Star Trek_ Generations - J M. Dillard [80]
Control padd, he reminded himself, trying to overcome the fear with amusement. Youve got to remember these things if youre going to live in the twenty-fourth century. Maybe Ill get the chance to know what Gillian felt like …
I wonder if Spocks still alive?
Suddenly the sole of his boot slipped against the slick metal, and he was sliding downward, flailing frantically and shouting: Whoa! Whoa …! A small, noisy avalanche of sand and pebbles followed, pelting his head and shoulders, stinging his eyes.
Somehow he managed to grasp the chain railing and regain his footing, but behind him came ominous groans: the sound of bolts, which supported the scaffolding, working their way free from the rock.
And for a moment he was back on the Enterprise-B, his heart pounding, his breath coming in gasps, knowing that the fear did not matter. For the first time in an eternity, he felt truly alive.
And he could feel the bridge supports giving way. A glance behind him at the bolts in the rockface confirmed it; he did not have much time.
Beyond, on the other side of the bridge, lay Sorans device.
Kirk drew a breath and leaped toward the other side, thinking of anything except the gaping ravine that lay beneath him; thinking of Spock, of McCoy, of Carol and David, of Picard and those last moments aboard the Enterprise-B.
Astoundingly, he did not fall, but caught the very edge of the jagged metal and hoisted himself up. The bridge trembled beneath him, sagging lower, lowerbut it held just enough for him to crawl toward the small black device clattering against the metal.
A shriek as metal chains and bolts snapped and gave way. The bridge lurched ominously downward. Kirk reacted with pure instinct, reaching with one hand to swipe the remote the instant before it clattered off the side and clown into the abyss. With the other, he grabbed the bridge itself and held on through adrenalines grace.
There was no time for thought, for reason, for anything other than pure inspiration. Mindlessly, he glanced down at the control in his hand and with brilliance born of necessity, found the proper control and pressed it.
Below him, safe upon the plateau, Picard rushed up onto the now-visible platform that revealed the dark probe and its launcher.
Aha! Kirk breathed, exultant, and grinned gently. This was what he had sought in every experience in the nexus; this was what had convinced him to leave it, and brought him here to this place and this moment, to the aid of strangers.
The bridge shuddered again, this time swinging downward, slamming him against the rockface before the failing metal gave one final agonized scream.
He held fast as he closed his eyes and told himself, The good of the many …
And when the last bolt freed itself and the last support gave way, sending him hurtling into the abyss with a thundering cascade of rocks and sand, he felt no fear, no regret, only a glimmer of gladness that a planet and starship crew were safe, and would continue without him.
And then there was silence, and the beginning of the ultimate, infinite freefall …
Only heartbeats before, Picard had dashed up onto the launcher platform and gone to work; he had not dared to look back at Kirks precarious situation. He could only feel a surge of deep gratitude and pray that, somehow, the bridge would hold and the captain would find a way to cling to it … and that he, Picard, could avoid Soran and his disruptor long enough to reprogram the launcher.
He had heard the distant sound of tumbling rocks and screeching metal; still, he could not permit himself to look up from his task. The control panel was labeled in utterly alien hieroglyphicsE1 Aurian perhapsand a half-dozen screens displayed meaningless visuals and graphics. He had no choice but to start randomly pressing controls.
The main screen flickered, changed to an image of the
Veridian sun, caught in the center of a crosshair. He kept touching controls; the image changed again, again, to distant stars, to the roiling skyand at last to the image of the rocket itself, encased in its launcher.