Unworthy - Kirsten Beyer [93]
Nothing.
Frustrated, she finally reengaged the device.
Undeterred, the group had remotely triggered the shuttle’s transporter and moved on to their next target. They also studied three smaller communities without finding any substantive revelations.
Finally, they reached their last stop—the smallest and oldest Neyser colony. Here, only a dozen small, well-worn stone huts were in evidence. Unlike the other communities, this one featured an intricately paved central square and hand-painted carvings adorned the stone well.
It was twilight. The huts lay in darkness, and the tricorders detected no life signs. Previous scans had indicated that this colony was inhabited by at least two dozen Neyser. Chakotay led them forward quietly to the central square and studied his readings in dismay.
“This colony has been here for at least two thousand years,” Cambridge reported softly. “The others we observed today were between five and seven hundred years old.”
There was something about this place that set Chakotay’s nerves on edge. He reset his tricorder to scan for organic remains and found that the ground beneath their feet was rich with them.
“I’m not sure that anyone has lived here for a long time,” he observed. “I believe this is a burial ground of some kind.”
Seven had begun to wander through the cluster of small buildings. Her tricorder sounded with a loud chirp that shot up Chakotay’s spine as it broke the stillness around them.
“Why do I feel like we shouldn’t be here?” he asked Cambridge.
“Because you believe that spirits don’t like to have their resting places disturbed,” the counselor replied as he continued to scan the carved stones. “It’s quaint, though terribly unlikely.”
“You don’t believe in spirits?”
“I don’t believe they give a damn what we do with their bodies once they no longer have a use for them.”
“Remind me to tell you one of these days—” Chakotay began, but was distracted by an urgent whisper from Seven.
She stood at the entrance of one of the huts and was gesturing for them to join her.
“What is it?” Chakotay asked softly as they approached.
“Look,” Seven said, directing their eyes to the darkness within where her palm beacon revealed the body of a Neyser crumpled unceremoniously on the dirt floor.
These were definitely remains, but they were much fresher than any Chakotay had believed they would find.
Cambridge hurried to the body and gently turned it onto its back. His tricorder revealed what his eyes could barely see. “This woman was murdered, in the last several hours if I’m not mistaken.”
“How did she die?” Chakotay asked.
“Compression rifle, Starfleet issue.”
Together, they examined the rest of the buildings. Twelve more bodies were found. All of them had been advanced in age, and most were asleep on mounds of animal skins when they were killed.
“What the hell happened here?” Cambridge demanded as they returned to the center square.
“I don’t know, yet, but we’re not going anywhere until we find out,” Chakotay replied.
“Chakotay,” Seven said, passing her tricorder to him to examine.
“Life signs, faint,” Chakotay replied. “This way.”
They headed down a cobbled path that appeared to end at a mound of stones arranged atop a low hill. Several of the stones showed signs of recent collapse.
“Help me,” Chakotay urged, as he knelt and gently began to move the stones. Soon enough, a small opening was revealed and a flight of dirt stairs led into the darkness below.
“Not exactly inviting,” Cambridge mused as he played his palm beacon into the abyss.
“We have to check it out,” Chakotay advised him.
“Of course we do. We’re Starfleet. Never a dark, spooky cavern left unexplored, right?”
Seven began to descend into the darkness. Chakotay and Cambridge followed. Fifteen meters in they came to an open space.
“Catacombs,” Chakotay said softly as he studied the small alcoves littered with bones and decomposed cloth.
“This way,” Seven