Foreign Foes Part 32

And it would keep coming, and even if destroyedthere would be others.

Theres got to be a way to the surface, Riker grunted, looking up the corridor to the corner Deannad turned.

Sh.e.l.l make it even if I dont, he a.s.sured himself as he slowed even more. The pain in his leg wasnt buying the mythical story anymore, and his gallop had become a deadly trot.

He turned up the corridor, his limp showing. She was no where to be seen. The Rover could be heard behind hima constant reminder.

Hope had again become the myth, pain the reality. He had no more ideas to slow it down, as hed a.s.sured Deanna. It would be on him in moments. He was tired, and wanted to sit and wait.

Will!

Her voice came from behind himhed pa.s.sed her. How had he missed seeing a door? He spun around, pus.h.i.+ng himself off balance as he stumbled toward the sound. She poked her head out a door that was nothing more than a slit in the wall.

Over here!

Coming, he grunted, and tried to push the pain away again.

When he was close enough she pulled him in and the door closed behind them.

She pushed the hair from her eyes and motioned around.

Recognize it?

He looked around, squinting at each corner, at the wall that was lights and panels.

We started from here, he gasped, trying to catch his breath.

Deanna nodded.

Either this room or one just like it.

He took in one long breath and straightened.

Here.

He pressed the phaser into her hand.

You take this. Youre going to buy us some time. Weld the door shut. If Rover breaks through, melt the ceiling and make it a wall.

Im not the best with a phaser, she admitted.

Just aim and fire. Hit the wall and well be fine!

Riker nodded toward the door. She aimed at the split between the doors, hesitated, then fired. As he worked over the console, trying to determine which way these people had invented the modern-day wheel that was teleportation, he felt the sparks from Deannas work fly. Alien metal was bubbling up, welding solidhe could hear it. He concentrated on his task, trying to ignore the orange nodules that spat forward before they fell to the ground cold.

The air was getting hot as he ran his hand over the many different b.u.t.tons and lights, unwilling to touch them. For now he was just trying to get a feel for the board. Intelligent beings tended to pattern things. The eye will look for structure in randomness ... from constellations to b.u.t.tons ... and perhaps Riker could find a pattern here.

To his left were a series of switches and what looked like a numeric keypad with symbols. Above that was a screen with what might have been a graph. It was unmoving, and had more symbols. He mopped his browthe heat from the door was adding to his basic misery. After being gouged, bled, skewered, dehydrated, chased and exhausted ... well, he should have realized that boiling was next.

Booooom!

A shudder jostled Riker against the console and he gripped the panel as best he could. The makes.h.i.+ft wall where the door had been glowed red, then cooled to silver-black.

Rover again!

Riker called to Deanna.

Melt more of the ceiling if you have tokeep em out!

The whine of her phaser was the only response. He spun back to the console and looked hard. No manual.

No help key. No Starfleet touch-padsjust old fas.h.i.+oned b.u.t.tons that seemed to be laughing at him as they kept their meanings hidden.

He looked up at the graph.If thats a zero ... and thats a zero as well ... He looked from the graph to the keypad. A coordinate selector maybe?

Maybes were d.a.m.n risky where transporters were concerned. Accidents happened even when people knew what they were doing ... guessing was ...

Boooom!

Their only hope.

Another bolt against the door. Rover was knockingloudly. Riker could feel the heat from the blast, and then a wave of hot air and the scream of the phaser filled the room again.

Keep it up, Deanna!

He didnt turnhis work was here, hers there. His only problem: where was here ?.

Enter coordinate here,he thought,and activate here. He moved his hand from one place to anotherthere were only two main key setsthe rest of the panel was lights and indicators.What coordinate, though?

It was getting hotterthe air savaged his skin and eyes. Deanna was melting more of the ceiling into a barrier and she was backed up against him.

Focus! Focus! None of that mattered! Rover was scratching down the wall between them and there was no place left to run.

This is zerohe decided, touching the keys as if that confirmed his guess. But zero meant what? The planets surface? The planets core? The transporter room itself? Could be smack-dab into the middle of Rovers dog house for all he knew. The coordinate could be for wherever they were taken fromwhich was two hundred meters in the air.

Booooom! Booooom!

Riker cringed instinctively and looked at the wallDeanna was running out of ceiling.

If they tried to escape they might die. If they stayed they surely would. The temperature of the room, the walls, the air ... Riker was ready to lose consciousness. Breath now painful to his lungs, he held his chest with one hand, and the console with his other.

Get over here, he yelled.

Stand by!

He hit the zero key three times and then jammed his fist onto the other key pad.

BOOOOOM!.

The wall ruptured. Orange and red slivers hurled forward in a ball of flame. Riker felt the heat on his faceturned to Deanna, tried to cover her with his body The world became moltenthe explosion engulfed them Pain was no myth. They were wrenched to the deck, and the universe closed dark around him.

Rikers agony was finally gone.

Chapter Thirteen.

AT FIRST IT WAS NIGHTthe blackness, the cool dryness of the air ... A river of cold wind washed over him. A good feeling. Riker had thought he would never feel so cool again. Then he remembered the effect of the alien transporter ... brightness returned to his world, and paralysis lost its grip on him.

I made it.

Pain returned as well, and he almost welcomed the continuityhe had all his limbs, he could feel them.

Deanna ...

He called out, probably more mentally than physically. He couldnt be sure.

Are you all right?

Silence, and the distant howling of the wind, frightened him. He was in an eerie world of half-substance and half-feeling, of half-light and half-sound.

He tried to flex his muscles and clear his throat. How frustratingto be uncertain of that which was always so absolutethe control of his own body.

De-anna?

His voice cracked dryly.

She groaned in response. Shed made it too.

His eyes fluttered open and light pounded against him, too brightly. He yanked his arm up to s.h.i.+eld his eyes, then rolled onto his stomach, allowing his eyes to open in the shade of his own frame.

The rock was cool against his palmsgrit and cold stone. He shuddered, chilled, and relished the feeling after so many hours of sweaty exhaustion.

Deanna He looked to his right and saw her lying a few feet away.

Give me a moment ... Im fine.

He nodded and lifted himself to his feet, using the incline of the rock face as a brace. This was where theyd found the sensor beaconthe same clump of rock and stone.

Somewhere around here was a crushed flitter.

Squinting into the bright day, Riker recognized the flowing Velexian fields in the distance. He tapped his combadge, then shook his arm awake.

Riker toEnterprise .

A hollow, empty frequency beeped back at him. He tapped it again.

Riker to ... anyone.

Looking down, he saw Deanna was now s.h.i.+elding her eyes. He stretched his arm down to lift her up, give her balance. He was the weaker, yet had come around first ... the effect must have to do with something other than just a physical paralysis.

The communicator suddenly cracked with static, then came alive with a womans voice.

Halford here, sir!

You just appeared on our scope!

The beautiful sound of another being.

Where are you?

Looking for you, sir. In a shuttle. ETA to your location is three minutes.

Deanna pulled herself toward Riker and spoke into the communicator.

Good ... have a medi-kit ready.

Commander Riker is hurt.

Acknowledged. Sir, mind if I ask where in h.e.l.l you twove been?

Riker chuckled with the irony of that, and, still dizzy with adrenaline and blood loss, steadied himself against Deanna.

Lieutenant, he said, looking from Deanna to the sky, youre awfully close. Except it was a bit hotter than h.e.l.l.

The small combadge crackled, sputtered, then died under the weight of Urosks boot. Picard, both pleased and disgusted at the illogic of it, nearly smiled.

Worf was alive. Alive and well and talking. But someone had died for him ... another Klingon was dead, and only trouble could come of that.

Suddenly, rather than turning to Batok and taking his anger out on him, Urosk twisted toward Picard.

He will not live forever!I will see to that.

Picard held his ground, neither pressing forward nor retreating from Urosks tirade.

Is that your only goal, Captain? Would you give up your entire planets life to avenge the death of one?

Urosk crunched his heel into the damaged communicator as he stepped closer to Picard. Towering over the Starfleet captain, he ground angry words through his breathing mask.

Iam acting for the preservation of my planet! You are too blind to see it, Picard, but this entire string of events was meant to destroy us. The Klingons want warand it is war I will avert!

How? By beginning one? None of this is any help, Urosk, Picard said.

You cant stop a war by waging one. Not when the odds are against you.