The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [36]
Pulaski began assessing the situation. “All right, folks. I want a status report and I want it yesterday. What’s been going on since Doctor Martin left? Who was in charge? Status of casualties? Come on, people, I don’t have all day.”
The barrage of questions shook the personnel in sickbay out of their shock. The recent arrivals began assessing the patients while the original teams hurried over to Pulaski and began filling her in on the current situation.
“The intruders are being reported from Decks 32 to 35. From what security told us, there’s no apparent pattern to their attack. It’s like they’re just wandering about aimlessly.”
“That’s not too hard to figure out,” she replied, trying to remember the name of the medical technician in front of her. “I would guess they’ve never been on a Galaxy-class vessel before. They have no idea where anything important is kept. Since they’re looting engineering, it’s reasonable to assume they’re doing the same everywhere they can reach.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense. We could make whatever they needed with our replicators, as long as we have raw materials. There’s no reason to attack us to get supplies.”
“Look, you know that and I know that, but I don’t believe they know that. We haven’t been able to communicate with them for whatever reason. They don’t know what we can or can’t do. Worrying about how to deal with them is the captain’s job. Our job is to deal with the injured. When security takes control of engineering, we’ll be right behind them to render aid to both sides.”
A sudden shout in the corridor drew Pulaski’s attention. Before she could move, the familiar sound of a phaser being discharged rang out, followed by the sound of a body striking the wall hard. The door to the sickbay opened and shut on its own. Then, before the disbelieving eyes of the medical staff, one of the intruders walked through the closed door as if it weren’t there.
The intruder appeared reptilian to Pulaski and her staff. Its dark purple eyes stared at the various people in the room, its lack of pupils making its already inhuman features even more pronounced. With an air of extreme confidence, it seemed to dismiss them as unworthy opponents as it walked through the room.
One of the orderlies dove at the intruder as it passed, but to everyone’s surprise, he passed straight through the alien’s body and slammed headfirst into the wall. Another technician rushed toward the alien only to fly backward, landing awkwardly on the floor. He grimaced in pain and wrapped his arms around his chest.
Pulaski grabbed her medical tricorder and headed toward him. Probably has a couple of broken ribs from the way he’s holding his side. Then, to her surprise, the alien raised its arms and made a shoving motion at the air, before turning toward the supply room.
That doesn’t make sense. How could it hit Rizuto before it raised its arms? It’s like seeing a replay…Of course!
As she watched, the door to the supply room opened and closed before the alien arrived, which confirmed her suspicions. As he reached the door, he seemed to disappear right through the solid structure. Pulaski headed toward one of the smaller supply cabinets.
Grabbing an aerosol anesthetic, she rushed toward the supply room, wedging a pin into the dispenser as she ran. Just as she felt her left hand beginning to go numb from the spray, she opened the door and tossed the dispenser inside. Hitting the override, she locked the door and waited.
The sudden commotion inside the room told her she’d gotten the intruder’s attention. The door shook under the assault of the alien trapped inside. She barely got out of the way as the door came smashing off the wall. Before anyone could react, the creature continued to beat against the nonexistent door while a thud was heard several feet away. One of the technicians hit the fans to vent any remaining anesthetic