String Theory_ Fusion (Book 2) - Kirsten Beyer [71]
“Then how will you get back?”
“At the very least, I know how to get from one ring to the other. If I have to walk a little farther to get back to the ship, that’s my own fault.”
Chakotay was reluctant. True, what Tom was proposing could mean the difference in the next several years of Voyager’s entire crew. But the potential benefits did not outweigh the risks.
“I don’t think so, Tom. We’ll transport back to Voyager using our technology, and if we have a chance, we’ll return later to test your theory.”
Tom was obviously disappointed, but unwilling to push the matter further.
“Yes, sir,” he said as he began to unpack the enhancers.
“I’m not saying it’s not an interesting idea, Tom,” Chakotay said, trying to soften the blow.
“I understand,” Tom replied.
Chakotay picked up the tricorder while Tom worked scanning the area for any new or interesting readings. The data they had already collected would keep them busy for days, but that didn’t mean he should waste the opportunity to collect more as long as they were there. A sudden change in the life-form display caught his attention as it spiked and then stabilized.
Tom had paused in his assembly of the second enhancer. He sat frozen, like a spooked animal, as the color drained from his typically ruddy face.
“Tom?” Chakotay asked, turning to follow the direction of his terrified gaze.
Floating down the corridor toward them was a nightmarish translucent creature. The structure of the face was vaguely familiar. Two pain-filled eyes set above an extended jaw which opened to reveal rows of long pointed teeth. The grisly visage sat atop three circular sections of torso that tapered to a point at the bottom. There were no arms or legs. The creature glided on several pairs of tattered wings, which gave no grace to its movement. As it approached, long pincerlike appendages emerged from behind its belly, reaching toward Tom and Chakotay. A bloodcurdling screech flew forth from its mouth, and years of first-contact scenarios with strange alien races always given the benefit of the doubt were tossed aside as Tom rose from a crouch and reached for Chakotay’s compression rifle.
Tom thumbed the setting to maximum and fired.
The creature was momentarily engulfed in the phaser blast, but kept coming. If anything, it seemed to Chakotay that the energy discharge might have made it angrier.
There wasn’t time for anything else. Tom grabbed Chakotay and, pulling him toward the nearest pair of alcoves, screamed, “Think about Voyager!”
Closing his eyes and concentrating as hard as the panic inside him would allow, Chakotay entered the transport and willed himself to return to their ship.
The last thing he heard was the creature’s infuriated shriek accompanying the bright flash of light signaling their transport.
Though Harry was easily several centimeters taller than the captain, he had to move quickly to keep pace with her as she made her way from sickbay to the nearest weapons locker located outside cargo bay one. He knew her well enough by now to know that she was furious, and he was grateful that her wrath was not, for the moment, directed toward him. In fact, he hoped fervently that he would never be on the receiving end of such intense displeasure from his captain.
He hesitated to intrude upon her thoughts, but memories of the Monorhan dead were still fresh in his mind. He addressed her as tactfully as he could.
“Captain, there’s something you should know.”
Janeway’s pace did not waver, but she replied, “Go ahead, Ensign.”
“When we found Tuvok he was in a storage room of some kind. The room was filled with thousands of bodies.”
“Monorhans?” Janeway asked.
Harry swallowed and nodded.
“B’Elanna recovered the rest of the transmission we intercepted. The Monorhans who boarded the array were wiped out by an alien parasite.”
Janeway paused long enough to throw open the weapons locker and began searching its inventory of modifiable compression rifles.
“Were your life-form readings while you were aboard the array any more definitive than those we already have?