String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [27]
“All stop,” Janeway ordered. “What the hell is going on?”
“Engine room,” Chakotay called. “What happened to the tractor beam? We lost the transport. She’s slicing off to the starboard side.”
The main viewscreen flickered then, and for a brief moment Chakotay thought he saw Mateo staring at them, an expression of hopeless dread etched on his features, but the image disappeared before Chakotay could be sure what he had seen.
The view switched back to the external cameras and all of them watched as the great wallowing drive section broke in half like a glacier calving an iceberg. For a split second, the sight was inexpressibly beautiful as the transport shattered into millions of pieces, each shard as sharp and shiny as precious gems, as if a giant had scattered a handful of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and opals across the face of the heavens. A moment later, the first gondola began to disintegrate, followed by another, then another and another…
Chapter 5
Disaster plus 1 minute
From her workstation in astrometrics, Seven of Nine coolly watched the Monorhan drive unit and the passenger units dissolve into what she judged the naked human eye would perceive as slivers of ice. Alone as she was, Seven did not feel the need to do anything to acknowledge the phenomenon other than to ask the computer to select one of the larger pieces and perform an analysis. While the computer worked, Seven adjusted the sensor arrays she controlled from her station and projected a long-range view of the scene.
In the lower right-hand corner of the data display she marked a pinprick of light that was Voyager. Backtracking, she marked the spots where the transport disintegrated. Farther back along their course, she marked the coordinates where both ships experienced tremors. She noted the distance between the disturbances and their relative distance from the disaster. Quickly overlaying the scene with readings from all of Voyager’s sensors, Seven attempted to find a direct correlation, but found none. Background radiation from the nearby white dwarf was very high, but she had already known this. She had also already found some exotic high-energy particles in nearby space, but nothing so unusual as to warrant attention.
Seven required less than five minutes to complete this handful of operations, during which time the remains of the Monorhan vessel began to disperse in a predictable Newtonian spray. If they encountered no obstacles, the pieces would continue on their current courses until the universe expired, several billion years hence. Seven idly calculated the percentage of particles that would likely intersect another object while watching indicators flash on her console that told her Voyager was performing emergency maneuvers.
As new data rolled in, Seven catalogued the likely questions Janeway and her advisors would ask when the inevitable meeting was called, and began scripting replies. Seven worked diligently, her outward demeanor unblemished by a ripple of concern. An idle question flitted through her mind: What percentage of the debris from the Monorhan vessel could be attributed to an organic source? Her spectroscopic scans said that the chemical nature of the wreckage was homogeneous, but she might be able to fine-tune the scans. Another thought intruded: Why would I want to do that? What difference does it make?
Setting the thoughts aside, Seven returned to her preparations. She noted that the corner of her mouth was twitching slightly and, subconsciously, Seven’s system manager ordered a small contingent of nanoprobes to massage and