by Various
"Be more specific. What is it you see?" Luz ignored him. She stood up inside the tube, lifting one foot to dig it into the lip. Her toes sank in, giving her a grip. Her legs disappeared up the tube.
Kirk couldn't see what she was holding on to. So he stood up in the tube, feeling around with his hands. There was nothing but the pliable wall. He figured she was clinging to the polymer the same way he had ambushed her captors.
So he followed her, planting one foot into the tube and pushing until his back braced against the other side. Using that for leverage, he dug the heels of his hands into the wall next to him. It was faster going up than forward.
Luz led him through a long series of tubes, climbing a number of levels and heading deeper into the complex. Kirk was panting from fighting the rubbery Walls when she finally turned in to a side tunnel that terminated in a dim cul-de-sac.
"Is there another way out?" Kirk asked.
"Yes," she said shortly.
Kirk waited, but she didn't offer anything else. "Listen, we're in this together, whether you like it or not. I asked you a question, and I expect an answer."
Luz sullenly gestured to the end of the wall next to her. "This takes us into one of the waste reclamation chambers. Nobody uses this tube because the opening is so high up. But if we have to, we can jump down."
Satisfied, Kirk sat down next to her, straining to see the wall at the end. It looked no different from everything else. He knew he would have trouble finding his way through the access tubes without Luz. And she was not being cooperative.
Kirk had learned that when all else failed, make Mends with your enemy. "Why did you do it, Luz? Why did you take the gateway?"
She glanced over at him. Her face was so different that he kept having to remind himself that he knew this person. If only Dr. McCoy hadn't stopped him from interrogating her inside the Kalandan station. Luz was obviously unstable. If he had ordered McCoy to stay out of it, he might have cracked her cover. But at the time he had nothing concrete on which to base his doubts. The Petraw were competent con artists, if nothing else.
Luz tried sarcasm to fend him off. "Why would anyone take the gateway? Who wants to transport thousands of light-years in an instant?"
"I wish I could," Kirk replied. "What I don't understand is why you betrayed your own people. Surely Tasm was planning on taking the gateway for the Petraw."
"Tasm!" Luz blurted out, unable to restrain herself. "This is all her fault. She made the wrong decision at every point, /was trying to save the gateway!"
Cannily, Kirk agreed, "You did bring it back to your people."
"That's what I told the matriarchs! Tasm is so inept she would have lost it. She was going to try that Klingon ruse herself, to scare you away. It was an inane idea." "You used it," Kirk had to point out. "Yes, to gain time to secure the station. It worked perfectly for that." Luz looked proud of herself. "But Tasm doesn't have a shred of originality. She didn't think of using the gateway to return home. She would have sent it back on an automated drone, making the Petraw wait another generation before we had this technology to use."
"So you did help your people." Kirk added, "Now they'll find out how the gateway technology works." "Thanks to me!"
"Where do you think they'll take the cylinder to analyze it?"
Luz drew away from him slightly. "I'm not telling you anything! I'm a loyal Petraw."
"Yeah, so loyal they almost killed you." Luz closed her burning eyes. "That's because Tasm came along and ruined everything! I would be the one accepted into the birthing chamber if she wasn't here.
Another cron and I would have been gone before you arrived!"
Luz put her hands over her face, curling into a ball. Kirk knew it would be useless to try to get information out of her right now. It was depraved the way these people lied and cheated, even their own crewmates, to get what they wanted.
He no longer felt sympathy for any of the Petraw. To think, this selfish greed was what had brought him so far from his own ship. Kirk turned away from Luz, propping his head in his hand. He almost wished he hadn't rescued her.
Time blurred together for Kirk, with no way for him to tell when each day had passed. They snatched sleep in the tiny access tubes, leaving only to go to one of the cell blocks where Luz showed him the feedtubes deep inside.
Kirk needed to eat, but it was a strange experience. He had to pull on the strawlike tube until it straightened and dripped a golden liquid. It tasted tart and was rather thick and syrupy. According to Luz, it supplied the nourishment needs of the Petraw in this complex. He was thirsty enough to drink deeply every time he could, but after a while he wished there were some other flavor. He wasn't used to eating the same thing all the time.
Whenever they left the narrow access tubes, they saw scores of defenders, the bigger Petraw who were searching for him and Luz. At first Kirk thought he had made a tactical error by rescuing Luz, alerting the Petraw that he was on the loose. But Luz knew a great deal about the complex that enabled them to avoid the defenders.
At one point, the search teams were going through the access tubes meter by meter. Luz kept trying to dodge them. They were forced to keep moving or be caught.
"I didn't want to do it, but I guess there's no other option," Luz finally said, huddled in the tube in front of Kirk.
"Now what?" It looked as though their time was running out.
"We'll have to go into the web. That's the network of tubes that link a block of cells close to here."
Kirk had become more comfortable with the towering cells, but he wasn't prepared for the tangle of access tubes that filled the space behind. He crawled after Luz, sighting workers here and there in the dim light They kept making sharp turns, climbing up, then down to get away.
Kirk was exhausted from the climbing when Luz uttered something in exasperation. "They're all around us."
"I don't see them," Kirk protested, looking behind.
"I can feel it in the tube," she said vaguely. "We'll have to make a dash for it."
"For what?" he asked doubtfully.
Luz didn't answer, opening a tube above them and starting to climb even faster than before. Kirk didn't try to talk to her, saving his breath for the effort.
After a long ascent, Luz finally paused. She appeared to be listening before she cautiously pushed on the wall next to her, opening the tube. Then she slithered through headfirst.
Kirk emerged into a much larger room. Without hesitation, he lifted his arms up, stretching as tall as he could. He felt as if he were turning into a scurrying bug that inhabited the woodwork.
Luz was kneeling over something. Another tube was opening up.
Kirk sighed, but when she pulled back so he could look inside, it wasn't a tube as he expected. Below the bole in the ground, it opened up almost as large as the chamber they were in. About four meters down, there was a smooth flat floor. It was a deeper golden color and lacked the inner glow of the surrounding walls.
"Hold on to the edge," Luz told him. "We'll hang from here until they pass through."
"What is it?"
"A nutrient sac, holding the nourishment for distribution to the cells."
Kirk swallowed. How could he miss that smell of the sweet syrup they drank every day?
Luz swung over the edge, digging her gloved hands into the lip of the sac. Kirk thought he heard voices, and he quickly slid over himself, making sure his grip was good. The opening was already slowly squeezing shut.
He swung slightly next to her. "Can't we just tread water - or, whatever you call it?"
"The walls are stretched taut. We wouldn't be able to climb back out."
She shifted as the opening shrank back to nearly its closed position. Kirk also had to regrip. He hoped none of the defenders would see their fingers digging into the pliant edge.
The smell was overpowering. He didn't want to imagine what would happen if he fell into it, stuck swimming until he couldn't stay afloat any longer, then finally sinking under...
.
This time he could feel the slight vibration of people walking around. Maybe because his entire weight was supported by his fingers. He was in agony, trying not to make a sound.
After a while, the vibrations ceased.
"Are they gone?" he whispered, aching to get back out.
"A bit more. They'll have to check the other sac rooms."
Luz hadn't said a word about the interstellar transporter since Kirk had first questioned her. But as they dangled uselessly from the lip of the sac, she finally said, "Tasm is completely inept. You would never have let her take the gateway, would you?"
Kirk looked at her in surprise. "You want to talk about that now?"
"Why not?" Luz was staring morosely down at the nutrient fluid.
Kirk considered the question. "My orders were to keep the gateway from falling into enemy hands. I didn't trust Tasm, so I don't think I would have let her take it."
"I thought so." Luz shifted, getting a better grip. "Tasm would have destroyed your ship to take the gateway."
Kirk remembered the ease with which Tasm had disintegrated the Klingon cruiser with their quantum torpedoes. "The Enterprise has been in worse situations and survived."
"Then it's too bad you didn't bring your ship with you," Luz retorted.
"I like a streamlined mission every now and again." Kirk smiled, showing his teeth. He was not about to indulge in useless worry or let Luz know that this was a particularly tight spot he was in. Confidence was the key to success. If he didn't make it back to the Enterprise, he would have plenty of time later to think about failure.
Chapter 3
Kirk tried various tactics to make Luz cooperate with him. He was desperate enough to single-handedly hijack a starship, but he wasn't leaving without the gateway component. Luz refused to tell him anything that would help him locate it.
They continued to elude the searchers, forgoing sleep to keep on the move. Kirk was amazed anew at the size of the complex.
Every time they had to go into a block of cells to get some nourishment, Kirk placed his head in the information feed, trying to hear news about the gateway. But it was hard for him to access the feed because he had to be nearly asleep to hear anything. He was so wary of searchers checking the cells that it was tough to relax.
Needless to say, despite his attempts he didn't discover anything useful. But he did get the sense that the search for him and Luz was easing off and valuable workers had been returned to their regular duties.
He wasn't surprised. They would eventually be found, and there wasn't much they could do to harm the Petraw while they were on the run. Especially with Luz still fanatically loyal to her own people.
Yet the countless days of constant companionship, forced to struggle together to survive, had an impact on Luz. Kirk could understand it would be hard to stay faithful to people who were out to kill you. Gradually, Luz's rants against Tasm shifted against the matriarchs and the other Petraw. Her most scathing comments were reserved for her own podmates.
They were sitting in yet another narrow access tube, with Kirk trying to ignore the closeness of the walls, when Luz muttered for the hundredth time, "No imagination. No insight. Just because Tasm was the leader, they rewarded her and tossed me away. Even though / was right. Now Tasm will breed a bunch more idiotic Petraw to bumble around out there, making a mess out of their engagements."
"You're obviously not meant to be with these people." It was a habit now for him to try to flatter her. "Why don't you leave here? Surely there are other Petraw who would appreciate your talents."
Luz frowned thoughtfully. "I thought about that. Petraw territory is far-flung. There are birthing worlds far removed from here."
"You think you could get a ship out of this complex?" Kirk asked with deceptive lightness.
"Possibly." She seemed wary of telling him more. "The shield generators on top would have to be disabled."
Kirk felt a leap of eagerness. "Disabling shield generators is my line of work."
Anything would be better than skulking around in the dark. But what if he did get off this planet? Then what? Stranded far from Earth, possibly never seeing another human being again ...
Not if he could help it Luz was shaking her head. "But even if I was allowed to stay on another birthing world, I'd be relegated to cleaning waste tubes for the rest of my life. Only those born in the complex are accepted into the birthing chamber."
"Didn't Tasm earn that by giving the matriarchs the gateway?" At her sudden interest, Kirk added, "Valuable technology like the interstellar transporter is worth something."
"But our matriarchs would spread the word against me," Luz protested.
"Do you really think anyone in their right mind would give up the gateway? They'll want to back-engineer it for themselves."
She searched his face. "That's true. I could take it to one of the distant worlds where it would take time for the feed to spread. And once I was made a matriarch, it would be too late to change it."
"I'll make a deal with you, Luz. I want out of this place. I can't stand it anymore." He give a realistic shudder, hoping she would think his human sensibilities were overwhelmed by the alien culture. "I'll help you get the cylinder for the gateway if you get me out of here. Once we're off this planet, we're both free to go our separate ways."
"You said your orders are to keep the transporter from falling into enemy hands," Luz pointed out. "Why Would you let me take it?"
His grin twisted. "If you help me get out of here, then that makes you my ally."
Luz hesitated, then shook her head. "I don't believe you."
Kirk almost sighed. It had been worth a shot.
"But," she added, "I think you're right that taking the gateway is the only way I'll earn my proper place among the Petraw. I've got to get it back."
Hiding his elation was not easy, but Kirk simply nodded. "Then we can both get out of here."
Her shallow eyes and smooth skin were like a mask, hiding her true feelings. "I know where it may be."
Kirk didn't want to risk upsetting his tenuous agreement with Luz, so he contained his anticipation as he followed her through the tubes. They kept going down, and were heading toward the side of the complex adjacent to the cliffs.
They descended lower than Kirk had ever been, when they reached a long tube that slanted downward. "This is different."
"It's one of the access tubes for the conduits supplying the experimental stations." Her voice was muffled, facing downhill in front of him. He could only see her rounded behind and her feet pointing back at him. "That's where we work with technology we don't understand. It's safer that way."
"Safer? Why?"
She paused to look back. "The cliff has been rigged with charges so that in an emergency, each experimental station can be dropped into the chasm. It's molten rock at the bottom, so anything dangerous is swallowed up before it can damage the rest of the complex."
Kirk could appreciate their caution. He would have taken care to protect his ship before attempting to crack open that neutronium cylinder. It would take an incredible amount of energy to penetrate the seal on the gateway's secrets.
The search began. There was a long row of chambers that held experimental stations, and Kirk doggedly crawled through each tube after Luz. There were Petraw workers in these access tubes, but Kirk just kept his head down and pretended to be intent on his duty.
The tubes were attached only to the inner walls of the rooms. To check each station, they crawled forward and opened the wall, usually next to some conduit, while Luz peered around. These rooms were solid rock except for the inner wall. They were brightly illuminated by pole lights.
Kirk couldn't recognize most of the equipment they saw, but Luz only needed a glimpse to dismiss each station. It made him uneasy, but he was convinced that she truly wanted to find the dimensional transporter. She was focused in a way he had never seen before, intent on her objective. Finally he could see the determination that had enab
led her to fool everyone, including himself. She had almost succeeded in getting away clean with the gateway.
Luz leaned forward on yet another opening. She barely pushed, allowing the tube to iris only slightly. She got very close to look through, blocking Kirk's view.
"There's the magnetomotive," Luz exclaimed. "It's fully operational."
"Let me see." Kirk squirmed up next to her, putting his eyes to the hand-sized opening. They were about four meters above the floor with a conduit running out from the wall next to them. It was attached to a scaffold tower. The interlocking bars seemed too delicate to support the enormous black rings. Each ring was at least twenty meters wide and five tall. Kirk counted fifteen rings stacked on top of one another, separated by suspension units on the scaffolding.