The Garden - Melissa Scott [85]
If Chakotay heard, he gave no sign. "Voyager out."
"I wouldn't have thought our field would pose a problem to you," Grayrose said, and her fingers moved again on the control box. The robot came to life at the touch, its fingers closing gently on the fruit and plucking it with a smooth continuity of suspended motion.
"Complex systems are always vulnerable to disruption," Paris said, and knew he sounded bitter. It was
one thing to have to rely on them in Federation space, where there were always other ships, other humans, and most of all the entire Federation itself to back them up, but it was entirely different here, where they, Voyager itself, had only the ingenuity of its own crew to bolster its machines and programs. He shook himself, managed to smile at Grayrose then. "But at least we know what the problem is. I'll inform the others."
Janeway frowned at the rhythmic pulse of the ion field reduced on her screen to a series of spikes and valleys. Below it, the transporter chiefs analysis reduced it still further to a deceptively simple equation. If the energy level built beyond four thousand mega-joules, the transporters would no longer be able to compensate-and the power was building, slowly but steadily.
"Captain," Kim said, from his post behind her. "I've reached Adamant."
"Put him on the main screen," Janeway answered, and straightened to face him. "Adamant."
"Captain Janeway. I understand there is a problem?" In the screen, the Kirse looked genuinely concerned.
"Yes," Janeway said. "I understand from Grayrose that your orbiting stations create an ion field in your upper atmosphere as part of your defenses. This is interfering with our transporter, and, while right now it's manageable, we need to know what the maximum strength will be, and whether the rate of change will remain constant."
"My apologies, Captain," Adamant answered. "I had no idea this would cause difficulties for your system-though I'm glad we found out this weakness now ourselves." He glanced down at something out of
sight-probably a display console of his own, Jane-way thought-and then looked back at the screen. "Our projections-assuming that the Andirrim make no hostile move, the rate of charge will remain constant, and will peak at a twenty-eight-percent increase over the present strength."
Janeway reached for her datapadd, plugged the percentage into the transporter chief's equations. The Kirse projected maximum came to 3989 megajoules-entirely too close, she thought, to the point where it becomes a barrier. "Thank you, Adamant," she said, and the Kirse held up a slim hand.
"There is one thing you should know. If the Andirrim offer hostilities, the low-orbit stations will discharge at full power, which will briefly double the field strength. It's effective against their landing craft."
And will render the transporter completely nonfunctional, Janeway thought. She said, "You said briefly. How long does the effect last?"
"It begins to fade almost at once," Adamant answered. "But it takes time for the field to disperse."
We can calculate it ourselves, Janeway thought. "Thank you, Adamant. Voyager out."
She sat for a moment, staring at the numbers in her datapadd screen, and heard Chakotay give a soft sigh that was almost a whistle of disbelief. A part of her was annoyed, but she knew perfectly well it was because she agreed with him this was an impossible position, Voyager desperate for the food still being harvested, the away team at growing risk of abandonment as the ion field strengthened. "How much food do we have aboard so far?" she asked, and Chakotay glanced at his console.
"So far, six tons. But the team has just signaled for another pickup, which should bring it to seven."
Seven tons. Not nearly enough to feed the crew if
they were driven out of the Kirse system, forced to flee the Andirrim for any length of time, but it might be enough, rendered down to its component parts, to provide the vitamins they so desperately needed. Assuming, of course, she added silently,