Chapter Five
Sutter
stuffed the tricorder in her pocket; she checked the setting of her phaser.
Then, when she was ready, she stepped onto the transporter pad, followed by the
other members of her away-team: Burnel, Stevenson, Mantion and Tarses.
«
It'll take a few seconds for me to input the program into the transporter. »
Robinson said, brushing a lock of dark hair away from her eyes.
« Okay. » Sutter nodded. «
Whenever you're ready… »
Ten
seconds later, the transporter buzzed to life. Sutter felt herself disappear.
But,
Stevenson and Burnel were left on the transporter pad. The chief engineer
frowned: « Chief? What's wrong? »
«
I don't know, sir. » Robinson shook her head. « The transporter refused to
activate the pads on which you two are standing. »
Stevenson
moved to another pad, so did Burnel: « How about now? » He asked.
The
transporter exploded.
Burnel
was sent flying across the room; she slammed, head-on into the wall just behind
the transporter chief. Stevenson was thrown to the ground, and he collided with
the wall after sliding across the floor of the room.
Robinson
slapped her commbadge: « Transporter room to sickbay! Medical emergency! I need
someone down here now! »
* * *
Sutter
materialized in a deserted corridor of the
«
Where are they? » She asked.
Mantion
tapped her commbadge: « Away-team to Valiant. Stevenson and Burnel
aren't here with us. Are they still on board? »
They
waited for a response, none came.
«
Wunderbar... »Sutter muttered. « Okay, let's
try to get to the bridge. It looks like we're on deck seven. »
«
My tricorder is having a nervous collapse. » Tarses sighed. « I can't read
anything. »
«
This place looks deserted. » Mantion said. « The life-support systems are
functioning; all of the others have been turned off. »
«
Bizarre. » Sutter said. « Well, let's get moving. »
Kline
rushed into sickbay. The sickbay of the Valiant was a sterilized
environment, built for more advanced biohazard manipulations than the sickbays
on other starships. There were two sections of the sickbay, one was the
biohazard section and the other, much smaller, was the section made for crew
injuries and similar problems. Kline entered the latter. Chief Nurse Sharon
Davies had taken command of sickbay, she was attending to Stevenson. The
engineer had severe burns along his back, and he had broken his left arm. He
was still unconscious. However, Burnel was awake, she had slightly cracked her
skull, and her legs had been slightly burned. Kline went to her: « Are you all
right? »
«
I think so. » She said. « I still have a headache that's killing me. My feet are
a little numb, and my right arm doesn't function yet. »
Burnel's
bionic arm was not one of the most aesthetic replacements one could get when
one lost a limb. But at her request, she had kept the metallic skeleton-like
arm.
Kline
gave her a curt nod; then went to the transporter room after checking on
Stevenson one more time. Robinson and some of the engineer staff were already
working on the transporter. The whole bottom section of the transporter had
shattered and needed to be replaced. It was going to take a few hours to get
the system back online. Meanwhile, no contact could be established with the
away-team.
«
Chief, how's it coming? » Kline asked.
Robinson
sighed: « Pretty bad, sir. To be perfectly honest: I still don't
understand how a malfunction like this could happen. All the circuitry below
the pads just...self-destructed. »
«
Well, we're inside one of the strangest things in the universe. There are many
things that we don't understand. » Kline said.
She
nodded: « Yeah...Well, whatever this is...its pretty darned annoying. »
«
Keep it up chief. » Kline gave an encouraging smile before walking out of the
transporter room.
Chapter Six
The
exit of the Jefferies tube fell, the three officers crawled out of the cramped
space, onto the bridge of the
«
It's empty. » Mantion said.
«
Very astute, » Tarses said. « But then where are they? »
Sutter
studied the secondary stations at the back of the bridge that were deactivated:
« Nothing. This is strange. »
Suddenly,
the doors of the turbolift opened with a hiss, and immediately closed.
«
Why did that happen? » Tarses asked after a moment of silence.
Sutter
walked towards the doors, Mantion close behind her. The doors separated and she
stepped forward.
But
her foot didn't touch anything.
Mantion
grabbed her just before she plunged down the long turboshaft.
Sutter
fell back onto the security officer. Tarses rushed to them and dragged them
away from the door which led to the seemingly infinite fall.
«
Impressive reflexes, commander… » Sutter said, letting out a relieved sigh. «
One second too late and I'd have met the bottom of the turboshaft
pretty fast. »
«
Hello. »
The
three crewmembers of the Valiant stared at each other. Then all eyes
turned to the source of the voice.
A
young man in a ragged Starfleet uniform was standing there. A few meters away
from them.
«
Hello. » he repeated, without moving. « My name is Farsuns.
Samuel Farsuns. »
«
What happened here? » Sutter asked, standing up.
«
I'm all alone. » He said, his voice sounded like one of a sad child. « Help me.
»
Sutter
raised an eyebrow: « Uh...sure, we'll help you. »
«
I'm all alone. Help me. » He said, his eyes were fixing Sutter, he never
blinked.
«
We can bring you to our ship. » Tarses said. « There are lots of people there.
»
«
Help me. »
«
We're going to help you. » Sutter said. « Just come with us. »
«
I want to die...Do you also want to die? »
They
stared at him in incomprehension.
«
Do you ever think of dying. » His blank expression
didn't change, although his voice became slightly quicker. « I do...I'm all
alone. Help me. »
«
This freaks me out. » Mantion said, a strange remark coming from someone
usually as stoic as a Vulcan.
The
man smiled widely, but his eyes stayed on Sutter: « Come with me. I'll show
you... »
«
Show us what? » Sutter asked.
«
I'll show you... » He repeated.
Tarses
grunted: « I don't like this. »
«
I'll show you what it feels like to be dead. » He took a step closer to Sutter,
and raised a hand.
Mantion
pulled out her phaser in one fluid motion: « Don't move. »
He
didn't obey, he continued approaching Sutter: « Come with me. »
Mantion
fired a light stun beam; it struck the man in the chest. But it didn't seem to
affect him. Then, he opened his mouth and let out a piercing scream that no normal
human could have produced; and in the blink of an eye, disappeared.
The
trio stared at the place where the bizarre officer had been standing for a few
seconds. Then they heard someone say: « Hello. »
They
turned to the door of the turbolift.
The
same man was standing there, smiling.
Then,
the transporter beam took them...
* * *
Sutter,
Mantion and Tarses materialized in the transporter room. Kline was standing
there with a complete medical team and security force.
«
Captain, » Sutter stepped down from the pad, wearily.
«
Commander, » Kline took a step towards her. « Are you all right? »
Sutter
took a deep breath: « I don't know what's going on anymore. The
«
What exactly does that mean? » Kline asked.
«
Life-support is functioning, emergency power as well. But none of the stations
on the bridge are functioning...and there's this...other thing... »
Kline
frowned: « 'other thing'? »
Sutter turned to Tarses, as
if she knew he could give a better description. The doctor sighed then explained
their encounter with the mysterious officer on the bridge. Kline seemed
dubious. At the end of the tale, Kline said: « I want all of you to go to
sickbay. Davies will run physicals on all of you. »
«
Are Stevenson and Burnel still here? » Tarses asked.
Kline
nodded: « The transporter pads malfunctioned and exploded underneath them
shortly after you beamed out. We just finished fixing the transporter ten
minutes ago. »
«
Ah... » Tarses nodded. « Did you find the cause of the malfunction? »
Kline
scratched his chin: « Uh...Well, this may seem crazy but... »
«
Fire away, captain. » Sutter said. « We've seen a lot of crazy already. »
Kline
nodded: « We found a foot that had materialized in the transporter circuitries.
»
Tarses
raised an eyebrow: « Could you just repeat that? Because I think I heard you
say 'foot' which I know is impossible... »
Kline
sighed: « That's exactly what I said. »
Tarses
put his hand on the transporter console for support: « I think my brain's going
to overload. »
Kline
opened a medical bag and pulled out a human foot.
Sutter
felt sick.
«
This was what caused the explosion. » Kline explained. "We ran a DNA test
on the foot and we've determined it's the left foot of Ensign Lance Gerhardt; a
medical technician from the USS-Crystal. »
Sutter
closed her eyes: This is absolutely insane...