Tooth and Claw - Doranna Durgin [87]
One of the ictaya loped by on his left, outflanking them … then another, and another, and the main body
of the herd snorted on their heels. A deep, surprised grunt of surprise heralded the first of them to run into the perimeter; the impact staggered one and all. Lurching, Riker lost his grip on Ketan’s belt; Rakal flailed in Worf’s grip, suddenly slipping down along the backpack. Worf hauled him back into place and ran on, but the dust of the stampede had filled the air and none of them were quite sure of the portal’s locationRiker’s com badge beeped; he barely heard it. He couldn’t begin to hear the words that came through, but he caught the timbre of Geordi’s voice. Geordi!
“Geordi! Open the portal! Open the portal now!” he bellowed in response, not at all certain Geordi would be able to pick his words out of the din, or even through the distortion of his own harsh breathing. Given time he’d filter out the words but none of them had time An ictaya ran by, close enough to brush against Riker and leave him sprawling; the startled beast leapt to the side, and all those in its wake blindly followed suit. Riker clawed his way upward, lifting his head in time to see the dark, spreading breach of the portal before them, clogged with vegetation at ground level but as sweet a sight as he had ever seen. The Fandreans entered it; Akarr threw himself after them. Worf heaved Rakal through and dove to the side as an ictaya, screaming its fear but unable to turn aside, blundered into civilization, trampling what remained of the foliage. Behind came the body of the herd, ready to follow—and Ketan tripped and fell beside Riker.
Riker stopped short as Gavare reversed course and came back for his friend; they yanked the injured Tsoran to his feet and propelled him through the portal. Something musky hit Riker in the back, knocking what precious little breath he had out of his lungs and lifting him
off his feet. When he landed and stumbled forward, he found himself knee-deep in crumpled vines just outside the museum scooter pod hangar.
The portal snapped shut behind him.
“Wait—Gavare—!”
But the portal had become an opaque gray force field The ground still shook beneath them, recoiling against the impact of the icataya against the force field and against the ground itself, but the sound was gone, replaced by silence.
Or what seemed like silence in comparison, as his assaulted ears adjusted to the relative calm of Tsoran groans, the efficient orders of arriving medical personnel, the security officers surrounding Worf with questions, and his own harsh breathing. He stood there a moment, taking in the scene—the ictaya, down on its side only meters from the museum; Zefan, issuing orders and accepting a re hydrating drink bottle even as he directed the attending Fandrean ranger to the rest of the group with more of the same; the Legacy dust settling around him … and La Forge, standing with a phaser, watching him.
Riker’s knees gave out. He looked back at La Forge from there.
La Forge glanced from Riker to the giant beast stretched out beside the hangar, shook his head. “Lions and tigers and bears, all right.”
Riker gave a sloppy, exhausted grin and said in a most heartfelt voice, “There’s no place like home.”
Chapter Fourteen
they are not to be trusted.
The Reynka’s words echoed in Picard’s thoughts as Troi shot him a questioning glance—wondering what he’d decided about the probe charring, no doubt, since he’d told no one outside of the project engineers and Data. Picard, too, suspected that they’d been found out, and that the Tsoran reaction would be just as Troi had predicted. They’d withdraw