sweat and smudged with soot, his legs kicking against empty air for purchase, but the determination never left his eyes. He pulled himself toward Picard and cautiously extended one hand.
Picard leaned precariously close to the abyss, reaching, straining toward Kirks outstretched fingertips. He had not turned his back on paradise and convinced Kirk to do so as well just to fail. Only millimeters between them now. If Kirk could slide only a few millimeters, while maintaining his one-handed grip …
Kirk slid closer; the bridge shuddered as he did, causing him to lose his precarious hold on the railing.
In that split second before he could plummet downward, Picard reached still