String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [50]
Chakotay heard the hurricane rush of air even through the shuttle’s walls and wondered if he should strap back in and restart the shuttle’s engines. If Voyager was being attacked, he might be able to do more good outside the ship. Or I could get the environment suit out of the locker and try for the airlock, he thought. All the atmosphere is going to be gone in a minute. The solid bay doors would already be sliding into place—he couldn’t see from where he was standing—but the flight deck was a large, open space and would take time to repressurize.
“Smothers,” Chakotay said. “Restart the engines. We might need to get out of here.”
Smothers wasn’t listening. Chakotay turned to see what he was doing and saw his copilot staring back into the passenger section at the Monorhans. Chakotay looked back at them, too, and they stared in response, both leaning into the center aisle, polite, but curious.
“Smothers,” Chakotay repeated. “Respond. Restart the engines.”
Nothing.
Chakotay shook his shoulder, but the ensign was completely unresponsive.
“Commander Chakotay?” Sem asked. “What is happening?”
He shook his head, and with his tongue feeling thick in his mouth, Chakotay said, “The forcefield door failed. An accident maybe. It’s all right, though.”
“Your crewman is all right?” Sem asked. Behind her Morsa rose and seemed to fill the entire rear third of the shuttle.
“I’m not sure,” Chakotay said, leaning over to get a closer look at the glassy-eyed Smothers. “I think I should call the bridge and find out what’s happening. It may turn out to be safer for you if we return to the planet.”
“We hope not,” Sem said. “We came to assist. If something has gone awry, we wish to stay and offer our services.”
Chakotay nodded. “I appreciate the offer, you dog-faced alien. If I can think of anything that needs fetching, I’ll…” He felt his own eyebrows sliding up his forehead and his mouth hanging open. What did I just say?
Sem looked at him curiously, her long neck snaking to the left, then right. “Something is wrong with your translator devices, Commander. I could not understand what you just said. What does ‘dog’ mean?”
“Yes,” Chakotay replied. “I heard it, too. Something is wrong with the translator. Maybe it’s related to what’s happened to the hatch.” Nothing is wrong with the translator, he thought. That was me, though they have no way of knowing it. What’s happening to me?
“Commander?” the second Monorhan (what was his name?) asked, his voice rumbling loudly in the small space. “What is wrong?”
“The light,” Chakotay said, shutting his eyes. Suddenly, the overhead lamps began to strobe fiercely. Chakotay heard a series of brief, sharp popping sounds from inside the bulkheads.
“Commander,” Sem asked. “What was that? I felt something.”
Smothers whispered, “Yes, the light.”
“Commander?” Sem asked. “What light?”
“Over your heads,” Chakotay said. “Can’t you see it?”
“I see nothing,” Sem said, a note of worry creeping into her voice. “Except what was here only a moment ago. Perhaps you are ill?”
Perhaps I am, Chakotay thought. Could the shuttle be leaking atmosphere? But, no, that was ridiculous. How could they have made it to the ship if it was? He tried to open his eyes against the glare, but quickly spun away. Unclenching his eyes for a moment, Chakotay looked at Smothers, but was baffled to see that his features were not, as he had expected, bathed in light. Instead, oddly, tears were running down the