String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [57]
Before leaving the ship, they had been apprised of the miraculous energy infusion Voyager had received in the time it took them to collect the gear they required for their rescue mission. By the time the entered the docking bay, the power-transfer cables had coiled themselves neatly back into place. Harry didn’t know whether he was more disconcerted or relieved when the airlock door opened automatically as the away team came within a meter of it.
B’Elanna and Seven made good time, reaching the Monorhan vessel housed two bays over in a little less than thirty minutes. They, too, carried pattern enhancers, in the event that this would make the return trip on foot unnecessary. The docking bay where the vessel, easily twice the size of a Galaxy-class Federation ship, rested was similar to the one where Voyager was berthed, but it appeared that it had been the scene of a brutal conflict. Sections of hull plating, striated by weapons fire, were visibly scorched and charred. Power conduits and plasma relays no longer belched smoke or residue, though telltale trails of grit and exposed circuitry tangled with huge chunks of fuselage made traversing the distance from the dockingbay door to the ship something like walking through a densely overgrown mechanical forest.
The Monorhan ship had been a lean and graceful piece of engineering in her day. Composed of synthetic polymers and familiar Monorhan alloys, two fin-shaped extensions fused seamlessly on either side of the cylindrical mass that made up the central body of the ship and housed its propulsion system. It appeared to have been built with as much a sense of beauty as utility. B’Elanna wasn’t aware of any ocean-dwelling creatures native to Monorha, but in looking at it, she could not stop mentally imagining a huge stingray that had been taught to fly. Sensor networks that would be heavily shielded on a Starfleet ship ran along every surface of the ship like pores. There were no sharp edges, no obvious doors or windows. In short, apart from the technological components that her tricorder and common sense told her were present, it looked like a beautiful, almost fragile living thing.
“So how do we get in?” B’Elanna asked. Extending her hand toward the hull, she took a chance and tapped lightly, as if knocking on a door.
“I do not believe anyone will answer,” Seven observed.
“You’re telling me it wasn’t worth a try?” B’Elanna asked pointedly.
“There are no life-form readings aboard this vessel. Although our sensors cannot penetrate most of the array, I can verify that there are no other living beings within this docking bay,” Seven advised her.
“There were supposedly thousands of people aboard this ship when it left Monorha. Fifty years later, there’s nobody home. That’s disturbing, don’t you think?” B’Elanna asked.
“Any sense of foreboding at these circumstances is irrelevant. Although I agree, it is curious.”
B’Elanna nodded and began circling the aft of the vessel. Seven was the first to find an entry point. The ship rested on four landing struts, and beneath the central mass, which rose only a few meters from the floor, a spherical pod hung precariously.
“This appears to be an emergency evacuation device,” Seven noted as she scanned the small vessel. “Its separation from the ship was not completed.”
Running her hands along the smooth cool surface of the pod, B’Elanna found a small inset latch. She tugged it gently, and a faint whoosh of dank air was released as a door, barely large enough to crawl through, opened in response. At the same time, a similar door within the body of the main ship also opened.
“Found an airlock. Give me a boost,” B’Elanna requested, catching either side of the exposed frame of the door in her hands and relying on Seven for the extra momentum she needed to pull herself through it. Once inside, she returned the favor, securing her legs on one side of the door frame