The Escape (11 page)

His "SENSOR BEEPED SOFMY AND -- DRICKEL DUCKED IN BE-HIND the wreck of an old shuttle to get out of the incessant wind.

He'd walked on the hard concrete for some distance and he was chilled to the bone. His legs ached from the climb through sand drifts and his cheeks felt as if the blowing sand had taken off the top three layers of skin.

He doubted he would ever feel his nose again. Just once he wished the PlanetHoppers would land in a warm climate. Just once.

He checked the sensor readings. Three PlanetHoppers were working around an old shuttle a kilometer ahead. They hadn't entered it yet, but were staying outside in the wind for some reason. His sensors indicated they we're running different types of scans on the craft. It took him a moment before he 114 noticed the orange point of light that his sensors showed for the ship they were scanning.

His stomach twisted. That very ship was.one of the few remaining ships kept in working condition for this time. How had they found it? He couldn't let them get on board. It was far too dangerous to use, and if they did happen to accidentally trigger a jump, they would find themselves in very serious problems back in Real Time.

He did a quick check of his invisib i ility device to make sure it was still functioning; then he took off at a quick jog through the tombstones of the old culture. The ships towered over him, their sides and bottoms scarred from the wind and sand. Sometimes the unreality of his job struck him. Just a few hours before, he had ridden one of these shuttles. It had been in beautiful condition then and filled with passengers.

He ran silently, careful not to trip on anything. He left footprints in the sand, but the wind was so strong the prints were blown away as soon as he made them. His heart was pounding, not with effort, but with something close to fear. If he didn't reach those Planet-Hoppcrs in time, they would take a ride that would lead to almost certain death. Finally he stopped in the shelter of a shuttle whose landing gear had given way. He tried to find a position where the swirling wind wouldn't blow sand in his nose. The three PlanetHoppers were conferring near the foot of the ramp into the live ship. He could hear their voices, little sounds almost audible. The wind Vis snatched away the words before he could make them out. The PlanetHoppers kept looking at the shuttle's door. He had arrived just in time.

The PlanetHoppers were different from any people he had ever seen before. And different from each other. Two appeared to be male, one pale and the other dark. The dark male had pointed ears. The woman appeared to be a mixture of both. She had dark hair piled on top of her head, and light skin. Her nose had ridges, and she wore a large piece of jewelry on one ear. The jewelry jangled and snapped in the wind. Their clothing was thin and not appropriate for the weather. As he watched, the woman ran her hands over her arms in an attempt to warm herself. Drickel grinned. Served them right for bringing him to this desolate place. They weren't ready to go inside yet. He had a moment. He scanned the surrounding area among the broken shuttle and blown sand for anything that might scare them off.

Twenty meters from him, half buried in sand, was a square metal plate blown off the outside of a ship. That would work for starters.

He grabbed a tiny antigravity disk from his belt, jogged to the plate, and placed the disk in the center of the metal. Holding the plate carefully with one hand so as to not obviously hide any of the metal with his invisibility, he floated it through the wind toward the three PlanetHoppers. The plate bobbed and weaved slightly, like a young bureaucrat on new,, impractical shoes. With the wind and blowing sand, the effect was eerie, just as he had hoped.

The tall pale man was the first to see the plate floating at them. He spun with what looked to be a weapon suddenly out and ready. "Quick," Drickel murmured appreciatively.

The woman took a step back and also drew her weapon, while the pointed-ears man stood firm, staring intently at the plate. It wobbled as it approached them, its trajectory uncertain, its balance precarious. Drickel floated the plate within ten meters of the PlanetHoppers and theli let it fall. It landed with a clang on the pavement. The whistling of the wind and the faint rustling of the blowing sand soon took-the sound away. The pointed-eared one continued to stare at the plate while the other two, weapons drawn, scanned the entire area.

Drickel chuckled to himself and moved back to the shelter of the nearby ship, being careful to not step in any sand drifts.

As he watched the three talked loudly, but not loud enough for him to hear through the wind. Finally the pointed-eared one walked slowly over and prodded the edge of the heavy plate with his foot. When it didn't move that way, he crouched and tried to lift the edge.

He managed to get it a few centimeters off the ground. Then he let it fall. He took out an instrument that looked like some sort of scanning device. First he used the instrument to scan the plate. Then he swept the scanner over the entire area. Drickel was glad he had doublechecked his invisibility device. 1,17 Pointed Ears shook his head, and said something over his shoulder to the others. They looked as skeptical as he did.

"He's going to be a tough sell," Drickel said under his breath. He would have to try something more impressive. No woo-woo noises and floating plates for these PlanetHoppers. He needed something that would defy their understanding of reality.

Higlanced at the ship that rose over his head. The three landing legs had given away and time had eroded most of the base. The ra MNP had been smashed underneath when it fell. Part of the door was visible and open and sand had filled the interior. A large drift of sand had formed on one side. The entire ship looked as if it would crumble in the next big wind gust. Only the extremely dry climate had kept it in one piece this long. It would be perfect for a great effect.

Drickel opened up his bag and pulled out the antigravity pads. It would take three to lift this old hulk, but the effort would be worth it. He worked his way around the wreck, placing the antigravity pads equal distances apart and being careful again to not leave deep prints in any sand. Then he moved over to the downwind side of another wrecked shuttle and pulled the remote control out of his bag. The three PlanetHoppers still stood near the metal plate talking and running occasional scans. They were talking animatedly as they did so. The pale man was gesturing as he spoke. The woman still had her arms clasped around herself, her teeth obviously chattering. 41118 She glanced around every few moments. If they-had a weak link, she was it, he would wager.

Pointed Ears remained focused on the plate.

He scanned it again, pointed at something on the readout, and frowned. He seemed unconcerned by the cold or the wind. The pale man's face had turned red in the weather. The woman was speaking now with such force that her head bobbed with each word. He aimed the remote at the old wreck.

"Let's see, how they like this." Metal screeched against metal, jarring Drickel's teeth, and sending shivers down his back. Then the old shuttle lurched from the sand and pavement that had held it for a thousand years. It rose five meters. "Nice," Drickel said to himself at the effect. Crushed landing gear and the old ramp dangled like broken limbs under the wreck. The wind gave it a slightly shifting look as the antigravity units kept it level.

The legs banged and smashed around in the wind until one finally tore loose and fell back to the pavement.

The PlanetHoppers had all turned at the first noise and then taken several steps back from the rising wreck. The pale man watched, then scurried around slightly to, one side, apparently to get a different view. The woman just stood, mouth open, hands clutching her elbows. She suddenly looked less cold and more frightened.

Drickel would have counted the moment a success if not for Pointed Ears. He had out his sensory device and had it aimed at the floating wreck.

"Don't spook easy, do you?" Drickel said. "How lie about this?" He slowly moved the ship in the direction of the three. " Its remaining landing gear dragged along against the pavement, scraping and grinding as it moved. The wind howled around them. This sound was even more unsettling than the first one.

All three PlanetHoppers took another step back in unison. The woman put her hands over her ears, and the pale one was wincing at the noise. Old Pointed Ears slapped his chest and said something Drickel couldn't hear over the horrible noise. A moment later all three sparkled and then vanished.

"Transporter beams," Drickel said.

"Impressive." He immediately raised the ship a bit higher so that the scraping, grinding, and howling would end. Then he spent the next ten minutes staying out of the wind while moving the wrecked shuttle around in circles, even once bumping it against another wreck. He figured the PlanetHoppers were probably scanning from orbit. He didn't want them to tie their presence to the strange event.

Finally he lowered the wrecked shuttle back to its place in the rows of wrecks. The ship disintegrated when it landed-the legs crumpled beneath it4 the ramp shattered, and sand spilled out of the door. Amazing how time controlled everything.

It took more effort than he wanted to expend to retrieve his antigravity pads, but he did it anyway. No point in leaving anything around for the Planet Hoppers to find if they were brave enough to return. Then he moved away from the live shuttle down one row until he found an old wreck still standing on its 120 THE ESCAPE landing gear with its ramp still fully extended. It wasn't in the best of shape, but it would do.

He quickly walked inside. Without the wind, the air seemed much warmer. He wiped the sand off his face and hoped he was done with this mission. He would wait the designated day after they left orbit and then return to his warm jungle home.

Janeway stopped in surprise as she entered the briefing room. Paris, Tuvok, and Seska were seated at the table. All three had their hands wrapped around steaming mugs. They still wore their jackets and they all had windburn on their cheeks.

Paris's nose was still red. Seska's BaJoran earring was tangled around her ear.

Carey entered just behind Janeway, as did Chakotay and Kes. They took their usual places at the table,, with Janeway at the head.

"All right, people," she said. "I want impressions as well as information. Tuvok." Tuvok took a quick sip of his Vulcan spice tea-the only sign that he was at all uncomfortable-and said, "We observed two unexplained movements of equipment that should not, as far as I could ascertain, have moved. I do not yet know what caused the movements, although I do believe that the movements are not directly related to the shuttle that the first away team disappeared in." "Equipment?" Paris kept one hand wrapped around his mug, and rested his other elbow on the back of his chair. "That's an understatement. One 121 piece of equipment was a wreck twice the size of a shuttlecraft and older than God. The thing was moving through the air, sand seeping out of the door and the holes in its frame, and the wind was howling through it.

Forgive me for being emotional about this, but I found it damn creepy." "So did I," Seska said.

"Considering the weight and age of the craft, and the fact that it had no obvious means of propulsion," Tuvok said, "it was an impressive show." "Impressive was not the word that came to my mind," Paris said. Seska nodded. She fiddled with her earring, her eyes wide. Janeway glanced at Paris. He was excitable-that was part of his charm-but he rarely exaggerated events. If anything, he minimized. The sight of that ruined ship moving through the air must have been impressive indeed. "Captain," Tuvok said, ignoring Paris, "the ruined ship continued hovering six point three minutes after we beamed back to Voyager. was "Maybe Neelix was right," Kes said. "Maybe the place is haunted." Everyone in the room looked at Kes.

Tuvok raised an eyebrow and, to Janeway's surprise, Paris did not grin. An uneasy silence filled the room. Finally, Seska said, "Bajorans are raised to believe there are many things we cannot see. We should never discount the spiritual aspect of any journey." "Are you saying there are ghosts on the planet?" Janeway asked. 1192 Seska took a deep breath. "With one look at that ship, you knew it was too dilapidated to work.

Yet it came right at us. I don't know if I think that is the work of a ghost, but I do know that the entire experience was unnerving." "Perhaps intentionally," Tuvok said. "The metal plate clearly moved toward us and fell at our feet as almost a warning." Paris nodded. "That's why it felt so creepy," he said. "It was almost as if something on the surface knew we were there and didn't want us around." "That and the wind," Seska said. "The noise alone was enough to unsettle anyone." "If the ruined ship were moved to scare us, or to make the place seem "haunted," it would be logical to continue the movement after the interlopers left. That way the movement would seem unrelated to our presence." Tuvok took another sip of his spice tea. His cheeks were still greenish-brown from the wind, but his hands looked warmer. "If those time shuttles still function," Janeway said, "I understand the need to keep trespassers off the planet. It would be disastrous to have strangers appear three hundred thousand years in the past. But that doesn't solve our problem. We still don't know how to find our away team." Paris looked up. "Do you think this Kjanders might know something about this?" "I don't think so," Chakotay said. "I just spent the last half hour with him and he seems much more interested in our ship than the planet below. He also 123 seemed surprised and shaken by the condition of the shuttle field below. But I will ask him." "Please," Janeway said. She glanced around again. "Any more suggestions?" "Captain," Chakotay said. "One more thing about Kjanders. I believe that confining him to quarters does us no good.

I believe he's up to something. If we know what it is, we might be able to get more answers out of him." "Very well, Chakotay," Janeway said, "we'll let him out of quarters after you brief the crew.

We'll have everyone keep an eye on him." Chakotay leaned back, apparently satisfied.