The Riddled Post - Aaron Rosenberg [3]
The next step was back outside and around the front of the building, to the emitter array. Once there, it was obvious even to Corsi what the problem was—the array had a hole the size of a hoverball through it.
“Could you give me a hand here, Commander?”
Corsi did as Blue requested, setting the generator down beside her and the phaser on top where she could reach it quickly, and among the three of them they managed to wrestle the damaged piece off the array. Then they trundled it back to the Franklin. Once inside, it took less than an hour for the two engineers to repair the damage, and only ten more minutes to restore the piece to its place. Soloman then rebooted the system and restored the shields over the outpost—Corsi always found it creepy to hear him speaking in computer language, interfacing directly with the systems, but she couldn’t argue with the effects. It was another hour before the filtration system had removed all contaminants from the air, replacing corrosives with breathable elements—she insisted they spend that time safely inside the shuttlecraft, to be sure. Finally, the Franklin’s sensors indicated it was safe to step outside, and they did so, this time without the portable generator.
Without the haze of BorSitu’s atmosphere, the devastation was even worse. Every hole was clearly defined, and the buildings looked like ancient ruins, ready to crumble at any moment. But the damage was less than a day old, and Corsi knew that clues were often time-sensitive, so she didn’t waste any time. Once she was sure the air was safe she allowed her two companions to go about their assigned tasks, although she kept a close eye on them. She also scanned for lifesigns—and got a surprising response.
“We’ve got survivors!” she said. Soloman looked up, and Blue did as well. “Two lifesigns, human, over there.” Corsi waved her phaser across the square. “Ten meters distance.” She glanced up. “That’s only half the size of this square. They’re not on the other side—they’re at the center.” She turned toward the squat building in the middle of the open area, as did the others.
“That’s the power station,” Blue confirmed.
“Makes sense,” Corsi admitted, leading them toward the building. “You said the generator was showing as normal. And there aren’t any holes in this building. So these two, whoever they are, were in the only safe place when it happened. Whatever it was.”
Stepping inside, she marveled at the difference. The power station hadn’t been hit by whatever had caused the holes, and so although its outer walls had been worn down by the air, the inside was fully intact. It was like stepping out of a sandstorm and into a gleaming steel playground. Corsi wasn’t an engineer, but she recognized several pieces of equipment around the area—before her eyes were drawn to the two figures slumped on the floor.
“Damn!” She slapped her communicator out of habit, and was surprised when Gomez responded.
“I linked our badges in through the Franklin,” Soloman explained. The little Bynar actually sounded apologetic. “This way they have enough power to get through the atmosphere.”
“I wish you’d told me,” Corsi muttered.
“Told you what? Corsi, what’s your status?” Gomez sounded worried.
“Sorry, not you. Status is good—we’ve got the shields restored, and the air breathable. And we’ve got two survivors, though they’re both in bad shape. I’ll get them to the shuttlecraft, and then bring them up. Have Lense standing by.”
“How does the station look, Corsi?” Gomez asked. “Any idea what caused the systems failure?”
Corsi paused in the act of hoisting one of the figures—a stocky middle-aged man—onto her shoulder, and glanced out through the open door at the holes decorating the other buildings. “Oh, I’ve got a pretty fair idea.”
* * *
Back on the da Vinci, Duffy waited in the shuttle bay with an impatient Sonya Gomez. As soon as the Franklin had cleared the atmosphere, they had beamed the two survivors directly to sickbay, where Lense was working on them.
Corsi’s call had come just as they were finishing