String Theory_ Cohesion (Book 1) - Jeffrey Lang [61]
Harry looked up at his friend in mild confusion. “All this mothering is getting on my nerves.”
Tom shrugged. “With B’Elanna off ship, I have a lot of extra mothering to burn off.”
“Were you able to pull up sensor data for the shuttle?”
Tom nodded and felt his face go numb. “Some. It didn’t look good, but we didn’t see the end. She might have been able to regain control. B’Elanna’s a good pilot.”
“Or they could’ve beamed out,” Harry said, trying to sound positive.
“Maybe. Either way, they’re probably not in great moods right now. Monorha isn’t what I’d call a convivial vacation spot.” Tom scanned the debris on the desk, but wasn’t really looking at anything. He knew the best thing he could do was stay busy, stay focused, and not let his mind wander to worst-case scenarios. “Until you science whizzes explain where we’re going, the best use of my time is to hand out injections.” He pointed the empty hypospray at Harry’s computer. “You figured this out yet?”
“No,” Harry replied tensely. “I’m still just getting my head around it. Preliminary scans say that this fold is flooded with the same radiation that permeated the Monorhan system, which doesn’t make sense.”
“Why not?” Tom asked. “If we were sucked in here when the fold cracked open, wouldn’t the radiation come in, too?”
“Sure,” Harry said. “Some, but not the amount I’m detecting.”
“So no going to warp.”
“No, we can go to warp. I’ve determined that for sure. We just won’t know where we’re going.”
Tom had heard this grim assessment from Neelix earlier. His chest grew tight as he pondered the idea of going to warp and emerging in a random corner of the universe. Not only would they be leaving Seven and B’Elanna to fend for themselves, there was absolutely no way to know where Voyager would appear. What if they ended up back at the beginning of their journey or, worse yet, smack dab in the center of Borg-controlled space? He didn’t want to think about it. “Maybe the space contained by the fold is very small and it’s concentrating the radiation.”
“I considered that. But then I checked the topographical survey Tuvok is building.” Harry turned the library computer screen so Tom could see. “See, it’s big.”
Studying the diagram, Tom saw that Harry was right. Based on what Tuvok had mapped so far, the fold was quite large. As he watched, several more blinking dots appeared: more probes. Tom cocked his head, then pointed at the line formed by the points. “It’s curved,” he said.
Harry cocked an eyebrow and turned the monitor back so he could see what Tom meant. “You’re right,” he said. “I hadn’t noticed the arc.”
“It’s very slight,” Tom said. “If it weren’t for those last couple of probes, I probably wouldn’t have noticed it. Does that mean anything?”
“I don’t know,” Harry said staring at the monitor while tapping the tip of his chin with a stylus. As they watched, another half-dozen probes blinked on. “Tuvok is working fast.”
“How is he marking the perimeter?” Tom asked.
“The probes are emitting small amounts of warp plasma particles. They react with the edges of the fold.”
At that moment, Tuvok must have fired another volley of probes, because the edge they had been watching form suddenly grew several hundred kilometers longer. The slight curve became more radical.
Harry tapped his combadge. “Kim to Tuvok.”
“Tuvok here.”
“Tuvok, I’m looking at the map of the fold you’re creating and wanted to know if you could quickly launch a few more. I’m interested to see where that curved edge goes.”
“Very well, Mr. Kim. Please stand by.”
Several minutes ticked by before another cluster of lights appeared on the screen. The curve of the line grew radically tighter, then disappeared into a corkscrew spiral.
“Is that sufficient, Mr. Kim?”
“Can we map some more?”
“Not at this moment, Mr. Kim. We have used up our compliment of probes for now. I am in the process of assembling more, but our resources are low. It will require time.”
“Understood. Kim out.” Harry continued to stare at the peculiar