CHAPTER SIX
« Alive... » Kline stared blankly at the screen. « How big is it? »
Mantion
ran a scan on the creature: « It is approximately five hundred meters long, and
thirty meters wide. »
Sutter's
eyes went wide: « Well...That's...pretty big considering that the Eagle
is only about two hundred and twenty meters long. »
Kline
nodded: « Did it see us? »
«
I think we should bring the doctor up here, commander. » suggested Mantion. «
He knows more than anyone here about animal biology. »
Kline
smiled: « Good idea. » he tapped his commbadge: « Kline to Tarses. »
« Tarses here. Are we at the starbase yet? »
« Not exactly. » Kline sighed. « We're inside an asteroid.
Haven't you noticed? »
Tarses
grunted: « If we had windows somewhere on this ship, maybe I would know.
»
«
Okay. » Kline said. « We need you up here, doctor. Someone wants to see you. »
«
The tone in your voice is suspicious, captain. » Tarses said. « Either you're being honest and
there are a dozen scantily-clad women on the bridge...Either there is something
else up there which would be much more unpleasant. »
Kline
chuckled: « Why don't you just come up and see for yourself. »
«
I'm on my way, captain. »
«
It's commander, not captain. » Kline said.
« Whatever, acting captain, then. Tarses out. »
A
few minutes later, Tarses stepped out of the turbolift: « So... » he said. «
Where are my scantily-cla...whoa. » his eyes fixed
the screen. « What is that?? »
«
That's your surprise, doc. » said Sutter.
«
What should I do with it? » Tarses asked.
«
Get to the science station and tell us exactly what we should do. » Kline said.
«
Okay. » Tarses walked to the science station and Reeves quickly slipped off the
chair to let him sit. « Just curious. » he said. « Why are we in here, captain?
»
«
There's the USS-Sovereign out there looking for us. » said Kline. «
We're in here because we need to repair our cloaking device; it seems that it
doesn't work when we're in motion. »
«
I see. » said Tarses. « Well...I've ran a bio-scan on the creature. Its outer
shell is composed of a strange material I've never seen before; our sensors
can't even penetrate it! »
«
How's that possible? » asked Eskina.
«
I don't know...It's very peculiar, I don't have a record of anything like this
before. »Tarses said. « It looks asleep, now I'm scanning the cell degradation
of the outer shell of the creature...wow! It seems that thing is more than eight-hundred
years old! »
« What?! » Reeves bent over the doctor's shoulder. « How can
that be? Eight hundred years without anyone finding it? »
«
Believe me, I have no more ideas than you do, lieutenant. » said Tarses.
«
We're not here to make an analysis of this creature. » Kline reminded. « We're
here to fix our cloak. Now, Stevenson. Are we far down
enough? »
« No, sir. » Stevenson shook his head. « We need to be at
least thirty more meters down so that when we disengage the cloaking device,
the Sovereign won't detect us. Any less than that and as soon as they
find themselves in front of the crater we entered, they'll detect us and call
the cavalry. »
«
So we need to get past that creature. » Burnel sighed.
Stevenson
suddenly got an idea, he smiled and said: « Maybe we won't have to... »