The Sky's the Limit - Marco Palmieri [70]
“That’s good enough for me.” Ro yanked aside a clump of needle grass, exposing the open end of the hollow tree trunk. “You hide here while I lure them away.”
Before Barclay could object, she raced out of the hidden arbor into the murky sloughs beyond. She splashed loudly through the water, making as much of a ruckus as possible. “Come on, you goggled-eyed bug eaters!” she shouted. “Try and catch me.”
The Tadigeans took the bait, or at least most of them did. “That’s the ugly female!” a nameless bullfrog croaked. His throat swelled enormously as he broadcast the news to the other searchers. He sprang through the overgrown shrubs and saplings, covering several meters in a single leap. A few more bounds like that and he would eat up Ro’s lead in no time. “After her!”
Barclay hoped Ro knew what she was doing. In the meantime, he had no choice but to try to take full advantage of her diversionary tactic. At first, it seemed like the entire hunting party was going to head off in pursuit of the fleeing ensign, but a lambent blue glow testified that Ghebh himself was still in the vicinity. “Keep searching for the others,” the Tadigean ambassador ordered. “Look everywhere!”
The glow from the crystal pendant intensified as Ghebh approached the arbor, flanked by two of his soldiers. Snakes and marsh rats fled from their noisy approach. Stealth was not on the frogs’ agenda.
“The log,” Barclay whispered urgently to Lwaxana, but the canny ambassador was already way ahead of him. Getting down on her hands and knees, she scurried inside the hollow tree trunk. Barclay waited until she was fully hidden, then squeezed in after her. It was a tight fit, especially with Lwaxana already taking up much of the empty cavity, but he just managed to pull his feet in after him. You can do this, he told himself. It’s just like a Jefferies tube.
Inside the log, the rotting wood was slick and clammy to the touch. The damp air reeked of decay. Small insects and other invertebrates wriggled beneath him. Claustrophobia threatened, but he took a deep breath and the sense of panic receded (mostly). Darkness added to his anxiety; he could barely see a thing. The heat was suffocating.
On second thought, I think I prefer the crawl spaces on the Enterprise.
Moments later, webbed feet slapped against the soggy ground outside. A sinister blue glow shone through minute cracks and knotholes in the log’s crumbling epidermis. Barclay could hear Ghebh and his soldiers only centimeters away.
He froze in place, afraid to move a muscle. His heart was beating so loudly he couldn’t believe that the nearby Tadigeans couldn’t hear it as well. Lwaxana’s muffled breathing echoed thunderously in his ears. Water trickled beneath his collar and down his spine. His mouth felt as dry as Ceti Alpha V. Cramped limbs began to ache in protest. Perspiration dripped into his eyes, stinging them. Unable to rub his eyes, he tried to blink the sweat away.
“This is taking too long,” Ghebh grumbled. “We should have been long gone by now. At this rate, the real delegation will be here before we’ve fled with Ambassador Troi.” He croaked in disgust. “Traitorous scum. I’ll send that pompous female back to Betazed in pieces before I’ll let those greedy cloacae in the Trade Commission open our sacred borders to outsiders.”
Suddenly, everything made sense, sort of. These aren’t the actual delegates, Barclay realized. They’re imposters out to sabotage the talks.
No wonder they showed up two days early!
“We’ll find them, Povz,” another frog promised the Tadigean posing as Ghebh. “You can rely on us.”
“Well, be quick about it,” Povz snapped. “Even with the Eye of Dread, I can’t shut down all these Betazoids’ minds forever. My brain is killing me!”
To Barclay’s horror, the bogus ambassador sat down on the log. The soggy timber sagged beneath Povz’s weight and Barclay found himself literally